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Double Liége Swoop-Defour and Witsel

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Arteta should play central midfield in my opinion. I can see Defour (if he signs) being used outwide.
Maybe Moutinho could play outwide, but I don't see Defour doing well there - just only because of his experience in that position, Arteta is much more suited candidate.
 
Hi guys.

First of all, we ( Standard fans ) would be very grateful if you'd call us 'Standard' intead of 'Liege', as 'Liege' usually refers to Liege FC, our local arch-ennemy. It's like we'd be calling you 'Liverpool', ain't pleasant, is it? We 're Standard as in Bayern (Munich) and Juventus ( Turin ).

Now, about Defour.

Most important : he is not to sell!!!!
You just have no idea how important he is to us. He's our captain, our leader, and the engine of the team.
The team is totally lost without him. Last season he was injured one week, and we lost 3-0 away to Braga in Uefa Cup and 4-2 away to Anderlecht in the League, which was our worst week in years.
It's been since Marc Wilmots ( 15 years ago ) that a player 'personified' Standard as well as he does. We play Champion's League this season, and it's just unthinkable that we'd do it without Steven. Or I'd rather not think about it anyway.

About his qualities :

-Natural born leader : he's been our captain since he was 19!!! I reapeat : 19!! He's the youngest captain ever for us, and also for one of the Big 3 clubs in belgian football ( FC Bruges, Anderlecht and us ). Not to mention he brought the title back to Liege after a 25 years drought ( well, back-to-back titles now :lol: )

-runs all over the pitch : the guy is just everywhere. In domestic league matches, he's never away from more than 5 meters of the ball. Never. I guess it would translate as 10 meters in EPL.

-consistency : the way he played against you and Liverpool ( which I assume are the only 4 times you've seen him play ) is the same he plays against the piss-poor teams in Jupiler league ( and we have quite a lot of them ). Always 100%.

-position : He's an Iniesta-kind of player. Covers a lot of ground, does a lot of defensive work, and leads the way in offensive actions. I've read here that he could play on the wings, but seriously he's just a waste there ( unless you ask our former national coach (n) ) He's 100% a center midfield. Two seasons ago he used to play as attacking midflielder in a 4-4-2 system, but last season ( as Fellaini left ) he gained another dimension playing 'defensive ' mid in a 4-2-3-1 system, which I think suits him best.

-goal-threat : Interestingly enough, he scored more goals ( 4 )this season as 'defensive' mid than last season as attacking mid ( 2 ) , but they were nicer ones ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThPPVg5-RpU&feature=related see at 2.05 ). But he's still too 'shy' to shoot at the goal, he could score up to 6-7 in a season I reckon.

To be honest, he's 'too good' for us, and deserves to play in a much better league, but we cannot afford to lose him the year we play Champion's league for the first time, and our manager knows that too, so you will have to come with a hell lot of money to get him, probably more than he's really worth.

Cheers anyway!!!
 
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Hey bip, thanks for your post mate. I've been guilty of a calling you that, Standard it definitely will be from me from now on.(y)

With him being so important how did your supporters take his quotes in the paper about being ready to move on? Just media bullshit or do you think he'd ask for a move if a big offer came in?
 
so you say "he brought the title back to liege", but say that you are "standard".

so did he win it for your rivals then ?

do you think he'll enjoy playing with fellaini again ?
 
Welcome Bip.

How much do you think it would take for Standard to sell?

I'm not the manager, but I wouldn't consider a bid under 23 millions euros. Again, he probably isn't worth that much , but we just can't afford to lose him this very year ( champion's league )
 
so you say "he brought the title back to liege", but say that you are "standard".

so did he win it for your rivals then ?

do you think he'll enjoy playing with fellaini again ?


Aha I knew somebody would tell me that. The club is Standard, but the city is still Liege, so he did bring the title back to the city of Liege, geographically speaking.

And I think he would love to play with Felli once again, not to mention it would be great for our national team.
 
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Hey bip, thanks for your post mate. I've been guilty of a calling you that, Standard it definitely will be from me from now on.(y)

With him being so important how did your supporters take his quotes in the paper about being ready to move on? Just media bullshit or do you think he'd ask for a move if a big offer came in?

Those quotes are months old ( from february or something ), at the time we were'nt sure of Champions' league football. I guess he has changed his mind since then.
If it wasn't for Champion's league, we would have find it normal that he'd leave this summer, but now.... no, I don't even wanna think about it :lol:
 
Hi bip.

Do you think he would be for sale for less if Standard were not in the Champions League?


If it wasn't for Champion's league, I think we would have agreed on your 15 millions euros bid.

But again, you have to keep in mind that our manager ( Luciano D'Onofrio ) knows just about everybody in the world of football ( he used to be the agent of Zidane, Henry, Deschamps, ... ), and he likes to get the best clubs* for 'his' players.
Our defender Onyewu signed with AC Milan yesterday, and you can be sure it wouldn't have happened without D'Onofrio. It's not coincidence that the official AC Milan news mentionned him.

*Oops, sorry.. I mean, Everton is a great club, but, it's not up to the likes of AC Milan, Bayern,... you know what I mean
 
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I never ever thought I'd say this but I'm not so sure I'd like to see Neville out of the midfield and at RB.

Not saying that it shouldn't happen if we get two more quality midfielders but Neville had his best year in a blue shirt at DM along side Arteta.
 

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