The 2017-2018 Football Thread

[Scepticalscribe]

I've met Hoeness once.

And I'll tell you where:

in jailhouse

(and one of us came as a visitor ..). We briefly crossed and what I saw and heard was a very humble person saying 'hello' to us.
Maybe he should have stayed in prison for his own good.

I remember when he openly cried because of how unfair and personal the public spoke about him during his trial.
How he - just a couple of days ago - apparently announced that he'll step back a bit and that he won't be as present in the media as he used to.

Despicable man.

At least I have a pic saying 'Ulrich Hoeneß' at a jail door.

Yes, actually, my question was somewhat rhetorical, as I knew exactly where Hoeness was during the WC in 2014.

However, thank you for clarifying (and an excellent story, by the way) as not everyone else might have been aware of this.

Agree completely with your assessment of his character.

 

[MBAir2010]

What have they done now?

Tech mostly, same commercial, log in every day, choppy reception you have to switch to a match after watching the first one within a minute of kick off, annoying logis start and and the website is horrible.
Everything else is good!

 

[twietee]

Racism is still present throughout football sadly but I think the main reason Ozil retired from international duty is because whenever he represents his country he usually plays pretty crap.

You know the fun thing is that he got voted twice "national" player of the year within the last 2-3 years (four times in total) while also being THE player that brings statistically his teammates into dangerous positions (think it was roughly 3,3 times per game) which only DeBryune can somewhat compare to - but still not as much. He passes about 38% times back or sideways, which is way more than for example Kroos does - but Özil plays further forward so that is to be expected. Iniesta or Silva for example have the same percentage or a higher one. Same with his 84-86% completed passing game - an excelent number for a attacking midfielder. Özil wins statistically also more often than losing the ball to his opponent (~55-60% I think which is also a good stat).

Nobody run more km of the whole Arsenal squad than Özil did during the last season ( nine players had more sprints though).

He scores slightly less goals than the average attacking mid but: Nobody needed less games to gain 50assists in the whole history of the PL than he did. Cantona comes next. Same for the natioanal squad. When he left Madrid Ronaldo was publicly moaning that the best assist-scorer left the club.

Maybe I forgot a stat or two but altogether I'm always surprised that Özil is always the one player that got mentioned first when something went wrong.

Oh wait: during the group stage of this WC nobody (of every single team present) created more chances than Özil and nobody took more opponents/players out of the game with his passes than he did (66). Mind that he played only two games.

One can only imagine if Özil would run rampage in a team as ManCity with strikers that actually hit the goal (although at least on club level Aubameyang should help with that now).

Somehow I'm happy he retired as they just don't deserve his determination and brilliance.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Racism is still present throughout football sadly but I think the main reason Ozil retired from international duty is because whenever he represents his country he usually plays pretty crap.

Actually, as @twietee (below) explains in commendable detail, I don't think that this is true.

I disagree, he was one of the better players and his stats speak for themselves. Muller was awful, Boateng, Hummels, Brandt all awful.

I think because of his style of play he's easy to pick on and yes he could learn a thing or two about tracking back and defending but if anything he plays better for Germany than he does for his club.

Well...he used to.

Agreed and it is fair to point out that many German players were far, far worse (Muller is the obvious one, but there were others as you have pointed out) at the World Cup but attracted far less by way of criticism than did Özil.

You know the fun thing is that he got voted twice "national" player of the year within the last 2-3 years (four times in total) while also being THE player that brings statistically his teammates into dangerous positions (think it was roughly 3,3 times per game) which only DeBryune can somewhat compare to - but still not as much. He passes about 38% times back or sideways, which is way more than for example Kroos does - but Özil plays further forward so that is to be expected. Iniesta or Silva for example have the same percentage or a higher one. Same with his 84-86% completed passing game - an excelent number for a attacking midfielder. Özil wins statistically also more often than losing the ball to his opponent (~55-60% I think which is also a good stat).

Nobody run more km of the whole Arsenal squad than Özil did during the last season ( nine players had more sprints though).

He scores slightly less goals than the average attacking mid but: Nobody needed less games to gain 50assists in the whole history of the PL than he did. Cantona comes next. Same for the natioanal squad. When he left Madrid Ronaldo was publicly moaning that the best assist-scorer left the club.

Maybe I forgot a stat or two but altogether I'm always surprised that Özil is always the one player that got mentioned first when something went wrong.

Oh wait: during the group stage of this WC nobody (of every single team present) created more chances than Özil and nobody took more opponents/players out of the game with his passes than he did (66). Mind that he played only two games.

One can only imagine if Özil would run rampage in a team as ManCity with strikers that actually hit the goal (although at least on club level Aubameyang should help with that now).

Somehow I'm happy he retired as they just don't deserve his determination and brilliance.

Excellent and well argued post.

 

[twietee]

Ok, some time on my hand and to correct some little mistakes in my former post; if you are interested. Sources are opta and squawka.

Scoring:
He scores 0,56 per game (goal or assist) since 2014. Only three players worldwide collected more assists during that time-frame (Messi, Ronaldo and DiMaria).

Passing game:
Since the WC in Brasil he completed each season between 86-88% of his passes. That's about the same level as James Rodriguez has. Slightly below Iniesta und clearly above Kevin De Bruyne. 38,75% of his passes go backwards - only Kroos and Iniesta play about 36% back (top-midfielder btw) - both play deeper though. David Silva and DiMaria play a comparable position as Özil does and play 47-48% of their passes backwards. And sorry I mixed that up: Özil took during the Euro 2016 66 opponents out per game via passing which is the best packing rate of all WC-teams.

Chances created
No attackin mid created more chances with his passes in the last 4 years per game than Ozil: 3,34. Kevin de Bryune created 2,96 per game within that time fram. Di Maria (2,41) and David Silva (2,54) or James (2,39) nor Iniesta or Kroos (both 2,19). Messi also only 2,34. Imagine the strikers at Arsenal weren't Giroud, Welbeck or Oxlade-Chamberlain in those years. Or Germany had an actual striker for that matter.

Tackling stats:
He won (in the last 4 years) between 58 and 46% of tacklings. That's decent for an attacking mid.

Promise: this is my last post about this topic.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Ok, some time on my hand and to correct some little mistakes in my former post; if you are interested. Sources are opta and squawka.

Scoring:
He scores 0,56 per game (goal or assist) since 2014. Only three players worldwide collected more assists during that time-frame (Messi, Ronaldo and DiMaria).

Passing game:
Since the WC in Brasil he completed each season between 86-88% of his passes. That's about the same level as James Rodriguez has. Slightly below Iniesta und clearly above Kevin De Bruyne. 38,75% of his passes go backwards - only Kroos and Iniesta play about 36% back (top-midfielder btw) - both play deeper though. David Silva and DiMaria play a comparable position as Özil does and play 47-48% of their passes backwards. And sorry I mixed that up: Özil took during the Euro 2016 66 opponents out per game via passing which is the best packing rate of all WC-teams.

Chances created
No attackin mid created more chances with his passes in the last 4 years per game than Ozil: 3,34. Kevin de Bryune created 2,96 per game within that time fram. Di Maria (2,41) and David Silva (2,54) or James (2,39) nor Iniesta or Kroos (both 2,19). Messi also only 2,34. Imagine the strikers at Arsenal weren't Giroud, Welbeck or Oxlade-Chamberlain in those years. Or Germany had an actual striker for that matter.

Tackling stats:
He won (in the last 4 years) between 58 and 46% of tacklings. That's decent for an attacking mid.

Promise: this is my last post about this topic.

No, I think it is a fair post to make, mainly because a lot of people have absorbed or internalised the idea that Özil goes missing or is a lazy and disengaged player at times, when, clearly, a lot of the time, he is not.

He certainly attracts an unusual amount of negative commentary (not unlike Sterling) and I still think it an error of judgment to have allowed himself to have been photographed with Erdogan (not because Erdogan was President, - and I concede that Özil had a point - or because his human rights record is deeply questionable - but because he was running for re-election at the time and any such pictures could have been interpreted or seen as an endorsement) when thr latter listed the UK.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

With the new season starting, I think it is time for a new 2018-2019 Football Thread.

Let's shift over there as we gear up for another round of the Beautiful Game!