World Cup 2022

[Mike E]

Same as Utd. The CR7 of the last year or so has shackled them.

[Mattyblue]

6 hours ago, rigger said:

I have yet to see a good defence in this competition.

Morocco?

[rigger]

41 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Morocco?

Our ideas of a good defence are miles apart.

[Mattyblue]

Why what hasn’t impressed you with theirs? Conceded one goal in 400+ minutes and they’ve been superbly well drilled every game.

It’s taken a massively unheralded side to the quarter finals, the only one outside Europe and the big South American two.

[arbitro]

I don't often watch/listen to full time match analysis by the 'experts' in the studio but something I heard last night resonated with me. A young lady (Danish I think) said the the Spanish style of play was boring. She said what millions are thinking and saying but for some reason many 'experts' won't. In fact some are embarrassingly patronising about it. I have sensed a seed change in this World Cup though that quite a few countries aren't afraid to play long passes or have their goalkeeper kick it long.

[roverandout]

I fancy us to beat France if we keep mbappe quiet. Man for man we are better than them bar of course the world's best player.  Hes the x factor we don't have.  Makes u wonder what if haaland had chosen the country of his birth rather than some mediocre nation like Norway. A kane haaland front 2 would have been frightening 

[Mattyblue]

Have England not been ‘mediocre’ for the majority of our history considering our resources, population and league strength?

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Have England not been ‘mediocre’ for the majority of our history considering our resources, population and league strength?

Yes but comparative to Norway we've been Brazil 

[Mattyblue]

But it’s all relative, isn’t it. You can’t compare England to Norway. Not a fair match up.

But you can compare to similar sized and more similar resourced nations like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, how does that compare?

[roverandout]

13 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

But it’s all relative, isn’t it. You can’t compare England to Norway. Not a fair match up.

But you can compare to similar sized and more similar resourced nations like France, Germany, Italy and Spain, how does that compare?

Not particularly impressive 

[rigger]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Why what hasn’t impressed you with theirs? Conceded one goal in 400+ minutes and they’ve been superbly well drilled every game.

It’s taken a massively unheralded side to the quarter finals, the only one outside Europe and the big South American two.

And some piss poor finishing from Spain.

[DE.]

1 hour ago, arbitro said:

I don't often watch/listen to full time match analysis by the 'experts' in the studio but something I heard last night resonated with me. A young lady (Danish I think) said the the Spanish style of play was boring. She said what millions are thinking and saying but for some reason many 'experts' won't. In fact some are embarrassingly patronising about it. I have sensed a seed change in this World Cup though that quite a few countries aren't afraid to play long passes or have their goalkeeper kick it long.

Spain have been incredibly boring to watch since they first started this tiki-taka stuff in 2008. At the time it was successful so you can't blame them for doing so, but watching them play was, for me at least, 95% yawn inducing and 5% very impressive. It wasn't worth watching an hour and a half for brief flashes of brilliance, I could just watch the highlights for that.

Nowadays teams have adapted to that style and worked out how to nullify it - Spain either need to evolve or accept they're back to where they were in the 90s, a largely irrelevent team who have potential but never get anywhere.

Edited December 7, 2022 by DE.

[chaddyrovers]

11 hours ago, rigger said:

I have yet to see a good defence in this competition.

Holland and Morocco have been the best defensive in the tournament according to the stats. 

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

I fancy us to beat France if we keep mbappe quiet. Man for man we are better than them bar of course the world's best player.  Hes the x factor we don't have. 

Walker will have to keep him quiet and Henderson will need to help him aswell. 

I think our X factor players are Kane and Foden who aren't similar players to Mbappe but our key players

42 minutes ago, rigger said:

And some piss poor finishing from Spain.

Spain lack quality strikers in their squad. They possession stats are impressive when you looked at the stats but not when you deeper into them like their centre 

[roverandout]

Tikataka only worked because they had prime busquets iniesta xavi fabregas silva alonso.  Pedri and gavi are both very promising players but Spain just don't possess that level of player anymore 

Edited December 7, 2022 by roverandout

[roverandout]

7 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Holland and Morocco have been the best defensive in the tournament according to the stats. 

Walker will have to keep him quiet and Henderson will need to help him aswell. 

I think our X factor players are Kane and Foden who aren't similar players to Mbappe but our key players

Spain lack quality strikers in their squad. They possession stats are impressive when you looked at the stats but not when you deeper into them like their centre 

Rice would be better on mbappe.  Rice is more energetic.  Henderson will be left for dust

[chaddyrovers]

53 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Rice would be better on mbappe.  Rice is more energetic.  Henderson will be left for dust

Henderson has the experience to deal with Mbappe for me, but whether its Rice or Henderson helping. The team need to defend very well. 

Edited December 7, 2022 by chaddyrovers

[Wheelton Blue]

I must be in the minority, but - when it works - I really enjoy watching tika taka.

As has been pointed out, Spain are currently lacking top class forwards, quick thinkers who can find space. I think as a result, tika taka breaks down.

They have an abundance of young players coming through - Gavi, Pedri, Balde, Garcia, Fati et al - who will only get better.

[RoverDom]

2 hours ago, DE. said:

It wasn't worth watching an hour and a half for brief flashes of brilliance, I could just watch the highlights for that

I totally agree with this! I really dislike it. Ive gotten flak from people before for saying I don't like Pep football. It looks fantastic as a highlights package but I really don't like watching a full game of it as there's a lot of passing it about, dominating the game without a lot of action. 

[roversfan99]

I don't swallow the talk of Mbappe being anything like a one man team, as much as he is the best player around at the moment and not just for his speed. France have loads of quality across their team and it should be a fairly even, tight game with lots of quality all over the pitch.

You look in attacking areas and they also have Griezmann who is such an intelligent player and Dembele who could cause Shaw and Maguire all sorts of problems. Giroud is like the glue to that attack and I listened to the on the continent podcast where a very valid point was made that him over Benzema makes Mbappe more dangerous as the main man. Between the 2 teams there are so many good attacking players.

Further back, Tchouameni is a really impressive player who has caught the eye alongside Camavinga who I am surprised doesn't start over Rabiot. They have plenty of centre backs who are not only good but are quick and strong. Their weakness IMO is Lloris who has a mistake in him.

[speeeeeeedie]

5 hours ago, arbitro said:

I don't often watch/listen to full time match analysis by the 'experts' in the studio but something I heard last night resonated with me. A young lady (Danish I think) said the the Spanish style of play was boring. She said what millions are thinking and saying but for some reason many 'experts' won't. In fact some are embarrassingly patronising about it. I have sensed a seed change in this World Cup though that quite a few countries aren't afraid to play long passes or have their goalkeeper kick it long.

 

4 hours ago, DE. said:

Spain have been incredibly boring to watch since they first started this tiki-taka stuff in 2008. At the time it was successful so you can't blame them for doing so, but watching them play was, for me at least, 95% yawn inducing and 5% very impressive. It wasn't worth watching an hour and a half for brief flashes of brilliance, I could just watch the highlights for that.

Nowadays teams have adapted to that style and worked out how to nullify it - Spain either need to evolve or accept they're back to where they were in the 90s, a largely irrelevent team who have potential but never get anywhere.

They are as dull as dishwater. They had over 1,000 passes against Morocco and very few chances to show for it.

I enjoyed watching their all-conquering sides from 2008-12. They passed teams to death but they had extras current team iterations don't. David Villa and Fernando Torres were excellent goal scorers. David Silva and Cesc Fabregas provided a bit of spark with an ability to break lines. All backed up by Xavi and Iniesta who kept the ball in Spain's hands. 

[Dreams of 1995]

I think France are there for the taking.

This is a squad who made heavy work of Denmark, who were poor this tournament. The only team Denmark scored against was France.

They then lost against Tunisia, who weren't the best either. Okay France rested a lot of their starting players but that to me shows the strength in depth does not exist. They ended the game with the heavies on the pitch and they couldn't break down a defiant Tunisian defence.

I also think Poland were fortunate to have qualified out of that group. Against Argentina they were poor and by all accounts didn't get going vs France either.

We become France's big test. I believe we have lost our last few meetings against the froggies, but won our last two World Cup head to heads.

Outside of France's starting 11 there's not much going for it - Camavinga, Saliba and Thuram being the standouts. The rest you could give or take. They are certainly not the France of 2018.

It's going to be an incredible game. It sounds cliche but the opening 20 is going to be huge. If we can get ourselves set and comfortable I think we'd have enough to see it over the line within the 90. In terms of 'game changers' I don't think France have any - they start him in Mbappe - and I think that's where we will win the game.

It's the hope that kills you

 

[AllRoverAsia]

France do have a weapon who is often overlooked.

With his height and aerial ability Giroud is a danger to any defence and he's not shabby with ball at feet. He will keep our CBs fully employed.

[benhben]

2 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

France do have a weapon who is often overlooked.

With his height and aerial ability Giroud is a danger to any defence and he's not shabby with ball at feet. He will keep our CBs fully employed.

Still looks fit and sharp for a 36  year old. Crazy how long players are staying at their peak these days.

Chelsea got rid far too early!

[roversfan99]

Going back to the on the continent podcast, they made the point about France's "second string" not being far off their third team considering their absentees. Kingsley Coman is also a good gamechanger but I would probably choose our bench if I was picking.

Both England and France go into Saturday having not been tested by a team at the same level so it is the ultimate acid test. France have recent history of strolling through early games in a tournament without getting close to third gear and it is easy to obsess too much over the fantastic Mbappe but there are plenty of other quality players against each other on both sides.

[AllRoverAsia]

1 hour ago, benhben said:

Still looks fit and sharp for a 36  year old. Crazy how long players are staying at their peak these days.

Chelsea got rid far too early!

I was just wondering about his age and you saved me from having to Google.

He does still look in good nick and so much high level experience.

His occupying of the CBs creates opportunity and space for the likes of Mbappe to exploit when he cuts in.