How computer games have impacted the next generation of players

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I don’t want to toot my own horn over here, but I basically learned to mix sound like Jimmy Lovine yesterday.

Yes, I apologise, I made a hash of the volume in the podcast yesterday… but I have just learned how to fix it and combat white noise at the same time.

Go on, listen to the podcast right now and sue me for blowing your ears off because it’s so damn loud and pristine.

It’s nice to learn, but maybe not nice to have to listen to a podcast for the second time in a row… but please, do your job today and listen to it for a second time.

One of the sections of the podcast we talk about modern managers and why some of the older legends of the game are struggling to cut it in 2020. There was a great piece in The Times at the weekend that basically eviscerated the idea that young players care about the history of the club they are at, citing OGS constantly harking back to the 90s to spark something in his United players. It said he takes them to weekly quizzes… it’s so pathetically disconnected, it makes me a little sad.

‘Come on boys, I’ve got a terrific quiz for you today’

‘Don’t tut Pogba, I brought some of that rap music you like.

‘Jessie’

*OGS performs BIG dab*

‘I’ll see you at 5, bring the Wotsits’

The long and short is basically what I’ve been saying on here for a long time. The idea that a reputation for winning trophies in the past as marker for future success is fatally flawed. Players aren’t interested in reputation these days, that’s for fans and journos that think a bollocking fixes terminal decline in football teams.

The currency of modern football is ideas and vision. These young players coming through now want to know how to improve on the pitch and in the mind. You have to engage them with far softer kid gloves than you did in the past, and you have to be able to speak modern football.

The cultural reference is modern technology and what it has allowed these players to experience from their bedrooms.

Growing up was FIFA and Championship manager for me. It wasn’t to the level of complexity it is now, but I distinctly remember wasting disgusting amounts of my time waiting for the PC to load a season of Champ Man. I knew every player in the world, I knew the formations, I knew how transfer windows worked, I knew ballpark wages, I knew dates of birth by memory, I knew every player that was worth knowing in Europe because Champ Man has a legit scouting network. I was hooked, like a Champ Man smackhead. It literally fucked my education.

The thing that was missing through my era of gamification was the ability to watch the players. I knew Saviola, Bobby Pires, Henry and Bakircioglu (if you know, you know) were going to be big, but I had to wait for a World Cup to see them. Or be around for live tune-in on TransWorld Sport.

Fast forward to now, the kids can play FIFA and Champ Man, and actually watch the players they’re scouting in the games. These footballers are growing up experiencing tactical systems in games. They’re keeping abreast of the best footballers in the world because anyone they like has a highlights comp some nerd 14-year-old has made for them. Players have never been so educated.

The same is true of the kid fans. The obsessives can watch 2nd Division Brazilian football with 3 clicks of a mouse if they so choose. The entire world of football is available on Youtube.

So when Jose Mourinho comes into training and asks these players to play a cynical version of the game because he knows what’s going on, they don’t believe him. They don’t want to shithouse like they used to. They want to get better as players and Jose can’t offer that in 2020. The only way he can deliver a Premier League winning side is to buy it, but no one wants to invest in his methodology because it’s horrible.

Now, Arteta might turn out to be a duffer. But he’s getting more out of the Arsenal players than Carlo or Jose would have had out of them. He’s bringing them another level we straight up didn’t know existed. He knows each individual as a person, he knows their strengths and weaknesses, and he knows how to make them better in the context of the modern game. That’s what players buy into in 2020. Nerds.

The casual mocking of ‘this isn’t <insert game>” in 2020 starts to look increasingly ridiculous. Those games are driving up the knowledge of the players, sparking different sorts of conversations on the training ground, and requiring a different type of coach to manage the lust for improvement.

It’s very exciting and it makes me very happy to know we have a manager that probably dabbled in FIFA and Champ Man… because, you know, it basically means I could be a manager, right?

Ok, maybe not, but it’s interesting to see how gaming culture is impacting football in 2020.

Check out Drew. No fucking around. Cease and desist letter in the post from Adidas. Elite wedding attire stealthiness regardless!


Right, listen to the fucking podcast, leave me a 5* review praising the volume and get to work, there are bills to pay.

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Romford Pele

Dissenter – you’re absolutely spot on in your criticism but it’s still Arsenal. Much more iconic club. Like you say, more work is needed but we’ve spent loads of money since 2016. If it’s used more efficiently it’s nowhere near as big an issue.

Doesn’t look like we’re gonna be too active this window. I can deal with that as long as we’re proactive in the summer.

But I would really like Bruno Guimares who’s going for cheap atm. And our name is being continually mentioned. Hopefully it has substance.

Danny

Marc
Previous Arsenal squads had plenty of experience of the CL after over 20 years in it but that didn’t make a difference did it.
————–
Depends what Wenger’s target was which I believe was only to get out of the group stages which he succeeded every season!

Danny

If he’s interested in football more than money it won’t even be a consideration.
——————–
I read somewhere that Spurs payed him 15 million quid so to relax till July seems like a no-brainer.

WengerEagle

RP Odegaard is sublime mate, it’s more than just the outstanding numbers, he passes the eye test with flying colours too. Guy literally glides past players as if they aren’t there and he has eyes on the back of his head, always has time on the ball which only the very best manage. He’s already a top three playmaker in Europe and the best in La Liga. No chance that Real entertain selling him, lucky Sociedad have him next season as well unless Zidane says fuck this which he might well. They’ll let half of that list go. All of… Read more »

WengerEagle

RP

Your thoughts on Jadon Sancho?

Imo by far your best youngster since Rooney. And has the potential to go further than Rooney ever did.

He’s incredible. Best youngster around after M’Bappe hands down.

Habesha Gooner

How are benfica letting Gedson Fernandes go out on loan? and how are spurs pulling off these loan deals with an option to buy for good players? Locelso with an obligation to buy last summer and now Fernandes. We need to try for our main targets using a similar tactic. If we really want Bruno Guimares we should try loaning him now with an option to buy or obligation if he is our main target.

Jim Lahey

“Imo by far your best youngster since Rooney. And has the potential to go further than Rooney ever did.”

Clearly you meant Theo Walcott?!

Romford Pele

Eagle – he’s amazing mate. Would be my #1 Ozil replacement. We’ve always had elite playmakers so it’s about time we had another. Won’t be him unfortunately but he’s so good and is only 21. Gotta remember everyone has known about him since he was 16 too. Yeah all of those guys will likely go. Isco has been a disappointment considering he’s still just 27 but the fact he’s not really in favour speaks volumes to me. James is another but looks like he’s gonna be more of a journeyman. Has never really settled anywhere and isn’t in favour. Ceballos… Read more »

WengerEagle

Feo is still too green Jim, needs another few years to really get to grips with the league.

To be fair the guy is only sixteen.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

That is fair, Theo and Jesse are the future!

Romford Pele

Eagle – yeah he’s a fantstic talent. He has all the ability in the world. His assist numbers already are crazy. I’m not that surprised about the talents England are producing though. My mate is a coach and he says South London is the hotbed of talent in England. They’re all estate street ballers round there so for many of them it’s either football or crime. Not all of them are dedicated. But Sancho for me is next level. I’d say my only doubts around him are his pace. I’d say he’s quick but doesn’t have elite level acceleration. In… Read more »

WengerEagle

RP I’d well believe that. Sterling and Sancho are both from that part aren’t they? Abraham and Hudson-Odoi too. Sancho supposedly still hangs around the ends when he’s over in London. I think that he’s got another gear that he can go to when he’s running, because he’s a smooth technician I just think that he doesn’t opt to hang out wide too much to properly display it, he prefers to drift in centrally and that’s how he has so many goals and assists. Look at this goal vs Bayern in the Supercup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGGr2r0iPYU He’s not rapid like M’Bappe or… Read more »

WengerEagle

RP All of those players would do very well at other clubs, silly having them all rot on the bench. James is a system player but as we’ve seen with Monaco, Real Madrid for a time, Bayern for a time and for Colombia, when you cater to him he’s a phenomenal baller. Not an elite level one because he’s such a rigid fit mind. But anyone outside of the top five or six Euro clubs would love to have him. The playmaker position in general is a rigid fit with the modern pressing and athleticism-dominant game. It’s the reason why… Read more »

Romford Pele

Eagle – loads of them, Sancho, RLC, CHO, Abraham, Joe Gomez, Lookman, Rice, AWB, Nelson, Nketiah, Sessegnon,. ESR, Patrick Roberts, Eze. All from the same area. Sterling is from North-West London so he’s the odd one out, I think Sancho will do well as he’s skillful like Mahrez so he can get away from his marker but the ones who usually thrive are the really fast ones. Mbappe and O. Demebele are defo top end of the speed spectrum. Even CHO at Chelsea is crazy quick but gotta see how he recovers from his achilles injury. England have a number… Read more »

Jim Lahey

Was Henry the perfect striker? When I think back, I don’t remember him having any major weakness.. in the air maybe?

Romford Pele

Eagle – i’m not sure the traditional playmaker/#10 position is done at all, They’re just appearing in different guises. Either you recreate yourself as a CM as we’ve seen with KDB and Silva at City or if you are in a 4231 you just will have a multitude of roles to play. Spurs under Poch still played 4231. Even City themselves have used that formation this season with KDB at 10. So I don’t think the formation or the role is done. As with everything in football, it’s cyclical. What might not be in vogue now might be in vogue… Read more »

Romford Pele

Jim – as close to it as you can get, outside maybe the real Ronaldo who was the most complete striker i’ve ever seen. Henry didn’t score many headers but we weren’t exactly a team that crossed the ball a lot either.

WengerEagle

Jim Near perfect mate but he had his faults, to me has was too passive in the huge crunch matches in the PL vs United and in the CL until the Final season where he rectified that going off on Real Madrid and Juventus and even Barcelona in the Final, was just his finishing that let him down not for lack of aggression as he drove into all of the right positions. He should have scored a lot more than nine goals vs United for a player of his calibre on a team as strong as ours was. Didn’t have… Read more »

Jim Lahey

@RP & WE – It just made me think when taking about the attributes of individual strikers when you put them all together you got Henry! Can still remember the night in Anfield when he was on the touchline knocked the ball ahead of himself, then ran up the other side of the touchline leaving two Liverpool players to eat his dust! Think that game ended 2-2… When I think back on the days of having Henry in the team, no matter how bad the team was around him I always felt like we had a chance because he was… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Henry was incredibly well-rounded, I’d argue his aerial game was good too but it was an area he never liked to go and preferred balls to feet.

Still enjoy that bullet header against United last minute for the winner.

As Weagle said, he never seemed to strike a ball in anger and it was all done with the instep.

WengerEagle

RP True re top end speedsters. I’m not sold on CHO, underwhelms me really. Still early days but I don’t see what’s so special about him. England NT looks pretty outstanding alright but your CM is pretty wooden and dull. No ballers in there at all. Maddison and Grealish both have guile and flair but neither are what I would call midfield players. Stacked at RB with TAA, Walker, Trippier and Bissaka. That’s pretty astounding in all honesty, as funny as Scotland’s best two players both being LB’s. Sterling-Kane-Sancho is a great front three but I see Soutgate persisting with… Read more »

Romford Pele

Jim – unfortunately Henrys don’t grow on trees. But he was the perfect blend of PnP mixed with technique. He could do it all and when he was on his game he was unstoppable. At time he did have mental blocks and didn’t produce when he should’ve but you can excuse that considering all he done for the club. Will be lucky if we ever see anyone better.

The perfect playre for this current modern era too.

Jim Lahey

“was too passive in the huge crunch matches”

I don’t think he ever scored in a final for Arsenal… is that right?!

The opposite of Didier Drogba, THE big game player!

Champagne charlie

Jim

RvP has that kind of impact in his last couple of years with us for me, he was unreal for a stretch.

Auba/Laca levels below by comparison.

WengerEagle

We won that game 3-1 Jim, Henry leaving Carra choking on his dust such a fond memory lol.

That was Rosicky’s coming out party to the PL, two absolute worldies.

Jim Lahey

@CC –

You’re dead right, having RVP in the team did feel like we always had a chance! To be honest I would swap both Laca and Auba for an in form RVP!

WengerEagle

Suarez with Liverpool too definitely had that impact.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

Yeah that is the one alright!

Jim Lahey

One thing about RVP if there is a free kick… I’m not standing in the wall! I remember a FK against Sunderland that was in before the keeper realised it had been hit!

WengerEagle

Anfield was the coming out party for so many of our imports.

Rosicky, Julio Baptista, Arshavin, even Podolski and Cazorla both scored there on their debut too in a PL win haha.

Miss those days, now we’re just hammered whenever we go there.

Marc

” in form RVP”

What was it 8 seasons at the club and 1 fit, exactly what we need.

Jim Lahey

“Anfield was the coming out party for so many of our imports. ”

The defending from us the night Arshavin scored 4! Horrendous! We went 4-3 up with a minute to go!!

WengerEagle

RP

True, it’s kind of morphed into a wide playmaker role now to give teams technical balance as you see with Bernardo Silva/Mahrez at Citeh for example.

These kinds of players can still play in CM but like you say, athleticism is a prerequisite and well as industry and the ability to win back possession. KDB and Bernardo both do this well at Citeh.

Somebody like James who you have to completely indulge isn’t going to start for an elite winning team. He doesn’t offer you anything off the ball, he’s a throwback to the really old-school playmaker.

Jim Lahey

It probably says more about myself than anything else, but some of the most vivid memories I have being an Arsenal fan centre around some of our golries failures.

2006 CL final, remember it like it was yesterday.
2009 CL semi against United, that Gibbs slip..
1999 FA Cup semi, Bergkamp penalty miss

Jim Lahey

“He doesn’t offer you anything off the ball”

I remember or greatest No. 10 would gladly offer you an elbow in the face off the ball!!

Aussie Gooner

Tony (from last post) The bush fires in Victoria and New South Wales have been terrible of late. Today Melbourne’s air quality was the worst in the world! Yes ahead of highly industrialised areas of China and India. Two international tennis events were affected in Melbourne causing matches to be abandoned. The bush fire season started early this year due to years of drought in some places. Consequently there was a lot of material to burn including nearly two thousand houses. There is no chance of putting out the big fires in bush land/national parks, they just have to be… Read more »

Romford Pele

Eagle – Yeah there’s so many different ways of interpreting them. Some, like you say, will be used out wide to create technical overlaods and box teams in. Look how City played like 5 technical midfielders against United last week and absolutely swarmed them so they had no answer. If you’re gonna play someone unathletic, their technical level has to be so high that it offsets their physical limitations (completely press-resistant). I never want these type of players to be phased out the game though, that’s what makes football fun. If you had a team of hard-running robots it makes… Read more »

Jim Lahey

“If you’re gonna play someone unathletic, their technical level has to be so high that it offsets their physical limitations”

Matt le Tissier!

Jim Lahey

@RP –

” never want these type of players to be phased out the game though, that’s what makes football fun.”

Could not agree more, its why you pay to watch football, gonna play my fan-boy card again, but its why I loved Santi for all his defensive limitations or Arshavin, players would could do things with a football no natural athlete could!

Graham62

Arshavin was one of my favourite Arsenal players, just a shame Wenger fudged him around.

Romford Pele

Jim – 100% agree. It’s why I couldn’t get behind Emery. Even though the results and the process weren’t the worst, it was just terrible to watch. But as someone who played as an attacking midfielder myself maybe i’m bias!

Romford Pele

You know who I thought was gonna be top? Carlos Vela. His technique was sensational. Such an elegant player to watch but ended up in the MLS in his late 20s. That’s shocking. Shows you that despite having ability, if you’re hungry and motivated it doesn’t mean anything.

WengerEagle

Yeah Drogba was THE big game player, always delivered in the top matches in the PL and CL. The fucker loved playing against us more than anyone though. [13 goals in 15 aps] and Chelsea beat us in 11 of those 15 matches losing just once that one time that Johann Djourou daddied him in the Carlo led side when we put a beating on them at the Emirates. For comparison, his record vs Spurs was 6 goals in 20. He scored just 11 in 30 apps vs Liverpool He scored 4 goals in 15 matches vs United. Did he… Read more »

Jim Lahey

@RP –

Oh yeah, you could see very early on that the football was gone under Emery, was pretty sad to watch! At least under Arteta we are starting to see some of the one touch football creep back in!

Also, we just don’t have the players to play that type of football anymore.

Cesc, Santi, Nasri, Rosicky, Arshavin, Helb. At the moment we have nothing close to that talent in the team.

Romford Pele

“Cesc, Santi, Nasri, Rosicky, Arshavin, Helb. At the moment we have nothing close to that talent in the team.”

That’s the worst thing. We need these types to play the possession-based style. We don’t have creativity atm which you’d never thought you’d say about an Arsenal team.

Jim Lahey

@RP –

He is destroying the MLS at the moment! 38 goals in 36 games last season!

Jim Lahey

@RP –

Yeah as you say, we need balance and at the moment we are lacking that creativity. big time.

WengerEagle

Vela could have went right to the elite level of wide forwards but his heart was never in it, is on record as saying that he has no real interest in football and is a Basketball junkie and loves watching NBA.

Probably a factor in the move lol, catch them Lakers games.

Talent-wise he was amazing though. His production at Real Sociedad was pretty impressive too considering he didn’t give a shit.

WengerEagle

RP

Who would be players that you would be looking at? Agree, creativity and ball retention are our absolute weakest attributes and desperately need improvement.

Jim Lahey

Her is one for you, who is the most embarrassing player you have had on the back of a shirt?

Yoann Gourcuff, beat that!

azed

“Can still remember the night in Anfield when he was on the touchline knocked the ball ahead of himself, then ran up the other side of the touchline leaving two Liverpool players to eat his dust! Think that game ended 2-2…”

I had/have a friend who wasn’t into football come to my house on this day and he witnesses this action and then goes “Why would they(Liverpool defenders) just let him go like that”…..

PS: When I was playing in the streets, we had a saying: “If you miss the ball, don’t miss the man”

Romford Pele

Eagle – we need the right balance of athleticism and creativity. I’m a big fan of Boubakary Soumare at Lille. He is an amazing athlete but with fantastic technique too (similar to Ndombele at Spurs who Mourinho has fallen out with). 6ft2 but can dribble away from pressure effortlessly. Was very good at Stamford Bridge last month in the CL. He’s a B2B midfielder but can also play as a #6. So you have someone that could play with and without Torreira. It’e a necessity as Torreira is the only ball-winner we have. I said before that I like Grealish… Read more »

Romford Pele

Best mate*

WengerEagle

Only names I have had were Henry, Fabregas and Reyes. Reyes being the first one funnily enough, that lovely blue away jersey season after he signed.

Had a Celtic jersey as a kid with Larsson. What a player.

Loads of lads at my school had that old Barcelona home jersey with Saviola on the back haha, how times have changed for Barca. They were nearly hipsters back then with Los Galacticos in full force.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

Reyes was actually the last name I ever had on a shirt.

WengerEagle

RP Good shouts, I’ll have to check out Soumare he’s getting rave reviews on here. I love Aouar he’s an outstanding player. I’m still not completely on the Grealish train just yet but he’s come on leaps and bounds from when he was a teen. Villa will want mad money for him though. Nelson is a weird one because in pre-season against Lyon he looked a man possessed. Dribbled past his markers for fun, showed end product and looked to take on his marker at every opportunity. Anytime I’ve watched him this season he’s passive, he falls over himself dribbling,… Read more »

Guns of Brixton

I knew ppl who knew of Reiss Nelsom and Sancho when they were younglings.

They grew up on Aylesbury Estate ( N5 lived there lool) the consensus was Nelson was better than Sancho.

But wasn’t Quresema rated better than CR7 back when they were youths?

I won’t hold Nelson to hit them kinda levels tbh.

Jim Lahey

@RP –

When I think of creative midfielders I think automatically to either Spain or France, but when I look through the national sides and no one stands out!

Also when the FUCK did Isco become 27?????!!

WengerEagle

Isco has been around a while though, he was starring for Malaga in their CL QF season and they’ve been shite for many years.

Remember Malaga were minted for those 5 mins? Sold us Santi for fifteen million, lol.

bennydevito

Afternoon Grovers,

Good post Pedro.

Ahhh Championship Manager, they were the days. Javier Saviola, Pablo Aimar, Denilson, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Joe Cole and Tonton Zola Moukokou were amazing players.

My all time favourite though was Sensible Soccer on the Commodore Amiga and then the Sega Megadrive. When I was really young Goal on the 8 bit NES was awesome too.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

Isco is defiently a player I thought was still in his early 20s! Wow, he hasn’t exactly kicked on has he?!

“Remember Malaga were minted for those 5 mins? Sold us Santi for fifteen million, lol.”

Thats when they were gping bust wasn’t it and we fleeced them! ha!

Dream10

Romford & Wenger Eagle Think the high quality young creatives like Sancho and Aouar will join CL contenders. Leicester rate Maddison as a better player than Harry Maguire, so he’ll come with a high price tag. Grealish is within reach as he as a release clause. Buendia has played almost exclusively on the right, so that’s a no go with Pépé here. Said Benrahma and Eze have been excellent in the championship for Brentford and QPR. Think they will follow Maddison and Buendia and replicate their form in the PL next season. We need wide players that can shoot as… Read more »

WengerEagle

Best PL strikers at peak level? Take your pick.

Henry
Suarez
Aguero
Shearer
Rooney
Kane
Van Persie
Drogba
Fernando Torres

For full body of work Henry has to be top, followed by Aguero and Shearer imo.

Romford Pele

Eagle – yeah there’s clearly more than meets the eye. Must be a lot we haven’t seen because the season before he went out on loan Arsenal won the U23 league for the first time and Nelson won the POTS. He was only 18 at the time. He’s still only 20 now. Might not make it but shouldn’t dump on the scrap heap just yet.

Romford Pele

Jim – Spain still have a shed load. France have loads of talented players that Domenech never picks. It’s a really weird one. He picks loads of defensive players when he doesn’t need to but as World Champions nobody is gonna really complain.

Romford Pele

“Grealish is within reach as he as a release clause.”

Yep £45m release clause which is fine. Also rate him higher than Maddison who will go for closer to £100m if the Maguire deal is anything to go by.

“Said Benrahma and Eze have been excellent in the championship for Brentford and QPR. Think they will follow Maddison and Buendia and replicate their form in the PL next season.”

They are both quality talents. Benrahma reminds me of Taarabt. Those North African ballers always have unrivalled technique. Too gracious on the ball as well.

Romford Pele

Can’t lie,Drogba is quite overrated man. His big game record masks the fact he was generally not a great goalscorer. There were 3 seasons at Chelsea where didn’t manage to score more than 10 league goals. he got 5, 5 and 8 in these seasons. In fact, he only broke the 20-league goal barrier twice in 8 seasons. Poor

He always destroyed Arsenal though (supported us growing up) and had a personal vendetta against us for turning down the chance to sign him. Have to remember we had peak Henry at this point.

WengerEagle

RP

Drog is only in there for his title winning season putting up 37 goals in all comps and 29 in the PL in just 32 apps, he was scary.

Peak should probably be more than a season though to be fair.

WengerEagle

I’d love Julian Brandt still. Fantastic player and a real maverick.

How Favre is fucking up having Sancho, Reus, Brandt, Thorgan Hazard and Alcacer at his disposal is anybody’s guess. They should be top of the league, on their day nobody can live with them in Germany outside of Bayern but they just always crumble at pressure points in a season.

Same goes for Bayern, how can you not be winning near on every match with Lewandowski scoring over a goal a game, Gnabry, Coman, Coutinho, Muller, Perisic.

Marko

Headline would perhaps make more sense if you had a science or something to back it up otherwise it falls flat honestly. Computer games and pretending to know as much or more than the manager hasn’t impacted football more than money and it’s influences on young men has. It’s all about drive and desire imo. “Now, Arteta might turn out to be a duffer. But he’s getting more out of the Arsenal players than Carlo or Jose would have had out of them. He’s bringing them another level we straight up didn’t know existed. He knows each individual as a… Read more »

Dream10

Taarabt is a Championship legend. Amazing 10-11 season for QPR. He was going to sign for us until Damien Comolli joined Spurs and took him there. Man is playing CM for Benfica this year doing nutmegs lol.

Henry and Aguero #1 and #2 for me. Young Aguero had ridiculous acceleration. Almost Romario like. Shearer pre knee injury was top class as well. Lost his pace after. That couple of years up to Euro ’96, he was at his peak.

Marc

Dream10

Can you imagine if Shearer had gone to ManU with Beckham and Giggs on the wings feeding him?

WengerEagle

Aguero was a sight to behold back in his dribbling days at Atletico Madrid too. Didn’t score quite as many [still put up a ridiculous 101 goals there by age 22/23] but he scored more solo goals and played between the lines more off of Forlan.

Spectacular partnership that was. Can you imagine the damage they would have done as a team with Simeone’s backline and Oblak behind them?

Romford Pele

Shearer was actually elite you know. Top tier shooter.

Henry
Shearer/Aguero

That’s my trio.

Dream10

Marc

Shearer rejected Ferguson and Man United on three occasions! He would have had a 40 goal PL season if he played for that lot

Romford Pele

I think after Shearer won the title at Blackburn he had done his job in his eyes. He just went for his hometown club after. Newcastle were a fantastic team both under Keegan and then Sir Bobby Robson as well.

Receding Hairline

“He’s bringing them another level we straight up didn’t know existed. He knows each individual as a person, he knows their strengths and weaknesses, and he knows how to make them better in the context of the modern game. That’s what players buy into in 2020. Nerds.””

Levels we did not know existed? Wow…just wow

Dream10

Wenger Eagle

That would have been ridiculous. Atlético don’t have the finances to reject offers from the super clubs. Aguero was a teenage phenom. Basically 99% guaranteed to become a superstar.

Receding Hairline

Barcelona really letting themselves down with the Valverde drama.

Sack him last summer or let him see out the season. It’s not like they were tanking or anything. They are joint top with Madrid and through to the next round in Europe

Where is the fire?

Setien is a Cruyff disciple i hear, fat lot of good that has done him.

WengerEagle

Van Persie would have smashed the PL scoring record in his last season here if we had Fabregas and Nasri still feeding him. He had already caught fire in the second half of the previous season too.

Imagine that he put up 30 PL goals with Alex Song as our primary creative outlet, nuts.

Romford Pele

Eagle – he scored 37 goals in all comps that season, absolute phenom!

Champagne charlie

“Had a Celtic jersey as a kid with Larsson. What a player.“

Knew you were a filthy hoop.

WengerEagle

Dream

He was one of those few transfers as you say where he was almost one hundred percent guaranteed to be a bargain at 35 million even in 2011. He’s exceeded expectation with his longevity even given he hasn’t fallen off at all yet.

He very nearly signed for Chelsea. Had he they would have won another title or two, no doubt.

Dream10

Barça getting rid of the pragmatic Valverde for a positional play merchant in Setien. He’ll win the PR battle, let’s see how they.do in the CL. All I’m here is an Ousmane revival.

Guns of SF

Stones? Id say yes, we can may be resurrect him… and having an good ole English CB would make a lot happy on here.

Marko

Eagle – he scored 37 goals in all comps that season, absolute phenom!

And yet we didn’t challenge for anything. Imagine having arguably the best goalscorer in the league and because the manager failed to put together a squad capable of matching said striker we never got close to winning anything major. Shame.

Romford Pele

“All I’m here is an Ousmane revival.” Aren’t we all. he’s not built for that club though. He’s a very ball-dominant player like Messi. Having that in a side heavily centred on Leo was never gonna work. He’s not really an off-the-ball runner so should focus his next club on where he can revitalise his BVB form. Maybe Setien can get it to work though. Main aim for Setien should be getting a functional midfield that works so Messi does at little work as possible. leave him up in the final third where he can do damage. Maybe false 9… Read more »

WengerEagle

Charlie

Was a rite of passage over here mate, first gift you were given if you were a kid into football. Not sure if the following is quite as manic now given that was a much better Celtic team and Larsson was a genuine superstar.

Also Rangers being dirty protestants.

Jim Lahey

@WE –

“Also Rangers being dirty protestants.”

Yeah I mean, there is always that! ha!!

WengerEagle

Marko

That’s why I’ll never understand why so many fans were so salty when he said fuck this and went to United. Absolutely vindicated as well winning the PL there and being the main reason.

Same for Cesc, won titles at Barcelona and Chelsea.

As you say, the club’s fault for not putting the pieces around him.

Champagne charlie

Henry, Van Persie, Suarez from that list.

Aguero, Torres, and Shearer were monster goal scorers but the three above could do things very few could.

Henry the best of the lot for how well rounded he was, Suarez had a relentless danger to him, and RvP was about as good as it got as a CF assassin because his technique made ballers look cumbersome.

Drogba amazing bully, Rooney a sporadic force, Kane the epitome of clinical at full tilt.

Marc

Dream10

Didn’t realise he turned Fergie down 3 times – knew he’d done it a couple as you say guy would’ve been unstoppable.

HighburyLegend

Chamakh / Sanogo / Gervinho for me.

WengerEagle

Weird to think that Barcelona only won 2 Champions League titles through an entire decade of Lionel Messi’s prime actually.

Have to give a lot of credit to Ronaldo and Real Madrid. 5 CL titles is ridiculous for Ronaldo, top scorer in each tournament too.

Took Maldini till he was virtually wheelchair bound to win that 5th CL title.

azed

“Chamakh / Sanogo / Gervinho for me.”

No space for St Nikki?

Marko

That’s why I’ll never understand why so many fans were so salty when he said fuck this and went to United.

I was salty in the sense that we stood by him through all those injury hit seasons and just as he started to stay fit and perform consistently for us he decided to leave. We got like a really good season or two out of him before he left but I understood it honestly because of what Wenger was doing to the club dumbing down expectations and replacing ambition with caution. The slow rot that we’re still suffering from.

HighburyLegend

Damned!! I forgot Lord Bendtner!!

WengerEagle

Aguero’s record vs the top six is incredibly impressive too.

9 in 11 vs Man United.
11 in 15 vs Arsenal.
15 in 20 vs Chelsea.
12 in 17 vs Spurs.

He’s only really struggled against Liverpool, scored 7 goals in 19 against them, not even that bad.

HighburyLegend

@WengerEagle, Arsenal is in your list.

That must be a very old list.

Champagne charlie

Weagle

I think if you ask who had the better careers the names would change for me, but peaks are as I’ve said.

Aguero, Thierry, Shearer for careers is hard to topple. Monstrous time and time again.