Czechlad Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Azerbaijan just equalised v Germany. Wouldn't shock me if we see them in a tournament in the near future, they've improved a lot from last 10 years when they were whipping boys in a group, they could easily finish above Czechs and Norway in this section. We've started pretty bad, but there is no way Azerbaijan finish above us. Germany is destroying them, and Czech is winning 6-0 against San Marino who Azerbajian barely beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 7 minutes ago, Czechlad said: We've started pretty bad, but there is no way Azerbaijan finish above us. Germany is destroying them, and Czech is winning 6-0 against San Marino who Azerbajian barely beat. Will be tight I reckon. Czech still got to play Germany at home so really only one winnable home game left and got to play their rivals all away. Given Azeri got a 0-0 in Prague I wouldn't say it's a ridiculous prediction to think they could beat Czech Republic at home as they did Norway. Norn Iron won't find it easy out there either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 2 hours ago, VillaChris said: It will be interesting if Norway have a late rally under Lagerback, their squad is slowly starting to improve. No chance. Way too much work to be done to undo the damage done by the previous regime. I have faith in Lagerback and think he will get it right eventually but I fully expect us to be rubbish for a few more games still. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Lagerback is a very shrewd manager and will improve them. Norway look decent enough on tonight game but have absolutely nothing up front. Soderlund has one of worst strike records by an international striker and anytime I see him he is garbage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Josh King's played quite well this season for Bournemouth and has improved his finishing a bit. Are Norway playing him out wide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 azerbaijan have invested massively in football infrastructure, they've built a new stadium, got games for the euros in 2020, are bidding for the 2019 CL final, have 2 teams in the europa league, iirc qarabag nearly beat celtic in the CL qualifiers, i think the national team has climbed 12 places in the UEFA rankings in the last 4 years, put loads of german trained coaches in to schools, they're hosting the U17 euros in the summer, hired prosinecki as manager not saying they will do something but they're definitely trying, if they can get themselves in to pot 3 for the euro qualifiers and get a decent draw they could do it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted March 26, 2017 Share Posted March 26, 2017 Our (Norway) biggest problem for me is the ridiculously soft goals we concede. We're desperatly short of quality CBs. That, and we need to find a partner for Josh King. Oh, and Sander Berge should start in midfield. Give Lagerback a few games and he'll find ways to make this work, I'm sure of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Messi banned for 4 games for swearing at the ref after the end of the Argentina-Chile game last week. Starts immediately so he's ruled out of the trip to the mountains in Bolivia tonight. Argentina are without I think now 8 players (Messi, Higuaín, Mascherano, Otamendi, Mercardo and Mas plus a few more) so can see them losing tonight and in Uruguay next game. If that happens their qualification will go right to the last game. There is precedent, Neymar got a similar ban last year after the Copa America so refreshing Fifa are clamping down on this with two of the biggest names in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Messi again proving he is a clearing in the woods Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 On 3/26/2017 at 10:33, TrentVilla said: Belgium's biggest issue is the manager. one of the worst in Premier League history. Everton and Wigan got worse under his tenure had a honeymoon period at Everton and then brought them down the table and miracle that Koeman can take most of same squad back to Everton level 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 video replay in France vs Spain game. was quicker than I expected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Zatman said: video replay in France vs Spain game. was quicker than I expected Shows how great it is, this game alone. France score. No flag. On review, Kurzawa was offside when he headed it to Griezmann, so the goal is rightfully ruled out. Penalty for Spain is given, the ref has it reviewed to double check, it's correctly given as a penalty. Spain score. Linesman has his flag up. It's reviewed, not offside, so goal is given. Would've been 1-1 without reviews. Instead its 2-0 and the penalty is double checked to make sure. This game alone had proven its usefulness. Edited March 28, 2017 by kurtsimonw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Yep, video technology been a massive success this game, good to see. I never got the argument people made that there would be no natural stoppage in a game to review the calls...there's always a delay after offsides. Sam Matterface on ITV whinging it curtails goal celebrations and adds unnecessary injury time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I think the way it was used tonight was good. some managers want to use it for bloody everything which be the problem. Also how far can a play go before brought back. e.g player goes down in box and no penalty given and other team break away and score. Can they ask for that incident to be replayed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 2 minutes ago, Zatman said: I think the way it was used tonight was good. some managers want to use it for bloody everything which be the problem. Also how far can a play go before brought back. e.g player goes down in box and no penalty given and other team break away and score. Can they ask for that incident to be replayed I think just using it for offsides initially is the right way to go. I bet Southampton fans watching were fuming it wasn't used for the Gabbadini goal in the cup final. I think like in Tennis you'd need to limit it to 2 challenges per half otherwise teams and managers would abuse it e.g. appealing for throw ins late on in games when they're winning 1-0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I think 2 challenges is too much. Maybe 1 per half and if you are successful you can keep the challenge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 It was said pre game that it's only used for goals, red cards, mistaken identity and penalty decisions. There is no reason for reviews. If the video referee thinks something is a penalty he says its a penalty. It leaves no room for reviews. Essentially, if you disagree with the decision on the field, then you're wrong and would've lost the review anyway, because the video referee has already seen it and given his decision. Paul Ince's comments after the game were beyond embarrassing. Worrying about a few seconds delay (which happens even without technology, but let's ignore that) and he'd rather not have that delay than a decision being correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 14 minutes ago, Zatman said: I think the way it was used tonight was good. some managers want to use it for bloody everything which be the problem. Also how far can a play go before brought back. e.g player goes down in box and no penalty given and other team break away and score. Can they ask for that incident to be replayed I think the VAR is pretty quick to be honest, the ref has his hand to his ear very quickly after the Griezmann goal, so I doubt we'll be seeing a team countering and scoring in that time. Even if it did happen, it doesn't matter. The penalty in this instance is the correct decision, so the goal at the other end wouldn't have been scored anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted March 28, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted March 28, 2017 5 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said: I think the VAR is pretty quick to be honest, the ref has his hand to his ear very quickly after the Griezmann goal, so I doubt we'll be seeing a team countering and scoring in that time. Even if it did happen, it doesn't matter. The penalty in this instance is the correct decision, so the goal at the other end wouldn't have been scored anyway. My only question mark would be if, for example, in that second goal that Spain scored, the French players had reacted to the linesman's flag. I know that didn't happen here because it was clear cut. But say a player gets put through, the linesman flags and the defenders stop. Striker scores. Ref checks and it's given as onside. But I think it's clear now it's going to happen. And to be honest I'm all for it. I'm intrigued as to the system they'll settle on but it's long overdue. As usual the football powers that be are too worried about upsetting people rather than doing what's best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 I've always thought if there was a quick counter attack an opposition player (like Busquets as he's good at cynciall fouling) would just bring the opponent down to stop play that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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