Day 7: Tunisia vs Australia | Poland vs Saudi Arabia | France vs Denmark | Argentina vs Mexico

[DJ_21]

Surely Thiago Almada and Enzo Fernandes are better then Rodriguez for Argentina? What is it with managers not wanting to give young players an opportunity on the biggest stages.

 

[JPRouve]

Kante's the worst of the 3 in a french shirt.

What?

 

[Redderp]

Fecking hell. Your manager has done amazing things with this team and very unlucky not to have got a result tonight. Literally overachieved with this Denmark team.

Who cares about past accomplishments when he has completely lost the plot this world cup. Got it completely wrong against Tunesia and now threw it against France. We went from trying to play offensive football to parking the bus. Only positive is that we are in an easy group with Tunesia and Australia.

But we could easily draw or lose to Australia and then we are out. Not one single goal from open play.

Literally just came to the world cup to park the bus.

 

[Ralaks]

A shame Lindstrøm or Braithwaite didn't finish better but overall we played well against a really good team

Still more or less completely in our hands unless France capitulates against Tunisia

 

[bosnian_red]

Benz and Pogba out can be seen as a blessing for not entirely sporting reasons. Don't agree about Kante.

Current day tchouameni is better than current day Kante. And current day Pogba simply shouldn't be starting for France either. They're far more balanced with the 3 of griezmann, rabiot and tchouameni, and next up should be Camavinga anyway. Benzema i do think is a loss though.

 

[avgp_1]

Surely Thiago Almada and Enzo Fernandes are better then Rodriguez for Argentina? What is it with managers not wanting to give young players an opportunity on the biggest stages.

Yeah Guido is a safety first choice. Enzo would have been the brave one

 

[Sildegil]

16 Klose.

Mbappe has 2 more world cups left.

3 actually (4th is very doubtful as he would be 39 yo). He is only 23.

 

[Oly Francis]

Current day tchouameni is better than current day Kante. And current day Pogba simply shouldn't be starting for France either. They're far more balanced with the 3 of griezmann, rabiot and tchouameni, and next up should be Camavinga anyway. Benzema i do think is a loss though.

I don't see the point of inventing a "current day Kante" or "current day Pogba" when in reality, current day Kante and Pogba can't even walk because of injuries. Pogba was always good with France even when he was shit in his club and Kante changed Chelsea's face the few times he could get back into a decent form.

 

[huyn]

Current day tchouameni is better than current day Kante. And current day Pogba simply shouldn't be starting for France either. They're far more balanced with the 3 of griezmann, rabiot and tchouameni, and next up should be Camavinga anyway. Benzema i do think is a loss though.

We probably wont see Camavinga in the midfield this WC, he's the sub to Theo at LB since there's no one else who can fill the position.

 

[tjb]

That's the difference between England and France. They didn't necessarily play that well but the difference was a world class player stepping up when his country needed him to.

That's not true at all. England got dominated in midfield by the US. As much as people would love to blame Southgate, it wasn't due to not trying to press. Rabiot and Tchouemeni ( even Griezmann) were consistently recovering the ball. Griezman, Dembele and Mbappe were always very incisive whenever they got the ball in the final third. To break this down further, Kounde was able to clip multiple balls to either Dembele or Coman that Trippier failed to do yesterday.

 

[Skills]

What?

Pogba is France's best ball progressor and Benzema's been great since he came back into the team.

Kante, I think is a tactical nightmare to fit into most teams because though he's great winning the ball you still need someone behind him to plug the spaces he leaves.

 

[JPRouve]

Pogba is France's best ball progressor and Benzema's been great since he came back into the team.

Kante, I think is a tactical nightmare to fit into most teams because though he's great winning the ball you still need someone behind him to plug the spaces he leaves.

Just say nothing.

 

[Redfrog]

Fecking hell. Your manager has done amazing things with this team and very unlucky not to have got a result tonight. Literally overachieved with this Denmark team.

Didn’t watch the same game apparently. France deserved the win by far as they had the much better chances. Danemark were lucky to still be in the game.
But I agree, they are a good team and gave it a go.

 

[TsuWave]

which website are you guys using to watch highlights?

 

[Canagel]

Tchouameni has replaced Kante already. France won the Nations league a year ago without Kante and he was poor at the Euros.

He hasnt been a loss and at 31 I doubt he will regain a spot. As for Benzema in general he hasnt been positive for France but in the tight games his loss will be felt.

 

[nickp91]

France are the first holders since Brazil in 2006 to make it out of their World Cup group

 

[Mike Smalling]

It's been a funny World Cup but Denmark should demolish Australia if they play like that. They literally had one chance earlier, scored from it and offered little else. Against France they were punished heavily for being more of the same.

There's a lot of parallels to the Euro's last year. Very disappointing performance and result in the opening game (Finland), better performance but a loss against a superior side in the second (Belgium), and then an all-to-play-for final group game (Russia). Hopefully the result will the same. Obviously, we won't have the home advantage this time, but we should still win.

 

[Redfrog]

Pogba is France's best ball progressor and Benzema's been great since he came back into the team.

Kante, I think is a tactical nightmare to fit into most teams because though he's great winning the ball you still need someone behind him to plug the spaces he leaves.

I think it’s a blessing that this two are not in the team. France play very well because the spirit is great and young blood was needed.
I think this midfield would have been sh*t if Pogba was there in place of Rabiot or Tchouameni, you need defensive solidity in there first.

 

[Dazzmondo]

Maybe because they have a world class player. Can’t say the same thing for us.

Kane's definitely a world class player even if he isn't quite as good as Mbappe. I'd probably say Foden's world class also... of course it would help if you actually played him

 

[Slevs]

Tchouameni is amazing

 

[Dazzmondo]

Lisandro Martinez starts. Finally the coach realizes his mistake

Probably only because Romero's injured. Won't be shocked if he gets dropped again when he's fit

 

[Tincanalley]

Eriksen v Varane

Good game. France deserved it, in fairness, though Denmark are good.

 

[Deery]

Gary Neville really trying to talk down Maradona’s goal??

 

[IFC 1905]

I'm about to die. I'm staying at the office just to order papers while playing heavy metal music so that I don't listen to anyone screaming or the fireworks.

 

[tjb]

I think it’s a blessing that this two are not in the team. France play very well because the spirit is great and young blood was needed.
I think this midfield would have been sh*t if Pogba was there in place of Rabiot or Tchouameni, you need defensive solidity in there first.

Plus Griezmann is clearly more of a playmaker now and he's been playing well. I don't really see what Pogba would bring to the side imo. He would have hampered France's ball winning, made them more open in the middle too. The hope would have been that once or twice in the game he could play a great long ball to find Mbappe...don't think it would have been worth that.

 

[Ted Lasso]

which website are you guys using to watch highlights?

YouTube is great, at least over in the US. Decent coverage across major networks as well

 

[MUnchies]

Probably only because Romero's injured. Won't be shocked if he gets dropped again when he's fit

Romero isn't injured, he is on the bench. Martinez replaced him soon after Saudi's second goal.

 

[2mufc0]

Argentina looks very average on paper.

 

[Pintu]

Tchouameni has replaced Kante already. France won the Nations league a year ago without Kante and he was poor at the Euros.

He hasnt been a loss and at 31 I doubt he will regain a spot. As for Benzema in general he hasnt been positive for France but in the tight games his loss will be felt.

I may be mistaken but my memory of that was that they fluked their way wining that trophy. Belguim bottled the semi-final big time after going up 2-0 and the final against Spain was also a lucky one. They weren't dominant, nor secure defensively. Just blessed with some great talent that got them the goals needed at the right time...

What Deschemps did in 2018 with his defensive set up + Pogba-Kanté-Matuidi was something else, you could play a very good side against them for hours and that side would find extremely hard to score or create chances.

 

[horsechoker]

Gary Neville really trying to talk down Maradona’s goal??

He did handball it

 

[Pintu]

Argentina looks very average on paper.

If Messi and Di Maria can find something close to their 2014 level, Argentina would be a tournament favorite.

 

[Sly]

I think Argentina will win easy and Messi will score 2

 

[2mufc0]

If Messi and Di Maria can find something close to their 2014 level, Argentina would be a tournament favorite.

And that's part of the problem, both of those players are not in their 20's anymore.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Gary Neville really trying to talk down Maradona’s goal??

Missed it, which one?

 

[croadyman]

The only thing missing is Argentina losing for an ideal day for me.

Trouble is it gives France an effective walkover into the Quarter Finals which isn't fun

 

[Massive Spanner]

That is a seriously average Argentina team over reliant on an ageing Messi and Di Maria.

 

[Dazzmondo]

Romero isn't injured, he is on the bench. Martinez replaced him soon after Saudi's second goal.

Ok fair enough. Thought it was due to an injury. Still not their best cb lineup. Should be Martinez and Romero.

 

[Deery]

Missed it, which one?

Just saying he should have been taken out and so on, nonsense really.

 

[Deery]

He did handball it

That’s good, for you.

 

[IFC 1905]

Romero isn't injured, he is on the bench. Martinez replaced him soon after Saudi's second goal.

He's not fit, that's the issue. He's not 100% yet.