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The 2011-2012 Football Thread

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Happybunny said:
I only wrote about the official line, yes privately Robben is seen as a egotist, Robin v Persie also came in for criticism because of the way he handled the press.
G v/d Wiel is also in the spotlight because of his attitude to other players, constant with headphones on, and caring more about his outside business deals (clothing line)
Wilfred Bouma was also seen as a problem figure.
Ibrahim Afellay also caused a problem with his attitude, since he moved to Barcelona. He thought that he was better than every body else.

Wesley Sneijder was the only player who came out of this whole mess looking OK, this is the opinion of all parties.

There are three major fault lines in Dutch football at this moment, Ajax, PSV and then the foreign Stars. All this was hidden in 2010 while they were winning, but came to the top this time.

So you can see there is more poison to be drained from the open wound that is Dutch football at the moment.

I do hope that this has answered your question.
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wow, didn't think there was that much going on there. reminds me of Germany's situation at the EURO 2000. thanks for your insight!
 
i'm not sure about the netherlands but for me Robben or Van Persie are perhaps the least responsible ... yes Robben missed his chances and was in some instances way too egoistic, but as far as i remember he created those chances pretty much single handed
similar with van Persie: just like any other striker you simply miss sometimes(remember Gomez 2008 ? ), against germany he scored the temporary equalizer after an individual moment from himself

after all at least those 3 (together with sneijder) _tried_

On the other side Affelay was pretty much invisible over multiple games, which to me is much more staggering considering he is known as a agile dribbler down the left wing


psychologically i can even understand Huntelaar: in the league he at times scored at will, and then in the national team he is sitting on the bench and has to watch van Persie miss absolute sitters ... of course not all players can handle that equally well
IMHO i think in this tournaments squad morale and team building is sometimes just as important as pure ability, after all the dutch squad was more or less the same as 2010, except the different attitudes and them hoping to equal their success from the world cup
 
Robben seemed very insecure during the tournament due to the missed chances in the league and cup. Huntelaar's big mistake was going public, I can understand his point of view too though. However it seems that there is a lot more going on than the public knows. We'll see how it all turns out.
I hope Casillas will not make his 100th win;)
 
Is Torres sleeping with the Spanish Coach's daughter. Why does he insist on 4-6-0 formation. why not bring Torres on.
 
swiftaw said:
The commentators of the Spain-Portugal game here in the US have just announced that the Dutch coach has resigned.
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same on austrian television .... looks like the "never going to play as long as he is coach" players have some piece of mind now

i think it's time to dig out that "Bert, Wat nu ?" picture
 
Why Alves takes a pen before Ronaldo I will never know. Fabregas by the skin of his teeth. Ramos copies Pirlo.
 
I'm guessing that Ronaldo was put further back in the lineup because the later penalties are higher-pressure.

Well well well, the Spanish play out a 0-0 draw with Portugal but pull through on penalties. Portugal showed the Germans the way to beat Spain but just did not quite have the quality.
 
surprisingly Spain showed quite some weak spots especially when pressed more seriously ... i thought in the game against Italy was "it's the italian aggressiveness which surprised them" but after this Portugal game it seems more obvious:
Spain has over the years adjusted themselves massively to games where the opposition are sitting incredibly deep in their own half early on and once they are "ahead" they can counter attack with massive space
if they don't score early the game just drags on

against aggressive squads with good technique they really fail to shine, and their back four sure is lacking Puyol for stabilization

how many attacks did Spain successfully make before the ~110th minute when everything opened up more ? 2 ? they seriously lack goal hunger up front
 
daneoni said:
Is Torres sleeping with the Spanish Coach's daughter. Why does he insist on 4-6-0 formation. why not bring Torres on.
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Does he have two daughters? Wondering about Llorente. Crosses?

On the Pirlo/Ramos penalties, I'd like to see a keeper sometimes staying in the middle.

takao - pressing - feel the same about Barcelona; force the defence to play the ball in the air/out. The test is doing it for the whole match.

Cheers,
OW
 
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oscillatewildly said:
Does he have two daughters? Wondering about Llorente. Crosses?
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Sid Lowe mentioned on the last Guardian podcast that Llorente had finished the season exhausted, so maybe he has an injury/fitness problem.

oscillatewildly said:
On the Pirlo/Ramos penalties, I'd like to see a keeper sometimes staying in the middle.
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I'll bet you would have especially liked to have seen Joe Hart stay in the middle a couple days ago. ;)
 
Llorente - maybe he put his back out? Can understand him being knackered.

Joe Hart - his movement saved England from major :eek:. :) Staying put is a guess like most dives, but worth a shot every now and again.

Cheers,
OW
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Coming from a Dutchman on the national team, that is a truly impressive achievement. ;)
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Oh you are so right he is a special little man indeed.:rolleyes:

takao said:
i'm not sure about the netherlands but for me Robben or Van Persie are perhaps the least responsible ... yes Robben missed his chances and was in some instances way too egoistic, but as far as i remember he created those chances pretty much single handed
similar with van Persie: just like any other striker you simply miss sometimes(remember Gomez 2008 ? ), against germany he scored the temporary equalizer after an individual moment from himself

after all at least those 3 (together with sneijder) _tried_

On the other side Affelay was pretty much invisible over multiple games, which to me is much more staggering considering he is known as a agile dribbler down the left wing
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To explain how bad the atmosphere was in the Dutch team. There are strong rumors that two or three of his team mates cheered when he missed the penalty against Chelsea.
That kind of behavior really kills team spirit.

Lord Blackadder said:
Don't forget Liverpool's favorite Dutchman, Dirk Kuyt. Being a "tryer" is his most valuable asset. ;)
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Everybody in the Netherlands admires Dirk for his work rate, who knows under a new coach he might stay on for the qualifications for WK'14.

Two Dutchmen have ruled themselves out, Frank de Boer of Ajax and Ronald Koeman from Feijenoord. The first international match is in August.
There is dark days ahead for Dutch football.

Spain was in the end the deserved winner, but Portugal put up a far better performance than I expected.

Christian Ronaldo not taking a penalty was a great surprise to me.:eek:

Spain Vs Germany in the Final it was what I predicted at the start.
 
While was visiting sunny Brid this last weekend, did I see on Look North Hull are looking at signing Heskey?
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Bento has confirmed that Ronaldo was down as Portugal's fifth taker, and one might be tempted to think that he would want to be fifth in order to convert the winning penalty and be the big hero.

But I'm sure he's not that egotistical. :D
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That makes so much sense now, it's just the kind of PR stunt that dominates football now.
 
Fizzoid said:
While was visiting sunny Brid this last weekend, did I see on Look North Hull are looking at signing Heskey?
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Apparently there's been contact, so we'll see. Whilst he's not exactly noted for being prolific he does have a reputation for getting the best out his strike partners, so maybe he could be the foil Fryatt was missing for much of last season.

Meanwhile, maybe David Beckham could follow your example and take Vicky and the kids to Bridlington – he's not got anything else on next month it seems, the Galaxy notwithstanding.

Happybunny said:
There is dark days ahead for Dutch football.
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One bright light lies ahead though – Zwolle are back in the Eredivisie next season. :)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Bento has confirmed that Ronaldo was down as Portugal's fifth taker, and one might be tempted to think that he would want to be fifth in order to convert the winning penalty and be the big hero.

But I'm sure he's not that egotistical. :D
Click to expand...

Or worried about his recent form re penalties - hoping for Portugal to win it before his turn.

---

Olympics :rolleyes:. Football at the Olympics :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:.

Cheers,
OW
 
Just to play devil's advocate: one could say that Ronaldo volunteered to take the fifth penalty because he was confident he could do it, regardless of the pressure, and that by doing so he was taking some of the pressure off his teammates - who would know that if it came down to the fifth penalty Ronaldo would be the man on the spot.

Fair play to him if that was the case. Then again, it might have been because he was trying to position himself to be the big hero, and is a preening, egotistical primadona with too much product in his hair. ;)

Or, maybe he took the fifth spot because he was told to.
 
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