World Cup 2018 Qualifiers

Ricky1985

Flicking between Belarus-France and Switzerland-Portugal.

Swiss are a little lucky to be 2-0 up and Giroud has just missed a sitter after a superb set up by Griezmann.

Ricky1985

Griezmann with a good freekick the keeper does well to save and Giroud has just hit the bar from the resulting corner. Game's heating up.

Ricky1985

Asano's goal for Japan earlier today:

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Klaus

Ricky1985

Stunning finish. Who needs Zlatan, eh?

Ricky1985

Didn't see what happened but Xhaka was sent off for a second booking right at the end of Switzerland's 2-0 win.

In the other game, France were massively unlucky not to beat Belarus in all honesty.

Klaus

Ricky1985 wrote:
Stunning finish. Who needs Zlatan, eh?

Haha. I think it says more about Holland that they can't finish off a team like that, but my dad claims that Sweden have improved right away by getting rid of Hamrén.

I've always liked Berg though. It's a shame what happened with his career really. Injuries finished him off early on. I think he could have made some waves otherwise. There are so few natural finishers around nowadays. It makes you happy to see one pop up every now and then with a goal like that.

Clrnc

Yeah Berg looked extremely good back then when he just broke through. Pretty sure many Arsenal fans wishlisted him too after the tournament.

Nowadays, I think Guidetti is a more natural fit as Zlatan's strike partner. He is more mobile and offers more in general play.

Asano had an average game. I watched the entire 90 minutes, he worked very hard but didn't really click well with the other players against a packed Thai defence. He was very brave and anticipated well for the goal through.

The embed tweet feature is seriously useful by the way.

Klaus

Zlatan retired from the national team, I think. Guidetti is extremely talented but you wonder if he's ever going to be hundred percent again after the illness. The fact that he's playing top level football again, let alone being able to move freely, is a bit of a miracle.

Ricky1985

Yep, Berg was interesting in the European U21s all those years ago. Must be the hardest thing to have injuries consistently derail your career like that.

Granit blotted his copy book right at the end. Was very good otherwise. Strange challenge to make so late in the game.

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Claudius

fine by me. that's one less game he has to play in 2016

Rex

That tackle on Nani brought a broad smile to my face.

Segway

Berg is a racist cunt. Karma is a bitch.

Clrnc

Love the trajectory of Xhaka's passes. Reminds me a lot of Pirlo's.

banduan

His passes are excellent. His sliding tackles less so. Bouldie has some work cut out there.

Savz

Clrnc wrote:
Love the trajectory of Xhaka's passes. Reminds me a lot of Pirlo's.

Needs to improve the accuracy and then grow to become less of a panic passer when the ball is on the ground/tight areas.

flobaba

banduan wrote:
His passes are excellent. His sliding tackles less so. Bouldie has some work cut out there.

Tackling technique is really awkward

Savz

One of the smoothest passers, Verratti vs Israel.

banduan

flobaba wrote:
banduan wrote:
His passes are excellent. His sliding tackles less so. Bouldie has some work cut out there.

Tackling technique is really awkward

yeah. I'm confident we can sort it out though, one of the skills I can trust our coaches to be able to improve our players at.

Klaus

We just need to tell him to go to ground less often. Usually when you do that you're out of the game unless you make a perfect block. Arteta was a great example of how to make a standing tackle.

Most of Xhaka's issues with his tackles in an Arsenal shirt at the moment seem to be fitness-related too. He doesn't go to ground to stop a counter; he does it because he can't keep up. A year in Premier League should improve his condition a fair bit.