General Chat / soccer

Yes henry is about 70% but hes still got 14 or 15 goals not bad is it

Robinho will be the new ronaldo just smaller. He looks amazing.

Adriano is admittedly amazing, he scores for fun your right. But your argument against henry is exactly the same as the one at adriano.

Even the end of last year and the start of this season henry was amazing and deserved of the trophy.

Oh and kaka is immense. WOW

Firstly

ajax* you are a fucking idiot aren't you? Adriano was not even playing for Inter at the 5-1, where Henry scored only 2 goals against a shocking Inter side, he was still at Parma and was injured.

Scarface, I admit Henry was robbed last year. But if were counting the last two years, it would be called "World Player of the Last Two Years" not "World Player Of The Year". You would also have to include Schevchenko winning the Champions League with AC Milan, and scoring the winning Penalty in the process.

And errr..Adriano not performing, say it with me, 9 goals this season, that's shocking isn't it? Its got alot more to do with Inters defence than anything else. Secondly Robinho will never be as good as Adriano simply because he lacks the Physique, he's a scrawny little thing.

Henry has only been at 70% this season? So how about his poor matches last season vs Chelsea and Man Utd?

Yes, I'm a fucking idiot. Because obviously you can tell someone's character from one slightly mis-informed post on an internet message board. Obviously. I mean, how could I be so stupid as to think otherwise?

Thanks for pointing out Adriano is yet to reach double figures this season. Henry has over 15 already. And is at 70%. Oh, and obviously he must be shit because he had two games that he didn't score in last year.

Okay maybe a bit harsh. And Scarface I was just arguing that Henry deserves the trophy as much as Adriano does in terms of accomplishments.

Henry is sensational, but why is he even being played if he's 70%? Arsene would never play Henry at 70% thats fucking madness. Aliadiere is good, so why not give him starts? If Henry was 70% he wouldn't of started against Liverpool or PSV for that matter. I feel there is some bullshit to justify poor performances. Just I have this problem with Henry's consistency, if he played against Liverpool like he did against Palace, there would be no argument. Schevchenko is uber consistent, always scores, from anywhere, everywhere and has achieved more than Henry internationally. And lets be honest if you can't score internationally with Zidane, Vieira, Pires and Rothen behind you, your not worthy of winning Fifa's Player Of The Year award. He's scored like 2 goals in 11 games for France. That is not world class form.

Anyways...the fact that Henry has scored 15 this season in at least 25 games, and Schevchenko has scored 19 in 20 in a harder defensive league, pretty much hits my argument.

Ronaldinho is God, but he will win next year.

So what is everyone's dream team? (i.e World XI)

Aliadiere is good, so why not give him starts?

He's out for 8 months with a knee injury. I dobut Henry is only at 70% though, I expect he does have a slight irratiting problem but even at 90% he should be better then he is playing at the moment.

Schevchenko is uber consistent, always scores, from anywhere, everywhere and has achieved more than Henry internationally.

Ok now you're talking complete bollocks. How many World Cup and Euro medals has Shevchenko got? Plus, Henry is carrying an injury this year. It was on football365 a few weeks ago, he aggravated it and had to miss a match (he nearly missed the Man Utd match, remember?). Henry has 11 in the league, and has played in 13 matches. At what he says is 70%. 11/70 x 100 = 15.7 goals at 100%. Many more than the Shevchenko record you quoted (in terms of goals per game). And if you compare it with the actual stat, rather than the stat you made up, he's scored 9 league goals in 13 games for Milan in Serie A. So yeh, there's your factual stat attack.

Yes but 19 goals in 20 games in all competitions. This includes his hat-trick vs Lazio in the Supercup, his three Champions League Goals, and the four he has scored for Ukraine. Thats a better goals per games ratio.

As I have said 9 in 11 games (as he has been rested at least twice) in Serie A is alot, considering the defences he's up against. Even the average teams are pretty solid. For instance Ujfalusi is almost as good if not better than Kolo Toure and he plays for Fiorentina who are 12th! Henry may have won the World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000, but he's been thoroughly dissapointing since. In Euro 2004 he was shocking. France are also second in there WC2006 group in which the other good team are the Republic of Ireland, who are not fantastic. Henry's France could not even muster a single goal against Israel. He's only scored one goal in the qualifying campaign. While Ukraine are 4 points clear at the top of their group and recently beat a good Turkey side (Emre, Tuncay etc) 3-1.

I see you argument, but even Mourinho and Nedved agree that Schevchenko deserves the acolade this year. And Yes I know that Henry has been apparently at 70 percent, but if he's at 70%, that would mean he would require at least two-three weeks rest. If Wenger is such a brillaint coach, why not rest him? Smells like bullshit to me. And as Themeparkmaster said, even if he's at 90%, he's been playing alot worse than he should do at that level.

In other news, this is my world XI:

------------------------Buffon---------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Cafu-----------Nesta--------Ayala------------Zambrotta-
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------------Gerrard----Gattuso----Nedved----------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------Ronaldinho---------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------Schevchenko---------Henry---------------------

Subs: Cech, Vicente, Cannavaro, Kaka', Vieira, Adriano, Lahm

Coach: Fabio Capello

Nice.

--------------------------chech-------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------
----cafu-----chivu------campbell-----roberto carlos---

-----------nedved------zidane------ronaldhino---------
-----------------------------------------------
ronaldo(from manchester)----v.nistelrooy--robben

subs:kaka,makaay,viera,raul,gio(bronkhorst).
coach:that guy from chelsea,don't know his name anymore.

fanatic

I can remember reading why Arsenal are still playing Henry, basically Aliadiere is out, Bergkamp is an old man, Reyes is playing in midfield, Wiltord and Kanu have moved on... there's no-one else, literally. It's the same situation Liverpool have atm.

Anyway, my world XI:

----------------------Buffon-----------------------

Thuram-------Nesta-----Ferdinand---Maldini

---------------------Keane------------------------

C.Ronaldo-------------------------------Robben

-------------------Ronaldinho--------------------

-------------Henry----Van Nistelrooy-----------

Subs: Rooney, Ash. Cole, Cannavaro, Nedved, Vieira, Shevchenko, Puyol

Coach: Sir Alex Ferguson

The only difficult decisions there are Maldini at left back who's a little past it, but I wouldn't play Carlos there in a million years, I'd only consider him as a wing-back - he is immensely over-rated in terms of free-kicks and defensively flawed. And Keane at DM... close run between him and Vieira, but I'm a Man Utd fan so that's where bias comes in I guess. Easiest decision by far Ferdinand at centre back. I'd go so far as to say he's the best player in the world, virtually faultless for Man Utd this season, he controls the back line, and is incredibly calm on the ball under pressure from forwards.

---------------------------Buffon---------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thuram-----------Nesta--------Cannavaro-------A.Cole-
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------Gerrard----Zidane----Nedved----------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------Ronaldinho---------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------Schevchenko---------Henry---------------------

Subs - Toldo, Vieria, Raul, Puyol, Robben, Kaka, Adriano.

Coach - Jose Mourinho

Thuram? Keane? Maldini? C.Ronaldo? Robben?

Surely there either too old and have lost it, or are too young and inexperienced.

Hell, Daniele De Rossi is better than Keane, so are Gattuso, Mascherano, Makalele, Emerson.

Maldini was brilliant but is far too slow now to play left back same with Thuram. Agree with Roberto Carlos being shocking and not deserving. Zambrotta is a man-beast, two footed and is excellent going forward (very fast) aswell as defending. Thuram seems like a solid bet at right back but he's being playing centre-back recently. Maybe Trabelsi instead who was simply awesome last year for Ajax.

I'm going to say this about Robben and C.Ronaldo.

Joaquin is alot better than C.Ronaldo.

Vicente is alot better than Robben.

Joaquin/C.Ronaldo there is some argument there but Vicente I feel was unlucky not to make the final three of this years Fifa Player of the Year Award (along with Deco), in fact he didn't make the shortlist (and Beckham did). Travesty. Had a great season with Valencia not only in La Liga but also won the UEFA Cup, where he was man of the match in the Final. Odd.

Ferdinand its too early to judge. He made that awful mistake against Newcastle which almost gave Shearer a goal. However seeing as he's been good this season and your Man Utd fan, I can see the reasoning. Although Ayala and Campbell are better.

Thuram is still solid and amazing.

I didnt agree with cristiano ronaldo yet, he may be there in the future.

Robben made my bench, this guy is gonna be bloody good.

Keane is nothing now, lost it completely.

Maldini is still good but shouldnt make the world 11.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ashley cole is the best left back in the game at the minute, but i feel campbell is a strange decision centre back. I rate him highly but not for worlds best 11.

Joaquin is a monster but i still feel robben is better than vicente. Close call between joaquin and robben.

Come on, Joaquin better than Ronaldo? Joaquin can't even beat Esteberria into the national side. Ronaldo is absolutely lethal down the flanks, he has been producing some absolute magic this season.

I won't argue about anything else because I don't have time - apart from this: Makelele should not be allowed on a football pitch. First of all, he isn't that great, secondly, anyone who did what he did against Monaco last year should be permanently banned. I'm sorry, but trying to get another professional sent off is completely unacceptable. The same goes for Rivaldo in the World Cup 2002 against Turkey. That's the one thing I cannot stand - just plain cheating, nothing more to it. Unfortunately diving has become part of the game now... and it's more a question of who doesn't do it than who does, and in the same way I'd say this is Ronaldo's main negative point. But: there is a crucial difference between diving in play to earn a penalty, than purely to get a member of the opposition sent off.

Joaquin can't even beat Esteberria into the national side

Wrong! Would you like to double jeopardy?

No honestly, Joaquin is certain starter for Spain. Secondly Ashley Cole is not fit to lace Zambrotta's boots. Cole was great for England and is solid for Arsenal. But did you see Zambrotta at Euro 2004? He was insane, his delivery, dribbling, tackling and overall play meant not only was he Italy's best player (not saying much I agree), but that he was voted better than Cole (who got tormented by Joaquin vs Spain) and was Left Back of the tournament. He played less games aswell. Zambrotta is one of the most complete players in the modern game, his left and right foot are exactly the same, he's very quick and is excellent at going outside the man. Oh and his crossing isn't bad either.

Vicente v Robben is a bit of a debate. Robben has been by far Chelsea's best player this season and was outstanding for Holland and PSV last season. But Vicente was La Liga's best player last season (better than Ronaldinho mainly due to his two month injury which ruled him out of the first Superclassico), he was just brilliant. The only reason Mista scored so fucking many was that Vicente delivered pretty much every match. He was also Spain's only good player at Euro 2004. Vicente shaves it for me.

Exteberria is injured at the moment. At Euro 2004, he was selected ahead of Joaquin.

Would stay and chat further but I've got 500 words of French to write for tomorrow morning.

Ashley cole over zambrotta every day of the week.

I'm all up for starting a debate on soccer...I could really do with one.

How about this, Henry is not world-class.

*waits for reprise*

from what i last saw, he created a golden chance out of nothing, stunning one of the best defenders in the world at the moment, with a little flick. His class was the only thing showing through for arsenal against psv, honestly, imo.

and ajax? You hate the dutch, eh? You know a lot about soccer too and call yourself ajax and want nothing to do with the dutch.. wait a second, what's wrong here?


ooo, and a line- up. i'm not up-to-date though, much but who cares.


---------------------------Buffon----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
---Ooijer----------Alex---------Bouma---------Lee-------
----------------------------------------------------------------
----Joaquin----Zidane--------Nedved-------Robben----
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------Ronaldinho----------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------Schevchenko--------------------------

coach: Hiddink. I mean Korea, and now psv, how much more proof do you want, this guy works miracles.
subs: Ronaldo (Man.Utd.), Van Nistelrooy, Henry, Cannavaro, Ayala

and ajax?  You hate the dutch, eh? You know a lot about soccer too and call yourself ajax and want nothing to do with the dutch.. wait a second, what's wrong here?

It was a joke, a quote from Austin Powers Goldmember. If you read the whole sentence you could see I couldn't possibly be serious. And ajax* is named after the warrior. And I'm deanosrs anyway.

----------------------Me-----------------------

Me-----------Me--------Me-------------------Me

---------------------Me------------------------

----------Me-------------------------------Me

-------------------Me--------------------

-------------Me----Me-----------



This team would beat the fuck out off everyone, btw, im from Finland mantis

Aaaand for the second straight year, we back into first place in our Champions League group. Good times. I never thought that four draws would get anybody first place in a Champions League group, but hey, we'll take it.

Oh, and can we get a goalkeeper now? One that doesn't suck? PLEASE!?!

Official: Shevchenko Wins 2004 Ballon D'Or

12/13/2004 6:14:00 PM

Andriy Shevchenko is officially the 2004 winner of the prestigious Ballon D’Or award, a result Goal.com had predicted was going to occurr in a news we sent yesterday.

The AC Milan striker preceded Barcelona stars Deco and Ronaldinho, who came in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

“It’s a very special day for me. I think I deserved this important award and I want to dedicate it to my people in the Ukraine who are going through a particular moment,” said the 28 year old phenomenon.

Arsenal’s Thierry Henry came in fourth, Greece captain Zagorakis fifth, and Inter’s Adriano sixth.

Here are the full standings together with the number of votes each player picked up:

1) Shevchenko 175 votes;

2) Deco 139;

3) Ronaldinho 133;

4) Thierry Henry 80;

5) Zagorakis 44;

6) Adriano 27;

7) Nedved 23;

Rooney 22;

9) Ricardo Carvalho, Van Nistelrooy 18;

11) Charisteas 15;

12) Milan Baros, Cristiano Ronaldo 11;

14) Ibrahimovic 8;

15) Eto’o, Kakà 7;

17) Buffon, Dellas, Drogba, Lampard, Morientes 5;

22) Figo 4;

23) Zidane 3;

24) Baraja, Giuly, Maniche, Nikopolidis 2;

28) Maldini, Vicente 1.


Only beat Henry by 95 votes. Schevchenko is European Player of the Year. Wahey!