Brazil entering Fergie time

unimpressive start to the WC thus far (overall)

USArsenal wrote:

unimpressive start to the WC thus far (overall)

What do you mean?

USArsenal wrote:

unimpressive start to the WC thus far (overall)

Yes in terms of quality of performance from the big boys, but I feel like the entertainment value has been very high.

Seems the quotes were fake. My bad.

Xcdude24 wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

unimpressive start to the WC thus far (overall)

Yes in terms of quality of performance from the big boys, but I feel like the entertainment value has been very high.

i mean the quality of the bigger teams (outside of spain/portugal).  they havent looked good at all

Gary Neville claimed that was an obvious push on the defender and should have been a foul, yet a similar thing happened to Mustafi in the CC final and Neville said Mustafi has to be stronger than that and a CB can’t claim that as a foul, terrible defending. You can tell he has agendas, it’s bad enough he went back to sky after he flopped as a manager, and now ITV have taken him.

Ray wrote:

Gary Neville claimed that was an obvious push on the defender and should have been a foul, yet a similar thing happened to Mustafi in the CC final and Neville said Mustafi has to be stronger than that and a CB can’t claim that as a foul, terrible defending. You can tell he has agendas, it’s bad enough he went back to sky after he flopped as a manager, and now ITV have taken him.

The fact that Phil is at the BBC as well annoys me.

Torreira will be what Behrami is for Xhaka.

Is Torreira that negative a player?

Xcdude24 wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

unimpressive start to the WC thus far (overall)

Yes in terms of quality of performance from the big boys, but I feel like the entertainment value has been very high.

Agree - this has been a great start. The quality has never been particularly high this early on anyway.

I'm delighted with the start. When I first looked at the draw, I assumed we would have a procession of top 2 seeds to the Last 16. Now I look at the standings and see Iran atop a group. This is exactly what the World Cup needed: Group Stages we can be invested in, and an unpredictable Last 16 draw. The prospect of an early Germany-Brazil game is intriguing, even France-Argentina if La Alibiceleste have any more slip-ups

I guess I watch the WC to see the top players play at the top of their game. Im all for a few upsets here and there (i.e. i was perfectly fine with Iceland getting the draw v. Argentina, even my wife was rooting for Iceland by the end).. but to have so many of the big boy under-perform in the first round of games is a bit shocking. Maybe it was the long Euro season? Maybe it was the lack of time to prepare? I am sure we will see them sort themselves out in the subsequent games, but it just seems that most of the big teams were playing well under their known level. (this is, of course, just my own opinion for me)

I'm surprised people expect any entertainment at the world cups still. Players are all weary after long club seasons.
This world cup has started much more lively than I'd expected.

Yeah I have been surprised by the level of football we've seen. Only Saudi Arabia have looked out of place. It's been great entertainment for me.

Is Allisson really that good? That was Ospina level shyness for the Swiss goal yesterday.

Let's put it this way - it was the first mistake I've ever seen him make for club or country.

It's no different to what De Gea does every game he ever plays--he has literally zero command of his box-- and he's frequently labelled the greatest goalkeeper in the world.

jones wrote:

Let's put it this way - it was the first mistake I've ever seen him make for club or country.

Dunno, he is obviously quality but had a dodgy game or two in thr CL against Liverpool.