Video: Top 10 Goals Of The Year (Nasri 5th?) + Reserves Spanked

I just saw this video with the top 10 goals of the year and thought it’s worth sharing. Hamit Altintop won the ‘FIFA Puskas Award’ for the goal of the year but all the other goals are worth watching as well.

It seems Nasri’s mesmerizing run against Porto was 5^th but I haven’t been able to find any official list declaring the order. This award was given based on the votes by fans on FIFA’s website. If you know more about the ranking of goals please let me know. This is the list I got from that video’s page on youtube.

1. Hamit Altintop, Turkey v Kazakhstan, Euro 2012 qualifier
2. Matthew Burrows, Glentoran v Portadown, Northern Ireland Premiership
3. Linus Hallenius, Hammarby v Syrianska, Sweden Superettan
4. Lionel Messi, Barcelona v Valencia, La Liga
5. Samir Nasri, Arsenal v Porto, Champions League
6. Neymar, Santos v Santo Andre, Paulista
7. Arjen Robben, Bayern Munich v Schalke, DFB Pokal
8. Siphiwe Tshabalala, South Africa v Mexico, World Cup
9. Giovanni van Bronckhort, Holland v Uruguay, World Cup
10. Kumi Yokoyama, Japan v North Korea, U17 Women’s World Cup

My personal favourite is number 10. Never thought Women’s football could have such … er, beauty! The one by Matty Burrows is inventive and really unique, while the one by Hallenius reminded me of Van Basten.

Altintop’s strike was stunning and I recall it was shared in the comments section soon after it was scored. I was impressed when I first saw the goal but never thought it would be Goal of the Year.

In the following video, the creator has included 11-15 of his or her (I have to include this after that 10^th goal) own choice. As a Gooner you might want to avoid them (12,13, and 15), just a heads up.

I’m not sure why the wordpress system isn’t allowing me to make HD as the default for this video. Just in case you didn’t notice, you can choose the resolution and watch it in HD.

Moving on, not much on the Arsenal front today but talking of ‘Ten’ what about the 10 goals conceded by the reserves against the Villains! I haven’t seen that but judging by the text commentary and some reports, the game reflected some of the problems of the senior team,

• Keeper made a mistake
• Some players playing out of position
• Probably the second string even by reserves standards (some first choice players on loan, others like Miquel with the first team)
• Goals conceded on set-pieces
• Has to be poor organization and lack of focus
• No one really taking charge on the pitch (surely you don’t concede 10 goals even with 10 men against strong opposition if you remain organized and focussed)

I guess I’ll find more similarities after watching the highlights.

It’s just one game and I don’t want to read too much into it. The reserves have done really well even with a number of youngsters playing so we should not be too harsh.

I do have some concerns though, and I have talked about this in some earlier posts as well, because I’ve seen the youngsters and reserves players repeating some of the common mistakes we see from the first team in a number of games.

Obviously, they try to replicate the same system across all age groups but if the same problems are being repeated does it not mean the problems are more deep rooted within the system itself? Some have suggested that bringing someone like Steve Bould as No. 2 instead of Pat Rice might help Arsenal solve collective organizational issues, but if the young players are making the same mistakes I don’t see how Bould is going to make a big difference for the first team.

As I said, I don’t want to make a big deal out of this particular game but it is just another pointer (albeit a small one) that Arsenal could use a fresh mind especially for the defensive side of things.