FIFA WORLD CUP

[Alucard]

I guess I typed Kepa in place of Kiko casilla by mistake. As good as kiko is, he is not better than Navas. Navas is the number one for a reason at madrid. Nacho is not even that good of a defender. Decent yes but not a proper replacement. He is not a CL winning team starting defender. Kovacić is not a like for like replacement for Casemiro. Same position yes, but completely differently style of play. Kovacić is more of a deep lying playmake(ala xabi alonso, michael carrick ,jorginho and pirlo) and his tacking and shielding of defense is not upto casemiro. Casemiro is more of a midfield destroyer. He breaks up opposition plays(ala Matić, and fernandinho). Asensio had a solitary goal in CL despite featuring a lot. Mostly sub but still.

[Alucard]

Ronnie's goalscoring cannot be replaced easily and as good as he is while taking nothing away from his effort and talent there is a reason he had that. Lot of people were willing to put in effort to create lots of chances for him. His bicycle goal was the best in the CL that season but without Carvajal I dont think he can score that.

[Alucard]

And also there can be a case made about the entire team driving themselves into CL final. Bayern eliminated themselves from the CL against Real. From Ulreich's howler to Ribery's misses to Lewandowski impersonation of the invisible man. As a team Real capitalised on those mistakes by Hyenckes's men in that crucial game at Allianz arena.

[sufyanhot]

eng ahead early

[Alucard]

England vs Croatia.
A game of two halves. England dominated the first half. Never thought I'd see it but a midfield of Hendo, Alli and J.Lingard dominated Modric and Rakitic. Dalić made an change by adding Brozovic instead of Kramarić. Maybe Kramarić was very tired. Tripper scored an awesome free kick goal. Easily Englands best set piece take along with Young. Kane should have doubled up the lead but subasić made a brilliant save. Kane was once again playing in his familiar false 9 position and dropped deep to link. Sterling was playing as a poacher or advanced forward by standing near the last defender. Young and Tripper stayed wide. In the second half Croatia turned the game. They looked like a completely different team. Perisić what an hardworking lad!!! Great equilizer and minutes later denied by the woodwork. Explains why mourinho was so keen on him last summer. Rashford came on too late around the 75th minute for raz. He looked sharp. Willing to dribble defenders when there was no passing option. Mandzukić volleyed a great shot but was saved by pickford. But the madman made amends later with his match winning goal in extra time.
That refree lost control of the match too often. Lovren and alli deserved atleast a yellow.


Southgate and lads can be proud. It was not a good way to but they did well considering that their last tournament was a major major failure with hudson. The team is going to get better and southgate have instilled a new mentality and playstyle.Team has gone from absolutely no chance before the tournament to something akin to hope.

[SM-xmarra]

I guess I typed Kepa in place of Kiko casilla by mistake. As good as kiko is, he is not better than Navas. Navas is the number one for a reason at madrid. Nacho is not even that good of a defender. Decent yes but not a proper replacement. He is not a CL winning team starting defender. Kovacić is not a like for like replacement for Casemiro. Same position yes, but completely differently style of play. Kovacić is more of a deep lying playmake(ala xabi alonso, michael carrick ,jorginho and pirlo) and his tacking and shielding of defense is not upto casemiro. Casemiro is more of a midfield destroyer. He breaks up opposition plays(ala Matić, and fernandinho). Asensio had a solitary goal in CL despite featuring a lot. Mostly sub but still.

I'm sorry to be so blunt but what you have said there above in bold, i do not respect anything you have to say about football.

Comparing or even mentioning Kovacic in the same sentence as Alonso and Pirlo is pure madness. The kid is not fit to lace their boots!

That on top of other ridiculous statements, like ronaldo was struggling in la liga

[Alucard]

I guess I typed Kepa in place of Kiko casilla by mistake. As good as kiko is, he is not better than Navas. Navas is the number one for a reason at madrid. Nacho is not even that good of a defender. Decent yes but not a proper replacement. He is not a CL winning team starting defender. Kovacić is not a like for like replacement for Casemiro. Same position yes, but completely differently style of play. Kovacić is more of a deep lying playmake(ala xabi alonso, michael carrick ,jorginho and pirlo) and his tacking and shielding of defense is not upto casemiro. Casemiro is more of a midfield destroyer. He breaks up opposition plays(ala Matić, and fernandinho). Asensio had a solitary goal in CL despite featuring a lot. Mostly sub but still.

I'm sorry to be so blunt but what you have said there above in bold, i do not respect anything you have to say about football.

Comparing or even mentioning Kovacic in the same sentence as Alonso and Pirlo is pure madness. The kid is not fit to lace their boots!

That on top of other ridiculous statements, like ronaldo was struggling in la liga

Apology accepted.
Ah yes, you can respect who ever you want, its your choice. I dont really care if you respect my words or not.
Kovacić is no where near the level of Alonso and Pirlo, even I am aware of that. Not in one place have I ever mentioned this. I just typed that his position and style of play is similar to those two guys. If a player is not good enough to lace the boots of a widely accepted footballing legend should he just then hang his boots ?
Cesar azpilicueta or Dave as his team mates call him is a natural right footed right back. During Mourinho's second season at chelsea, Dave played as a left back since Ivanovic covered the right side. Now Dave stayed back at all times with Terry. He was always intercepting the ball really well and his positioning was too good. Rarely went into a last ditch tackle. Some fans compared that style to Maldini. Now Maldini is the greatest defender of all time but was it wrong to compare that style which was very similar to Maldini? Was it pure madness for them to compare given both players had very similar style even though it was for a short period of time for Dave. Just like them , I wasnt comparing talent , I am comparing playing style.

Now , If its ridiculous to say that " Ronaldo was struggling in the first half of la liga"(most towards the end of last year) then what wasnt riducolous? I mean what was your opinion on those performances? World class? Decent? Below average but not garbage?

[RedSox]

Ronnie's goalscoring cannot be replaced easily and as good as he is while taking nothing away from his effort and talent there is a reason he had that. Lot of people were willing to put in effort to create lots of chances for him. His bicycle goal was the best in the CL that season but without Carvajal I dont think he can score that.

Regarding that bicycle goal, Carvajal was looking down at the ball and just dumped it into the box. CR7 was running away from goal, he then jumps 2.94 meters in the air to hit the cleanest bicycle kick of all time into the corner of the net, against Gigi friggin' Buffon. The goal was so good, that he got a standing ovation in Turino by Juventus fans who booed him 5 minutes ago.

Let's leave CL aside, where Ronaldo excelled, and no the players were not putting in the effort just because it was for Ronaldo. He anticipates and happens to be in the right place, takes his chances well.

Let's just talk about La Liga, he missed the first 4 games of the season which the team drew twice at home to Levante (who were in a relegation fight all along) and Valencia. Needless to say they were barely above average without him.
He then went on to play 27 games and ended up scoring 26 goals. He had 4 goals at the end of January and the vast majority came at the end, when you believe he was merely a passenger!

Talking about decline, sure he may not be able to run around as much as he used to 4-5 years ago, but the most important thing in the game that he does better than anyone else in the world that includes the Lewandowskis, Agueros, Cavanis and Suarez' of the world is put the ball in the back of the net.
I haven't even touched on his leadership aspect yet.

[Alucard]

Ronnie's goalscoring cannot be replaced easily and as good as he is while taking nothing away from his effort and talent there is a reason he had that. Lot of people were willing to put in effort to create lots of chances for him. His bicycle goal was the best in the CL that season but without Carvajal I dont think he can score that.

Regarding that bicycle goal, Carvajal was looking down at the ball and just dumped it into the box. CR7 was running away from goal, he then jumps 2.94 meters in the air to hit the cleanest bicycle kick of all time into the corner of the net, against Gigi friggin' Buffon. The goal was so good, that he got a standing ovation in Turino by Juventus fans who booed him 5 minutes ago.

Let's leave CL aside, where Ronaldo excelled, and no the players were not putting in the effort just because it was for Ronaldo. He anticipates and happens to be in the right place, takes his chances well.

Let's just talk about La Liga, he missed the first 4 games of the season which the team drew twice at home to Levante (who were in a relegation fight all along) and Valencia. Needless to say they were barely above average without him.
He then went on to play 27 games and ended up scoring 26 goals. He had 4 goals at the end of January and the vast majority came at the end, when you believe he was merely a passenger!

Talking about decline, sure he may not be able to run around as much as he used to 4-5 years ago, but the most important thing in the game that he does better than anyone else in the world that includes the Lewandowskis, Agueros, Cavanis and Suarez' of the world is put the ball in the back of the net.
I haven't even touched on his leadership aspect yet.

@redsox

Carvajal may have unintentionally put that ball into the box but still it was him who did. Without him crossing Ronaldo doesn't get to score that Bicycle goal. Now eh Buffon have declined this year, he is not the same guy he used to be,age finally got to him. szczesny is the successor and better keeper this year. It is widely accepted.
Ofcourse the players didnot put effort for ronaldo. They did it for the club. They did it for the fans,their manager and themselves.
You just typed that Ronnie had only 4 goals by the end of January. Nearly Half(or I guess more than half?) the season have gone and he had four goals. Just like I mentioned earlier, he was poor in the first half of la liga specially towards the end of the year.
Lewa and Suarez have declined. Agüero cant keep himself fit. Cavani is great. Even with these four guys in their prime and form there is no denying that Ronaldo is comfortably better than those players mentioned above.
Now does this change the fact that Ronaldo had a poor first half of la liga? I dont think so.

[Alucard]

And that height was 2.38 meters.