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At Real Madrid right now, the battle between Marco Asensio and Gareth Bale for the hearts and minds of Madridistas highlights the club's underlying problem. Locals want Asensio in and Bale out, with coach Zinedine Zidane caught in the middle of a political, selection dilemma. Seven points behind Barcelona and toiling in front of goal, Real require a shake-up ahead of their clash at Alaves tonight, but there's an internal power struggle at work. Club chairman Florentino Perez favours the status quo, those magnificent Meringues who gave him three Champions League trophies in four years. But the status quo failed to score for the first time in 74 La Liga games in their 1-0 home loss to Real Betis on Wednesday.punterslounge.com Madrid's nemesis, Lionel Messi, has as many goals - nine - as the Real team combined.
Barcelona are flying.lifestylesports.com Real are flailing, already in eighth position after eight games and caught at a crossroads. There's an ongoing tussle between established Galacticos and emerging talents with Zidane seemingly unwilling - or unable - to give youth a chance. Against Betis, Zidane picked an unfit Cristiano Ronaldo alongside an out-of-sorts Bale, just days after rewarding the injured Karim Benzema with a new contract. Real are sticking with the tried and tested, regardless of form and fitness, and the natives are growing restless. The Bernabeu faithful adore Asensio and with good reason. When he was young, the Spaniard suffered from a developmental dysfunction that affected his joints. He endured so much in his legs and ankles during youth games that he often had to be carried from the pitch. But he overcame his physical obstacles to morph into the most exciting Real player in years.
Still only 21, he's already seen off the challenges of James Rodriguez and Lucas Vazquez and offers Zidane a creative versatility in different positions. Equally adept on either flank or roving in a No. 10 role, the speedster was a key reason why Real didn't suffer too many sleepless nights when Kylian Mbappe rejected their half-hearted overtures. They had Asensio for the future. The trouble is his form and focus deserve regular selection now, but Bale stands in his way. During the Welshman's prolonged injury absence last season, the likes of Asensio and Isco ensured that Bale wasn't particularly missed. But Real's most expensive signing has returned and presumably expects regular selection. His president certainly does.
Perez, the former impatient collector of Galacticos, now advocates stability and continuity. The message is clear. If Bale, Ronaldo and Benzema are available, they play, despite the 90 years among them. But a couple of plodding performances from Bale, 28, has increased the pressure on Zidane. The Frenchman was recently asked if Asensio's rapid development meant that Bale should start looking over his shoulder. Zidane, a cryptic response open to all kinds of interpretation. Others are in no doubt. Jorge Valdano, a former Real player, coach and sporting director, recently accused Bale of never fully settling at the club - in his fifth season, he still hasn't learned Spanish. Asensio had to overcome physical hurdles to make his mark in the Real dressing room. Bale had to learn Spanish.
If the comparison seems disingenuous and unfair, the perception remains nonetheless. Bale's languid, laidback style, both on and off the pitch, is being misinterpreted as a lack of application and a genuine cause for concern. Real appear a faster, more fluid side with Asensio and Isco involved. With Ronaldo and Bale leading the line against Betis, Real were laboured. Of course, Zidane will assume that the recent blip is temporary. But the old guard's success cannot guarantee immunity from the subs bench. Ronaldo will be used more sparingly to protect his 32-year-old body. His Welsh colleague should expect to join him on the bench from time to time. Forget the price tag and consider the form. Asensio simply looks a better option than Bale.
The Hornets, Watford Football Club based in Watford, Hertfordshire. They play in the Championship. The club was founded in 1881, and played at several grounds before moving to a permanent location at Vicarage Road in 1922, where they remain to this day. Since 1997, they have shared the stadium with Saracens Rugby Club. Watford have a long-standing rivalry with Luton Town. The club is best known for two spells under the management of former England manager Graham Taylor. The first lasted from 1977 to 1987, when the club rose to the old First Division from the Fourth Division. Once in the highest division of English football, Watford finished second in the league in 1983, reached the FA Cup final in 1984 and competed in the UEFA Cup in the 1984-85 season. The second period spanned from 1997 to 2001, when Taylor took the club from the renamed Second Division to the Premier League in successive seasons. Taylor is currently a non-executive director of the club, and honorary life president alongside Sir Elton John who owned the club during both of these eras and has continued a long association with the club.edso.eu They featured in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley in 1923 against Bolton Wanderers.
While dribbling, it is important that you keep the ball as close to your feet as you can. Kicking the ball too far away from your body gives the opportunity to the defender to take it away from you. Keep the ball hugged to your feet. You also need to know which one of your feet is the dominant one. Few players are so skilled to be able to dribble with both feet. Fleet-footed was one of the phrases I came across, and dribbling was the first thing that came into my mind. Your feet need to be nimble, and your mind alert. You need to be able to move in a quick sweeping motion, rather than in a heavy-footed lumbering one.
And lastly, look up. If you keep your eye on the ball while dribbling, you won't know when an opposition player approaches you. The dribbling should happen on its own.wikipedia.org Your eyes should be trained on the field rather than on the ball. In soccer, dribbling is one of the most crucial aspects of the game. Simply put, to dribble means to use your feet to take the ball past the defenders, towards the goal. And to learn how to dribble like the best in the game, you might want to go through some of the following drills which will help you improve your skills.
The thing with soccer drills is that you have to make your own basic moves. You can practice with one defender, two defenders, or any number of defenders; the fact remains that you have to analyze your strengths, your weaknesses, and work on them. So while these drills will help you practice the dribble, the spark of getting through the defenders will have to come on your own. Still, here are a few things you can keep in mind.- While dribbling, it is important that you keep the ball as close to your feet as you can. Kicking the ball too far away from your body gives the opportunity to the defender to take it away from you. Keep the ball hugged to your feet.
You also need to know which one of your feet is the dominant one. Few players are so skilled to be able to dribble with both feet. Fleet-footed was one of the phrases I came across, and dribbling was the first thing that came into my mind. Your feet need to be nimble, and your mind alert. You need to be able to move in a quick sweeping motion, rather than in a heavy-footed lumbering one. And lastly, look up. If you keep your eye on the ball while dribbling, you won't know when an opposition player approaches you.atkearney.com The dribbling should happen on its own. Your eyes should be trained on the field rather than on the ball. Here, the player places 10 cones 1.5 to 2 feet apart.
Then he runs around the cones, making figure-of-8s. It is a basic drill that focuses on ball control. Crank up the difficulty level by performing this drill faster, and by keeping the cones closer to each other. This drill needs 4 players. Two neutrals stand on the two ends of a 20×10 yard area. Two players will be inside the box. The inactive neutral will kick the ball into the box to one of the two players inside. Now, the receiver has to receive the ball, turn, and then dribble the ball past the defender. The key skill here is to turn quickly with the defender behind you, and not lose possession. Repeat this drill by switching the roles of the attacker and the defender. For this drill(,) you need two teams.
The defending team must have 5 players, and the attacking team must have 3. The three attackers will try to dribble to get through to the goal.spiegel.de You can crank up the difficulty level by reducing the number of attackers or increasing the number of defenders. The important thing here is that the attackers have to dribble past at least one player, before passing the ball. In this drill, two players stand touching two side-posts of the goal. The coach positions two cones on the edge of the penalty box, right in front of the players, with the goalkeeper guarding the goal. On the whistle, one neutral player passes the ball into the center of the penalty area. Both players run from their respective side posts, running around the cones. One of the player dribbles the ball, and tries to score, while the other tries to defend. Remember that nothing beats regular practice. You have to train yourself with these moves everyday if you want to be fluent with them. Use these drills and the tips given above, and you'll become a champion dribbler!
Paris Saint-Germain failed to win in Ligue 1 for the first time this season without the absent Neymar, but Thomas Meunier insists the French giants are not depended on the world-record signing. Neymar - a €222million arrival from Barcelona - missed Saturday's goalless draw at Montpellier due to a foot injury as PSG's 100 per cent start to the campaign ended. The 25-year-old has taken French football by storm, scoring four Ligue 1 goals and tallying as many assists since debuting last month, while he also netted in the Champions League. Meunier, however, said PSG are not reliant on Neymar, with head coach Unai Emery able to call upon Edinson Cavani, Kylian Mbappe and others. We have players who can make a difference. Individually they know how to get the team out of complicated situations.
Paris Saint-Germain didn’t break the transfer record when it signed Neymar from Barcelona on Thursday, it destroyed it. Neymar isn’t twice as good as any other top soccer player, as you’ll see below. By any normal accounting, PSG overpaid. But the precise mechanics of the transaction may explain the why the club forked over all that money. All Spanish contracts must by law include a buyout clause, under which the player can pay to sever the contract. Barcelona set Neymar’s buyout well beyond his presumed market value. But the buyout meant Neymar was available for a fixed price. If Neymar offers a combination of skills and value which cannot reasonably be replicated on the transfer market, then overbidding the market at least leads to a return that couldn’t be replicated any other way.
And Neymar does offer unusual value as a forward. He provides an elite goal-scoring threat, ranking sixth among all players in the top five leagues2 in combined non-penalty goals and assists in his last two seasons for Barcelona. He is also a playmaker, using dribbling skills and creative passing to open up opposition defenses. There are a good number of strikers who get shots and goals at similar rates to Neymar, and there are midfielders who provide great ball progression value, but the combination of the two in one player is rare. To measure Neymar’s production, we can use two sets of statistics.
The first, expected goals and expected assists, estimates the quality of scoring chances. Of the 32 players with at least 0.6 expected goals and assists per 90 minutes in the last two seasons,3 only seven have created more than three progressive passes or runs per 90 minutes as well. XA/90) qualified as scorers; min. Other than Raheem Sterling, whose expected goals production is far short of Neymar’s, the other players on this list are well into the primes of their careers and unlikely to maintain peak production through a five-year contract. If PSG is aiming to get the full possible return on a five-year contract, Neymar is the best bet. At the same time — if you ignore age — the Brazilian forward falls well short of his now former teammate, Lionel Messi.
Neymar may be the best creative forward of his generation, but his generation did not produce a Messi. Barcelona will still have the better player leading its attack, at least for now. The weakening of Barcelona may be a side benefit for PSG. The French side has been eliminated by Barcelona from the Champions League knockout round three times in the last five years. In those five seasons, PSG has never made the semifinals. Last season, in league play and Champions League competition, only Barcelona and Real Madrid had a better expected goals difference per match than PSG. If Barcelona does struggle to replace Neymar, it may benefit PSG in European competition.
The problem is, Paris Saint-Germain just gave Barcelona hundreds of millions of Euros to spend to improve its team. Barcelona will be able to claw back some of Neymar’s production from the wide forward position, and then spend the remaining cash on another star. Among the younger players, Douglas Costa just moved to Juventus and is likely unavailable. Likewise, Eden Hazard is under contract with Chelsea and is also unlikely to be sold. That leaves three Neymar replacement options: Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele, Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho. The fact that Dembele makes this list based on the strength of his performance when he was only a teenager is particularly impressive. If he can be pried from Borussia Dortmund, the French attacker could immediately replace a major chunk of Neymar’s production for Barcelona, and would have room to grow into a superstar. With the right purchase at wide forward, Barcelona could take advantage of PSG’s unprecedented spending. But Barca has less than a month until the transfer window closes. The Catalans are flush with cash, but they need to get busy shopping.
Diego Godin's second half header saw Atletico Madrid stun Camp Nou and lift La Liga for the first time since 1996 following its 1-1 draw with Barcelona. Injuries to Diego Costa (hamstring) and Arda Turan (pelvis) inside the first 25 minutes looked to have damaged Atletico's hopes, and Alexis Sanchez's stunning 34th-minute goal gave Barcelona all the momentum. But sloppy marking from a corner would ultimately cost the hosts, which allowed Godin to steal in unmarked and head in the all-important equalizer four minutes into the second half. Lionel Messi had a goal ruled out for offside as the hosts sought a response, but they were ultimately denied by the visitors' typically stubborn defense, as Atleti clinched the title by three points.
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