Good evening. Normally I write in the day but since the matches are happening from 1100-1400 now
Spain went out in the early match and it was sort of fun, if you like watching the pendulum on your grandfather clock. I’m no “anti-sideways passing” guy because I’m not ridiculous and I understand that keeping possession until you can have a good shot is smart but man today’s Spain was peak sideways passing Spain.
Opta (via Whoscored.com) put Spain’s forward passing at 688/1114 but I had a look at the maps on The Stats Zone app and I’m here to tell you, those were not all forward passes. Even the more conservative Stats Zone only listed 458 forward passes, which seems amazing, until you see that most of them were sideways forward. In other words, off to the wings.
Not only that but “pass it forward” is kind of as dumb as “run around a bit”. What you really want are good crosses, dragbacks from the end line, and forward passes into the box. Spain had 1114 passes, but just 2 through balls and 11/28 passes in the penalty area which led to 4 shots. As Wenger might have put it: “Spain needed a little bit final ball”. We need a stat, “final ball” – an attacking pass, into the box (or on counters, up the pitch), that maybe doesn’t find its man but is real danger.
The problem is that they didn’t really have anyone to final ball to. Costa only touched the ball 12 times in the final third. Spain needed someone there who could demand the ball, who could help dictate play in tight spaces. I think Spain once again failed to capitalize on key assets like Saul Niguez and Thiago Alcantara and even Iniesta who was dropped to start this match. What a player he’s been for them over the years and he showed his class in the minutes he was given.
That said, I would have banked on David de Gea in a penalty shoot out over Igor Akinfeev. De Gea has been performing at such a high level at Man U for years but here in this tournament, he’s been awful and only made one save. On the other side Akinfeev holds the ignominious record of like 39 Champions League matches without a clean sheet. But football is funny!
As for the penalty call, I guess I stirred up some controversy by pointing out that handball has to be intentional and that I have a hard time believing that Pique intentionally threw his hand up to block a ball 1 foot away from his body behind his head, off a bullet header. That’s the thing about the rules though, they leave a lot for interpretation and I’m by no means the only one who thought it was a bad call. But we are in the minority. It’s one of those calls that I can see both sides of but for me the fact that the ball is so close and that it looks like a natural falling motion after a misjump that I can’t really call it. And I don’t want Spain to go through! Remember, I have England winning the cup and this just helps that cause enormously! I’m just telling you my interpretation. Which can be wrong.
In the second match, we had the kind of game that I probably should have predicted but didn’t actually write out: boring. I mentioned the fact that neither side has a real forward and a bunch of midfielders but I need to expand that a bit. I’m forming a theory. You can win games without a dominant striker but man it is REALLY hard. And if you don’t have a dominant striker it’s real easy to defend in a block. That’s exactly what we saw with Croatia , Spain, Argentina (who have them but didn’t play them), Germany, and to a certain extent Portugal. I know that Christian Ronald is great and has scored a lot of goals but he’s old now and it really showed.
Anyway, tomorrow the system has Brazil and Belgium blowing out their opponents. Brazil has a little bit maybe a striker niggle but if they need goals they can bring on Firmino who is an underrated forward. Hopefully the system doesn’t find itself facing the coin flip that is the penalty shoot out.
Predictions running tally: 2-2
Can’t believe Thiago wasn’t given more playing time. With all due respect to Hierro, who was put in a very difficult position, can’t help but feel like these moments might have been where the decision to sack Lopetegui hurt them: middle of a knock out round match you should win, but you’re tied, the team is struggling to impose itself, and time is running out. In those times, a lot depends on in-game tactical instructions and especially your subs. Hierro fell short today, I think.
Only other thing I’ll say is that, while Spain clearly had an off game, and I fully get the criticism of Spain for being too slow and unadventurous in their passing (and I’m as big of a fan of possession football as anyone), I don’t think it’s justified in complaining that watching Spain is boring. You know what, if teams came out and attacked them, I don’t think you’d see Spain playing a lot of boring matches. Rather, you’d see them blow out a lot of teams, and occasionally get beaten due to mistakes brought about by their opponent’s high press, or their own weaknesses from set plays, but even the games they lost would probably be pretty entertaining. What makes it boring to watch Spain–and this has been true since all the way back in 2010–is teams who put 11 players in a deep block for 120 minutes against them. Yet teams that park the bus like this inevitably get praised for “defending brilliantly,” while it’s Spain’s fault for not being consistently brilliant enough to break their opponents down. Let’s think about this: it’ s just a fact that it’s a heck of a lot easier (not saying easy, but easier) to defend with numbers in football than to break down a defense. This makes sense, since it’s obviously way, way harder to control a football with great precision in tight spaces and dribble and pass it around defenders who are trying to take it from you than it is to be those defenders and just hack it away to anywhere when the ball comes near. You don’t have to be a genius or know much about football to figure that one out. This is why most smaller teams set up to play Pulis-ball (or some variation thereof), whereas few teams were trying to emulate Spain’s style even when they were dominating the world game. What they do is really difficult and requires a ton of skill. Yet somehow it’s supposed to be Spain’s fault that they don’t easily slice through an 11-man wall every game, and their fault when these sorts of games descend into such turgid affairs.
Pique Spain piques pain?
I get where PFo’s coming from. He’s right. But he’s also wrong. Spain were boring. Regardless of how the opposition set up. They haven’t been good at any point really. Except maybe against Portugal where again, I think the substitutions let them down. I agree with the Spanish FA’s decision to sack Lopetegui though. You can’t allow such disrespect to go rewarded. I doubt Spain would have won the whole thing anyway. This is all set up for France isn’t it? And our… well Chelsea’s.. but our.. Ollie Giroud will play a big part against Uruguay.
Who’s playing today?
Just saw LeBron joining the Lakers. First time out West. It depends on who’s going to join him. If Boogie and Kawhi end up there, maybe Warriors face enough of a challenge along with burnout to give us another winner. Meanwhile Doc celebrates Celtics’ open path to the Finals.
I acknowledged that Spain contributed to a boring match by playing their passing game far too slowly and cautiously.
But laying the lion’s share of the blame for a boring match on Spain and Spain’s style, and constantly emphasizing during and after a match that their passing makes the game tedious (while invariably lauding their opponents for “defending magnificently”)–as I’ve heard pundits and fans do countless times since 2008–is a bit like blaming a guy whose house has been burgled for not properly taking care of his possessions.
Oh, and firing Lopetegui was a massive overreaction, brought about by absurdly misguided high-mindedness, an insecure new FA president on a power trip, or both.
The defense that it was done for the good of the team is a joke. The “standing on principle” defense rings entirely hollow. OF COURSE Lopetegui was out of order (though it’s worth noting that this kind of negotiating behind the backs of employers seems to happen a lot in the football world, he erred in not telling them before he signed on the dotted line, and Madrid erred in rushing the announcement, though apparently their hands were tied because it was about to get leaked to the press). His actions lacked integrity and class.
But just because an employee fails to live up to the high principles you set, it doesn’t follow that declining to punish that employee to the fullest extent in your power always means that *you*, the employer, have betrayed your principles. It obviously depends on the seriousness of the offense and the larger context. With respect to both those factors, the Spanish FA really don’t have a leg to stand on.
(I think this is obviously true, but I’d spell it out in greater detail if I didn’t kinda sorta have a life to get back to.)
It wasn’t just that he negotiated behind their back and presented them with a fait accompli. It was that 3 weeks prior he’d received an extension that he’d asked for. Presumably on the basis that a secure future would help him and the team during the world cup and beyond.
There’s no good choices left for the Spanish FA then. I think they took the correct route.
By the way, Lopetegui’s agent is Jorge Mendes.
Wow. Boogie to the Warriors. Rockets lose Ariza, Spurs likely losing Kawhi (and maybe Parker?), Clippers losing Jordan. Only Lakers get stronger with LeBron, but this season seems like a GS lockdown already. Even more than before.
Arsenal’s pre-season starts today.
For real? Wow! Who are we up against?
Training.
Sorry. First game is on the 14th.
Tease. 🙂
Entirely unintended 🙂
Enjoying Brazil v Mexico. William had taken control of the match in the 2ND half. Some brilliant stuff from him.
Vamos Mexico! Keep it interesting
Enjoying Brazil v Mexico. Willian had taken control of the match in the 2ND half. Some brilliant stuff from him.
Vamos Mexico! Keep it interesting
Brazil are a bunch of babies, led by the Baby King himself, Junior Neymar. So tired of their acting.
Sad for Mexico. There are some good ones.
Every four years Mexico look good, playing fun and mostly effective football, and yet every four years they lose in the round of 16 (usually very unlucky to have to play a big team like Brazil, though I guess it’s their fault for losing to Sweden).
The constant faking injury and writhing around in faux-pain in order to waste time is worse than diving. It’s disgusting, and a big reason why Americans get turned off when they watch soccer.
Sokrais in. Huge news. Totally unexpected…
Effing hell! Belgium come from two down to beat Japan. Terrific game.
Best game I’ve seen at this World Cup thus far.
WTF was Neymar doing there acting like his leg was amputated when the ball was removed from between his feet? I am bemused. I just don’t understand behavior like that and how he can hold his head up after the fact.
Sorry for Mexico and Japan today.
Lo Soweto, gomen nasai. For football too overall.
neymar was trying to let the referee (and var officials) know that he’d been stepped on. he went overboard with it, as the step couldn’t have hurt that bad. but he did get stepped on by layun, who was pretending to help neymar and should have been booked for his treatment of neymar.
some people throw themselves to the ground or react dramatically but not all of them are diving. many do it because they want the referee to see an infraction. that’s what neymar did. he’s not what i would call a diver.
Take a moment to stop and admire the weight and precision of the pass from Kevin de Bruyne to Meunier streaking to his right. A second later and the chance was gone. The speed of thought and execution was sensational.
The wonderful run and dummy by Lukaku to take the last available defender with him, and Chadli’s blind-side run to the far post. It started with a wonderful roll out from Courtois. But check again the inch-perfectness of the pass from de Bruyne, the premier league’s best central midfielder. I’ve played that clip 10 times.
Japan put on such a great game. If Belgium hadn’t gotten lucky with that unintended first goal, I don’t think the momentum would have shifted enough. Unlucky Japan.
But this World Cup has been a good advert for the rest of the world, and justifies the decision to expand the format to 48 teams. The gap in international football seems to be reducing and the excitement of seeing new teams and new players is something club football can’t really deliver anymore. Big boost for the game in the less fancied countries to get in as well.
Completely agree, I was so impressed with teams I thought had little chance, like Morocco. The only team that really didn’t seem to belong was Panama, everyone else for me deserved to grace the big stage and did themselves proud.
Colombia and England are two teams I have not yet watched at this world cup but I am looking forward to the match. It seems like they will be even on talent and both teams have good forwards, so I’m expecting a few goals and lots of goalmouth action. My prediction is 2-2 after extra time and Colombia through on penalties.
Well I got the draw result and the penalties right.
Where is Pierluigi Collina – with his death stare – when you need him? This American ref is as bad as Team USA.
oooooooospina!
Pickforrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!
does he play for arsenal?
Ospina should leave Arsenal, not because he’s a bad keeper (he isn’t — he’s a pretty decent one), but because he’s too good to be anyone’s Number 2.
Well played, brods.
On another note, Im liking the look of that Spurs central defence, and can see why Sanchez displaced Alderweireld. Trippier has had a good tournament as well. Dembele, Spurs, Dier, Alli, Kane elsewhere on the field. We have our work cut out overtaking them.
Eriksen magically became “Spurs”
Zero presence in his area. Too short and weak. Punches when he should catch. Can’t kick past the halfway line.
Other than that, a great keeper and a perfect fit for the PL.
You know, PFo, measuredness can be your friend.
Zero presence? WeaK? Would that be the same guy who, with his centre halves, stood up to Magruire and Stones on corners today, against the best corner taking team in the competition? The guy who took a bang from Maguire in punching the ball away? THAT weak guy with zero presence in the box?
The thing about not being able to kick past the halfway line… seriously? Did you watch the game? Or did he learn to kick deep yesterday?
That’s exactly the guy. So he punched the ball away once??!? As a goalkeeper???????? Incredible. (And the suggestion that his weak kicking is still a question up for debate is laughable. We’ve all watched him for years with Arsenal; we all know his kicks are on average tens of yards shorter than the average PL keeper’s, typically just clearing the halfway line on a good day.)
Answer me this: how many of England’s many, many free kicks and corners and crosses did he come off his line to claim? How many of Colombia’s many, many clearances in their own box were down to him, and how many to his defense, particularly his two rock solid CB’s?
England the least likable team still in the tournament. Basically Pulis’s Stoke with slightly better players. Constantly falling over looking for fouls anywhere in the final third (or, heck, over the halfway line) and pumping the ball into the box. Almost zero actual passing and creativity in midfield. Take the lead off a crap goal after an incredibly stupid foul from Sanchez. Something like a ridiculous 7 out of their 9 goals now from set pieces. Somehow Southgate has convinced the gullible English nation that this is “progressive” football (terrible football management speak).
If Colombia had had a fit James, England would be out. I’m rooting for Sweden, and I think they have a great chance of doing it (though the game will be dull as dirt).
I saw an athletic, technical side that used passing angles superbly well and executed a well thought out game plan of attacking down the flanks and using Trippier’s crosses and set pieces to good effect. Granted, I only watched about 10 minutes in the first half. But that’s what I saw 😛
England caught a big break with the James injury and with the penalty carom off of the underside of the crossbar. They were lucky. But this is also the best England team I think I have watched in several world cups.
Well let’s see…. scrape a win against Tunisia (yes, a win is a win, admittedly), spank the worst team in the competition, lose to Belgium in a B fixture from which it’s hard to draw conclusions, draw with Colombia AET. If this is the best English team you’ve seen, weeellllll….
The Euro 96 team of which Southgate was a member, that had Gascoigne and Shearer, was miles better than this lot.
Kane IS one of the best strikers in the world, no question. But 3 against Panama with 2 pens should come with some sort of asterisk.
Stones, for me, has been one of the best defenders in the tournament, and would be in an all-star team. Trippier’s in the mix for full backs.
Sterling, Alli, Walker, Young and others are finding that there’s a biggish gap between EPL hype and reality.
Oh and draw. Rumour had it that it was made by Southgate’s mom.
Pulis teams also regularly “execute a well thought out game plan of attacking down the flanks and using [insert speedy British player who can cross it]’s crosses and set pieces to good effect.”
Doesn’t make them progressive. Or exciting or fun to watch. Or particularly “technical” (if that means skillful). Or particularly good.
And I watched the whole match (I’ll never get that 120 minutes back).
Claude is right: the 96 team (and I’d say the 98 team too) were miles better. For one thing, they actually had midfields, a tactical feature that Southgate has apparently decided is passe.
Well if we’re going back to ’96 for a better vintage then by my count that’s 22 years and 5 world cups ago (suddenly I feel old), so do we really disagree?
I don’t know why we (as in the globall football public) act like England have some right to being a good footballing side like Brazil or Spain. It’s self evident from this kind of commentary that there is an expectation that they will be good footballers despite decades of evidence to the contrary. They’re much more akin to the Scandinavian teams in terms of their strengths, but they have delusions of grandeur largely imbued by a sentimental press that has led them to try to play a style that doesn’t suit them.
Southgate is finally owning their identity and instead of trying to play a style that doesn’t suit his team but suits public expectations, he’s playing to the strengths of the players he’s got, and that’s athleticism and size. That, plus Harry Kane, who is an excellent striker, is why they’ve advanced as far as they have.
Well that and a favourable draw.
I’m not rushing to discredit him because of the draw. There are no easy games in the world cup and in some ways its more difficult against minnows with nothing to lose. They won the games in front of them and have looked no worse than, any other team still alive in the tournament in doing so.
Southgate watched basketball for his set piece training don’t you know? He’s like so super progressive.
He is actually. I’ve been impressed with him.
Pragmatic, yes. Progressive?
What I admire about Southgate is that he’s not after the style points and he gets to the job without any fuss. I don’t care if he’s progressive or not, but I will contend that the way he has approached the England job is in itself progressive despite not being particularly innovative by simply embracing a group of players and deploying them to play in a system to suit their strengths.
At the end of the day I’m not an England fan but if I was, I would be enjoying my team for the first time in a couple of decades and that is definitely a form of progress. The problems that have confronted England all these years are way deeper than Southgate but he’s made the best with what he had. I applaud that.
England are very limited as you say but Colombia were absolutely the dirty team in that game. Glad they went out.
Hopefully it’s a wake up call for the England boosters who overestimated England and underestimated Colombia. This game was never going to be easy.
Both were dirty but Colombia were worse. Didn’t deny it. But Colombia play more entertaining football and were lacking their best, and most influential, player.
After England scored for about 15 minutes Colombia went off the rails with pure petulance and random aggression. This suited England who retaliated in kind. The ref lost control of the game a bit.
However only one team really played football in this game and that wasn’t England. Absolutely agree with you.
I wanted Columbia to win, not because I don’t like the English team, but because they showed more passion and looked like the team with an actual game plan. Who has seen the pictures from our training session? Actual coaches for the season.. am I the only one who feels optimistic that hard work will bring out the best in our players.. especially bellerin.. The guy has been lazy at best..
Btw, I love jenkinson as a guy and would love him to remain with us..he’s coolheaded and i think Loki could bring out the best in him..
France, Brazil, Belgium, Uruguay …final 4!! Thoughts?
The commentary in this game was atrocious. So much waxing lyrical about Kane, Southgate, England on penalties.
Kane scores a penalty and he is ENGLAND’S PRICELESS JEWEL!!!
Before penalties. “Imagine what he(Southgate) is going through. The pain he’s had before.”
This isn’t normal. If it’s just a U.K. Broadcast, ok. But on a global broadcast in an elimination match, Colombia didn’t seem to exist and that’s not right. Regardless of the nationality of the commentator. He might as well have started singing it’s coming home.
I believe that’s the reason loads of people want England out of the world cup. Its going to be a very long 4years to Qatar should England end up winning the cup
Bingo. There is a national delusion about the reality of England’s football cheerled by the national press. I think they do it because the cycles of unfounded optimism and profound disappointment are good for business. But they also do it because I think there is a masochistic part of every football fan that enjoys feeling a bit jilted by his/her team. It’s like the abusive co-dependent boyfriend-girlfriend relationship where each side disappoints each other, vows to be better, then disappoints again, vows to never see each other, then gets lonely and the cycle repeats. The English public’s propensity for romantic optimism about their teams’ chances due to concepts like “fighting spirit” and “determination” which are completely subjective but held in such high regard in the proper football man circles contributes to the ongoing delusional expectations.
I do not agree about the masochism of football fans. Gallows humour notwithstanding. I think the English romanticise glorious failure. So that plays a part. The other bit is the projection of superiority. Which is why foreigners dive and cheat and English are merely clever or paying them back in their own coin at worst. Honestly, this ‘crab’ mentality of raising yourself up by pulling the other down is something I’ve noticed in both India and the UK and I wonder if we got it from them.
In the absence of winning things regularly, they need to come up with alternative definitions of glory. The spirit and grit etc that you mention.
And of course as you say, build it up only to tear it down is simply the way they keep the wheel turning.
I think the things you are pointing out are simply human nature rather than anything unique to the English. I recall a wise man who once said: “Everyone thinks they have the prettiest wife at home.” Yes, the English, less and less so these days but still, believe in their football exceptionalism. So does every team with some measure of a “glorious” past, including and especially Arsenal who play the Arsenal way. This cultural identity is at the soul of being a football fan.
So, to me it’s pretty sad when people start to label the English as xenophobic for being biased towards their own team, or when a player like Falcao essentially plays the race card after a loss in which his team resorted to as much “simulation” as they could get away with, not only claiming that the referee consciously favored England but offering his opinion that this was due to shared ancestry. I think FIFA has to fine Falcao for these comments.
Ooh. I didn’t see any of these comments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an equal opportunity hater. People, what a bunch of b******s.
I did think you would say that it is a human condition. I think it’s a matter of degrees though. And how it manifests. The pulling others down bit. Of course evryone does it. But it is more entrenched in Indian, and I think British society, as a way of being, that I don’t see in other societies as much (granted I may be less familiar with them)
Not sure I can explain it really. But anyway, not that important. Colombia were annoying (and stupid), but at least they can play. England can’t and I find nothing admirable in that, nor redeeming in their behaviour. I was most annoyed by the commentary.
Football commentators are THE WORST. And Fox/ESPN seems to have cornered the market on the most annoying and least insightful of them. Kelly Smith (UTA!) was by far the most effective analyst for Fox that I’ve seen thus far and she is like a breath of fresh air that makes their little World Cup Today show bearable. Stu Holden is pretty good as a color commentator. The Jorge Perez Navarro and Mariano Trujillo combination is entirely hilarious and entertaining though they don’t get any of the high profile games. Tony Meola and Aly Wagner are Ok too. McManaman, Barton, Lalas, Rae and the rest of the British old guard who regularly commentate games for Sky and BT are cringeworthy, unwatchable, banal, awful. But they don’t represent all of England.
Instead of criticising Englands performance perhaps people should reflect that if Colombia had come to play the attractive attacking football we all know that they’re capable of they might have actually won this match (even without James). Instead they resorted to all the dirty tricks that South American teams so often employ and played right into England’s hands.
Southgate’s side may be far from the most attractive footballing nation in this World Cup, but I was quite proud of them last night and they should make the semi final with ease.
Colombia set out from the outset to try to contain England and it was only after Pekerman made a raft of attacking substitutions that they were able to make significant progress in taking the game to England.
England blatantly lack that elite level attacker who does their best work with the ball, Kane seem to shoulder that responsibility but it clearly is not his natural game. Wilshere could have been that player if his body had been up to it.
Colombia were possibly the worst opponents for England, they had good attacking players but were looking to defend in depth and nick a goal on the break/from a set piece. England clearly look like a team that either wants all of the ball or as little of it as possible, the halfway house doesn’t work for them.
“England blatantly lack that elite level attacker who does their best work with the ball”
And for the most part they always have! The top domestic teams import continental or south american talent to fill this void. It’s just something that isn’t taught or valued at the grassroots level. Germany had the same problem in the 80’s and 90’s, changed the way they taught their youngsters and now it’s completely different.
What I love about this iteration of England is that they don’t try to hide from this or try to prove it isn’t really this way, or entrust mediocre players with trying to play this way. They just use their athletic skill and size to create high leverage opportunities and they do it better than most teams.
Pfo above says they play like a Pulis team… while I understand that parallel given their success with a similar playing style, I would have to say this group is much better on the ball than any Pulis team I’ve seen and also do not rely to the same extent on their size to bully other teams. Denmark or Sweden are much more deserving of that comparison IMO.
Germany lack an elite attacker is why they’re out. They focused too much on the technical and tactical side of things that they left out the innovation side that elite attackers, specifically scorers need. Spain had the same problem is why they got in Diego Costa (I know you think he’s a bad fit)
I think this is a particularly European (and maybe American?) problem. The rise of the academies ensures quality education and the clearest career path for talented footballers. But it is one of the greatest challenges to both educate through a structure and to grow beyond it.
I’m not sure if this has any basis, but I had a thought that maybe the best attackers come from outside Europe or at least from an immigrant background.
You’re right that England are more in line with the Scandinavian nations than the other European ones. Their midfield is a problem and I don’t think their attack is anywhere near good enough to survive when they come against a good side. I think Croatia will roast them. Sweden have a chance too. Frankly, I hope Sweden take it and send them out. Hopefully in the last minute of extra time.
When you speak of attackers I assume you mean center forwards/strikers who can effectively play as a single striker and not just as a false 9. It’s true European countries are producing fewer and fewer of those, as noted by Wenger among others, but Germany has historically had several excellent strikers like Gerd Muller, Miro Klose and Klinsmann. The 2018 vintage Germany lacked a striker even approaching that quality, but they had several excellent attackers and scored more goals than anyone in qualifying. In my view they were undone by a reliance on the old guard in midfield and defense as well as a general lack of athleticism in the spine of the team, but there was also a good bit of infighting and scandal that destabilized their collective unity, an intangible but crucial piece.
Despite all those things, the biggest reason they went out when they did is that as a team they just couldn’t hit the target, and that in part is down to relying on replacement level talent like a 32 year old Mario Gomez for clutch minutes. But when you miss that many chances as a collective it’s difficult to say that an upgrade in one position would’ve made the difference. They hit the post more than any other team and consistently underperformed their xG. In other words they had rotten finishing and luck on offense.
We could talk about Germany and Spain for a long time in terms of the impact of CF play. I’m holding fast to my diagnosis of Costa as a Spanish misfit. He scores goals of an individual, not team goals, that’s a big part of the Spanish dysfunction since 2012 when they lost the forwards that made their system tick in addition to the aging legs of their creative players. They really only need one striker who can make those runs and open up space for the midfielders’ runs and Costa just doesn’t do that because it’s the opposite of how he is asked to play for Atletico. Without that movement, the whole cutting edge aspect of Spain’s play breaks down and what you get is the mind-numbing spectacle of 1000 sideways slightly forward passes to the wings and back.
First day of Arsenal training today. There is an 8 minute video of all the players going from station to station with various assistants, being asked to do various tasks of strength and flexibility while the assistant stands nearby taking notes. I can’t remember anything of the sort in previous years but it seems to be an extremely sensible approach of documenting where players are in terms of several important physical parameters.
ps: Aubameyang’s single leg triple jump may be the most impressive thing you’ll see all day.
I’m sure they did it. Wenger was just obsessive about not allowing media access to training. I knew we’d be getting more behind the scenes media content.
Auba’s single leg triple jump is apparently a new club record distance.