Fantastic day of games. After a shit start this tournament is lighting up.

The two big grudge matches are tomorrow. Very much looking forward to Ghana v Uruguay and Switzerland v Serbia

RowdierBob

Australia13434 Posts

December 01 2022 21:02 GMT

#675

Spain had a couple of really good chances at the end there. Torres should’ve scored but hit it straight at gonda when 1on1

Mafe

Germany5966 Posts

December 01 2022 21:04 GMT

#676

It's so infuriating. We could have scored 10 today. We should have scored 4 against japan. Musiala is 19 and I dont want be too harsh on him but for all the praise he's getting it doesnt seem like an coincidence that he went scoreless. Müller has been nonexistant. There was a legit shot to win by 8 today and not starting either Havertz or Füllkrug is mindboggling. I know people called for Löw to be removed long ago but to me this tournament was a coaching failure worse than anything Löw ever did.

WombaT

Northern Ireland27266 Posts

December 01 2022 21:04 GMT

#677

On December 02 2022 00:55 warding wrote:
Was Belgium's golden generation a one off thing? Seems like it's the same players since 2012. I'm expecting Fellaini to come off the bench at any moment.

Yeah it pretty much was. There’s still talent coming through but there’s not really been some ingenious structural overhaul in academies or what have you that would explain the golden generation.

I think they’re back to being a (relatively) middle of the pack European side with a few really top players.

Whereas before they were full of real top players at the top of their game, and crucially they were spread across a bunch of positions. Which is way more important than having a ton of world class players in a squad who can’t get on the pitch at the same time (see Argentina’s last few WC squads in terms of reference for ‘stacked’ teams that aren’t really that stacked)

Sorry Plasmid! Hopefully your adoptive nation will have a new golden generation soon.

justanothertownie

16342 Posts

December 01 2022 21:07 GMT

#678

On December 02 2022 06:04 Mafe wrote:
It's so infuriating. We could have scored 10 today. We should have scored 4 against japan. Musiala is 19 and I dont want be too harsh on him but for all the praise he's getting it doesnt seem like an coincidence that he went scoreless. Müller has been nonexistant. There was a legit shot to win by 8 today and not starting either Havertz or Füllkrug is mindboggling. I know people called for Löw to be removed long ago but to me this tournament was a coaching failure worse than anything Löw ever did.

I disagree. Flick is lacking a world class 9 and defenders. There is not a lot he can do about that. Füllkrug is not the answer to this either.

justanothertownie

16342 Posts

December 01 2022 21:08 GMT

#679

His biggest mistake was subbing out Müller and gündogan against Japan.

WombaT

Northern Ireland27266 Posts

December 01 2022 21:13 GMT

#680

On December 02 2022 06:04 Mafe wrote:
It's so infuriating. We could have scored 10 today. We should have scored 4 against japan. Musiala is 19 and I dont want be too harsh on him but for all the praise he's getting it doesnt seem like a coincidence that he went scoreless. Müller has been nonexistant. There was a legit shot to win by 8 today and not starting either Havertz or Füllkrug is mindboggling. I know people called for Löw to be removed long ago but to me this tournament was a coaching failure worse than anything Löw ever did.

I’m not saying Flick is blameless, far from it but I think you’re seeing the problems with the calendar. Not just from Germany either

It feels the teams with continuity over the last few years have been doing alright, even if their coaches don’t really have a rep for being on the cutting edge of coaching sophistication. Be it France under Deschaumps, Argentina under Scaloni, Southgate for England etc.

Tites, I’m told is a bloody good coach and he’s also had years to work that Brazil team and I think it shows

Someone like Flick who has shown real tactical chops in the recent past hasn’t really had a space to actually drill everything in and figure out the moving parts.