World Cup Qualifiers + Friendlies | November 2017

Denis79 said:
Sweden destroyed the football in both games vs Italy and the one against the Dutch, which are their last 3 games? Horrible football to watch but it does the job.

If you think that's good entertaining football for the neutral we have to agree to disagree.
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Destroyed football :lol: Come on man.

It wasnt even that bad in the first game, unless you have absurdly high standards. If anything the italians were more negative.

It's like it is opposite day today, Italians are way worse at destroying football by playing uber defensive without intent to attack, dragging the life out of games than most other teams, including Sweden.

Put Italy against say Brazil, and you'd see the exact same performance Sweden did
 
Denis79 said:
Sweden destroyed the football in both games vs Italy and the one against the Dutch, which are their last 3 games? Horrible football to watch but it does the job. Feck me against Holland the swedish players started stalling in the 30th minute? It even resulted in a yellow card, 30th minute!

If you think that's good entertaining football for the neutral we have to agree to disagree.
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You should criticize the team who failed to score a single goal in 180 minutes, not their opponent who got the job done.
 
NieThePiet said:
Nigeria winning 4:2 against Argentinia after losing 2:0 after 36 minutes.

Iheanacho with 1 goal and 2 assists, Iwobi with 2 goals.

Argentinias starting eleven was quite good.
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Can't see Argentina doing that well at the WC. They have been dire for a while.
 
Santi_Mesut_Alexis_87 said:
Can't see Argentina doing that well at the WC. They have been dire for a while.
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Very strange, this. Maradona + a bunch of worker bees made it to two finals in '86 and '90, but since then they've kind of been the all-star team that doesn't quite perform.
 
Denis79 said:
Scoring 8 vs Luxembourgh in a game (30% of their goals) etc doesnt give a fair view of the football played. My point was if they play a "technical" side they play anti-football and well in the WC 90% of the teams that are qualified are "technical". The gameplan is to destroy the game completely with physical play and 10 men in the box, hoofing balls to a lone striker, reminds me of Greece. Last night game was a great result for Sweden but their football was terrible to watch, same as in Stockholm or their game vs Holland, sad part is it works. Greece even won the euros with anti-football. As a football fan I want teams like that to fail, not because I dislike Sweden or Greece but because I want that kind of football to be punished.
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Do the same thing for Greece then. Remove their goals scored against Gibraltar (8 goals or 47 %) and they have just 9 goals scored in the entire qualifiers. It is pretty obvious that you were a mile off when you compared Sweden to Greece.
 
Paul_Scholes18 said:
Italy was the main reason the game turned so defensive. Even a goal down they played very defensive football.
Against the dutch we just played on the result yes.

Nope the games against Italy was no great games for the neutral. In world cup qualifiers most teams play on the result. We are no difference and it would be stupid to attack like crazy against Italy particular when they played risk minimizing football even being a goal down.

In my view few crazy attacking national teams exist. I guess you would maybe want a Klopp team or something to get that. Think Germany is the most attacking you will get when it comes to national teams and even them often play on the results.
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Having seen games from smaller nations that have qualified like Iceland, Serbia, Costa Rica, Croatia all of them establish some kind of play even against tough opposition.

Sweden did the job, they got the result so they played correctly but I personally don't appreciate that kind of football or want it to get results. I was gutted when Greece won the euros and only because of their football, which reminds me alot of Sweden.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the 94 Sweden team, they had flair, speed and determination this team is the opposite.
 
Hansa said:
Very strange, this. Maradona + a bunch of worker bees made it to two finals in '86 and '90, but since then they've kind of been the all-star team that doesn't quite perform.
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Yeah, maybe because too many stars in a team are a risk.
 
Blind starting in midfield for Holland against Romania, Tofu on the bench.

Martial starting with Lacazette and Mbappe as a front three for France.
 
I think I would have preferred Wales in than either Denmark or Ireland.
 
Gusjaros said:
Do the same thing for Greece then. Remove their goals scored against Gibraltar (8 goals or 47 %) and they have just 9 goals scored. It is pretty obvious that you were a mile off when you compared Sweden to Greece.
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look at Greece play and then Sweden and you'll see alot of similarities, I'm talking about the style of play against technical teams, not goals. Physical, disruptive football, 10 men in the box with clearing long-balls on a single player. The football is successful no arguing that, I just don't like it as a neutral.
 
Sammyjunn said:
England will get destroyed, Southgate thinks he is some modern manager but then fields a midfield with Dier and Livermore, great.
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I don't understand how we can win anything with Southgate in charge. I see he's joined the 5-at-the-back bandwagon. He (or his sides) have no identity. One of the most uninspiring, bland managers around. If he was a beverage he'd be lukewarm water.
 
Denis79 said:
Having seen games from smaller nations that have qualified like Iceland, Serbia, Costa Rica, Croatia all of them establish some kind of play even against tough opposition.
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Then again, Sweden are building a new team. Only four players (as far as I can see) of the team that wimped out against Austria two years ago were in the starting line-up for the games vs Italy. Iceland, on the other hand, have a core group of players who've been teammates since U-21 (and probably even earlier).
 
Denis79 said:
look at Greece play and then Sweden and you'll see alot of similarities, I'm talking about the style of play against technical teams, not goals. Physical, disruptive football, 10 men in the box with clearing long-balls on a single player. The football is successful no arguing that, I just don't like it as a neutral.
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The most common play off result so far have been 1-0 and 0-0. Even Croatia played it safe in Greece despite a 4-1 lead heading into that leg. It's just in the nature of play off matches.
 
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