I agree about Ljungberg, but its hard for me to praise him as coming from a girls point of view most people just think your a fan of his CK ads when you say what a good player he is! I dont think he will be too convtroversial if he does say anything tho as he is very politically correct in what he says most of the time.

I'd been wondering about Freddie Ljungberg too; he did say he wanted the club to get more big name players to show we were serious about the champs league, and Edu, Vieira (and maybe Pires) out with just Hleb in may not give him the right feelings.
But, if he keeps his fitness, and work well with Hleb and Fabregas, who is maybe going to be the playmaker AFC haven't really had under Wenger, maybe all will be well.

Re Vieira though, AFC seem to be a club where players compete for places, rather than Chelski say, where they like 2 great players in every position, but I see Juve have already said that they now have 2 excellent players in each position, so he may be fighting for his place!
I really don't know why anyone would leave AFC unless they were just homesick. Overmars and Petit both said they regretted it.

Also, goonergal, all views are appreciated (by me at least) as long as you love the game!
They say that if a footie game's on tv and someone comes into the room, a male will ask "what's the score?" and a female "who's playing?" (my other half fits the latter category, unfortunately).
If you are the former, excellent!

Freddie is a valuable player for the Gunners, almost an unsung hero. He plays very well with Henry, Bergkamp, Pires and the others. But I guess that is just the point, it's hard not to play well when you are surrounded by those type of players especially the style of attcking soccer that Wenger has instilled in Arsenal. When they are firing on all cylinders, there is not a prettier team to watch.
They still will need a midfielder that is a 'stopper', and Vieira could do this with the best of them. It was interesting to see coaches in the EPL interviewed last night and how they heaped praise on Vieira, but they all added in the end that they were glad he was gone and they no longer had to face him. We keep hearing about Baptista, but he is an attacking player, and Jenas is mentioned a bit as well. He fits the bill more as a replacement, although not as definsively as Paddy but more offensively. It will be very interesting to see who Wenger gets. And we can't forget Hleb, but it will be unknown how he fits in until he has a few games under his belt. Like I said in an earlier posting, the EPL is a different style than the other leagues (I'm not saying better, that's a matter of opinion), but top players have come over from other countries and found it difficult to succeed. Let's hope this is not the case with Hleb.
(Just a footnote, I'm jazzed because I get to see Real Madrid's closed door practice on Sunday evening and than see them play the Galaxy (MLS) on Monday evening. We here in California don't get to see top clubs like this very often, so it will be a treat.)

Going....going....GONE!!!