Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - The Scriptures Prophesied the Messiah Plays 3-4-3

[Quarquar]

For club or country? He's been one of Chelsea's most consistent players.

He hasn't been as good as he was for Monaco. I have also yet to hear anyone say they've been impressed by his play this season. He has given the ball away a lot, been sloppy in possesion, his passing has left a lot to be desired, he's fouled alot and at times has just looked overwhelmed. Why do you believe he has been the squads most consistent player? As DM he is not even near the top of PL in tackles or possession retained and leads the entire league in fouls. He only has 2 more tackles than n golo Kante who has missed significant time as well

 

[blues_funk_reggae]

Nigeria :ohshyt:

 

[Quarquar]

You think Toliso is objectively better than Bayakoko?

They're two different players. Tolisso is much better in the final 3rd. Baks is a much better defensively. That is irrelevant though considering the topic is selection for the french national team, not who is better. Look back over deschamps call up history. Tolisso has always been preferred over bakayoko. Has nothing to do with who I believe is better.

 

[Fenian]

Born losers.

For a nation of under 5 million where football isn't even in the top 3 most popular sports we do alright I think.


Consistently punch above our weight.

 

[Roberto Firmino]

Its looking good for this set of African teams. Stage is set.

Nigeria,Egypt,Algeria,Senegal,Tunisia.

Someone has to break the quarters final mark this time.

 

[Quarquar]

Lmao guess he doesn't follow african football because Algeria was in the same qualifying group as Nigeria.

 

[Civilisé]

why are you guys rating france over brazil or germany? brazil has a ridiculous winning streak right now, and germany has yet to lose in 2017. both teams have a better manager and seem to play better when it matters. france has the talent on paper, but most of them are young and inexperienced. i'd place them as the favorites for 2022, but right now i have them as 3rd/4th best team in the world.

The French coach is not that bad. He did a good job to rebuild a team after the South African shameful strike. He may seem conservative sometimes, which is frustrating, but much needed when you have to deal with so many egos... He wants to avoid the potential implosion of the team at all costs.
In 2018 French players won't be that young and inexperienced, that was the case for the WC in Brazil tho.

 

[Civilisé]

I use a simple formula when rooting for teams in the world cup. Its usually 5 teams I'll Stan.

Automatically is the USA. But since they are out I lose 1 team.

I then choose a country from the UEFA Big 5: Spain, Italy, England, France & Germany. This is always France

I then have my African team. Its usually been Cote D'Ivoire but they out. So it's Nigeria

Next is a Latin country south of the US. I'm torn on this still. I have some days off mid December for my bday. I'll either be in Argentina, Colombia or Brazil. Wherever I go, I'll come back with there jersey and they'll be my squad.

Then I select a random team from a country I've traveled to recently that I like and that has a good jersey. This will be Switzerland

Watch out these Puma jerseys were cheap af the last tournament, kinda the Nike NBA jersey this year.

 

[Civilisé]

They're two different players. Tolisso is much better in the final 3rd. Baks is a much better defensively.

Exactly, Deschamps sees them as two different players. Baka is your typical strong def midfielder and France is already stacked with them. This place is for Pogba and Kanté. The question is who's gonna play this more offensive/sentinel role. So far Tolisso has been impressive with the NT, his pass quality and how he reads the game were more convincing than Baka (both being recent call ups).
Baka wasn't called because Deschamps wanted to give Nzonzi a shot, he deserved it.

 

[BigMan]

Please Naija brehs please do not get gassed over a friendly

 

[QuintessentialMan]

Lmao guess he doesn't follow african football because Algeria was in the same qualifying group as Nigeria.

No. He follows African football, trust me, he's Nigerian afterall. I would know seeing as how I am him.

 

[Grand Conde]

For a nation of under 5 million where football isn't even in the top 3 most popular sports we do alright I think.


Consistently punch above our weight.

We? You are Scottish.

And soccer is statistically the most popular sport in Ireland, stop making shyt up. Football is two, rugby is three and hurling is four.

Anyway you missed my point, singing when you are 5-1 down is pathetic loser shyt.

 

[Fenian]

We? You are Scottish.

And soccer is statistically the most popular sport in Ireland, stop making shyt up. Football is two, rugby is three and hurling is four.

Anyway you missed my point, singing when you are 5-1 down is pathetic loser shyt.

I live in Scotland, I am Irish and have an Irish passport (have a British one as well though) so I can support both teams.

And most soccer games struggle to get a couple thousand people through the gate, hurling and football can easily get 25,000 plus at a game.

And if you're losing singing is the best thing you can do, takes your mind off the fact you got humped 5 1. Done the same thing at the Celtic PSG game and it was a laugh in the end. What would you have us do, riot?

 

[dayun]

Aussies going to Russia

Won't do shyt though

 

[THEREALBRAND]

A decade ago Robinho was Man City's first mega signing... now he wants to go back to watch Gabriel Jesus

Jumping out of his convertible car and bounding into a meeting room at Atletico Mineiro's training ground, Robinho breaks into a grin, puts on his finest impression of a Mancunian and shouts, 'Come on you Blues!'

'Ha ha ha!', he chuckles. 'This reminds me, I need to go to Manchester and see a Gabriel Jesus goal. Phwoar, what a player - strong, fast, a big hope for Brazil. But Manchester - how is Chappy (Les Chapman) the kit man? I need to see him. He taught me some English and I taught him Portuguese. At home, I still have the boots I played with at City and I have a shirt on the wall.

'I liked Manchester, the club, the restaurants... but let us not forget the discotecas. Ha ha ha! Deansgate Locks was fun. There was an image of me as a party guy. And yes, I liked to party. But you know, the English boys were going out more than the Brazilians! Joe Hart was out all the time, Micah Richards the same, Shaun Wright-Phillips was always out! But when the Brazilians went out we were always caught.'

Robinho, it quickly emerges, is going to be entertaining company. The Brazilian is now 33 but his boyish smile and cheeky giggle remain. Next summer marks a decade since Manchester City stunned the football world by paying £32.5million to prise Robinho from Real Madrid and make him the Premier League's highest-paid player on £160,000 per week.

As a teenager at Santos, they nicknamed Robinho 'Pelezinho' (Little Pele) and the great man himself was the first to make the comparison. He was City's first signing of the Sheik Mansour era, their first warning sign to the established order.

City had lost the final game of the previous season 8-1 at Middlesbrough and in his first game at home to Chelsea, Robinho lined up in a team featuring Richard Dunne and Michael Ball.

He says: 'With all the respect in the world to the players I played with, it would be much, much easier nowadays. I remember that last day of the window. Tick-tock… my agent called me and said, 'You have this chance to go to City. There are other Brazilians there, Elano and Jo.' So off I went.

'Two months earlier, I had spoken to Chelsea boss Phil Scolari. But the Madrid board blocked it as they didn't want me to go to a team in the Champions League that could be a direct rival.'

At his best, Robinho embodied all we admire about Brazilian football. The dancing feet, the shimmies, the goals, the trademark thumb-in-mouth celebration. He was a reminder that football is meant to be fun. At Santos, he was once booked for humiliating defenders with too many step-overs.

At City, he made an electric start under Mark Hughes, scoring 12 goals by New Year's Day in his first season.

'When I arrived, Micah Richards told me the world would now start taking City seriously. Before that people did not respect City. But now the Blues were coming. I spoke a few times with the owner Sheik Mansour. He told me he was going to go big to get Kaka and Lionel Messi. Kaka was close. But Messi...'

He lets out a giggle. 'I think Messi was beyond them. But I believed in the project. The Sheik had the ambition to create the best team in the world and now look at them. They have the best manager in the world in Pep Guardiola and can go toe-to-toe with anyone.

'I remember we beat Hull City 5-1 and a fan came up to me emotional because he could not remember City winning a game by that margin. I was there when Carlos Tevez arrived.

'I loved the rivalry with Fergie and the 'Welcome to Manchester' billboard.'

As the season evolved, Robinho became less consistent. He exasperated Hughes with his performances away from home and escaped from a training camp in Tenerife because he felt he had been promised a holiday. It was a fiery City dressing room.

'Bellamy… Oh, Bellamy!' he grins. 'I remember I had a bad game at Arsenal. I had travelled back from a Brazil game and I was dead - completely knackered. Craig Bellamy kicked off in the dressing room. He was screaming at me. And I didn't speak much English but I got the gist. He was shouting, 'Come on, f****** come on!' We had a row but the next day we were fine.

'I really liked Hughes - we only had that one issue in Tenerife. Looking back, I was extremely explosive at that time. I was young. I had a different personality. I lacked maturity and the ability to stop, think with a clear mind and consider consequences before taking decisions. Only age and experience can bring you this. For sure, the Robinho of today would do things differently.

'I don't agree though that my away performances were different from my ones at home. The team as a whole played differently away. Another thing: I wasn't afraid of the physicality. In Brazil, I didn't have it easy growing up. People would kick you. Italy was the hardest league to score goals in. Those guys just love defending. But Rio Ferdinand is the hardest opponent I have faced = strong and quick. He didn't kick you. He was so classy. I could do all my step-overs but he would watch the ball and tackle so immaculately. He only got the ball.'

In 2010, Robinho returned to Santos. 'Roberto Mancini did not make the most of me,' he says. 'I needed to go to the World Cup. I had to play and that's why I went back to Brazil. Mancini gave me too many defensive responsibilities and restricted me. I like to feel free. The truth is I wanted to be there for a long time and leave a real legacy. I knew the club was going places.'

Robinho has enjoyed a remarkable career. He is Brazil's sixth highest-capped player with 100 appearances. At Real Madrid, he shared a dressing room with Zinedine Zidane, Raul and his compatriot Ronaldo. At AC Milan, he lined up with Andrea Pirlo, Ronaldinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

'Zlatan! He used to say he persuaded the Milan board to sign me. 'You're here because of me'. Is he arrogant? Yes. But in a nice way. It's just a confidence and trust in his talent. To me, he is everything a striker should be: a showman and a winner.

'At our training ground, he decided one day to challenge Gennaro Gattuso to a ju-jitsu fight. So you had this ferocious scrapper doing martial arts against Zlatan, who is a black belt. Who won? Zlatan! Zlatan always wins.

'At Real, I really liked David Beckham. Neither of us spoke Spanish but we had a super understanding. We practised free-kicks before and after training. Who was the better taker? Him. But he couldn't dribble like me!'

Robinho last turned out for Brazil in a friendly game against Colombia in January but he did not make the 2014 World Cup and his chances of a call-up next summer appear unlikely.

'If the manager Tite calls me, I will be over the moon. We have to set the world to rights. Sheesh, Germany. It was one of those 'Where were you?' moments. I was in my friend's house. It was the hardest football blow this country has taken.

'I know some people expected me to be a Ballon d'Or winner. When Pele talks about you, people listen. People made those comparisons but there is no new Pele, not now, not ever. He is the greatest.

'I do think I fulfilled my potential. In every team I played I have been a champion - except for City. If you ask my one regret, it is that I could not bring those City fans a trophy. That's the only thing that leaves me a little sad.'

Robinho is one of my favorite Santos players ever, wish we would have signed him when he came back from China. It's nice to see that he's happy with his career and where he's at in life. Most interviews like this are filled with bitterness, blame, and personal attacks against former colleagues.