Day 8: Japan vs Costa Rica | Belgium vs Morocco | Croatia vs Canada | Spain vs Germany

marktan

Full Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
6,907
Man the WC of dog shite managers continues.

Moriyasu, Page, Santos, Southgate (debatable), Martinez, Denmark coach, all leaving better players on the bench. Could probably add a few more to that list, spefically a lot of the teams that play 5 at the back.
 

2mufc0

Everything is fair game in capitalism!
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
16,992
Supports
Dragon of Dojima
There's no extreme heat mate, the stadiums all have air con and on pitch level max it gets to is 25 degrees celsius.
A lot of the top European teams go to the ME during the winter to train for the weather.
 

Samid

He's no Bilal Ilyas Jhandir
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
49,156
Location
Oslo, Norway
Man the WC of dog shite managers continues.

Moriyasu, Page, Santos, Southgate (debatable), Martinez, Denmark coach, all leaving better players on the bench. Could probably add a few more to that list, spefically a lot of the teams that play 5 at the back.
@WeePat about to hunt you down
 

Smacky The Frog

Full Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2014
Messages
776
Man the WC of dog shite managers continues.

Moriyasu, Page, Santos, Southgate (debatable), Martinez, Denmark coach, all leaving better players on the bench. Could probably add a few more to that list, spefically a lot of the teams that play 5 at the back.
Southgate is not debatable at all. Absolutely belongs there, certainly more so than the Danish coach.
 

Chief123

Full Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
12,789
The Fifa rankings are absolute horse shit. They were number 1 team for 4 years straight. Based on what? Player reputatiton? Cause it clearly wasn't performance based
Yeah it’s shocking. The fact Wales and Iran are in the top 20 too.
 

ManUtd1999

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
3,466
It's becoming clear that this is a world cup for young teams. Players in their 30s are struggling, probably due to conditions. Belgium carried too many old players, Verthongen, Hazard,Alderwiweld all done. I fancy Canada to have a good cut at Croatia in the next game as well.
Curious to see Spain later on, young talented and technical, this could be their tournament.
Good point.

We will of course know better at the end of the group stage, but it’s clear that everything can happen in every game.
 

tjb

Full Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2013
Messages
3,309
Man the WC of dog shite managers continues.

Moriyasu, Page, Santos, Southgate (debatable), Martinez, Denmark coach, all leaving better players on the bench. Could probably add a few more to that list, spefically a lot of the teams that play 5 at the back.
I've said this for a while, but most managers don't actually know how to use the formation and don't even use it for its true primary function. Tuchel used it in a similar way to a 442, stretching teams and getting the ball wide which worked really well for Chelsea. Conte uses it with a midblock as it covers spaces really well. For most other managers, even Pep, it's a struggle. It's why it always annoyed me when people in the CAF would ask why we don't use it. Most managers don't know how to use it, so expecting it to be used effectively shouldn't be assumed.
 

Pintu

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
3,979
Location
Sweden
The Fifa rankings are absolute horse shit. They were number 1 team for 4 years straight. Based on what? Player reputatiton? Cause it clearly wasn't performance based
It is result based. Winning more games than the others. They've been winning the qualifiers comfortably... But systematically disappoints against big teams at the final stages.

2018 was a great competition though, they made it to the semis convincingly and only lost marginally to a very strong France side.
 

marktan

Full Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2017
Messages
6,907
Southgate is not debatable at all. Absolutely belongs there, certainly more so than the Danish coach.
Hmm Southgate's biggest mistake is choosing Sterling instead of Foden or Grealish, the rest are fine.

The Denmark coach choses Cornelius, Lindstrom and Skov Olsen over Damsgaard, Yousef Poulssen and Braithwaite.
 

ManUtd1999

Full Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2013
Messages
3,466
Hmm Southgate's biggest mistake is choosing Sterling instead of Foden or Grealish, the rest are fine.

The Denmark coach choses Cornelius, Lindstrom and Skov Olsen over Damsgaard, Yousef Poulssen and Braithwaite.
I wouldn’t judge Southgate based on one player selection. England just looked very flat on Friday. The whole team underperformed.
 

Red Pumpkin

Full Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2014
Messages
320
Supports
Bayern Munchen
They were beat 2-0?
I wrote up Morocco beforehand, not Belgium. Based on Moroccos Afcon 2021, Morocco against Croatia and Belgium against Canada - a match they should have lost as the Canadians had incredibly pacy players, missed a penalty and were robbed of 2-3 more.
This one goes down as a Morocco victory much more than a Belgium cluster. Absolutely masterful.
Exactly. Belgium is past their best, de Bruyne and Hazard have both said it, but they are not scrubs. Morocco just happens to be ever so slightly better right now. Same case as with Senegal - Netherlands that could easily have gone the other way.
 

Ainu

Full Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
10,130
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
Man the WC of dog shite managers continues.

Moriyasu, Page, Santos, Southgate (debatable), Martinez, Denmark coach, all leaving better players on the bench. Could probably add a few more to that list, spefically a lot of the teams that play 5 at the back.
All the good ones are in club football, so it's not super surprising.
 

mitchmouse

loves to hate United.
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
17,361
So the two teams I expected to sail through to the knockout stages have both lost once now (Germany and Belgium). I honestly thought Belgium had a chance to win the tournament (of course, they still could) because, I reasoned, they would be more of a team this time round rather than lots of good players. De Bruyne looked so poor, he might as have been playing for United last season! Clearly they missed Fellaini (joke)...
 

RedDevilRoshi

Full Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2017
Messages
13,180

Disgraceful behavior.
There’s two stewards just looking at them directly whilst they are doing it as well :lol:

EDIT: It’s in reverse :lol: Just seen the original one now.
 
Last edited:

mitchmouse

loves to hate United.
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
17,361
Belgium pretty much have to get to the final, at least, now for Roberto Martinez to stay in his job
 

Harry190

Bobby ten Hag
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
7,603
Location
Canada
So the two teams I expected to sail through to the knockout stages have both lost once now (Germany and Belgium). I honestly thought Belgium had a chance to win the tournament (of course, they still could) because, I reasoned, they would be more of a team this time round rather than lots of good players. De Bruyne looked so poor, he might as have been playing for United last season! Clearly they missed Fellaini (joke)...
Belgium are losers. It's in their DNA.