Archive for the ‘Discussion’ Category

Robinho has always struck me as a player that has talent beyond reason…

Robinho fits into the former. Mentally he is not strong enough and when things are not going his way he lets the team know, with weak, negative performances. However, if Robinho and Mancini address this it is possible that he could be a prize asset for Manchester City. His record for the club has been decent, with 14 goals in his first season. But his second was considerably worse, scoring one goal against Scunthrope in the League cup.

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Minus some obvious additions, such as Messi, Robinho and Rob Green, I have put together a team of players that have impressed me in the World Cup so far. Feel free to disagree.

GK: Diego Benaglio (Switzerland & Wolfsburg)

Very tidy against Spain. Some might have panicked at the sight of Villa, Xavi and Iniesta, but he kept his cool to earn his team a clean sheet.

LB: Fábio Coentrão (Portugal & Benfica)

Against North Korea Mick McCarthy commented that his price had increased by 4 million euro’s. He’s young, a good crosser of the ball and composed in defense, so it’s hard to disagree with him.

RB: Van Der Wiel (Holland & Ajax )/ Maicon (Brazil & Inter Milan)

I couldn’t decide between the two. Maicon is self explanatory but. Der Wiel, a less know player, deserves a mention as he has played will for the Dutch.

CB: Stéphane Grichting (Switzerland & Auxurre)

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I don’t know if anyone else reads World Soccer but I have a subscription to the magazine and in the most recent issue, they raised the point of the best striker in the world. I’ll explain how they came to their conclusion in a moment but I was wondering what other people thought was required in a striker and who they feel is the best.

World Soccer used quite a complicated system based on goals scored in each competition and points were doubled etc depending on which league they were scored in or if it was in an International match. They also based it on the last four seasons only along with the first month or two of this season. So obviously players such as Henry and Van Nistelrooy are not as high as one would expect because their goal tally’s have decreased as they have got older. Shevchenko does not even make the list due to his lack of goals for Chelsea and the loan spell at AC Milan eventhough he was one of the most clinical strikers in the world when originally at the Rossoneri.

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For years the America league has been considered the grave of famous footballers careers.  But recently it is starting to gain some recognition among neutral football fans (like myself) as an up-and-coming entertaining league.

It all started when the MLS was created as part of America’s bid for the 1994 World Cup. Creators believed the increased popularity brought at international level would ignite a greater interest in the sport at club level. The format is as followed: The Season run from late March or early April to November, with teams from two divisions East and West playing 30 regular season games each. After this eight teams (the top 4 from each division) compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs culminating in the championship game, MLS Cup.

The MLS currently consists of: (Table from Wikipedia)

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Now I’m pretty critical of any balls flying towards my face, but when people who do it for a living (Read: Paris Hilton, Iker Casillas) are complaining about it are these new footballs getting a bit too mental?

I’m not suggesting we go back to kicking around a pig skin that weighs a stone dry and three when wet but perhaps these balls are making goalscoring too easy, and effectively making scoring from distance simpler and less of an art form. I think, for example, that Ronaldo’s free kick policy of blasting it and hoping for swerve owes more to the ball than to any paticular intent to curl the ball one way or another.

Have your say, a fair point or do I just have balls on the mind?

Just for fun… A team that the likes of Fabio Capello or Iain Dowie would be proud of.

And yet, this lot still manage to get engaged to the finest supermodels ‘money can buy’

OK it’s a bit early to start saying things like this but after scoring a goal on his debut and this cracking challenge last night, Thomas Vermaelen looks to have settled in and looking worth his pennies already.

The Belgian defender after only two games has appeared to have quickly settled next to William Gallas and the pair along with Sagna and Clichy make a formidable back line for the Gunners. He scored against Everton in his League debut and looked solid, something that they were missing last year with Toure’s drop in form and Gallas being injured for long spells and last night at Parkhead he looked impressive again.

Wenger has said: “Yes, I am surprised but we saw that he had the physical strength and mentality to cope and when he was needed he came in. I believe he has a good mix of the physical and technical for a centre-back and it is interesting to have a left-footed player because he gives you angles for the pass which are very important for the midfielder.”

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With England Bidding for the World Cup in 2018, I thought I would make a prediction of the squad that we may be playing in that competition (who knows how close I will be).

Joe Hart(GK)

Kyle Naughton(RB)       Micah Richards (CB)        Jordan Spence (CB/C)           Kieran Gibbs (LB)

Jack Rodwell(DMC)

Scott Sinclair (AMR)                                                               Junior Stanislas (AML)

Jack Wilshere (AMC)

Theo Walcott (FC)                            Danny Welbeck (FC)

Subs

Lee Cattermole (Wigan) (DMC)

Michael Mancienne (Chelsea) (CB)

James Tompkins (West Ham) (CB)

John Bostock (Tottenham) (RW)

Ravel Morrison (Man utd) (RW)

Fabian Delph (Leeds) (CM)

Joe Mattock (West Brom) (LB)

Revised and Re-released – The reasons behind Ferguson’s success.

With the Departure of C.Ronaldo and Tevez, ITS investigates why Manchester United were so dominant last season, and how the loss of 2 key players will affect style of play at Old Trafford.

The Trequartista or the 4-6-0 is an evolution of old fashioned formations, especially the 4-2-3-1.

The Austrian ‘Wunderteam’ of the early 1930s had great success with Mathias Sindelar, a centre-forward who constantly dropped deep, and Vsevolod Bobrov, who played a similar role for the Dynamo Moscow tourists team that delighted British crowds in 1945. It was then Nandor Hidegkuti’s role as a deep-lying centre-forward that perplexed England when Hungary won 6-3 at Wembley in 1953. ‘The tragedy to me,’ said England’s centre-half Harry Johnston, ‘was the utter helplessness… not being able to do anything about it.’ If Johnston followed Hidegkuti, he left a hole in the centre of England’s rearguard. If he stayed put, Hidegkuti roamed free.

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The Archives is a series of re-published articles where we will re-release our finest work that you may have missed. Here is the first…

Following the Hillsborough disaster, the Taylor report recommended terracing in the top flight to be phased out. Newly promoted sides from League One into the Championship, also have to have all-seater stadiums within three years. The event sent shockwaves throughout football as 96 football fans lost their lives.

What I am about to say is in no way supposed to be disrespectful to their memory, but is it time that we reintroduced standing areas into the higher tiers of our football league?

Our German counterparts have implemented standing areas in their top flight of the Bundesliga (the third most attended league in Europe). For example, big stadiums like FC Bayern’s Allianz Arena have removable seating so that standing can be allowed during matches; approximately 10,000 seats can be removed to accommodate 30,000 in turn.

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For my top ten this week I am going to look at the best looking football boots around.

Before I commence my countdown I want to point out that I am, and always have been poor at football and therefore my opinions on football boots in terms of their usability are not valid. Personally I have only worn the cheapest versions of predators, value Umbro’s and Diadora’s midrange Puma kings and probably a pair on nike along the way all of which served me well as semi-pro benchwarmer and water carrier…So this countdown is judged purely on looks.

10. Umbro Classic Italia.

Worn  by the likes of Alan Shearer and Micheal Owen in their hay day these classic Umbros look really, well classic.

9. Lotto Zhero

These boots are really flash. No laces means the boots have a really nice streamline look. In my opinion these are much cooler than Nike Vapours.

Worn by: Giuseppe Rossi and Luca Toni.

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With Emmanuel Adebayor running off to his massive pay packet at city, Arsenal have been left in a spot of bother. Whilst most Gunners’ fans are pleased to see the back of arguably the biggest sulker in the league, they are in desperate need of a like for like replacement. They have a shed load of technical talent up front, with the brilliant Van Persie and the unlucky Eduardo, who hopefully for him, might get a run of games without injury this season. Walcott is also an option up front, but his finishing during the European under 21’s Championships is a cause for concern, and they have Vela waiting in the wings. However, Arsenal lack balance, whilst the passing technical approach works, 9 days out of 10, when it isn’t they need other options. As it stands, Nicklas Bendtner is first in line to inherit Adebayor’s boots, which is hilarious, quite frankly! Quite simply they need to buy someone who fills that mould, anyone, and quick! Should The Gunner’s start the season with Bendtner leading the line, their chances for silverware would be non-existent, again.

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