comment by The_Red_Cognoscente (U9741)
posted 1 minute ago
Of course Spain could shock us still and win the damn thing but on tonight's showing, meh.

Xavi - whom many here had sever misgivings about turning up for one last hooray- is the key and i don't think he can do a Zidane 2006.

Del B's blind loyalty to the bulk of his team might prove his undoing.
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I have spoken at length with ioag about Xavi needing to do a Zizou circa 2006 for Spain to win it and it is too early to write him off yet. Zizou did have a dreadful group stage in 2006 too. People always forget that.

comment by The_Red_Cognoscente (U9741)
posted 9 seconds ago
I actually thought Costa was ok. I mean his runs were bloody fantastic but he could not finish.

Also, it was the system that was foreign to both Spain and Costa. Xavi and co are not used to punting the ball up front, they are more comfortable with a guy holding the ball, bringing them to play, pinging between themselves.

Costa? He will fit in well at Chelsea under the dark Lord Mourinho. He is bound to get a few 3-game bans next season.
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What! His runs were absolutely terrible! Made the wrong run 90% of the time and wasn't really in the same wavelength with his teammates. One in particular, he made the run on the outside of the defender instead of inside and just gave himself an impossible angle to shoot from.

http://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewArticle/272438

Look at this ignorant nonsense!

Amazing isn't it

Can't say I'm surprised.

RedCog, don't know what I've done to merit that, but hey-ho, have your fun.

Yeah I think we've all been in agreement that it'd take a Zizou from Xavi for Spain to win it - unless Del Boy does something radical.

I think the key difference between Zizou and Xavi,and France and Spain, is the vulnerability to pace exposes Xavi a lot more than it did Zizou.

You must have been watching a different game to me. In the first half especially, Costa was making good runs but with little result: he either kept ceding possession, finishing terribly or being cantankerous.

Let's not forget, his 'cleverness' also gave Spain a fortuitous penalty.

As i said earlier, the issue is with the system. Spain and Costa does not work - not yet at least.

I am no fan of Costa but to say he was terrible is simply inaccurate.

comment by itsonlyagame - Jose are you watching, are you watching Jose? (U6426)
posted 46 seconds ago
Can't say I'm surprised.

RedCog, don't know what I've done to merit that, but hey-ho, have your fun.
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Just yanking your chain bud.

ioag

when casillas made that mistake to give holland a 3-1 lead, i feared that robben would rip spain apart on the counter....could have been an historic 7 or 8-1 battering for spain

comment by pekster11 (U6618)
posted 2 minutes ago
when casillas made that mistake to give holland a 3-1 lead, i feared that robben would rip spain apart on the counter....could have been an historic 7 or 8-1 battering for spain
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I had the same feeling. The was in the mood too. I had the same feeling I had in last season's big games. I just wanted the freaking final whistle

i wonder if del boy will drop casillas

really after that performance he should

maybe put koke in that midfield too

Casillas' blunder was the 4th. The 3rd was the one where Van Persie charged into him and De Vrij nudged it home.

Maybe put Xavi in goal and Casillas in midfield?

He was immense tonight.

I've not really read the United board after the result, so I'm not sure what's been said, but if people think that because Van Gaal got his Dutch team playing like this tonight that it's an eye opener to what we'll be seeing from United then I think they're badly mistaken because we haven't got a player with that pace and class in our team.

That said, despite Spain being poor, I was impressed with Van Gaal's tactics and he's quite obviously got his team to perform above the level you'd expect looking at the squad.

I slated De Guzman in the first half, he was shocking, but he had a good game second half.

comment by pekster11 (U6618)
posted 25 seconds ago
i wonder if del boy will drop casillas

really after that performance he should

maybe put koke in that midfield too
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Will he really make that many wholesome changes without rattling the boat a bit too much or are the players professional enough to stay behind the team after being dropped? I agree though, Koke and Pedro just have to come into the team in place of Xavi/Alonso and Silva.

DTKF, spot on! We have not got a Robben and we don't have a Blind; whom i thought was arguably MOM -he had the beating of an impressive RB in Azpilicueta all night.

I have imposed a self-moratorium on the United board till after the world cup as it is becoming a child's play over there.

Let's be honest, we can blame Del B all night but defensively, Spain were abysmal. Four of those goals were silly goals to concede.

Still kudos to the Dutch and Van Gaal's tactics and authority was evident.

There were just so many things wrong tonight that I don't even know where to start. This wasn't a freak result à la Swtzerland, we just didn't have any energy nor any answers and our CBs were exposed with such ease that any half decent team will do the same.

i agree IOAG

difficult to see how del boy can correct things in just a few days before chile

Agreed, TRC.

What I found interesting is that LVG has been accused of being an idealist without much tactical flexibility.

But that match today didn't look like a team managed by someone that is tactically inflexible.

Guys, I have always said something that people have looked at me with dismay but hear me out. Do you think you should always sack the manager after lifting the world cup? wtf wumptrol you say! Hear me out! I have always thought that to win a world cup your team needs to have reached a particular maturity and a good chunk of them needs to be at their peak which is usually in the late 20s. The clincher here is, after they win the world cup and you keep the manager, he will always stick with the same team and not change much of it in the next world cup when he should have and the players by then will be just too aged to be able to compete. Do you think I am on to something here or should I go to bed?

comment by ☺ Wumpatröl - I know you put in the hours to keep me in sunglasses... (U5046)
posted 1 minute ago
Guys, I have always said something that people have looked at me with dismay but hear me out. Do you think you should always sack the manager after lifting the world cup? wtf wumptrol you say! Hear me out! I have always thought that to win a world cup your team needs to have reached a particular maturity and a good chunk of them needs to be at their peak which is usually in the late 20s. The clincher here is, after they win the world cup and you keep the manager, he will always stick with the same team and not change much of it in the next world cup when he should have and the players by then will be just too aged to be able to compete. Do you think I am on to something here or should I go to bed?
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Go to bed

Not after my hot cocao

Interesting theory, wump.

Problem is that it's very hard to judge it because not many managers that win the world cup, especially in the modern game, still manage them at the next world cup.

Bilardo managed Argentina in 86 and then took them to the final in 90, and the team was quite different in Italia 90 to the one four years prior.

So there's not a lot of evidence to go off.

He did have Maradona, though.