FIFA World Cup 2014 - GROUP B [Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia - 13/18/23 June] **spoilers**
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Caporegime
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Pigeon ignored when proving he's talking ****e, doesnt like responding to things proving he's wrong.
Still waiting to know the third final Fabregas apparently assisted for Spain and most influential player
Ignored because I couldn't be bothered explaining things to him, not a single one of those stats disprove what I said. When logically, critically thought though, it's fairly easy to see why.
For instance, no one on earth would call Gerrard "fast" but after 40 yards he can be running at a hell of a pace, same goes for Alonso. If he's trying to argue ALonso is pacey because he ran at a particular speed at a particular moment of the game, well... it's twaddle. Not least because Spain as a whole are not at all a fast team. Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Busquets, hardly known for their pace. Alba, Pedro, possibly the right back as well. being fourth fastest at in top speed out of a slow team is mostly meaningless. He could have averaged 18km/h when running while 8 other players may have averaged 25km/h, who knows. I would say pace(in football at least) is a combination of acceleration and top speed that can be obtained frequently. When was the last time Alonso out sprinted people consistently, when has anyone ever considered him a fast player, has anyone ever claimed he was fast. Does peaking at 4th fastest of a slow team change the fact that no one on earth has ever considered him a fast player... but Pigeon posts one number and suddenly de facto he's one of the fastest players around? really?
Distance covered doesn't change what I said either, running the most doesn't change the fact that he looked the most tired at the end and was less and less influencial in the game. I didn't claim that he couldn't run at all any more, merely that he's older and it was predictable that he'd hardly grow into the game in the final half hour at 34, after 2 years of heavy decline.
Which two players covered the most ground in the first half, Xavi and Alonso, which two covered the most in the second half? Did they keep up that rate or did they drop off? How does covering the most ground in the first half prove/mean anything. Likewise, central mids generally always run more than other players, they get further forward and drop further back than almost anyone else.
Which two players spent the longest running at medium and full pace? I don't know, what about a striker who stands still till he's called upon, so spends 35% of the game at lowest pace(whatever that means btw), 10% at medium and 55% at max pace, but Xavi/Alonso spents 2% at max pace, 49% at medium pace, and 49% at lowest pace. They would spend longer at medium or max pace compared to a striker, yet be slower more often by a large margin.
These stats don't say much at all, not least because they don't state what low/medium/high pace are.
This is before you factor in things like.... which players run at max pace and for what reason. Strikers mostly spend their time limited by the defenders backing up speed, which is low, otherwise they'd always be offside. Midfielders who let people pass them often end up running as fast as possible to catch up with them, defenders often stand around pretty still in their own half for long periods. Midfielders bursting forwards or running back to cover tend to run at highest pace for the longest amount by the nature of the roles they play.
Lastly, none of these stats show a comparison to previously. They could have run the furthest distance at 12km for the game, and have only run 50m further than the next player, while 3 years ago they may have run 15km and run 3.05km further than the next player.
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Caporegime
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This World Cup hasn't had a bad game yet. Terrific stuff!
Yep got a feeling me and many others have fed the bookies going for a big Dutch win, usually always happens when you think it will be a hammering.
Caporegime
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De **** was lucky that two footed lunge didn't connect with the player.
I don't think the Aussies will get as badly hammered as Spain did, they could even nab a draw... the Spain v Netherlands match was just one of those anomalies where Spain maybe were too comfortable and got caught with their pants down imo.
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Yea, course it was, Spain definitely aren't that bad, they are still favorites out of the European teams for me.
I think they lost their opening game when they beat Holland in the WC in 2010