The True Football (Not American)/Futbol/Soccer Thread: Part VI

Arcade Fire

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-Plus between Süle, Tah & Ginter the backups are much stronger than they were with Howedes, Rudiger & Mustafi.
I'm a Chelsea supporter so I'm biased to some extent but Rüdiger is better than all those other CBs you mentioned. He hasn't been a first name on the team sheet kind of player for us this season (yet) but he managed to push our captain (Cahill) out of our title-winning starting-11 in the 2nd half of the season and he's been extremely reliable everytime he was rotated into the team in the 1st half of the season, too. That's a level of consistently good play and reliability none of those younger guys have sustained for such a long period. IMO Rüdiger's easily Germany's natural 3rd choice CB after Hummels and Boateng at this tournament.
 

cgf

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I'm a Chelsea supporter so I'm biased to some extent but Rüdiger is better than all those other CBs you mentioned. He hasn't been a first name on the team sheet kind of player for us this season (yet) but he managed to push our captain (Cahill) out of our title-winning starting-11 in the 2nd half of the season and he's been extremely reliable everytime he was rotated into the team in the 1st half of the season, too. That's a level of consistently good play and reliability none of those younger guys have sustained for such a long period. IMO Rüdiger's easily Germany's natural 3rd choice CB after Hummels and Boateng at this tournament.

If Rudiger did finally grow a brain and bests Ginter, or even Tah, for a spot on the NT then that'll mean that he's improved substantially from his level at previous tourneys, which would bolster my point about the stronger depth that we now have.

That said, even with a brain, Rudiger wouldn't surpass Sule. That kid is already absolutely excellent & would start for most non-Bayern clubs, including Chelsea. He's not as fast as Rudiger, but he's a much more intelligent passer, with a higher skill level, and the ability to process situations much more quickly (both in possession & defensively). If Boateng suffers setbacks and isn't good for the WM, we will absolutely lose something dropping down to Sule, but the backline would still be a strength in a way that it has not remained when Mats or Boa missed games in tourney's past.
 
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cgf

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I think I'd enjoy the agony of the LFC-fans & Real-haters on the soccer board more than I would Klopp & Firmino's joy...but ultimately I'll find out when the game starts and I react to the first scoring chance.

..though it'll probably be decided by Real having Kroos and my being in a dynasty state of mind this summer :yo:
 
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Duchene2MacKinnon

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I've argued about Silva enough times lately not to re-hash it again, but lemme just leave it at Isco, Saul & Koko don't scare me enough to worry about us having to concede possession & play on the counter...even though that would play to Sane & Werner's strengths.

Boateng is on the same level based on his play for Bayern, stop being silly.

Based on hearing the same thing about Mesut's club form for years. They play differently for the NT & have different roles, so their form is different to. None of our strengths are are actually any weaker than they have been previously unless we have to play MAtS, who's a slight step down from Neuer, and our prior weaknesses are now positions at which we have world class talents breaking through. Those are just facts. I understand that people have grown bored of Germany's dominance since Spain's collapse, especially since some other big nations fell apart during this time...Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and more recently Italy & Argentina have fallen apart as Brazil & Spain have risen again...but that hasn't diminished german dominance atm. Jogi ****ed up in 2016 or we'd be heading into this as defending World & European champions with the best striker we've had this millennium.

I honestly can't recall anytime you brought up Silva... but if the argument was that he is a WC player, than you is right.

Argentina have the same team they had during their runs to the final. They just put in a fake coach and Messi left it through them off their campaign which they have been trying to recover from. The players to an extent have improved in some areas. Sampa just has to figure it out as he goes. I'm still hoping he can find the formula prior to crashing out. Not impossible but not confident.

Like I said Germany like any other nation has holes. If you can't see that then its pretty obvious as to why that is. Jogi f***ed up in 2016... who's the coach in 2018?

I get that you're a Barca boy and Real are the evil empire, but there are only like 2 Real Madrid fans on this board. if Liverpool win, it would be ****ing unbearable.

I have surrounded myself with Madrid fans... don't ask me how or why. I cannot go through 3 peat. Plus you also have geniuses claiming ZZ and Madrid are the greatest of all time LMFAO. Even Marcelo. ffs

I think I'd enjoy the agony of the LFC-fans & Real-haters on the soccer board more than I would Klopp & Firmino's joy...but ultimately I'll find out when the game starts and I react to the first scoring chance.

..though it'll probably be decided by Real having Kroos and my being in a dynasty state of mind this summer :yo:

Im unfriended anyone here who is jumping on that bandwagon.

I want Madrid to win purely to see this board meltdown.

Same goes for you. lol
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

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Jogi is a major hole, but the holes on the depth chart have disappeared :dunno:

You're lineup still has question marks...

What I find humours is that for a team who just played2 direct WC rivals and came away with ZERO wins months before the tournament you sure are full over bizarre confidence.
 

cgf

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Are you talking about friendlies? Friendlies!?

This is germany, I'll worry when we start winning pre-WM friendlies.
 

Alex Jones

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I'm not a 100% a fan of Klopp, but he is really good at getting his team ready for big games. His style will never lead to teams doing that well in the league because they won't consistently provide excellence, but he has always gotten good results out of big matches.
 

Alex Jones

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Hey @JWK , is Chang Hun Kwon good enough for Gladbach or would that just be a marketing signing?
Forget it anyway, he tore his Achilles today and could miss all of next season. Potentially a career changing injury, considering it's severity and where he is at in his development. Reminds me of Lee breaking his leg at the same age and never really fully recovering.
 

cgf

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That sucks for the kid. Gladbach have signed a highly rated kid from Tottenham's academy and are hammering out the terms of a loan with Everton for Onyekuru, so they've filled their need.



btw D2M, I watched the Germany-Brazil friendly today and I can't believe anyone is using that as a reason why we won't win lol. We didn't even have half our starting lineup and made a bunch of changes, since they were treating it like any other friendly; while Brazil was missing only Neymar & Marquinhos, and made just 1 sub, in a match that they clearly put more heart & effort into.

...and we still outplayed them; their goal coming from a Rüdiger f*** up, aka a good example of why he should be the CB left behind if Jogi only takes 5 to Russia, as did their other chance of the first half. Other than that they did nothing. Put Hummels out there and even Trapp could've kept the cleansheet. Nevermind if Mesut was there to pull the strings for Werner & Muller (or Reus if Muller doesn't have any more WM magic left) so could've put 3 or 4 in on the other end.

Between that and Rabiot/Fabinho being left behind by their teams, I'm no longer worried about 2 of our 3 biggest threats.
 

Alex Jones

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Yea, but you're also not taking into account the fact that in an actual WC match we'd get to see 90 minutes of Coutinho dancing around Sami Khedira.
 

cgf

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Yea, but you're also not taking into account the fact that in an actual WC match we'd get to see 90 minutes of Coutinho dancing around Sami Khedira.

f***ing Jogi

...at least Raphael Honigstein predicted the same starting 11 I want:

Werner
Sane - Özil - Müller
Gundogan Kroos
Hector - Mats - Boa - Kimmich​

So :crossfing:crossfing:crossfing
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

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Only missing Neymar and Marquinhos... so, their best player and 2nd best player in the world at that. Plus their best defender. Lol you should be a politician.

Btw no one I know said you wouldn't win the WC. Just that you like other elite nations have questionnarks heading into the WC.

Personally, I see Germany/Spain 50/50 maybe slightly tilted to Spain.
 

cgf

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Only missing Neymar and Marquinhos... so, their best player and 2nd best player in the world at that. Plus their best defender. Lol you should be a politician.

Btw no one I know said you wouldn't win the WC. Just that you like other elite nations have questionnarks heading into the WC.

Personally, I see Germany/Spain 50/50 maybe slightly tilted to Spain.

I sorta wondered on a tangent and wasn't just talking about people here. A lot of germans who are still pissed that our midfield starts pansies like Özil & Kroos without any grit, have used that Brazil friendly to argue that Khedira absolutely must start ahead of Ilkay.

I didn't point out that we were missing our best player, our two best goal scorers, our best defender, our GOAT goalie, either *shrug*

I still fancy our chances against spain, but I'm anxious about them, whereas Brazil & France really put some of my concerns at ease with their squads.
 
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Duchene2MacKinnon

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I sorta wondered on a tangent and wasn't just talking about people here. A lot of germans who are still pissed that our midfield starts pansies like Özil & Kroos without any grit, have used that Brazil friendly to argue that Khedira absolutely must start ahead of Ilkay.

I didn't point out that we were missing our best player, our two best goal scorers, our best defender, our GOAT goalie, either *shrug*

I still fancy our chances against spain, but I'm anxious about them, whereas Brazil & France really put some of my concerns at ease with their squads.
You stated you're missing half your team ain't that enough? While using the word "only"

You directed it at me, so pardon me if I thought you were saying I thought Germany weren't going to win.
 

Alex Jones

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I have a love for Spanish football and their style of play, but I don't have a ton of confidence in their forwards to put the ball in the net.

I know that cgf will probably disagree, but to me Spain have the best midfield in the world. Having a midfield of Busquets, Isco, Thiago, Iniesta, Silva is just unfair. Shit Saul and Koke are probably somewhere in there too...Only question for me is who puts the ball in the net. If they still had someone around like Villa they would be the favorites for me hands down. Is a guy like Aspas really able to lead the line for a team with dreams of the WC? Most of the guys in their midfield/wing are more passers than scorers...IDK, maybe if they can reinvigorate the corpse of Diego Costa. I'm not sure. I think Spain is a great side, but just not sure they have the goals.
 

Duchene2MacKinnon

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They have the best midfield I think it's clearly ahead of anyone's ATM. Disregard CGF slobbering over every young german midfielder and overrating them. (sorry that's a fact). Not just CGF to be fair to him but that whole German contingent on the main board overrated their bunch. Similar to Evilo's Frenchmen. Sakho lol.

Re: Spain's goal scorers well the idea is to create enough that even the likes of Aspas who is coming off a great year pots in a few. Goal scoring by committee is the plan.

Speaking of midfields take a look at Argentina's powerhouse Spain comes at them with Isco,BUsquets, Thiago? Countered with Banega, Biglia and Lanzini. LOL I don't think any of them makes the f***ing B squad.

Don't get me started on defenders and keepers.
 

cgf

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I think you meant to say I over-rate players until they move to the EPL or La Liga and learn how to be as good as I hyped them to be in the first place. ;-)
 
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