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Group E: Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine

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barneygumble said:
That game in Brazil was in my opinion a Howard wondershow more than anything, I say that completely unbias too, as I felt he'd bee well past his best at that stage.
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If Timmy can see your shot, of if you are dribbling right at him he's going to save it. Its what he's always done well. The USA D goaded them into longer shots but laying off and giving Howard sight lines. They actually weren't that difficult saves.

Timmy's weakness is that you attack him from the flanks you confuse him (he's not good on corners but he's had good CBs like his whole career). A big difference between Roberto year 1 and year 2 was we'd get countered in year 1 directly down the middle into the teeth of Jags/Dustbin/Howard. Year 2, hoof it in the flanks where no everton is w/in 15 yards send the cross in.
 
barneygumble said:
That 2016 Belgian side should have done far better.

Amongst the team Courtois, Alderweield, Vermaelen, Nainggolan Vertonghen, Witsel, De Bruyne, Fellaini, Hazard, Lukaku, Mertens, Meunier, Carrasco.

The fact they kept that core for 2018, was another huge wasted chance. But understandable as they lost to a very good French side in the Semi, after beating Brazil. But they should have wok Euro2016.
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I don't know. I think people see Belgium through Premier League glasses, but how many of those players did it in the Champions League? Courtois and De Bruyne would have adorned any side in the world. After them, the levels drop. Hazard, on his day, was very good, but not consistently at their level and often injured. Lukaku was a good Premier League striker, but flopped at United. His Belgian performances have been embarrassing in recent tournaments. None of the defenders were world class. Witsel was nearly ours. Fellaini was - and, again, fell off a cliff when he left us. The likes of Meunier and Carrasco are bang average.

Take the goalkeeper and De Bruyne out of that side and you have a Spurs team being touted for honours. And that never ends well.
 
Drico said:
I don't know. I think people see Belgium through Premier League glasses, but how many of those players did it in the Champions League? Courtois and De Bruyne would have adorned any side in the world. After them, the levels drop. Hazard, on his day, was very good, but not consistently at their level and often injured. Lukaku was a good Premier League striker, but flopped at United. His Belgian performances have been embarrassing in recent tournaments. None of the defenders were world class. Witsel was nearly ours. Fellaini was - and, again, fell off a cliff when he left us. The likes of Meunier and Carrasco are bang average.

Take the goalkeeper and De Bruyne out of that side and you have a Spurs team being touted for honours. And that never ends well.
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2018 was their shot, they probably had the best starting 11 talent in the world. IMO more talent than France. A better squad tho, probably not. depth was an issue, France just seemed like more of a team.

Hazard-Lukaku-De Bruyne often crowded each other out and the problem is if you bench one, the dropoff is significant. Fellani was still excellent in 18, but was often paired w/ Witsel, who was discount Fellani. Fellani never worked well w/ a deep lying partner, the Fell-Artreta partnership was a whole lot of Arteta running around looking for something to do (IMO they played better w/o each other). They played slow and narrow. Still talent usually wins out, but not against the best in the world for 2-3 straight matches.

Talented teams go out in internationals all the time, I think the biggest failure of Belgium was that they never were that fun to watch.
 
Rook said:
2018 was their shot, they probably had the best starting 11 talent in the world. IMO more talent than France. A better squad tho, probably not. depth was an issue, France just seemed like more of a team.

Hazard-Lukaku-De Bruyne often crowded each other out and the problem is if you bench one, the dropoff is significant. Fellani was still excellent in 18, but was often paired w/ Witsel, who was discount Fellani. Fellani never worked well w/ a deep lying partner, the Fell-Artreta partnership was a whole lot of Arteta running around looking for something to do (IMO they played better w/o each other). They played slow and narrow. Still talent usually wins out, but not against the best in the world for 2-3 straight matches.

Talented teams go out in internationals all the time, I think the biggest failure of Belgium was that they never were that fun to watch.
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I'm an old fart, but the best Belgian side I ever saw was the 1980-1986 team with Jean-Marie Pfaff, Eric Gerets, Frankie Vercauteren, and Jan Ceulemans. Enzo Scifo emerged in 1984 to replace stalwarts like Wilfried van Moer. That side knocked out England and hosts Italy at the 1980 European Championship and finished as runners-up. They then defeated Kempes, Maradona, and Ardiles at the 1982 World Cup, were riddled by match-fixing in 1984, and then re-emerged to defeat the USSR and Spain on their way to the 1986 World Cup semi-final having eliminated the emerging Dutch of Gullit and van Basten in the play-off. That was a record of achievement.

Guy Thys created a side that could go toe-to-toe with the very best and which was tactically sound. They were master man-markers and brilliant on the counter.

I think the current/recent side lacked the bloody-mindedness of the 1980s side and were always likely to underachieve by comparison. Maybe if Guy Thys had been their manager, they might actually have fulfilled their potential...
 

Danny Murphy has just likened Michael Owen to Jude Bellingham in the pre match Romania/Ukraine chat. He said he, himself, was a different type of player but everyone was as terrified of Michael Owen as they are of Jude Bellingham.

I think the only way to avoid the swear filter and also save the cost of a new telly is to just let it go but I'm posting it to see if it gets any easier to do that.
 


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