Thought I'd start a discussion on them with Benteke scoring a hat trick tonight. He's now scored 18 goals in the Premier League (22 in all comps) while Lukaku has scored 14 in the PL himself. Fair to say they're stacked in upfront especially for a country with a population of around 11 million.

Fair to say they've also found their Trequarista of the future with KDB. He's been excellent throughout the majority of the season and has already cemented his place as one of the very best playmakers in the BL and is being a touted as a replacement for Goetze. A complete player in every sense of the phrase and I hope he eventually gets his move to Dortmund because a player of that potential/quality deserves to start week in week out for a top side rather than rot on the bench at Chelsea or loaned to a club full of scrubs.

.....


I despise writing walls of text on internet forums so I'll just say their loaded in talent everywhere else with quality players like Dembele, Witsel, Courtois, Mignolet, Fellaini, Mertens, Mirallas etc. And then you also have supertstar players like Hazard and Kompany in your arsenal.


So do you see them becoming another Holland during the VDV/Sneijder era or a potential superpower like Germany/Spain? Their domination of a tough/tricky group which consists of Croatia, Macedonia, Wales, Scotland and Serbia suggests they're already well on their way.

They won't do that well. Just because they have quite a bit of talented individuals won't make them clear contenders.

Honestly,its very hard to make a prediction when they rarely face top NTs.I want to see them playing against Italy,Germany,Spain,Argentina,Brazil,France etc but they never do it.I want to see them against the real thing, easier said than done.On paper they are a world class team, on the pitch, who knows.

One thing that must be noted is that they are a very young team,and teams that have few veterans usually dont do very well on International competitions

Gil change ur avatar

Quarter-finals will probably be the best they can do. Depending on the draw they could get further.

Kompany, Witsel, Fellaini, Lukaku, de Bruyne, Mirallas and Dembele etc could probably get into some elite national teams.

RealGunner wrote:Gil change ur avatar

Really? That's all you have to say?

And to what?

something else. She looks creepy

Ganso wrote:Honestly,its very hard to make a prediction when they rarely face top NTs.I want to see them playing against Italy,Germany,Spain,Argentina,Brazil,France etc but they never do it.I want to see them against the real thing, easier said than done.On paper they are a world class team, on the pitch, who knows.

One thing that must be noted is that they are a very young team,and teams that have few veterans usually dont do very well on International competitions

That's actually a very good point.

Then again Brazil have been poor for years internationally yet everyone gives them a pass lol

I think they've been looking better on paper than on the pitch, but maybe that's starting to turn around.

Gil wrote:

Ganso wrote:Honestly,its very hard to make a prediction when they rarely face top NTs.I want to see them playing against Italy,Germany,Spain,Argentina,Brazil,France etc but they never do it.I want to see them against the real thing, easier said than done.On paper they are a world class team, on the pitch, who knows.

One thing that must be noted is that they are a very young team,and teams that have few veterans usually dont do very well on International competitions

That's actually a very good point.

Then again Brazil have been poor for years internationally yet everyone gives them a pass lol

Well, we are Brazil Honestly though, we have won most of our WCs when we were in these type of situations so it would be foolish to write us off

And tbh we change our first team every bloody week

Overrated is shet.

Won't even get past the group stage unless they get a very easy group.

Im not confident in them doing very well

On paper they have a tremendously talented team, but they are a very young team with very little top-level international experience, which is very concerning

although to be honest that youth and lack of experience can be both positive and negative

They could certainly pose a threat... but I think experience matters in the world cup.

Semi finals

You heard it first

Out of the group, if the group isn't too tough. R16 knockout, unless they face scrubs.

They got lots of talented individuals, but zero depth. They're a bit like Portugal - they got like 7 to 9 great players, but this still means they have to field 2 to 4 scrubs and have no bench. The overall level of the names we don't know is too low.
Hazard, Kompany, Lukaku etc. don't change the fact that those 3 to 5 players who are still NT starters whose names we don't really know wouldn't even walk into the average Serie B side.

last 16 then crash out

Hoofball potential of Benteke - Lukaku

They will be everyones dark horses (like Serbia were in 2010) and then be overcome with the pressure and get KO'ed in the group (like Serbia did)

Group stage tops. Collection of individuals. Nothing more.




And Kompany is not a superstar player.

They have some super talents in their NT but they lack experience...difficult to predict how good will they play.

Blue Barrett wrote:Group stage tops. Collection of individuals. Nothing more.




And Kompany is not a superstar player.

Two years ago maybe. They've improved greatly since they sacked Wilmots.


Seems like everyone is knowingly ignoring the fact they're sit atop their WC Qual. Group.

Need more than just great players to go deep in a major tournament. Team spirit/unity is just as important as is good coaching and tactics.

Dot really know enough about their other aspects to make a proper assessment.

Blue Barrett wrote:Group stage tops. Collection of individuals. Nothing more.




And Kompany is not a superstar player.

Agreed. Not convinced by them.

Crucial win against Serbia tonight. They're now 3 points ahead of Croatia after their loss against the Scots and are in pole position to qualify for the WC.

The only major problem with the team at the moment is the lack of a clinical striker. Benteke and Lukaku still have donkey DNA in them.

The four CB's at the back works surprisingly well with Kompany back in form and there are few better goalkeepers than Courtois around. KDB has been a relevation for them since he's come in and has easily been their best player in qualifying, Witsel is immense, we all know Hazard's quality and they have tons of depth on the bench.

I'd rank them 5th as World Cup favourites as things stand behind Spain, Germany, Argentina and Italy.

They don't really have a weak-spot in their team except maybe at right-back, with an abundance of center-backs, midfielders, wingers and strikers at their disposal. But I have to agree, they're being a bit over-hyped. How many of their players would make it in the Spain or Germany team, or even Brazil?

Sure, Lukaku, Benteke, Fellaini, Witsel and Vertonghen look like class players, but have they reached elite status yet? Not a chance. Kompany & Hazard are the two players who might make it into most national sides, and even Hazard isn't fully developed yet.

They're vastly inexperienced and I can't see them turning their obvious raw talent into medals this time around. They're not completely hopeless, and I hope they do it (I got them at 250/1 two years ago!), but I don't see it happening.