Friday 1 February 2008

Anatomy of a goal



I'm not sure what the best Premiership goal ever was, but I'm certain that it was scored by Thierry Henry, my favourite Premiership player. Here's one from the FA Cup. Why is it so good? First, the audacity and creativity of the initial self-pass. Second, the pace needed to catch up with Carra (not the player he originally tried to tonk it around). Third, the physicality and agility to rob Carra, who gets to it first, of the ball. Fourth, the confidence and composure to pull away from goal, around Agger, when Agger starts to close him down (watch the slo-mo replay: 90% of strikers would shoot at 00:42-00:43, not bring the ball horizontally across the goalmouth at two Liverpool defenders to open up the angle). Fifth, he doesn't actually strike the ball that hard - as much as I can appreciate traction-engine legs like Hasselbaink's, true class is a calm, unhurried slot into the corner.

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