Isak is s straight baller. He's got wonderful feet. He should have Berg done in for missing that.
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Isak is s straight baller. He's got wonderful feet. He should have Berg done in for missing that.
Isak is godly. If he becomes more prolific he's a top 5 striker in the world in the making.
Blackman Ibrahimovic.
Why the fuck did they take Isak off?
What have they taken him off for? Game is there to be won and he looks like the only player on the pitch capable of doing something. Absolute bonobos.
Taking off your most dangerous looking player. :cab:
And what exactly do you mean by that?
:D
Knew someone would say that just as I hit "post".
This second half has been football at its worst. One team with no intention of attacking, and the other completely unable to do so.
A masterclass from Sweden thus far.
The best thing Sweden have done is take off Isak to rest him for the other two games.
Taz needs to recalibrate his models, bringing Thiago on has made Spain far worse.
Taz has been wrong in literally every single football post he's made for about 6 months.
85% possession :D
I’ll wet myself if Sweden score in injury time.
They've made 12 subs (Fabian Ruiz was also on the bench, christ) and yet Pedri is still strolling around doing his best Xavi impersonation :D
I'll take it.
Spain possibly being E2 also puts the Southgate models a bit out of kilter, we might have to try and win our remaining games rather than throwing them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_F..._Final#Details
Look at that line-up/substitutions what the fuck.
Have a look at the Argie 23 currently playing:
https://uk.soccerway.com/matches/202...chile/3189333/
It's not nostalgia, is it? Human devolution is firmly underway.
France 98
Roberto Carlos
Ronaldo
Rivaldo
Salas
Maldini
Nesta
Del Piero
Baggio
Inzaghi
Vieri
Schmeichel
Laudrup x2
Vieira
Desailly
Zidane
Henry
Thuram
Djorkaeff
Stoichkov
Okocha
Chilavert
Raul
Blanco
Stam
Bergkamp
Kluivert
Seedorf
Matthäus
Kahn
Klinsmann
Mijatovic
Stankovic
Valderrama
Asprilla
Beckham
Shearer
Scholes
Owen
Hagi
Batistuta
Ortega
Crespo
Prosinecki
Boban
Suker
That's 46 players selected at a glance in terms of both quality and entertainment and I left out a shitload. Could we form a similar list today? Could we fuck. The hipsters can do one, like fuck is it nostalgia. Football was just better then, before teams started being picked for the high press.
Meanwhile Sky are nicking our material:
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I agree, but... was it actually better? Or are we just old men shouting at clouds?
I dunno, I'm of the opinion sport doesn't regress over time but you feel things watching the old stuff.
I’m not sure the overall quality of football has gone down but the quality of players has definitely gone down, if that makes any sense.
Or maybe it’s better to say that whereas there used to be iconic players and talismans there are now just very good players. France were brilliant in 2018 but how many of their players were really classic (remembered years down the line)? I’d argue just Kanté and Mbappe. Whereas Spain 2010 or especially Italy 2006 are chock full of them.
I don't think the quality - as measured in terms of technique etc. - has gone down, but that systems just squeeze and limit/refine (whoever you want to see it) players as individuals. Midfielders aren't running all over dominating teams single-handedly anymore or strolling about waiting to do something; defenders aren't covering massive spaces and engaging in individual battles; attackers aren't doing as they like, moving around, and playing off the cuff despite strikers being statistically more prolific these days because shots from outside the box have halved over the past decade. Mechanisation. Wank.
With that in mind, we probably witnessed the peak of the sport from the mid-nineties (full professionalism on an individual basis plus globalised recruitment/standards) through to about ten years ago.
With the likes of Brighton and Brentford on the cusp of revolutionising the administration of the sport, that mechanicisation will be going into overdrive in the next 5 years, I suspect.
Havent managed to find a podcast to listen to so far, it's either 'rar rar england' or 'england are shit and will be found out'
edit: also all the people 'tournament when i was a child was way better than this' people are thick.
like
You were aware of absolutely none of this tactical wank, it was blokes kicking a football around in colours.
My long term prediction would be that everyone will end up playing the same way (mad running/counterpress with no one wanting static possession) and they will end up having to make a significant rule change - liberalising offside, perhaps - to try and pull it back a bit. Every sport will face the same challenge once the boffins work it out. As ever it's instructive following baseball as they are ten years ahead in all things and the panic rule changes are starting to happen now.
Actually F1 is an even better example, as it's a sport comprised entirely of boffins and they have to change the rules every few years to stop it from being a settled procession.
My long term prediction is that much like every generation since 1883, professional football will change. Jim comparing football to a statistically predictable sport like baseball just shows that it's not actually true.
Stick this into the next WDYTOE but Phonics' development over the last few years disturbs me. There used to be a level of coherence and rationality which has been almost completely replaced with the need for conflict, often completely separate to any thought for actual substance.
My bad. I think I just don't interact with this place on the same level so only post when I think somethings just dumb.
I remember calling out Yev for the same so I'll apologise and move on.
I think we're suffering from old men shouting at clouds syndrome. It's probably tied into the fact that the top of the game are so obviously corporate vehicles for horrible money obsessed bastards that the affinity with those we watch, has been lost.
Bruno Fernandes for example, is the first 'footballing icon' I've been able to enjoy at United for a long time (since Ronaldo or Rooney maybe?). This England team is genuinely exciting for raw talent (compare it to the dross in 2000). Football is still exciting enough to not all be Barca-mate.
Non-league football is still great fun if you can't get over your malaise.
Game's the same, just got more fierce.
I don't buy the game being homogenised into possession perpetuity. It's nothing if you can't pick the right pass and make the right movement. Much like playing from the back, some teams aren't capable of it.
Already appalled at the lack of a 2PM game.
Luckily, Royal Ascots on.
I had the Argie-Chile game on in the background yesterday and a name caught my ear ever so slightly. I now find out Chile's 'Brereton Diaz' is actually Blackburn's Ben Brereton.
https://i.ibb.co/XX7wLbx/E34-Q1k-SX0-AIs-Hon.jpg
A striker with 18 goals in 145 games at Champ level :D
You'd need 32 teams for that. The next 8 teams would be: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Serbia, Georgia, Romania, Norway, Ireland, Israel
I think we could accommodate them. 32 team Euros now.
Yeah seemingly Euro 2016 also had a two game day on the first Tuesday before going back to three games a day (with one other exception) through the groups.
Still, I don't see how me being reasonable about it is going to help me wishing there was a game on just now.
I am also disgusted by this situation, especially as I've got most of the day off work.
Those teams Jim posted all sound like they'd be a match for North Macedonia and their 72-year-old Pandev.
They should do 32 teams and a straight knockout format.
You have to hand it to the man, still churning these out.Quote:
Hungary were in the same group as Portugal at Euro 2016 and ended up topping it after a thrilling 3-3 draw with the eventual tournament winners.
There is no chance Hungary will finish top of Group F and, on paper, this talented Portugal side should have too much for them - but the game is being played in Budapest, so I am going to go with a draw.
Lawro's prediction: 1-1
Haha. It's some ride of a prediction.