Miscellaneous Football Thread

[Haarithan]

If he had three years on his contract ?15 M would be awful. That makes it worse.

lol. If he had three years left in contract, I wouldn't have thought twice about splashing out ?15M, quite simply because it's blatantly obvious he's very talented.

Did say ?15M was a lot of money for a guy who was in his final year of contract at PSG though..

As Auwais said, he's still very raw but seriously has the tools in him to go distances. Time is on his side too.

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.

Allen's on the bench right now. Bought for the same price.

Lamela's on the bench right now for Spurs. Bought for double the price of Sakho and also for Spurs' club record transfer fee.

Agger is a fine defender but I'd argue that Skrtel relegated him to the bench and not Sakho

Agger has never played on the right of a CB pairing, and Skrtel has never played on the left of a CB pairing. So this reasoning is just wrong.

Take nothing away from Skrtel though, he's been quite outstanding this season, and each and every other point you mentioned about Skrtel in your previous post was spot on. Has nothing to do with relegating Agger to the bench though.

Thing is, Sakho has started bloody brilliantly here at Anfield, and has thus deservedly cemented his place as first choice LCB over Agger. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, I believe we've agreed to disagree on Sakho, so let's move on..

 

[thedon5]

?15 M is a lot of money for a defender, talented or not. That gets you the top bracket of CBs.

Allen started most games when he first arrived. In any case that money is less for a midfielder than it is a defender.

Lamela is on the bench since it'd be unfair to drop Townsend as he's hitting the best form of his life. Sigurdsson is finally scoring goals consistently as well. Can't really drop either of them. Part of the reason why he was on the bench for the first few was that he had had very few training sessions with Spurs, with the way their wingers were playing of course he wasn't going to get to play. Eriksen on the other hand who had to replace Holtby/Sandro in the team was put in straight away as there was no undroppable player and he had trained with Spurs.

On the LCB vs RCB matter, I have no idea about that lol I'll be honest, I never pay attention to what side a CB plays. I'm not sure who plays LCB and RCB for Arsenal for example.

We'll see how he does from here.

 

[Auwais]

I meant that he's the sort of player at the age where Wenger could've moulded him into an excellent player, as he's done with many in the past.

Koscielny and Sakho are probably France's best centre back pairing at the moment, so I don't see why they couldn't play together at club level as well.

 

[thedon5]

Cruyff explains his diamond formation - YouTube

Great video.

 

[War]

Portugal land Sweden in playoff draw - ESPN FC

Ha, ENG would have really gotten France if we they didn't win. Otherwise some interesting play-off's - one of Ronaldo or Zlatan won't be going to Brazil.

 

[thedon5]

I hope Sweden win because that would just be too funny.

 

[Haarithan]

Hope Ukraine twat France, and Iceland pull off an upset win over Croatia.

 

[shravi]

Heh

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fergie-book-liverpool-really-sir-2482802

While I think this article overstates how Liverpool "got to" Ferguson, I think it makes a lot of valid points, which is quite rare for the Mirror.

 

[thedon5]

Why is Nigeria the world's toughest league in which to get an away win? | Paul Doyle | Football | theguardian.com

Would Man City get any away wins in a season in the Nigerian Premier League?

 

[War]

Carlos Tevez deserves Argentina recall, says Antonio Conte - ESPN FC

Despite Argentina have the best top class strikers depth in the world, it been strange that Tevez hasn't played for the current coach's tenure at all.

 

[shravi]

The more tactics and formations change, the more they stay the same by Rory Smith - ESPN FC

 

[shravi]

Gabriele Marcotti: Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic an antihero to be rooted for? by Gabriele Marcotti - ESPN FC

Hah, great point. Although I rated him, I never liked him before. Now I love Zlatan. Great character and more importantly, what a player.

 

[shravi]

I hope he gets a run in the side. I genuinely think he can be a top quality player. He is one of the only Liverpool players who always wants the ball, and he's great on it. He was our best player at the beginning of last season when Liverpool couldn't get any results. He played half-injured and lost his confidence after that, but I saw enough in those first 2 months to suggest that he has a lot to offer.

 

[War]

 

[Haarithan]

Give this man a knighthood already!