Day 5: Sweden vs South Korea, Belgium vs Panama and Tunisia vs England (19H00)

diarm said:
I think you're being deliberately disingenuous here because you wanted to call someone out on something that wasn't necessarily there.

No two players are exactly the same but we compare players all the time without it necessarily being solely about race. Benteke on his day is better off the shoulder than you are giving him credit for and Lukaku is far from "terrible in the air".

He isn't a target man, Benteke is obviously more effective in that role, but Lukaku is superb with a headed opportunity in the box. In fact, the way both players accelerate from deep to meet crosses powerfully with their heads is very similar.
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Yes, but Lukaku is good. Benteke is shite. Doesn't get any simpler than that.
 
How is KdB still on the pitch and what the feck was he thinking doing that at 3-0 up in a game that is over?!
 
Looked as if De Bruyne pushed out with his studs there as well, should be a red if you intentionally push out harder
 
diarm said:
I think you're being deliberately disingenuous here because you wanted to call someone out on something that wasn't necessarily there.

No two players are exactly the same but we compare players all the time without it necessarily being solely about race. Benteke on his day is better off the shoulder than you are giving him credit for and Lukaku is far from "terrible in the air".

He isn't a target man, Benteke is obviously more effective in that role, but Lukaku is superb with a headed opportunity in the box. In fact, the way both players accelerate from deep to meet crosses powerfully with their heads is very similar.
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I'm not being disingenuous at all, Benteke is a target man, Lukaku is a ball to feet player - from that very simple comparison it's clear that they are not similar.
Due to his size - yes Lukaku can do long ball play, but that's not where he excels, just like how Beneteke doesn't excel with the ball at his feet or running off the last shoulder, but he can if the situation calls upon it.
But that doesn't mean that they are similar.

I'm not sure how many United games you watched last season but his goal drought came about because due to Fellaini's injury, Mourinho decided to use Lukaku as the target man, which led to a blunted attack that relied on Martial & Lingard to score goals.
 
Wow shocked to see Nácar Chadli in the Belgium squad! Checked how many mins he got for WBA. Mere 216 mins haha
 
diarm said:
I think you're being deliberately disingenuous here because you wanted to call someone out on something that wasn't necessarily there.

No two players are exactly the same but we compare players all the time without it necessarily being solely about race. Benteke on his day is better off the shoulder than you are giving him credit for and Lukaku is far from "terrible in the air".

He isn't a target man, Benteke is obviously more effective in that role, but Lukaku is superb with a headed opportunity in the box. In fact, the way both players accelerate from deep to meet crosses powerfully with their heads is very similar.
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That kind of similarity you described as the end can be used to described many forwards, not just two Belgium colored, physical forwards.

Lukaku knows where to position himself in the box for chances (instinct of a goal scorer). Lukaku again is better at running behind the defense off the ball. When someone like Benteke is more about enforcer both outside an inside the box. Benteke has neater touch and better hold up play naturally, and arguably better dribbler in short distance (not elite level mind) due to all Lukaku flaw.

That for me is plenty of difference.
 
vi1lain said:
Lukaku is terrible in the air, it's quite clearly one of his weaknesses - and one of the main criticisms why Mourinho elected to keep floating the long ball to him.
Benteke is a long ball player, Lukaku isn't.

Lukaku's strength is playing back to goal, and on the last man and using his power and pace to run behind the defence - Beneteke can't do that.

They're not similar players at all, and outside of physical comparisons, don't share much of any similarities.

Great goal from him just now too.
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I have to disagree that Lukaku’s strength is playing with his back to goal. He’s pretty shite, in my opinion, at holding the ball up. He’s fantastic though at linking play up with technical touches/flicks and sharp one-twos. He’s also fantastic at getting in behind and dribbling. I rate him very highly, just don’t really see his back to goal play as a main strength of his. The comparisons between Benteke and Lukaku are nonetheless rubbish, though.
 
Yes, Lukaku does not excel at holding the ball up with his back to goal, wants it in behind or to run the channels. He can win the ball in the air, but it is not his main strength and he has a tendency to get bundled off the ball making him look weak, when it is really about touch and agility. When he has the ball under control he is very hard to shift off it, you have to hit him hard as it comes to him.

Are we really having another discussion about race over Benteke v Lukaku?
 
vi1lain said:
@Rajma can you keep comparing Lukaku to Benteke? He keeps proving you wrong & scoring.
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By no means I don't want him to do well as it would be idiotic and detrimental I just simply can't see it with him, he's good at scoring from accurate crosses and is rather clinical overall that is well documented anyway. If he goes out and proves me wrong next season I'll publicly apologise to all the believers, however, I struggle to see us winning anything of the note given the crucial aspects he's lacking in his game. I might be harsh on him or even wrong but ultimately it is the way I see things, nothing personal.
 
marktan said:
I didn't watch that match. Tbf this ref has let more non-fouls go this half then he did the first. The ref in the Korea-Sweden match was terrible though, think there were like 50 fouls called.
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The question of over referring and generally bad officiating is constantly brought up in the PL and La Liga though, even more so in the CL where there seems to be a consensus that continental refs give way too many soft calls. Im sure you see the posts throughout the season on match day. Going by this world cup alone you're not showing near enough evidence of a disparity in quality of referring between European and non European refs.
 
duffer said:
When was the last time two brothers played together in a world cup?
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Sofyan Amrabat came on the pitch as a sub for his brother Nordin Amrabat for Morocco vs Iran in their first match of this World Cup; good chance they'll be on the pitch at the same time in one of their next two games.
 
Rajma said:
By no means I don't want him to do well as it would be idiotic and detrimental I just simply can't see it with him, he's good at scoring from accurate crosses and is rather clinical overall that is well documented anyway. If he goes out and proves me wrong next season I'll publicly apologise to all the believers, however, I struggle to see us winning anything of the note given the crucial aspects he's lacking in his game. I might be harsh on him or even wrong but ultimately it is the way I see things, nothing personal.
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Yup, the guy only scores goals. Needs replacing.
 
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