18 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

It is not about energy, foden n Palmer are not competing with Madueke n Gordon, they are competing with Bellingham, Roger and Eze.

Unfortunately for Foden and Palmer, they have been tarred with the positional/possession tactical brush and they can't play LW or run the counter-attack. Similar issue for Gibbs-White, who has been playing as as second-striker for Forest all season and therefore competes directly with Bellingham, but is not useful in any other forward or midfield role. A bit like we saw with Ziyech, Tuchel rarely sees the value in specialist creative players and holds them to a very high standard where they must be exceptional to even be considered.

Bellingham, Rogers and Eze are quick, defensively diligent (when they want to be) and can play in multiple midfield roles. I still think Palmer should have been taken over Saka, but I get why he's been left out.

Tuchel is stubborn, I think people have forgotten that he will persist with players regardless of performance so long as he thinks they serve his 'system'. Werner, Kovacic at times, Jorginho, persevering with Mendy, dumb late goals at the back post etc. But tournaments are not league football, he only needs to develop a 'system' that works for another 6 games.

Just now, SydneyChelsea said:

Unfortunately for Foden and Palmer, they have been tarred with the positional/possession tactical brush and they can't play LW or run the counter-attack. Similar issue for Gibbs-White, who has been playing as as second-striker for Forest all season and therefore competes directly with Bellingham, but is not useful in any other forward or midfield role. A bit like we saw with Ziyech, Tuchel rarely sees the value in specialist creative players and holds them to a very high standard where they must be exceptional to even be considered.

Bellingham, Rogers and Eze are quick, defensively diligent (when they want to be) and can play in multiple midfield roles. I still think Palmer should have been taken over Saka, but I get why he's been left out.

Tuchel is stubborn, I think people have forgotten that he will persist with players regardless of performance so long as he thinks they serve his 'system'. Werner, Kovacic at times, Jorginho, persevering with Mendy, dumb late goals at the back post etc. But tournaments are not league football, he only needs to develop a 'system' that works for another 6 games.

Yes, it is all about skillset. You don't want all passer, all dribbler, all runner. It doesn't matter whether your think player a is better than player b, what matter is what the team need.

19 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Yes, it is all about skillset. You don't want all passer, all dribbler, all runner. It doesn't matter whether your think player a is better than player b, what matter is what the team need.

Unless your name is Paul Winstanley or Laurence Stewart.

2 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Unless your name is Paul Winstanley or Laurence Stewart.

Cfc ldn

7 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

My wife who is Portuguese came home from work having watched the game claiming that she will never watch this sh*t team again…she laid into CR7 calling him a lazy bastard …together with a whole load of Portuguese swear words to describe the Portuguese performance. We also get Portuguese TV and boy were they laying into the team and Martinez….the flag ripping ceremony will be next on the list if they don’t win their next game convincingly. To me they won’t make the round of 32, they were awful and haven’t been convincing in their warm up games; they have a couple of tough games left and I don’t see them winning one of them.

7 hours ago, CFCCAN said:

My wife who is Portuguese came home from work having watched the game claiming that she will never watch this sh*t team again…she laid into CR7 calling him a lazy bastard …together with a whole load of Portuguese swear words to describe the Portuguese performance. We also get Portuguese TV and boy were they laying into the team and Martinez….the flag ripping ceremony will be next on the list if they don’t win their next game convincingly. To me they won’t make the round of 32, they were awful and haven’t been convincing in their warm up games; they have a couple of tough games left and I don’t see them winning one of them.

Portugal is fine, they just need a few tweak.

4 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

Portugal is fine, they just need a few tweak.

Along with a manager with the capacity to maximise the talent at his disposal. This dullard wasted Belgium's golden generation. This team deserves better.

1 hour ago, dermott said:

Along with a manager with the capacity to maximise the talent at his disposal. This dullard wasted Belgium's golden generation. This team deserves better.

I watched few snippet of the game on Twitter, it is quite clear what is their problem. It is not the 0 midfield, that is fine Congo played 532, it is hard to build through the middle against 532.

What they need is more dynamism in their game. Silva, Bruno, Ronaldo are too slow

36 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I watched few snippet of the game on Twitter, it is quite clear what is their problem. It is not the 0 midfield, that is fine Congo played 532, it is hard to build through the middle against 532.

What they need is more dynamism in their game. Silva, Bruno, Ronaldo are too slow

Ronaldo is a waste of space full stop. It's not a matter of speed, Silva and Bruno are perfectly fine for their clubs playing between the lines. Martinez has the PSG midfield at his disposal but zilch idea how to use them.

Still think Brazil V Morocco was the best game so far, my second team this WC is Morocco because they were seriously fun to watch.

The fact that Portugal still employs Martinez and he continues to pick Ronaldo is a crime against Portuguese and global football fans.

43 minutes ago, bluelightening said:

Still think Brazil V Morocco was the best game so far, my second team this WC is Morocco because they were seriously fun to watch.

The fact that Portugal still employs Martinez and he continues to pick Ronaldo is a crime against Portuguese and global football fans.

Morocco played some very good, entertaining football, hope they make it through to the knockout stage.

2 hours ago, dermott said:

Ronaldo is a waste of space full stop. It's not a matter of speed, Silva and Bruno are perfectly fine for their clubs playing between the lines. Martinez has the PSG midfield at his disposal but zilch idea how to use them.

Well, Ronaldo was a decent player in his day to be fair. Always thought he was a creepy bloke. But as you say Portugal have an amazing midfield which they totally by-pass to service the Cronaldo. They would be much better off IF he was injured and they could then play some real football - they have amazing players. Like Pedro Neto :0)

Hydration Break. Four minutes and 20 seconds per match. Or seven hours, 30 minutes and 40 seconds across the tournament. Advertising during hydration breaks is likely to generate more than $250m (£189m) in the USA alone. Globally that is about $1 billion (£756m).

Just a reminder: Capitalism doesn't care about you or your game or your club or your country.

15 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Hydration Break. Four minutes and 20 seconds per match. Or seven hours, 30 minutes and 40 seconds across the tournament. Advertising during hydration breaks is likely to generate more than $250m (£189m) in the USA alone. Globally that is about $1 billion (£756m).

Just a reminder: Capitalism doesn't care about you or your game or your club or your country.

Commo.

1 hour ago, dermott said:

Commo.

Thank you Comrade Diarmuid.

What will the final be like? The momentum of the game will be totally destroyed by these breaks and the half time show (25-30 mins). It will literally change the form of the game. Money/Capitalism dictating the way the sport is played.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by TheCeleryKing

Typical Australian.

Pffft.