Archives for August 25th, 2012

Juventus: Possible Line-up/Formation For The 2012-2013 Season

By O-Posts Team | August 25, 2012 - 10:43 | Debate, Juventus, Opinion, Serie A

Possible line-up/formation for this coming season:

Buffon; Bonucci – Barzagli – Chiellini; Lichtsteiner – Vidal – Pirlo – Marchisio – Asamoah; Giovinco – Matri (3-5-2)

Juventus have the best chance to retain the Scudetto in this upcoming season. Juventus have the best defence in Serie A and one of the best defenses in the World. Giorgio Chiellini leads the pack along side Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci. These three world class defenders proved this past Serie A season that they are a force to be reckoned with. With just 20 goals conceded all season, this Juventus defense proved why they are the best.

However, the defense can’t take all the credit with veteran and legend goalkeeper Gianlugi Buffon between the posts for the Bianconero showing his critics that he is nowhere near finished as he was up to his old tricks by stopping 82% of the shots he faced this season; the best save percentage in Europe’s top 5 leagues.

Moving on to the midfield where Juventus dominated last season holding an outstanding 62% of possession in half of there games, the Juventus midfeild gave opposing teams nightmares. Andrea Pirlo “l’architetto” (The architect), the midfield leader for Juventus last season, was given this nickname because of his ability to create scoring opportunities out of nothing. Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio and Stephan Lichtsteiner were last years primary choices for the Juventus XL, but this season, with the addition of Kwadwo Asamoah to the mix, adds even more depth to this already amazing Juventus midfield.

The two frontmen for Juventus this upcoming season will definitely be Sebastian Giovinco and Alessandro Matri occasionally swapping with Mirko Vucinic. Giovinco returns to the Bianconeri after 1 season away at Parma. The Atomic Ant (given this nickname because of his size) proved why Juventus should have never let him go scoring 36 goals for Parma, including a penalty in the very first game against Juventus. In the mix is Alessandro Matri and Mirko Vucinic, who will be fighting for a spot in the starting XL. Both proved last year that they are worthy, but only time will tell of who gets the actual call.

Juventus fans were promised a world class striker before the trade deadline, but with the deadline looming just days away only one man- Giuseppe Marotta- know if the fans will get that promise.

As for the ongoing, off the field issues, Juventus will be without the man who brought the dream back to life- Mr. Antonio Conte. The Juventus manager will be facing a 10 month ban after being found guilty of failing to report match fixing in the CalcioScommesse scandal.

One thing is for sure though, with or without their leader, Juventus is a forced to be reckoned with and are favourites to retain their Scudetto crown.

Written by Matteo

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Freddie Ljungberg: A Tribute to a Football Legend

By O-Posts Team | August 25, 2012 - 09:32 | Arsenal, Opinion

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So another legend of the game has decided to call it a day on their football career. This blog comes on the back of the recent announcement from Arsenal legend Fredrik (Freddie) Ljungberg. The Swedish international decided to retire after 18 years in the game.

Ljungberg said upon retirement, ‘It’s still fun to play the big games, but when you no longer have the motivation for training then it’s time to call it quits, I’m grateful for everything football has given me and all of the fantastic people I’ve met during my career’

Freddie Ljungberg was born on 16th April 1977 in Vittsjö, Sweden. In 1989 at the age of 12 he joined Swedish club Halmstads BK , where in 1994 he made his debut in the senior team in a game against AIK. That very year Halmstads BK went on to win the Swedish Cup and the Allsvenskan league title 3 years later. Ljungberg made a total of 92 games for Halmstads scoring 11 goals.

In 1998 Ljungberg was signed by Arsenal for a fee of £3 million. Arsene Wenger was a huge admirer of Freddie after watching him play for his country and signed him. Ljungberg instantly made an impact as he scored on his debut on 20 September after coming on as a substitute against rival club Manchester United, the match ending 3–0 . He immediately became a popular figure amongst Arsenal fans.

He was a natural gifted winger who loved to take on defenders and was that little menace that opposition defenders hated, popping up in the box unmarked on many occasions and sneaking a goal for the Gunners.

Ljungberg scored many important goals for the gunners. He was the first player to score a goal at an FA Cup final outside England, when Arsenal lost against Liverpool in 2001 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. A year later, against Chelsea, he became the first player to score in consecutive FA Cup Finals. He also scored a penalty in the shootout in Arsenal’s 2005 FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United.

Freddie was famous for his iconic hair-do as he proudly wore the red stripe through his hair. A popular chant amongst Arsenal fans was directed at the Swedes outrageous hair-style:

“We love you Freddie, because you’ve got red hair, we love you Freddie because you’re everywhere, we love you Freddie, you’re Arsenal through and through.”

Ljungberg played a total of 339 games for Arsenal scoring 73 goals. During his time with the Gunners he won 2 Premier League titles, 3 F.A Cups and 3 F.A Community Shields. Freddie was also part of Arsenal’s famous invincibles team that won the title in 2003- 2004 by going 49 games unbeaten. This team has gone down in Premier League history by being named the best Premier League team ever witnessed.

Since leaving Arsenal in 2007, Freddie has played for many clubs around the world such as West Ham United, Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, Celtic and Shimizu S-Pulse.

Freddie was also a Swedish international and a legend for his country. Ljungberg made his international debut in 1998 against the United States . Ljungberg has represented his country at Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008. Freddie represented Sweden in the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002. Ljungberg was suffering from a hip injury which prevented him from playing in most of the games.

However, Ljungberg did muster the strength to play against England on 2 June 2002 and Nigeria on 7 June 2002 despite the pain. In the 2006 World Cup, Ljungberg was named the Golden Ball winner for helping Sweden advance to the next round in the World Cup by heading in the game-winning goal against Paraguay. Freddie Ljungberg played a total of 75 games for his country scoring 14 goals.

Outside of football, Ljungberg was involved in many other projects. Ljungberg was a model for Calvin Klein underwear until 2007 and modeled for many Swedish magazines and was a hit with the female fanbase of the clubs he played for. He recieved many personal honours such as Sexiest Player in the Premier League voted by The Sun (2007) and E! (Entertainment Channel, USA) among the Sexiest Men in the World (2008)

On 27 June 2008 Ljungberg announced that he was ending his 10 – year career for the national team and on the 24 August 2012 Ljungberg announced his retirement from football.

Not only as an Arsenal fan, but a football fan in general I was delighted to have the pleasure of watching such a talented footballer in action and I wish him all the best for the future.

Written by Arran Farrell

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Emmanuel Adebayor: Tottenham finally get their Striker

By O-Posts Team | August 25, 2012 - 09:15 | Opinion, Premier League, Tottenham, Transfer Market

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Adebayor finally signs permanently for Spurs.

It’s taken all summer but Tottenham finally have their striker. Well, one of them if reports are to be believed. The transfer of Emmanuel Adebayor has been one the most drawn out and longest of the summer so far. But one week before the end of the transfer window, he looks likely to be in the squad for Tottenham’s home game against West Brom tomorrow.

And, boy, do Spurs need him. The striker’s ability to play upfront on his own, his ability – and willingness – to pull out wide and run the channels was integral to Tottenham last season. It caused problems for defenders, pulling them out of position, and creating space for Gareth Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart.

With Villas-Boas looking to deploy a similar system in a 4-2-3-1 or his favoured 4-3-3, Adebayor will once again be the man for the job. And Tottenham fans will hope he can continue on from his productive season at the club. His 17 goals and 12 assists catapulted Tottenham up to the higher echelons of the table and nearly cemented Champions League football. His brilliant form kept Jermain Defoe out the team who takes to a lone striker role as David Cameron does to travelling on the tube – among the ‘commoners’.

One caveat – mostly shot at Tottenham fans from their North London neighbours – is that Adebayor is ok for a loan but once it’s a permanent transfer the Adebayor of old starts to rear it’s ugly, disruptive head. I’d like to try and contradict this ‘myth’ as it were, as it’s not indicative of every club he has played at. He left on bad terms at Arsenal and the fans are still angry, and at Man City, Mancini just didn’t like him.

Adebayor has already alluded to finding a new lease of life and love for football at Tottenham and they found their way into his heart. The tragic Togo bus shooting is probably the main reason to shoot down this myth, however. After witnessing several team mates shot dead, he has said to have a whole new perspective on life and football.

The fact that Adebayor is not a new signing but knows the players, knows the training ground and knows the club is a massive plus point. It will enable him – again – to hit the ground running and after an unlucky defeat to Newcastle on the opening day of the season it will be a much needed boost. As I have already mentioned his ability to play upfront was what was missing last week. An outlet upfront; someone who could hold the ball up and wait for the midfield runners to join the action.

If fit, hopefully Villas-Boas decides to start him tomorrow. Harsh on Defoe, yes. But Defoe just isn’t suited to the lone role and another season playing second-fiddle to Adebayor looks on the cards.

This won’t be the end of the summer signings as Villas-Boas, Daniel Levy and Tottenham fans alike know where they need strengthening, but this was a very important signing. And a very good signing. How Levy managed to get him for a reported £5 million, get Adebayor to take a wage cut and get Man City to give him a large leaving fee is anyone’s guess. But he did.

He certainly looked happy as he was unveiled on the official site, joking around with Villas-Boas who ran to get a stool in order to be taller than the striker for the obligatory ‘holding the shirt’ photo. His interview outlined his intention to do well for Spurs and he also took to twitter saying he’s, “hungry to score…Get ready.”

Villas-Boas is happy, Tottenham fans are happy and Adebayor is happy. Let’s hope Tottenham stay happy.

Written by William Hold

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