Day 3: Argentina vs Saudi Arabia | Denmark vs Tunisia | Mexico vs Poland | France vs Australia

Dansk

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Its frustrating when we finally have a good bunch of players and a real shot at something we feck it up. Having watched the game again I have to say we only have ourselves to blame. Tunisia where energetic and it feels like the crowd and their intesity got to us.
Hjulmand did a massive error in starting the game with 5 at the back instead of 4-3-3. When we switched to that in the second half we where the much better side.
I dont see Tunisia being a issue for France but I could see them draw with Australia.
France looked stunning after a shaky start and I fear this is an early exit for us.
Well at least some of the fervent Denmark haters like Giggsyking will be pleased :lol:
While this is true enough, it has to be said that we were playing against 12 men for much of the game. Should have had one or maybe even two penalties, our players had to tiptoe around in order to avoid getting booked, and the Tunisian players were allowed to kick ours off the pitch with impunity. When the ref came over to scold a Danish player for getting fouled, it was clear what kind of game it would be. A team that's allowed to foul the opposition with impunity has a huge advantage. In the end, we were the better team and could have had three or four goals. Hit the woodwork, missed a total sitter, one stonewall penalty and another could-have-been. By any reasonable measure, we were robbed. All Tunisia had was aggression and constant fouling that the ref elected to allow without affording us the same service.

That one Tunisian player with the shaved head and full beard, can't remember his name, should have been booked within the first twenty minutes and told to stop flying into tackles every time we had the ball. It's one thing if they're clean tackles, but the rules say that persistent fouling and excessive aggression is not allowed. The ref chose otherwise. We were unable to play because of it. It's only because people love an underdog that Tunisia were praised for their aggression when in reality they were just thuggish and got away with it. Our players were actively fighting to avoid getting injured.
 
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Lyng

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While this is true enough, it has to be said that we were playing against 12 men for much of the game. Should have had one or maybe even two penalties, our players had to tiptoe around in order to avoid getting booked, and the Tunisian players were allowed to kick ours off the pitch with impunity. When the ref came over to scold a Danish player for getting fouled, it was clear what kind of game it would be. A team that's allowed to foul the opposition with impunity has a huge advantage. In the end, we were the better team and could easily have had three or four goals.
Yeah it was a bit fun seeing a lot of english fans praising this ref, knowing full well they would be fuming if this was happening against them. I am uncertain on the penalties. The hands one was correctly called of, especially since he didnt give one in the other end either. The Hannibal one was more dodgy, as it depends on if the ref thought he hit Mæhle after they where out of the field. I was told to go back and look at it again because some poster claimed Hannibal hit the ball first, which he didnt. I actually thought the Højbjerg one was the most clear cut and that wasnt even reviewed.
My issue with the ref though wasnt the penalties. It was, like you said, our players got booked for anything while the Tunisia players where aloud to kick and push our players with hardly any consequence. One of their central defenders kicked the legs from under our players 3 times before even getting a booking.
 

Mike Smalling

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Its frustrating when we finally have a good bunch of players and a real shot at something we feck it up. Having watched the game again I have to say we only have ourselves to blame. Tunisia where energetic and it feels like the crowd and their intesity got to us.
Hjulmand did a massive error in starting the game with 5 at the back instead of 4-3-3. When we switched to that in the second half we where the much better side.
I dont see Tunisia being a issue for France but I could see them draw with Australia.
France looked stunning after a shaky start and I fear this is an early exit for us.
Well at least some of the fervent Denmark haters like Giggsyking will be pleased :lol:
I wouldn't be so negative already. It was not a good performance, that's clear, but on the other hand we know this team can do much better, and we are clearly still the second best team in the group. I would think we have a better chance of getting something vs. France than Tunisia does, and we really should be beating Australia even if they gave us problems four years ago. In the end it could easily come down to goal difference, so if we lose on Saturday, we better lose narrow.

The good thing is that even on a bad performance like yesterday, this team will get a 0-0 and not a 0-1 loss, and I trust Hjulmand to make the necessary tactical adjustments for the next games.
 

Lyng

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I wouldn't be so negative already. It was not a good performance, that's clear, but on the other hand we know this team can do much better, and we are clearly still the second best team in the group. I would think we have a better chance of getting something vs. France than Tunisia does, and we really should be beating Australia even if they gave us problems four years ago. In the end it could easily come down to goal difference, so if we lose on Saturday, we better lose narrow.

The good thing is that even on a bad performance like yesterday, this team will get a 0-0 and not a 0-1 loss, and I trust Hjulmand to make the necessary tactical adjustments for the next games.
Yeah that is true. Actually getting a draw and not a loss is massive.
And yeah this is probably what I am most pleased about with Hjulmand, he is good at adaptning. We saw it yesterday in the second half where we where clearly dominant.
 

Offside

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Positive is Australia scored a goal in open play.

Small wins and whatnot
They were decent first half. Second have they just got a little leggy and had no chance against such superior opposition.
 

Isotope

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Yeah, I got slightly obsessed with scouring Twitter for updates on his health!
Reminded me of Neuer collided with Higuain in WC Final. But Higuain could see it coming so had more time to lessen the impact. Then there was one game when Henderson kneed Bailly (I think).

Flying high with knee up should probably banned, or a foul.
 

Pogue Mahone

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Reminded me of Neuer collided with Higuain in WC Final. But Higuain could see it coming so had more time to lessen the impact. Then there was one game when Henderson kneed Bailly (I think).

Flying high with knee up should probably banned, or a foul.
Showing my age but my first thought was Batiston being almost killed by Schumacher in the ‘82 World Cup. I was only a young kid at the time but remember being really shook by it.

 

The Brown Bull

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Showing my age but my first thought was Batiston being almost killed by Schumacher in the ‘82 World Cup. I was only a young kid at the time but remember being really shook by it.

That was a sickener! And Schumacher didn’t even get a card! What a game that was.
 

Isotope

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Showing my age but my first thought was Batiston being almost killed by Schumacher in the ‘82 World Cup. I was only a young kid at the time but remember being really shook by it.

It wasn't kneed but equally dangerous. That wasn't even deemed a foul. The ref excuse was he didn't see it as he was following the ball :rolleyes:.

I've never a proponent of canceling VAR. We'd leave too much power in ref's hand, with their excuse of "split second decision".