On the Eve of the new Season...

[brennser]

best toon game in years

nicely done

[godsshoeshine]

the less terrible taylor wants £60k a week? talk about a delusional geordie

[vansmack]

I'm telling you, Sir Alex has had his eye on this for sometime and will reap domestic rewards:

Homegrown: Gibson, Giggs, Brown, Evans, Rio, Scholes, Neville, O'Shea, Carrick, Owen & Rooney.

Other: Amos, Fletcher, Kuszczak, Van der Sar, Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Park, Evra, Valencia, Berbatov, Chicharito & Vidic.

Plus under 21s Fabio, Rafael, De Laet, Obertan, Bebe, Smalling & Macheda

[godsshoeshine]

the rule makes no sense, but i think i've beaten that to death. at least it made me realize i share a birthday with andy carroll

for £5m i think hughton did great

[vansmack]

To futher my point, neither Arsenal nor Chelsea can make the homegrown quotient without including thier under 21's.  There's a lot of veteran depth on United and even the under 21's are stronger than the other two.

Arsenal:

Homegrown: Nicklas Bendtner, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Johan Djourou, Cesc Fabregas, Vito Mannone, Alex Song (7)

Others: Manuel Almunia, Andrei Arshavin, Marouane Chamakh, Abou Diaby, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski, Laurent Koscielny, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastien Squillaci.

(Arsenal can also use young players including: Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Carlos Vela, Emmanuel Frimpong, Aaron Ramsey.)

NB: Arsenal have only 20 senior players over 21 and can make up their homegrown quota through youth players

Chelsea

Homegrown: Ross Turnbull, Ashley Cole, John Terry, Frank Lampard

Others: Petr Cech, Henrique Hilario, Branislav Ivanovic,  Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira, Yuri Zhirkov,  Alex, Michael Essien, Ramires, John Obi Mikel,  Yossi Benayoun, Florent Malouda, Salomon Kalou, Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba.

(Chelsea can also use young players including: Patrick van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran, Gael Kakuta, Daniel Sturridge, Fabio Borini.)

NB: Chelsea have only 19 senior players over 21 and can make up their homegrown quota through youth players

[godsshoeshine]

man i really didnt want to get into it

but, i dont see your point at all. neither chelsea nor arsenal had to do anything when building their squads for the first half of the season differently. the only two teams that did were shitty and spurs. who cares if man u have more players that count against a bizarre rule versus arsenal or chelsea. arsenal has been going with the kids before this rule, and chelsea's youth movement is more an economic one than a hargreeves-doesnt-count-but-half-of-ireland-does rule one

[brennser]

phew! that was close

[godsshoeshine]

if you ever want a good laugh, click on the comments section of any soccernet article regarding liverpool. so funny

good thing hicks and gillette didnt put up their own money, because they somehow dont have control of the club

[Frank Gallagher]

the rule makes no sense, but i think i've beaten that to death. at least it made me realize i share a birthday with andy carroll

for £5m i think hughton did great

If you watched any of the world cup and saw how shyte England were, and the lack of depth they have, the rule makes a lot of sense. The English kids aren't getting a chance to reach the highest level because most top teams don't have the patience or interest to develop players so just buy them from the continent.

Man Utd being the exception, we have a second generation of "Giggs, Nevilles(s), Scholes, Butt, Beckham" coming through in Gibson, Evans(both of them), Cleverly, Smalling. Sure, we may have a couple of relatively dry seasons as far as trophies go, but in a couple of years..WATCH OUT! (I include the Irish lads simply because there's always been a special connection between Man Utd and Irish players)

This rule is basically for the benefit of the national team so as an Englishman totally agree with it. It also helps our neighbours across the Irish sea, because lets face it....the Eircom league isn't going to produce the next Keano.

[godsshoeshine]

the rule makes no sense, but i think i've beaten that to death. at least it made me realize i share a birthday with andy carroll

for £5m i think hughton did great

If you watched any of the world cup and saw how shyte England were, and the lack of depth they have, the rule makes a lot of sense. The English kids aren't getting a chance to reach the highest level because most top teams don't have the patience or interest to develop players so just buy them from the continent.

Man Utd being the exception, we have a second generation of "Giggs, Nevilles(s), Scholes, Butt, Beckham" coming through in Gibson, Evans(both of them), Cleverly, Smalling. Sure, we may have a couple of relatively dry seasons as far as trophies go, but in a couple of years..WATCH OUT! (I include the Irish lads simply because there's always been a special connection between Man Utd and Irish players)

This rule is basically for the benefit of the national team so as an Englishman totally agree with it. It also helps our neighbours across the Irish sea, because lets face it....the Eircom league isn't going to produce the next Keano.

the rule doesnt make sense because it has less to do with being english and more to do with training with english clubs. leaving adam johnson, ashley cole, theo walcott, ect at home hurt you guys more than the greatest league on the planet. i mean charles insomnia counts as homegrown. only one team changed anything the first season because of that rule, and that only effected a welshman

full credit to sir alex and manchester united, though. he'll figure out a way to win no matter what the rule is

[Frank Gallagher]

I think the last time I posted on here was the last time United beat the merseyside pikeys! Should I take that as an omen?

[godsshoeshine]

i suppose i cant make fun of the league cup for the next month or so. what a match

[godsshoeshine]

oh nigel de jong

you might remember him from such "rash challenges" as "breaking stuart holden's leg in a friendly" and "karate kicking xabi alonso's chest in front of the entire world"

he's back and starring in "how to ruin newcastle united's season"

i was going to say that i'll never root for the dutch as long as they continue to pick him, but hey he's already dropped. good for van marwijk

[vansmack]

He's having a helluva year, eh?

I finally saw the tackle.  How that wasn't even a foul, let alone a card is beyond me...

Sorry man.  Maybe Valencia and Ben Afra can rehab together?

[godsshoeshine]

i just thank god that carroll didnt start

certainly didnt help that atkinson didnt call either of those penalty shouts the toon's way