Futebol

Soma wrote:Oblak is the best goalkeeper in the world

I agree, I love him.

That game was a typical Arsenal mess, but I'm heartened by the fact that we created even if we didn't finish. I still expect us to lose in Madrid, but I think it will be entertaining.

Champions League final! And they did it in the most Liverpool way possible.

I’m so happy but also realize they could get smashed 5-2 by Real Madrid.

The final has 4-4 written all over it

Congratulations Nick! I predicted Liverpool going very far in this tournament this year. They are going to be underdogs against Real, especially without the built-in drubbing that every team traveling to Anfield has received in the knockout stages, but I really think they are going to do it. Madrid were somewhat lucky to get past Juve and were outplayed by Bayern in the last round as well.

I still have not gotten past last Saturday... I am heart-broken over it. I really hope Lazio drop points this week against Atalanta so that we get one last chance to qualify for the Champions League next year.

I want to buy another soccer jersey. Have Senegal released their jerseys for the World Cup? I might just buy a Mane jersey for the World Cup.

I recently bought this Italy 2014 WC kit at a thrift store for like 12 bucks



It's very sexy.

Yeah. That is a nice shirt. I still wear my '06 Materazzi jersey from time to time. That was the first time I ever watched soccer.

Arsenal...

Italy always have the best kits. I still have my World Cup 98 top!

The first time I ever watched "soccer" was at my Brazillian friend's house in 1998. We were having a playdate and were kicking the ball around his backyard when the game wasn't on. I didn't know anything about soccer and didn't really play it. I just remember a bald man in a blue shirt doing some amazing things with the ball.

Didn't actually get into the game in a big way until the 2009-10 Arsenal season.

And what made you pick Arsenal? You mentioned somewhere itt that it was Samir Nasri, is that right? And what do you think of the Arteta rumors?

I've made a joke about supporting the club because of Nasri a few times because he's so maligned now. He was one of my favorites when I first got into the team, but not the real reason I got into them. He was unconventional for such a silky player. I preferred Fabregas though. Fabregas at the time was an archetypal central playmaker, my absolute favorite role. I like it for the same reason I pick mages and spellcasters in an RPG: I like the idea of inflicting a cerebral death from afar. I'm the personality that would rather make assists than score goals. It seems cooler.

Honestly, I can't remember the moment I "chose Arsenal" or exactly when I finally settled on that. I more distinctly remember watching Chelsea games with a Chelsea-supporting friend in college and making fun of him, getting mad at Drogba, hating on Abramovich.

Wenger was definitely my biggest factor though. I loved "Le Professeur" as a moniker. I was studying a ton of French history at the time (my favorite professor was kinda a Wenger-type, https://history.ucsc.edu/faculty/profiles/singleton.php?&singleton=true&cruz_id=jbeecher ). I identified with Arsenal as the "continental team for English speakers" with the sweet passing and ball retention. Arsenal seemed like the most obviously cosmopolitan team in England and that is absolutely my sensibility as a hoity-toity American liberal. I still get a rush sometimes when I see the Emirates filled with bespectacled, posh, dweebish Londoners. They get made fun of in England, but for me, that's my people.

I made the right choice.

World Cup squads getting announced it is all happening we are so close!

I still can't believe it. They did it! We are back!!!

Also, I have a new rooting interest for this World Cup! Watching Argentina get dumped in the group stage is going to get me absolutely rock hard.

Chrono, what do you think of Unai Emery? I actually think it is a good appointment (much better than Arteta), but I am worried about how they came to make it.

Days later and having seen the first Karius blunder dozens of times now it is hard to stomach how dumb that decision was.

Ramos is the dirtiest player in the world and destroyed LFC’s chances of scoring the needed 3 goals when he hurt Salah. But the first Karius mistake took all the life out of LFC.

Ҩ wrote:Chrono, what do you think of Unai Emery? I actually think it is a good appointment (much better than Arteta), but I am worried about how they came to make it.

Can you explain that? It basically sounds like there's a new troika power structure at Arsenal, they conducted a very formal process, interviewed lots of candidates, made a shortlist of 8, interviewed again, made a shortlist of 3, and then voted to select Emery. Didn't seem like there was anything weird about it other than the tabloid nonsense. I think it's noteworthy for how much Arsenal is run like a business rather than a sporting project.

Emery seems like quality and is about the right level for Arsenal. He ticks the boards boxes: young, cheaper, tactically astute, an intense coach, and comfortable with a continental structure. Jardim has always been the guy I tipped as the right "outside the box" appointment and this is similar. The question marks are more around whether this new model and the troika can get things right on the commercial and recruitment side of things.

I'm pretty happy that we have a manager with a reputation for being proactive in terms of adjusting his tactics to the context of a particular game AND one obsessed with modern preparation. Even if it doesn't end up working out I think that is the right direction.

Arteta seems fine, but that shit would've been a total roll of the dice for very little upside. This group of players weren't going to make Arteta look like a genius, so why go with the lack of experience?

chrondog wrote:
I'm pretty happy that we have a manager with a reputation for being proactive in terms of adjusting his tactics to the context of a particular game AND one obsessed with modern preparation. Even if it doesn't end up working out I think that is the right direction.

I definitely agree with this.

My previous worry is that Gazidis flip flopped at the last moment away from Arteta, which might raise questions about his ability to envision a bold future for the club. That may be just tabloid fodder though. I do like their current organization and I am pretty optimistic about Emery as Arsenal's new head coach.

By the way, I broke the fourth wall the other day and got the Football Ramble people to answer one of my questions on the OTC pod. I am "Alec in Chicago" who asked the long question about Crotone! It was very weird after listening to them all season to hear them speak my name.

Yeah, I don't think Gazidis is much of a football visionary in any sense. He's a businessman that seems to have developed some trust as a sober decisionmaker over the years. I would say his strength seems to be developing consensus and making a conservative choice like Emery than to provide real sporting vision.

Based on what I've seen so far, it appears like Mislintat is the one with the vision thus far, as evidenced by the Yacine Adli signing, for example. As I've mentioned before in this thread, there are only 4-5 clubs in the world that are immune from the model of needing to sell players and Mislintat seems to recognize this. He's bringing in experienced, talented players like Lichtsteiner and Socrates on the relative cheap to stabilize results while ALSO poaching young players to develop and sell.

My sense is that the notion of Gazidis "flip flopping" on Arteta was a tabloid impression created by Arteta's people leaking stuff to the press trying to make himself seem like a "done deal". Gazidis has certainly demonstrated himself to be a slimy flip flopper in the past, but I don't see that here.

I must've missed it! Was it the one from yesterday with Jonathan Wilson? I've been skipping a lot of OTC recently because it's a bit overly long and winding; usually I enjoy that, but there's too much football content now.

Nigeria shirts for this World Cup are straight fire.

chrondog wrote:

I must've missed it! Was it the one from yesterday with Jonathan Wilson? I've been skipping a lot of OTC recently because it's a bit overly long and winding; usually I enjoy that, but there's too much football content now.

Its the first question of the latest Mailbag. They mentioned Alec Baldwin b/c he has the same first name (and surname, little known fact) and I lol'd

You got it! Fun fact: I was named after Alec Baldwin. My Mom thought he was really cute in 1993 when she was pregnant with me.

Like I said, I really like the structure in place at Arsenal right now. A thirty-four year-old Lichtsteiner is not something to get that excited about but these are the sorts of smart moves that take the pressure off players like Bellerin and reinforces their backline.

Tim Stillman over at the Arseblog wrote a great piece about what Gazidis has actually accomplished over the last nine years and how fans should judge his work at the club going forward that I found really informative.

Oh, and Chrono, I never acknowledged how great that post is about your reasoning behind picking Arsenal. I loved everything about that. I was having a miserable day at work and read it during my lunch and it literally made my day. All of that just resonates with me in a major way.

The Wenger name truly did bring in high profile players. Hard to say that Ozil and Sanchez would've come without his big name. But for all Wenger's strengths, being modern was not one of them. I'm very curious how the types of players he likes will play with modern instruction. Ramsey will be one of the most instructive, important examples. His best position is as a very British #10, but at Arsenal he is constantly asked to play a different role and is found wanting. Emery needs to either more consistently put him in a free role, or get him to accept more tactical responsibility (especially in big games).

I think Gazidis has done okay on the business side of things, though Arsenal seem to be a bit behind in terms of commercial sponsorships and growth in Asia. I think his biggest success is probably remaining relevant over the past decade without having tons of formal power. People seem to like working with him and he has Kroenke's trust. In terms of rich businessmen running your football club, you could do a whole lot worse.

Thank you! I like sharing those experiences. I feel that Arsenal as a club fit my personality very well and it helps keep me engaged. Maybe I should throw my travel budget this year behind an Emirates trip

Do it!

If Inter can make it past the group stages of the Champions League, which may be a tall order, I am going to find a way into the San Siro for the opening knockout stage next year. Fingers crossed.

Nick wrote:Nigeria shirts for this World Cup are straight fire.

The shirts are fine, but I much prefer the floral print jacket

Alec wrote:You got it! Fun fact: I was named after Alec Baldwin. My Mom thought he was really cute in 1993 when she was pregnant with me

This makes me think that if I was born in 1982 my mom definitely would've named me "Harrison"