Players to Watch

[mr_dude]

Would Xavi's passing be more of a technique thing or a tactics thing? I'm thinking tactical.
Free kicks for sure Becks, CR, and Juninho.
Toure's touch, alright.

[sir_alex_vu]

Would Xavi's passing be more of a technique thing or a tactics thing? I'm thinking tactical.

Well, it's his technique which allows him the capability to pull of those defence-splitting passes, and to control that midfield. But, his tactics are the reason why he can actually spot those openings and create those goal-scoring opportunities.

Free kicks? I think Juninho is probably a better free kick taker than Becks and Ronaldo. Statistically speaking, Juninho's scored the most goals from free kicks than any other active player. "Knuckle-balling" is alot harder to do than bending it like beckham (but that's still difficult to pull off as well).



Even though he's been out of the spotlight recently, Ruud van Nistelrooy?

He's one of the best at positioning, and just being "at the right place at the right time". He's the true "fox-in-the-box". His finishing is superb, and he's a fantastic target-man.

[soccer11]

yeah seriously two moderators that cant even read the topic right, in another case it would be each rated a 1 and maybe more than once.... and criticized: "God damn new people, they cant even read the topic"

Potential. I said Potential didn't I?

I have to agree with that. I haven't seen him play a lot of game but from what I have seen and the highlights I've seen, he has an amazing amount of potential and I think it's a star in the making. I think he's the future of French football.

It might not have been a conventional answer but the topic said specific things. In my opinion, he has some of the best potential in the game today as far as young players not in the first team consistently.

[casar22]

-Andres Iniesta- amazin vision, amazing pass and amazing dribbling.

-Gerard Pique- Barca fans call him Piquembauer(Beckembauer) because he's an amazing defender and he scores a lot of goals despite been a defender.

[shahensha]

Dani Alves: Mad stamina. He is the energizer bunny that never stops.

[Evan]

I don't know...I think a good player to watch for this season will be Gonzalo Higuain. He hasn't had much playing time so far (which is bulls**t), but when he does play he is a hard worker; he is fast, and has great skill with the ball, and can play anywhere in the attack.

[shahensha]

Alonso: His long passes ( especially aerial) are ridiculousy accurate.

Zlatan: His, runs, touch and aerial ability are crazy good in the box. Before I thought alves' crosses were inaccurate until Zlatan started playing for Barca.

Pedro: Barca's young gun on the rise. Another winger that wreaks havoc with excellent long shots.

[Davidson9]

Alonso: His long passes ( especially aerial) are ridiculousy accurate.

This is very, very true

[panchester07]

Raul: best veteran striker in my opinion, just pops out of the blue and scores.. on saturday scored twice that is a consecuence of being in the right place, at the right time...

Rooney: The player that puts more pasion in to the game, even when England is not playing offensively he still gives 100% and hates to loose. Take England v Ukraine for example, England wasnt pressing on Ukraine, but Rooney was runnning his ass off like it was the champions league finl

[Rome_Leader]

I agree about Rooney. The boy is always on. Even as a Chelsea fan, that's good to see. The money hasn't really changed him, he's still a workhorse, same as he was when he was 16. That's really how you're taught to play as a kid, but he's the one pro who truly exemplifies the constant 'go, go, go' style of play.

I'm looking for a resurgence of Drogba this year that already seems to be in the making. He's back to his old self... A monster up front who is a tower of strength, only now, with the excellent new formations Ancelotti is pushing, he's got Anelka to knock 'em down to.

[mustahfa14]

Iniesta- In my eyes, the best player in the world. He may not score 30 goals a season, but what he does in games and for barcelona/spain is amazing. He is always dangerous with the ball, and creates. He rarely...I mean rarely loses the ball. I can keep going on about him but I'll end it here.

[shahensha]

True. He has a menacing combo of xavi's passing ability and messi's dribbling ability lol

[panchester07]

sorry Barca fans:

The biggest dissapointment wiwth national team:

Lio Messi, is the best player by far with barcelona, but just dissapears with Argentina. Sure maybe its maradonas fault, maybe he doesnt have xavi and iniesta, but thats no excuse.

[shahensha]

Villa: Havoc in the box. Great control and a strong foot. Always leads the goal scoring charts

David Silva: young but experienced play-maker

Lassanna Diarra: The next makalele

sorry Barca fans:

The biggest dissapointment wiwth national team:

Lio Messi, is the best player by far with barcelona, but just dissapears with Argentina. Sure maybe its maradonas fault, maybe he doesnt have xavi and iniesta, but thats no excuse.

lol terribly misinformed fool. Even great players like messi are miserable under crack head idiots like Maradona.

Messi actually performs for argentina but just to recap:

He won the under 20 world cup with argentina along with the golden boot

Then he became the youngest argentinian player to ever participate in the world cup. In his first appearance, he assisted a goal, and scored one, becoming the youngest scorer of the tournament.

Then he lead argentina to the copa america final against brazil, scoring in the quarter and semi final along the way. The semi-final goal against mexico was a brilliant chip. Prolly the best goal he has scored for the national team.

Then with argentina in the olympics (which actually had quite a lot of professionals participating), he scored the equaliser and assisted the winner against holland in the quarterfinals. Brazil was too busy man marking two players on him instead of scoring. Then he assisted the winning goal against nigeria in the final to bring Argentina the gold medal.

Considering his age of 22 years and all those achievements so far, calling him the biggest disappointment with the national team is really short-sighted and thats an understatement.

[panchester07]

Villa: Havoc in the box. Great control and a strong foot. Always leads the goal scoring charts

David Silva: young but experienced play-maker

Lassanna Diarra: The next makalele

sorry Barca fans:

The biggest dissapointment wiwth national team:

Lio Messi, is the best player by far with barcelona, but just dissapears with Argentina. Sure maybe its maradonas fault, maybe he doesnt have xavi and iniesta, but thats no excuse.

lol terribly misinformed fool. Even great players like messi are miserable under crack head idiots like Maradona.

Messi actually performs for argentina but just to recap:

He won the under 20 world cup with argentina along with the golden boot

Then he became the youngest argentinian player to ever participate in the world cup. In his first appearance, he assisted a goal, and scored one, becoming the youngest scorer of the tournament.

Then he lead argentina to the copa america final against brazil, scoring in the quarter and semi final along the way. The semi-final goal against mexico was a brilliant chip. Prolly the best goal he has scored for the national team.

Then with argentina in the olympics (which actually had quite a lot of professionals participating), he scored the equaliser and assisted the winner against holland in the quarterfinals. Brazil was too busy man marking two players on him instead of scoring. Then he assisted the winning goal against nigeria in the final to bring Argentina the gold medal.

Considering his age of 22 years and all those achievements so far, calling him the biggest disappointment with the national team is really short-sighted and thats an understatement.

Thats funny you say that because a few posts before you were talking about how maradona turned the tables, now suddenly he is crackhead?

Son face the facts, messi with argentina is not even the shadow of barcelonas messi..

Thats why many argentinians are criticizing him , the press and fans are getting tired of him.. Much like Ronaldinho in 2006 with brazil, but maybe with even more reason cause really he hasnt done much lately.

When the team doesnt have chemistry real stars sstep up,and carry the team on their shoulder, Argentina literally put all their hope on messi, to find him making sh*tty passing, dribbling when he shouldnt, playing long crazzy balls to strikers that no one will reach. Zidane carried both his team on the shoulder, not just the one where he had all the other Galacticos, he didnt need a Xavi, or Iniesta, or Even Dani Alves to give him the ball nice and gently and have him play.. Even the so criticized maradona carried all his teams, any team he played in he gave results, he played like a man, messi plays with fear with argentina (lately atleast) . Take riquelme away and watch him for 4 games. Who is he, Nobody??

Of course he won the U-20, we are all agreeing that he is the best player in the world right now, and he had no problem in beating little kids as 97% of them werent really completely pros, and playing with a quality team like barcelona, they played in their countries stiill, and if they played in another country, or if their country had a top league, then they werent starters. I believe messi would play 30 minutes or full games in 2006 im not sure for FCB. You see the difference?

Messi is almost Spanish not argentinian, he barely nows argentinas anthem, he did all his secondary studies in Barcelona, he is god in Barcelona, but nobody knows him in Argentina, he didnt come out of a Newells or Boca or River. Believe it or not, Veron, Higuian, Riquelme are much more popular and liked in Argentina. This is another reason why the "superstar" doesnt step up with his national team, he doesnt have the support that he does in barcelona. He doesnt really feel the shirt.. He doesnt sing that anthems in the games, he didnt sing it against paraguay, when they lost, and again he didnt do crap. Does he know the lyrics? Does he sing it with barcelona?? Its his attitude, he feels spanish, he lacks balls, his heart is in europe. He never played good football, not with Basile or Pekerman, he did his few good things, but not even 1/5 of what he does with barcelona if you would compare games. 12 goals, in 36 games.

Am i still misinformed fool, or are you just inlove with messi and cant see his obvious flaws? Even a begginer would notice he doesnt play at the same level.


Barca fans: Its much easier to blame it on maradona, but the truth is its just another shirt for him, and since he doesnt get payed a sh*t load like in Barcelona he doesnt sweat it. He plays carefully so he doesnt get injured. if maradona doesnt put him in the exact right position, in the exact same scheme and formation that barcelona does then he just doesnt show up to the game..

Real easy to blame the coach shahensa, and to pickup crazy stats from the past, Olympics? what are the olympics there not even part of the fifa calendar. Just cause everything isnt beautifully organized like in Barcelona, he doesnt have the wonderful attack, the players that put the ball on him and get open for him to pass it back. You cant tell me that PERU, has the same level than teams like REAL MADRID, where he scored a hattrick in Bernabeu, so your telling me im misinformed and its just a coincidence?

Most of his criticism comes from these 3 factors:
1) He doesnt sing the anthem
2) When he looses it(most of the time), he walks back with his head down
3) He lacks personality, that shirt looks way to big on him if you want the 10, play like you deserve it. Demonstrate commitment to the seleccion for Gods sake. Run dammit, show you want to win not just to look fancy and dribble 3 or 4.

Just look at his stats with barcelona, and his flamboyant beautiful playing style, and compare it to his playing style with Argentina, anyone wouldd be shocked, wondering what happened to the beast that plays in Spain. This is why people agree, that he is a huge dissapointment with his national team, even if there wrong in expecting, he is and has been A BIG FAT DISSAPOINTMENT....

sorry barcafan, but its the truth, dont be blind and ADMIT IT