A lot can change in 4 years. The optimum system also depends largely on the players we should call up then. Who knows maybe Zinho Vanheusden starts making a case for himself (he's loaned out to Standard now and is expected to see plenty of first team action while quite a few of our kiddies have made the move to Italy too). Denayer ended the season well, winning the title with Gala, then you have the likes of J.Lukaku, Kabasele, Castagne, Cobbaut, Engels, Cools, Limbombe, ... and further up the pitch Emmers, Rigo, O.Mangala, A.Pereira, Musonda Jr., Mbenza, Trossard, Antonucci, Bongiovanni, Verlinden, Dimata, Origi, and so on. Batsman, Januzaj, Tielemans, T.Hazard, Dendoncker, ... had a taste of the World Cup and hopefully Carrasco returns to face top-level competition in the big leagues, ditto for Benteke really. You'd expect some of them to come good and replenish the team over the coming years. First we have a 3rd place game to enjoy, without the nail biting, then the Nations League starts in September (we play our opener in exactly 2 months) and of course EURO2020. I heard that some of our current players, that were thinking about retiring, might stick around a bit longer. Had Russia ended on a high, that would have been great moment to take their final bow. Our current squad wasn't that old either but yes that backline needs to be rejuvenated and we'll need pacy defenders. Bringing back Denayer would be a good start (in case he merits it based on his club form).
Huh? This was Croatia's 3rd straight game that went to extra time while England could sleepwalk through every game except their nervy opener against Tunisia, relying on set pieces and lots of pens to beat weak teams, yet England players were gassed. England had the golden ticket, one of, if not the easiest path ever to the final, yet they bottled it. Lol, Lukaku scoring twice in our upcoming game and taking the golden boot from Kane, just to twist the knife a little further, please.
https://streamable.com/to12p English players kick-off while Croatia celebrates their 2nd goal. Oddly they ridiculed Panama for the exact same thing.
Oh yea, I shouldn't forget about Praet. He had a great season. And there are more guys worth consideration. So far nobody has retired. Defour and Nainggolan already had done so before Russia. They definitely deserve gratitude for their services when playing for country (and probably should get a proper farewell). It's looking like a lot of those names in my previous post will have to fight hard to earn a place on the team. With the Nations League and EURO2020 Qs coming up, a bit of continuity isn't the worst idea nor is it to carefully bed in new faces. There's no reason to abruptly overhaul the team.
Ratings: Hazard 9/10 Courtois 9/10 KDB 8.5/10 Alderweireld 8.5/10 Kompany 8/10 Vertonghen 8/10 Meunier 8/10 Witsel 8/10 Lukaku 8/10 Chadli 8/10 Fellaini 8/10 Mertens 7/10 Tielemans 7/10 Boyata 7/10 Dembele 4/10 Carrasco 3/10
Great world cup. But I think they will be kicking themselves for not winning it! Meunier's suspension messed of the whole system of their play against France. Having said that it pinpoints our lack of bench strength. We went to the world cup with one right back!
I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy Belgium chocolates didnt win it before we did. Hahahahhahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa
Zonal Marking claiming the Belgium v. France SF was the actual Final, thanks very much. Overall a fantastic World Cup, but the draw ended up so lopsided. The seven games in the top half were absolutely brilliant, the seven games in the bottom half largely forgettable. Uruguay/France/Brazil/Belgium probably the best four sides, those QFs effectively the SFs! pic.twitter.com/2VzleYoC7E— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) July 15, 2018
Belgium ... the best attacking team in Russia France ... the best defensive team https://statsbomb.com/2018/07/frances-defense-steals-the-world-cup-show/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-world-cup-semifinalists-match-up/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/sports/soccer/packing-statistic-toni-kroos.html Kroos bypasses the most opponents per game for Real. KDB, last season/before his injury, must be up there as well. For club, Hazard is top on the receiving end of decisive passes. And in the World Cup, no one bypassed more defenders than Belgium.