Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!

[Kunty McPhuck]

Opta and companies like that provides much more fine grained stats and probably more propriety information for teams. The stuff they release to the public has made the casual fan think they are able to understand the game as well as managers, sometimes fans think its a matter of formations and sitting back.

As for Xabi , i think Del Bosque is ultra cautious and it makes Spain less fluid going forward because Xavi tends to be pushed higher up the pitch than he normally does. He played that double pivot in his Galctico days when he had Makelele,Cambiasso, Concencao. He has basically used that 4-2-3-1 syste, for Real given how many attackers they had.

Yeah he kind of moved to a 4231 in his last season once Real Ronaldo came in. But before that he use to play with a diamond midfield sometimes went to a back 3

 

[TTT]

I kind of have a theory that clubs/countries wont get a real good crop of youngsters (about 5-6) say every 10-15 years. Its jsut natural for clubs youth development to have highs and lows, but aslong as they have a stead stream of players (2-3) coming thru with each cycle things should be ok. Also what happened to Livepool, back in the 90's they had Mcmanaman (no bad tackle) Fowler, Owen, Gerrard, Carragher add in Redknapp also who they bought when he was 16 from Bournemouth. Now they have to buy the players like a Sterling, The German kid etc etc outside of Wisdom and Kelly there isnt really much else. The FB's they had playin a few years ago are no where to be seen. Thomas Ince was allowed to leave now they want to buy him back for £8+m and I dont think hes played a single min of PL football (dont know if hes played sub mins but you get the point)

True , Spain is having a good cycle now and maybe its good because they have started to win.I also think they have multiple generations playing together, i remember Iniesta, Xavi, and Puyol playing in those Rivaldo led Barca teams with Pep too. Clubs might also need 3-4 players of every generation to come through and become the spine of the teams. The German NT also had the same progression from Bastian/Podolski in 06 to the youth teams that won that UEFA thing with Ozil/Hummels/Neuer and now to Reus/Gotze.

Liverpool's transfer policy tended to mirror whoever the manager was in charge, during Houllier's era they had a boatload for French players( the new Zidane Bruno Cheyrou) and then Benitez with his Spanish contingent.

 

[frush11]

Thats why I say there is only a handful of genuine World Class players in the game today. Everyone is either a talented misfits or potentially great of the ones people deemed to be WC

I really don't understand why today's players are so underwhelming, is it too much coaching at a young age, I just don't get it.

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

True , Spain is having a good cycle now and maybe its good because they have started to win.I also think they have multiple generations playing together, i remember Iniesta, Xavi, and Puyol playing in those Rivaldo led Barca teams with Pep too. Clubs might also need 3-4 players of every generation to come through and become the spine of the teams. The German NT also had the same progression from Bastian/Podolski in 06 to the youth teams that won that UEFA thing with Ozil/Hummels/Neuer and now to Reus/Gotze.

Liverpool's transfer policy tended to mirror whoever the manager was in charge, during Houllier's era they had a boatload for French players( the new Zidane Bruno Cheyrou) and then Benitez with his Spanish contingent.

Yeah, Bastian & Pod were the 1st ones to come thru after Germany overhauled their youth set up after finishin bottom of their group in Euro 00. And to think it took until 2010 when Van Gaal was in charge to change Bastian from a wide player to a CM. Since then hes gotten better and better even if he is a bit with the injuries. And Pod has been an enigma for his whole club career thus far, but yet he has over 100 caps

Thats very true about Liverpool but still where they fukked up is they had Carragher, Gerrard & Owen and felt that the next generation of players would develop naturally given what has gone on the past 10 years and giving Houllier a bit too much of a free reign because of what he did with the French youth set up and French players were the in thing back then. English club structure is having the manager run everythnig to do with the club still in the 21st century and then the managers who dismiss the DoF use the excuse well it works for Fergie why should we do it.

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

I really don't understand why today's players are so underwhelming, is it too much coaching at a young age, I just don't get it.

It very well could be and the price of winning/gettin big money from europe is more important now then it ever has been, its turned players into semi robots.

 

[Roaden Polynice]

Complacency probably.

 

[Sam Peel]

Hey guys thought you blokes would find this funny according to Sergio's girl this belongs to him

 

[Roaden Polynice]

Gonorrhea's 7th post

Edit: Goondrea...my bad b :ugh:

 

[concise]

Hey guys thought you blokes would find this funny according to Sergio's girl this belongs to him

Who is Sergio?

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

Who is Sergio?

Ram-os

 

[Montez]

Rio is such a fucc boy

World Cup: England & Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand defends Qatar trip | Manchester United Fixtures, News, Transfers | Sky Sports Football

I really don't understand why today's players are so underwhelming, is it too much coaching at a young age, I just don't get it.

Partly that. The emphasis is so much with clubs players aren't playing or trying dumb shyt on the streets. Clubs have become conveyor belts for talent, what do factories create?

Any 14-17 year old that shows any promise is the next big thing and the talent isn't nurtured to become the best player but garner the highest transfer fee. Hazard 10-20 years ago would still be at Lille, so would much of the talents at United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real.

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

I really don't understand why today's players are so underwhelming, is it too much coaching at a young age, I just don't get it.

Thinkin some more about it and to add in to my initial answer. I also think that squad rotation plays apart also now days. The top team squads are soo stacked these days with 15-16 international players maybe even more in some cases that the talented players are happy to stick rotatin in and out because they know they can win a medal with a big team. When in yesterdays era talented players who werent playin week in week out would move to a team so they could play week in week out. at a present day Hagi/Baggio playin for a Brescia/Bologna in todays era.

 

[gho3st]

Rio is such a fucc boy

World Cup: England & Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand defends Qatar trip | Manchester United Fixtures, News, Transfers | Sky Sports Football



Partly that. The emphasis is so much with clubs players aren't playing or trying dumb shyt on the streets. Clubs have become conveyor belts for talent, what do factories create?

Any 14-17 year old that shows any promise is the next big thing and the talent isn't nurtured to become the best player but garner the highest transfer fee. Hazard 10-20 years ago would still be at Lille, so would much of the talents at United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real.

sitting on a plane puts the same strain on your back as playing 90minutes of football

 

[thatrapsfan]

Bob Bradley interview about WCQ with Egypt: Bradley: We have a special opportunity - FIFA.com

Sounds like he loves his new gig.

 

[TTT]

I used to think players turned out the way they are because of being put in a team set up where individuality maybe discouraged but those set ups have been around for a while. I also think countries have their own football culture that used to provide so much diversity in terms of the football philosophy. It is surprising that Argentina could churn out so many smallish number 10 types when other countries struggle to produce one.

The standard model is now the big European leagues and players are moving at even younger ages than they used to. It maybe Mikel being turned into a DM or even Yaya and Seydou Keita being converted but it seems there are preconceived notions about what positions certain players should have outside of their own attributes. Now everyone seems to think the Barca/Spain model is the best so we might see an emphasis on copying that style regardless of the players' ability. Ajax is one of the few clubs to have been a model for other teams to copy in youth football and after their 2003 team with Zlatan,Sneijder,VDV,DeJong they have had comparatively less success in holding on to players and developing a team.