Caporegime
How many of those have helped lead Ajax, who haven't been a force in Europe for decades to a CL semi, knocking out the holders and one of the favourites?
I'm pretty sure that is zero.
UEFA Nations League Finals ... **Spoilers** [5th - 9th June 2019]
- Thread starter Cosimo
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How many of those have helped lead Ajax, who haven't been a force in Europe for decades to a CL semi, knocking out the holders and one of the favourites?
I'm pretty sure that is zero.
Caporegime
Right, so getting to a CL semi makes you a world beater. Perhaps the PL top sides should’ve been raiding Wigan a few years back when they won the FA cup.
Caporegime
You're right, the FA Cup is absolutely the same standard as the Champions League.
Caporegime
It’s a cup competition, the point is anything can happen in a knock out. Getting to the champions league semi final doesn’t automatically make you a finished article.
Perhaps Blind should be getting a move back to one of the big boys. He did after all get to a CL semi no less.
Soldato
We were though. I will concede there's an argument to be had as to how much their domination was down to either Dutch supremacy or English cowardice but they dominated us.
They had a few knackers but the majority of those team were comfortable in the ball and calm under pressure, pretty much polar opposite of England who were a hot mess on the ball and looked like they just wanted rid ASAP but were too focused on media opportunities that they tried daft **** rather than getting rid which is normally what **** players like them do.
Caporegime
I didn’t see any domination.
Liverpool Vs Barcelona was domination. We lost thanks to defensive incompetence, if Sancho scores we win comfortably.
Soldato
Agree to disagree but apart from the opening 30mins we must have watched different games as they utterly controlled the game.
Just remember a chance from a few players on the break doesn't equate to control, we were dominated
Just remember a chance from a few players on the break doesn't equate to control, we were dominated
Caporegime
Agree to disagree but apart from the opening 30mins we must have watched different games as they utterly controlled the game.
Just remember a chance from a few players on the break doesn't equate to control, we were dominated
Absolutely must’ve watched a different game as after they had scored we were by far the better team. 70 minutes + they barely touched the ball.
We were gash in ET mind.
Soldato
So by your math (which is similar to mine) we controlled around 40mins of the game and they controlled 80mins.......
I hate to point out the obvious....
Anyway it's done, at least the flutter of hope is dead now and we know we'll never be better than a semi team. Better than the early noughties though I guess when we were a quarters team
Caporegime
So by your math (which is similar to mine) we controlled around 40mins of the game and they controlled 80mins.......
I hate to point out the obvious....
Anyway it's done, at least the flutter of hope is dead now and we know we'll never be better than a semi team. Better than the early noughties though I guess when we were a quarters team
A game isn’t controlled by a team every minute. Certain spells of the game will be 50/50, other spells will be teams on top/in control.
I just didn’t see us being dominated in that game, sure we sat deep for parts of the game but that’s natural when you’re 1 up. Not that it matters, we could’ve dominated the game ourselves but if you’re making mistakes like that you get what you deserve.
I’m not even that bothered we lost tbh, I lost being passionate about international football a long time ago. I don’t mind being a quarters team if we are entertaining, for far too long we’ve been absolute tosh to watch, at least we do have some young players coming through.
Soldato
On that I agree with you, sadly even with exciting young players they seemed to have accquired the same mental deficiencies of their seniors which will, unfortunately bury any talent they have at the sharp end.
Caporegime
The dreams of the nation falls on the shoulders of the great white hope Phil Foden! If he can get a game at City
Soldato
What? Like he was outstanding tonight. Take the red tinted glasses off ffs.
Soldato
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I agree with what the pundits in the studio were saying, that playing out from the back isn't the wrong approach for England, that we shouldn't abandon what we've been doing, but that Stones has to start improving and we have to try and find some players in midfield with the ability to receive the ball on the half turn and players who can dictate play. That midfield three who started the game were either inexperienced (Rice) or nowhere near the level England need (Delph and Barkley). Maybe the likes of Winks, Foden, Maddison can improve our quality on the ball in midfield, who knows.
I thought De Jong was absolute class for Holland tonight. I see what McBain is saying about not getting carried away about young players but in the case of De Jong I think it's pretty clear he's the real deal. He'll fit in perfectly at Barca imo. De Ligt had a few dodgy moments tonight early on, but he grew into the game and I think he too is a player with a huge future, he's an absolute nightmare at set pieces and couldn't be playing alongside a better player.
I thought De Jong was absolute class for Holland tonight. I see what McBain is saying about not getting carried away about young players but in the case of De Jong I think it's pretty clear he's the real deal. He'll fit in perfectly at Barca imo. De Ligt had a few dodgy moments tonight early on, but he grew into the game and I think he too is a player with a huge future, he's an absolute nightmare at set pieces and couldn't be playing alongside a better player.
Caporegime
The problem with Stones is we’ve been here before, many times. I actually don’t think he has it in him to iron out the **** ups, his brain just isn’t up to it.
We should just start looking elsewhere for someone to play alongside Harry. Walker in a 3 is an absolute no go as well, although I would assume TAA will be first choice. Gomez? Tarkowski? At least with Tarkowski you’ve got someone at the back who will just clear it when needed instead of ******* around.
I hope Maddison can kick on after a promising first season, Foden needs to be playing more games at City, will he get the chance?
Caporegime
It's not like Maguire was much better tonight.
Not sure he'd be happy being 4th choice tbh
Soldato
The problem is we've got an ideologue as manager and players who aren't good enough to do what he wants, good managers play to their players strengths. International managers don't spend enough time with their squad to be coaching styles of play, even at club level with day in day out coaching it can take months to coach a different formation or style of play and sometimes players are simply not good enough to do what you want. If it was as easy as just believing in playing a particular way and sticking to it all four divisions would be playing like Pep Guardiola's Barcelona did.