damaso Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 the holding midfielder last weekend, chelsea celebrated their premiership trophy with a 1-0 win over charlton. the only goal came near the end, via a penalty kick. what was surprising was who took the spot kick: claude makelele. not used to scoring chances he muffed it, but luckily, rebound went straight to him and he buried it the second time. in two years, twas his first goal for the club. lampard usually takes the penalty kcik, so why did mourinho choose makelele this time? its to shine the spotlight to arguably his most important, certainly the most undervalued, player in his team. makelele is the rock of chelsea. all season long, he protected the back four. just as he did for real madrid. i think the holding midfielder is becoming the most important role in football. check out the top teams in europe: probable spanish champs barca have xavi and rafa marquez. without marquez, chelsea ripped barca's defense apart. real madrid have not won any trophy since makelele departed. italian league leaders juventus have emerson, ac milan have gattuso. german champs bayern munich have mehmet scholl. four times french champs lyon have mikael essien. arsenal have patrick viera and man utd's heart is roy keane. it seems nowadays, to win in football, you need a tough tackling midfielder. i wonder if we'll see high profile transfers next season for these types of players. Quote Link to comment
damaso Posted May 9, 2005 Share Posted May 9, 2005 oh and let me add that when real madrid's new coach arrived (luxemburgo), the first thing he addressed was the defensive midfield position: he bought thomas gravesen. and from midtable, now real madrid are firmly on second place in spain, currently on a seven match winning streak. Quote Link to comment
maxinquaye Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 I agree, the holding midfielder allows the other midfielders to play more attacking football. Look at Lampard's goal ratio with the arrival of Makelele. Quote Link to comment
teio Posted May 10, 2005 Share Posted May 10, 2005 don't foget liverpool's stephen gerrard... in an interview, rafael benitez confessed that gerrard is the x-factor in the reds' midfield... Quote Link to comment
_eRon_ Posted May 11, 2005 Share Posted May 11, 2005 ang galing! sa wakas! madami na ang nagppost sa thread na to, dati dadalwa lang kaming nag-uusap eh.. 1.)ayos na ung away goals rule, mas nagiging pressure packed ang game, mas competitive & mas na-eenganyo ang home crowd para kulitin ang away team & at the same time mas maraming mga away fans ang bumibili ng tickets to support the team. 2.)the holding midfielder -excellent point damaso, kelangan ng isang well rounded na midfielder to win..good in defense, can tackle, can pass & set up opponents as well as can finish & score goals, at siyempre importante ang intangibles, such as leadership..pero siyempre gagaling lang ang isang holding midfielder pag magaling din ang mga team mates nya, consistent, hardworking & may heart para manalo.. 3.)sayang nagcomeback na dapat ang psv pero deserving din ang ac milan, lakas kasi in all aspects, forwards (crespo,shevchenko), midfield (consistent sina gattuso, ambrosini, pirlo & the amazing kaka'), solid defence (nesta, maldini, stam & cafu)..liverpool is in for a tough final..chelsea is similar to ac milan in terms of overall team strength, but mourinho underestimated liverpool, i think ancelloti won't put his team in the same situation..uefa champions league champions-prediction: ac milan.. 4.)i like psv eindhoven because they have asian players.. :cool: 5.)sana matalo ng manU ang arsenal sa cup final..go Manchester United!.. keep posting, nice to hear na there are other football afficionados dito, konti lang kc nakakakwentuhan ko about football.. :cool: Quote Link to comment
dj_flip03 Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 (edited) Yes! Meron palang football thread dito. Ngayon ko lang nakita tong thread na to. My fave team in the EPL is Arsenal and Chelsea, in the Italian, of course AC Milan and Juventus, I also like Olympique Lyonnais on the French Ligue, and FC Barcelona on the spanish primera. On the away goal issue - it's a nice rule coz it adds excitement if the game rolls out to be a good match. Anyone for a game of FUTSAL???? :cool: Edited May 12, 2005 by dj_flip03 Quote Link to comment
bubuy Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 i think the holding midfielder is becoming the most important role in football. check out the top teams in europe: probable spanish champs barca have xavi and rafa marquez. without marquez, chelsea ripped barca's defense apart. real madrid have not won any trophy since makelele departed. italian league leaders juventus have emerson, ac milan have gattuso. german champs bayern munich have mehmet scholl. four times french champs lyon have mikael essien. arsenal have patrick viera and man utd's heart is roy keane. it seems nowadays, to win in football, you need a tough tackling midfielder.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>if i remember right, just before the tie between ac milan and man utd at old trafford, gattuso publicly stated that he wants to replace roy keane when the time comes that the captain retires.. seems like the ball is in ferguson's court now.. the ECL will be won in midfield.. kaka/gattuso vs gerrard/luis garcia :thumbsupsmiley: Quote Link to comment
damaso Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 after the failure of kleberson and djemba-djemba to make an impact, man utd continues to search for the aging roy keane's replacement. next up: nigerian john obi mikel. third time the charm?<{POST_SNAPBACK}> the transfer of obi mikel is turning out to be a made-for-tv drama! he has disappeared. police and man utd officials are hunting him. and the rumor is that he's at chelsea's training ground! Quote Link to comment
bubuy Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 does Glazer control Man Utd now? what's the latest news? Quote Link to comment
howard_the_duck Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 Glazer controls somewhere 75% of MU. And the fans don't like it. Quote Link to comment
teio Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 business is business... even if man utd is already a sporting institution... it is considered as a business since its conception... it seems that the fans doesn't want malcolm glazer because he is an american...Glazer controls somewhere 75% of MU. And the fans don't like it.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quote Link to comment
howard_the_duck Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 Hindi ba Chelsea is owned by a Russian tycoon? But then again, that's Chelsea. Quote Link to comment
teio Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 (edited) well... man utd is more embedded in the hearts of english football fans because of its rich history compared to chelsea... roman ambramovich has this certain charisma among fans... he instilled life to a then struggling chelsea side... plus he is a european... aside from the tradition issue... isn't it obvious that glazer is a victim of the growing resentment among europeans to things related to the US... Edited May 14, 2005 by the_electrified_one Quote Link to comment
damaso Posted May 14, 2005 Share Posted May 14, 2005 barcelona are spanish champs!! not a bad year for my fave teams: in the epl, bolton qualified for the uefa cup. in ligue 1, lyon were champions. only disappointment was in serie a, where inter milan are a far third. Quote Link to comment
bubuy Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 Glazer controls somewhere 75% of MU. And the fans don't like it.<{POST_SNAPBACK}> business is business... even if man utd is already a sporting institution... it is considered as a business since its conception... it seems that the fans doesn't want malcolm glazer because he is an american...<{POST_SNAPBACK}>i just hope that they give him a chance.. he might be able to buy some players for ferguson.. when glazer bought the tampa bay buccaneers, they won the super bowl immediately after his take over.. Quote Link to comment
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