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refreshing to see someone besides Messi make a half field of professionals look like 12 yr olds . . the final touch at full speed to split the D is my favorite, though the turn to start it is just as cold blooded.
Hope this kid gets a look for the French side this summer
Blew right by Ream. Stink!
Is that Ream at the end #32? According to Bolton’s website he is #32. If so, awful job by him, there, and I am an avowed Ream fan. Shambolic defending overall by the whole team, but Timmy has no one on that play. He is running in space and HAS to pick up Hatem there. Timmy has to, has to, has to clean up these dumb, brainless errors. He has been doing so well lately, but that was awful. Clearly the speed of the game just got the better of him. Let’s hope he continues to adjust and cleans up his game.
Not sure what Ream can do in that situation after Ben Arfa runs unimpeded into the box, since Ream’s already covering the other Newcastle forward on the play. At least he gave the goalie a chance to make a play. Give the guy a break.
id say he fits in well with the Bolton back line that gets whipped at least once a week. Good place to learn..i guess?
Ben Arfa is a great player.. everytime I watch him he makes great things happen. He lost a bit of time when de Jong broke his leg but since then he’s picked up right where he left off.
Must see goal? How about must NOT see defense!
I mean, this goal is good, but is is great? He barely changes direction the entire run. All a defender had to do was be n the way. Everyone inexplicably moves out of his way. I give this a 6/10.
Ream ran a long time with his back to the ball and no one to defend before Ben Arfa got to the box. He needed to angle toward Ben Arfa and force him to his left while trying to make a stand. He most definitely was not covering the other Newcastle forward. He was in no-man’s land.
Ream appeared to be in no man’s land for that entire play. He initially begins to track back toward a Newcastle attacker on his left but then shifts attention toward Ben Arfa when he see’s that no one is stepping to him. Unfortunately he makes this decision too late or just doesn’t have the quickness to recover.
Good thing Ream isn’t on the Red Bulls anymore, terrible defending
It’s exactly this type of “no-man’s land” defending that plagued the U.S. during the 2010 World Cup. I believe Onyewu was guilty of this against England and Slovenia, resulting in two early goals.
His goal against Blackburn was better, but this was still a really good goal. The best part of it, which you can’t see too well in this video, is the flick on the ball and the hop he needs to make to avoid a tackle about ten yards from the penalty area.
He also has another run a little while after this where he makes the ref stumble and fall backwards, which was pretty funny.
true, he made a bad mistake there, but let’s give a little credit to Ben Arfa here, the kid can play. i just saw him do this to just about every Liverpool defender last weekend. just about every goal comes down to a mistake by a defender, if they never messed up, we’d never see any goals except for messi wonder goals.
still though, he needs to learn that he can’t ever shut off at the top level, ever. he’s much improved since his move to England, but he’s got more to go that’s for sure
If it was Dempsey you wouldn’t be posting because you’d be cleaning the schmizz off your computer screen.
Agreed. All he did was run straight forward. Shambolic defending.
i usually hate it when posters blame the defending for a fanstastic goal. but ream, come on man! he was in a tough spot, but that was his play to make.
The lone highlight of my mercifully short career is a 75-80 yard scoring run not unlike this one.
amirite?
Like Moses through the Red Sea.
Newcastle for Champions League!
Uhhhhhhhhhhhh NO DUH. Because if Dempsey would have scored that goal the whole damn building would have “scmizzed” all over everyone. His swagger alone causes men’s junk to wiggle just a little.
In fairness to Onyewu, he was still recovering from a very serious injury at the 2010 WC and BB should not have played him. He looked very good with Sporting this year both in terms of his positioning and distribution out of the back.
Ream also played a part in the second goal. Shola tossed him aside like a rag doll to get free and let him set up Cisse.
Cisse scores when he wants.
this is why i tell my U-12 players it’s better to challenge early rather than give the offense 30 yards of space before applying pressure
“All he did” huh? When you can do that on a soccer field, let me know. The turn at midfield, as well as splitting the defenders at the end, is top notch. Yes, the defending was bad, but you are crazy if you still don’t think it’s a must see goal.
Other than Messi, who was the last player you saw take the ball himself from midfield all the way into the box and score?
Go find a video of his League Cup goal vs. Blackburn. Pretty much the same type of thing, only doing it down the right wing on a VERY mazy run around a few defenders. But I am sure you do things like that in your rec. league all the time…
First of all, the idea that you have to be able to do something in sports yourself to be able to criticize it is stupid. But yeah, I can dribble a ball straight forward on a soccer field. Done it many times, actually.
Second of all, for both the “turn” at midfield and the “splitting” the defenders, all he did was touch the ball forward (literally straight forward) and run onto it.
Finally, other than Messi, the last player I saw take the ball himself from midfield all the way into the box and score was Neymar last month. That was a much more impressive run, on which he had to actually do things in order to elude the defenders. Hope that answers your question, Mr. Ben Arfa.