2014 Fifa World Cup Thread
- Thread starter Dark Sith Lord
- Start date
Come on Chile
Dark Sith Lord
Grand Master
Spain are going home. :lol:
Bloody hell 
Spain second half against the Dutch was a rout, chile have played full of energy and pushed on, deserve to be in front.
Alonso has made so many mistakes, Castilias has had a shocker
Spanish look jaded and heads are down
Credit to chile though they are up for it cracking finish for the second goal
Spain second half against the Dutch was a rout, chile have played full of energy and pushed on, deserve to be in front.
Alonso has made so many mistakes, Castilias has had a shocker
Spanish look jaded and heads are down
Credit to chile though they are up for it cracking finish for the second goal
The standard of the goalkeeping at this WC has been woeful. Caesar at Brazil has looked ropey, the Croatian keeper dropped 3 bollocks in their first game, casillas has dropped two in as many games, the Aussie keeper ****ed up for the dutch winner, and i heard the Russian keeper dropped one last night as well.
The only keeper who has looked even half decent is the Mexican one. Other than that they have been an embarrassment.
As have Spain so far. Flat as flat can be. Costa looks like a poor man's Jason Lee (watch him score 25 goals next year season when he's actually fit). How biscuits missed that sitter at the back post i'll never know.
The only keeper who has looked even half decent is the Mexican one. Other than that they have been an embarrassment.
As have Spain so far. Flat as flat can be. Costa looks like a poor man's Jason Lee (watch him score 25 goals next year season when he's actually fit). How biscuits missed that sitter at the back post i'll never know.
Dark Sith Lord
Grand Master
weasel said:
JuniorChubb
Sith Lord
To tough to call...
One thing I do know is that I am shitting it :lol:
One thing I do know is that I am shitting it :lol:
Dark Sith Lord
Grand Master
I think England will just sneak it 2-1 . Uruguay are over hyped IMO and have their right back suspended and an unfit Suarez
PGowdy said:
You what? :shock: :?
Rooney slows everything down. He may be a great player (on his day) but he doesn't/can't fit in the England team if you want to play fast attacking football. Ditch the fat boy, play Lallana instead of Wellbeck (though he did ok against Italy, in the 45 mins I saw) and bring an extra non attacking midfielder in beside Gerrard and Henderson. Say Wiltshire, or if you want to be gun-ho Barkley. Those three can then take turns to go forward supporting the front three of Sterling, Sturridge and Lallana. The movement of that front three will give the Uruguayan back four kittens.
Play the fat boy and it all slows down as Shrek tries to figure out what 'da round fing' is at his feet. Ohh and he's about as good at holding his position as the Spanish are at defending.
The best TEAM doesn't necessarily have to include your 11 best players. How else does Cahill get a game!? Your best TEAM doesn't include Rooney.
Scholesy, said Rooney's best days are behind him. It's not as if Paul 'dyed in the wool Manc' Scholes hasn't seen Shrek every single day for the last season, and he says that. If that's not an indictment of a player I don't know what is.
weasel said:
Nonsense. Rooney was one of our best players in the Italy game and one of the main reasons we were kept in the game right up till the last kick. He was all over the pitch, he moved at pace and passed the ball around and of course put in that fantastic ball for the goal. The side is weaker without him and talk of dropping him is absolute madness and largely comes from a place of prejudice. Scholes is a ****ing idiot and needs to shut his mouth. He had nothing to say in a 20 year career and now it's over he starts running his mouth. Gerard's best days are behind him to so i guess we ought to drop him and play an inferior player too. :roll:
Pretty much disagree with all of that. Though i will say Rooney's cross for Sturridge was a blinder, no arguments there.
Baines got murdered for 90 mins cos Rooney was nowhere near where he should have been, hence Baines was left two on one. The cross for their winner is a case in point the poor bastard is caught trying to cover two men.
I do admit to being an ABU, but my problem with Rooney isn't cos he plays for Utd, it's cos he's not right for the system England want to play. I heard on the radio some pundits discussing Jones coming in for Johnson. Johnson plays for Pool and Jones plays for Utd. I thought "yeah fair enough, Johnson's been pretty average. He's probably better going forward but Jones is probably a more solid defender (watch him conceded a penalty now) and you want defenders who can ehhh defend." . I also wudnt object too much if Wellbeck played ahead of Lalanna. Personally i'd go for the Saint just because he is more effective forward, but i can see the logic in picking Wellbeck.
I do think picking a forward because he offers more defensively is a bit strange, but then if you're playing an attacking line up, i see the logic.
Scholes is only saying what he thinks. I actually wish more pundits/ex players would do that. We get too much banal "he's a great player" or "he'll be disappointed with that" when what he really means is, "he's my mate i don't wanna slag him off."
Gerrard's best days are behind him, that's two things we agree on. I suspect he's getting picked cos of his range of passing and for his experience, but he's no holding midfielder that's for sure. Look at how many goals Pool shipped last year FFS. I guess he also has plenty of know how when it comes to what Henderson, Sturridge and Sterling are going to do. More than any of the other midfielders. However, he has played in a fast moving counter attacking team all season, and they did ok from memory. Watch Utd's build up play last year and compare and contract with Liverpool's. Not entirely due to Gerrard or Rooney admittedly, but one is like Usain Bolt, the other is like Steven Hawking. You want players who are familiar with the system/style you wanna play, ergo, no Rooney (and also why i'd play Lallana ahead of Wellbeck).
I didn't see the second half of the Italy game so i may have missed Rooney being superb. But i do remember him being fairly anonymous, bar his cross, and the commentators slagging him off for not being out wide and not getting involved in the game.
Baines got murdered for 90 mins cos Rooney was nowhere near where he should have been, hence Baines was left two on one. The cross for their winner is a case in point the poor bastard is caught trying to cover two men.
I do admit to being an ABU, but my problem with Rooney isn't cos he plays for Utd, it's cos he's not right for the system England want to play. I heard on the radio some pundits discussing Jones coming in for Johnson. Johnson plays for Pool and Jones plays for Utd. I thought "yeah fair enough, Johnson's been pretty average. He's probably better going forward but Jones is probably a more solid defender (watch him conceded a penalty now) and you want defenders who can ehhh defend." . I also wudnt object too much if Wellbeck played ahead of Lalanna. Personally i'd go for the Saint just because he is more effective forward, but i can see the logic in picking Wellbeck.
I do think picking a forward because he offers more defensively is a bit strange, but then if you're playing an attacking line up, i see the logic.
Scholes is only saying what he thinks. I actually wish more pundits/ex players would do that. We get too much banal "he's a great player" or "he'll be disappointed with that" when what he really means is, "he's my mate i don't wanna slag him off."
Gerrard's best days are behind him, that's two things we agree on. I suspect he's getting picked cos of his range of passing and for his experience, but he's no holding midfielder that's for sure. Look at how many goals Pool shipped last year FFS. I guess he also has plenty of know how when it comes to what Henderson, Sturridge and Sterling are going to do. More than any of the other midfielders. However, he has played in a fast moving counter attacking team all season, and they did ok from memory. Watch Utd's build up play last year and compare and contract with Liverpool's. Not entirely due to Gerrard or Rooney admittedly, but one is like Usain Bolt, the other is like Steven Hawking. You want players who are familiar with the system/style you wanna play, ergo, no Rooney (and also why i'd play Lallana ahead of Wellbeck).
I didn't see the second half of the Italy game so i may have missed Rooney being superb. But i do remember him being fairly anonymous, bar his cross, and the commentators slagging him off for not being out wide and not getting involved in the game.
I think people need to get a little perspective when it comes to Wayne Rooney. He finished the Premier League with just 4 goals less than Sturridge (despite a few injuries and being in a piss poor Utd side) and scored 7 goals in qualification practically carrying England through it. And yet before a ball's even kicked people are calling for him to be dropped. The fact that people are calling for Rooney to be dropped rather than the blatantly unqualified Welbeck shows the level of ridiculousness and bias against Rooney that this argument has got to. If we had an abundance of great strikers i'd maybe entertain the argument but we don't. We don't have anyone even near the quality or with as a good a goal scoring record both for club and country as Rooney. So for me he must start and he must play in his best position. It's not fair to play him on the left and then complain that he didn't decent enough. He's a striker!
Rooney has under performed at previous tournaments, no doubt about it, but this time round he's not even being given a chance.
Rooney has under performed at previous tournaments, no doubt about it, but this time round he's not even being given a chance.
Granted Rooney only scored 4 less than Sturridge. Though surely that means Sturridge deserves to start up front ahead of him, assuming you only play one up top?
Also, those stats are skewed slightly, Rooney takes penalties, he scored six of them. Sturridge doesn't and the one time he took one (not sure if it was in the league, but given Pool's dung cup runs it may well have been) he ****ed it. Also Sturridge missed a chunk of the season with injury too. And Rooney obviously has more international experience than him, but then he is 4-5 years older.
I think part of the reason it's Rooney people are mainly calling for is cos Wellbeck has shown he can play out wide, whereas Rooney struggles. I think wellbeck played the majority of his games for Utd out there last season. Happy to be corrected if that's wrong, Liam!? As i said, personally, i'd play Lallana, but Wellbeck does give a bit more defensive cover than Rooney. Again, not sure on the logic of picking a striker for his defensive capabilities, but Wellbeck is undoubtedly better out wide than Rooney.
I agree you don't have many top class strikers, but i think that's why you're playing 3 up top rather than the auld tried and tested/boring/predictable 4-4-2. The lone front man needs to be mobile, or incredibly intelligent. Rooney is by no means a plodder, but he doesn't have the movement required to be effective in that role. As for his intelligence, i mean game intelligence rather than general intelligence, he's not bad, but again IMO he's not savvy enough to play there on his own.
Sturridge ticks those boxes (at least better than Rooney), hence he gets to play up top. Rooney isn't the most effective out wide hence Sterling and wellbeck (or Lallana for me) get people's votes.
It's just Rooney doesn't suit the system. Hodgson wants to play 3 up with fast breaks, the three best players for that don't include Rooney.
In some respects it's quite similar to the Gerrard/Lampard thing. Do you pick your best players, in which case Rooney and Gerrard/Lampard (when the debate was going on) should start. Or do you pick the best players for the system you wanna play?
One final thought, another country had a slightly similar issue a few years ago. A striker who was the same age as Rooney at 28/29, had also been a talisman for years, was one of their most capped players but who wasn't suited to the system they wanted to play and the manager eventually realised this and dropped him. Queue a hell of a lot of questions in the press. The player in question was Raul, the country, Spain. They've done ok without him! :wink:
Also, those stats are skewed slightly, Rooney takes penalties, he scored six of them. Sturridge doesn't and the one time he took one (not sure if it was in the league, but given Pool's dung cup runs it may well have been) he ****ed it. Also Sturridge missed a chunk of the season with injury too. And Rooney obviously has more international experience than him, but then he is 4-5 years older.
I think part of the reason it's Rooney people are mainly calling for is cos Wellbeck has shown he can play out wide, whereas Rooney struggles. I think wellbeck played the majority of his games for Utd out there last season. Happy to be corrected if that's wrong, Liam!? As i said, personally, i'd play Lallana, but Wellbeck does give a bit more defensive cover than Rooney. Again, not sure on the logic of picking a striker for his defensive capabilities, but Wellbeck is undoubtedly better out wide than Rooney.
I agree you don't have many top class strikers, but i think that's why you're playing 3 up top rather than the auld tried and tested/boring/predictable 4-4-2. The lone front man needs to be mobile, or incredibly intelligent. Rooney is by no means a plodder, but he doesn't have the movement required to be effective in that role. As for his intelligence, i mean game intelligence rather than general intelligence, he's not bad, but again IMO he's not savvy enough to play there on his own.
Sturridge ticks those boxes (at least better than Rooney), hence he gets to play up top. Rooney isn't the most effective out wide hence Sterling and wellbeck (or Lallana for me) get people's votes.
It's just Rooney doesn't suit the system. Hodgson wants to play 3 up with fast breaks, the three best players for that don't include Rooney.
In some respects it's quite similar to the Gerrard/Lampard thing. Do you pick your best players, in which case Rooney and Gerrard/Lampard (when the debate was going on) should start. Or do you pick the best players for the system you wanna play?
One final thought, another country had a slightly similar issue a few years ago. A striker who was the same age as Rooney at 28/29, had also been a talisman for years, was one of their most capped players but who wasn't suited to the system they wanted to play and the manager eventually realised this and dropped him. Queue a hell of a lot of questions in the press. The player in question was Raul, the country, Spain. They've done ok without him! :wink:
weasel said:
Of course Sturridge starts. That wasn't for a single second in question. Sturridge up front with Rooney behind, central, where he plays best.
I'd personally play Milner on the left as he's done well there for City this season and he's got experience and is slightly more defensive minded than other options we have.
Yet more pish goalkeeping from the Ivory Coast keeper. Is the ball electrified, or why do all keepers insist on flapping at it and generally not seem to like, you know, catching it or saving it.
Ps, i mean the keeper flapping at that shot that hit the post, not for the goal
Ps, i mean the keeper flapping at that shot that hit the post, not for the goal
