Thank god for Germany. Some people are so obsessed with individuals like Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo and even some England players, pundits and fans who ridiculously call Rooney a "world beater" that they forget that this is a TEAM game.
Did Costa Rica, Algeria or USA have great individuals, no but they put in strong showings due to playing like a team.....Belgium was a team full of good players but looked like strangers and were a tad lucky to get to the quarters. England were obsessed with getting Gerrard and Rooney in the team because of their individual abilities that they ignored that they didn't fit into the side and we made sacrifices just for their selection. It's only going to be more of the same as people are already getting excited about Ross Barkley being "the one" to take on the world. It's this issue what I call the "Gazza effect" that is England's main problem, an obsession of individuals instead of a team that works and fits together.
Last night was a victory for team football, not this idolising one player and BTW he has 10 guys clinging to his coat tails.
Brazil can count themselves lucky on 2 points. 1 - that it wasn't Argentina who hammered them because that would've been too much for their public to recover from. 2 - that Germany took the foot off the gas after 30 mins (yet still looked pretty good). Had they kept the foot down they could've got 10.
The worst thing is that when the game started you could clearly see what could happen if Brazil didn't score first. After the first one went in and Brazil didn't tighten up then I remember thinking around the 20 mins mark that this could end up about 4/5-0 if they aren't careful as the Germans are going to pick them apart. It turned out to be even worst than that.
I've seen teams get ripped apart before in a single half of football and seen teams concede 4 goals over a 20/30 mins period, but I've never seen a team concede 4 in 6 minutes. I'd be shocked even if a conference team did that against a Man City or Chelsea in the cup, that players at International level in WC semi 'achieved' that is disgraceful. I know a lot have gone about how the. Brazil team isn't that good once you scratch beneath the surface and whilst that is true.....it still should never have conceded 4 goals in 6 minutes. No team should.
Very puzzling what the Netherlands did in the penalty shoot-out. Deserved what they got in my view. Penalty takers only may apply in my opinion. It's not the time to be letting your centre half take the first peno, well has he played. And the goalie switch worked previously and he didn't do it, instead choosing a goalie who has never saved one. Weird.
Very puzzling what the Netherlands did in the penalty shoot-out. Deserved what they got in my view. Penalty takers only may apply in my opinion. It's not the time to be letting your centre half take the first peno, well has he played. And the goalie switch worked previously and he didn't do it, instead choosing a goalie who has never saved one. Weird.
I'm sure he probably would've wanted to change the goalie but it's a tough ask to try and go through 120 minutes (for the 2nd time in several days) and only use two subs and saving one back.
Think people thought Van Gaal saw Krul as some sort of penalty specialist.....might've actually been that he saw Cillessen as a poor penalty stopper. He should've got the 3rd and 4th ones and I think it's being extremely kind for people to say his confidence was knocked from being subbed last time. His pro career record now is 17 penalties faced, none saved, that's pretty dire.
So Alexis Sanchez is only worth 5 million more than Adam Lallana, and is the same value as Luke Shaw... Madness.
There's a few clubs like Porto and Southampton that are the exception, but most clubs clearly don't know what the hell they're doing when it comes to transfers.
So Alexis Sanchez is only worth 5 million more than Adam Lallana, and is the same value as Luke Shaw... Madness.
I can see your point, but, to be fair, prices are pretty much irrelevant at the time they are paid - Its only 2 or 3 years down the line that you can judge their true worth and whether somebody is overpriced, or not.
Take Carrick and Ferdinand at Man Utd - Both 'overpriced' at the time of their transfers, yet looking at what the have achieved and contributed at United, it could be reasonable to suggest that £45 million for the pair actually looks decent.
If Shaw spends 10 years at United and wins 3 or 4 titles, and a few Cups, while Sanchez spends 3 or 4 years at Arsenal, winning a single League Cup (pretty realistic seeing Arsenal's recent record), then who is the better buy then??
Thank god for Germany. Some people are so obsessed with individuals like Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo and even some England players, pundits and fans who ridiculously call Rooney a "world beater" that they forget that this is a TEAM game.
Did Costa Rica, Algeria or USA have great individuals, no but they put in strong showings due to playing like a team.....Belgium was a team full of good players but looked like strangers and were a tad lucky to get to the quarters. England were obsessed with getting Gerrard and Rooney in the team because of their individual abilities that they ignored that they didn't fit into the side and we made sacrifices just for their selection. It's only going to be more of the same as people are already getting excited about Ross Barkley being "the one" to take on the world. It's this issue what I call the "Gazza effect" that is England's main problem, an obsession of individuals instead of a team that works and fits together.
Last night was a victory for team football, not this idolising one player and BTW he has 10 guys clinging to his coat tails.
You act like the Germans don't have star players, and you act like they haven't obsessed over the 'individual'. Only a week or so ago they looked very poor against Algeria. They lacked balance, their wide/attacking midfielders offered nothing and their midfield was pedestrian. Simply put, Germany shown what a decent coach can achieve if he understands his players and puts balance of star players. Rooney has been poor for England for years, but he's still accommodated in the side. Gotze is a £30m attacking midfielder, one of the Bundesliga's very best, but he's had a poor tournament and Low wasn't afraid to drop him for the sake of the team.
England could have a squad of bona fide superstars, but Roy Hodgson will never achieve results at this level, the man is mediocre and, like his time at Liverpool, he's there as a yes man to do as he's told and get on with it. We could have Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez and Ibrahimovic in the team, we'd still have t*ssers telling us how good Rooney is in the hole and we need to run everything through him, and Roy will keep doing as those t*ssers tell him. And to be fair to Roy, the fans and media seemingly love it. The results were a disgrace, but people are apparently happy because none of the players have come back and complained? The mood in the camp was 'better than South Africa'. Christ.
Another good laugh watching Brazil in the playoff for third place. Loving every minute of it. They have won the world cup five times, that's enough. Who gives a toss about their demise outside of Brazil? They think they know hurt? They should try being English. They know the hurt of a spoiled brat.
Wll, posted earlier about the price of Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana being madness. If that's madness then £50m for David Luiz is complete insanity! Can you imagine What a prime Ferdinand, Maldini or Campbell would cost in todays market, and if Paulinho is worth £17m how much would Gilberto Silva be worth considering he only cost Arsenal £4.5m!
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