Sep 07
Brief International Roundup + Berbatov’s Fitness Regime
Zzzzzz… So have you ever seen such a boring period of absolutely no football? Well, I know the answer to that is yes; all international breaks are like that. But when we went through a nerve wracking 24-hour period as the transfer window shut, any period of no club football would seem terribly empty. It’s like the other day when a mate of mine was going at 110 mph when he slowed down to 80 only for it to seem like the car was crawling at 30 or something. (Oh, don’t tell your local cop about it though.)
Anyway, my point is we signed Berbatov but we don’t get to see him join up with the team until Thursday (or whenever he finishes with his Bulgaria commitments). But since winning the Champions’ League in May, I haven’t been nearly as excited as I am now, in looking forward to the Reds turn out at Anfield to tackle the fake reds. The long injury list at the beginning of the season took some sting out of my early season excitement but now, with Berba’s arrival, I feel like the season’s started all over again. As if Fergie didn’t have it difficult enough last season picking his best XI, especially in midfield, I think he has an even bigger conundrum in the striking department now managing Berbatov, Tevez and Rooney. I wish we travel to Anfield today.
While on Berbatov, the News of the World ran a story that he needs a rigorous fitness regime to get his fitness up to “United standards” — whatever that means.
Right now there is an international break going on and I have some good news to report. Tevez got sent off for Argentina (again) which means he’ll be suspended for their next game and can return sooner (I hope). Gotta love him!
Rooney started for England as they limped over Andorra. I think he was poor for them as were pretty much the whole team. I say this because that’s all I read about it in the papers. I really couldn’t give a toss about the England team anyway. Brazil, on the other hand, is a team that I’ve traditionally liked although Dunga, it seems, is on a managerial tightrope. Brazil have a crunch clash away to Chile today, but why am I bringing this up? Because Anderson’s injured and won’t play.
Berbatov played for Bulgaria as they drew with Montenegro. France continued to astound everyone by playing shit even with an array of really good players — Evra started as the French slumped to a 3-1 defeat to Austria. So when is Domenech going to get the sack?
Queiroz’s Portugal continued to impress as Nani found himself on the scoresheet in a 4-0 romp over Malta. And Fletcher played as Scotland lost to Macedonia.
I think that rounds this up but then, couldn’t be bothered to dig up anymore. So there…
Meanwhile, things have gone real quiet on the club front and it would be that way till the players get back from their international breaks.
I can’t wait for the Liverpool game, personally. I hope you are all eager too.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Today’s Roundup: Good News from the Boss
- Giggs and Brown to Remain Reds | Ex-Reds Clash | Wenger Threat | Takeovers And Other Such Nonsense
- Possebon Loan ‘Cancelled’; Returns to United?
- International roundup and a link fest
- The Red Hot Roundup: Scholes, Eggy, FIFA, Evra
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
when i woke up in tuesday morning, thats all i could think about, berbatov Vs the dippers, Saturday will be so exciting! we will see the berba debut and the robinho debut, the premier league is the best league in the world i think.
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I fell asleep watching England. That says it all.
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@Just1n: i wish we had a manager that picks his players based on form instead of reputation. walcott or bentley should start against Croatia but we all know its going to be beckham. why a fully fit ashton is not in the squad and heskey is, is madness! ashton is easily the best target man in england(thats english) yet he only gets picked once to face some crap caribbean team. ashton and rooney, or agbonlahor and rooney should be our striker pair.
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I just think there needs to be a complete overhaul with the England team. I think Agbonlahor should definitely play as his pace would cause problems. Walcott also deserves a regular chance to show his talent. To me England just seem to lack pace and their slow build up play is too predictable because they can’t change the pace from slow to fast. I think they took a step backwards when they recalled Beckham. Even Lennon looked a much bigger threat against Portugal in 2006. I think the back 4 is generally fine, its just that they lose concentration easily which I think is a symptom of the whole team’s lack of confidence. So my ideal team would be:
James (Foster in the future)
Richards Ferdinand Terry A. Cole
Walcott Hargreves Gerrard J. Cole
Rooney
Agbonlahor
However this system requires quick combination play on the wings with Walcott getting in behind the oppositions fullbacks and then looking to cut the ball back. The young players need to be given an extended opportunity to gel with each other instead of playing one friendly every few months.
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Red Ranter, you are one hell of a funny writer. I’m glad I have this blog to read.
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Rooney set up Cole’s second goal with a very nice pass. He didn’t get himself on the ball often, but when he did, he made stuff happen and that is what we want from him, don’t we.
As for France, are they England in disguise? Ridiculous game from them!! Hope they hire Wenger!
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why did crapello picked stupid downing instead of a more dynamic ashley young??!! man that sucks, i fell asleep too watching england scrap their way out.. as for the french team, sack that domenech he is a total disgrace for the les bleus..
and heskey?! man crapello, call up agbonlahor.. and james, replace james, he is only good versus united.
overall england lacks chemistry, they need to gel-in in order to shut critics. until they reach the world cup final 4, my respect for the 3 lions is still on doubt
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why does no one give credit where credit is due carrick has been great in the role he’s played in for the last two seasons for united as great as Hargreaves is.. in that role, i think carrick is never given credit for how well he does. We hadn’t won an premiership until he came and we didn’t win the double last year without him playing the majority of the games. Also a good piece of news tevez was sent off so that means he’s suspended for the next game so he gets a week to prepare for the liverpool game.
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Yeah England suck.
I appreciate the defence of Rooney. But England need a regular scorer and because of the dearth of other attacking options Rooney needs to be that man, and he used to be that man.
I like the idea of Agbonlahor and Rooney. An injection of pace into the side would be welcome. Downing was shit, Young would be a better option. At least Young, Barry and Agbonlahor have chemistry from club appearances.
Any creativity our players have disappears at international level because they are so inhibited by the pressure. So we should just make use of English attributes such as pace and physicality.
I wouldn’t take NOTW that seriously. They were also reporting Berbatov’s skill in strip table football. If anything I think Berbatov needs to be fattened up a bit.
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you’d think that with anfield coming up you would have the intelligence to report on our most potent and important player for that trip and how he faired internationally too…
Well just so you know LONG JOHN O’SHEA played ninety average minutes for the boys in green and NEARLY SCORED!!! Obviously saving his best for the dippers! 2goals in a week would be a big ask for sheasy!
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Feck me, the United board never seem to amaze me with their double mindedness. They (supposedly), and Fergie (definately), fought tooth and nail to keep Ronaldo out of Real M’s clutches this summer. Now at the first sign of the prospect of 135 million quid, Gill is wondering whether the Arabs are serious about the offer, and even mentions (according to the Times etc) that United would have to think about it, if they were serious. O what the flashing of filthy lucre before the eyes can do to a football clubs GREEDY board eh?. Never thought United would succumb though. O well, we feckin learn something new everyday.
England were dire yet again. It was good the way Joe Cole got his goals though, he is dependable for England. Rooney is not!. Well in the goalscoring department anyway. He can though, as somebody mentioned already, make things happen for others to score. I believe that seems to be his role now. I also believe that Rooney seems to more and more consider that to be his role. Can anybody please tell me, how Johnson is deemed better that Wes at right back?. He did score (ruled offside) a goal, but then so did Wes, and his was’nt offside. If Johnson is played in Croatia, I think he will prove a weak link. Then again, maybe he will surprise me!.
.
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Just an afterthought!. If the Arabs are serious, and make the 135 million offer for Ron, and Glazers accept, then whats the odds that United could become a FEEDER club for the new City Sheikdom
?. Doesn’t bear thinking about does it 
?.
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hey, i just had a thought, what if man shieky make a 100mil bod for rooney? i would personally drive rooney to them, take the money, and bid for the kun! maybe even benzema…
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@dan(u-ol): Umm who is the kun??? Could you please enlighten me?
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@Ishaq(South Africa): sergio aguero, the second most promising up and coming argentine player.
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@dan(u-ol): TOO SHORT…
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umm RR Im sorry about the caps…totally forgot…
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135m is a lot of money.they are talking about this sum before they even put a bid.if united show some interest then we can negotiate a fee around £150m,now thats good business.if we dont show interest,they may turn to other players.remember,ronaldo will eventually leave.its all theory though or media bullshit
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Craig: I think Gill makes a fair point, if an offer of that size ever came in you would at least have to have a look at it. Keep in mind that it would be more than DOUBLE the existing world transfer record.
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@JB: Cant we negotiate a deal like this: Ronaldo for 150 million pounds and an assurance of a takeover by DIC which would then mean endless wads of cash??? LOL Amen to that…I’l take it..
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Ishaq – If we are assured endless wads of cash, why do we need to get £150 mil for Ronaldo?
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Ishaq: Or 150m for Ronnie, clear the Glazer’s debt and buy us David Silva
All joking aside, I would still be surprised to see a bid like that come in for Ronaldo. It’s still probably alot of hot air at this point.
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@JB: LOL y did you have to put the jokes aside…I was still revelling in possibility of my fantasy…LOL yea I know chances are less than 10%…lol but what else would you expect from someone like me who lives in a total state of oblivion???
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Dan(u)ol, Man Shiek-y –
. Love that name for the numptees across the City.
Errr JB, its serious enough for Gill etc to be thinking about the possibility. You agree that United would have to think about going for it, being twice the transfer fee?. So would you still agree with it JB, if United were the ones to finish up outside the top 4. We just spent the summer defending ourselves against Real M and Schuster thinking we are a feeder club for them. Gill and Fergie insisting WE are not a selling club. Yeah right, until the oil rich money laden Arabs come in with fists full of millions of wads –
.
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@Craig Mc: yea, why are all the millionaires buying clubs like city and qpr, i wish we had one at united, we would never be rejected again, i mean we would benzema in the team, the kun, silva, probably messi.
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Craig: Who said we would finish outside the top 4, I would like to think some of the money would be reinvested. As for its seriousness, Gill said it would be considered if there was a bid of that amount but he also intimated that he didn’t believe that the rumours would ever pan out. He is acknowledging the possibility, nothing more.
We are not a selling club but at some point the money you get offered is of more value than the player is. What if they were to bid 1bn for Ronaldo? At what point does it just not make sense to shout out ‘we are not a selling club’ parrot fashion?
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instead of selling our glorified slave, sell the “slacker” rooney.
(kidding 
)
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It is unusual that nobody has come in for United. If we had the money Citeh have we wouldn’t even need to spend stupid ammounts to lure players, as players would want to come here anyway. Plus getting rid of the Glazers (even tho they have let us get on with it on the pitch) would be a bonus.
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Dan(u)ol, Traverse, – The Arabs consortium did approach the Glazers to buy United, and before City we would have been Mega Rich, but the Glazers won’t sell what they call their Franchise
. The Glazers should think of selling to the Dubai group, before they take over the L’fool. Because they are as Mega rich as the City lot, and they would jump thru hoops to get hold of United. What’s up with the Glazers, that they would rather acrue debt than double their money by selling?.
JB, if we sell our main goalscorer, and become known as a club who sells to high bidders, then top players might think twice about coming here. What must Ronnie think about Gill’s comments?. They made a hell of a fuss about selling him to Madrid, where he wanted to go, and now would consider a mega offer from City. That should tell Ronnie straight away he is dispensible, and the majority of United fans are hating on Ronnie for his disloyalty – HYPOCRITS. As for offerering us 1 billion, eveyone with a brain JB knows that wouldn’t happen. I think the message being sent to Ronnie by Gill at the moment, is your only wanted as long as some rich dude doesn’t come in offering a mint for you. That would tell me, if I was Ronnie, get the feck out of United to Madrid as soon as you can – January?????. Well after he stayed and the club talk like this – I would be bloody furious.
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Craig: That reads like a good old paranoid, doom and gloom Grognard rant.
The comment about the bid of a billion pounds is me being facetious. But at what point does the money become too ridiculous to turn down? 100m? 150m? 250m?
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Anyone else seen this??
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=570136&sec=england&cc=5901
First…fuck off you arrogant prick. You’re not even that good in the CM.
Second….I love how scared he is of playing against United!!!
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JB, feel what you like about Grog, but he did turn out to be right about a good many of his rants though!.
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@Drew Vader: aww.. Poor ol’ stevie
, Rafa’s really feckin that team up!! Seriously, Rafa has to be one of the worst managers in the prem. He shuld thank fuck for Torres last year, and if this year, Torres falls into that 2nd season syndrome, those scousers are fecked and so is Fat Rafa….
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@Craig Mc: Mate, read this article. It gives an unbiased commentary of the David Gill statements. All those other biased media sources are trying to create hysteria and anamosity by twisting Gill’s words
There’s no Hypocricy in those statements, if anything, it’s a piss take on the new City owners!.
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Craig: Yes the frequent doom mongering last season was well grounded……… wait we won the CL and PL
Still he did have a point about the finances and lack of signings……… what’s that?? We signed Berbatov as well 
The point I’m trying to make is that you are taking a fairly innocuous one liner in an interview and spinning it into a doomsday scenario, where Ronaldo wants to leave the club over it and we become a selling club. A bit over-reactive don’t you think?
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JB, Gabriel, Paranoia MY ARSE!.
From your own chosen article Gabriel:-
is very large for one person. This was quickly followed by Gill’s afterthought, “but we are not in the market to sell our best players.”
, so why the Feck not say that from the onset, instead of pontificating about the other things about SIZE of the offer etc.”
1. Gill says he is treating suggestions with a ‘pinch of salt’, but then SHOWING his true colours, he goes on to say
(a) Faced with a serious offer of that size, any club would have to consider it.
Craig says – “Why the Feck consider it, when you previously declared to the world during the summer, Ronaldo is not for sale at any price?.
(b) We would discuss any offer with Alex and the owners, that sort of money
Craig says – “Yeah right
This article contains the things I stated in my previous post, which are factual, and there is nothing paranoid about it
.
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JB, for FFS mate, it’s a bit unfair to criticise Grog’s ‘doom and gloom’ when he isn’t here to defend his comments last season. No one argued with Grog more than me, but some of his rants were right.
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Craig: It’s not my intention to criticise Grognard, what I’m saying is you’ve taking a one liner in an interview and blown it out of all proportion.
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JB, post 35 – okay, your Irish and you really want a fight don’t you
. Yes, we won the PL and CL, mainly due to the herculean efforts of our top goalscorer one Christiano Ronaldo (FACT).
Although I didn’t agree with him at the time, I think Grog could have had a fair comment on the finances, because United messed about haggling over the price, and it went to the last day, and we could have lost Berba, if he had have been interested in money at all. After all that is why we lost Ronaldinho when we first went in for him, and he went to Barca for a few dollars more. Levy was saying publically all summer that United were not offering the players valued price, and they were not going to haggle. (FACT). That and Fergie’s upsetting him, with things Fergie supposedly but never said.
Only time will tell with Ronnie, whether it is doom and gloom or not. You mean to tell me also JB, that if United were to flog Ronnie to City for megabucks, that it wouldn’t set a pattern for City to flash the bucks for any of our players they fancy. Or that clubs with phenominal wealth willing to pay silly money, will not be seen to be more powerful than United if they can buy up our players by flashing the cash. Anyway, lets wait and see shall we. Time will show who is right.
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@Craig Mc: Wrong there my friend, before you came along me and grognard(and jb and grognard) where at war with eachother, which ended with me temporarily being banned. But the one person i use to argue more with then grognard was conor, ooww he just lived to piss me of lol
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Craig: I know all his rants had merit, but they tended to run with the worst case scenario for a given situation. I know I am probably too optimistic at times but there must be a more reasonable middle ground.
On Ronaldinho, losing him was due to Kenyon agreeing a fee with PSG and then turning round and stabbing them in the back because he thought he could be a smart arse about the fee. It wasn’t so much Barca coming in and stealing him, rather it was Cuddley Pete’s bumbling that cost us.
So would you turn down absolutely any bid that City came in with? On your other point about setting a precedent, the argument I had previously on the blog was that Juve and Barca both sold players for world record fees and it never turned them into selling clubs.
Dan: Ahhh back in the good old days
Which was best, the Heinze, Carrick or Riquelme arguments???
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@Craig Mc: Mate, Gill spoke the truth, that they’ll consider any offer that gargantuan, wouldn’t any club?. he said, ”Ultimately we would discuss any offer with Alex and the owners, as that sort of money is very large for one person. But we are not in the market to sell our best players.”
He also said he’ll take it with a pinch of salt, meaning he doesn’t even believe it.
Every club has to receive an offer and discuss it before turning it down, that is what he meant, and to put rest to any doom mongerers(insert media) he clarified our stance, that we are not in the market to sell our best players – cristiano, in this case.
To start calling that hypocrisy to me is maybe a tad naive. The media does this all the time, twist peoples words and intentions to make fans and neutrals alike fall into a maze of hysteria and anamosity.
Like Cantona said, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown in to the sea.”
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Gabriel, you read it your way, I read it mine
. I didn’t misinterpret his words, like the media do. What I was trying to get through to JB and you, is the HYPOCRISY in my opinion, of Gill saying in the summer, Ronaldo is not for sale at ANY price, and NOW, suddenly with such a LARGE fee on offer, it will be talked about and considered. When Madrid were wanting him, the FIRM declarations came forth, not for sale at ANY price. Maybe I’m splitting hairs, fair enough, but I woke this sleeping thread up 
.
JB, what price would I consider selling at?. Are you drunk Bro?. I thought it is obvious that I wouldn’t sell at any price. But then, I am not a club management team, whose club has much debt
, so I can say not for sale at any price.
Dan(u)ol, yeah I know mate, JB and your scraps with Grog were legendary.
.
Nobody ever seem to win the fights though, because the boxing umpire, Mr Red Ranter used to come in with his own knockout
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@Craig Mc:
yeah you actually did, my god, it’s so borin on the club football scene. After the climax of transfer deadline day, we are hit with a two-week international break???
At least, nani, rooney and co performed well in their respective qualifiers. BTW, what is wrong with the french team? and people say England are underperforming
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Craig: I think what Gill meant was Ronaldo was not for sale at any price within reason. But if you suddenly get a price thrown at you that is double the previous world record you couldn’t just dismiss it immediately. And he still isn’t saying he is selling at that price, just that the senior club hierarchy would need to talk about it. As Gill points out an offer of £125m is that exceptional it would turn the entire football industry on its head.
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Gabriel: Jesus I hadn’t heard France’s result over the weekend and just looked it up when you mentioned it! Losing 3-1 to Austria is a bit of a shocker isn’t it
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@JB: mate, it was shockin!! France are playing horrible at the mo… u know what else was shockin? Khan gettin knocked out twice in 54 seconds!!
was really rootin for him too 
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Gabriel, did you watch the soccer aid match tonight, I think it was a full house nearly at Wembley?. It was a very big crowd anyway, and the atmosphere was raucous and carnival. England team beat the rest of the world 4-3. Alan Shearer was credited with a hat trick for England, but he fessed up on the 3rd goal, that he didn’t touch it. So Jonathan Wilkes got the winning goal, and it was a beauty too. If you saw England going up for their awards, well, it was indeed like they had won the world cup. Interesting, and yes enjoyable. The crowd made it.
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Basically as a business we should be selling players who can be replaced and making a profit. We should not be selling irreplaceable players or in the words of Mourinho our untouchables.
Rio, Rooney and Ronaldo come firmly into that category. I know people on here criticise Rooney but by virtue of his Britishness, his youth and what he is capable of on form he is irreplaceable. You might also add Vidic, Evra, Anderson to that list.
By the way I see a potential problem in the future if City try and steal Tevez from us who has yet to sign a permanent deal for us. As Tevez is owned by Kia I would not put it past Kia insisting Tevez goes to City who would probably pay £££££ for him
Anyone else as far as Im concerned is for sale at the right price but by virtue of the quality of our first team squad the right money means 30 million plus.
Unless City are going to start bidding 40 million for Carrick or 20 million for Park, then I do not see them getting their hands on any of our players.
The problem for us will be price inflation. I remember that spell when Chelsea were big spending and we failed to get any of our targets. That could happen again.
The way round this is two-fold:
1. Start selling fringe players and youngsters who do not make the grade for a good price. 5 million for Pique and Rossi was disgraceful.
2. Develop our scouting system so we get our hands on hot talents before City or Chelsea even think about placing a bid. Of course there is danger City will bid for every player we are rumoured to be interested in. But we wrapped up Nani and Anderson without anyone else realising it and I want more deals done like that
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France didn’t know what hit them last night
, and Austria thought it was their birthday. I don’t get it. I think it might be that they have developed Englands problem, so scared of losing because of the press damnation, that they are lacking in confidence. I hope England beat Croatia on Wednesday, it will be a great confidence booster for them. I hope all the home nations do well. I’m a patriot, so no jesting comments please.
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