France v. Spain Leg 2: The group final

There wasn't much he could have done about that it was passed him before he could react.

Dat straw clutching, that was all Jallet and i suppose Evra should do better too.

No blame to Kosc or Varane for me.

Varanes to blame as much as Jallet and Evra. Though for Evra and Jallet it was more of a positional mistake as opposed to Varane making a one on one mistake, you have to stop that cross coming in.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I agree Dani i just don't really like Cabaye practically behind Benzema with Matuidi and Pogba as a pivot behind.

To me it defeats the purpose of the strengths of all 3.

Also France should have known how it was going to go if this was the plan.

And with that in mind Benzema shouldn't be playing, you need an actual target and what's more you need width.

Which is why i would have picked Giroud and Menez instead of Benzema and Ribery/Valbeuna ( don't think it matters which one)

I would also have found a way not to play Jallet as he's clearly inept.

Too many wrong decisions for me, although i did like the midfield 3 and the 2 CBs.

I agree, with all of it.

Would of played Matuidi much higher up. Spain are there with 4 centermidfielders on the pitch and both centerbacks have the speed advantage on Villa so if he never gets supported by a 10 (and Spain didnt have one in Cesc or Silva), he will have to keep coming towards the ball. You dont need 2 players deep like that, especially not if one of them is Pogba.

Benzema..when I watch him, he looks like he is constantly in a jog. He so casual without the ball

Maybe he peaked too soon, got comfy playing role player for Cristiano and is done with being a cut throat striker because this is just sad.

wheres the valdes appreciation thread btw? I am disappoint GL

France could have easily got something out of the game. They didn't really get outplayed. In fact I think Spain need to improve.

I like benzema alot, it disappoints me the way he's playing..

Ever since zidane left its like he went back to fatzema mode

Anyways benzema knows he has the talent, it's the mental part..

Stopping crosses is not easy, come on now.

If Varane didnt try and block it, im with you, his bad.

But he did the try, the ball went past him..nothing much he could do. He closed it down without getting tight enough to get beat.

The real issue on that goal is before then. Pedro came deep, Evra allowed him time to do it, he played a long pass over Jallet who's starting position was kind of questionable...then Pedro ran in the box and got on the end of the ball, Evra beaten twice by movement there. Not good enough. If you let Pedro have the ball in front, you sure as hell better not get beat when he makes his second run...he did.

How ever you cut it, its scrubby schoolboy defending on that, he made it look harder than it was.

progba is so overrated, people say neymar is overrated but at least with neymar its clear he has the talent to be a top class player . pogba has some talent but hes not a dm, spain ran rings round him today and he was reckless with his challenges, he is positionally inept . but i guess he is only 20 . though i still think he isnt a dm and wont ever be a good dm , he should be played as a box to box midfielder like marchisio . was toulalan injured ? even flamini would have done better than pogba .

and jallet

It was DD's decision to play Matuidi as the b2b and Pogba as a DM. Matuidi is one of the best DM in the world and Pogba can use his full talent there. Wrong choice IMO.

yeah evra isnt a great defender, i dont understand why clichy doesnt start ahead of him

Get Umtiti in there didier

likeastar wrote:It was DD's decision to play Matuidi as the b2b and Pogba as a DM. Matuidi is one of the best DM in the world and Pogba can use his full talent there. Wrong choice IMO.

your right.. DD got it wrong

timzink wrote:progba is so overrated, people say neymar is overrated but at least with neymar its clear he has the talent to be a top class player . pogba has some talent but hes not a dm, spain ran rings round him today and he was reckless with his challenges, he is positionally inept . but i guess he is only 20 . though i still think he isnt a dm and wont ever be a good dm , he should be played as a box to box midfielder like marchisio . was toulalan injured ? even flamini would have done better than pogba .

So basically you're saying he's overrated because he's not a great DM according to you.

Forming an opinion on one game and quite clearly never before have you watched him play as a DM where he has excelled in many games.

What was the point of your post in the end anyways ?

.........

And by the way he had pretty good outing today(up until that red card which was unfortunate).Anyone who's watched him correctly would agree to that.

Even so Pogba had a really good game, red card doesn't really change it.

It was a mistake, he's a kid he will learn from it and become better because of it.

If anything Pogba's perfomance today only solidifies his talent and shows how much of a future he has.

He did some superb things out there, showed great composure and defended very well where he could.

If Spain "ran rings around him" (they didnt) its because they had more options on the ball so they could make passes...but not often did they go directly past him via the dribble.

He did very little individually wrong and he can actually play the number 4 in the future if he wanted I believe.

@ surag, its as clear as day that pogba isnt a dm, throughout the entire game he was allowing players to drift past him, wasnt tracking runners, was getting in dodgy positions . you would have thought that a player who regularly starts for a team like juve would at least track runners . it was amateur hour from him . if he cant raise his game against the european and world champions, it doesnt matter how limited my knowledge of him is its clear he will never be able to truly excel at dm . is he still a good player ? yes . will he ever be a great dm ? no

Spoiler:

Some nice piece of skill here from him.(In the 2nd gif).

timzink wrote:is he still a good player ? yes . will he ever be a great dm ? no

Well one thing i would agree on is that he can be make a better B2B than a DM simply because the fact he's great going forward,not to say he's bad there(at DM) ,he's still only 20 and tactically he's getting into the groove and there's been a big improvement in his awareness and positioning whenever he's been deployed as a DM at Juve.

But what i dont understand is that how does he warrant the overrated tag when he actually put in a good shift today ? It sounds like you are shifting the blame solely on him for whatever reasons you have.Cabaye and Matuidi had poorer games out there.

And not once he gave the ball away when he was pressed by Spain's midfielders.

Pogba? I have a decent amount of France supporters within my circle who weren't all too unhappy towards Pogba as if anything, they were unhappy on the fact that one of the best players for them on the pitch was dismissed. He showed some raw tactical ability (off the ball, a couple of decisions) but for what is expected from him and in context to his age, along with Yohan Cabaye, Matudi and of course, Valbuena, he was amongst the best performers for a team that for me, outplayed and dominated us for most part of the game. It was very encouraging to see young Paul fare so well & composed against the Spanish midfield of ours who is known to nullify young & raw midfielders like Pogba.

Red card will be blessing for him to learn upon his rash mistakes to which he will surely learn. Shouldn't take away from a mature performance.

i agree he wasnt completely at fault for the defeat and he is still young and im sure will improve. i just had very high expectations of his all round game before the match and defensively his performance didnt match the expectations i had of him, on the ball he was very decent though, i liked his dribble and there was a pass he made in the 1st half i think to the right wing which was excellent .

yeah valbuena was good . i wonder if any big clubs are looking at him

Pogba has to be one of my favorite midfielders out there....
superb on the ball, he can become a super box-to-box midfielder, his passing range, shooting ability and willingness to get back and defend. Like Varane he is developing faster than any other 20 yr old
oh how United are kicking themselves right now

timzink wrote:yeah valbuena was good . i wonder if any big clubs are looking at him

I don't think so .

Paulo was good overall, more of a Box to Box than a DM but he'll improve defensively.

I believe in him.

Seriously Benzema was disgusting last night. he didn't run at all. he didn't care.

fat cat is back.

Also about the goal, Varane is not to blame. their right back is.

the biggest individual mistake last night was from Pique, but Ribery didn't use it.