It is currently Thu Aug 27, 2026 11:17 am
Moderators: Captain Hate, jon abbey
thanks for trying surf. i wanted to PM some of the people (Alaister also), but was simply swamped with work and never got to do so.
What to say. England are a talented squad and have a lot of pace and quick feet. We always have trouble with Sterling. They have added players, or players like Rice Foden Mings who can handle the ball. Trippier is better than he was three years ago. (also, on a related note, one of the turning points of Spurs decline was when they sold Trippier quickly and for no apparent reason. Has anyone done a postmortem on that transfer?) They arent always incisive in the final third, but they create a decent number of chances. Croatia is just older, slower, and they have absolutely no point of attack. Kramaric was completely anonymous. Perisic's skills are starting to deteriorate, he's not as good getting shots on target anymore. Rebic is just a battering ram, one of the most technically unskilled players I've ever seen, a very un-Croatian like player, the first touch of a Neanderthal. I still marvel at his volley against Caballero in the WC. Vrsaljiko is not 100% fit. Gvardiol is 19 years old (Rats player on loan to Dinamo) so let's just admire that he has many more years to develop. Central defense was fine I thought, Caleta-Car acquitted himself well. Yes Brozo was not so epic today, lots of misplayed passes, but he was under a lot of pressure and has been such an important piece of this generation, we just dont produce DMs. Kovacic I thought did ok but will always be stifled by Modric's presence, there's just too much redundancy there. Modric was MOTM and has been in almost every match I've seen them play for a while now, but there is only so uch he can do. Mushy is a good word to describe them now, they miss that hard edge and firm target that Mandzukic gave them. Petkovic when he came on seemed completely out of synch like when Perisic put that cross into the area and there wasnt a single Croatian player in the box.DarkAttraktor wrote: ↑Sun Jun 13, 2021 10:26 amfirst of all, england was pretty good, completely deserved it and i'd say croatia are kind of not themselves lately (haven't watched a CRO game in a while but i understand that they are kind of mushy these days). completely toothless in the last third and with no real spark, no one going for heroics, trying to prove something (which is something i expected considering the context of this tournament in the grand scheme of their football narrative). i thought gvardiol and vrsaljko were criminal and while brozovic and kovacic just didn't did well. it is even hard to put the blame on dalic considering both how england was good and the fact that he probably has his hands tied on reshuffling this historic team.
de Boer is a complete moron, they were up two goals and he takes off defenders and puts on attackers. Great entertainment but completely bonkers game management. Ukraine is a decent squad, not sure about their defense though. they could possibly be a darkhorse, definitely more than Turkey or North Macedonia, both of whom looked wretched. Czechs also look fun, what a worldie from Schick! Sweden is the most boring team in the tournament, and Spain is pretty dull too. I dont get teams employing Morata, maybe he plays better when I dont watch him.
That was bizarre, he was furious at someone, and then Alaba grabbing his cheeks and squeezing them. Someone else slapped him hard. I didnt get what was going on and none of the commentators seemed to know either. Arnautovic is a tool though, I think Mourinho said he is a "fantastic football player with the attitude of a child."DarkAttraktor wrote: ↑Sun Jun 13, 2021 1:30 pm
i just hope that the late goal trashtalk by Arnautovic directed towards the Macedonian defense wasn't some nationalist idiocy.
I was watching the Fabrice Muamba match live back in 2012 when he collapsed from cardiac arrest in the Bolton v Spurs FA Cup tie. He had to retire from football, although his heart stopped for something crazy like an hour iirc. I wonder if Eriksen will ever play football again. I wonder how worth it it would be to him to continue, he doesnt seem like he has a lot left to prove.
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