It's causing concern for the locals, many Britons seem to believe that the amount of foreign talent being brought into the league is reducing the chances of their youth to succeed by stunting the growth of younger Englishmen who are being replaced or being prioritised below foreign players. They're using this as an excuse for the failures of the national team and its future.

>AC Milan selling Balotelli to Liverpool

Yeah looks like it's happening. Unsurprising really considering how poor Balotelli was last season at Milan. He was excellent when he came in two seasons ago but last season he seemed lazy, unmotivated and out of touch on the pitch. Looks like he's going for a low price though, this is all quite sudden. Liverpool is one of the last clubs I'd have expected to go for him, they let off one dysfunctional striker and now they seem to be after another.

oh lord now they have Balotelli? loooool

Why always transfer
If he do not wrong things, There is good deal for Liverpool.

Seeing news that Poldi may leave us, apparently Juve and a few Turkish clubs are after him. I'd miss him if he leaves :^(.

Also some guy on Twitter claims we've bid for Cavani and PSG have accepted the offer, the same guy said that we had our bid accepted for Sanchez a month-ish ago and that Barca would need that money to buy Suarez.

Also Angel di Maria and Sami Khedira have reportedly turned down contract extensions from Real Madrid and are closer than ever linked to a move to the EPL, specifically to Man UTD and Arsenal respectively.

LaVolpe024 wrote:

It's causing concern for the locals, many Britons seem to believe that the amount of foreign talent being brought into the league is reducing the chances of their youth to succeed by stunting the growth of younger Englishmen who are being replaced or being prioritised below foreign players. They're using this as an excuse for the failures of the national team and its future.

what english youth lol? the english national team is basically the same since almost 12 years (to compare it to germany: only player who played in 2002 who also played in 2014 was Klose). english youthwork is nonexistant, and i don't see them doing anything about it. when germany started having troubles with result, we sounded the alarm bells and started extensive talentfounding and youth programs. now we are considered by far the deepest roster on the planet, with our entire substitute bank prolly being better than some of the teams that showed up to the world cup. england is stabbing themselves continously with their "only league results are important" mentality. last year the english league was irrelevant internationally too, with not even a single of their multi hundred million teams making it to the ro8 of the championsleague. that senseless moneyspending your folks are doing is just overinflating playerprices, making them sell for prices that are quite unreasonable (50 million for ozil? were you guys for real?!? i wouldn't pay that much even for messi himself).

That's the issue, as opposed to funding youth systems Premier League clubs prefer to invest in foreign talent. At Arsenal we've found a compromise and have produced some decent English players through our academy. There's a greater percentage of foreign talent in the EPL than the other top flights in Europe, many believe the emphasis on foreigners is causing a decline in English talents.

Tanzklaue wrote:

last year the english league was irrelevant internationally too, with not even a single of their multi hundred million teams making it to the ro8 of the championsleague.

Chelsea made it to the semi-finals.

Let's not forget that English clubs have won the European Cup four times in comparison to Germany's three since the competition was re-branded and reorganised into the Champions League in the 92/93 season. Player prices were inflated long before we purchased Ozil, primarily due to Ronaldo moving to Real for the world record fee at the time, Torres going to Chelsea for 50 million quid and Carroll going to Liverpool for 35 million quid. We desperately needed a player of Ozil's style and Real charged a high price, considering the stadium debt had finally been paid off we finally had the transfer funds available to make a big purchase and rebuild the squad.

In England club football is intended to produce a more level playing field, that's why clubs maintain an equal share of TV and advertising rights and revenue. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter to me how England performs, it's my club and Australia that matters the most. There's no doubt England has disregarded it's national team and youth system in exchange for promoting its domestic football scene but the idea is to prevent the league from becoming a monopoly like the Bundesliga or Spanish first division where only a select few teams take the silverware and are very rarely upset. The same goes for the performance of clubs in the continental context, the Premier League's coefficient and status is carried by several clubs as opposed to just Bayern and occasionally BVB representing Germany. In 07/08 there were three English clubs in the semis of the Champions League, followed by an all English final. In 08/09 there were again three English clubs in the semis. Since then the other leagues have caught up but Chelsea still won miraculously in Bayern's backyard in 2012.

English football is by no means declining, it's just that the other top flights and their juggernaut clubs have caught up. As for the national team, it's slithered into mediocrity and if the youth systems in England don't pick up the pace it won't change anytime soon.

My god, I thought we were going to have another Sunderland match. Thank heaven Chelsea had a better 2nd half.

Poor marking and commitment on the first goal for Everton, terrible decision making on the second which was offside on top of that, Ozil playing out wide for some reason, Arsene chooses to put Giroud on for Sanchez at half time...

As cliche'd as it sounds the ref hasn't been with us the entire game, aside from one yellow card that went to Baines I have no idea how Naismith hasn't drawn a yellow and why some blatant fouls on their part have been ignored. All the same it doesn't excuse our performance, especially the disturbing trend we've seen since the first game which consists of maintaining possession for periods of the game but not producing any genuine chances with it.

[EDIT]: 2-2!

[EDIT 2]: Our away crowd is singing "Two nil~, and you've messed it up! Two nil~, and you've messed it up!"

[EDIT 3]: Take that you Evertonian pricks! Especially you Naismith, trying to wind up our lads. I don't think Giroud could've done a better job of redeeming himself after that shambolic performance mid-week. To go to Goodison, go down 2-0 against a powerful counter-attack and a referee who was against us the entire time and to score twice in the last ten mins to seize a point...that's grit, that's how we need to grind out results, something we failed to do in the second half of last season. Well played boys, well fucking played in the end.

New head coach of Leverkusen had good match to dortmund.
+)Leverkusen's first goal was bundesliga's new record. It was fastest goal!

My favourite part of the game.

naturally we lead for 30 minutes, then got the 1-1 in 2 minutes before the end.

fuck this.

Unlucky mate.

Di Maria on his way to Man UTD for a reported fee of 60-75 million quid depending on the source. They're breaking the British transfer record to sign a player who is world class but nonetheless not what they desperately need. Rojo isn't enough to add strength to their defence, Smalling, Jones and Evans are abysmal in general. Apparently Van Gaal is lining up 2 or 3 more signings this week.

What about Vidal ? i've heard Manutd are interested in him.

Nah everything says they've forgotten about him.

Those consecutive slider tackles at the end by Arsenal players, was really something interesting to see

Nervy finish, the ref lost the plot giving about 10-ish cards to both teams and there's no doubt Debuchy's sending off was harsh. Either way we're through and that's all that matters, Ramsey and Debuchy may be suspended for the opening games. The draw for the group stage is tonight.

The desperation from United is real lol

already behind 0-2 against cologne.

we play with the exact same team we played with last season. we really want to go to league 2 i feel.

also no new defensive players despite our defense being easily one of the worst in any of the top leagues. great transferpolitic bobic!

what we really need is a better manager.

Holy hell, what a match that was. Chelsea 6: 3 Everton. I watched until 85 min, so I missed the last goal. Still, watching the match reaching 5:3 was thrilling.

Stoke edging City at the Etihad, UTD bland as usual apart from Di Maria. Interesting weekend of football so far, I genuinely believed Everton could trouble you but seeing as they messed up in 5 mins against us this doesn't seem unsurprising.

lol they actually delivered

Spurs, please




Chelseas last signing. It seems a lot like the Demba Ba signing, except with a lot less desperation.

Liverpool brilliant against Sp*rs, Balotelli not looking lazy for once.

Meanwhile in Leicester we play out a rather deflating 1-1 draw. Sanogo looks like a mildly talented giraffe, Ozil is still being played out wide and potential injury concerns may have mounted. I hope we pull some magic before the transfer window ends, something like signing a decent striker, or this vibe will most probably continue.

Leicester gave Chelsea a hard time. They really pack a punch whenever they get their chance.



Van Hinkel has also joined AC Milan along with Torres. With Essien also being an AC Milan player, I now feel like cheering for them lol

It's okay, he's just the 3rd GK. Watch Spains 1st GK.

The newest Manchester United's formation

They seem to be completely ignoring the positions that they need to improve which provide the foundations of the squad and appear to instead be going for the "offense is the best defence" option.

Mind you we're not doing any better, it's deadline day and we need to reinforce three key positions and Arsene is in Rome refereeing a charity match for peace. Jesus tittyfucking Christ.

I don't understand. You guys knew which positions were lacking (except the striker) and looked to sign from the very beginning. You guys also have the money now. Are they really out of options?


I haven't really watched Uniteds matches, so I don't know their problem. Though, the gap of their name value between offense and defense is hilarious lol

Oh ya and go help out your Top 4 rival right, United? Welbeck to Arsenal. That solved the hole Giroud has left with his injury.

I think it's absurd to even consider UTD as our top 4 rivals at the moment. They're still relying on Fletcher and Cleverly in the centre and Jones, Smalling and Evans at centre back.

On Welbeck, I'm quite happy to have him over. I wanted us to sign him a few weeks ago but United were unlikely to sell to a Premier League rival, now that both clubs are desperate we finally sign him. Honestly as long as we don't have to play Sanogo up front for 4 months I don't give a shit, Welbeck is a direct upgrade from him and that's all that matters. He's got decent finishing, his shot conversion rate is impressive, his link up with teammates is alright and he can hold the ball and at the very least control it while running unlike Sanogo. With the sort of service our midfield provides he should slot in well.

Meanwhile on twitter:


I wish there was some way of telling Arsene to stop playing players who aren't comfortable on the flanks out wide. JUST FUCKING STOP IT ARSENE FUCK. It's driving everyone in the fanbase mental, I hope someone in the stands throws a placard at him reading "Stop playing Ozil and other central players out wide you moron. Sincerely, every fucking gooner.".

Let's hope Welbeck changes that. Seriously after such a positive beginning to the transfer window with four quick and decisive signings, Debuchy, Ospina, Sanchez and Chambers we failed to pull anything in the last month or so to reinforce crucial positions in our squad.

Biggest spenders in this transfer window: