the 370Z.com OFFICIAL football (soccer) thread

[phelan]

Originally Posted by blue660r01

Ever since I've played sports as a kid I've had "there is no I in team" drilled into my head...and I still stand by that today.

Okay so I'm still pissed off about the news' unending stream of bullsh*t surrounding Cesc, so kind of irritated. But:

(Arsenal rant)
I'm all for "there is no I in team", but like you said, every player is an important link in the overall chain.

Goalkeeping - don't even get me started with how awful we are here...so let's play dumb here and forget our GKs are ****.

The defensive line, for the better part of the season, was pretty good. Sagna, Gallas, and the Verminator, and bringing Campbell back was quite a surprise. Clichy was **** 90% of the season but looked to recover at the end; sad if he leaves for Barca though. Next year we should be decent if Djourou recovers fully, as does Gibbs. That's assuming replacing Gallas with someone good (read: Hangeland) as well.

The midfield was superb by virtue of the skipper, and Nasri, Song, and Ramsey (pre WTFSHAWCROSSYOUFUCKINGCUNT injury) also deserve praise. Even Abou Diaby, dumbass that he is with no vision whatsoever, made his runs well when they were available. Or he just bulldozed them. Which was fun to watch sometimes.

But Arsenal has LONG been regarded as playing beautiful football, providing excellent setups, but poor finish. Arshavin? Out of position. Bendtner? Head too big to figure out how to make a proper header, and can't seem to finish on chippies. Walcott? All speed, nothing more yet. Eduardo? I'm sorry, but he's done, his confidence in making strong attacks on goal is just gone since his injury. Who does that leave? Vela (rofl), and...yeah, Robin van Persie when he's healthy. Arsenal has NO better target man than RvP.

That's why having RvP healthy is so critical. The forwards just haven't stepped up IMO. So no, he does not MAKE the team, if anybody wants to make a conjecture like that, it's FABREGAS who makes the team. But judging from the bench in the forward position, Robin was really the one quality striker we had, and his presence on the pitch makes a monstrous impact on the game. Hopefully with us adding Chamakh we add a little more quality to the front line though.
(/Arsenal rant)

Back to WC2010: World Cup 2010 - On-form Germany score 24 - Yahoo! Eurosport

I cracked up at this. That's kind of a douchebag move to score 24, though hahahaah. But is it just me, or is Germany's midfield getting really thin? First Ballack, now Trasch? I guess I'm not familiar enough with them to make any judgment calls.

Also, it sucks for Ghana losing Essien. That's HUGE for their team.