srsmithusa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Agree on Besler. The Donovan ship has sailed... rightly or wrongly.... (wrongly, IMO) Overall, your line-up is closer to what I think we'll do...I'm trying to think farther outside the box, in the likely vain hope I can come up with something that might work better. I just don't think Dempsey works hard enough to be the second striker and Altidore is pushed too far up to play that link, so it will be a complete disconnect to the forwards which would result in a bunker and hoof, and Altidore isn't consistent enough for that to be effective. I think Dempsey's work rate (absence of) demands a third (withdrawn) striker. or an advanced AM to link up the play. But can you see Zusi and Chandler trying to contain Ronaldo? I think Jurgen is trying the diamond in order to have an AM (bradley) who can provide that link. He does not want to bunker and hoof (perhaps because of Altidore's limitations) as is obvious from the dangerous passing our defenders have done the last two games. the miracle, is the only way out of the group, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Are the big nations just bluffing as... France 1-1 Paraguay Portugal 0-0 Greece Germany 2-2 Sweden Italy ( in fairness they weren't full strength) 0-0 ROI don't seem great results to me. If England drew with one of those mugs the press would be starting up about how it wouldn't be even worth boarding the plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 On paper England's result was one of the better ones about, Belgium beat Sweden away 2-0 which is another Obviously most aren't playing full speed but ironically I'd probably argue that not playing full speed led to the 2 broken legs I've seen, both come from shit touches and then sloppy 50/50s rather than malicious tackles 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo69 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Wouldn't read in to friendlies too much. Once that extra pressure of the World Cup starts everything changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Agree on Besler. The Donovan ship has sailed... rightly or wrongly.... (wrongly, IMO) Overall, your line-up is closer to what I think we'll do...I'm trying to think farther outside the box, in the likely vain hope I can come up with something that might work better. I just don't think Dempsey works hard enough to be the second striker and Altidore is pushed too far up to play that link, so it will be a complete disconnect to the forwards which would result in a bunker and hoof, and Altidore isn't consistent enough for that to be effective. I think Dempsey's work rate (absence of) demands a third (withdrawn) striker. or an advanced AM to link up the play. But can you see Zusi and Chandler trying to contain Ronaldo? I think Jurgen is trying the diamond in order to have an AM (bradley) who can provide that link. He does not want to bunker and hoof (perhaps because of Altidore's limitations) as is obvious from the dangerous passing our defenders have done the last two games. the miracle, is the only way out of the group, IMO. It will be Bedoya marking Ronaldo come the world cup. Bedoya's work rate is amazing. He can run up and down the pitch for the full 90. It's funny how Donovan was omitted due to his work rate, but as you mentioned, Dempsey's is even worse and yet he is the captain. It was a personal reason why Donovan is not going to Brasil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Dempsey is one of the few in that squad who is a reliable goalscorer and has top level European experience, o.k Altidore has that aswell but not the reliable goalscorer part! On friendlies yeah I accept that but still you can put a marker down by beating one of those teams convincingly 2 or 3 nil. If Germany are conceding 2 to Cameroon then I can't see them keeping clean sheets in the knock outs. That was a problem in the euros, they conceded two to Greece remember. I did note the Belgium result. Impressive. Think they'll make the last 8 and you never know from that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 czechlad, agreed on both counts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Algeria only have 6 or 7 Algerian players in their squad. Should be called France B. They have Algerian parents, so I think it is fair enough that they play for Algeria. Plus 6 or 7 is an under estimation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Falcao out according to a fair few respectable journos on twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 A real shame but such a risk with him out injured from January. Seen some people tipping Colombia to win this, wouldn't shock me if they bombed out of the groups, think they're being massively overrated as they seemed to slow up in the second half of the south American qualifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo69 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 A real shame but such a risk with him out injured from January. Seen some people tipping Colombia to win this, wouldn't shock me if they bombed out of the groups, think they're being massively overrated as they seemed to slow up in the second half of the south American qualifiers. I guess when you are playing for your lives who knows! Sorry bad taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 2, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 2, 2014 OK, I'm embarrassed now. Seriously, I don't mind people being ignorant and not knowing anything... but just admit it. I hate this shite. They do this for hours and edit it so only the idiots are left. It makes the United States look like they know nothing about football. There are a lot of people in the United States that know very little about the World Cup let alone the players in it, but there are also a lot of people who know a whole lot and would obviously know those questions were a farce. It just makes people think Americans know very little when in reality, it probably took that guy hours to get just a few minutes of footage. to be fair, most of the people in that video seem to know their stufd. Especially for Americans who aren't immersed in It 24/7 Its only really the guys in the real Madrid shirts who are clueless. And the black guy but he admits at the very start he doesn't follow soccer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo69 Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 A real shame but such a risk with him out injured from January. Seen some people tipping Colombia to win this, wouldn't shock me if they bombed out of the groups, think they're being massively overrated as they seemed to slow up in the second half of the south American qualifiers. Quite a lot of players in Europe. Some decent strikers apart from Falcao too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 they have Ramos, Bacca and Jackson Martinez who got 50 league goals between them last season and conditions will also favour them. Probably wont win it but you don't want to play them in the knockouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crumpet Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I woke up and really felt like England were goin to win the world cup. Now I'm convinced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Their defence looks weak to me...Yepes at 38 and Zapata is pretty woeful aswell...Perea was another veteran at 35 but he was cut from the squad. I rate Chile and Uruguay higher than them in terms of squad tbh but I suppose being in a reasonable group helps their chances as even if Chile get through their one they'll probably play Brazil in 2nd round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Colombia have had always had good players and have always flattered to deceive (a great footballing cliche) at the World Cup. I can see the same happening again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 They've got balanta at CB who I want to see, think he's the only -10 player on fm14, he's a must buy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted June 4, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted June 4, 2014 I've taken the liberty of setting up a VT group in the ESPN World Cup Bracket contest. The password is dhutwu. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 A real shame but such a risk with him out injured from January. Seen some people tipping Colombia to win this, wouldn't shock me if they bombed out of the groups, think they're being massively overrated as they seemed to slow up in the second half of the south American qualifiers. I think the South American dark horse is Chile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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