World Cup: National Team threads

[Evilo]

I can't find the thread, so close this one if I skipped it.

Deschamps just called up 4 new players for the next french games :
Benjamin Mendy (deserved, it was between him and Digne).
Florian Thauvin (he's played well, but really... arguable).
Corentin Tolisso (though he's not as supermanish as earlier this season, he deserves this).
Kylian Mbappé (YES ! 11 goals in his last 8 games).

Some outrageous things in this list :
1/Adil Rami called up. FOR **** SAKE, we have zillions of good to great CB and we call up Adil MF Rami ! We're left with Kos, Umtiti, Rami and Kimpembe. No Laporte, no Varane (injured though), no Zouma, etc...
2/ Bacary Sagna is called up to be Sidibé's backup. HELLO? We have Corchia????
3/ Last but certainly not least, Alexandre Lacazette hasn't been called up.
Giroud and Thauvin are apparently good enough, but not Lacazette? Nor Fekir? Seriously??? Thauvin is arguable for Fekir, but Fekir is slowly coming back to shape. As for Giroud over Lacazette, it's scandalous.

That midfield though : Matuidi, Pogba, Lemar, Kanté, Tolisso, Rabiot

Click to read more...

 

[John Pedro]

That's why Wenger didn't break the bank for Lacazzete. Dude already got the best french striker.

Benzema, Martial and Lacazzete all out... France has so many good strikers. Although I think they're all better than Giroud, Gameiro, and Thauvin.

 

[East Coast Bias]

i can't find the thread, so close this one if i skipped it.

Deschamps just called up 4 new players for the next french games :
Benjamin mendy (deserved, it was between him and digne).
Florian thauvin (he's played well, but really... Arguable).
Corentin tolisso (though he's not as supermanish as earlier this season, he deserves this).
Kylian mbappé (yes ! 11 goals in his last 8 games).

Some outrageous things in this list :
1/adil rami called up. For **** sake, we have zillions of good to great cb and we call up adil mf rami ! We're left with kos, umtiti, rami and kimpembe. No laporte, no varane (injured though), no zouma, etc...
2/ bacary sagna is called up to be sidibé's backup. Hello? We have corchia????
3/ last but certainly not least, alexandre lacazette hasn't been called up.
Giroud and thauvin are apparently good enough, but not lacazette? Nor fekir? Seriously??? Thauvin is arguable for fekir, but fekir is slowly coming back to shape. As for giroud over lacazette, it's scandalous.

That midfield though : Matuidi, pogba, lemar, kanté, tolisso, rabiot

mbappé is the 1st player born after France's 98 WC win to be called up. feeling old

 

[Power Man]

Algeria won't likely qualify for the next WC so I just stopped by to say hello.




Hello.

 

[YNWA14]

lol how did Lacazette not make the team? Wow.

In other news Woodburn (17) has been called up for Wales' world cup qualifiers. Given their relative lack of depth and injury situation there's a very good chance he'll play also. He's fantastic for his age, and I think Wales is the better option for him (instead of England) anyway.

Netherlands have some key injuries (van Dijk, de Vrij, Sneijder) so hopefully they can still put something strong together. Memphis coming into form should be good though and as long as Strootman and Wijnaldum can stay healthy the midfield should be ok.

 

[Luigi Habs]

I can't find the thread, so close this one if I skipped it.

Deschamps just called up 4 new players for the next french games :
Benjamin Mendy (deserved, it was between him and Digne).
Florian Thauvin (he's played well, but really... arguable).
Corentin Tolisso (though he's not as supermanish as earlier this season, he deserves this).
Kylian Mbappé (YES ! 11 goals in his last 8 games).

Some outrageous things in this list :
1/Adil Rami called up. FOR **** SAKE, we have zillions of good to great CB and we call up Adil MF Rami ! We're left with Kos, Umtiti, Rami and Kimpembe. No Laporte, no Varane (injured though), no Zouma, etc...
2/ Bacary Sagna is called up to be Sidibé's backup. HELLO? We have Corchia????
3/ Last but certainly not least, Alexandre Lacazette hasn't been called up.
Giroud and Thauvin are apparently good enough, but not Lacazette? Nor Fekir? Seriously??? Thauvin is arguable for Fekir, but Fekir is slowly coming back to shape. As for Giroud over Lacazette, it's scandalous.

That midfield though : Matuidi, Pogba, Lemar, Kanté, Tolisso, Rabiot

Why are you so high on Zouma? You've been high on him since a long time, but the last 2 seasons have been disastrous for him. He doesn't deserve a call up.

Why Deschamps hates Laporte though? I know he hasn't been amazing this season but still a lot better than Rami. I agree not calling up Lacazette is scanadalous. WTF?

 

[Turtleneck Plek]

Lacazette not making the team is absolutely ridiculous. I expected it though, it seems that no matter what Giroud's play is like at any given time with Arsenal, since he's been decent with the NT, he's a lock every time. I'd take Lacazette before Thauvin as well but they don't play the same position so I sort of get it. Rami is another head-scratcher, if DD is bent on using these two games to try out new, younger players, might as well call up someone like Laporte and see what he's worth.

With that said, really happy to see Mbappé, Mendy and Tolisso with the team, also Lemar and Dembélé called up again. Time to let the young guys shine.

 

[Evilo]

Why are you so high on Zouma? You've been high on him since a long time, but the last 2 seasons have been disastrous for him. He doesn't deserve a call up.

Why Deschamps hates Laporte though? I know he hasn't been amazing this season but still a lot better than Rami. I agree not calling up Lacazette is scanadalous. WTF?

You can't say he's been disastrous, he's been out for more than a year. He sure deserves a callup more than Rami, based on talent alone. That's not even talking about Laporte.

Lacazette, I just don't understand. I think DD wants an aerial threat on a team of midget (Griez, Gameiro, etc....), but frankly, Lacazette would probably be called on any NT in the world.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Why are you so high on Zouma? You've been high on him since a long time, but the last 2 seasons have been disastrous for him. He doesn't deserve a call up.

Disastrous? He destroyed his knee and has only just now come back into the first team from that. Chelsea are in a groove, so he hasn't displaced anyone in the XI. If any of the CBs at Chelsea falter, I'd wager Conte puts him in pretty quickly. Before his knee gave he was progressing incredibly. He's definitely better than Adil fricking Rami of all players.

 

[Savi]

We're left with Kos, Umtiti, Rami and Kimpembe. No Laporte, no Varane (injured though), no Zouma, etc...

Speaking of Umtiti, I saw a pretty cool stat last week

In La Liga this season, when Umtiti doesn't play Barça are 2-3-6
When he's in the lineup they are 16-0-0

 

[Evilo]

Yeah, Umtiti has grown nicely. Still don't think he's more than a solid CB, but he should start with Varane over Koscielny, who I never rated at the highest level.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Damn, that list is so good.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Speaking of Umtiti, I saw a pretty cool stat last week

In La Liga this season, when Umtiti doesn't play Barça are 2-3-6
When he's in the lineup they are 16-0-0

He's nothing special... definitely shouldn't be an out an out starter for Barca.

 

[Evilo]

Nothing special but Mammana is?

 

[Savi]

He's nothing special... definitely shouldn't be an out an out starter for Barca.

He doesn't have to be special, he has to be solid and not do stupid things, we have Pique for that

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Algeria won't likely qualify for the next WC so I just stopped by to say hello.




Hello.

Did you know this?

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Nothing special but Mammana is?

Where did I say Mammana would be Barca quality? It's all about context.

 

[Evilo]

Given the CBs Barca has had over the years, I'd say Umtiti is Barca material.
I agree he's nothing special, but he's definitely a good CB.

 

[Cassano]

Koscielny has been a tire-fire this season. Shouldn't be on the French NT. Neither should Giroud.

Hell, only Ox/Alexis should be on the respective NT this season.

 

[Luigi Habs]

Koscielny has been a tire-fire this season. Shouldn't be on the French NT. Neither should Giroud.

Hell, only Ox/Alexis should be on the respective NT this season.

Have you seen the Arsenal games without Kos? He definitely is a quality CB.

I'm of the opinion that Giroud has a place in the NT, because if you need to score in the last 10-15 mins of a game, he's the perfect guy to get in. Not as a starter though.

I would have picked Lacazette over Gameiro. Gameiro is good, but I don't see him a starter, and as a sub I'd pick Giroud over him.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

I know they have a few injuries but there are still some very questionable picks. Shaw over Baines? Lingard over Walcott? Livermore? No Wilshere?

Really happy to see Antonio, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Keane and Defoe there though.

 

[oilers92]

I know they have a few injuries but there are still some very questionable picks. Shaw over Baines? Lingard over Walcott? Livermore? No Wilshere?

Really happy to see Antonio, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Keane and Defoe there though.

Southgate is a huge fan of Lingard's from the youth team days, he also praised him last time he played for England. As for Shaw he said he's trying to give him a boost, i imagine they are also trying to get rid of some of the older guys who have been in the team and focus on some youth with a friendly they were hardly ever going to win and qualifier they should walk knows as good a time as any to experiment.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Southgate is a huge fan of Lingard's from the youth team days, he also praised him last time he played for England. As for Shaw he said he's trying to give him a boost, i imagine they are also trying to get rid of some of the older guys who have been in the team and focus on some youth with a friendly they were hardly ever going to win and qualifier they should walk knows as good a time as any to experiment.

All whilst they bring in a 34 y/o Defoe? I can give him a pass on deciding to pick Shaw I guess, but Walcott should absolutely be in that squad. I like the idea of giving Redmond a try, so that leaves Lingard.

I would probably have liked to have seen Deeney over Vardy too.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Given the CBs Barca has had over the years, I'd say Umtiti is Barca material.
I agree he's nothing special, but he's definitely a good CB.

Name 2 out an out 2 starters for barca over the years that Umititi is better than.

If you agree that's nothing special what's the argument?

 

[Evilo]

I said he was nothing more than a solid CB.
I argued about you saying he was no Barca quality.
Outside Piqué, Barca hasn't had a very good CB since Puyol. Umtiti isn't a DM either. And he's lefty which is a nice addition.