butterweedstrover Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 Viva la France! what a wonderful country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach - 2 Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 Weird how no WC has this thread just derailing into insanity. Half of it is about imaginary matches and the other half is a very, very, very strange discussion on the subject of Luck. Who I thought was a caveman-looking formerly QB in handball (what the USAians call football for reasons unknown). Hope this madness ends promptly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 Morocco certainly impressed in defeat. Like Croatia yesterday, if they had a proper striker, they could be truly dangerous. France will always give you a few chances. Griezmann was great today though, doing everything. It is difficult to pick a winner against Argentina. You get the sense that Argentina want it more. France probably have the better players and always seem to do just enough to win. Argentina has Messi, while France has Mbappe. Should be a decent game at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 31 minutes ago, Rorschach - 2 said: the other half is a very, very, very strange discussion on the subject of Luck. Yeah, I had this moment where I was like 'Do I prefer this discussion or the weird athleticism one' and I reazlied they're both terrible. As an aside, more on Grant Wahl here where an autopsy showed that he died from an ascending aortic aneurysm. There were a lot of very weird conspiracy sounding takes when news of him passing away initially broke, but I'm glad this has cleared that up. Still so sad though. Sigh. Kalnak the Magnificent 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted December 14, 2022 Share Posted December 14, 2022 (edited) Moving from fantasy(or dystopian) football to real football (club level). As was in the news, Neuer broke is leg in a skiing accident, thus Bayern need a replacement. Their plan is to recall Nübel, who is currently on loan at Monaco. A few problems with that. Monaco will not happily part with their first choice goalkeeper mid-season, and Bayern's recall option expired in the summer. Nübel himself is not particularly keen to return to Bayern. He joined Bayern from Schalke on a free in 2020, with the idea of a job sharing arrangement with Neuer (who had missed quite a bit due to injuries), before the latter finally rides off into the sunset of his retirement. Every observer was like, dude, that's a bad idea, you'll end up wasting years on the bench. Neuer wouldn't have any of it, and very much decided to play every game (ask Ter Stegen about it) and stay mostly injury free. Thus Nübel was wasting time on the bench. He didn't waste years, tho. He already had enough of it after one season, so Bayern agreed to loan him out to Monaco, where has established himself as their starter. And he has repeatedly said, he doesn't want to come back to Bayern, while Neuer is still around (at least he has learnt his lesson). And he has thus far also turned down negotiations over a new contract (current one expires in 2025), before his future status as Bayern's number one is established, with a clear timeline of Neuer buggering off. So him filling in for the rest of the season to then being (demoted to?) back up for Neuer is something he really doesn't want. He has also fired some shots at Bayern (namely their GK coach Toni Tapalovic). And there's apparently been thus far zero contact to Nagelsmann. Edited December 14, 2022 by A Horse Named Stranger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lacuna Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Ok, but... What about coinkidinks? Are they real? And whoopsie-daisies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartofice Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Very sad that Morocco didn't win last night, they really pushed France who ended up doing the usual French thing of retreating to their box. The writing was on the wall though, every Moroccan attack you could see about 6 big French defenders just waiting for the ball to come and hit them. There was an element of the Moroccans just not having the striker they needed to put chances away and an element that they just couldn't attack in the numbers needed to get that goal. Even then there were so many moments where they could have scored and won, if only they were more.... LUCKY!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 14 hours ago, BigFatCoward said: I currently have CR7 as number 4 all time. I have Messi at number 1 only because I didn't see enough of Pele or Maradona to compare. But their records speak for themselves. I don't think anyone ever had a peak like Maradona in 1986 WC, or the season he dragged Napoli to the title. It comes down to what we prefer as metric for GoaT - is it the player's peak or player's longevity and consistency. If we're going for the peak, as short as it may be, then I'd say Ronaldinho takes the cake. If we're talking about longevity and consistency, then it's Messi. The guy averages over 40 goals and almost 20 assists per season over 19 seasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 If it's peak I'm going Ronaldo. The real one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Messi is the GOAT even if Argentina don't win on Sunday. There's never been a player who was both the greatest goalscorer and the greatest playmaker in the world. In his prime, Messi was a better goalscorer than Ronaldo and a better playmaker than De Bruyne. France managed the game well. They let Morocco have possession in non-dangerous areas and didn't bother wasting energy in pressing up the pitch but instead engaged when the Moroccans got closer to their goal. I don't think Morocco were expecting to have that much possession, and they didn't really know what to do with it. For the most part France restricted them to low quality chances and the French defence rarely looked troubled. France themselves created the better chances, looked dangerous on the counter and could have put the game to bed earlier had they been a bit more clinical in front of goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Imagine dropping Giroud, after all he's done for France in this competition, for this horrible cunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Benzema is a top player, but France play better without him. Griezmann in particular plays much better when he's playing off a more traditional #9 like Giroud whereas with Benzema they are both looking to operate in the same spaces and tend to get in each other's way. Griezmann has been immense at this tournament as he was in 2018. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 (edited) 16 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: But I'm also impressed with France, considering that they got here with so many absences. Giroud has shown up in this WC, Theo Hernandez took his older brother's place 10 minutes in their very first match and has played well. They need Rabiot back in the midfield because Fofana was their weakest player today. A couple of those injuries worked in France's favour. For instance: Giroud, Mbappé and Griezmann combine much better than Benzema, Mbappé, Griezmann however, had Benzema not gotten injured, there was no way Deschamps would have dropped him from the starting line-up after the year he's had. Theo is a big upgrade over Lucas at LB 'coz Lucas is a CB, but Deschamps would not have started Theo unless he was forced to. Only their midfield injuries have hurt them in addition to Camavinga not playing well at all, so they do really need Rabiot back. Tchouameni is class though. Edited December 15, 2022 by Consigliere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 31 minutes ago, Consigliere said: A couple of those injuries worked in France's favour. For instance: Giroud, Mbappé and Griezmann combine much better than Benzema, Mbappé, Griezmann however, had Benzema not gotten injured, there was no way Deschamps would have dropped him from the starting line-up after the year he's had. Theo is a big upgrade over Lucas at LB 'coz Lucas is a CB, but Deschamps would not have started Theo unless he was forced to. Only their midfield injuries have hurt them in addition to Camavinga not playing well at all, so they do really need Rabiot back. Tchouameni is class though. And Thuram played well, too, as his better defensive capability was sorely needed in the 2nd half against Morocco. If Benzema does come back, I doubt he'll start. Is he even fit enough? But Giroud doesn't have the legs for a full game so Benzema coming late in the 2nd half to bury a goal or two at the right moment could be a viable strategy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 4 hours ago, Heartofice said: Very sad that Morocco didn't win last night, they really pushed France who ended up doing the usual French thing of retreating to their box. The writing was on the wall though, every Moroccan attack you could see about 6 big French defenders just waiting for the ball to come and hit them. There was an element of the Moroccans just not having the striker they needed to put chances away and an element that they just couldn't attack in the numbers needed to get that goal. Even then there were so many moments where they could have scored and won, if only they were more.... LUCKY!! The better team won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted December 15, 2022 Author Share Posted December 15, 2022 Best PL defender at World Cup. Suck it Saliba fanboys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 The FPF have confirmed that Fernando Santos' contract has been terminated by mutual consent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywin et al. Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 11 hours ago, baxus said: If we're going for the peak, as short as it may be, then I'd say Ronaldinho takes the cake. I have to ask, what happened with him? At his peak he was really hyped up here in the US and then he was just a complete afterthought if you were a causal fan like I was growing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted December 15, 2022 Share Posted December 15, 2022 3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said: I have to ask, what happened with him? At his peak he was really hyped up here in the US and then he was just a complete afterthought if you were a causal fan like I was growing up. He was supremely talented but wasn’t too interested in putting much effort into keeping himself fit enough to be a professional footballer. Tywin et al. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts