*Official* Bolton v United Match Thread - Teams and Value

rafabio, shouldn't you be watching Ganguly in the IPL anyway?

You tedious, smelly shit stain.

Originally Posted by Menace

rafabio, shouldn't you be watching Ganguly in the IPL anyway?

You tedious, smelly shit stain.

IPL is not happening now £#%&!er.

The names 'Menace'.

Go and £#%&! over Shah Rukh Khan's latest Bollywood bullshit then.

I'm sure there's other stuff to do over there other than ride cows and moan about Van Der Sar's set-piece positioning.

You're starting to stink this place up as well.

Originally Posted by rafabio

unprotected? he was on the side of the goal which was protected by the wall. That's why he was at fault. See the above pics.

You can't tell from those pics. You need to see it from directly behind one of the goals, which MOTD showed. Looking at the goal (from Gerrard's perspective), VDS was to the left, the wall was to the right. Fletcher was at the end of the wall and VDS was most definitely not behind him. Gerrard could indeed have bent the ball around the wall, but that's only because just before he struck it, Konchesky shoved Fletcher back towards the middle of the goal. He tried to step back out but unfortunately nobody else moved and he left a gap.

The keeper is NEVER going to be near the centre of the goal in a free kick situation. The wall takes one side (the near post) and the keeper takes the other. I can't ever recall VDS doing it any other way than this. In this case, there was no 'near' post as the ball was just about in the middle of the pitch, so it's just a matter of the keeper taking one side and the wall taking the other. The wall failed.

Originally Posted by Grimson

You can't tell from those pics. You need to see it from directly behind one of the goals, which MOTD showed. Looking at the goal (from Gerrard's perspective), VDS was to the left, the wall was to the right. Fletcher was at the end of the wall and VDS was most definitely not behind him. Gerrard could indeed have bent the ball around the wall, but that's only because just before he struck it, Konchesky shoved Fletcher back towards the middle of the goal. He tried to step back out but unfortunately nobody else moved and he left a gap.

The keeper is NEVER going to be near the centre of the goal in a free kick situation. The wall takes one side (the near post) and the keeper takes the other. I can't ever recall VDS doing it any other way than this. In this case, there was no 'near' post as the ball was just about in the middle of the pitch, so it's just a matter of the keeper taking one side and the wall taking the other. The wall failed.

meireles, i think. very clever it was too: he didn't pull fletcher out of the way, just bumped him quite gently into the wall, knowing that fletcher would naturally (over-)correct and leave a gap. all very intentional and very well done. how anyone can blame vds for that is beyond me, or would be if it were anybody but sharath.

Originally Posted by borsuk

meireles, i think. very clever it was too: he didn't pull fletcher out of the way, just bumped him quite gently into the wall, knowing that fletcher would naturally (over-)correct and leave a gap. all very intentional and very well done. how anyone can blame vds for that is beyond me, or would be if it were anybody but sharath.

You're right, Meireles. Not sure why I think Konchesky did anything right for them that game.

VDS's distribution is second to none. You actually don't get a sense of it unless you're actually at a game. He's on one side of the field, and there's naturally a free player on the switch and he picks it out every single time.

I was up in ST2 for the cideh Carling Cup game and he picked out Giggs every time on the left, or Nani on the right.

It's his 1on1s that for me he's poor on, like Eto'o in the Champions League Final.
I was actually surprised he saved Arteta's shot for Everton's first goal the other week.

vds' first touch is as good as anyone's in the squad apart from maybe berbatov and giggs. miles better than o'shea's or rooney's, for example.

rafabio is such a thick @#%&!. Keeper in the centre of the goal for a free kick FFS

Clearly never played the game.

what will it be like on here when we lose?!

Knows very little about football tbh but his knowledge of manufacturing footballs is second to none. Sweat shop reds we are here.

Originally Posted by Argentina

VDS's distribution is second to none. You actually don't get a sense of it unless you're actually at a game. He's on one side of the field, and there's naturally a free player on the switch and he picks it out every single time.

That's generally true, but funnily enough he dropped a right %@#$&! one time on Sunday, didn't end up costing us but almost did.

Originally Posted by Part 36 Offer

what will it be like on here when we lose?!

hysterical

and hysterically funny

Originally Posted by Grimson

True enough - VDS himself didn't even have those qualities when he was young, hence his difficulties at Juventus and even Fulham.

Whoever replaces VDS, there are a couple of things that he simply won't do as well. His handling on low shots around the body won't be as good - VDS is better at swallowing potentially tricky low shots than anybody in the world - and it's pretty unlikely anyone else will be as comfortable and clean a striker of a moving ball with either foot. VDS seems to hold the entire world in mild contempt, too, so I doubt anyone else will be as confident.

On the other hand, there are more explosive/agile goalkeepers out there, which comes in handy too.

I'm not sure how football history will remember VDS, but he's absurdly underrated. Not in the category of Schmeichel/Southall/Yahsin/Banks et al, but definitely in the next tier.

bit harsh but yeah okay i know what you mean - it's a very endearing feature, or so my blart tells me

agree on VDS being right up there of course. Southall is the best i've ever seen. can't comment on Yashin and Banks really, though the mountains of stories are proof enough of how good they were of course. schmeichel was awesome, but at the same time i'd say he made quite a lot more mistakes in goal for United than VDS ever has tbh

I love Eddy, he is everything a goalkeeper should be.

Should've signed him in 2000. We'd have had at least 1 more EC, imo.

Originally Posted by dunk

I love Eddy, he is everything a goalkeeper should be.

Should've signed him in 2000. We'd have had at least 1 more EC, imo.

I think he'd have been £#%&!ed off a long time ago if we had. As Grimson says, he had a terrible time at Juve, some proper howlers. He wouldn't have survived that with us

Originally Posted by dodger

I think he'd have been £#%&!ed off a long time ago if we had. As Grimson says, he had a terrible time at Juve, some proper howlers. He wouldn't have survived that with us

Indeed. He didn't end up at Fulham after that for nothing

Whats the deal with Given ?

Citey don't want him... worth a cheeky bid ?

Originally Posted by Albert Tatlock

Whats the deal with Given ?

Citey don't want him... worth a cheeky bid ?

Jesus christ no.

Originally Posted by Albert Tatlock

Whats the deal with Given ?

Citey don't want him... worth a cheeky bid ?

Barthez is bigger than that height liar.