David Ospina is showing why he deserves to start somewhere. He's been awesome for Colombia, keeping out several shots (including a dynamite free kick from Clint Dempsey) that would have eluded quite a few Copa America keepers.
Olivier Giroud is giving his critics reason to rethink their position. He won't convince any of them until he scores several goals in the Euros, though. He should feel very confident. He's been quite good for France recently.
My earlier optimism about DC United has evaporated. Losing to struggling Seattle at home was a real low point. At no point did United look as though they were likely to win or even score. I don't get it. They appear to have quality, even flair, in a lot of positions. Their keeper is fantastic. The coach is smart and a motivator. So why do they stink? It's tough enough to watch MLS games after seeing EPL players. Watching second-rate soccer when your team is losing is really galling. I dislike RFK and was hoping to see more games in person at the new park. But it would be nice to see a winning team.
I will admit that I was not happy to read about the possibility of Vardy coming to Arsenal. I reconciled myself to it and even started thinking about the possibilities, and then the stories came out that Vardy wanted to stay at Leicester. So, back to square one on the search for a lethal striker. Fine. At this rate, we'll be bringing Sanogo back for another run up front before we acquire someone.
Juventus was brilliant again this season, but it didn't start out that way. Here's the sequence in Serie A:
LLDWDLWDWLWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDWWWWWWWWWWLW
After a dreadful start, they got 15 wins in a row, then a draw, then another ten wins in a row, then lost to a team desperate to avoid relegation long after Juve had sealed the top spot. They also progressed through Champions' League until a quarterfinal loss to Bayern (in heartbreaking fashion) and won the Coppa Italia, so this was an all-fronts campaign. In the process, they became the first Italian team to win the domestic double two years running. Not too shabby.
Szczesny did very well for Roma, who will have a play-in for a Champions' League spot again. I like him a lot, and was hoping he'd be starting at Arsenal this year and every year, but he may have needed this. Cech has done extremely well for us, so we're not suffering; but Szczesny could be our future at the position. Unfortunately, we're overdosed on excellent keepers and can't play them all, so we'll lose more of them, as we already have Fabianski and Mannone.
Fiorentina will be in Europa League. Milan is not going to be in Europe next season, which I like, nor is Lazio, which I like even more. Inter and Sassuolo (!) round out the Italian Europa League places, and of course Napoli is in Champions' League.
I hope to see Theo Walcott working on his defensive skills when I visit London Colney in a couple weeks. Maybe I'll pick up some news, such as spying Alvaro Morata ducking through a side door for a medical. I'll be sure to post it here.
Yeah, reading about Vardy (and also the possible bids for Kante, and Mahrez) bummed me out too. All of the sudden it seemed as if we were trying to buy the league. And then I thought, "Well wait, how many teams can actually afford to pull in players like Sanchez, and Ozil?" This seems different though, like we're raiding another team because our transfer strategies don't work.
ReplyDeleteBut as the news sunk in I kind of liked the idea of Vardy playing with us. Everyone projected we'd switch to a counter-attacking team, like we did a few times the latter half of 2014-2015. And wouldn't Ozil thrive, like he did at Real Madrid? And then whomp, the news came out: Vardy will most likely stay. Leaving us back at square one: no new striker (for now.)
He would have been a nice new toy, you have to admit.
In other news, I purchased my first HDTV in life, and with that comes HD cable & soccer! I'll finally be able to watch Serie A! I have to wait another week before the cable box arrives, but in the meantime, I get to watch the Euros today, and France play. How excited are you to watch them? An in-form Giroud, Pogba, Payet, Kante--holy cow are they stacked.
Happy Euros!
Well, Deborah and I are traveling--in England and Scotland--and that means I don't get to watch much football. All I've seen so far is the last half hour of England-Russia. Five Tottenham players (and no Gunners) on the pitch, and one of them gets the go-ahead goal. Then Milner forgets why he was subbed in and the Russians get a superb headed goal.
DeleteI like Serie A. I recently discovered that beIN was added to the basic package I have, so I get to watch Juve and Roma. Nice. I watch a lot of football, and only regret it when Arsenal or DC United play awfully, or two teams I'm neutral on grind out a boring scoreless draw. Usually I find myself exclaiming "This is a good game!"
I'm learning some etiquette too. I have a next-door neighbor who supports Man U, and we watched both games between the clubs this season without incident. There's a teacher I saw a couple times a week at the local elementary school who's English and a Tottenham fan. I do not troll him. I made no mention of football--nor did he--the week after "it happened again."
I really think Chelsea got the better big-name coach in Antonio Conte. Mourinho does not seem like a good fit for Man U, but I'm sure they'll try to give him all the money he needs to win the league once.