Wow Portugal. How did you not win? Best attacking performance in years but so, so poor defensively. And if Ronaldo doesn't play for Portugal again I really don't think I'd miss him, Quaresma was so much better than he would have been.
We keep hearing about this incredible depth that France has, unrivaled in all of Europe, which can't get a result, at home, against Belarus?!?
Depth != Top-end talent.
France, right now, has a ton of talent that is at the same level. Aside from goalkeeping, where Lloris is an edge superior to Carrasso, Mandanda, Douchez, and Ruffier, you can go through each position and there's not much difference between the top 5 or 10 players available.
The issue is that France is lacking top-end talent. There aren't any French players right now that would be considered the best in the world at their position.
Wow Portugal. How did you not win? Best attacking performance in years but so, so poor defensively. And if Ronaldo doesn't play for Portugal again I really don't think I'd miss him, Quaresma was so much better than he would have been.
So, so many things wrong with this game
1 - From the start, we had 2 box-to-box midfielders in M.Fernandes and Meireles playing behind the attacking trio of Nani - Danny - Quaresma. WHY? The team needs a trinco to anchor the MF back there. Pedro Mendes or Pepe needed to play.
2 - One of the worst games I've ever seen Bruno Alves play. He couldn't tackle or clear the ball to save his life, Carvalho was back there saving his ass multiple times, and he directly gave the ball to an opposing player at least twice.
3 - Miguel. Oh Miguel. Looking like a young Paulo Ferreira out there. 2 of the goals were directly his fault. Couldn't defend to save his life. Silvio had better play in the next game or were going to concede another 4 goals.
4 - The 4th goal, although the whole team was just standing around while cyprus passed the ball, was pretty much Eduardo's fault. That rebound cant just fall in front of the net. Made me think i was watching a Benfica game with Roberto in net.
5 - Overall, the team just looked disinterested. Only the FPF would suspend their coach for 6 months. This whole "organization" from head to toe is a joke.
6 - minor thing, but even as a Porto fan, moutinho really adds nothing to the team. Tiago should really have been called instead.
One good thing that came from this game was Manuel Fernandes. This guy is the midfielder we've been missing for a while now, and desperately needed in the WC. He passes very wall, tracks back, creates chances, and scored a wonderful goal to put us up 4-3. I felt like he was a bit isolated due to the role he was told to play, and could have gotten forward a bit more, but for me was the MOTM for Portugal. I really don't know why this was his first callup in almost 2 years. Hopefully he stays.
The good thing that came from the game is that we actually looked competent in attack. We seriously should've drubbed them like we did North Korea. Quaresma was MOTM for me. It just sucks that they played that well and ****ed up what should have been 3 points.
The first two Cyprus goals were very good finishes though, not gonna take that away from them.
Does a comfortable win against Bulgaria make England the best team in the world again, or do we have to wait to beat the Swiss first? It must be tough being a tabloid journalist.
Good performance and result though, nice to see Adam Johnson get his first goal, shame Darren bent didn't get any time.
Great win for Northern Ireland as well, 1-0 away to Slovenia. Wales pretty much eliminated already, a new mark in futility for them.
I'm surprised TFC is letting their Canadian internationals play for the game, but there you go. A pretty decent lineup against Peru, actually. Hopefully they'll put in a good performance.
Pfff, France loses on a hold up...
The top end talent IMO is on the sideline. Gourcuff is suspended, Toulalan as well (and out of position), Benzema is injured, Ribéry and Evra are suspended and Ben Arfa untrained.
Aside from Lloris that's the top end talent we have. 6 potential starters (Ben Arfa is the only question mark, the others are definite starters) out of a team would hurt any team.
And as the positions of these 6 would attest, it's offensively that we lacked impact today.
Blanc should start Gameiro. He's the best striker out of those selected and not injured and he brought a lot in the 10 minutes he played.
Gourcuff and Benzema are too far out of their best form this past year to be considered world-class talent right now. They have shown in the past that they have the talent, but they haven't displayed it this past year. Still, they should start for the NT.
Toulalan is a very good DM, but not a world class level. Ribery is an excellent winger, but we know what baggage he brings to the NT. Evra is not the same player for the NT as he is for Manchester United.
I agree that Gameiro should have started instead of Hoarau, who was invisible. Certainly I can't understand why Blanc didn't bring him in instead of Valbuena when Remy got hurt. And even in the second half he'd rather bring Saha in instead of Gameiro. If Remy is unable to play Tuesday, I'm hoping that Blanc will start Gameiro with Saha.
France's qualification is now going to be difficult. They could easily lose their 5th game in a row, which I believe would be a national team record.
Last edited by *Injektilo: 09-04-2010 at 02:29 AM.
I disagree with most of what you wrote in the first part of your post.
Gourcuff and Benzema are world class players. They had a difficult season last year, but that's true for many great players, which shouldn't mean they should be stripped off their "word class" label (Kaka, Pato, etc...). People could have said that for Sneijder, Robben the year before.
Both would start if healthy/available.
Toulalan is IMO one of the top 3 pure DMs in the game. Pure DM as offensive breaker, but not on the other side of the ball. He breaks down an incredible amount of plays and is essential to his side. He brings pretty much nothing offensively, but he's still a key to the national team.
Evra sucked under Domenech, but there's no doubting his talent and his play with ManU shows it. Clichy surrendered the goal all alone yesterday, and Evra, Trémoulinas or Cissokho (not to mention Abidal) are better than him. We have arguably the best depth in the world at that position, and it's ridiculous that it was a position of weakness yesterday.
Ribéry will shut his mouth and come back to the tremendous world class player he should be under Blanc. The reason he had such a baggage was probably because there was no boss with Domenech.
These guys would have helped tremendously yesterday, mostly creating goals and on that left side of the defense. Basically what we lacked yesterday.
As for Hoarau, Blanc is in love with him and I agree with the qualities he sees in him. But IMO, he needs a complementary player and Gameiro is exactly that. Quick, deadly around the net.
I'm loving the "new" Sweden national team.
Even at it's worst moments, the Hamrén led team looks so much better and are so much more entertaining than even the very best that the Lagerbäck team where.
San Marino on Tuesday should be a walk in the park, anything less than 5-0 and I'll be disappointed.
I just can't believe it.
