the 370Z.com OFFICIAL football (soccer) thread

Torres is awesome

[phelan]

Torres is back. I knew he would show up for the Liverpool / Chelsea fixture, and boy did he ever. His first touch was brilliant for the first goal, and there wasn't anything the defense or Cech could do to stop his second. It's good to see him back to full speed. Chelsea looked dangerous (Malouda really should've scored on that half-cross from Drogba), but Reina did well to keep them at bay.

Out of all the London teams, Arsenal did the worst. There, I'm a Gunners fan, and I've gone and said it.

Arsenal had absolutely nobody but themselves to blame for their loss. Cesc looks like he's half strength (apparently he is), van Persie had no business on the pitch (one training session does not mean a player is 100% fit), Chamakh looked lost. Defense was shoddy, although the red on Koscielny is harsh. Fabianski flapped a bit, first in several games, but it damned us into giving 3 points to Newcastle. There was NO motivation, NO creativity, nothing to take pride in. They were stuck in first gear, and forgot where second was.

I think Wenger has to really rethink how he motivates this squad. Against West Brom we looked horrible, but this game, it looked like we cared, but never got off the ground. I'm not sure what he's telling the squad, but it's NOT WORKING. There's no reason for us to lose to Shakhtar midweek, then get spanked by an Andy Carroll UNMARKED HEADED GOAL on the weekend. Especially after we mauled both teams weeks prior!!

At least Wilshere looks like he hasn't missed a beat, and I'm still hopeful that Arsenal can turn things around. RvP is back (sort of), once Vermaelen returns our 1st choice defense will be intact once more. I hope Nasri isn't out for a while. Looked like he faded after taking that knock to his leg. And to his credit, Arshavin tried to make things happen when he came off the bench. Guess he doesn't like riding pine sitting around in plushy seats.

[Red370]

Originally Posted by phelan

Torres is back. I knew he would show up for the Liverpool / Chelsea fixture, and boy did he ever. His first touch was brilliant for the first goal, and there wasn't anything the defense or Cech could do to stop his second. It's good to see him back to full speed. Chelsea looked dangerous (Malouda really should've scored on that half-cross from Drogba), but Reina did well to keep them at bay.

Out of all the London teams, Arsenal did the worst. There, I'm a Gunners fan, and I've gone and said it.

Arsenal had absolutely nobody but themselves to blame for their loss. Cesc looks like he's half strength (apparently he is), van Persie had no business on the pitch (one training session does not mean a player is 100% fit), Chamakh looked lost. Defense was shoddy, although the red on Koscielny is harsh. Fabianski flapped a bit, first in several games, but it damned us into giving 3 points to Newcastle. There was NO motivation, NO creativity, nothing to take pride in. They were stuck in first gear, and forgot where second was.

I think Wenger has to really rethink how he motivates this squad. Against West Brom we looked horrible, but this game, it looked like we cared, but never got off the ground. I'm not sure what he's telling the squad, but it's NOT WORKING. There's no reason for us to lose to Shakhtar midweek, then get spanked by an Andy Carroll UNMARKED HEADED GOAL on the weekend. Especially after we mauled both teams weeks prior!!

At least Wilshere looks like he hasn't missed a beat, and I'm still hopeful that Arsenal can turn things around. RvP is back (sort of), once Vermaelen returns our 1st choice defense will be intact once more. I hope Nasri isn't out for a while. Looked like he faded after taking that knock to his leg. And to his credit, Arshavin tried to make things happen when he came off the bench. Guess he doesn't like riding pine sitting around in plushy seats.

Couldnt agree more with your entire assessment. As much as I hate em, its good to see L'Pool knock Chelski back a few pegs. Torres looks to have gotten his touch/shot back, good to see.

As far as the Arsenal match, yeah, we were knocking the ball about and didnt know what to do with it, we had no desire to get forward with any kind of vigor, final balls were horrible, the red on Kos was harsh, but his positioning in the first place led to him having to make the foul, i'll chalk that up to needing more games. I dont know wtf AW is thinking putting his best striker into the match with one training session under his belt. Fabregas played like he was carrying an injury, close control was terrible, giving up possession all over the pitch with needless runs, Chamakh was invisible. The only positive I gained from the match is that Arshavin is a great super sub and that is where he should remain for awhile, he came on and added spark. Oh, Jacky was pretty solid, he was up and down the pitch, hard in defense, his passes were at least attempting to put someone through, just, his overall work rate was second to none, best player on the pitch for us on the day.

Here's hoping next week looks better. Oh and I pray to god Nasri didnt pick up a long term injury.

[phelan]

You seeing this sh*t about Vermaelen picking up yet ANOTHER injury?! God, we're never going to get our first choice defensive line at this rate! I hope the following article is true then:

Arsenal Look At Roma Defender Philippe Mexes - Report - Goal.com

It looks like Cesc has been permanently hamstrung, and Nasri has a few knocks but should be able to shake them off for Wolves tomorrow.

This team is ridiculous though, just as we felt we were coming back, a few other players drop out to injury. What the hell...


Oh, and anybody who yells "It's all Fabianski's fault"...shove it. Yes, he came out late, but I watched the game over again, and good god, the defensive marking doomed him. At least Fabianski was there to try and make a play, it's the kind of aggressiveness we've been begging our GKs to have for months / years. I feel a little better about it after watching the replays.

[cow]

Originally Posted by phelan

Oh, and anybody who yells "It's all Fabianski's fault"...shove it. Yes, he came out late, but I watched the game over again, and good god, the defensive marking doomed him. At least Fabianski was there to try and make a play, it's the kind of aggressiveness we've been begging our GKs to have for months / years. I feel a little better about it after watching the replays.

[phelan]

random twitterings from the Gunners.

Andrei Arshavin - "A very annoying defeat. We’ve just had a very unpleasant week"

Jack Wilshere - "Long way to go yet and we will be back stronger on wednesday!"

Marouane Chamakh - "Stay with us friends, i feel, i'm hurt".

Wojscez©® - "not happy about todays result let's hope we lift ourselfs up and get the result at wolves"

Robin van Persie - "Ow, my leg".

i just had to laugh at the last one

but in any case, we need to get a resounding result against wolves, or more questions than we'd like will be asked of the team.

i would start fabregas, see if we can snap some quick goals, then rest him. he's not even close to 75% fit right now.

[phelan]

lulz, the most excitement in the Manchester derby came from this...

[cow]

lol oh crap

[cow]

another angle:

[phelan]

baaaahahahaha that's even worse

[cow]

Thiago Alcântara do Nascimento is heir to a footballing lineage of note. His father, Lomar do Nascimento, better known as Mazinho, was a defensive midfielder in the 80s and 90s. Mazinho's career took him to 10 clubs, but he was hardly a journeyman. He was capped by Brazil's national team 22 times, including appearing throughout the canarinha's 1994 World Cup-winning run. Thiago was born in Bari, Italy in 1991 (really? I'm writing 1991 as the birth year of a professional footballer? Oh god I'm old) and began his footballing career at the age of 4 in the Flamego's youth ranks, meaning he really hasn't ever known anything other than the soccer field.

He joined Barcelona's youth ranks in 2005, 4 years after his father had retired from professional play, and has steadily risen through the ranks. His debut for the first team on May 17, 2009 and his first goal the 4th of a 4-0 rout of Racing Santander on February 20, 2010. He's made 6 appearances this year--3 in the league, 2 in the Copa, 1 in the Supercopa de España - and looks poised to make more before the end of the calendar year.

With the squad hurting for depth and supposedly hurting for cash, Thiago's free "transfer" to the first team seems like a no brainer. Arsenal fans would nod in appreciation as it suggests less of a chance Barça will go after Cesc Fabregas (why promote someone and then spend big money on a replacement?) and anyone serious about austerity measure for FCB would also applaud the move. And, really, for a team that trumpets the number of youth players in the squad during the Champions League final in Rome, promoting youth seems like simply the right move to make.

ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - FC Barcelona - A Young Gun Lights It Up

[Red370]

wow, Chelsea got their ass beat today, very nice Cats.

[phelan]

omfg @ the galaxy.

[Red370]

Originally Posted by phelan

omfg @ the galaxy.

yep, Dallas owned their ass. Time for DBecks to hang up the boots.

[Red370]

AWWWWW YEEEEEEAH!





Time to bend a few in.