Day 4: Morocco vs Croatia | Germany vs Japan | Spain vs Costa Rica | Belgium vs Canada

Morata coming on should take the pressure off Costa Rica. He's bound to miss a few clear cut chances.
 
Wasn’t expecting that many goals as Spain aren’t renowned for being a goalscoring machine but won’t be surprised now if they score another couple more.
 
Gavi wearing #9 is a disgrace! Almost as bad as Gallas #10 or Gyan #3.
 
Japan, Spain and Germany will all end up at 6 points. Whoever scores most against Costa Rica will advance.
 
#07 said:
Good point. I shouldn't have forgotten about France after last night's showing.
Click to expand...
Yeah Spain are contenders.
They curbed a spine issue at the back with moving Rodri to the CB role. They aren't perfect and in a big game, I think they won't have the space or time to be as incisive as they have been against Costa Rica, but the solidity from Rodri might make them solid enough to still win those games.

France have never been defensive imo. They just had Kante and Pogba in midfield which forced the team deeper. France's play is more incisive than any team I've seen. They don't need to build up as slowly as spain do to get their team into those attacking areas. I favour that incisiveness with the voracity of their attackers, reminds me of Brazil in 2002 with the terror their attackers can bring on their own.
 
The possession stats in this game must be ridiculous. I'm watching this while working and everytime I look at the screen Spain have the ball.
 
Costa Rica 0.00 xG. 15% possession. 0 total shots.

Dear, dear... Worse team in the WC so far.
 
Is there any reason why the BBC have longer real names for Gavi and Pedri ... and Rodri gets Rodri?
 
One lesson I've gotten from watching this Spanish side is, a lot of people need to let go of the notion that playing possession football makes you more likely to win. Spain can win like this because they have certain unique features that allow them to maintain control whilst playing this way. It's not easy and should not be expected by fans when employing managers who have traditionally played a different style.

It's not simply about being able to control the game, but consistently dictating the tempo at different speeds and with lots of movement to simply an create an opening that could lead to an attack. It takes a very fluid team with managers truly dedicated to that type of football to achieve that consistently. Spain, Barca and City are the only teams I see with the players, manager, ball control, patience and off the ball movement to achieve that in a way that leads to goalscoring and domination. Tika-Taka is quite different from the dutch style. It's less direct and less incisive.

My point here is that too many teams try to copy the style when it's something that is very difficult to achieve. When in actuality, most teams would actually do better employing more incisive systems.
 
Germany have Spain in the next game. Could be an early exit for the Germans :(
 
tjb said:
Yeah Spain are contenders.
They curbed a spine issue at the back with moving Rodri to the CB role. They aren't perfect and in a big game, I think they won't have the space or time to be as incisive as they have been against Costa Rica, but the solidity from Rodri might make them solid enough to still win those games.

France have never been defensive imo. They just had Kante and Pogba in midfield which forced the team deeper. France's play is more incisive than any team I've seen. They don't need to build up as slowly as spain do to get their team into those attacking areas. I favour that incisiveness with the voracity of their attackers, reminds me of Brazil in 2002 with the terror their attackers can bring on their own.
Click to expand...

Spain are definitely contenders because of how they keep the ball, but playing Rodri at Center half and no obvious striker may hurt them. I’m also amazed they didn’t find room in their squad for Thiago. I think Rodri is a brilliant DM who can afford to play CB against weaker teams where they will have the ball the whole time, but I think he’ll get found out against a top striker. Still, Spain, France, Brazil and possibly England are the favourites.
 
This is a bloodbath.

So one sided.
 
Telsim said:
Costa Rica 0.00 xG. 15% possession. 0 total shots.

Dear, dear... Worse team in the WC so far.
Click to expand...

Before kick-off people on Twitter were saying that they expect Costa Rica to do another upset in the mould of Saudi Arabia and Japan. No chance. This lot are lucky to be in it in the first place, they barely scraped by fecking New Zealand who are basically a bunch of semi-professionals in the play-offs.
 
Costa Rica hasn't even had a shot on goal. 16% possession. Disgusting performance.
 
So England with 6 goals from 2.11 xG, Argentina with 1 from 2.26. France with 4 from 4.21, Germany with 1 from 3.27, Spain with 5 from 2.74.

Sometimes variance just kills you...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.