The Court of Arbitrary Arbitration - Random Facts, Thoughts, Etc.

Kind of a rough tag to suffer from tbh: not only it was relatively early in his career but not sure there was anything inherently wrong to lose to the likes of Bayern (league), Real (CL) and Brazil (WC).
Lever had a good team at the time but we're still talking some of the best and biggest teams in Europe. And Brazil with the Rs alone were always going to be hard to stop.
He certainly end up making up for it later in his career...

 

His Leverkusen team were in first place, but lost the league title on the very last matchday. Ballack scored the own goal that proved Leverkusen's undoing too. Against Real Madrid, he was right behind Zidane when he scored THAT goal. Then he missed the final to Brazil due to suspension. You can almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

 

No argument how strong that team was (Lucio, Ze Roberto, Berba, Ballack, Basturk, Placente, Neuville etc... so much talent!). And yes, it's kind of crazy they didn't win anything that season.
With that being said, I'll never feel bad for any of them on the basis of what happened in the CL semi against us...
Real would have been super tough in the final but you just never know what could have happened in a one off game (one that took place at Hampden Park to boot)....

 

I feel like Ballack, played a lot of DLP for Germany after 2004 or 2005.

 

What about pirlo? Seemed capable everywhere and started as a ten and moved back to a registra under Carlo

not sure Roy Keane belongs in that list, to me he is one of the best box to box players in history. Same as vieira, vieira actually always played with a true sitter or Holding player (petit, silva, makalele etc)

I think the biggest issue you have is a player than can sit deep as a dlp and also play as a cam. Generally, a dlp isn’t the fastest and the ten generally has some pace

arteta played ten at Everton, cm at rangers and dlp (kinda in a double pivot) Santi cazorla also

sccoles could do any role up the centre, gerrard kind of played as a deeper player after years as a cm and am (more wide than a ten)

lampard played deep for Chelsea in their cl win and at city. David silva? Redondo earlier in his career at real?

 

I feel Keane is underrated in this department. I always loved his swashbuckling style but it wasn't until I saw him play in the flesh that I understood what a great playmaker he was. Yes I know it was a preseason-friendly in 2003 but it was against Juve with a midfield containing the likes of Nedved and Davids. They're no slouches. Keane was like a conductor directing the flow of the game, he ran the whole show, it was a joy to watch.

 

I wouldn't say that Keane always played with a sitting midfielder. Certainly not how you would describe Scholes for example.

Keane for me was DM / B2B / AM as the game status, his midfield partner (we were usually 4-4-2 under SAF at that time) and the flow of the game dictated. In fact deciding which of these to be and controlling the tempo of the game accordingly was probably one of his greatest strengths I would suggest.

 

Keane scored 8 goals the first half of his first season with United and Robbo got injured and had a word with him told him he needed to look after the midfield.

Keane had most passes in the league for like 5 out of 7 seasons at one point. He was immense. He loomed large. There was nothing in midfield he couldn't do.

 

Yeah I am not saying Keane wasn’t world class just that he was too mobile to be a dm or an am and he was athletic enough to cover ground in a box to box role in a 442 most of the time

same as vieira, they were both very similar and in that midfield role, unparalleled in the premier league

unfortunately, they would be red carded within 15 minutes now but I will never not
Miss the 90s era of football, even though u lot won the league all the time serie a was booming, Ajax were amazing, psg and Chelsea were average and Man City were in division 2

bryan robson and Keane, I was very young at the time but I remember robson being very good at a lot of things and got stuck in as well (he was injured a lot and drank about 50 pints a week)

I guess that’s why ince was alllwed to go to inter as he offered some of Keane skill set but wasn’t as good? I’m only 35 so was around ten and below for the early part of the decade so I watched games but didn’t really understand nuances until the layer 90s and early 2000’s

 

I was there too. Incredible atmosphere. Also went to the Barca game. Every preseason I’ve been to hasn’t come close to comparing. It’s all families and soccer moms now.

 

Isn’t there always going to be players that played dm later in their career who may of started higher up? Or are u after a specific skill set? With a double pivot sometimes 2 central
Mids play in a dlp role or interchange and the dlp is the opposite of a Fernandinho in a single pivot etc

 

Nobody in here talking about the European Super League? If so, am I missing the thread about it?

 

OTT.

 

Naw we have better things to do...

Meh not really. We are going full muppet in the ott

 

Nah, what will be full muppet is when people think the new money means we're signing big players this summer. The real fun will be when we only sign a couple squaddies and a someone on a free.

 

Tokyo Olympics Athletes Banned from Protesting at Podium, Sanctions for Kneeling https://t.co/w2eiycL65G

— TMZ (@TMZ) April 22, 2021

Good luck with that and I honestly look forward to athletes defying that 'ruling' in droves.
While I definitely do not believe that it should mandated and for everyone to do it, just because, it still should remain a personal choice. Especially in this day and age and after what's been unfortunately brought to light recently.

 

Social feeds for leagues, teams and players will go silent this upcoming weekend in response to sustained racism against players and others connected to football.

Rebecca Lowe, @timhowardgk and @higginbotham05 share their thoughts on the action. pic.twitter.com/L3qok5q5g1

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) April 28, 2021

Interesting...

 

Adriano Has A Story to Tell by Adriano (theplayerstribune.com)

Nice to get his side of the story (especially after everything that was said about him).
And hearing it, it kind of makes sense in a way: people are affected by and cope with things in different ways. Just a pity though: he was so unique and good. Could have been a legit ATG, if his career had remained on track.

 

Not that we didn't know, but he also confirms Jose Mourinho is a piece of shit.

 

Most definitely one of the things that sticks out big time: the guy really has been a world class selfish, insensitive prick for some time.
The serial winning back then made it easy to overlook: Spain and his time at Real is when the veil dropped in earnest and his true self was revealed for all to see.

 

Seven medical professionals are facing a homicide investigation related to Diego Maradona’s death.

Leaked audio of discussions between doctors and members of Maradona’s team suggest that he may not have received proper care following brain surgery two weeks prior to his death. pic.twitter.com/gIkUzXQH8P

— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 20, 2021

Such a shame...