Re: World Cup (2018) - Group G (Belgium, England, Panama, Tunisia)

by S Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:09 pm

On paper though, Senegal is easily the best African team.

Mane, Koulibaly, Keita, N'Diaye and their handful of midfielders who already play in the PL

They are the only hope this time around i guess

by McLewis Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:10 pm

BAH GOD ITS A GOAL FROM THE BIG RED MACHINE!!! #kane #threelions #worldcup pic.twitter.com/gg7YJo0aj5
— Matt Pidd (@MattPidd) June 18, 2018

by Doc Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:10 pm

RealGunner wrote:Good result masking a terrible performance.

Real Madrid went to a final with that sort of strategy and became European champs. This is a proper hallmark of a champion, confirmation of football finally coming home.

by Nishankly Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:12 pm

Firenze, Mole, Rg, Unique. Take a day off on me lads. Brexit is doing this.

It's time to celebrate.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:12 pm

RealGunner wrote:Good result masking a terrible performance.

This defence would be destroyed by Belgium anyday. At this point it's better to play Cahill than Stones.

But the biggest problem remains the midfield.

We are basically Argentina but for us Kane wins us matches

I don't agree it was terrible tbh, the tempo was too slow for much of the 2nd half and i thought Sterling and Lingard were very frustrating to the point i'd even consider benching them.

With better finishing it's a comfortable win and quite frankly we weren't tested enough to know if the defence would concede loads.

by FennecFox7 Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:15 pm

S wrote:On paper though, Senegal is easily the best African team.

Mane, Koulibaly, Keita, N'Diaye and their handful of midfielders who already play in the PL

They are the only hope this time around i guess

Dude, on paper, Algeria is by FAR the best team and they didn't even qualify :facepalm:

we could've gotten Mbappe, Fekir possibly, and a few others if our FA wasn't such a shitshow

by Jay29 Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:18 pm

The first 25 minutes were excellent. Quick tempo, incisive passing and making chances. If Lingard had actually converted one of his three very good chances the game would have been over there and then.

But then Walker's an idiot and gives away the most braindead penalty I've seen in a long while (his body shape defending the cross was wrong, and his arm was just way too high to be shielding the ball from a striker).

After that, it's very typical England. The game's not going our way so we lose confidence and our tempo plummeted. There was no energy or spark in the second half at all until Rashford and Loftus-Cheek came on. Good thing Kane is a class finisher, really.

Sterling offered nothing and I wouldn't mind Rashford starting against Panama instead. Alli hurt himself early yet was kept on until the 80th minute for some reason despite being a passenger.

Apart from that, my only real concern is Maguire. He gave the ball away a lot at the back and looked incredibly slow when chasing back. He's decent at bringing the ball out but I fear any decent centre forward with pace is going to expose him big time.

by Unique Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:19 pm

S wrote:Highest ranked African team

Seriously, is this what's the best Africa's got to offer ?

Where is that Real Madrid numpty who was bashing Asian teams for sucking yet African teams are stinking it up for the entire tournament ffs. Even lost a direct H2H battle against an Asian opponent. You cant get more worse than this. OUT with the complaints against Asian teams.

take your racist comments out of this thread pls. :coffee:

by Unique Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:21 pm

lets not forget the 2 pens that england should have got. did VAR break down today or what.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:22 pm

Don't understand what he see's in Maguire tbh, but considering the alternative is Cahill i'm not too fussed.

by CBarca Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:25 pm

BEST STRIKER IN THE WORLD

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:26 pm

Unique wrote:lets not forget the 2 pens that england should have got. did VAR break down today or what.

VAR has been a joke all tournament, seems like the refs decide at random when to use it Laughing

There needs to be a consistent ruling where it applies, atm they look like they don't have a clue.

by Jay29 Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:27 pm

He must like Maguire's ball carrying. It can be useful in games against parked buses when you need a centre back to come into midfield instead of midfielders coming deep. I think that's the main reason why Walker has been converted to a right centre back as well.

But apart from being very slow, Maguire is also purely right-footed so he's going to struggle for passing angles on the left of the defence. Unfortunately we have no left-footed centre backs so we're just making do.

by Unique Mon Jun 18, 2018 9:29 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:
Unique wrote:lets not forget the 2 pens that england should have got. did VAR break down today or what.

VAR has been a joke all tournament, seems like the refs decide at random when to use it

There needs to be a consistent ruling where it applies, atm they look like they don't have a clue.

tbh the ref should be giving them anyway.

by S Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:12 pm

Unique wrote:
S wrote:Highest ranked African team

Seriously, is this what's the best Africa's got to offer ?

Where is that Real Madrid numpty who was bashing Asian teams for sucking yet African teams are stinking it up for the entire tournament ffs. Even lost a direct H2H battle against an Asian opponent. You cant get more worse than this. OUT with the complaints against Asian teams.
take your racist comments out of this thread pls.

Not upset at you

But I'm REALLY upset at those 3 people who upvoted your post

Seems like those 3 melts have an agenda against me smh

Show your faces you clowns !

by Unique Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:20 pm

S wrote:
Unique wrote:
S wrote:Highest ranked African team

Seriously, is this what's the best Africa's got to offer ?

Where is that Real Madrid numpty who was bashing Asian teams for sucking yet African teams are stinking it up for the entire tournament ffs. Even lost a direct H2H battle against an Asian opponent. You cant get more worse than this. OUT with the complaints against Asian teams.
take your racist comments out of this thread pls.

Not upset at you

But I'm REALLY upset at those 3 people who upvoted your post

Seems like those 3 melts have an agenda against me smh

Show your faces you clowns !

the 3 upvotes i got were from freeza RG and luca.

by CBarca Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:40 pm

let's get back to Harry Kane please

by Unique Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:50 pm

CBarca wrote:let's get back to Harry Kane please

sir harry. :bow:

by BarrileteCosmico Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:12 am

Everyone back on topic please

-25% Luca for personal insults

by CBarca Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:20 am

How did Alli look?

Jay said he got injured?

Could only catch highlights but the highlights led me to believe he had a decent game. Was involved in setting up some good chances. Although highlights are what make Alli look better than he is, since he all too often lacks in the general build-up. Still his greatest weakness, as his ability to get into good positions to score/assist is unrivaled.

Highlights also lead me to believe Lingard is a pos and a melt who needs to be benched

by Nishankly Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:22 am

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

ffs how can you not love England

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:28 am

Alli hardly got involved at all.

Henderson was very good IMO, lots of accurate long passes into space which created a lot of chances.

Lingard got himself into good positions but was incredibly frustrating due to over dribbling and bad finishing.

Sterling was pretty crap, he held the ball far too long and took too long to make decisions.

Both Rashford and Loftus Cheek were very good because they were offering something that Sterling and Lingard wasn't. They both making quick decisions and were explosive, committing defenders etc etc.

I'm personally of the belief they should start but in the back of my mind i tell myself Lingard would be much better against bigger teams so it's hard to really change that now.

But Rashford over Sterling is a legitimate argument going forward imo.

by Unique Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:33 am

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Alli hardly got involved at all.

Henderson was very good IMO, lots of accurate long passes into space which created a lot of chances.

Lingard got himself into good positions but was incredibly frustrating due to over dribbling and bad finishing.

Sterling was pretty crap, he held the ball far too long and took too long to make decisions.

Both Rashford and Loftus Cheek were very good because they were offering something that Sterling and Lingard wasn't. They both making quick decisions and were explosive, committing defenders etc etc.

I'm personally of the belief they should start but in the back of my mind i tell myself Lingard would be much better against bigger teams so it's hard to really change that now.

But Rashford over Sterling is a legitimate argument going forward imo.

tbh every time ive seen the rash play for england ive been impressed with him.

by Firenze Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:33 am

Alli was clearly hurt after a while, no idea why he stayed on.

I do feel Rashford should get a start, I think it's not much of a risk vs Panama to see how it works out, but I've noticed at United he's generally better for us when he comes off the bench for what it's worth.

Lingard was definitely frustrating, at times he looked like our most dangerous player like you mentioned, getting into good positions. I hope he can find his finishing boots in the tournament asap, he was actually very clinical when he was on fire for United before Christmas. Otherwise he's just gonna be more punchable than ever if he's missing sitters.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:35 am

Yeah same, it's mainly because our midfield doesn't have much passing ability.

Sterling is great at City because they have De Bruyne and Silva lol, we don't so Rashford's better ability at dribbling with the ball at his feet is more suited to the team personally.

I might feel differently if we had better passers.

by Unique Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:40 am

Firenze wrote:Alli was clearly hurt after a while, no idea why he stayed on.

I do feel Rashford should get a start, I think it's not much of a risk vs Panama to see how it works out, but I've noticed at United he's generally better for us when he comes off the bench for what it's worth.

Lingard was definitely frustrating, at times he looked like our most dangerous player like you mentioned, getting into good positions. I hope he can find his finishing boots in the tournament asap, he was actually very clinical when he was on fire for United before Christmas. Otherwise he's just gonna be more punchable than ever if he's missing sitters.

i think lingard is to eager to get on the score sheet so he is blasting the ball and not placing it. he needs to just calm down a bit and let things happen instead of forcing it.

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