http://www.fcbayern.t-home.de/en/news/start/index.php?fcb_sid=31d2a3dcd8226460a5284db9e52f8d4d Toni on the picture looks like a retard, similar to his performance today..
Of course not. But I was disagreeing with FF1's point that Ballack has found bigger and better things with Chelsea.
Well he went to the CL final last year and could very well get another shot at it this year. Thats more than he could say for his stay with Bayern.
Yeah Chelsea has been doing better than Bayern in the CL recently but individually he has been playing worse for Chelsea than he did at Bayern.
Yea, that can be attributed to a decline in form as well as a higher level of quality and competition in the team. Regardless, he HAS moved on to bigger and better things.
With Mikel and Essien available he still gets playing time so there is something the managers (Scolari and now Guus) see in him.
And one thing is for sure: as long as he will be a Chelsea player, Chelsea may reach the final....but it is impossible to win with Vize-Ballack
Is there anyone who has more 2nd place medals in the world's top competitions than Ballack??? BL Pokal FIFA WC CL (2) UEFA EC
Does anyone else see the similarity between Toni and Makaay? When they first signed on with Bayern, they were banging goals in left and right, and suddenly just fell off. Watching Toni this season was/is painful, it's easy to forget why we signed him. It truly reminds me of Makaay's time at Bayern, where after the first few seasons I'd be banging my head against the wall watching him play. Maybe it's just that they raise our expectations of them at first and then we come to expect too much of them, but who knows?
good observations..but i don't blame toni today. no service for him. he couldn't do much. as for Makaay, he got lots of goals in the first season, but then he had always had at least 17+ goals a season later on so.i don't blame makaay either. he was still good for another season when he left us. i feel bad for him though. when he came to us, on the press conference, he said that he sees himself winning the champions leageu with bayern. that's what he was here for. in the end, we couldn't help him to realize his dream...sigh....
I'll have to say that I do blame Toni, he should've put that first chance away. There is simply no excuse to miss such a sitter in THIS sort of game. These are the games that when you're given even half a chance, you should be putting in the net. Now, I'm not saying that we would've gone on to win but he should've put that chance away. Toni looks so weak all the time like a malnutritioned sissy boy. Sometimes I think that the wind knocks him on his ass. About Makaay, you're right he still scored goals after the first two seasons but like I said, maybe he just raised our expectations too high.
WTF ? Makaay was a key player for almost 4 years - and he never had a Ribery behind him. Toni has managed to struggle after his first season. Roy was one of the last player's I could identify with. Toni is a funny guy but I easily would prefer RM of Luca any day.
What was the talk on the boards before the game? What was our only chance in hell of having a sniff at it???? Remember???? I distinctly remember someone saying that if we struck extremely early (ala Ribery's strike against Frankfurt) and could go up 2-0 at HT, then we may start to get into Barca's heads and get them thinking about things, which would give us our only chance in hell. Well.....we should have converted on the sitter that Toni blew.....and we very well could have (won't say should have) converted on Toni's second blown opportunity in which he didn't even get the shot on frame. That's 2-0 at halftime by my count that very easily could have been....where does it go from there? Maybe end in a 2-2 draw....or......who knows????? Toni is paid HUGE bucks to finish in front of goal, in big situations and in small situations. Today was a BIG situation and he failed to produce, when production could have (COULD HAVE) changed the entire course and outcome of the day. It may have made no difference had he in fact converted.....it ABSOLUTELY made no difference by failing to convert. And don't get me started on the offsides bullsh!t.....a little focus please.... Yes, in many ways I DO blame Toni for playing (or not playing) a HUGE role in the outcome today.... EDIT: I may should have posted this in the gameday thread, but was following up to Criz' comment on blaming Toni.....could you blame me???
^ Which raises another issue...how long can a player be in a slump? Let's say Toni is in a slump right now, but for how long? 9 months? A whole season? 3 seasons? Eventually your patience runs out, and mine is certainly running thin. Edit: 9 months is about a whole season! duh, blonde moment!
excatly. AGREE. i love ROY. now that you guys remind me of the first cross from the right side. i do have to say that "DAMN IT ITALIAN SISSY BOY"
hes still your player show some respect.... dont remember people saying this shit about him when he was scoring the winner against getafe in a more difficult situation toni's miss today was only highlighted because of the crapness of the team from the first leg...and the reasons for that are something else and have nothing to do with toni
I have to agree that Toni has not been in form and can be extremely frustrating to watch. But it's amusing how there's not the slightest bit of patience with him like there was with Klose. Klose was pretty ********ing bad for about 7-8 months and the response was usually 'he'll come around'. Klose's a likeable guy, sure, but we're forgetting what Luca Toni has done for us. And wtf, he's scored in his last 2 league matches so why complain. EDIT: wow, squidward123 beat me to it lol
Well it's true, but when Klose wasn't scoring he was doing everything else for us. Toni on the other hand has nothing to offer besides hitting the net, and when that doesn't come around for a while, then it can get EXTREMELY frustrating. Having said that, I feel bad for resorting to name calling on one of our own players. Of course I appreciate what he has done for us thus far, but it's just so damn frustrating.
I knew someone would say this and I'll call bullshit. People really underestimate what Toni does on the pitch, the guy works really hard, runs his socks, gets in the face of defenders, and occasionally plays some good passes. I remember Klose being quite invisible in many games.
He should work harder to stay on his damn feet. One of the most important qualities of a tall strong (or weak in his case) forward to have is the ability to hold the ball and be able to distribute to oncoming attackers, but he simply doesn't have this. He either falls to the ground before the ball even reaches him or he'll manage to first-time it every once in a while. I've almost never seen him stay on his feet and just hold the ball. This is a big disadvantage to us because our midfielders don't even get a chance to run up the field. He can run his socks off or whatever else he wants to run off, but the fact is that his only quality is having a nose for the goal, and the goals have been scarce bar the last few games.
Wrong. Toni's misses today were school-like mistakes and he should have had 2 by half time. He should have definitely scored the goal 3rd minute, that is something I would expect Podolski to score. The man was already beaten by the cross (not Toni) and the net was 3-4 feet away from him. This has no excuse, we could have potentially tied the game (4-0). Would we have for sure? Nope, but missing those necessary chances in such an important game is freaking pathetic. People didn't complain when he scored goals becuase that's what he's paid to do. He is the main striker, everyone plays for him including Klose.. which brings me to my next point. Klose can pass, involve the team and run his ass off at defenders to win the ball back. Either way, his presence is felt on the field whether you believe it or not. Klose was bad for the 2nd half of the season, which is about 5 months as he scored 19 goals in the 1st half of the season. When Toni doesn't score, he at times is like not having 11 players but 10, or even worse because when you pass to him he losses the ball. Why complain? He has done sh#t all in Champions League, a competition Uli "supposedly" wants this team to win (sure doesn't show it, talk the talk but sure as hell cannot walk the walk). Toni was sh#t in Euro 08 and decent in the World Cup, now he's had yet another international tournament in which he was average. His first Champions League goal was given to him on a platter from Klose, very close range. This was once we were completely dominating Staeua at home and were already up 1-0. The other two goals he scored were also goals he's scored while the game is already over, at 3-0 vs Sporting Lisbon. His 1st goal was very good and his second very easy finish. He's scored only 3 goals as primary striker for Bayern in the most important competition and all 3 goals were scored when both matches were effectively over. So yes, I think we have a hell lot to complain about. He still hasn't proved he can do it on the European/International competitions and proved this even further in CL this season. How can we expect to do the damage in CL when this striker fails so hard in exactly these types of difficult competitions? And when he doesn't in some games, it's better to just play with 10 men. Sometimes he uses his body and give Klose space, but at other times he's literally a hindrance in the starting line-up. There have been 2 seasons both have been playing at Bayern, Toni scored more last season and Klose looks to have scored more this season. I thought working really hard and running his socks off is the same thing? Getting in the face of defenders is false, he is too slow to pressure any quality or even average defender for that matter. His lack of pace doesn't allow him to pressure defenders no matter how much he tries and sometimes doesn't bother. He does occasionally play good passes, the problem is most strikers can pass much better than him. Klose was invisible some games indeed but this running his socks off/getting in front of defender's faces even if off form completely falls under Klose's page, not Luca Phoni's. Basically if we didn't have bigger priorities (full-back, ROM or AM, and thanks to Klismann GK), I would ship him back to Italy ASAP and get a younger player in his fold with more pace who could potentially become better than Toni.