Miscellaneous Football Thread

[Lee1981]

Massive day today

My little boys first football match today under 7 age group.

My first match managing them too

We won 5-3 after being 3-0 down after 10 mins, really proud today.

Kids football has changesd so much theses since I was under 7, loads of new rules and that, some I agree with some not so much.

 

[Villain]

Arsenal fans right now:
Best Midfielder?
-Ozil
Best Goalkeeper?
-Ozil
Who is president of USA?
-Ozil
Who is Queen of England?
-Ozil
What's 1+1?
-Ozil

lol.

 

[thedon5]

 

[thedon5]

Explains a lot.

 

[Anish.]

 

[CG123]

I never would've guessed that Russia are the powerhouse of beach soccer atm. The World Cup for it finished over the weekend, in Tahiti of all places.

 

[thedon5]

A Pacific island would be one of the best locations for a beach soccer tournament.

 

[CG123]

Yeah, but a World Cup for anything in Tahiti... It's definitely good to see it in a place like that though, considering the farce around the actual World Cups.

 

[War]

Yohan Cabaye, Loic Remy recalled to France squad - ESPN FC

Damn on paper this France squad is strong across all area's. Really should be a bigger threat in Europe. With them pretty much going to have to take play-off route to get to the world cup, few teams would want to face them.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Mickael Landreau (Bastia).

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Monaco), Gael Clichy (Manchester City), Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Mamadou Sakho (Liverpool), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid).

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle); Clement Grenier (Lyon), Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain), Samir Nasri (Manchester City), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle).

Forwards: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Dimitri Payet (Marseille), Loic Remy (Newcastle), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille).

 

[Haarithan]

Sakho! Called it long back he wasn't an average signing. Been a complete beast for Liverpool so far. Already relegated our best defender in Agger to the bench now!

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I know, I was wishing at the time Milan had signed him. (though if they had he'd be injured right now)

 

[thedon5]

Getting a call-up to the French side doesn't make him a good signing especially at the eye-watering fee he was bought at. Possibly helped by the fact that Rami has been suspended at Valencia. He is firmly behind Koscielny, Varane and Abidal.

 

[Haarithan]

The only reason his transfer fee is 'eye watering' at all is because he was in his final year of contract at PSG, and hence we could have signed him for a much lesser fee. Quality wise though, I wouldn't have thought twice about splashing out 15M on him (Barca and Milan were linked with him as well). Been everywhere again today! And I repeat, he's already relegated one of our fan favorites and our best defender by far in Agger to the bench (and no one's even complaining...).

 

[Auwais]

I'm surprised Wenger didn't go for him. He's still a bit raw and his decision-making could definitely improve but he has all the tools to become a very good defender.

 

[thedon5]

Wenger didn't go for him because he was never going to break his transfer record on a fourth choice defender. We also need someone more similar to Mertesacker in style, whereas Sakho is closer to Koscielny and Vermaelen. Also I'm not sure Sakho would be keen to compete with Koscielny for a starting spot as it would probably sabotage his chances to appear for France.

He was on the final year of his contract? I had no idea, that is even worse, awful value for a defender. You realise players on the final year of their contract should go for significantly less? If he had three years on his contract ?15 M would be awful. That makes it worse.

He has been decent but just decent, he has made errors, as he often did at PSG and it's what got him dropped often at PSG. Luckily for him they weren't really costly errors. Since when do Barca sign players purely on their defensive abilities? Ball playing ability is very important too for their CBs as is creativity and attacking output, hence why Luiz was linked to them and Song was signed as a possible CB. He was only 'linked' to these teams anyway, doesn't mean they were going to sign him but missed out, I could bring up many others who have been 'linked' as well who are average players. Since when were Milan the standard? With disasters like Zapata, Bonera and Yepes at the back? Sakhalin is still riding on his great 10/11 form. He has regressed since then for sure.

A player bought for that fee was never going to be on the bench because that's just silly, he was always going to start. Agger is a fine defender but I'd argue that Skrtel relegated him to the bench and not Sakho, I don't think anyone expected Skrtel to play as well as he has done this season after his performances last season. Including Rodgers probably. Let's not forget he came in only because Toure was injured. He was a firm third choice at the start of the season and pretty much at his last chance for Liverpool.