the 370Z.com OFFICIAL football (soccer) thread

Yeah even as a Bayern fan I will admit Dortmund is awesome.

[Red370]

It would have been a good match to watch in person, Dortmund is only a 2 hour drive from where I am, however, the nosebleed seat ticket prices were set at 300 euros, about $480, ZERO chance i'll pay that for a group stage match.

A few things I took from the match:

1. Thank god we didnt pay for Benayoun, he added NOTHING.

2. Arteta fills the midfield decently but we were lacking creativity all match, we need Jacky back in the worst way.

3. Sheeelny was lights out. No other way to put it, he SMOTHERED his marks the entire match, not one got past him, I can see exactly how he made Blancs squad, he's developed into one hell of a defender at Arsenal.

4. Dortmunds goal was simply world class, nothing anyone could have done about it, my god, volley and upper 90? Ches couldnt have done a thing, even if he had gotten a jump on it.

5. Pat Rice being the figurehead for the match is no excuse for those substitutions. AW is the man in charge and definitely would have hashed out a gameplan prior to the match. Taking off Walcott (albeit, he had a SHITTY game) for a defensive minded midfielder is the wrong damn answer. It should have been a one for one swap with Song, who btw, had one hell of a match, but he was gassed and could have used a breather (my co-MOTM awardee). And THEN the genius decision was made to take off RvP, who looked destined to get on the scoresheet again and throw Shmack (a holding presence) into the game? Really? And last but not least, putting a left back into the game for a winger? Granted, Jervy was playing like crap and dispossessing all over the place, he still had some pace left in his legs.

6. My thoughts on how we could have walked away with the 3 points: Arshavin on for Benayoun at the 65-70 minute mark. Frimpong on to replace the tired Song. PCY in for Walcott at 75. Arshavin moves up to attacking mid, Arteta just behind him. PCY and Jervy move up even with RvP. Balls down the wings (Dortmund backs were looking sluggish by 80 minutes). Instead of dropping into a shell, we should have gone on to attack while still leaving cover in Frimpong and Arteta. Thats the old Arsenal I know, and I truly hope that this isnt a sign of things to come because if we play a Chelsea or a Barca like this, we'll be torn to shreds.

MOTM is Koscielny with Song close behind, they were integral in keeping the teams level.

oh, and where was Gotze? aside from a few cheeky passes, I seen nothing of the 35 million euro value.

[Red370]

and I will say this much, since Mertesacker came on, our defense has been AMAZING. We defended strong the whole match, nothing got through and no real chances materialized, excellent work from the boys in the back.

[Jon@AAMComp]

Originally Posted by Red370

oh, and where was Gotze? aside from a few cheeky passes, I seen nothing of the 35 million euro value.

Keep watching.

Originally Posted by Red370

It would have been a good match to watch in person, Dortmund is only a 2 hour drive from where I am, however, the nosebleed seat ticket prices were set at 300 euros, about $480, ZERO chance i'll pay that for a group stage match.

I wish I was over there. My cousin doesn't live far from K-Town! What about standing at the Südtribüne? Do you have to be a season holder for this section?



On the subject of subliminal finishes, you don't get much better quality than this:



Clinical finish boys and girls.





More mouth watering fixtures today:

Man. City v. Napoli
AFC Ajax v. Olympique Lyon
Benfica v. United
Villareal v. Bayern
Lille v. CSKA Moskva


I'm not a big City fan, but wit their 'dream team', I'm interested to see how they before in European competition. Ajax and Lyon will always put on a good show. I hope Benfica sink United. United will get out of the group stage, but I'm hoping they don't win the group; that way they may have to lose to Barca again. Blue, Bayern face a decent Villareal side, but I think they can get a good result. Lille host CSKA, both teams young and talented.

[phelan]

arsenal related rant:

( Click to show/hide )

Red: were we watching the same match? Koscielny was shite for the first 30 minutes, as was Frimpong. Kagawa and Gotze repeatedly got into the box - from whose side? Oh...Koscielny's. And he kept giving away the damn ball outside of our box! He at least recovered some...er, form at the end of the game, though. I wanted to smack Frimpong every time he misplaced a pass. Which was...a lot of the time. We were rubbish and couldn't hold possession when we were attacking. The possession stats were stupid because we kept playing the ball back to Szczesny!

Credit to Robin van Persie, excellent dispossession, then the quick get up and go mentality to latch onto a Walcott through ball (!!!!!!!!) and score with his chocolate leg.

Mertesacker should have done better on Dortmund's chance at 6 minutes, but it's refreshing to see an Arsenal defender just head the ball as far away as possible from crosses in, instead of trying to play it out like we always do. Still, Mertesacker is walking artillery - very slow, but positionally sound. We are defensively better than last year - like I said a while ago, we're more of a George Graham side now, than Arsene Wenger.

Benayoun has not played in a long *** time, give him some time.

Arteta probably was leggy from the match over the weekend against Swansea.

Gotze was an absolute TERROR. I mean it, he ripped our defense apart time and again with little flicks and tricks. If Kagawa had his shooting boots on we would have been down 3-1 in this match. I want him in the red and white. Badly.

Enough about the Dortmund game, I'm still going "OMFG" over that volley, but we've waxed lyrical over it already. Next week will be interesting, Olympiakos looked fairly ordinary...and made Marseille look good haha. One other game that was ridiculous - anybody see that Hulk screamer from 35+ yards? Holy ****, it's like the Alex free kick last year; if not for the net, it'd still be going!

Today there's lots and lots of good games.

Fun betting punts would be Napoli to win a high scoring affair with Man City 5-4, with neither team playing defense. Also causes Mancini to reapply the handbrakes in the EPL and Man City become boring again.

Benfica to hold a hungry United team to a 1-1 draw, Rooney went in for a haircut and had too much cut off, resulting in a loss of form

Bayern to get SMOKED by a hat trick from Guiseppe Rossi. Gomez misses four clear cut chances by side footing wide and above the bar twice apiece (<3 blue)

Joe Cole to score an absolute screamer for Lille, before limping off with a hamstring injury from a ridiculous celebration

I don't know enough about Ajax to joke about them. Now if they were Feyenoord...

Originally Posted by Jon@AAMComp

Keep watching.



Blue, Bayern face a decent Villareal side, but I think they can get a good result. Lille host CSKA, both teams young and talented.

+1 to keep watching Gotze


Yeah Villareal is decent but I still dont see them beating Bayern with the form they're in

[phelan]

I want a Gotze jersey but I dunno where he's gonna be next year haha

Originally Posted by phelan

Bayern to get SMOKED by a hat trick from Guiseppe Rossi. Gomez misses four clear cut chances by side footing wide and above the bar twice apiece (<3 blue)

Its a good thing I know you're joking

Originally Posted by phelan

I want a Gotze jersey but I dunno where he's gonna be next year haha

Dortmund or Bayern. I dont see him leaving the Bundesliga.

[phelan]

Originally Posted by blue660r01

Its a good thing I know you're joking

Its about time they signed a keeper and defender (Neuer and Boateng) which is what they REALLY needed. They're looking scary as hell so far with no signs of slowing down. I want Barca revenge!

Actually, they look so good right now Im actually worried about when Robben comes back that it may screw up the great chemistry going meow.

[Red370]

Phelan my man, we did in fact, watch the same match. Numerous online publications share my sentiments on Kos's MOTM performance, I call it like I see it. Now, if there was an occasion where he seemed out of sorts, i'll place the blame in this "zone-like" defense we seem to be playing on the wings, Sagna and Gibbs allowing 20 yards to the wingers and giving them plenty time to pick a pass, Kos was pulling double duty, pressing his man and keeping an eye on Gibbs' mark as well, THE WHOLE MATCH. That was frustrating the hell out of me, especially when Kagawa or Schmelzer were breaking down the flank with acres of space to move and all the time in the world to pick a pass. How many attempted through balls did Kos stuff? too many to count, the guy showed class.

Gotze was never a terror, the kid played a few cheeky passes that in the end, went nowhere, he was easily muscled off the ball and played numerous poor passes and took quite a few wayward shots. Same with Kagawa, he had moments of brilliance, but how many of his final balls went straight into the hands of SZCZ? Dont get me wrong, I respect both and know they have the quality, but last night, they seemed off. I'd take Hazard, Marko Marin or Martin over either.

My MOTM for Dortmund was Hummels, that guy was all over the pitch and single handedly stuffed many Arsenal attacks, showed exactly why he deserved of a call up to the Nats.

I know Benayoun will eventually come around, he was brilliant for Liverpool, and defensively, he was stout, offensively, provided zero.

I'm still pissed about the defensive tactics we displayed.

Onto other news, yet another idiotic comment by that premadonic Portuguese dbag:

Ronaldo claims never to have heard of Mario Gotze - ESPN Soccernet

dude is quickly becoming one of the most hated men in football.

You really fallin for the media bs about Ronaldo? lol

[Red370]

yep. hes a cunt. And btw, Neymar has the worst hair in all of football.

[phelan]

Hummels was a beast, that much is sure. I think Gotze is taking a bit TOO much flak IMO, but it's obvious that I'm enthralled by the way he places. The German Messi, as they say.

Unheralded but rewarded, Groskreutz. Great industry while he was on the pitch. (blue how the f*ck do I type his name LOL, I dunno how to put that symbol!)

Kagawa was also off, for reasons that stem back to his injury. He hasn't rediscovered that form yet, but when he does...watch out!

Point taken, Kos can have co-MOTM with Song and Szczesny then. Gibbs is still defensively...er...how do I put this nicely?

Useless.

dos Santos isn't much better though!