Another Drive4show 'Anything goes' thread

by McLaren Fri 13 Jun 2014, 10:08 pm

First topic message reminder :

Not had that much fun watching football for a while.

Robben taken the p*1ss out the spanish keeper and central defenders was literally hilarious.

by **navyblueshorts** Tue 08 Jul 2014, 10:05 pm

Shotrock wrote:Headlines already being written ...

Brazil Gets Waxed!

by beninho Tue 08 Jul 2014, 10:18 pm

David Luiz 50mil. Chelsea must be laughing even harder!! Hope the argies win this.

by pedro Tue 08 Jul 2014, 10:32 pm

Neytmar.

by super_realist Wed 09 Jul 2014, 9:05 am

Was great seeing all the fans crying. It's just a game you morons.

by Davie Wed 09 Jul 2014, 9:10 am

Was so quite in the stadium you Khedira pin drop

by pedro Wed 09 Jul 2014, 9:38 am

The Brazilian team has been whining, crying and complaining the entire tournament. Not surprised such a mentally unstable team melt down. And what's with the Neymar shirt during the anthems? Pathetic.

#donthavethreepotheadsincentraldefense

On the bright side, it's better to lose a football game than two world wars.

by Diggers Wed 09 Jul 2014, 9:51 am

Have to say this forum does puns about as well as Luiz does man to man marking.
I don't think losing two world wars has done Germany much harm really Pedro, still the main European super power.
Germany good, Brazil awful. I thought Schweinsteiger was shot early in the tournament but he was great last night and moving Lahm away from the middle of the park was a good move, much more like the class player he is last night.

by **navyblueshorts** Wed 09 Jul 2014, 10:24 am

pedro wrote:...On the bright side, it's better to lose a football game than two world wars.

by pedro Wed 09 Jul 2014, 10:55 am

navyblueshorts wrote:
pedro wrote:...On the bright side, it's better to lose a football game than two world wars.

It's called 'positive thinking'. Helpful when you're on the brink of suicide - as some of the players (and fans) seem to be.

by MustPuttBetter Wed 09 Jul 2014, 12:14 pm

Davie wrote:Was so quite in the stadium you Khedira pin drop

Must have Bernard to play under that pressure though

by lorus59 Wed 09 Jul 2014, 4:44 pm

I am sure Luiz doesn't cry so much when he looks at his bank balance.

by BlueCoverman Wed 09 Jul 2014, 4:46 pm

Something tells me he won't be adding to it much with any more big money transfers...

by kwinigolfer Thu 10 Jul 2014, 12:39 am

Man Utd fire van Gaal . . . . . .

Never seen such a sterile Dutch side.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 8:46 am

Kwini, he took a pretty average Dutch side to a world cup semi they only lost on penalties. That's good management, he played completely to his squads strengths.
Its a long, long time since the Dutch player lovely football, just look at the 2010 final, it's all about tactics and pragmatism now.

by pedro Thu 10 Jul 2014, 9:21 am

The same could be said about Argentina. Very lucky to get this far. Completely uninspired team, but a soft group, then a lucky draw with a mediocre Swiss side and then an uninspired and disappointing Belgian side. If Argentina goes on to win this thing I don't know what to say. Germany should be massive favorites imo.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 10:10 am

If they go on to be beat Germany then they deserve it Pedro, simple as that. Can't see it though, extra days rest and no extra time all favour the Krauts. Argentina miss Di Maria and a fit Arguero, big losses for them.

by kwinigolfer Thu 10 Jul 2014, 11:12 am

Holland only had one half of top-class football all month.

No great teams this World Cup, unless you count the German team that showed up on Tuesday. Most would end a Prem season about 8th or worse.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 11:39 am

Exactly Kwini. Average team...including a Villa player for gods sake...loses world cup semi on penalties and you blame the manager? I'm missing your logic In afraid.

by MustPuttBetter Thu 10 Jul 2014, 12:07 pm

Diggers wrote:Exactly Kwini. Average team...including a Villa player for gods sake...loses world cup semi on penalties and you blame the manager? I'm missing your logic In afraid.

Excuse me?? ha ha
Villa centre halves should never take penalties - everyone knows that!

by kwinigolfer Thu 10 Jul 2014, 12:25 pm

Digs,
Just saying that this is an uninspiring group of underachievers. Apart from Vlaar of course!
Not saying van Gaal is to blame, but a pretty dreary display from them since the Spain game, lucky to get past Australia for goodness sake.
No point in playing for penalties when he gets to Old Trafford, and that version of RVP would struggle to get in to most Prem teams.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 12:35 pm

RVP wasn't fit last night and is ageing, at Old Trafford he can buy, with Holland he used what he had to maximum effect.
Don't think many picked Holland to do better than they have, over achievers if anything for me and mainly because of their coach.

by raycastleunited Thu 10 Jul 2014, 2:37 pm

Diggers wrote:
Its a long, long time since the Dutch player lovely football, just look at the 2010 final, it's all about tactics and pragmatism now.

Really? You find 3 weeks a long long time?

I know they are a young squad with lower expectations and room for improvement, but they had 3 world class players in the team in Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 2:49 pm

You think that was lovely? They are effective with good moments, Robben is a great player but he's direct, not pretty to watch. Sniedjer isn't world class for me anymore, he's good still but that's it. And as I said RVP was cleared late to play last night and wasn't fit.
Anyone expecting them to play like the 74 side and cruise past Argentina is crazy. They have had a good run using tactics that suited their personnel.

by MustPuttBetter Thu 10 Jul 2014, 2:52 pm

Have to say i agree with Diggers, it has been a long time since the Dutch played the style of football people associate with them.
Yes they played well v Spain but one good game doesn't make them a side that plays in that style all of a sudden.
I didn't want them to win last night as they are basically a team of spoilers plus Robben, who is a blatent cheat - albeit a talented one.

Sneijder is in no way, shape or form a world class player anymore. Hasn't been for two or three years

by **navyblueshorts** Thu 10 Jul 2014, 3:25 pm

kwinigolfer wrote:Holland only had one half of top-class football all month.

No great teams this World Cup, unless you count the German team that showed up on Tuesday. Most would end a Prem season about 8th or worse.

I doubt it Kwini. Most of the international teams recently on display value possession and patience. They'd probably walk a league that doesn't seem to care if they mess up because they know the other side soon will and they'll get another go.

by westisbest Thu 10 Jul 2014, 3:58 pm

MustPuttBetter wrote:
Diggers wrote:Exactly Kwini. Average team...including a Villa player for gods sake...loses world cup semi on penalties and you blame the manager? I'm missing your logic In afraid.

Excuse me?? ha ha
Villa centre halves should never take penalties - everyone knows that!

Villa players should never take penalties at international level.

Vlaar last night.
Southgate
Vassel.

by Diggers Thu 10 Jul 2014, 5:26 pm

I see LVG is saying how pointless the third place play off match is, he's got a point. Nobody wants to be in that match and finishing third means jack all really. Not a game I'll bother to watch that's for sure.

by BlueCoverman Thu 10 Jul 2014, 6:31 pm

I dunno we would have been well happy with 3rd, or 4th come to that. In fact still being in it before the 3rd game in the group had been played would been handy...

by Davie Thu 10 Jul 2014, 8:29 pm

Probably still has an effect on world rankings, which in turn has an effect on future qualification/seedings .. I seem to remember the rugby world cup gave automatic qualification to the next WC by finishing 3rd .. don' think they do that any more but it used to add a little spice to an otherwise match

by pedro Thu 10 Jul 2014, 9:52 pm

For sure BRA-ARG would have been fun to watch. Now I'm sure I'd bother to watch the 3rd place match either.

by skiddy Fri 11 Jul 2014, 12:30 am

peoplwho think the pl is a higher standard than the top international teams are misguided IMO. The top teams aren't particularly good in the pl. for example my team(Chelsea) has a good few Brazilian playersand none of them are world class. in fact I don't think Chelsea have one world class player anymore. then the majority of the mid table teams are quite apalling. very rarely do the compete in the europa league. The pl is exciting but standard is poor just like the wc. Tbh I'd say the standard is quite poor in both comps. I agree with people who say most countries aren't producing lots of great players.

by McLaren Fri 11 Jul 2014, 4:46 am

kwini

I don't agree that there are no good teams in this world cup. Algeria for example looked like a really good team that could easily finish top half of the EPL.

by lorus59 Fri 11 Jul 2014, 8:19 am

kwinigolfer wrote:Holland only had one half of top-class football all month.

No great teams this World Cup, unless you count the German team that showed up on Tuesday. Most would end a Prem season about 8th or worse.

I think you forget that these teams don't play together that often so if they had a full pre-season followed by being together all year, they would improve dramatically. Add in the fact that it is mostly played in hot summer conditions with a lot of added pressure.

by pedro Fri 11 Jul 2014, 8:44 am

skiddy wrote:peoplwho think the pl is a higher standard than the top international teams are misguided IMO. The top teams aren't particularly good in the pl. for example my team(Chelsea) has a good few Brazilian playersand none of them are world class. in fact I don't think Chelsea have one world class player anymore. then the majority of the mid table teams are quite apalling. very rarely do the compete in the europa league. The pl is exciting but standard is poor just like the wc. Tbh I'd say the standard is quite poor in both comps. I agree with people who say most countries aren't producing lots of great players.

I don't know what you define as world class? I guess they are only a handful: Messi, CR7, Ribery, Robben, Zlatan? Neither Messi or CR7 have excelled at the WC. On the other hand Schurrle and Hazard have been some of the better players this WC. And before the WC David Luiz was a top player IMO.

Of the top-top players (players in the mix for this years Ballon d'or) Robben have probably been the best. I think Messi have been embarrassing given the hype he's getting.

However I really miss some players that stand out. Like Zidane did in 1998 or Maradona in 1986.

by beninho Fri 11 Jul 2014, 8:45 am

Its been a really good world cup. So many different tactics and formations. I think Argentina have a good chance against the germans. Dont think the germans will be as defensive as the dutch where when they just wanted to stop messi. If the germans leave spaces and attack it coukd be an exciting game. But an Argentina vs brazil final would have been a horrible game.

by beninho Fri 11 Jul 2014, 8:49 am

Messi has been pretty good. He has scored and set up the majority of his teams goals. And then got crowded out against holland. Luiz had a good wc until germany which showed the importance of tiago silva. Hazard has not done anything though. Stand out player though has been james Rodriguez.

by Davie Fri 11 Jul 2014, 9:02 am

pedro wrote:I think Messi have been embarrassing given the hype he's getting.

The bookies still have him clear favourite for player of the tournament. They don't often get it wrong

by Diggers Fri 11 Jul 2014, 9:45 am

I think Messi has done well myself, main reason why Argentina made it to the final. Best player for me though is Muller. Scores goals, makes chances, makes space for his team mates, just keeps going and going. Typifies the German side really.

by kwinigolfer Fri 11 Jul 2014, 10:12 am

Muller's been terrific and James Rodriguez was a revelation.

Germany so much better when Khedira and Schweinsteiger got fully fit.
I've thought Messi has been a bit disappointing, if he's missing Di Maria the Germans will also "crowd him out".

by Diggers Fri 11 Jul 2014, 10:28 am

Yeah, I've never been that sold on Khedira but he was fantastic against Brazil, complete midfield performance. I hope the Germans win....and I've never said that too often....they seem like a decent bunch of guys and play good football.

by pedro Fri 11 Jul 2014, 10:54 am

For sure Messi has had his spells and been decisive a couple of times (goal, assist). But many other players have also been decisive for their respective teams! But for somebody who (officially) has been or among the two best players in the world for years, he has clearly been a huge dissappointment so far. He's the type of guy who's great when he has great players around him. Only Barca and a few other teams can offer him that luxury, certainly not the Argentinian teams. Not the dominant type like Zidane, Robben, Ronaldo etc.

by Diggers Fri 11 Jul 2014, 11:37 am

Dunno about that Pedro, any player looks a lot better with great players around them. Robben , Zidane etc are just the same, that French side had some very good players in it, it wasn't just ZZ. Same with Maradona in 86, these one man team myths are just that. I don't remember either version of Ronaldo shining in a weaker side, I don't recall Pele ever looking amazing in a poor side.
Argentina are in the final, they wouldn't be there without Messi, I wouldn't call that a huge disappointment, I'd call it job done so far.

by raycastleunited Fri 11 Jul 2014, 6:00 pm

Messi looks incredible when he's playing against weak defences. When at Barca where he's surrounded by top quality players he can terrorise the weaker clubs from la liga.

At the world cup, against better defenders who play to stifle him, he doesn't look so dominant. He's still playing well though, and has been the difference for Argentina in a number of games, it's just less obvious.

Trust me, if he had come up against one of the weak defensive sides in the competition - like England - he would have run riot. Messi v Baines/Shaw and Jagielka would have been embarrassing.

by beninho Fri 11 Jul 2014, 6:14 pm

One of the best defences in the premier league history has been ferdinand and vidic. Messi and Barcelona made them look rubbish when they rolled them easily at Wembley a few years back. Messi doesnt just terrorise wesk defences. Easily the best player ive ever seen.

by Diggers Fri 11 Jul 2014, 6:22 pm

Its just team sport really, most great players score a lot of goals/make a lot of runs/score lots of tries against the weaker sides. Make hay while you can against weaker opposition.
The fact that Messi gets picked up by 3 players makes space for others though as I'm sure Ray is alluding to, if they had Di Maria causing havoc that would help a lot as well. Wonder if the Argentine manager wishes he had taken Tevez as Aguero is clearly a shadow of the player he was before Xmas which is a shame really as he is top drawer when he is fit.

by Davie Fri 11 Jul 2014, 8:22 pm

beninho wrote:One of the best defences in the premier league history has been ferdinand and vidic.

They wouldn't make the top 20 IMO

by MustPuttBetter Fri 11 Jul 2014, 10:23 pm

Davie, really?!!
Spoken by a true Arsenal fan!

by westisbest Fri 11 Jul 2014, 10:59 pm

McGrath & Teale.

Adams & Bould.

Those boys wer'nt to shabby.

by raycastleunited Sat 12 Jul 2014, 12:30 am

Best centre half pairings in the premier league era... In my view:

Campbell and Toure
Terry and Carvalho
Bruce and Pallister
Stam and anyone

by beninho Sat 12 Jul 2014, 10:12 am

For longevity and success ferdinand and vidic are far and away above the rest. Its just annoying man utd have been so successful they can form some of the best partnerships along most positions. Giggs scholes keane and Beckham is the best midfield maybe just better than parlour petit viera overmars.

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