One big reason that I fear we will start the season off much slower than we think or even not win the title is key players who need resting or mending. I am very, very worried about Rice. No way he can or should play the number games he played last season. Tuchel can't be concerned with his form post WC. So, he will run him ragged without a second thought. Noni can do a reasonable job for Saka. If Saliba has back issues, its long term. Its one of those injuries that never goes away. It ended Larry Bird's career. This club is in more trouble than we think.
Kudos to Spain, they low blocked France out of it. France had no answers. It wasn't like they haven't faced low blocks before but Spain have better athletes than your random 'barely qualified' country.
Did they really low block it? Spain edged possession even with getting the early-ish pen. They completed more passes than France. They had 1.63 xG to France's .31 xG. The shots were even at 10. Shots on target France edged it barely 3-2. I think Spain's midfield just controlled the match.
LOL. Michael Caley talked himself into France dominating Spain despite his own model saying that Spain were significantly better than France. We overrated France because they dominated a Morocco team that didn't have Saibari.
Yeah and the physical ability of the front line I think I cannot play a 10 vs Spain as they constrict that area of the pitch
i think France were deserved favs but people really did underrate how good Spain’s D is. And of course the game state showed France had no tools to chase a game.
The most amusing thing to me is the entire pundit class who five minutes ago said Guardiola ball was dead are now discovering Spanish football for the first time as if the last 15 or so years never happened. The limits of countering football and man oriented play were on display.
Can't split England/Argentina, can genuinely make an argument for either team winning. England have the wide players and players up front to punish the Argentina defense, especially if its Gordon (******** you ha) and Saka starting. Kane and Bellingham will have a field day. Messi is on a mission. Hard to believe at 39 he leads ALL of Argentinas key statistics but the issue with that is if he gets shut out will other players step up. Mbappe got shut out for France and they didn't look like they had any plan B.
Yeah I was thinking of mentioning that (current state of CDC) in my post, but neglected or decided not to? Thanks for fixing that.
I think it was this, basically. France had a killer, generational front line, but their defensive back line and midfield was not strong. Whereas Spain has best-in-class defensive strength, plus better overall balance, including offensive potency... as displayed... that Porro goal, including the build-up was something to behold.
The whole "rift" between Tuchel & Jude is dumb. A stupid, click-bait interviewer (Gabriel so-and-so from ITV?) kept hounding TT about questionable "mentality", until the manager lost it with the guy, rightfully so. Then that same conniving interviewer spoke to Jude and tried to manufacture conflict between the two by telling him what Tuchel said about not being happy with the performance (a reasonable if ill-timed critique I thought) just a few minutes after Jude finished one of the hardest, most emotional efforts of his life. And knowing what Jude is like a human, surprise surprise he bit back a bit. The English media is so stupid. I presume this guy Gabriel is English, and if so probably he's an England fan too? So why manufacture or further inflame, a potential conflict within the England camp? On the eve of a rare WC Semi? Oh yeah, there are clicks & views to be "won". Like I said, dumb. Let's hope they can rise above it. I sure wouldn't mind seeing another masterclass by Bellingham... a third in a row.
We overrated France because they have world class attackers The problem, aside from the Olise stinker, is they don’t value controlling CMs. The same way Spain looked like Arsenal, so did France.
Well yeah - this has been my criticism of Deschamps since forever. e.g at the Euros he had this side absurdly defensive, and crashed out. Then he went more gung ho, but as I said a few days ago, a lot of teams are simply clogging the centre of the park up, and relying on someone to pull something out of their arse from wide. That usually works if you have a bunch of worldies on your team. But a goal down, chasing the game, your usual tools of transition ball and individual matchups probably aren't enough against an elite defensive side that controls possession. e.g it was interesting France had no decent press to retrieve possession. Nor could they structure attacks or play through the middle To some extent its because they don't have Greizmann anymore - but i do think Deschamps could have interegrated more possession oriented ideas over the last years. It's not like he just got this team!
Kone being dropped didn’t help playing a ten vs Spain is a mistake as they just suffocate them need to win a physical battle in midfield
There isn’t a French midfielder who can help maintain possession in a matchup against Spain. They probably don’t have one who could hold up against England either.
I don't think it's so simple as to whether they have anyone they could suddenly put in the game - they'd have to have developed that style of play as an option over the last couple of years Bizarrely Deschamps brought Kante along as a washed drug mule even after the guy was utter fail in '24, while leaving behind Camavinga who at least is a highly press resistant and talented player - but of course one with his own issues this year In any event, Deschamps himself decided on being a physical counter team
Just heard Rice's prematch tunnel interview and he said with a big smile on his face: "I'm 100%". Hope that's true. And hope he has a good game! Morgan comes in on the RW for Noni. That doesn't seem like a controversial decision based on Noni's last outing. And of course that leaves Saka to be a "finisher" and I have a little inkling that maybe he might just put his stamp on this tournament today.