I was under the impression that they were gonna push Ronaldo to the front with Bale supporting him. Or maybe vice versa.
Madrid will play 4-2-3-1 Imo, it'll be CR7 as left winger, Isco as CAM, Bale as right winger, and Benzema up top.
On paper it does.. It would have been much stronger if they kept Ozil because as it stands right now if Isco goes down Madrid will have lots of problems.
Amazing signing for Arsenal. Ozil was the second best player on that Madrid team. Like him better than Bale as well, he's extremely good. Giroud will absolutely love the service he will get. I'm pretty sure I can manage a 20 goal PL campaign with supply from this guy. Needless to say, I'm excited. I am however a little disappointed that a defensive midfielder wasn't signed. I guess Flamini will have to do. Also wish we'd signed a striker to back up Giroud, if not challenge for a starting spot. Read that Mourinho blocked the Ba transfer as he now considers Arsenal as legit contenders.
Madrid made a mistake. I wouldnt have let go a playmaker like Ozil. We can stop making fun of Arsenal. They finally signed a premier player.
Would be funny if Arsenal and Real were to meet this year in the Champions League and Arsenal would eliminate Real...I wouldn't rule it out. This might actually be good for our national team. We now have three blocks of players: Bayern players for the core: Neuer, Lahm, (Badstuber, when healthy), Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Götze, Kroos, Müller Dortmund players as backups: Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender, Gündogan, Reus Arsenal players: Mertesacker, Özil, Podolski All three blocks of players are now being trained by very good coaches. Considering Klose's age, I would think about playing like this (Schmelzer only being in there for lack of a better option right now...I wish Alaba had a German passport).
I don't get why RM would let Ozil go like that when he wanted to stay. Even saying they preferred Di Maria to him. Just odd. I like watching him so I am glad he made he move to the PL.
I wonder who put the gun to Wenger's head for him to not only sign a polished playmaker but to pay such a big fee. It's truly shocking but then again the Gunners still have $100 million left in the coffers.
Expect him to sign a decent name in January as well, if things aren't going according to plan in the PL.
I thought this was a really good recap of recent transfer activities: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/73195/an-idiots-guide-to-transfer-deadline-day Makes fun of Moyes, describes Ozil properly, a brief shout out to Leighton Banes, and a final dig at Aspas.
Aren't you excited Neymar's transfer also included 3 options on younger Santos players? Villa's included options on 2 of their youngsters.
Didn't know about Neymar but thanks for pointing it out. Got some reading material about that? I know Villa's gives us a right to Oliver Torres who seems very promising. Still doesn't sit well with me that we let Villa go for 2 mill. Denis Suarez seems very promising also. I see a young Xavi in Oliver and a young Iniesta in Denis, pipe dream
@barcastuff: Bartomeu: "After we bought Neymar, we closed a cooperation agreement with Santos, including 7.9M for options on three youth players." Bartomeu: "Villa could already have left in December, but we wanted him to stay and promised him we'd allow him to leave this summer." "He asked to join Atletico. Besides fee and first options, we have 50% on possible sale in the future."
I'm not as concerned with depth as most are. It looks worse than it really is currently with Podolski, Arteta and Vermalaen currently out. Theo is the de facto backup to Olivier until Poldi returns. CDM is good enough with Flamini and Arteta. Sagna is very capable cover at CB, although that does leave the team thin at RB. Bottom line is this first XI is as good as any in the BPL, and the backup options are not as bad as they're made out to be. It will look much better by the end of the year. That said, I still wouldn't mind bringing in a couple more bodies in January. LOL at Levy trying to call RM to block the Ozil sale after stalling the Bale deal. Forever in our shadow!
