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World Cup Discussion Thread - Day 18 (1 July)

dk-yid

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Jan 17, 2011
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If Modric wasn't the best player on the pitch, then who was? Only Eriksen came close. Croatia moved through Modric the whole night, and if he wasn't as good as we normally expect to see him, that's probably because we normally see him in an outstanding Real team.

So many Croatia players were poor tonight, and none of the Danes, ex. Eriksen, really have the technique to match Modric, so when I say he was the best player on the park, it may be damning with faint praise, but it's still true.
77 percent of his passes were sideways or backwards.... He was closed down constantly and never got his game going.
 

Zippy1980

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Mar 23, 2018
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If Modric wasn't the best player on the pitch, then who was? Only Eriksen came close. Croatia moved through Modric the whole night, and if he wasn't as good as we normally expect to see him, that's probably because we normally see him in an outstanding Real team.

So many Croatia players were poor tonight, and none of the Danes, ex. Eriksen, really have the technique to match Modric, so when I say he was the best player on the park, it may be damning with faint praise, but it's still true.
I thought Delaney was MOM.
 

fluffybunnyuk

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Oct 16, 2017
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on the plus side , eriksen will be back with the spurs squad training hard for next season, waiting for the other spurs lads to bring at least the golden boot back. *giggle*.
 

Zippy1980

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Mar 23, 2018
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on the plus side , eriksen will be back with the spurs squad training hard for next season, waiting for the other spurs lads to bring at least the golden boot back. *giggle*.
Yeah get him on the last flight out of Russia tonight ready for the first day of training at our training ground tomorrow lol
 

wirE

I'm a well-known member
Sep 27, 2005
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What a game that was and what a finish. kinda felt bad for the Danes. Schmeichel sr. went bananas in the stands
 

SUIYHA

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Jan 15, 2017
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Don't know what game you were watching, he was controlling the Croatian midfield.

Modric having a bad or average game > better than 99% of midfielders having a 'good/great game'.

There's levels in technique, positioning and intelligence.

Player of the tournament so far IMO.

People always talk about what if we had Bale back, and of course I miss his ability to win matches almost on his own, but in a way I almost miss Modric even more. We used to play such good football at times with him in the side and move the ball around so quickly. If only we'd been able to have him alongside Eriksen and Alli in a Pochettino midfield...
 

parj

NDombelly ate all the pies
Jul 27, 2003
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Loved Kjaer's pen. Something satisfying when the ball is absolutely leathered in to the net. Not quite the accuracy of Kane, but a damn fine soccer kick.

Erm.... Soccer kick?
 

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
8,274
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You could argue that Spain never wanted to play football either. Tippy tappy at a pedestrian pace isn't football.

You certainly know very little about football then as you seem to believe it is "pedestrian" to toally dominate a team like Russia (that even at 1-1 had 11 man in defense) :cool: It takes much more running than you are aware of to keep such possession and can you explain then how one can "speed up" their game against a team with 11 man in defense? Run faster into the defense? Pass even faster?
True, they did not creat that many chances but that does not mean they did not want to play football. They were the only team wanting to play football (of the 2 teams).
 
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Dharmabum

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Aug 16, 2003
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What did you expect them to do. Go out and play on Spain's terms? If they had Spain had gone through. They defended and played their chance. Good on them. And f**k Spain who brought this on themselves, by thinking their football anno 2012 still works.

Real Madrid are the CL Champions for the 3 last years btw. I know you disagree with me but I personally would much rather watch Spain play like this than go and watch a team like Russia with 11 man in defense. What if both teams went for the approach?
 

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
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Strange to see so many on SC dislike Spain despite of them being one of the very few teams that always go out to play rather just sit back and defend and hope for lucky goals on the counter. In the EPL the same fans criticise most other teams for doing the same when they park the bus vs Spurs :cool:
By the way, I much rather watch tiki-take football all day than teams that park the bus.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
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Just finished watching the Croatia/Denmark game. Fuck me Gary's Neville's punditry has gone to fucking pish since he made a **** of himself in Valencia. Yes, Denmark came out second half and were tactically better, and they did work hard and make it harder for Croatia, but fuck me he didn't half over state their case. What really effected this game was how poor Croatia performed. They were so fucking careless with the ball all over the pitch, and their movement off the ball, when in possession, was woeful. And the penalties (including Modric's at the end of extra time) just typified the careless shit.

But lets get things right, Croatia were still the more proactive team, still the team the played more of whatever footballer was played and were well on top by the last 30 of normal and throughout extra time, they were just comically fucking bumbling their way through it. Even Modric looked like Scott fucking Parker for big chunks of that game and fuck knows where Rakatic went, thought he’d been subbed? Mandzukic looked like his batteries had run out from about the 60th minute.

Fair play to Denmark, they played this about as well as they could given the cards (Braithwaite, Jorgensen - seriously?) they've been dealt, but despite not being able to say the same about Croatia, they were still the better side and just about deserved to go through, but nowhere as much as they should have with this squad.
 
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LSUY

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Jul 12, 2005
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You certainly know very little about football then as you seem to believe it is "pedestrian" to toally dominate a team like Russia (that even at 1-1 had 11 man in defense) :cool: It takes much more running than you are aware of to keep such possession and can you explain then how you can "speed up" their game against a team with 11 man in defense?

I'm sorry. 79% possession, 0 shots on target in the first half, 9 shots on target in 120 mins of football and requiring an own goal should be applauded.

As Cesc pointed out after the game Spain had chances to go forward but instead, they turned back and just wanted possession. Also, if Russia's sitting back all game why play two defensive midfielders?
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
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I'm sorry. 79% possession, 0 shots on target in the first half, 9 shots on target in 120 mins of football and requiring an own goal should be applauded.

As Cesc pointed out after the game Spain had chances to go forward but instead, they turned back and just wanted possession. Also, if Russia's sitting back all game why play two defensive midfielders?

I don't think anyone would claim that Spain got everything right, interns of selection, subs or individual performances/moments/choices/play within that. The point is, if you don't like a team that tries to win games the way Spain do, then that's fine, but to claim they somehow deserved it less than Russia is daft, because Russia did much less than Spain to try and win that game, they didn't even break well. I can applaud a clever counter attacking strategy, but Russia didn't carry one out, they just spent 120 minutes shuffling around making sure Spain didn't get behind them. That's OK too, they got he result, but I don't believe that is a more creditworthy performance than Spain, who at least tried to win as well as trying to not allowing Russia to.
 

bho

Active Member
Apr 29, 2007
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I think the issue is that Spain had the tools to do a lot more in order to win that match, but were apparently too risk-averse to use them.
 

Bobbins

SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
May 5, 2005
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Real Madrid are the CL Champions for the 3 last years btw. I know you disagree with me but I personally would much rather watch Spain play like this than go and watch a team like Russia with 11 man in defense. What if both teams went for the approach?

Real Madrid don't play anything like the Spain national team though?

Barcelona do, but Real play much more like an English or German team, with pace and power in wide areas and dynamic transitions from front to back (mainly based on Modric's ability to turn and find an incisive pass on the move).

Club success isn't that closely related to international success anyway, if it was England would do much better.
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
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What has gone wrong with Diego Costa ? He is a shadow of the player that played for Chelsea.
 

dk-yid

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2011
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Real Madrid are the CL Champions for the 3 last years btw. I know you disagree with me but I personally would much rather watch Spain play like this than go and watch a team like Russia with 11 man in defense. What if both teams went for the approach?

So what? What does Real Madrid have to do with this? Their football and that of Spain are very different.

Also I don't care what you would rather watch. It's beside the point of this discussion.

My point was that 1) Russia did what they had to/could do and 2) Spain have not adapted their tactics to suit new realities - they've been found out. If you want to disagree, then by all means, but you are currently disagreeing with me on something that I haven't said - and as a result chosen also to use the dislike rating. Normally, that doesn't bother me one bit, but this is just puzzling....
 
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