A post from @foreverheady
If a week’s a long time in politics then ninety minutes is certainly plenty enough time for football fans to realise that most players are only human after all. I was listening to Darren Gough talking about Lionel Messi on the radio yesterday, and he was very much of the opinion that he hadn’t had the greatest of World Cup tournaments thus far and that his four Man of the Match awards were based more on reputation than actual achievement. In fact, Argentina’s latest game, where they seemed to take forever to dispatch Switzerland, showed another of the game’s greats, the exotically named Angel di Maria to be not so special after all. And yet, as the clock ticked inexorably towards another high stakes penalty shoot-out it was Messi and di Maria who stepped up to win the game. Gliding past two players in trademark style Lionel drew the final defender on to him before slipping the ball to Maria who passed the ball into the net with all the nonchalance of a training ground move, rather than the nerve-jangling coup de grace that would secure a quarter-final spot and, indeed, the promise of far more than that. It was a sublime moment of footballing genius, and future views of highlights and vine clips will ensure that it lives long in the collective footballing consciousness. In short, those few seconds wiped out the ordinariness of the previous two hours, and proved that when it really mattered Messi was the man. If you had only seen the goal you would have thought Dazzler mad.
And yet, despite the almost universal agreement that this has been the greatest and most exciting World Cup ever (at least since the last one) a lot of players have seemingly failed to shine on the greatest stage of all. While reputations may not be completely in tatters, it does seem that many of those who were so eagerly anticipated have struggled to be at their very best, and various reasons have been put forward to explain this. The impossible heat, the makeshift nature of the national teams, the refereeing, the tactical acumen of the opposition managers, the desire that the footballing ‘minnows’ show when pulling on their national strip have been among some of the more popular pieces of punditry, and as with all theories that masquerade as sensible each contain enough truth to be plausible. But I wonder if it isn’t something far more obvious than all of this and that Ronaldo’s feet of clay are just another symptom of the truth so wearily acknowledged each Saturday afternoon by the long suffering denizens of the football League’s terraces. And that truth is, and whisper this quietly or the sponsors will take offence, that football is actually quite a boring game, and that most players, for most of the time, struggle to do anything out of the ordinary; it is sadly true that most sides find it well-nigh impossible to breach a well-organised defence. When explaining goalless performances, managers euphemistically refer to a lack of quality in the final third, when what they actually mean is “none of my players were capable of doing anything unexpected, and my offensive tactics were rendered impotent by my counterpart’s defensive strategy. “ If you watch some games you quite soon begin to wonder if either side will ever be good enough to actually score a goal, so laborious are their efforts. The score-lines give it away, of course: 0-0, 1-0, 1-1, , 2-0, 2-1 are by far the most common, and any tally more than that is a rarity unless the teams are hopelessly mismatched or defensively incontinent.
I am guessing here, but I suspect that the vast majority of football watchers don’t often watch whole games, making do instead with recorded highlights on Match of the Day or various Youtube compilations. When much of the tedious dross is edited out, football comes alive with end to end stuff, goalmouth action a plenty, tantalising and sumptuous moments of artistry and wonder goals repeated endlessly and from all angles. They all look good on the telly, unless of course it is the turn of some hapless defender to have his limitations cruelly exposed by the forensic unpleasantness of a bitter analyst blessed with hindsight, technology and supported by full blown media bias. There will be few regular and actual game-going supporters who haven’t experienced the frustration of seeing their own attackers huff and puff impotently for ninety minutes that afternoon, only to catch Match of the Day later that evening and see a United or City star pirouette on a sixpence before dispatching it venomously into the top corner. And if you have had a couple by then and your reason and your judgment are momentarily suspended, it’s hard not to at least imagine what it would be like to have him leading the line for you next week. Infidelity, you see, is born out of over-exposure to the commonplace and a momentary glimpse of the exotic.
The problem with this World Cup is that the exotic has become commonplace and the likes of Darren Gough, not to mention many teenage boys, are having to watch whole games in their essentially dull entirety, perhaps for the very first time. Watching Messi being shackled by Johan Djouru for two hours is a little like (and I’m guessing here, Your Honour) watching Linda Lovelace condemned to a perpetual diet of lukewarm and unseasoned Shepherds’ Pie. It is, at best, a disappointment. And I wonder too if this isn’t the problem with people’s perception of Mesut Ozil . When he signed for The Arsenal I wonder how many had watched him play that often, or whether they just remembered flashes of brilliance from Bloemfontein and countless effortless assists in various “Ronaldo’s Greatest Goals” compilations. His first few Arsenal matches were like that too: a beyond brilliant assist for Giroud, a wonder strike against Napoli, a brace to see off Norwich. This was pornography made real and all that golden autumn we were drowning, stingless, in honey- bliss was it indeed in that dawn to be an Arsenal fan. It didn’t last, of course – or rather, it didn’t last quite like that. The everydayness of things all too soon kicked in, and shamefully the fans got used to his brilliance and no longer noticed when he had done something quite exceptional. Unless every touch turned to gold immediately, he was no longer accorded special status and all too soon he became merely human and nothing like his Youtube alter ego: just another ordinary player, in fact.
Except Mesut Ozil is not just another player, just as Lionel Messi is not having an ordinary tournament. Games are not twenty minutes long (football has yet to go down cricket’s route and pander to today’s short attention spans, although I suspect it is only a matter of time before that happens) and the proof of a player is his contribution over the whole game. It is no surprise that Messi and Ozil made their recent match winning moves deep into injury time, just as it was no coincidence that The Arsenal’s player of the season, Aaron Ramsey, scored the winning goal in the Cup Final long after most had cried enough. Cream rises to the top, they say, and so too do great Sportsmen, and if they think it is worth playing until the final whistle is blown then perhaps the pundits might also try concentrating for long enough to see what is really going on. Not every move they make will come off, not every shot will score, and for much of the time we should expect them to be shackled – after all, it would be almost match-fixingly strange if tactics were not drawn up to nullify the most dangerous players – but rest assured, class will out and they will find a way, and that is why they are, as Arsene would say, top, top quality, and why I am looking forward to seeing them play again this weekend.
Positively Arsenal 
At last Argentina playing the sort of swift passing confident game that has eluded them so far.
A question however – wtf is Fellaini doing on that pitch ?
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Did you guys see that challenge Fellaini made on Messi?
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And what evidence is this? You are talking about a player who lost his position in the Chelsea back line to a very mediocre Gary Cahill. You talk about evidence, but you still haven’t proven why you think David Luiz is worth so much more than someone like Johan Djorou, a player who is a mainstay of one of the best defenses in world football.
did mata lose his position too? oh ..thought so….
i told you before one commands transfers of the 25-35-45m variety and the other is loaned here and there. david luiz has won big titles and has played a part in them and what he did last night djourou cant even do in his dreams. i understand support of our players but stop kidding yourself…..
greece which is also one of the best defence in the world ..but if i tell you papa pisses all over mainstream names you wont agree…… hehe…so how come in your mind does it counts for switzerland and djourou and not for others??? who is djourou? maldini in disguise?
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Fellaini is stealin’ a livin’
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Chaldi!
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Mata lost his place at Chelsea for tactical reasons. David Luiz lost his place in the team because he’s shit.
One commands such high transfer fees for the same reason Neymar and Garreth Bale command such highi transfer fees, hype. Put it this way, if David Luiz is worth £50m pounds, then Koscielny is worth at least double that. As far as what David Luiz did last night, he makes one of thise every twenty or so games. Like his manager, I’d rather have a defender who can defend consistently than count on a player who does something magical every now and again. Put itnthis way, Rory Delap is ace at long throw ins, that doesn’t mean I want him on my team. Face it, you’re eating the hype which surrounds players such as Hummels and David Luiz. Otherwise you wouldn’t bring up how many titles they’ve won and would instead talk about their abilities.
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Five minutes to go. Argentina also coped well with the loss of di Maria, can they hold out from Wilmots’ imaginative attacks?
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By the way, Luiz doesn’t have Silva next to him in the next game. You’ll get to see how good he is when he doesn’t have better players around him.
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Fellaini cost how much again?
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Courtois with a great save. Can’t believe the special one left him out of his team this past season, but he did. Fortunately he’ll have an even more knackered Terry in front of him as it stands for the season to come.
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Opening 30 minutes very good from Argentina but faded
Belgium disappointing – De Bruyne and Witsel good but they never looked like scoring
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You know who won titles with Real Madrid and France? Christian Karembeu.
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Hope they get di Maria back, as FH wrote above he is a key player. Belgium never played with enough cohesion for me, not enough teamwork. I guess Germany can get away with punting their most creative player wide because they have other key attacking players who have great quality and are happy to all switch around, and a good midfield (when selected!) etc., Belgium don’t.
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Hazard MIA. If Ozil played as poorly the media would put it on the front page.
Boring game
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Guivarch was a legend. Played striker, won the World Cup playing in most games including the final, never scored a goal. Haha!
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It’s going to be tough for Costa Rica, I’m hoping Campbell can get another goal against Utd!
lol… dirk kuyt is their next transfer target…lad works hard..
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Yup. Not a good game for Hazard. Hoping he carries that form into next season and has a special Robben inspired bust up with JM and puts in a transfer request!
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Re Guivarch in ’98, Thierry Henry bagged three goals playing off the left to help make up for the lack of goals elsewhere. Which is why he is a Great. Greater then many and most. His goals helped his team win a World Cup.
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Mata lost his place at Chelsea for tactical reasons. David Luiz lost his place in the team because he’s shit.
who says that? you? both lost their positions because mou dont like them / do as they are told …..as simple as that.
we were not comparing luiz to konscielny mate..but to djourou…and between them two there is absolutely no doubt as to who is the better defender with the better career and the recognition/acknowldgement through titles and achievements…wtf has rory delap got to do with anything lol… . some of your choices/comparisons are unfortunate and i d ont kn owwhether to take you serious or whether you are desperate to maintain your position no matter what…
listen i get it you dont LIKE some of these players but you not LIKING them is not an important enough reason to call them shit ….
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So true, Dups Where is the media inquest on the case of the missing player, Hazard. Has he been sitting on the Copacabana beach since this tournament started! Ozil is a lightning rod for criticism in England because he was a big money signing at Arsenal. But he’s the scapegoat in Germany, I think, because of his Turkish roots. Unfair on him, especially when he has been very solid and sometimes really excellent the whole tournament, as Finsburys’ twitter stat link demonstrated.
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Fins, di Maria hadn’t been great every game this tournament but he is a tremendous player for RM. There were rumours he might be leaving this summer, for some reason that’s unclear. We have quite a few attacking midfielders, but he is superbly effective and energetic a player.
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Very good point about Luiz without organizer Silva. But Dante is a good CB too. But still will be telling since Luiz will be the senior one in that partnership. I expect Germany to get more joy than Colombia did.
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The quarters a big bore so far. Not near the group or round of 16 games. I hope it all isn’t downhill from here. Still Hope for the CR Holland game. I’d like to see one of the underdogs make it to the semis. Campbell goal and a diving booking for Robben, please!
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Limestone
I agree with FH’s description of di Maria. Don’t really care too much about the transfer tittle tattle tbh* I just like watching him play, he was good when it mattered during the CL final!
*no comment from me on the current high levels of hype, hehe, rest assured if any super quick forward attackin type player is signed I will be in blissful meltdown.
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I’m not the one saying it, Hunter. Mourinho prefers Cahill to David Luiz. You and I saw it all season.
As far as Djourou is concerned, I’d take a player who has been successful at keeping Messi quiet in the CL and World Cup over a flashy, inconsistent defender any day.
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Di Maria is twenty times better than Neymar. But since he’s not pretty, he doesn’t command a one hundred million pound transfer fee.
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“As far as Hummels is concerned, I rate Koscielny, Christian Zapata, Godin, Mertesacker, Spahic, Dante and Kompany higher than him. I’d even taken John Terry before Hummels. Trust me, I’ve seen enough of him to know that he’s good for at least one huge blunder every other game. All the hype he’s getting us just insane.”
Gains, I don’t know Hummel’s game enough to comment, but it’s interesting how defenders who score goals get a pass on their defensive shortcomings. I think that happened with Vermaelen to a certain extent. I definitely think he is behind Per and Kos in our pecking order, but his initial goal scoring exploits have earned him a lot of credit and glossed over his tendency to go too far forward and leave huge gaps behind him for the opposition to exploit. 2 goals for Barca come to mind as well as the Valencia run that Arshavin took the heat for and even Andre Santos was much maligned for gaps on the left that I think were partially down to Vermaelen not covering when he knew Santos’ role was to go forward to support the attack. I would rather he stayed at Arsenal, but I would not be unduly concerned if he went to manure. He’s good, but not great IMO.
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Why does Bryan Ruiz play in Holland? He is not as pretty as James Rodriguez, but much better.
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Talking of huge blunders I sense Martens Indi has a major cock up in his locker that he might share with us.
C’mon CostaRica
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That happens a lot with defenders who are good on the ball, Pass. Take Piqué, example. He’s slow and he’s not really good in the air, but he can play tiki take from the back. Therefore, a lot of people think he’s awesome. My gripe with Hummels and David Luiz is that they’re average even though they play in teams which either lord over smaller teams or park the bus. If you were to put them in a team like ours, which plays a much more attack oriented formation, their shortcomings would become a lot more apparent. Which brings me back to Djourou, he did very well for us before he was sent out on loan and he is an absolute rock when it comes to playing for a defensive Switzerland.
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I’m a bit confused about Djourou – I thought he was no longer our player, but during the WC, Arsenal.com kept reporting on Switzerland because of him, but they stopped mentioning Sagna once they announced his departure? I would not be upset if he came back, but I suspect that is not likely. He is a good centre back, just not so good as a RB, which is where he gained an undeserved reputation of being a poor defender.
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Martens Indi not letting me down so far
Go for it son
You could be as big as Titus Bramble
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Campbell was running on empty for so long into the last game it’s not a surprise he has come off, hopefully we’ll see him again in the semi-final.
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Well done CRC for keeping Nederlands at bay this long. Sadly I expect they will lose out in the end, but it’s been a good effort on their part so far.
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Hilarious
80 minutes of messing about
10 minutes of frantic effort
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It’s amazing how the dutch without Robben’s dives, are quite limited
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Joel Campbell was denied a penalty
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Holland is Van Pursie, Robben and a gang of mediocre players.
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“Holland is Van Pursie, Robben and a gang of mediocre players.”
I would say Robben’s ‘dives’ ! Knowing he is under scrutiny is seriously limiting his ‘abilities’ in this game.
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hunter,
i respect your clear and unapologetic views. i mostly tend to agree with them too.
i agree with you on
sagna > aurier – pfff.. not even a comparison here.
fabregas > ozil – but i havent see fabregas play that well for sometime now..would take ozil in the present day scenario with the history and everything.
howard and woj are both brilliant keepers, however at wojciech’s age he is insanely consistent. cant say that about howard, he made several errors playing at a big club [man u]. so woj for me anyday.
and yes, there was never a system in football that could contain messi for sure. he is among the greatest players ever… arsene said it himself 😐
but for ffs you use one match in paris to say henry is a lesser player than suarez? remember his goal against real madrid which took us to paris in the first place? and remember his zillion other goals over a 8-10 year period? even at barca [the 2008-2009, first and best season under pep], he scored some of the most important goals throughout the season..go back and take a look. pep had the same thing to say about him.
suarez fights on the pitch and it shows. the expressive guys arent always with the most fight in them. for me henry fought it out just as much, if not more.
suarez is a killer and so was henry and both had off matches – very rarely. i havent checked the numbers but from memory i believe henry had a much better goals+assists ratio as compared to suarez. also, suarez has a much bigger negative impact on his own clubs with all his antics. for me that diminishes him as a player.
there are many times when i bring my bias towards arsenal players into my arguments but not today.
HENRY > SUAREZ, until suarez’s raises his level somehow or keeps his present level for a very very long time
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Robben has been superb tonight, Sneijder even better – the rest of the men in Orange very mediocre
By god though Navas and the CR defence ! Extraordinary
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i should add, the player comparisons, although we do them all the time, are mean nothing really.
i’m sure everyone agrees on that :)..so lets just forget all this non sense circus and talk about arsenal instead..or the world cup heh
world cup was awesome so far and i am expecting the rest of it to be just as awesome..
two euro vs south american match ups in the semis.. 😛
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Wow. Just wow. What an effort. No matter what your nation be proud of you. Viva COSTA RICA.
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big teams come good at the big tournaments..
master stroke of a substitution? :)..i think the winner of argentina and netherlands will take the world cup..
dutch played really well and were unlucky not to score..costa rica were the biggest surprise of the tournament and it breaks my heart to see them go out..:(
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Van Gaal’s sphincter going like the clappers there – you won’t be as lucky every week
Brilliant display from Costa Rica
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I really do not want the dutch to win this – i’m praying they will get knocked out soon. Unlucky CRC, but good effort.
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How can the ref let Krul trash talk the penalty takers right in front of him?
Answer: because he wants to keep his job.
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Van Gaal is going to be insufferable in the PL and will fit in perfectly at MU. I am not looking forward to this. Krul saves weak penalties and VG gets to preen as a genius. Really hope Argentina stuff the Dutch.
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Morning George, I hope you are well and enjoyed your little break Here is the link to my glossy sunday supplement. An interesting history of the Emirates and Islington.
Here
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Bugger… didn’t post the link…. here goes again http://wp.me/p4FeF9-8g
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