the 370Z.com OFFICIAL football (soccer) thread

[Red370]

I fvcking hate teams like Newcastle that can only score from a set piece, throw everyone forward and hope something pops in, then put the whole team back in the box until the final whistle, most boring fvcking shyt to watch ever.

[cow]

Completely agreed.

[cow]

I'm putting in FIFA & am going to spend the time between now & the Saints kick off following Andy Carroll around trying to break his leg in as many pieces as the computer allows.

[cow]

Cmon Liverpool.

[phelan]

at least chelski dropped points, but WTF ARSENAL.

[Jon@AAMComp]

Well, not a good weekend for Londoners yeah? Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea all dropping points. I was over on the Chelsea boards the other day and the plastics are coming out of the woodwork saying how we're going to lose in the CL, lose in the Prem League, team is in trouble yada ya. All Chelsea supporters aren't glory hunters though. Honestly, the game was pretty even, but the two goals scored by Torres were just sublime. If you saw them, you'll know what I'm talking about. Its hard to defend against a perfectly placed pass(1st Torres goal with an assist from Kuyt), and its even more difficult for a keeper to save a ball that curls into the side net from 18 yards out(2nd Torres goal). We were clearly missing Lamps and Essien in the midfield. Drogba starting on the bench didn't help either.

All is not lost though, I'm still optimistic. That's just life and death in the Premier League. Back home in London to Fulham Wednesday. I'm confident we can hit them hard and get right back on track.

Did anyone catch the Madrid derby this weekend?

YouTube - Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid ( 2-0 ) All Goals and Highlights 7-11-2010!

I like Atletico, but I was happy for my man Özil scoring from that set piece. We still miss him and Diego at Bremen.

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: