First, only saw the first 20 minutes and then had to go to my own 7v7 match. But your comment about Martinez raises a question for me. By specifying that Martinez is an elite shot-stopper are you implying that he's lacking in other areas (handling crosses, distribution, passing)? No snark, honest question. Also what did Nelson do (or fail to do) that earned him the rockhead label. As for Sokratis, again didn't see it, but I saw a few tweets noting that VAR was going to kill him and Xhaka this season. Funny in a gallows humor we know it's true kind of way, I think.
I was being hyperbolic with the elite shot-stopper comment, but he did save a lot of clear cut chances Madrid had. His distribution was fine too. I am not sure why he hasn't tried to get a chance elsewhere, but he does look like a solid keeper. Nelson made bad decisions on the ball. He didn't get the ball to runners on a few occasions solely to do his own thing. It was weird. He seems like a highlights player, idk. Again, seeing it at the match and without the benefit of replays, that second yellow didn't look like anything but two players going for the ball. He is a goon player tho. I will say tho, Ozil looks really good this preseason.
I agree that Sokratis' second yellow was fair play, imo. RM knew he had already picked up a yellow, and went straight to the ref wanting the second. Our players would/should have done the same in that situation, so I'm not begrudging RM. More to your point, I'm more concerned about how Sokratis punted the ball away after the red card. It's a pre-season match, which really doesn't matter much - but he still was compelled to be a dick about it. That really bothers me going into the season, with VAR or not.
Saw a touch map on Twitter suggesting that Ozil's season last year was because of Emery: central touches fell off a cliff (but touches in other parts of the pitch didn't really change).
I don’t think there’s any question Emery’s philosophy was a huge issue for Özil’s ability to have an impact. Remember early in the season when both Özil and Ramsey had games with like 15 total passes. Neither of them could get on the ball, and there’s no precedent for that in either of their careers. But Özil was also just not up to his own standard far too often. We know he has a reputation for being something of a sensitive soul, so maybe he was really badly effected by the political fallout over his claims of racism re: the German national team and the World Cup, etc. (which I don’t think we need to rehash here.) So there are two thing we have to hope for. First, that Emery has figured out what Özil is good at and makes the most of it, and second, that he has emerged from under that cloud. Maybe he isn’t quite done here yet.
IIRC Nelson had a nice passing exchange with Saha that led to a cross by Saha. It may have been the cross that Nketiah headed wide. Nelson's timing was off, he was taking one touch to many, which may be attributable to the lack of regular game time recently. I agree with you on Sokratis' second yellow, I wasn't even sure it was a foul, most of the contact occurred after he touched the ball.
He alluded to such in his interview. And if so, long may it last!! Especially if it somehow induces him to play better/harder/etc for us. For a player who is so renowned, talented and expensive, it sure would be nice if he was a bit less psychologically fragile than some sources would have us believe.
I don't remember which CB gave Xhaka a pass with a Madrid player already on his back Xhaka immediately lost possession closer to our box and yelled at the CB, like, "are you nuts?" Xhaka pissed his CB would put him in danger like that. CB pissed his midfielder can't turn in that direction, that would've allowed him to easily break the press and retain the ball. They are both right and wrong and will continue to kill us this season. One guy intentionally plays into his teammate's weakness and the other guy has such glaring weaknesses that his teammate couldn't help putting him in danger. All the training, tactics, preparation etc, will go out the window if that continues to happen 2-3 times a match.
he played more than people like Saka and Nketiah last season. the bad decisions by Nelson weren't because he took an extra touch. He had tunnel vision.
Its possible he does have tunnel vision. I was talking about readjusting to the speed of the game after not playing a lot. He only played one game for the U21s and at Hoffenheim from March onward he played in 7 games, but only had a total of 81 minutes in those 7 games. It's certainly possible that his playing time at the end of last season was limited because he is a rockhead. But a lot of players do go through a readjustment period in the preseason.
I'd agree. Definitely seemed even in the stadium once the game kicked off. Before and after the game and on the platform waiting for the train it was 70/30 Arsenal - Real (and throughout the touristy parts of the city during the day).
Re: Nelson it looks to me like he’s in that trying too hard to prove himself phase. It’s wishful thinking on my part, maybe, but he’s got talent and I don’t have any reason yet to think he isn’t good enough. We shall see.
I feel like this season is going to be one where every match day thread will be full of praise for the insane attacking creativity we see, and will be offset with common phrases like "why would Xhaka do that?" or "how can Mustafi still be in the team with performances like that". I don't think I have ever followed any other team in any other sport where the attack has been so fun to watch, and the defence has been so incompetent.
Love Steve Nash but he real bad on the defensive end. 2005-6 they couldn't get a stop to save their life. But boy were they fun to watch. Oakland Raiders last time they were in the super bowl which was 2002? We're up there for sure.
I was at the Fiorentina game in CLT. The weather was hotter than hell and made good footy virtually impossible. That said, some general observations: 1. Martinelli is going to be good....like really good. I think he is better than Saka and Saka is damn good. 2. Reiss is not the answer to anything and needs to go on another loan or sold. 3. Mustafi is slow and is scared to defend high. Actually a very good tackler but his fear of getting beat makes him vulnerable. I have no idea why Chambers does not get another look. He looked very good. Monreal did not. 4. Laca has many dimensions. He is not just a 9. Could well settle into a 10 role at some point in his career. Brains and skills. Awesome to watch. 5. Eddie has a lot to learn. Still pretty raw. But you can see why the hype. 2 goals. 6. Granit is not very good either. Maybe he was not trying but he is the weakest link in the MF. Positioning is off, wants to be an attacker so often out of position. Makes up by making rash challenges. 7. Medley is a fekkin unit.
Our last pre-season match is at Barca on Sunday 2pm ET. I guess the only way to watch this is via a dodgy pirate stream. It's on Premier Sports in the UK, and ESPN doesn't appear to have rights.
Barcelona's website will live stream the game. All you need to do is setup a user account, which is free. Name, birthday, email address and password. Took me 2mins.