Football (real)

[betiko]

Diego costa wants to go to the bundesliga?? Times change my friend! Lol
Or were you talking about berbatov?

[iAmCaffeine]

Arsenal could do with another forward. I imagine you'd drop Bendtner happily. Giroud's a good player but I'm not sure why people are voicing the concern about lack of goals with him injured, considering he hadn't even scored for seven games prior to that. Walcott is in good form, Podolski can be relied on to score goals and Wilshere's in top form too. It'll be nice to see the Gunners playing when Ox and Ramsey are fit again. I'd like to see you win the league.

Agree you could do with bringing someone in though. Maybe Wenger will buy Matt Smith or Hunt from us? Haha. I think we need to bring in a forward as well. McCormack's quality and lead goalscorer in the Championship but our other strikers can't cut it in my opinion.

[betiko]

So what do you think about giroud joshy?
I kind of like him, not a top notch player but does some decent seasons. He was really on fire the year before you bought him, and montpellier became champion for the first time in history thanks to him. Not really sure he is arsenal material though.. Bah i think he is doing just ok, but yeah another forward wouldn t be too bad for you guys.

[JoshyBoy]

Personally, I rate Giroud very highly. I've watched him closely and he works hard. He's maybe not quite at the top of his game, but he fits into the current set up well. The good thing about our team (in my opinion) is that goals come from everywhere, but you would imagine that a world class centre forward would be able to bring more of a cutting edge to our attack. Something Arsenal have been criticized heavily for is a lack of a cutting edge/taking their chances and a 20+ a season player would undoubtedly help.

I went onto our website and crunched a few numbers.

We have 7 defenders. 3 out of 7 have scored for us this season. Mertesacker has 5.
We have 10 midfielders. 6 out of 7 used have scored for us this season. Rosicky has not scored, and Diaby, Frimpong and Zelalem are the other 3 midlfielders in our squad that have not played this season.
We have 9 forwards. 5 out of 9 have scored.

So of the 23 outfield players we have used this season, we have 15 unique goalscorers, meaning there are 8 who have not scored, 4 of them being defenders, one being Rosicky, and the other 3 are forwards we have barely used - Park, Sanago and Miyaichi.

Goes to show we get goals from everyone.

Here's our top scorers in all competitions. Any of those players going to break the 20 mark this season? Doubt it. Suarez is already sitting on 20 league goals this season. But then again, Liverpool aren't top of the league....

Ramsey - 13
Giroud - 11
Walcott - 6

[iAmCaffeine]

Giroud obviously has the potential to but it's rare for a player to come into the Premier League and perform outstandingly in their first season. He's been decent so far but will probably find his form next season. It'd be nice to see Miyaichi and Park go out on loan to get some experience, because with all the other attacking options you have they're not going to get played.

What happened with Frimpong by the way? I know there is a whole thing about "free Frimpong" but I don't know what happened.

Interesting about lack of forwards scoring as it's getting more and more common with top teams. The main exception is Man Utd with approx. 73% of their goals being scored by forwards, whereas Chelsea are at 15%. They're extreme stats though, since they are top and bottom of the league for strikers scoring, respectively.

If you look at Man City, Yaya is their second highest goalscorer.

[Trevor33]

I would like to see Messi play in another team. Let's not forget he plays for the best team the world has seen.

What has Messi done with Argentina? Not much. What did the rest of Barcelona players do with Spain, well, I rest my case.

Lol, joshyboy just told you. Most goals scored in one season in the history of the argentinian team.

And this is different from Ronaldo scoring for Real and Portugal how so? What has Argentina done with Messi in the team over the past 8 years? Nada! They couldn't even win the Copa Amercia on home soil in 2011. Hell they didn't even win their group, going out in the last 8. At least Portugal reached the final in their Euros. Messi doesn't have the same heart for Argentina than for Brace because he has to work more with lesser players. He disappears in games while Ronaldo steps up and drags his team forward.

Lol, listen to yourself. Now cristiano has done much more for his national team because he lost twice vs greece in the portuguese eurocup in 2004.... Greece! They were hosting!! They lost twice to them!! (Greece!!)
It seems like i need to repeat myself. Messi= winning olympic games gold medal in 2008, 2007 copa america finalist. Messi wins again.

You do realize you have to beat more than one team to reach a Euro final? Grease bored to death more than just Portugal ... that was a total freak.

Olympic games? Come on dude, u23 with most top young players not playing. No one give a toss. And the 2007 against Brazil, they went 1-0 down and the whole Argentina team went into their shell. At least Portugal put up a fight against Spain in 2010, Argentina again faded and lost 4-0 to Germany.

Portugal vs Argentina in the last 8 in Brazil please.

[Trevor33]

Giroud obviously has the potential to but it's rare for a player to come into the Premier League and perform outstandingly in their first season. He's been decent so far but will probably find his form next season. It'd be nice to see Miyaichi and Park go out on loan to get some experience, because with all the other attacking options you have they're not going to get played.

What happened with Frimpong by the way? I know there is a whole thing about "free Frimpong" but I don't know what happened.

Interesting about lack of forwards scoring as it's getting more and more common with top teams. The main exception is Man Utd with approx. 73% of their goals being scored by forwards, whereas Chelsea are at 15%. They're extreme stats though, since they are top and bottom of the league for strikers scoring, respectively.

If you look at Man City, Yaya is their second highest goalscorer.

This is Giroud's second season with Arsenal, he sucked the big one last year.

[iAmCaffeine]

Giroud obviously has the potential to but it's rare for a player to come into the Premier League and perform outstandingly in their first season. He's been decent so far but will probably find his form next season. It'd be nice to see Miyaichi and Park go out on loan to get some experience, because with all the other attacking options you have they're not going to get played.

What happened with Frimpong by the way? I know there is a whole thing about "free Frimpong" but I don't know what happened.

Interesting about lack of forwards scoring as it's getting more and more common with top teams. The main exception is Man Utd with approx. 73% of their goals being scored by forwards, whereas Chelsea are at 15%. They're extreme stats though, since they are top and bottom of the league for strikers scoring, respectively.

If you look at Man City, Yaya is their second highest goalscorer.

This is Giroud's second season with Arsenal, he sucked the big one last year.

Oh yeah, so it is. My bad. Maybe he'll perk up more next season?

[betiko]

oh come on, don't be fake trevor. if the "great britain soccer team" wins the olympic gold medal you would be jumping up and down. I love watching the olympics and i get thrilled by any stupid sport I never watched before. And don't tell me that when the olympics are on you don't watch the football competition. Ok then, so losing twice vs greece when you host a eurocup is better than winning an olympic gold medal ad being copa america finalist, if messi has much more titles and records (in less pro seasons) it's just because i'm a hater. next subject please, everyone here is super bored about this messi-cristiano stupidity, we're not on marca.com

and yeah wondering about this Sanogo guy what's he's worth... our u20 won the world cup this summer while the u19 lost the eurocup final vs serbia after beating spain in semis... don't remember if he was with the world champions or with the vice european champions that celebrate before playing a final lol! I think he was in the u19... anyways, wenger buys a lot of french young players and not all of them work.

I have no idea of who are all those asian guys playing for arsenal you're talking about. real young lads?

[iAmCaffeine]

I've seen a little of Park and Miyaichi and they both show promise I think.

[Nola_Lifer]

Modern football is dictated by attacking wingers, or the archaic false 9. Now a days you don't need a forward who can score 20+ goals. Just one who can link up play with those "false 9." I say this because the main discussion is Arsenal. Giroud doesn't need to score goals to keep his slot. Just hold the ball up, work hard, and link play with the speedsters out wide. Look at Barca or Spain when they don't play with a true forward(This is the extreme though). Real employ a similar tactic and you see it again the Jose's Chelsea side where the men just behind the striker switch position and exploits space or specific defender.

[Trevor33]

oh come on, don't be fake trevor. if the "great britain soccer team" wins the olympic gold medal you would be jumping up and down. I love watching the olympics and i get thrilled by any stupid sport I never watched before. And don't tell me that when the olympics are on you don't watch the football competition. Ok then, so losing twice vs greece when you host a eurocup is better than winning an olympic gold medal ad being copa america finalist, if messi has much more titles and records (in less pro seasons) it's just because i'm a hater. next subject please, everyone here is super bored about this messi-cristiano stupidity, we're not on marca.com

and yeah wondering about this Sanogo guy what's he's worth... our u20 won the world cup this summer while the u19 lost the eurocup final vs serbia after beating spain in semis... don't remember if he was with the world champions or with the vice european champions that celebrate before playing a final lol! I think he was in the u19... anyways, wenger buys a lot of french young players and not all of them work.

I have no idea of who are all those asian guys playing for arsenal you're talking about. real young lads?

I'm not British. And I never watch Olympic football, it shouldn't be in the Olympics imo, they're supposed to be the top of any sport, which footballer dreams of winning Olympic gold?

If we judged the best player of all time on titles then Ryan Giggs is the undisputed greatest footballer to have ever lived.

[JoshyBoy]

I'm not British. And I never watch Olympic football, it shouldn't be in the Olympics imo, they're supposed to be the top of any sport, which footballer dreams of winning Olympic gold?

If we judged the best player of all time on titles then Ryan Giggs is the undisputed greatest footballer to have ever lived.

Are you Mexican?

And yes, it's funny how the Olympics is the pinacle of say (for an obvious example), the 100m. But no-one (I exaggerate, but you get my drift) gives a flying f*ck about winning a gold medal in football at the Olympics. It should be dropped in my opinion, as we already have the World Cup. It's a no-brainer surely.

[Trevor33]

I'm not British. And I never watch Olympic football, it shouldn't be in the Olympics imo, they're supposed to be the top of any sport, which footballer dreams of winning Olympic gold?

If we judged the best player of all time on titles then Ryan Giggs is the undisputed greatest footballer to have ever lived.

Are you Mexican?

And yes, it's funny how the Olympics is the pinacle of say (for an obvious example), the 100m. But no-one (I exaggerate, but you get my drift) gives a flying f*ck about winning a gold medal in football at the Olympics. It should be dropped in my opinion, as we already have the World Cup. It's a no-brainer surely.

I'm Irish.

I'm sure they enjoy it when they win it but the fact remains the best players, even the best u23 players are not there. In 2008 I was in Argentina though and they did care about it but probably only because they sent a very strong team and went for gold.

[iAmCaffeine]

Terrible, lost 2-0 at Rochdale. Not that I really care as I'd rather focus on promotion, but we still shouldn't lose to Rochdale..

[betiko]

Modern football is dictated by attacking wingers, or the archaic false 9. Now a days you don't need a forward who can score 20+ goals. Just one who can link up play with those "false 9." I say this because the main discussion is Arsenal. Giroud doesn't need to score goals to keep his slot. Just hold the ball up, work hard, and link play with the speedsters out wide. Look at Barca or Spain when they don't play with a true forward(This is the extreme though). Real employ a similar tactic and you see it again the Jose's Chelsea side where the men just behind the striker switch position and exploits space or specific defender.

For the PSG it s strange, Ibrahimovic is playing like a fake 9 and is the best of the league in assists by far, and cavani like a winger, there is not that classic striker position... Even if they are at 15+ goals each just in the league (i think ibra is already at 30+ counting everything of 2013-14) in half a season.
At some point teams add way too much talent on the attack line and need to make all these guys play, so i think it s more the roster that dictates the system used.

[nietzsche]

How do you guys like the best 11 of the premier, according to their website?




I'd like to have Hazard there.

[betiko]

Agreed, prefer hazard to carrick. No kompany in defense? And tim howard as the keeper seriously? And ozil??

[notyou2]

Did you see that comeback made by the Colts?

Incroyable!!

[iAmCaffeine]

That team needs Kompany instead of Jagielka, Hazard instead of Carrick and Ozil instead of Gerrard. Maybe a different keeper, but there isn't generally much to choose from at the top.

[Trevor33]

How do you guys like the best 11 of the premier, according to their website?




I'd like to have Hazard there.

I'd make it 4-3-3 and have Van Persie in there. There's no stand out keepers so you really can't argue with Howard, I do think De Gea will develop into the best in the PL but isn't there yet. Cech would have been the best had he not damaged his head a few years back, just isn't the same now.

Kompany has to be in that team, Carrick, Ramsey and Gerrard not so much.

Ramsey is having one lucky season, and has fallen away recently... but I guess if they're picking it on form so afr this season he should be in but not if it's supposed to be the best 11 in the PL. Ozil should be in the team then.

[iAmCaffeine]

Ramsey hasn't fallen away, he's injured.

[betiko]

So looks like we all agree on something today

For the keeper, Lloris and Cesch are a million times better than howard. If the defense screws up a lot you can t remove kudos to the keeper and give too many to a keeper greatly protected. This is just a team done by an everton fan...

[iAmCaffeine]

Nah, Coleman and Baines deserve to be there, and you can argue a strong case for Howard. Lloris is no better. Cech maybe, but it's a shame he's not what he used to be. I'd have Mignolet. Liverpool's defence really isn't that good, he is.

[betiko]

Lloris is a great keeper. The fact that he isn t doing great since he joined tottenham is another story. AVB didn t want him in his team, he signed for the spurs and they didn t give him directly the position.. The guy has pedigree, and making him go to tottenham to make him sit on a bench was just ridiculous. He kicked off tim howard from there who had to go to everton, and AVB s tactics kept on sucking until he got sacked. A keeper is a very sensitive position... I think Lloris didn t get all the trust he wished from his manager. I ve seen him very very rarely commit mistakes, and i ve seen him save many crazy things. I think you english guys don t know him well enough.