It Could Get A Bit Messi In Here - The Football Thread.

Jan said:
They did not look as bad as in the 2018 wc and in most other groups they would make it to the next round, but in this group with another loss against portugal they might be out before the hungary game even starts.
Click to expand...

With the nonsense of the 24 team tournament even if they lose against Portugal they’ll qualify if it is close and they bag a hatful against Hungary, which isn’t beyond a team with talent.

I’m torn with the euros. 16 teams brought the cream to the surface and improved the football. 2008 is the best quality football tournament I’ve seen by a distance. But then 24 has allowed Ireland, the North and Wales to qualify last time and Scotland this time and that’s not a bad thing either 🤷🏻
 
Joe Mac said:
With the nonsense of the 24 team tournament even if they lose against Portugal they’ll qualify if it was close and they bag a hatful against Hungary, which isn’t beyond a team with talent
Click to expand...
I agree completely. But we said the same in Russia before the last game

And i always liked that the world cup was this sprAwling tournament with a large number of teams, while the euro used to be that concise tournament with lots of games like the one today in the opening stages. I think when i started watching in the 80s they had 2 groups of 4 teams. If you would bring that to the current time you'd have france, italy, England, spain, belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and maybe Germany or Croatia. That would be a lot of really interesting games
 
Jan said:
I agree completely. But we said the same in Russia before the last game

And i always liked that the world cup was this sprAwling tournament with a large number of teams, while the euro used to be that concise tournament with lots of games like the one today in the opening stages. I think when i started watching in the 80s they had 2 groups of 4 teams. If you would bring that to the current time you'd have france, italy, England, spain, belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and maybe Germany or Croatia. That would be a lot of really interesting games
Click to expand...

Yeah. Europe was a lot smaller continent in the 80s and early 90s. The break up of the the USSR and Yugoslavia and a few other bits massively increased the amount of countries around.

That said the first one I remember was 92 which was 8 teams and the quality was awful lol!

I think it’s a hard balance, quality v giving nations a chance at an international tournament. One thing that’s for sure is that 24 teams is a poor compromise, as it used to be in the World Cup before 98, because finishing third should not be rewarded.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jan
Joe Mac said:
Yeah. Europe was a lot smaller continent in the 80s and early 90s. The break up of the the USSR and Yugoslavia and a few other bits massively increased the amount of countries around.

That said the first one I remember was 92 which was 8 teams and the quality was awful lol!

I think it’s a hard balance, quality v giving nations a chance at an international tournament. One thing that’s for sure is that 24 teams is a poor compromise, as it used to be in the World Cup before 98, because finishing third should not be rewarded.
Click to expand...
Again agree, even if i have to hope for it this year. And also thus 4 out of 6 third places from different groups makes it really arbitrary and does contribute to the defensiveness of some teams cause a draw and not risking loosing higher if behind are viable tactics in this setup
 
Jan said:
Again agree, even if i have to hope for it this year. And also thus 4 out of 6 third places from different groups makes it really arbitrary and does contribute to the defensiveness of some teams cause a draw and not risking loosing higher if behind are viable tactics in this setup
Click to expand...

Yeah! And that’s speaking as someone living in a country that had a foundational “coming of age” moment in Italia 90 where where we begin to take nationalism and the flag back from the IRA and all that shit off the back of a long ball team that qualified in third off the back of three very dour draws!

A 48 team World Cup from 2026 onwards will be shit too, with the World Cup being for the whole world part of me was like “32 was ideal but fuck it if we’re going to expand let’s go utterly insane with 64 and at least make the draw logical” 😂

The only way 24 can work for me is 6 groups of 4 into 4 groups of 3 with the winners in the semis…
 
It’s a no brainer....32 for the World Cup,16 for the Euro’s. Anything more is purely for financial reasons and quality/entertainment gets watered down.
As for this tourney France vs England in the final purely for the reason of strength in depth of both teams, although based on what transpired today anybody who writes off Germany ain’t paying attention. Those players are playing for Jurge!
 
Joe Mac said:
I fear for Belgium’s centre halves against anyone half decent to be honest. They’re old and leggy and Martinez doesn’t do tactics just all out attack and talking out of his arse. Portugal are my second favourites after France on what I’ve seen so far, Italy a provisional third with the huge caveat that Turkey have been the least impressive team I’ve seen so far.
Click to expand...

Agreed with France, Portugal and Italy. France & Portugal are playing the way a team needs to play to win a championship. This way is not necessarily the most brilliant way but it works. All French people and medias were against Portuguese team in 2016, saying their football was terrible and they were the worst winners ever. Well, I remember 2000, 2004, 2006 were Portuguese team was playing a beautiful football but never won anything. Two years later in 2018, French team learnt the lesson, did exactly the same and won the world cup. For me these two teams are perfectly balanced, solid defensively and with superstars on the attack who can score a goal anytime and from anywhere.

I imagine France will win against Hungary (not an easy opponent though) but can't predict who will win between Portugal and Germany. If Portugal wins against Germany, the game with France might be either a great match with two relaxed team where they won't have so much to stress for or boring as hell.

BTW, GO PORTUGAL !!!
 
Skalap said:
Agreed with France, Portugal and Italy. France & Portugal are playing the way a team needs to play to win a championship. This way is not necessarily the most brilliant way but it works. All French people and medias were against Portuguese team in 2016, saying their football was terrible and they were the worst winners ever. Well, I remember 2000, 2004, 2006 were Portuguese team was playing a beautiful football but never won anything. Two years later in 2018, French team learnt the lesson, did exactly the same and won the world cup. For me these two teams are perfectly balanced, solid defensively and with superstars on the attack who can score a goal anytime and from anywhere.

I imagine France will win against Hungary (not an easy opponent though) but can't predict who will win between Portugal and Germany. If Portugal wins against Germany, the game with France might be either a great match with two relaxed team where they won't have so much to stress for or boring as hell.

BTW, GO PORTUGAL !!!
Click to expand...

Portugal were a really hard watch four years ago. It was a solid base and Ronaldo but little else. Maybe it was karma for Greece in 2004.

To be fair they were a hard watch yesterday to be honest, against Hungary they could have dropped one of the DMs and gone out to entertain. Or at least changed to do it a bit earlier when they were 0-0! They got off lucky yesterday with a jammy deflection and a penalty to open the game up. The third was class but they’d already won at that stage. The depth of the squad is second only to France though and it is totally how they’ll have to set up in the next two, can’t risk gung ho in the bigger games.

What’s the take on William Carvallho in Portugal? I don’t rate what I’ve seen in tournaments before and yesterday, seems a bit leaden to me. Especially given I rate Ruben Neves who was benched really highly!
 
Watching the game last night reminds me how much better France Pogba is vs. United Pogba. He was electric.

For home nations sake I’m hoping for a Wales win v. Turkey today.

The Italy game v. Switzerland will be interesting. I imagine it’ll be attack vs. a parked bus for most of the game.
 
Joe Mac said:
Portugal were a really hard watch four years ago. It was a solid base and Ronaldo but little else. Maybe it was karma for Greece in 2004.

To be fair they were a hard watch yesterday to be honest, against Hungary they could have dropped one of the DMs and gone out to entertain. Or at least changed to do it a bit earlier when they were 0-0! They got off lucky yesterday with a jammy deflection and a penalty to open the game up. The third was class but they’d already won at that stage. The depth of the squad is second only to France though and it is totally how they’ll have to set up in the next two, can’t risk gung ho in the bigger games.

What’s the take on William Carvallho in Portugal? I don’t rate what I’ve seen in tournaments before and yesterday, seems a bit leaden to me. Especially given I rate Ruben Neves who was benched really highly!
Click to expand...

I couldn't watch the whole game but it seems they could have scored a few times in the first half. It would have been a different match. First goal was lucky indeed and it opened Hungarian defense, turning things easier. They will have to play better against Germany and France but these teams won't play the same way.

I don't like William Carvalho. I always thought he was slow, only making sure passes and not creating anything. Game changed a lot when he got replaced by Renato Sanches. He is in the three goals. His move opens a corridor to Rafa Silva to receive the ball and pass the ball to Rafael Guerreiro. On the second he takes the ball and give it again to Rafa Silva who takes a penalty. On the third he finds a pass to Ronaldo who plays Tiki-Taka with Rafa Silva, again... Fernando Santos took a lot of time to make the changes but final result shows he was right. I would love to see Renato Sanches starting next match though, he had a successful season with Lille in France and I think he does more than William Carvalho.
 
Skalap said:
I couldn't watch the whole game but it seems they could have scored a few times in the first half. It would have been a different match. First goal was lucky indeed and it opened Hungarian defense, turning things easier. They will have to play better against Germany and France but these teams won't play the same way.

I don't like William Carvalho. I always thought he was slow, only making sure passes and not creating anything. Game changed a lot when he got replaced by Renato Sanches. He is in the three goals. His move opens a corridor to Rafa Silva to receive the ball and pass the ball to Rafael Guerreiro. On the second he takes the ball and give it again to Rafa Silva who takes a penalty. On the third he finds a pass to Ronaldo who plays Tiki-Taka with Rafa Silva, again... Fernando Santos took a lot of time to make the changes but final result shows he was right. I would love to see Renato Sanches starting next match though, he had a successful season with Lille in France and I think he does more than William Carvalho.
Click to expand...

The better team no doubt but it was weird watching you play two holders against an objectively weak team. Especially as your defence is really solid and doesn’t need the protection that say England’s does.

Oh he totally does. I was thinking more Neves because he does more in the same role for me but if you want to put a more advanced midfielder on and go 4-3-3 then Sanches offers so much more energy and thrust.
 
Joe Mac said:
The better team no doubt but it was weird watching you play two holders against an objectively weak team. Especially as your defence is really solid and doesn’t need the protection that say England’s does.

Oh he totally does. I was thinking more Neves because he does more in the same role for me but if you want to put a more advanced midfielder on and go 4-3-3 then Sanches offers so much more energy and thrust.
Click to expand...

It's how Portugal play right now. It was nice watching their kind-of-Brazilian football in the past and they might never play like this again (at least not with Fernando Santos and even with the fantastic players they have). In addition, Portugal rarely plays well with weak teams. Remember their match against Spain 3-3 and Iran 1-1 in the last World Cup. They need to have soccer players in front of them to show their skills.

Ruben Neves is more a place for place replacement to William Carvalho indeed and it would be easier for him and the rest of the team to play together. Renato Sanches brings something different, more impetuous and naive and I like to watch him play. Of course he is not so good when the team needs to defend.
 
Skalap said:
It's how Portugal play right now. It was nice watching their kind-of-Brazilian football in the past and they might never play like this again (at least not with Fernando Santos and even with the fantastic players they have). In addition, Portugal rarely plays well with weak teams. Remember their match against Spain 3-3 and Iran 1-1 in the last World Cup. They need to have soccer players in front of them to show their skills.

Ruben Neves is more a place for place replacement to William Carvalho indeed and it would be easier for him and the rest of the team to play together. Renato Sanches brings something different, more impetuous and naive and I like to watch him play. Of course he is not so good when the team needs to defend.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I totally understand all of that but one of my big criticisms of the entire tournament so far, not just Portugal, is how negative it has been and how even when the opposition hasn’t appeared as strong on the field as they do on paper the managers have been slow to make changes to really turn the screw. England were hugely guilty of it against an aging Croatia team too.

I also totally get as a United fan playing Bruno at 10 and 2 holders behind him, it gets the best out of him and he’s some player. I suppose it would be nice if you had one holder who was a bit better at picking him out with passes through the lines, which ironically the huge criticism I have of the United midfielders who who play behind him at club level 😂
 
Joe Mac said:
Oh yeah I totally understand all of that but one of my big criticisms of the entire tournament so far, not just Portugal, is how negative it has been and how even when the opposition hasn’t appeared as strong on the field as they do on paper the managers have been slow to make changes to really turn the screw. England were hugely guilty of it against an aging Croatia team too.

I also totally get as a United fan playing Bruno at 10 and 2 holders behind him, it gets the best out of him and he’s some player. I suppose it would be nice if you had one holder who was a bit better at picking him out with passes through the lines, which ironically the huge criticism I have of the United midfielders who who play behind him at club level 😂
Click to expand...

You mean a certain player who don't like alcohol free beers?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top