Saetablanca wrote:While I like Benz, I think you imagine him to be too badass sports. Hes a very shy type, and when he tries to be arrogant it just looks funny. As for what Zidane is doing, I am a bit suspicious as I had the same thoughts as you did. Zizou should do whats best for the club, not his protege.

Really not anymore... Very confident and direct in his French interviews. Zidane will do what he feels is right. He'll never blindly do what's right for Madrid. If that's what Flo/mou wanted, they hired the wrong man.

If you hade to rank things in terms of importance to zidane: 1- France nt, 2- olympique marseille, 3- Madrid, 4- Juve. He wants to be the next France NT manager.

sportsczy wrote:

Saetablanca wrote:While I like Benz, I think you imagine him to be too badass sports. Hes a very shy type, and when he tries to be arrogant it just looks funny. As for what Zidane is doing, I am a bit suspicious as I had the same thoughts as you did. Zizou should do whats best for the club, not his protege.

Really not anymore... Very confident and direct in his French interviews. Zidane will do what he feels is right. He'll never blindly do what's right for Madrid. If that's what Flo/mou wanted, they hired the wrong man.

If you hade to rank things in terms of importance to zidane: 1- France nt, 2- olympique marseille, 3- Madrid, 4- Juve. He wants to be the next France NT manager.

Of course, I cant judge his French interviews, as I know no French neither do I follow their media.

I understand what you say about Zidane, but he is employed by us, when dealing with our players he should be professional. Otherwise reflects pretty badly on him. If he wants to egg benz on privately thats fine, but he shouldnt mix the personal with his official capacity as Director. IMO.

In the Marca interview today: "I would like for Higuain and I to both be in the starting 11. We've played together. We can be together on the pitch. But this is a coach's decision, not mine. Mourinho is the one who decides, who knows what is best for the team."

Since Benz rarely says anything to the press, it's interesting that he made a point of asking indirectly to play with Higuain. I like it.

I'm sure Pipa would enjoy it as well. They do have a natural chemistry since they compliment each other very well in terms of playing styles.

He made it. There are a lot of things wrong with this list though and i think the ballon d'or is a complete sham.

Z was right... it has to be calendar year 2011. Then Benz makes sense since he's scored the 4th most goals in the world so far.

I still think a lot of great players who play at lesser clubs are ignored for no reason.

It's calender year so Benzema making it isn't THAT surprising.

Beging of last season was so ass though, I still have nightmares about it.

Can you guys post the full list? Who got snubbed?

Zealous wrote:It's calender year so Benzema making it isn't THAT surprising.

Beging of last season was so ass though, I still have nightmares about it.

Can you guys post the full list? Who got snubbed?

Éric Abidal (France), Sergio Agüero (Argentine), Karim Benzema (France), Iker Casillas (Espagne), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Dani Alves (Brésil), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroun), Cesc Fabregas (Espagne), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Andrés Iniesta (Espagne), Lionel Messi (Argentine), Thomas Müller (Allemagne), Nani (Portugal), Neymar (Brésil), Mesut Özil (Allemagne), Gerard Piqué (Espagne), Wayne Rooney (Angleterre), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Allemagne), Wesley Sneijder (Pays-Bas), Luis Suarez (Uruguay), David Villa (Espagne), Xabi Alonso (Espagne) et Xavi (Espagne).

It's such crap lol. You have Forlan, Villa and Sneijder in there... and they omitted Gomez, Hazard, Van Persie, Cavani and Di Natale to name a few. I mean wtf.

Just so you guys know... in 2011, Benzema has 26 goals for Madrid (1 in supercup), Not sure how many assists. But i would think 7-10 range. And he dominates with France NT.

Van Persie has 28 with Arsenal... and Messi + Ronaldo are the top 2. Those are the only players that have scored more than Benzema for their clubs in 2011 so far.

As Zidane and Blanc have suggested.... Benz has now taken the top role in terms of being the vocal leaders of the France NT in the media. He being pushed more and more into the prime leadership role and he seems to embrace it:

Regarding World Cup 2010: In retrospect, are you glad you were omitted?
"Absolutely not. It was a world cup! I play football to play in world cups. I may have brought something more to the team. I wish i was there. Missing it was not a blessing in disguise... absolutely not!"

Regarding the France NT
"I am expected to be a difference-maker at all times. I play for my country and it's a big responsibility. I want to play at a level above what people expect of me with the France NT."

Regarding L'Euro
"We are going to need to prepare ourselves well. We have a good group with M'Vila, Martin, Nasri, Ribery, Abidal, Remy and many other talented players. The France NT can have big ambitions. The pressure is going to rise. Personally, I believe in us tremendously. In a competition like the Euro, there's the opportunity for the team to shine."

Zealous wrote:

lol!!!

On a more serious note, Benz bought between 50-100 tickets tonight for family and friends. Can you imagine if he doesn't start lol.

Nah, he'll start. I hope he kills it

Getting a lot of chemistry on this team. I really love the rotations... just wish Di Maria and CR7 would start rotating a bit more too. Then there really would be plenty of pt.

Benzema's goal scoring record against his former club is fantastic. i hope he keeps it up tonight by scoring more.

sportsczy wrote:Getting a lot of chemistry on this team. I really love the rotations... just wish Di Maria and CR7 would start rotating a bit more too. Then there really would be plenty of pt.

Well, the team is built around these 2... Maybe that's why they never rotate

omarish wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Getting a lot of chemistry on this team. I really love the rotations... just wish Di Maria and CR7 would start rotating a bit more too. Then there really would be plenty of pt.

Well, the team is built around these 2... Maybe that's why they never rotate

The team is not built around Di Maria lol. Mou just likes his defense since he tracks back a lot... He's a role player. But we don't need that defense if the forwards and AM put in a little more effort. Rotation should definitely be there.

It's more because we have 2 set every game sub: Kaka/Ozil and Benz/Higuain. You want to keep the 3rd one in case of injuries, an ejection or a late game tactical need.

BENZEMA IS A APPLE FANBOY I'M SO JOINING THE FANZEMA BANDWAGON NOW

but but Apple is shit

sportsczy wrote:

omarish wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Getting a lot of chemistry on this team. I really love the rotations... just wish Di Maria and CR7 would start rotating a bit more too. Then there really would be plenty of pt.

Well, the team is built around these 2... Maybe that's why they never rotate

The team is not built around Di Maria lol. Mou just likes his defense since he tracks back a lot...

Not around Di Maria but his role. He plays as a CM and a winger and drops deep whenever our midfield needs help to press/win ball back etc. So he plays 2 roles for us lol

I don't think there is anyone else on our team that can do that.

Another reason to hate on Benz. Apple is so crap.

Apple rules... without them, no real innovation in the past 10 years. From ipod to iphone to ipad. They're about to introduce self-charging technology too so you never have to worry about losing power as long as there's some kind of light (screen acts as solar panels). No more need for power cords unless in a dark environment (has battery that will store power; so it really needs to be dark for a while).

incredible company.

incredible persuasive techniques right there

Steve Jobs

It's no joke. It might take a bit since they don't release new stuff unless they have a commercial reason... but a techy friend of mine who's with Apple has the prototype with his macbook. Screen technology is amazing.