Essential The Official Football (Soccer) Thread - We are SO back, the Premier League returns!
Gremlin247
Pro
Luis Enrique is the new Spain manager
PSG is allegedly trying to lure Coutinho away from Barça. It would be wild if they could pull that off.
Charlie Broadway
Greg Ward Jr. SZN
Gonna be weird seeing Wilshere not in a Arsenal jersey. Speaking of Arsenal I was reading a discussion on Özil and I was hoping someone more knowledgeable about the sport (basically everyone in this thread) could explain what they meant.
They were talking about where Özil will play under Unai and several mentioned that he plays an outdated position. Are modern managers not utilizing cams like before or something? Is it more about the other players on the pitch kinda like pure post players in the nba being phased out?
They were talking about where Özil will play under Unai and several mentioned that he plays an outdated position. Are modern managers not utilizing cams like before or something? Is it more about the other players on the pitch kinda like pure post players in the nba being phased out?
Ozil plays as a classic No. 10 CAM. The problem is that position is seen as too specialized in the modern game in that the position offers no defensive contribution and is really just there to find the final pass.
The modern game is physically more demanding than in the past and players have to play both sides of the pitch. Even the classic poacher No. 9 striker is gradually being phased out of the game. It's getting rarer to see strikers that only live in box to score like the van Nistelrooy, Inzaghi and Berbatov of old. Even now, out and out strikers will still drop deep to recieve the ball or go out wide to give support. If you watch the Belgium vs Brazil game you'll notice Lukaku played a big assisting role that is not usually attributed to a classic No. 9.
That's the dilemma facing Ozil at the moment.
EDIT: One of the issues with having such a specialized position such as the 10 or 9 is that if the team is struggling then that person is as good as invisible. Strikers that don't get good service and can't drop deep is pretty much like paying with 10 men. Ozil has been noted for being "invisible" in big games. Once a defender cracks down on the space he would normally occupy then he's clamped down.
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blues_funk_reggae
Veteran
Wow. Ronaldo is really going to Juve.
Black Bolt
Superstar
Even with the price & his age, that's a great buy for Juve, should get 2 good years out of him.
Can't believe Real actually let him go, all their eggs with Bale now and maybe Kane/Neymar
Can't believe Real actually let him go, all their eggs with Bale now and maybe Kane/Neymar
African_brehda
Superstar
African_brehda
Superstar
So I guess 90% of Madrid fans are now Juve fans 
This might be my big break brehs, Florentino Perez about to sign everybody
This might be my big break brehs, Florentino Perez about to sign everybody
