OT: Futbol chit chat

[Yoshi]

Fascinating:

Barcelona 5-0 Villarreal: Guardiola switches to a 3-4-3 (diamond) and Barca run riot | Zonal Marking

Barca played a three-man defensive line, consisting of two midfielders and a left back, and crushed Villarreal. I never used to give Guardiola credit, thought he was coasting along with superior talent, but as I appreciate tactics more I see he (or their overall coaching) is definitely deserving.

More and more teams these days play 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 formations, where the center forward isn't a big guy heading crosses, but a smart playmaker who causes the defense problems with unpredictable movement (Messi, RVP, Rooney). You just don't need the big centerbacks in this situation, and you're better off with smart and mobile guy...or at least one of them.

Barca isn't just better than everyone else talent-wise, but they're on the forefront of the tactical thinking. They manage to get away with these amazing attacking lineups, with minimal numbers of defensive players (even their left and right backs are usually offensive-minded players in Alves and Adriano), because they play their defense in the form of massive pressing all over the pitch rather than relying on defensive players to defend.

I've had the week of all hellish weeks, but space your closing statement just nailed it on the freaking head right there bro.

Actually, for anybody who's followed Barca long enough, you can see that tactically they are so much better than the team that had Ronaldhino and was coached by Rijkaard. I was one of the very few on here who didn't believe Cesc would be a bench player and sure enough, Cesc is totally being unleashed because let's face it, Barca's forwards are better passers than Arsenal's which is why you see Cesc and Iniesta beating the offsides trap and doing what they have to do.

It's no secret pundits have had a hard - on in regards to Barca's youth academy, and players such as Cesc, Thiago (well, basically almost everyone on Barca's team) is showing you why.

 

[Yoshi]

For my other squad, Arsenal FC, I'm very thankful for Man U in whooping Arsenal's ass this past sunday. Although I believe Wenger has been targeting the players they've signed over the past several weeks, it took a major ass whooping for Arsene and the board to get their act together:

Per Mertesacker - 6'6" german CBT who has more than 75 caps for his country and is regarded as one of the cleanest tacklers in the Bundesliga. He's not the most fleet of foot, but is technically sound and knows how to position himself.

Santos - 27 year old LB from Fenerbache and Brazil's #1 choice for LB. I don't know WTF Wenger was thinking with his statement of Arsenal being fine with Traore and Gibbs at LB (Traore was just released right after the Man U game). Santos is Alves minus the defensive prowess

Park - Captain of South Korea. Nice player, but not a breakout player.

Possible "other" signings:
Michael Arteta of Everton - good Spanish player who is a playmaker. It's quite apparent Ramsey is no Fabs so this signing may be of utter importance

Gourcuff of France - would be sick if he were to come over but I doubt it.

Eden Hazard of Lille - above line x 3. Again, I doubt it but he would provide some depth on the wings. Definitely better than Park.

 

[CalamityX11]

I like Gourcuff of France... young guy with a solid upside(if i'm thinking of the right player)

 

[Yoshi]

I like Gourcuff of France... young guy with a solid upside(if i'm thinking of the right player)

Yeah, he's the one.

Just hope he doesn't turn out to be the moron Samir Nasrat was. Despite his performance against the much weakened Tottenham on Sunday, Nasrat is still a wussy. Here's to Mertesacker, Song, or especially Frimpong knocking the bullchit out of him at the Emirates

 

[yehyeh]

It looks like Arsenal got Arteta and Benayoun in addition to Per Mertesacker and Santos. Good to have some experience on this team, hopefully they can compete in the Premier League once Wilshere is back from injury and Gervinho and Song are back from suspension.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Arsenal's additions seem pretty solid, hardly familiar with any of them but they sound good on paper. Saw a note that said Arsenal now has like 6 national team captains on the squad.....a bit different from the criticisms that they have no leaders.

I do like to see a team like Stoke adding players, that team gets it done on guts and discipline, now they have a skilled player or two to go with it.

One other team to watch, if anyone cares about Italy, is Roma....they were bought by American statheads from the same group as Liverpool's owners and are spending big and smart. Added Bojan, Miralem Pjanic (superb young playmaker), Stekelenberg (Ajax keeper and van der Saar's replacement for Dutch), Simon Kjaer (was awesome as teenager for Palermo, got lost in Germany), Fernando Gago (Madrid outcast) and Erik Lamela (supposedly the best youngster bought from South America this year). Quality additions all around.

 

[trancemeister]

I too haven't heard much of these players besides Mertesacker and Santos. But I agree, the defense should get a whole lot stouter now with Per in the center. It is nice to see them bring someone with experience more than just picking up some kid with potential. We have enough of those I think.

As far as Santos goes, I’m not sure he is the ideal LB unless Wenger was looking more for a wing back. Santos is better pushing forward than he is at defending. Not comparing the two, but he seems to be sort of in the Roberto Carlos mould I think.

Arteta could end up being a poor man’s version of Cesc. Don’t get me wrong, he is a huge drop off from Cesc, but I think if Arteta can stay healthy (which has been the knock on him) he could provide some much needed vision and stability to the midfield.

Regardless, it is going to take some time to integrate all these guys into the squad. Yes, thank you ManYoo for the beat down. Else we would have seen the same song and dance from Wenger for another season.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Nasrat is still a wussy.

Just saw you guys talk about Gourcuff......if you didn't like Nasri's attitude you might not like Gourcuff. Was supposedly a divisive figure in that World Cup disaster for France, whether fair or not a group of teammates really gave him a hard time for being a "wussy", if you will. In sports parlance he's a bit soft, as in he's nice and cultured, but hasn't handled tough situations well and guys like Ribery and Anelka who grew up pretty hard really don't like the guy.

You could compare him to Alex Smith in some ways, and while he's been better than Smith he really hasn't made the impact people predicted other than one great season. No doubt when you watch him, he seems to have amazing skill set, deadly from set pieces.....but it doesn't come together. I have always paid a lot of attention to him since I first started watching futbol, because Bordeaux was the first really long game of Football Manager I ever got into, watched them play as much as possible.

 

[Yoshi]

I too haven't heard much of these players besides Mertesacker and Santos. But I agree, the defense should get a whole lot stouter now with Per in the center. It is nice to see them bring someone with experience more than just picking up some kid with potential. We have enough of those I think.

As far as Santos goes, I’m not sure he is the ideal LB unless Wenger was looking more for a wing back. Santos is better pushing forward than he is at defending. Not comparing the two, but he seems to be sort of in the Roberto Carlos mould I think.

Arteta could end up being a poor man’s version of Cesc. Don’t get me wrong, he is a huge drop off from Cesc, but I think if Arteta can stay healthy (which has been the knock on him) he could provide some much needed vision and stability to the midfield.

Regardless, it is going to take some time to integrate all these guys into the squad. Yes, thank you ManYoo for the beat down. Else we would have seen the same song and dance from Wenger for another season.

Santos is definitely better going forward than going backward, but I didn't think Clichy was that great, either, defensively, esp. with all of his mental lapses from crucial fixtures this past season.

When you look at all of these signings, I'm happy they added to the depth, but Arsenal did not even come close, and I emphasize close, to spending all of the quid they earned from all of the sales this summer. They did not get top tier players, but moreso added the much needed areas.

Of all of the signings, I'm actually impressed most with the Santos signing and I'm thinking he'll make the most impact on this team. Yossi is a sub and will add some backup scoring, but not sure if he'll get enough starts to add to his account. Mertsacker was a good signing, but I want to see how he'll handle faster players in the prem. As for Arteta, well, I don't think there are many central midfielders that are better than Cesc. The only two right now are on his own Barca team, but Cesc is going to become a better player on Barca than what he was on Arsenal for the sheer fact that Barca is probably the best passing team in the world and Cesc is a far better scorer than people realize.

 

[CalamityX11]

Don't think this was added, but last week, Liverpool added my boy and Copa America's best young talent Coates(defense) from URUGUAY!!!!

Vamos carajo!

 

[trancemeister]

Don't think this was added, but last week, Liverpool added my boy and Copa America's best young talent Coates(defense) from URUGUAY!!!!

Vamos carajo!

I haven't heard much about him ... might have to read up some more. Coming from Uruguay, at least the pedigree should be there

 

[trancemeister]

In other news ... it is a proud day for me today as a Juve fan! We get to unveil our new stadium with a friendly against the oldest professional club, Notts County. How I wish I could travel there for such a historic occasion. Here are some pictures of the new stadium. Unfortunately, there aren't any official photos yet so these are just some leaked images.

Forza Juve!!

 

[MW49ers5]

Trance, is that some sort of retractable roof mechanism?

 

[trancemeister]

I don't believe the stadium has a roof over it, retractable or not. For some reason, the entire construction information on this project has been kept very secretive so information has been hard to come by. All I know is that they did away with the old roof from the Delle Alpi stadium.

 

[CalamityX11]

I haven't heard much about him ... might have to read up some more. Coming from Uruguay, at least the pedigree should be there

Suarez is looking very good for Liverpool and the fans of RED!

 

[CalamityX11]

That is one fine looking stadium... from the outside it looked gigantic.... Like the simple touch inside with the sea of white chairs.

Juve players should feel good for themselves.

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

You know what's great about that new stadium? No track. Always baffling to see these major teams playing in a stadium with a track, where even the first row is sometimes like 20 - 30 yards from the edge of the pitch.....and I think just about every stadium in Italy has one, maybe every one but San Siro. They must play 100x as much soccer in these places as track & field, yet they let the tracks dominate their arenas.

Oh, and I don't think there's a stadium in Europe with a roof over the field, right? Plenty have a roof over the seats, but none playing indoors.....I think a couple places in Japan might be domes.

 

[CalamityX11]

You know what's great about that new stadium? No track. Always baffling to see these major teams playing in a stadium with a track, where even the first row is sometimes like 20 - 30 yards from the edge of the pitch.....and I think just about every stadium in Italy has one, maybe every one but San Siro. They must play 100x as much soccer in these places as track & field, yet they let the tracks dominate their arenas.

Oh, and I don't think there's a stadium in Europe with a roof over the field, right? Plenty have a roof over the seats, but none playing indoors.....I think a couple places in Japan might be domes.

In Europe I can't think of one specific stadium but I WOULD imagine Germany and France would be the ones to have one(if).

Japan/China have them.

 

[MW49ers5]

I don't believe the stadium has a roof over it, retractable or not. For some reason, the entire construction information on this project has been kept very secretive so information has been hard to come by. All I know is that they did away with the old roof from the Delle Alpi stadium.

Thanks, Trance...

 

[spacedoodoopistol]

Speaking of German stadia.....this is one of my favorites, anywhere. Allianz Arena in Munich. Note to 49ers and Raiders - a few teams share this arena, so they have it set to change colors based on whatever team is playing that day.