World Cup: Group E: Serbia vs. Switzerland, 6/22/2018

[BruinLVGA]

Based on the quality of your precious posts, cheap sarcasm is all you deserve. Alas, the World Cup brings sundry homers out of the woodwork to bedevil the rest of us with thin-skinned responses to anyone who dares criticise their precious team.

But let's pretend that your failure to post anything worthwhile about this game so far is a case of your having kept your powder dry. What do you think changed the momentum of the game? In your view (which isn't ludicrously one-eyed of course) its 'quality'. What specific moments of quality would you refer to?

I'd say the shift came from the fact that moments after Mitrovic headed over the bar for a corner, the Serbs were too slow to organise from the resultant restart, and conceded a stunning goal. If their failure to regain shape quickly enough wasn't physical tiredness, it was lack of mental concentration.

As for the winner, well though Shaqiri finished, that was primary school defending on an individual and collective level.

What's your analysis other than resorting to FIFA rankings and results from games played before the tournament started, which therefore are of limited relevance to considering what occurred on the day?

You say, "Switzerland wasn't obviously mentally ready to tackle a very physical and aggressive Serbian team from the onset and they paid for it in terms of being down 1-0 and suffering for the first 30 minutes or so."

How were the Serbs 'very physical and aggressive', Mitrovic aside? And if Switzerland weren't ready for them, does not some blame accrue to the coach you defended earlier? Mitrovic's style of play has hardly changed overnight.

I look forward to your response from that pedestal of knowledge and understanding you've placed yourself on.

TL: DR

Contain verbal diarrhea and summarize your thoughts, don't waste my time.

 

[Stray Wasp]

TL: DR

Contain verbal diarrhea and summarize your thoughts, don't waste my time.

You might have been able to get away with that had you not also failed to responded to Speyer's posts.

How's this for a short version? You can't respond, because your posts have nothing to offer but juvenile, chip-on-the-shoulder bias.

 

[BruinLVGA]

You might have been able to get away with that had you not also failed to responded to Speyer's posts.

How's this for a short version? You can't respond, because your posts have nothing to offer but juvenile, chip-on-the-shoulder bias.

Speyer's post was already perfectly answered by Jonas2244's post. There's nothing to add to that. I don't think that anyone needs to read basically the same things twice. Do you need to?

How's your short version? Indicative of your overall quality.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Speyer's post was already perfectly answered by Jonas2244's post. There's nothing to add to that. I don't think that anyone needs to read basically the same things twice.

In other words, you sat back and waited for someone else to do your thinking for you.

Hopefully Jonas may respond to my posts on your behalf too. But I hope he charges you a fee for his work.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Regarding Dzemaili, I never liked him playing on the 10. But I don't see really another option. We really don't have anyone who plays this position in his team at a reasonable level. And we didn't have for quite some time, since Yakin retired. Embolo could, but there is no guarantee he'd do better. Comparing his play coming into the game after 70 minutes and playing against tired players to Dzemaili who played against players who were equally tired is not exactly fair.
But this is probably the last puzzle-part we really need. A good player for this position, who plays in a big league. Seferovic gets a lot of blame, but he rarley gets the support he needs. And he really works his ass off, each game. And I'm pretty sure he could do a lot better with more support.

If there's no better option than Dzemaili for a number 10 role, perhaps the simplest solution is to find a system that works without one.

 

[Ceremony]

> Comes into football forum for the first time
> Tries to suggest a lack of quality or insight in Stray Wasp's posts

 

[Deficient Mode]

> Comes into football forum for the first time
> Tries to suggest a lack of quality or insight in Stray Wasp's posts

 

[Corto]

Oh I see there's analysis going on in here!

So, yeah... Switzerland are, well, ordinary... Granted, Xhaka and Shaqiri play a level above compared how to how they do at club level, but the rest of the team is pedestrain. Behrami puts in a shift, and is very good at taking care of the dirty work in the midfield.
They are organized, they are compact... And they're average. And they also seem to start games with the concentration span of a child (the turnover that lead to the Mitrovic goal was appaling).
Seferovic and Gavranovic are possibly the worst strikers in the tournament (or up there, anyway), Lichsteiner is half the player he used to be, Rodriguez is decent, and their CBs got almost ruined by Mitrovic, a rather pedestrian striker himself.
They will be hard to beat, but it'll always be a case of whether they concede or not, rather than if they score or not - at least against serious opposition.

Serbia... is old, and offensively challenged. They've been blessed with some world class defenders and defensive midfielders, but they couldn't develop top offensive players for a decade now. When Tadic is the best forward you've gotten in 10-12 years, it's bad.
SMS should be class though, so we'll see what happens there.
I'd say their strength is their midfield (SMS, Matic, Milivojevic), but even there they are offensively challenged and not built to take over games, but rather stop opponents from doing the same - which they failed to do last night in the 2nd half.

Don't get me wrong, they're both decent, but not much more than that.

Oh, and to whoever said Switzerland being ranked 6th in the world is some sort of mirror into their actual quality...
They've benefited from easy groups and are possibly the worst culprit in abusing the silly ranking system in the first place (them and Wales).

 

[gary69]

On the evidence of these two games, Petkovic seems a lucky general more than a good one. His initial tactics and selection were wrong, which was why in the first half the Serbs were vastly superior, able to feed Mitrovic at will, while Mitrovic was able to embarrass Schar. Twice now Switzerland have come out of the traps unable to deny more talented opponents space.

I totally agree with your criticisms of Petkovic's selections. Dzemaili found some good positions, but finished like a 32 year old who's never scored double figures in a season over his entire career. Which made it all the stranger that his team seemed to have built their scoring threat around him. Lichtsteiner looked like the perfect player for Arsenal to sign if they want to establish themselves as London's premier footballing retirement home. And Seferovic was staking a strong claim for the title of worst striker to start for a European nation in a World Cup ever. Embolo, by contrast, manifestly troubled the Serbs. No doubt Petkovic is falling back on the old hack-thinking that Embolo is better suited to coming on later in the game when things are more open and opposition defences are tiring. But opponents would tire a lot quicker against Switzerland if they knew that before half time they'd not have pretty much the whole game played in front of them.

Xhaka's goal was one of those bolt-from-the-blue srikes that often turn games on their heads. Maybe Switzerland can achieve their goal of a quarter final spot despite not playing for more than 45 minutes out of 90, but I wouldn't want to bet my life on it.

By the bye, the Serbian keeper gives me the air of an imposter who suspects that at any moment security is going to to invade the pitch, wrestle him to the ground, and frogmarch him off the playing surface.

Agree, a strong case, although I remember that Greece had a quite a bad forward (Alexis something) in 1994. They didn't score a single goal, but maybe he didn't start in all of their games. And Slovenia had a poor striker in 2002 (not Osterc, but the other guy), but he did manage to score a goal, so that works in his favour.

 

[N o o d l e s]

I didn't know about the players and national anthem being booed just because of their Albanian heritage. That's inappropriate in and of itself, especially because Serbia and Russia can't do anything without one another; completely inappropriate from the Russian fans as hosts. I think that gives Xhaka and Shaqiri cart- blanche to do whatever they want. Making a f***ing eagle sign with your hands is literally not a big deal.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Oh I see there's analysis going on in here!

So, yeah... Switzerland are, well, ordinary... Granted, Xhaka and Shaqiri play a level above compared how to how they do at club level, but the rest of the team is pedestrain. Behrami puts in a shift, and is very good at taking care of the dirty work in the midfield.
They are organized, they are compact... And they're average. And they also seem to start games with the concentration span of a child (the turnover that lead to the Mitrovic goal was appaling).
Seferovic and Gavranovic are possibly the worst strikers in the tournament (or up there, anyway), Lichsteiner is half the player he used to be, Rodriguez is decent, and their CBs got almost ruined by Mitrovic, a rather pedestrian striker himself.
They will be hard to beat, but it'll always be a case of whether they concede or not, rather than if they score or not - at least against serious opposition.

Serbia... is old, and offensively challenged. They've been blessed with some world class defenders and defensive midfielders, but they couldn't develop top offensive players for a decade now. When Tadic is the best forward you've gotten in 10-12 years, it's bad.
SMS should be class though, so we'll see what happens there.
I'd say their strength is their midfield (SMS, Matic, Milivojevic), but even there they are offensively challenged and not built to take over games, but rather stop opponents from doing the same - which they failed to do last night in the 2nd half.

Don't get me wrong, they're both decent, but not much more than that.

Oh, and to whoever said Switzerland being ranked 6th in the world is some sort of mirror into their actual quality...
They've benefited from easy groups and are possibly the worst culprit in abusing the silly ranking system in the first place (them and Wales).

I agree with a lot of what you say. (With the qualification that I thought Akanji impressive).

However if a certain poster comes reeling back into this thread you may need to don your tin hat for having committed the dual sins of failing to praise Switzerland to the skies and a post length in excess of one paragraph.

 

[Stray Wasp]

> Comes into football forum for the first time
> Tries to suggest a lack of quality or insight in Stray Wasp's posts

Thank you.

Mind, I can live with correspondents suggesting a lack of quality or insight as long as in return they offer a quality of post that doesn't recall a kid throwing toys from their pram.

 

[BruinLVGA]

In other words, you sat back and waited for someone else to do your thinking for you.

Hopefully Jonas may respond to my posts on your behalf too. But I hope he charges you a fee for his work.

In other words, when I come to this website and see what has been written (or not...), I react accordingly. And if something was put to rest so eloquently and thoroughly like Jonas2244 did, I don't need to waste my or anyone's time, because I expect folks not to need to be told the same thing many times. Hopefully, I won't have to repeat this to you. Don't disappoint me, please?

 

[Stray Wasp]

In other words, when I come to this website and see what has been written (or not...), I react accordingly. And if something was put to rest so eloquently and thoroughly like Jonas2244 did, I don't need to waste my or anyone's time, because I expect folks not to need to be told the same thing many times. Hopefully, I won't have to repeat this to you. Don't disappoint me, please?

Right now I can't think of anything that would be more crushing than your approval. After all, I suspect I'd only earn that if I donned a ra-ra skirt and squealed 'Hop Suisse!'

The above is a resourceful reply, I'll give you that. But I wouldn't labour the idea of not wanting to waste people's time. After all, since the first occasion you barked at me not to do that very thing, you've made several posts in this thread- every one of them a defiant comeback rather than a response to my questions. This has the unfortunate effect of making it look like you have all the time in the world, but prefer to direct it towards a desire to have the last word. Mind, sooner rather than later I may grant you the final word- after all, I'm watching Germany versus Sweden in less than half an hour.

And if we look back at the chronology of the thread, we can note the amount of time that elapsed between your first, jeering reply to criticisms of Lichtsteiner and Dzemaili (by a compatriot, lest we forget), and Jonas' post in their defence. During that period you made several posts- just none that took the trouble to go into the amount of detail Jonas took. Or indeed, any remark that wasn't superficial. (By the bye, I don't think the length of Jonas' post was much shorter than the one of mine you claimed was too long. But maybe mine felt longer, given that it asked questions you didn't want to answer).

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

4 police officers were injured in street riots between Serbian and Albanian fans in Vienna and Graz last night.

 

[jonas2244]

Yes, there were similar incidents in Switzerland with 6 injuries, no police officers though.

Sport is often said to be able to unite people. In this case football is breaking up old wounds. Serbian coach compared the referee with war criminals. Said he should be sent to Den Haag. This has no place at a World Championship, I hope he'll be banned.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Right now I can't think of anything that would be more crushing than your approval. After all, I suspect I'd only earn that if I donned a ra-ra skirt and squealed 'Hop Suisse!'

The above is a resourceful reply, I'll give you that. But I wouldn't labour the idea of not wanting to waste people's time. After all, since the first occasion you barked at me not to do that very thing, you've made several posts in this thread- every one of them a defiant comeback rather than a response to my questions. This has the unfortunate effect of making it look like you have all the time in the world, but prefer to direct it towards a desire to have the last word. Mind, sooner rather than later I may grant you the final word- after all, I'm watching Germany versus Sweden in less than half an hour.

And if we look back at the chronology of the thread, we can note the amount of time that elapsed between your first, jeering reply to criticisms of Lichtsteiner and Dzemaili (by a compatriot, lest we forget), and Jonas' post in their defence. During that period you made several posts- just none that took the trouble to go into the amount of detail Jonas took. Or indeed, any remark that wasn't superficial. (By the bye, I don't think the length of Jonas' post was much shorter than the one of mine you claimed was too long. But maybe mine felt longer, given that it asked questions you didn't want to answer).

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Terrific football match, I thought. Akanji good, as usual.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Yes, you're definitely a very busy man with no time to read a long post.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Yes, you're definitely a very busy man with no time to read a long post.

No, it's that it's incredibly long winded and boring. I'd rather watch the games, instead of addressing your desperation-tinged novellas. Man, even a one-smiley reply isn't hint enough for you to get the message that by now I am not interested in your BS.

 

[Stray Wasp]

No, it's that it's incredibly long winded and boring. I'd rather watch the games, instead of addressing your desperation-tinged novellas. Man, even a one-smiley reply isn't hint enough for you to get the message that by now I am not interested in your BS.

I asked you three questions.

Though you've answered none of them, you've found the time to make five posts telling me to shut up and go away.

I'm pretty confident who most people would consider the bullshitter.

You're under no compulsion to respond to me. You choose to. Just as you choose not answer my questions.

 

[BruinLVGA]

I asked you three questions.

Though you've answered none of them, you've found the time to make five posts telling me to shut up and go away.

I'm pretty confident who most people would consider the bull****ter.

You're under no compulsion to respond to me. You choose to. Just as you choose not answer my questions.

And you are still going on about a crap load of BS. I don't even f***ing remember what this was all about in the first place: that's how much this is important to me. You count questions and replies, care about some strangers opinion about "who is a bullshitter". Good for you, I on the other hand do not care and do not see the point to invest more time in whatever you might want from me. It might have been interesting / worth it when it originally happened. Now it's not the case any longer, for me. Go get cured of your OCD and then get a life. Move on, ffs.

 

[Stray Wasp]

And you are still going on about a crap load of BS. I don't even ****ing remember what this was all about in the first place: that's how much this is important to me. You count questions and replies, care about some strangers opinion about "who is a bull****ter". Good for you, I on the other hand do not care and do not see the point to invest more time in whatever you might want from me. It might have been interesting / worth it when it originally happened. Now it's not the case any longer, for me. Go get cured of your OCD and then get a life. Move on, ffs.

This started 30 hours ago. Why have you waited this long to move on?

(Asking me to get a life would sit better if you yourself hadn't posted at 1.34 am UK time- post 241 of the thread if anyone else is playing along at home- just to post a smiley).

You could put me on your ignore list, but don't. Instead back you come- despite your statement you don't remember what we're going on about. I'm happy to remind you.

 

[Stray Wasp]

1. What do you think changed the momentum of the game?

 

[Stray Wasp]

2. How were the Serbs physical and aggressive?

 

[Stray Wasp]

3. If the Swiss weren't prepared to handle the Serbian style of play, isn't that the fault of the coach you defended?

There, three questions broken down into nice bite-sized chunks that aren't too long for you.

 

[BruinLVGA]

This started 30 hours ago. Why have you waited this long to move on?

(Asking me to get a life would sit better if you yourself hadn't posted at 1.34 am UK time- post 241 of the thread if anyone else is playing along at home- just to post a smiley).

You could put me on your ignore list, but don't. Instead back you come- despite your statement you don't remember what we're going on about. I'm happy to remind you.

Ignore list? Good idea. No need for your ocd. Welcome to my list.

 

[Stray Wasp]

Ignore list? Good idea. No need for your ocd. Welcome to my list.

It's your tragedy.