Football: CLeaning up

[A Horse Named Stranger]

54 minutes ago, Horse of Kent said:

Reckon Rafinha, Naldo, Fabinho and Willian have a right to feel aggrieved about who was picked over them. Other than that more or less the right squad was picked. The biggest issue with the midfield was letting Thiago and Jorginho go to Spain and Italy. It shouldn't be too much of a worry that Cassio is in the squad with Alisson and Ederson ahead. No matter who was called up should be well behind those two, so choosing someone who suits the squad dynamics/works well with Tite makes sense.

Funny you bring up Naldo. Weren't you critical at the start of the season that Schalke kept him and were quite eager to part with Höwedes?

Anyway, Naldo should have been in the selecao ten years ago (ofc Lucio was lock back then, but Naldo was never any worse than Juan). I think the window for him getting called up to a major tournament has closed a while ago.

1 hour ago, Mark Antony said:

Strong team. Midfield is fair bit weaker than Spain, Germany, France but that attack might be the best at the World Cup. Firmino will be on the bench, no? Crazy to have a season he’s had and not start but Gabby Jesus is amazing as well.  

I think from the pure forward line Argentina is at least of similar strength (Messi, Aguero, di Maria). Of course quality drops off more steeply in other parts of their team than with Brazil.

[Winterfell is Burning]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

Reckon Rafinha, Naldo, Fabinho and Willian have a right to feel aggrieved about who was picked over them. Other than that more or less the right squad was picked. The biggest issue with the midfield was letting Thiago and Jorginho go to Spain and Italy. It shouldn't be too much of a worry that Cassio is in the squad with Alisson and Ederson ahead. No matter who was called up should be well behind those two, so choosing someone who suits the squad dynamics/works well with Tite makes sense.

Nah, Naldo is not a better defender than any of the others.

Brasil didn't have the choice to pick Thiago, he chose Spain early. Jorginho was a waste, I agree. Also, Willian was called. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Btw. What happened to David Luiz.

Is he injured or did he simply not make the cut. Would be a courageous decission if it was the latter, since he is quite popular with the fans, I think.

[Philokles]

56 minutes ago, Notone said:

Funny you bring up Naldo. Weren't you critical at the start of the season that Schalke kept him and were quite eager to part with Höwedes?

I may have got that one ever so slightly wrong. Believe I said Tedesco was out of his depth and should have had a year or two at Aue before getting a big job too.

 

38 minutes ago, Winterfell is Burning said:

Nah, Naldo is not a better defender than any of the others.

He has had a tremendous year - voted into every single Bundesliga team of the season I have seen and a few continent wide ones. Also the top scoring defender across Europe and not just in meaningless games. A 94th minute equaliser in the Revierderby, another stoppage time equaliser to keep the unbeaten streak vs Frankfurt and a second goal to win the other derby against Dortmund. 

 

Quote

Also, Willian was called. 

So he was. I was looking for him amongst the forwards. Drop Taison for somebody else then. I don't see the point in taking a 30-year old who no club in the big leagues has ever gone in for. Take a kid for the experience.

[Mexal]

Ok. I'm ready for Arteta. Bring him on. Just make a fucking announcement.

[Consigliere]

Fulham through to the playoff final. 

[Winterfell is Burning]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

 

 

He has had a tremendous year - voted into every single Bundesliga team of the season I have seen and a few continent wide ones. Also the top scoring defender across Europe and not just in meaningless games. A 94th minute equaliser in the Revierderby, another stoppage time equaliser to keep the unbeaten streak vs Frankfurt and a second goal to win the other derby against Dortmund. 

 

So he was. I was looking for him amongst the forwards. Drop Taison for somebody else then. I don't see the point in taking a 30-year old who no club in the big leagues has ever gone in for. Take a kid for the experience.

Naldo had an excellent season, I agree, but Miranda and Marquinhos are regular starters, Thiago Silva was excellent in the last few games, and Geromel has been the best defender in South America two years in a row.

I agree about Taison, I'd be surprised if he gets more than a couple of minutes in the WC; there were better options, and he doesn't really add anything that Douglas Costa couldn't.

[Spockydog]

1 hour ago, Mexal said:

Ok. I'm ready for Arteta. Bring him on. Just make a fucking announcement.

Brendan Rodgers' odds have tumbled today. He's now clear 2nd favourite. Save us.

 

[polishgenius]

@Rorshach will presumably be delited at reports that Everton are about to let Allardici go and replace him with Marco Silva. That'll be a good appointment until a bigger club approachs him.

[Mexal]

14 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Brendan Rodgers' odds have tumbled today. He's now clear 2nd favourite. Save us.

On the plus side, Rodger's Liverpool team did play some good attacking football. Think he could do a decent job with Aubameyang and Lacazette up front.

But yea, not my first choice. At this point though, I don't care. Just hire someone and lets move onward.

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Mexal said:

On the plus side, Rodger's Liverpool team did play some good attacking football. Think he could do a decent job with Aubameyang and Lacazette up front.

Yeah, but he has a massive portrait of himself in his own house.

[Spockydog]

6 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

@Rorshach will presumably be delited at reports that Everton are about to let Allardici go and replace him with Marco Silva. That'll be a good appointment until a bigger club approachs him.

He's got future Tottenham manager written all over him.

[Iskaral Pust]

Tuchel was confirmed by PSG.

Rodgers and the Arsenal defense would be comedy gold.  

Brazil would be crazy not to start Firmino but I won’t complain if he has a light workload this summer. 

[polishgenius]

1 minute ago, Spockydog said:

He's got future Tottenham manager written all over him.

That is exactly who I was thinking of.

[Spockydog]

3 minutes ago, Mexal said:

On the plus side, Rodger's Liverpool team did play some good attacking football. Think he could do a decent job with Aubameyang and Lacazette up front.

But yea, not my first choice. At this point though, I don't care. Just hire someone and lets move onward.

It would certainly be entertaining. Did you ever see that documentary, Being Liverpool? Holy mother of God, the man is a proper bellend.

 

[Mexal]

28 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

It would certainly be entertaining. Did you ever see that documentary, Being Liverpool? Holy mother of God, the man is a proper bellend.

Haha no, I haven't but I can imagine based on polish's comment above. Fuck that.

[Iskaral Pust]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

It would certainly be entertaining. Did you ever see that documentary, Being Liverpool? Holy mother of God, the man is a proper bellend.

 

He definitely earned the “Brentan” nickname with that.  The three names in the envelope made me cringe more than anything David Brent did.  I was just waiting for one of the players to look at the camera like Martin Freeman. 

[Rorshach]

8 hours ago, polishgenius said:

@Rorshach will presumably be delited at reports that Everton are about to let Allardici go and replace him with Marco Silva. That'll be a good appointment until a bigger club approachs him.

I did a jig in my classrom. 

My students would think me crazy, save that they already knew I was.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Germany's squad to be announced in half an hour.

Small news already leaked.

Sandro Wagner has not made it, instead Nils Petersen (Freiburg) will get called up. Petersen is already 29 has not represented Germany on a senior level, yet. He was however part of Germany's Olympics team, and of all the German strikers, he had found the back of the net the most last season.  Apart from that, Petersen careerwise he is also sorta the super sub. Nobody has scored more goals coming from the bench.

Somehow better news than that embarassing photo shoot of Özil and Gündogang with Erdogan.

And here is the extended squad Löw called up. As mentioned above Petersen is a surprise. The other noteworthy things are. It's four Goalkeepers. The working assumption is, that Neuer will be back in action for the friendly against Austria and make the final cut. And Götze did not make the squad, hardly a surprise after this season. Reus on the other hand is back in. Also Can has not made it.

Goalkeepers: Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen), Kevin Trapp (Paris St. Germain)

Defenders:  Mats Hummels (FC Bayern), Jerome Boateng (FC Bayern), Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern), Jonas Hector (1. FC Köln), Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea), Niklas Süle (FC Bayern), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha BSC), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders and Forwards: Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Juventus Turin), Mesut Özil (FC Arsenal), Leroy Sané (Manchester City), Julian Draxler (Paris St. Germain), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Sebastian Rudy (FC Bayern), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Nils Petersen (SC Freiburg)

In other news the German FA announced the contract extension for Löw and his staff till 2022. And for Bierhoff till 2024.

[Winterfell is Burning]

Guardian is reporting that Hart is not going to the WC.