Footyball thread no. 8

[Calibandar]

I'm still not happy with David James but he's first choice for the foreseeable future and Robinson on the bench. I'd like to see Joe Hart or Ben Foster in goal as well as these strike me as genuine talents, but they are young still and Foster simply isn't getting a chance with Man U since he seems to be 3rd keeper there. Then again I expect vd Sar will retire at the end of the season, which leaves it to either Foster and the other goalie ( uness Ferguson wants to buy someone new, but I doubt it). As it stands, the goalkeeper is one of the few weakness in the current England side.

England midfield looks very good and loads of choices there. As good as Barry and Carrick are it is unlikely they will both play when all are fit. After all, Gerrard, Lampard, Joe Cole, Walcott, Young, SWP, Bentley and Downing are all contending for the 4 midfield spots.

Agbonlahor is a relief upfront and I guess either he or Bent will step up for Heskey if he falls off or gets injured. Defoe is just too lightweight and that is not going to change.

[Calibandar]

And in other friendly news, Portugal travels to Brazil and gets thrashed by the best team in the world.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns5OlBfavr0"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns5OlBfavr0[/url]

Brazil vs Portugal 6-2

Fabiano * 3

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1596761' date='Nov 21 2008, 20.29']Then again I expect vd Sar will retire at the end of the season, which leaves it to either Foster and the other goalie ( uness Ferguson wants to buy someone new, but I doubt it).[/quote]

It'll be either Foster or Kuszczak to replace vd Saar - this is why Fergie bought them in the first place, he's not going to change his mind and bring in someone completely new. Apparently, vd Saar thinks Foster will be England's next number one.

Talking of goalkeepers, it's always disorienting seeing Schmeichel in a City shirt these days.

[Master Aune]

Ben Foster bigest problem is that he is injure pron and because of that hasent play many games the last two years. So we will se what Sir Alex will do when the fotball year is over.

[Black Wizard]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1596761' date='Nov 21 2008, 20.29']I'm still not happy with David James but he's first choice for the foreseeable future and Robinson on the bench. I'd like to see Joe Hart or Ben Foster in goal as well as these strike me as genuine talents, but they are young still and Foster simply isn't getting a chance with Man U since he seems to be 3rd keeper there. Then again I expect vd Sar will retire at the end of the season, which leaves it to either Foster and the other goalie ( uness Ferguson wants to buy someone new, but I doubt it). As it stands, the goalkeeper is one of the few weakness in the current England side.[/quote]
I bet you wish you had Craig Gordon and Alan MacGregor. :)

[Jon AS]

Hoffenheim continues to impress. Top of the league after 14 games, Vedad Ibisevic scored his 15th and 16th league goals today after only managing a handful last year in the second Bundesliga.

The other big surprise of the season for me are Hertha BSC in 4th place. But while Ragnick's Hoffenheim achieve their success with fast paced and relentless attacking football, Hertha play in an old fashioned, dour defensive minded style.

Despite Hertha's success, the number of goals per game actually continues to go up, it currently stands at about 3,1, not even the Eredivisie can keep up with that. Crazy stuff.

[Zoë Sumra]

... and none of the EPL's "Big Four" score today. A sign that the league has strength in depth or were the big guns simply not firing?

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Eloisa' post='1597654' date='Nov 22 2008, 21.50']... and none of the EPL's "Big Four" score today. A sign that the league has strength in depth or were the big guns simply not firing?[/quote]

Well, the Independent today had an article about how close it is at the bottom (8 points separating the bottom ten teams) - it seems that outside the big four, there is less of a gap in quality than there has been in previous seasons with teams such as Derby.

[Sir Thursday]

[quote name='Eloisa' post='1597654' date='Nov 22 2008, 21.50']... and none of the EPL's "Big Four" score today. A sign that the league has strength in depth or were the big guns simply not firing?[/quote]


Fulham, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Man City all played very well today...the first three had great defensive efforts, and Man City didn't have to do all that much defending because Arsenal were poor. Perhaps it's a case of teams starting to realise that with the teams lower down so close together, it would be a good idea to make sure they nick some points of the big 4 too? :P


Sir Thursday

[Black Wizard]

Villa should have had a penalty.

[Calibandar]

Agreed, and if not that Vidic should at least have had a red card. Vidic isn't that slow at all, just how wickedly fast Agbonlahor is ( comparable to Babel and Walcott I'd say).

What strikes me about the big teams is how hard it is, apparently, to get a striker that actually scores a lot and does so consistently. You can always try to deflate such an argument with the IMO rather lame "yeah but he's a team player sort of striker who allows others to score" argument , but I am looking simply at what a striker is mainly there for and how well he is doing it.

Man U:

Berbatov is their best striker. Rooney has been terribly inconsistent [i]for the last two years [/i]really, very on and off with his goalscoring. Doesn't make anywhere near enough goals for a player of his reputed calibre, and I say that acknowledging that he does have other qualities as well.

Tevez is having a poor season sofar, has utterly failed to impress when has played and has failed to delivert goals.

Liverpool:

They've got Torres and then they move to non-scoring strikers such as Keane and Kuyt, whose averages are extremely low for strikers. Gerrard is far more likely to score but when he's missing Liverpool is on its back.

Arsenal:

Adebayor has done shit for them this year but he did prove himself last year. Van Persie is another of those refined technical strikers who just scores far, far too little. Bendtner hasn't shown that he has what it takes on the highest level. Who is going to score the goals for Arsenal this year? Very reliant on an in-form Adeabayor.

Chelsea:

With both Anelka and Drogba as renowned high-scoring strikers they seem to have it covered.

[Mathis]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1598043' date='Nov 23 2008, 14.45']Liverpool:

They've got Torres and then they move to non-scoring strikers such as [b]Keane[/b] and Kuyt, whose averages are extremely low for strikers.[/quote]

Where do you get this stuff? Keane has scored 20+ goals in both of his last two seasons.

[Sir Thursday]

[quote name='Mathis']Where do you get this stuff? Keane has scored 20+ goals in both of his last two seasons.[/quote]

He's not exactly been prolific since arriving at Anfield though...he is proven to be a goalscorer in the right setup though, you're right.



Sir Thursday

[john]

Van Persie should have had a goal at the weekend. Nicked it off Hart when he threw it up for a drop kick. I didn't see anything wrong with it.

[Black Wizard]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1598043' date='Nov 23 2008, 13.45']Liverpool:

They've got Torres and then they move to non-scoring strikers such as Keane and Kuyt, whose averages are extremely low for strikers. Gerrard is far more likely to score but when he's missing Liverpool is on its back.[/quote]
Kuyt's done pretty well this season. Five goals is a quarter of his career total for Liverpool (league games only).

[Iskaral Pust]

I think it's fair to say that Robbie Keane has been woeful in front of goal this season, despite his prolific seasons with Spurs. If he isn't missing open goals, then he is blocking goal-bound shots from team-mates. That will improve soon. Torres is still rusty after his injury, and Keane may be crowding some of his space. That needs to be worked out. But I think that Liverpool's problem against Fulham was the absence of both Gerrard and Alonso from midfield. We didn't have anyone to dictate the tempo of the game, and it showed.

Arsenal look pretty fragile these days, ManU came up against a team in form, but Chelsea's struggles were the real surprise for me. Newcastle did well, but a well organized rearguard performance is new territory to them and I'm suprised Chelsea could not find a way through. I wonder if some of their storming wins have been more due to the opposition capitulating and resigning themselves to a loss.

It looks like all of the big four will be facing massed defences for the next couple of months until the smaller teams need to take a chance against them and play for a win. Unfortunately, I think United are best equipped to score in those situations.

[Calibandar]

Mathis
[quote]Where do you get this stuff?[/quote]

Try watching some EPL this year and you might get a clue. Keane has been horrendous this year and has hardly scored at all.

John

I agree van Persie should have been given a goal there. Would have been an addition to his small tally of goals.

[Mathis]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1599264' date='Nov 24 2008, 23.25']Mathis


Try watching some EPL this year and you might get a clue. Keane has been horrendous this year and has hardly scored at all.[/quote]

Did I say Keane hasn't been disappointing this year?

Here is what you said, emphasis mine:

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1598043' date='Nov 23 2008, 14.45']Liverpool:

They've got Torres and then they move to non-scoring strikers such as Keane and Kuyt, whose [b]averages are extremely low for strikers[/b].[/quote]

Over the past two seasons Keane has scored 45 goals in 98 appearances. Hardly a low average for a striker. Maybe you should try watching some team outside the top four.


Keane has moved to a new team with a completely different setup to Spurs. He does his best work playing off another striker but has been unable to get much time in that role as Torres has been in and out a lot this year due to injury.

As such he has been played mainly as a lone striker and he doesn't have the pace to lead the line. No wonder he hasn't been prolific this year.

I don't know whether Keane will have a chance to succeed at Liverpool. They have been fairly successful this season by using one striker up front (which will always be Torres if he is fit) with Gerrard behind and Alonso and Mascherano anchoring the midfield. Not much room for a man of Keanes attributes. OTOH they haven't been scoring enough as some posters have already pointed out so maybe Rafa will throw caution to the wind and actually play two up front with two wingers? That has its own problems though as one of Gerrard, Alonso and Mascherano will have to be dropped unless Gerrard is shunted back onto the right.

Its a tough decision. I suppose thats why managers are payed in the millions.

Anyways, Keane isn't anywhere near the flop you make him out to be.

[Paddy]

One thing that's occurred to me, but I'm not sure how to find statistics to discover if it's true or not, but I [i]think[/i] that in that last few seasons, Robbie Keane has had a pretty low goal-scoring record in the first half of the season, and then come on fire in the second half.

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

[quote name='Calibandar' post='1599264' date='Nov 25 2008, 00.25']I agree van Persie should have been given a goal there. Would have been an addition to his small tally of goals.[/quote]
I'm pretty sure that these days the rules clearly state that you can't steal the ball like van Persie did, so the referee did the right thing.