Football 2011-2012

[strummer77]

If he was good then it wouldnt just be LFC/Citeh in for him. Only vaguely remember him from the Copa Final. But he doesnt seem very pacey, & drops very deep - which is the opposite of any defender I want at the club.

Edited August 23, 2011 by strummer77

[ralph250]

Agree on the most part...still think Evans has yet to prove himself mind.

Edited August 24, 2011 by ralph250

[ralph250]

Regards Coates, Tor-Kristian Karlsen twitter (football scout who used to work for Leverkusen and Hannover)

http://twitter.com/#!/karlsentk

-a few tweets about sebastian coates (linked with liverpool and manchester city) coming up...

-followed him since sudamericano in 2009 - then saw him world youth championship same year + copa america this summer

-first thing i noticed: his amusing running style, hard to describe - looks like he's about to take a seat

-smart centre-back, good positioning sense and fine game reading skills. had the luxury of playing next to lugano at copa america

-lugano the more aggressive cb who won the headers, anticipated, dominated, tackled - coates "sweeped" up around the captain

-coates: calm style, makes good decisions but not quite as physical or dominating as his 195 cm would suggest. ok on the ball

-but tends to drop deep in order to compensate for lack of pace and mobilty (a strategy that won't work in england!)

-lots of scouts from big european clubs have watched him over the past 2-3 years without being totally convinced (i agree)

-general consensus among scouts at copa america: overvalued at 12 million euros (going rate at the time), worth a "punt" ('arry) at maybe 3-4

-personal opinion: not sure coates would've looked quite as good next to another (less dominating) cb (godin, victorino). lugano was inspired

-from what i picked up at copa america, man city were negotiating with coates' reps (even after landing savic) - not sure what happened

-apparently the british sounding surname is courtesy of scottish grandparents

-sorry for the spamming - in a bit of rush, will try to respond to individual tweets later

(Coates is 20. All 3 players mentioned are older than Sebastián (and have much more intn'l exp). He should improve under Kenny)

it's true, but still unsure if his style is suitable for the premier league

Who would you rather have in a team: Coates or Savic?

savic, much more mobile - miles ahead imo

Coates, Hummels, Subotic, give me your order starting with worst?..

that order

is he better (overall) than Dann and Cahill?

coates is better on the ball, but the other two obviously proven and lower risk

he's still need a work permit - has no european passport yet

can you explain the 'drops deep to compensate - won't work in Eng' comment? Just for us 'learners'! Ta. Keep up the good work.

imo with the pace and intensity of the premier league you'll have to play more compact and press higher up the pitch

Edited August 24, 2011 by ralph250

[eFestivals]

Keane and Defoe scored 24 league goals between them the following season. Exactly double the amount Berbatov did. The two signed for a combined fee of less than the amount they received for Berbatov. Those 24 goals put Tottenham into the European Cup for the first time in decades, and a higher league placing than they'd ever finished with Berbatov in the side.

Had Levy not played hardball, they wouldn't have able to sign both players, they wouldn't have got the transfer fee for Berbatov they ultimately did, as Ralph has previously shown.

All of the above yet Levy f**ked up with Berbatov and is doing so with Modric?

Yeah alright...

i take your point, but its still the case that levy playing hardball left spurs short of a needed player for a time and at the bottom of the league.

being able to sign those players was a combination of circumstances which might not have panned out as it did. Keane might have been a hit at LFC for example, and pompey might not have been skint. These things were beyond Levy's doings.

Edited August 24, 2011 by eFestivals

[The Nal]

Don't lie Nal. You've blatantly got posters on yer wall.

[Wooderson]

This place is gonna turn into the jack-off hour with DJ E-Z-Dick Nallo over there if Sneijder ever signs.

Sheesh. Getting nearly as bad as the Cesc deal.

[strummer77]

Regards Coates, Tor-Kristian Karlsen twitter (football scout who used to work for Leverkusen and Hannover)

http://twitter.com/#!/karlsentk

but then Zonal Marking

[strummer77]

No its an inflatabl......

So same old story then....

[The Nal]

On twitter:

sneijder101010 Wesley Sneijder

Hi everyone!! Double training session today.. Preparing for the first league game on sunday. Against Lecce!!!

[TheGayTent]

being able to sign those players was a combination of circumstances which might not have panned out as it did. Keane might have been a hit at LFC for example, and pompey might not have been skint. These things were beyond Levy's doings.

[TheGayTent]

Carlitos, Joorabchian, Patarkatsishvili, Berezovsky, British Virgin Islands, Gibralter, Clear as mud??

[eFestivals]

Carlitos, Joorabchian, Patarkatsishvili, Berezovsky, British Virgin Islands, Gibralter, Clear as mud??

greedy scumbags are greedy scumbags with each other as well as everyone else. Is that really news?

An interesting read all the same.

[pink_triangle]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/24/holland-spain-fifa-world-rankings

Is Blatter giving england bonus ranking points to try and make ammends for hurting their feelings?

[ampersand]

someone will be getting shitfaced tonight

8/1. christ knows what they would have been when west hams first went in!

[eFestivals]

Oh yeeesssssssssss!

[The Nal]

[eFestivals]

that's an unfortunate name, and an even more unfortunate photo.

================

I've gotta say I was impressed with Arsenal last night. They could have gone there very nervy, but showed bottle by taking them on from the start. While Udinese had their moments, for once Arsenal weren't trying to walk the ball into the net and had loads of great chances - and if that's going to be their new way of playing then I don't think they're going to be falling as far as some are predicting, particularly if they can strengthen their defence.

I also thought it was noticeable that the other players have started to click onto how Gervinho plays the game, when they didn't seem to be getting him in the other matches I've seen. He looks like he'll fit in very well.

=================

It was a right bummer that the West Ham/Aldershot match wasn't shown live, cos I'd have been watching that. I missed the highlights show last night too.

But what a result, even if WHU played the second half with 10 men.

[The Nal]

I've gotta say I was impressed with Arsenal last night.

Edited August 25, 2011 by The Nal

[eFestivals]

They showed LOADS of bottle in the 2nd half. Something to be honest, I didn't think they'd have. I thought they were going to be slaughtered 2nd half, so fair play to them.

I thought they showed a similar amount of bottle in both halves - but yeah, like you I didn't think they'd have had it (especially with some first-choicers not playing), which is why I commented on it.

I'm not thinking they'll get any joy at the weekend (won't get to see it, unfortunately ), but I reckon last night's performance should give them some confidence goings forwards. Those less experienced players looked decent enough and will only get better as they get more games, Gervinho and RVP are starting to click, and others are shooting on sight rather than fannying around - if they can get in a few more players before the window shuts then they're not going to so far off the pace I reckon, even if they're squeezed into 5th.

[TheGayTent]

Superb performance from the shots last night, thoroughly deserved the victory. Red card had nothing to do with it either, taught us a proper footballing lesson. Fully deserved the round of applause they received from all four sides at the end too. Shame the draw wasn't kinder for them.

[eFestivals]

Superb performance from the shots last night, thoroughly deserved the victory. Red card had nothing to do with it either, taught us a proper footballing lesson. Fully deserved the round of applause they received from all four sides at the end too. Shame the draw wasn't kinder for them.

I only had the beeb's webpage of the match to go on during the match (which has 'shots on target', shots off target', etc, on it) and it looked from that as tho they were doing pretty decently despite having quite a low amount of possession - those stats suggested to me that WHU were having most of the ball but not doing very much with it, while Aldershot were having a decent go at the times they had the ball. Was that something like it was?

[TheGayTent]

I only had the beeb's webpage of the match to go on during the match (which has 'shots on target', shots off target', etc, on it) and it looked from that as tho they were doing pretty decently despite having quite a low amount of possession - those stats suggested to me that WHU were having most of the ball but not doing very much with it, while Aldershot were having a decent go at the times they had the ball. Was that something like it was?

[eFestivals]

Not sure what the stats show, but from being there I'd have said it was close to 50:50 possession wise. Certainly, Aldershot were the ones able to string 10-12 passes together, where as we were lumping it forward to Carew/Piq, and later Nouble.

Aldershot must have had more shots on target too.

those beeb stats gave something like 70% possession to WHU in the first half, tho it started to head towards evens during the second (I'm guessing the Shots got the better of the possession against 10 men).

But although WHU had the possession, at half time those stats said the same number of shots on target for both, with Aldershot having had more off-target and more corners - and that suggested to me that they were having a real go when they could get the ball while WHU weren't doing very much.

The finishing stats say that Aldershot got the better of the game by quite a distance - take a look:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14569566.stm

[TheGayTent]

those beeb stats gave something like 70% possession to WHU in the first half, tho it started to head towards evens during the second (I'm guessing the Shots got the better of the possession against 10 men).

But although WHU had the possession, at half time those stats said the same number of shots on target for both, with Aldershot having had more off-target and more corners - and that suggested to me that they were having a real go when they could get the ball while WHU weren't doing very much.

The finishing stats say that Aldershot got the better of the game by quite a distance - take a look:-

http://news.bbc.co.u...ll/14569566.stm

[The Nal]

Joey Bartons midfield tactics.

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