They still have a dodgy defence, its their innate, perennial weakness. Any team that makes Mascherano a 1st choice CB is just looking for trouble. Mascherano is a great player but he never plays CB for Argentina does he?. Its the reason why Madrid always get the better of them recently, they exploit the defence. It is so obvious it is stupid. New manager, same tactics, It is as if the President chooses the team.Originally Posted by Özim
Make 2mrw better than 2day
I agree, they never seem to invest in top defenders which I find strange, always signing top attacking players, if they bought some top defenders insteads of players like Vermaelen they would be even better than they are.
Puyol was testament to the fact they don't invest properly in the defence and just make odd signings there, yes sure he won awards, but you do if you're in a team that wins everything because people overlook your weaknesses.
The defence is the reason you sometimes get a chance against them, one goal and the defence really gets exposed, most of the time the attack rescues them of course.
Last edited by Özim; 10-06-2016 at 11:44 AM.
The main reason Barca allows chances is because they are a predominantly attacking team, taking more risks that leave their back four exposed. The teams that have strong defences rely on sitting deep and counter attacking.
Plus they are a football team. Every football team gives away chances, no matter how strong they might be. That is weirdly overlooked when we criticise teams, almost as if we expect no chances to be allowed at all. No team is ever perfect but it's about having far more strengths than weaknesses and ensuring that the pluses compensate more than the negative problems.
Yes and their defenders are setup to defend too, problem is if you do attack then they look brittle and that's not helped by the dodgy centre halves like Puyol and Vermaelen they sign or play, at least have some decent CB's who can defend.
Madrid always get the better of them?
FootballSepp Blatter, the disgraced former Fifa president, has claimed he witnessed the fixing of a draw for a European football competition.
Blatter, in an interview with Argentinian newspaper La Nacion, did not elaborate on which competition he believed was rigged, but said he had seen a practice whereby the balls containing team names were cooled to make their identification possible when being picked out.
Blatter said only one team had benefitted from such a practice and he distanced himself and Fifa from any involvement, instead suggesting that it had happened not on Fifa’s patch, but under European governing body Uefa’s jurisdiction.
Asked specifically by La Nacion about the draw for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which was favourable for Argentina, Blatter said: “The draw was clean down to the last detail. I never touched the balls, something that others did.
“Of course it’s possible that they can be signalled, by heating or cooling them. It doesn’t happen in Fifa, but I’ve witnessed draws at European level where it has happened, but never in Fifa.
“Of course it can be done, but it never happened under my watch, never.”
Blatter explained how a ‘blind’ draw could be fixed, saying, “Balls are put in the freezer before the draw, at the slightest touch you can tell if the balls are hot or cold.
“By touching them you know exactly what you have.”
The Swiss, who turned 80 in March this year, is currently serving a six-year ban from all football-related activity. He is appealing the sanctions through the court of arbitration for sport.
Koeman officially appointed at Everton.
I guess this could be his audition for a top club. If he can manage to elevate such a stale club like Everton then maybe he is cut out for bigger things.
Last edited by Marc Overmars; 14-06-2016 at 08:49 AM.
How would that work though? If you wanted 2 teams to be drawn against each other, or avoid each other, you could chill those two balls I guess. Other than that though the rest of the draw would be random.Football
I guess it would happen if a smaller team was drawn and then to help ensure a larger team gets an easier draw, then you pick out one of the colder balls. That would be the reason they would do it, to ensure the money spinning teams stay active in the competition. A little like Madrids route to the final this season...
I guess the question is whether there's any clear pattern to it. We had a few years when we were getting tough draws and people on here started saying about it's a fix but no-one said anything when we got easier draws!
Maybe it goes on but Sepp Blatter is a massive liar so I'm not sure how seriously to take anything he says.
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