Isegrim

Yes, we are definitely watching different teams. And reading different papers. For which game did the team get "elicit praise" from the southern press? Souness - picked the wrong team/tactics, we were s****. Roeder - picks the wrong team/tactics, we are MARGINALLY less s****. Who cares what the "southern press" thinks - those of us who actually go to/watch the match can see than Roeder is an idiot. Bramble walking back into the team is evidence of that. Yes, we are definitely watching different teams. And reading different papers. For which game did the team get "elicit praise" from the southern press? I'm not making it up Ise, Henry Winter on more than one occassion in the Telegraph pointed to Roeder's ethic of trying to play football where others wouldnt. Chelsea away, a game i attended, is a very good example. Also, the lad from the Times (Oliver someone, cant be arsed to look it up), said the same thing in a general piece about us in December when our form was on the up. If you read as many english newspapers as me, i take my hat off. I doubt it though. The football under Souness (with the players he had) doesnt even approach some of the football we have played with lesser players under Roeder. So, which teams and which papers are you looking at then? I'm normally have a quick look at the online editions of all main papers to read the match reports. I might miss the odd report, but I am still a bit mystified by the alleged general praise our style of football apparently got. I agree we had a short patch in December where the football (mostly against not really inspiring teams) was slightly better than before or after. We got better reports, still I hardly would call it praise for the style (with a bit time at the weekend I might try to dig some out). Overall I think the football hasn't really changed from Souness to Roeder. Especially with Bramble in the team it's still the same long ball tactics. There is the odd player who is trying a bit of passing game (just as they were trying under the tosser), but which is hardly effective as the general movement of the team is awful. We l(still) ose a lot of possession in the build up. We don't really create chances from open play and barely have shots on goal, mostly far less than our opponents. People who say our football has really picked up from the dark ages must give me the number of their optician. I might want to order the same pair of rose tinted specs.

I raised the same point in a discussion with an English friend recently. The Premierleague lives from it's style (nowadays influenced by a lot of foreigners) and also the hype that is created around it by the media. A lot of the players are only half talented as people are made to believe.

Yes, we are definitely watching different teams. And reading different papers. For which game did the team get "elicit praise" from the southern press?

I'd post an embarrassed smilie, if there was one or the smilies here wouldn't look shite...

Albert Luque.

I am everything but a Schalke fan, but how is Schalke a tiny club in comparison to Newcastle? I think the clubs have a lot in common - well except of the odd domestic and European trophy Schalke won in the last decade...

There was absoloutely NO FUCKING CHANCE he would've came here. He's turned down nearly every job going until now. It was clear he would only ever get back into football with Bayern. Apparently their golf courses are toppa. Except the job as german national coach i cant remember other serious offers that he rejected And i dont think that we actually tryed to bring him here so you cant be 100% sure about this He had as many serious offers as Luque had chances to prove his worth tbh. And that's plenty btw.

Aye, and we are a team creating a plethora of chances for our strikers...

Or youtube...

Even by German standards that has to be considered ridiculously unfunny. (I would add a weeping smilie, but the new ones look horrible).

He seems good at organising. Can he play centre half?

What I don't get is the handling of the transfer window. We should have sounded out our targets in December, very early January at the latest. But if we are now in stages where we are waiting for the reactions of clubs then it is ridiculous bad "planning" :lol: . After another transfer-window farce looming I'm even more for the idea of a director of football or similar figure dealing with daily business.

I always thought Dyer was looking like coming from Roswell tbh. His three fingers might also expain the bad hand writing...

Is he really, or is it rather the club running out of money...

It's really just a re-hash. Though that only means that Ballack wasn't whinging to the Jorman press (yet). But I agree that Ballack has (so far) not really set the world alight at Chelsea, He is a player Chelsea simply did not really need, because they had the identical player in Lampard, a midfielder who is sneaking in the right positions to score loads of goals.

Err, where did Ballack give an interview in Germany? The only thing in Germany is the reprinting of the story in the Sunday Times that was writing about this clash between Ballack and Makelele and Drogba. The article in the Sunday Times is also where the Prozone-stats come from. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,277-2534753.html Apart from that I do agree with those who say that Ballack just doesn't fit into Chelsea's system. Mind there are not too many Bayern fans who were sad to see him go...

Strange thing to read from a foreigner's perspective. Here in Jormany it has been fully organised by the German association(s) for as long as I can remember. I started playing 11 vs. 11 when I was about 10. Street football was just for the days in between training and matches. Although a lot of people are lamenting the fact that there are far fewer public places where kids just can play on their own. In fact Mathias Sammer, who is now something like a director of football for the German FA, got a lot of stick for suggesting more kids should play 7-a-side until a certain age to develop their technical skills.

Wow, a transfer rumour from the Fanatik, nearly as credible as English tabloids...

Agree, people are a bit premature here ... ... we don't even know his stance regarding Luque.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=426930&in_page_id=1779&ct=5

They would be crazy to reject £17m for him. That's what most people in Germany (including the majority of Bayernfans) say as well. But Bayern don't particularly need the money (they have more than 100m Euro in their bank accounts). The reason why they rule out any transfers is rather symbolic IMHO. They want to show that they are not European lightweights who can be messed around with by other big clubs or their own players. Their director of football (Hoeneß) only recently said that they want to show that you have to honour your contract with Bayern if you just had agreed an extension. Fair enough, its a pride thing, but keeping a unhappy half injured player while being offered probably 75% more than whats he's worth fit and focused would be crazy in anyones eyes, even Chelsea. I think they will sell, maybe Bayern need to soften the blow with Emre, or someone bigger coming in, then they can take victory on financial and the footballing side of things. I do agree (I've only slightly corrected the price for you...), but I am not sure if Bayern will really sell, especially not in the winter with the big games against Real Madrid looming. The WC certainly does that to players. Who have they been playing instead of him, and have they been doing a good job? It really only effect NUFC if Bayern really want Emre, at £7-8m i hope they do, we could do with the money, and its always nice to actually make a profit on a player for once. There has been nothing in Germany suggesting that Bayern are in fact interested in Emre that I am aware of tbh. So it looks a bit like another fabricated tabloid rumour to me. Bayern have a couple of players who can play as defensive midfielders. They mostly used Ottl, a young player from their own academy who was doing quite well for them. But they also have Demichelis or van Bommel who can play a similar role.

They would be crazy to reject £17m for him. That's what most people in Germany (including the majority of Bayernfans) say as well. But Bayern don't particularly need the money (they have more than 100m Euro in their bank accounts). The reason why they rule out any transfers is rather symbolic IMHO. They want to show that they are not European lightweights who can be messed around with by other big clubs or their own players. Their director of football (Hoeneß) only recently said that they want to show that you have to honour your contract with Bayern if you just had agreed an extension. Fair enough, its a pride thing, but keeping a unhappy half injured player while being offered probably 75% more than whats he's worth fit and focused would be crazy in anyones eyes, even Chelsea. I think they will sell, maybe Bayern need to soften the blow with Emre, or someone bigger coming in, then they can take victory on financial and the footballing side of things. I do agree (I've only slightly corrected the price for you...), but I am not sure if Bayern will really sell, especially not in the winter with the big games against Real Madrid looming.

They would be crazy to reject £17m for him. That's what most people in Germany (including the majority of Bayernfans) say as well. But Bayern don't particularly need the money (they have more than 100m Euro in their bank accounts). The reason why they rule out any transfers is rather symbolic IMHO. They want to show that they are not European lightweights who can be messed around with by other big clubs or their own players. Their director of football (Hoeneß) only recently said that they want to show that you have to honour your contract with Bayern if you just had agreed an extension.

Well, Bayern remain defiant that Hargreaves is not for sale. News report from England and Germany are very contradicting to say the least.

Well his contract was running out and Fulham clearly didn't want him to be able to leave on a Bosman. If they would allow him to leave if a suitable offer comes in might be another question. From a nationally biased view I'd like to see Volz signing for Newcastle, taking his website into consideration he must be a decent bloke (maybe not quite as good as Rihilati's, but one of the better player's sites). He had some shocking matches last season when he came back from injury and was totally murdered, but has been vastly improved recently, though this might also be down to the fact that he now plays in a more advanced position. Still I would take him at right back ahead of Carr any day.