World Cup: National Team threads

[Jersey Fresh]

What about Payet?

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

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.

Not barca quality to be an out an out starter. So, the likes of Mathieu,Varmaeln isn't the benchmark. Masch has been better. I too think he's solid and a great option off the bench.

Who confused Umtiti as a DM?

 

[Evilo]

I meant compared to Masch, who never had the instincts of a CB.

Payet isn't called up, and rightfully so.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Masch even as a CB is better and was good enough to be a staple for 2 treble winning teams. He was at times Barca best defender.

 

[Evilo]

Disagree with him being better at CB and his team results are certainly not his doing. In fact it's further proof Umtiti is Barca quality because winning 2 trebles with a good DM playing as nothing more than a pedestrian CB on such a team proves Barca doesn't need two WC CBs to win.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Not his doing but he was a big part... as I said at times he was their best defender. Definitely not a pedestrian.

 

[Evilo]

At times when Piqué was sucking. Overall, Piqué has been their anchor at CB, with plenty of other players playing aside him. Of all of them, Mascherano has been the best, but that's because all their other experiments have failed. Until Umtiti.

Weird that you use team wins and yet discard Umtiti after Savi's stat about the winning record with Umtiti.

 

[Evilo]

Tiemoue Bakayoko will replace Pogba, injured.
Another Monaco player and another fantasy draftee

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

At times when Piqué was sucking. Overall, Piqué has been their anchor at CB, with plenty of other players playing aside him. Of all of them, Mascherano has been the best, but that's because all their other experiments have failed. Until Umtiti.

Weird that you use team wins and yet discard Umtiti after Savi's stat about the winning record with Umtiti.

I cited treble winning team with barca at their best. From what I've seen of Umiti he's nothing special and should be a bench player right now. Sadly the options for barca aren't there. As for the record, couldn't care less. If you go based off only results Zizo is the greatest manager ever.

 

[Ceremony]

oliverburke.jpg mattphillips.jpg ryangauld.jpg stevenfletcher.jpg

Ah, yes, where was I?

 

[Evilo]

I cited treble winning team with barca at their best. From what I've seen of Umiti he's nothing special and should be a bench player right now. Sadly the options for barca aren't there. As for the record, couldn't care less. If you go based off only results Zizo is the greatest manager ever.

He's nothing special but should definitely start because he's a solid option with Piqué and adds with his left foot.
Barca has lots of trouble right now, but central defense isn't one of them.

 

[robertmac43]

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.

100% agreed! Both Giroud and Koscielny are redefining the word inconsistent.

 

[Corto]

I mean, I wouldn't trade our midfield for anyone elses in the world (Croatia's - Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Badelj; Perisic and Pjaca as wingers, etc)...

But holy s**t, Belgium is LOADED.
I know it's not news, but sometimes you forget until you see it like that in one place.
Absolutely. Freaking. Loaded.

No offense to other traditional "big" countries, but France and Germany are looking the best out of those at the moment, strong right now and even a brighter future.
Spain is slowly sinking into the pack after their god-tier generation.

But yeah, up with Germany/France, it's no longer (just) the usual suspects (England, Italy, Holland, Spain), it's Belgium and Croatia.

(I don't think I'm being terribly biased here either... though, even someone can spare a left back, or a NT manager that isn't utter dumpster-tier, Croatia would be very grateful)

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

England will be running something very Conte/Pochettino-esque tonight against Germany it seems. A 3-4-2-1 with Hart in goal and Keane, Smalling and Cahill in a back three. Dier and Livermore as holding mids whilst Walker and Bertrand play wingbacks. Alli and Lallana will be playing behind Vardy. I expect Alli to be playing more of a supporting striker role whilst Lallana will drop deeper and link up with the midfield, something similar to what Pochettino does with Alli and Eriksen.

I find that they lack a good midfield pivot though. Henderson would be ideal when he comes back I guess.

Seeing how they went with this formation I'm not too surprised seeing Walcott dropped.

 

[Live in the Now]

Never seen a worse England team than that.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Never seen a worse England team than that.

Their best XI would probably be putting in Stones over Keane, Rose over Bertrand, Henderson over Livermore and Kane over Vardy. Let Sterling rotate with Alli as the supporting striker.

 

[Shrimper]

Didn't take long for the England fans to look like morons, singing the Bombers song.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Good for Podolski. England have otherwise very much controlled the match.

 

[Moncherry]

I mean, I wouldn't trade our midfield for anyone elses in the world (Croatia's - Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic, Brozovic, Badelj; Perisic and Pjaca as wingers, etc)...

But holy s**t, Belgium is LOADED.
I know it's not news, but sometimes you forget until you see it like that in one place.
Absolutely. Freaking. Loaded.

No offense to other traditional "big" countries, but France and Germany are looking the best out of those at the moment, strong right now and even a brighter future.
Spain is slowly sinking into the pack after their god-tier generation.

But yeah, up with Germany/France, it's no longer (just) the usual suspects (England, Italy, Holland, Spain), it's Belgium and Croatia.

(I don't think I'm being terribly biased here either... though, even someone can spare a left back, or a NT manager that isn't utter dumpster-tier, Croatia would be very grateful)

Belgium have the most overrated talent pool in the world and Croatia isn't as good as you think there are either.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Didn't take long for the England fans to look like morons, singing the Bombers song.

Way more important is that England didn't spoil Poldi's party. Thanks for that.

 

[Corto]

Belgium have the most overrated talent pool in the world and Croatia isn't as good as you think there are either.

How is Belgium overrated?

GK: Courtois (Mignolet)
D: Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Meunier (Kompany, if he ever gets healthy)
M: Dembele, De Bruyne, Nainggolan (Witsel, Fellaini)
AM/F: Hazard, Lukaku, Carrasco (Mertens, Origi, Batshuayi)

Their one weakness is an apparent lack of an elite LB (same with Croatia actually), which is partly why Martinez is playing 3-4-3 now, with Carrasco as the LWB.

It's an absolutely loaded starting 11, with the depth is nothing to scoff at either.

Croatia's got a problem at LB and is also lacking a world class striker (with Madzukic turning basically into a grinder), their CBs are quality (even if they went for money in Russia/Ukraine instead of bigger clubs in EPL/Spain, talking about Corluka and Vida) and their midfield is top-3 in the world (if not the best).

So back to Belgium, how are they exactly overrated? I'm genuinely curious why someone would think that....
Most of these guys play key roles at major football clubs and most of them are still relatively young as well.

 

[SchwenningerWildWing]

Belgium has very good individual players, but as a team I think they have not shown enough in the last Euro and World Cup that they are a favourite to win it all. Something is just missing when I saw them play. Maybe it is an experience thing playing under the spotlight on the biggest possible stage in a World Cup but at least in the last Euro I found them pretty underwhelming

 

[Corto]

Belgium has very good individual players, but as a team I think they have not shown enough in the last Euro and World Cup that they are a favourite to win it all. Something is just missing when I saw them play. Maybe it is an experience thing playing under the spotlight on the biggest possible stage in a World Cup but at least in the last Euro I found them pretty underwhelming

Well, to be fair, much like Croatia, they did have an absolute plonker managing them.

Now, Martinez isn't exactly Ancelotti, Guardiola, Conte, etc..., but compared to Wilmots, he's a tactical master and strategic god.

 

[The_Human_Atombomb]

Belgium now is what the Netherlands used to be.

 

[Evilo]

How is Belgium overrated?

GK: Courtois (Mignolet)
D: Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Meunier (Kompany, if he ever gets healthy)
M: Dembele, De Bruyne, Nainggolan (Witsel, Fellaini)
AM/F: Hazard, Lukaku, Carrasco (Mertens, Origi, Batshuayi)

Courtois : no question asked, World class.
D : lots of questions marks IMO with Vermaelen and to some extent Vertonghen. I don't believe in Meunier for defensive tasks either.
M : KDB's form has been horrible, but he's WC. Nainggolan has become overrated, Dembélé is ups and downs.
AM : Hazard WC, Lukaku's pretty good but has shown little chemistry with the others and Carrasco and Mertens are excellent players.

This team definitely is one of the best, but I don't disagree with the overrated part if the rating is among the top 2/3 teams roster wise.
France, Spain, Germany are still a notch better IMO. And that's only off the top of my head and in Europe.