Mediocre suggests that we are now thoroughly middle of the pack. So which 15 or so teams in Qatar will clearly be better than us?
Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, Netherland, Uruguay, Croatia and probably Senegal. . . so you're only in 12th position, not 15th. Congratulations on winning your argument, now go troll somewhere else. Now, go home and get your fu#%ing shine box
We won three of our last four games vs. England. We won our two most recent games vs. Croatia (including a friendly last year). And our most recent game vs. Portugal. Not all of those teams are "clearly" better than us.
Belgium is still a top team. They have world class players. They had a bad outing v the Dutch, but football is all about making most of your chances. If they had put away their chances, it would’ve been a different outcome. They’ll be a tough team to beat, particularly if Courtois is having a good night. With that being said, I wouldn’t worry too much about us playing them. We are a bad stylistic matchup for them. They’re also going to have a very tough road to even reach a semi finals. They’ll likely have to play Spain or Germany in the R16, then in a QF, where they could play Brasil, Portugal or Uruguay.
Senegal is not better than Belgium lmao I think Belgium has very small chances to win the WC and but come on... No need to be aggressive with the visitor either, he gave his opinion in a polite way.
I think Belgium's demise is a tad overblown. They aren't at their peak any more but they aren't completely bereft of talent either. Still some guys that can do damage as long as they're healthy.
No worries Loco, they've been journos top 2 fav for years now and yet to taste playing a final, let alone lift a trophy. Even out of form Higuain having his best game against Belgium
I don't think mediocre is accurate for Belgium. I would say that there is a group of 5 or maybe 6 that are top contenders, (Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, maybe England) and then there is another group of 5 or 6 that could break through and not be a huge surprise, like Croatia did last time in making the final. At this point I think Belgium is no longer in the top group, but strongly in that second group, along with Holland, Denmark, Portugal, Croatia, maybe Uruguay. I wouldn't call any of those teams mediocre.
I also think Belgium maximized their talents in 2018. They reached the semis, and gave the French a scare. Finishing third is great for them. But let’s get honest about Croatia. They had a super soft road to the final. Denmark, Russia and the world minnow, England.
England gets an even easier route to semi. Spain also got easy route, playing the likes of Morocco and Russia, but off course like before and after 2010, they crashed out early. England also had more losses than Argentina in that WC, their not so great team from 2002-2010 was better.
And the minnow Argentina in the group. Without that 3-0 they would have played france. Not bad at all beating England and Argentina.
I dont know about you guys, but i think the CDM and the LB position is the weakest area for Argentina. Taglifico comes across as nervous and weak, Acuna is bang average but he is at least not afraid of playing rough. Parades is not a cdm and he is hot headed, can ruin the match for the team when they face adversity. Arent there good cdms out there? Guido is decent though.
I disagree. Acuna is a solid LB and Tagliafico is a great back up to Acuna. They are not the best LBs compared to the likes of Robertson or Davies, but they are still solid and I trust them. Paredes is a deep-lying playmaker similar to the likes of Busquets and Pirlo and not a CDM. The workrate from the other players except for Messi does help Paredes in the defensive side. I do agree though that he is a bit hot headed and he needs to be careful sometimes. I'd say our weakest area is the back up RCB (Pezzella) and a back up ST (J. Correa).
I wouldnt compare him with busquets, not at all in fact. They are way too different. Paredes is pure central midfielder, not a holding midfielder like busquets, although he doesnt win the ball as much as he used to due to his age. Paredes is more like Lampard, Gerard type of midfielder thats playing deep and is aggressive and its dangerous as he lacks concentration in key moments. Gives away stupid fouls etc
As a Villarreal fan, im quite suprised that Foyth is not utilized more often because he has been outstanding for Villarreal. Very hard to beat in 1vs1 and is suprisingly quick and strong. Is it becuase Molina offers more offensively? Foyth doesnt offer as much offensively but he sure as hell can defend.
Paredes is much more calm playing for Argentina. His passing is also significantly better than Guido's so he deserves to start. All other options for the position are way less talented or just too young. It's our weakest position but he has to start at the WC.
Something that IMO plays against Foyth: When he makes a mistake it's always a big brainfart blunder that makes him look very bad despite being good 95% of the time. I admit though that I've only see him play vs Bayern and Liverpool this season so I can't really speak about his overall current club form. Molina starts because he's the best offensively. Montiel is 2nd because he's balanced between attack and defense and doesn't usually make any big blatant mistakes. Plus, he has proven himself playing against Neymar/Vinicius (copa América final) and Luis Diaz (wcq) in recent times. Foyth, on the hand, has had some poor responses that ended in goals against our national team when he got opportunities in recent times (eg. His bad match against Colombia in Colombia got him excluded from copa america squad at the last moment). Whether it's bad luck or a mental thing I don't know, but it is what it is.
Paredes and Busquets are a lot more similar to one another than what you are trying to describe with Gerrard/Lampard as Gerrard and Lampard played best when they were CAM with the license to run into the opposition box in a midfield of 3. Paredes has a similar role to that of Busquets with bringing the ball out from defense and retaining possession with great passes. The only difference is that Paredes is more aggressive than Busquets but certainly not to the point that Paredes should not be in the starting lineup. In regards to your other post of Foyth, I agree with everything what Pipinogol said.
Thats has been the issue with him earlier in his career, but he has matured the last two years. Cant remember him making any blunders this year and i have watched every Villarreal match. He has improved a lot in that aspect. He used to be reckless, bad passes, but he has become much better with his passing. He played as a CDM last year which improved his vision and passing as he had to improve on his weaknesses and it was very evident on the pitch. Scaloni should give him more chances and not exclude him for having few bad matches, he is not the same player now.
Both lampard and Gerard were primarily CM`s and they had a player who played deeper than them. In this case, Paredes doesnt have that player who will sit back and win the ball. Busquets would just sit back and retain the ball and win the ball back by either intercepting or win the 50/50 challenges. Paredes biggest weakness is that he doesnt win the ball enough nor intercept the ball. He is very average in that aspect of his game.