Only by grumpy old sadam Husain wannabe roy keane trying to make himself relevant.
Who in their right mind handles a poor cat like this⌠
But itâs all about the vernacular, innit?
Argentina beat the Netherlands on penalties.
The end.
If youâre gonna cover the game, speak the language.
The BBC doesnât cover the âgridironâ games at Wembely.
Itâs outrageous and yet another example of American cultural imperialism attempting to have the rest of the world fall into line with the unstoppable march of its voracious consumer-driven machine.
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What next?!?!
FUCKING QUARTERS?!?!?!?!
Noted and actioned.
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Can I just say that Iâve simply got bugger all interest in it. I guess it puts me in the first category. Football is selling itâs soul. Not a protest as such, just canât be asked.
Sadly, I suspect itâs probably only a matter of time before I do the same with the PL. I hope not but I feel the outlook look bleak.
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Next signing for West Ham?
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And those who try and defend Qatar when this is pointed out are complicit in the sportswashing and make me sick.
Kurt Zouma.
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There are very few âQatarisâ. Most of the country runs on immigrant labour and any actual âcitizensâ are financially in hock to the government which is set up to exploit others. Itâs a desperate, backward and morally bankrupt place that will sink back into the sands once itâs global warming export is no longer desired.
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Where to startâŚ
My expectations before the game were that Brazil are clear favourites and that we would normally go out, but that it could be tighter than expected. Didnât think they would necessarily embarrass us. Although some high results can happen, like Portugal battered Switzerland, which wasnât really expected.
Maybe a goal, two maximum. Possibly take them to longer distance and extra time. That wasnât difficult for me to imagine, although deep down I really didnât think weâd knock them out. Didnât think we could survive everything they would throw at us.
First on Brazil, that was definitely not their best last night. The fact that theyâre not a pressing machine is nothing new, theyâre also pragmatic to some extent. But physically I felt they were weaker than expected last night. Neymar is also playing on the back of an injury, not 100%.
My hopes were based on that their top wingers couldnât get enough quality support from their full backs. Militao at RB, Danilo at LB. Thatâs what they have and itâs solid, but not great to create overloads on the sides. So we could provide extra cover, not to defend 1v1 against Vini and Raphinha. Extra cover to defend Neymar also.
My hope was also that we could steal quite a bit of the game through our possession game, having top quality midfielders, plus the help of another one on the day. All players active, having no passengers, but options on the ball. Calm the game down at periods, hide it from them, combine. Brazil are not used to that a lot.
I wanted us to exploit gaps between Casemiro and then the offensive likes of Paqueta and Neymar. Start putting passes together, be brave to play in their structure when we can (timing is important) and see how they like it. They didnât like it. Partly I think they respected us and rightly so, but partly I donât think they played the wanted game from their side.
Modric (not having the best tournament) had a different role last night, played directly on Casemiro. When teams did that to Real, Real would simply move Casemiro in the build up phase and generally Kroos would drop to beat the press. Brazil still miss that type of starter, a proper #8 who would operate between Casemiro and the offensive bunch. I expected Guimaraes to play more, didnât think they would stick with Paqueta for so long throughout the tournament.
What I certainly didnât expect was exactly how much we managed to steal that from them. But truth is also, we didnât create much from that. We donât have enough quality/pace in our forward line. So we have to play with a few players depending on the day and whatâs needed, in order to get the maximum we can.
They still created the most damage in their left inside and our right inside channel in defence. Got in behind a few times. We were lucky in some moments, they were really close. The goal they scored was fantastic, possibly the goal of the tournament, if we want more of a team goal other than Richarlisonâs brilliant strike. Thatâs simply called quality.
I donât know how we do this, but what I know, for me at least, is that it also doesnât fall from the sky. Nobody is subscribed to success, there have been and will be more difficult periods, but itâs not the first time that weâre doing good.
1998 it was bronze.
2008 we were seconds away from a semi final.
2018 it was silver.
Now weâre again among the final mix.
Iâm already delighted with our result, post-Japan. I just wanted us to have a better tournament than the last Euro. Qualify from the group, play better than a year ago and then the rest is bonus. QF is realistically where we belong on paper, if we have a bit of luck post-group stage. Performances have been so-so, but international football is like that, we canât judge it like elite club football.
Whatever happens next, Iâm happy.
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Yeah! Why?!? Stick with the big striker setup and try to win it!
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For years the big issue Brazil has had has been how to fit Neymar into the side in a way that maximizes his role without exposing them. For a while earlier in Titeâs tenure, Philâs connection with Neymar was that missing link. More recently itâs been Pacqueta, playing in the hole behind him with 2 quick wingers outside. The problem is that in neymarâs recent absence Richarlison took his place as the central striker and did really well and forced Titeâs hand to rejigging the side to keep him in that role - Neymar dropped deeper into Pacquetaâs role and Pacqueta deeper into Fredâs role. I dont think it particularly worked for any of them and a side with Pacqueta as the link man a bit furhter forward with a playing like Guimares in alongside Casimiro would have made then a lot harder to disrupt, but required Tite to make a decision with his forwards he wasnt willing to make.
I know people like me can get overly complicated when looking at football, too eager to downplay the role of individual talent in favour of a good structure and players doing their role properly, but I do think one of the hallmarks of the Neymar era for Brazil has been an over commitment to accommodating him. Afterall, his role at Barca, where he probably played his best football, was relatively uncomplicated and he should have been good enough to thrive in any role without having to set the side up to explicitly to suit him. I always think back to Lippi in 06 and his pragmatic acceptance that for as good as the pair both were he simply couldnt get Totti and Del Piero on the pitch together at the same time and so had to alternate them. That sort of tough decision making has been absent from Brazil for pretty much the entirety of the Neymar era and I think is the principal reason their all time top scorer will now exit without the trophies of the more adaptable, more team focused players of the past heâs been fighting to match.
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Their best strikers are pretty average and didnât really suit what was the best approach. Hopefully this ends any Gapko talk as I simply didnât think he was that good.
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Thank you âŚ
In fact the only players I would purchase off this World Cup are Enzo Fernandez, Bellingham I would have gone for anyhow.
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Brazilian press officer day before the Croatia game. Cat got his revenge with Brazil going out.
Neymar is Brazilâs best player. Heâs been one of the best players in the world. Immense player. It would be ridiculous to field a team without him.
He done fuck all in last match all game but then scored a brilliant goalâŚ
A proper turf magnet.