International Friendlies May/June

Just shows why Lukaku numbers with us were underwhelming most of times, because our crosses are terrible. We can't use him to his full potential with this set of wingers and full backs.
 
12 goals in last 9 appearances for Lukaku for Belgium. Give him chances and he'll score bucketloads. I can see him scoring 40 plus in all competitions if he remains fit next season. He's that good as a striker.
 
Lukaku has scored 36 goals in 69 games for Belgium and he's been playing for them since he was 17. Very impressive.
 
Lukaku is very important for us if he has a good service from attacking width to crosses and midfielder find a space to pass for him to run behind. He can hold balls whilst our pacy winger running behind the defence to score, as evidenced by Martial and Rashford in Spurs and Liverpool game and doubled their goal tally compared to 2016-17 with Zlatan front up. I probably would bet money on him being top soccer in the league if we get new fullbacks who can crosses and RW.
 
I have Brazil and Spain as favorites, Germany and France the next tier, personally.
 
Scarlet_Emperor said:
Definitely it's not the same hype at that time, but this team looks like much more solid and well-prepared to win the tournament in contrast with 2006. Ronaldo in poor shape especially in the first two matches, Adriano ineffective on the pitch, Cafu looked like only worried to break his own personal records and such just depicted the tip of the iceberg of that disgraceful exhibition. CBF didn't give a proper preparation for that squad. The last three matches before that World Cup began.
  • Brazil 1 - 0 Russia (they failed to qualify for that WC and lost badly to Portugal)
  • Brazil 8 - 0 FC Luzern (a team who took part in the second division of the Swiss national league)
  • Brazil 4 - 0 New Zealand (they didn't even park the bus so much...)

Is this a great way to prepare a team for the most important tournament involving national teams? Not that did I think that Brazil would run over everyone in their path with such ease otherwise, but it was crystal clear for me that we threw away a golden opportunity to give WC'06 a special shine.

Although the current team doesn't seem as prodigious as the 2006's squad, it's undeniable that Brazil owns a very qualified one at their disposal. Tite showed that he can change the style of play according to the necessity without dropping off so much in quality, unlike the previous tournament where Brazil seemed unable to give a proper comeback after being trailing in a decisive match.
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Yeah that was a very poor choice of opponents for preparation. The current squad is the best in a long time, just not sure how it matches up with the european giants in a competitive game.
 
KM said:
12 goals in last 9 appearances for Lukaku for Belgium. Give him chances and he'll score bucketloads. I can see him scoring 40 plus in all competitions if he remains fit next season. He's that good as a striker.
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Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Cyprus, Greece and Gibraltar (x3) - let’s not go crazy. Give any decent striker passes from de Bruyne/Hazard against minnows and they will score plenty. Even Welbeck would score every game on average against this lot.
 
Charles Miller said:
I think the pressure sometimes is used as an excuse when you lose badly.

If you pick that Spain line up that lost 1-5 to Netherlands in 2014 for example, Piquet, Ramos, Alba, Busquets, David Silva, Iniesta and Diego Costa, 7 players that will be in their start 11 in Russia. If it was against Germany instead of Netherlands that day, it could have been even worse. I can't see any evidence of those players showing weakness under pressure during their careers.

This is more a characteristic of the modern game and current tactics that when your plan is not working against a strong opposition and you're not specialist in parking the bus, a terrible result can happen. We see it at club level. When the plan fail teams like Barcelona or City can be smashed awfully. I dont think its the pressure.
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Brazil completely lost the plot mentally that day. I don't like to paint every defeat with the bottled brush but that was a caxe of a team being all over the place - both tactically and mentally. No matter what some of their players have achieved otherwise they were found out that day and it will always haunt as it obviously wasn't just a case of a system failing.
 
James Peril said:
Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Cyprus, Greece and Gibraltar (x3) - let’s not go crazy. Give any decent striker passes from de Bruyne/Hazard against minnows and they will score plenty. Even Welbeck would score every game on average against this lot.
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:lol: Your arse twitches whenever you see a post praising Lukaku isn't it? Like Van Gaal's arse was twitched when we attacked.
 
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amolbhatia50k said:
Brazil completely lost the plot mentally that day. I don't like to paint every defeat with the bottled brush but that was a caxe of a team being all over the place - both tactically and mentally. No matter what some of their players have achieved otherwise they were found out that day and it will always haunt as it obviously wasn't just a case of a system failing.
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I think that team fell apart because they were really bad. The mental aspect will just follow the weakness and the impotence. You need to know why you lost or you will lose again.

First you're a bad team facing a strong side. Then you lose the plot. That team was awful and would lose even if they had Charles Xavier mind.

The only elite player who started against Germany was Marcelo. Willian and Paulinho subbed on when it was 6-0 already. The rest are not even in the group now. Dante-David Luiz-old Maicon-Gustavo-Oscar-Bernard-Hulk-Fred...they have no right to use the pressure as an excuse.They are just an awful generation.
 
James Peril said:
Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Cyprus, Greece and Gibraltar (x3) - let’s not go crazy. Give any decent striker passes from de Bruyne/Hazard against minnows and they will score plenty. Even Welbeck would score every game on average against this lot.
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Your agenda against Lukaku is really bizarre and tiresome. Give it a rest.

BTW that post is pathetic.
 
James Peril said:
Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Cyprus, Greece and Gibraltar (x3) - let’s not go crazy. Give any decent striker passes from de Bruyne/Hazard against minnows and they will score plenty. Even Welbeck would score every game on average against this lot.
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My word, a striker does his job and yet still people have a go!! What's he meant to do against these teams?? Miss on purpose because a goal against Japan isn't worth anything??!
Absolute joke.
Can't see Belgium winning the WC though, they suffer from a similar issue with England, big names but cannot often mesh them names together into a cohesive force.
 
James Peril said:
Costa Rica, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Cyprus, Greece and Gibraltar (x3) - let’s not go crazy. Give any decent striker passes from de Bruyne/Hazard against minnows and they will score plenty. Even Welbeck would score every game on average against this lot.
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Outrageous. Lukaku gets 2 goals and an assist and people like you still bash him. fecking ridiculous
 
Kostur said:
Poland 2-0 up against Lithuania, Lewy with two, second being a beautiful free kick.
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Then they took him off only 10 mins into the second half. Could’ve bagged a hattrick!
 
Poland 4-0, 3 VAR decisions: goal-line stuff for Lewy's free kick, Krychowiak's disallowed goal (was a handball prior to the goal) and a penalty for Poland for Lithuanian defender's handball.

LennonNL said:
Then they took him off only 10 mins into the second half. Could’ve bagged a hattrick!
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He hasn't played at all in the second half unfortunately :lol:
 
deafepl said:
Lukaku is very important for us if he has a good service from attacking width to crosses and midfielder find a space to pass for him to run behind. He can hold balls whilst our pacy winger running behind the defence to score, as evidenced by Martial and Rashford in Spurs and Liverpool game and doubled their goal tally compared to 2016-17 with Zlatan front up. I probably would bet money on him being top soccer in the league if we get new fullbacks who can crosses and RW.
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Hmm...:smirk:
 
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