World Cup 2018

Imagine being optimistic about something.

more heat than light wrote:Imagine being optimistic about something.

Whoa whoa whoa, lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

I have no problem with England players saying they can win it. They should say that, and they should believe it. The problem is those who criticise them for saying it or those that get angry if we don’t win and cry that the big mean Harry Kane said that we would win.

more heat than light wrote:Imagine being optimistic about something.

There's being optimistic and there's living in a fantasy land. All it does it increase the fan expectation to levels that the team can't meet, so they then come in for more criticism and pressure, leading them to more failure, and so the cycle repeats ad infinitum.

I'd just prefer a bit of pragmatism, something like "we know it's a very hard tournament to win, we'll give it our best shot."

But then Kane isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer so you can't expect too much nuance or consideration from him.

Preezy wrote:

more heat than light wrote:Imagine being optimistic about something.

There's being optimistic and there's living in a fantasy land. All it does it increase the fan expectation to levels that the team can't meet, so they then come in for more criticism and pressure, leading them to more failure, and so the cycle repeats ad infinitum.

I'd just prefer a bit of pragmatism, something like "we know it's a very hard tournament to win, we'll give it our best shot."

But then Kane isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer so you can't expect too much nuance or consideration from him.

I disagree. The problem is the idiot fans and media, and not a professional sports person who believes that they can win.

Preezy wrote:

more heat than light wrote:Imagine being optimistic about something.

There's being optimistic and there's living in a fantasy land. All it does it increase the fan expectation to levels that the team can't meet, so they then come in for more criticism and pressure, leading them to more failure, and so the cycle repeats ad infinitum.

I'd just prefer a bit of pragmatism, something like "we know it's a very hard tournament to win, we'll give it our best shot."

But then Kane isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer so you can't expect too much nuance or consideration from him.

If asked the question, I would expect every player at a World Cup to say that they believe their country can win it. Whether that country is Germany or Saudi Arabia, the players should go there confident or at least pretending that they are confident. The problem is the media/fans overhyping things, there is nothing wrong with the players having some belief in themselves.

That doesn’t mean I think England have any real chance of winning the World Cup and Kane probably doesn’t either. But as the newly appointed captain of the team, do you really expect him to say that he doesn’t think they can win, or just give the usual “it’ll be tough but we will give it our best shot” boring answer?

If you go to any tournament believing they can't win it, you shouldn't be going. Even Panama will go there with that mentality at least.

Stranger things have happened, even if it seems unlikely. Going in believing you can win is something all professional sportsmen do. The problem, as always, is our ridiculous media.

Moggy wrote:

Preezy wrote:Smart of Kane to lower expectations before the tournament by saying England could win it wait what did he say?

To be fair he'd get just as much criticism if he said England have no chance of winning it.

He’d get a lot more to be fair

We're going to win the World Cup .

Tomous wrote:

Blue Eyes wrote:Belgium can't be that good if Benteke makes the squad.

I reckon he'll get cut when they drop it down to 23 unless Batshuayi isn't fit enough.

Nainggolan has retired from international football. Can see Martinez getting some heat from the decision to exclude him.

To be fair Nainggolan was awful vs Liverpool. Looked slow and was dispossessed too easily. Belgium already have De Bruyne and Hazard as the creative side. Sometimes managers also look at the bigger picture. You planning on staying there for a month. Is Nainggolan a good presence to have around the dressing room if he’s not in the starting 11. Judging by his reaction to being dropped, I don’t think so. Belgium had issues in the Euros and World Cup with squad falling outs. I remember in 2008 when Spain dropped Raul. Sometimes you gotta drop a big name to wake the squad up.

Now coming onto Icardi. It’s widely known he isn’t liked by a lot of the players in the Argentina squad due to going out with another players wife. That player is a good friend of Messi and Mascherano. Crespo has said Messi didn’t want him to go. To be fair they have Higuain, Dybala, Aguero and Messi himself. So not like they excluded him for a bum. Higuain does have a habit of missing chances, but still a good striker.

Now that I travel down to London often I think I’d like it if you lot won. strawberry floating no chance though.

Oblomov Boblomov wrote:We're going to win the World Cup .

#believe

PES Fan wrote:

Tomous wrote:

Blue Eyes wrote:Belgium can't be that good if Benteke makes the squad.

I reckon he'll get cut when they drop it down to 23 unless Batshuayi isn't fit enough.

Nainggolan has retired from international football. Can see Martinez getting some heat from the decision to exclude him.

To be fair Nainggolan was awful vs Liverpool. Looked slow and was dispossessed too easily. Belgium already have De Bruyne and Hazard as the creative side. Sometimes managers also look at the bigger picture. You planning on staying there for a month. Is Nainggolan a good presence to have around the dressing room if he’s not in the starting 11. Judging by his reaction to being dropped, I don’t think so. Belgium had issues in the Euros and World Cup with squad falling outs. I remember in 2008 when Spain dropped Raul. Sometimes you gotta drop a big name to wake the squad up.

Now coming onto Icardi. It’s widely known he isn’t liked by a lot of the players in the Argentina squad due to going out with another players wife. That player is a good friend of Messi and Mascherano. Crespo has said Messi didn’t want him to go. To be fair they have Higuain, Dybala, Aguero and Messi himself. So not like they excluded him for a bum. Higuain does have a habit of missing chances, but still a good striker.

Yeah, Icardi's international career hit the mockers when he did what he did - there's not much chance of him getting back in while Messi's around.

Nainggolan is apparently a heavy smoker, his fitness must be in question as well. I thought he was generally pretty shocking against Liverpool but there's no questioning his general talent. Basically I'm on the fence about that decision. Time will tell if Martinez has done the right thing.

Nainggolan is a massive party boy and likes his smoking and drinking, they've mentioned it a few times on the Totally Football Serie A podcast and how he's not arsed about a move away from Roma because he loves the nightlife there so much He's an excellent midfielder thought, should absolutely be in the first XI and I'm not sure what his performance against Liverpool has to do with his World Cup selection. Martinez is a dickhead so it wouldn't surprise me if Belgium just end up being massively disappointing and don't get past the group stages.

Mafro wrote:Nainggolan is a massive party boy and likes his smoking and drinking, they've mentioned it a few times on the Totally Football Serie A podcast and how he's not arsed about a move away from Roma because he loves the nightlife there so much He's an excellent midfielder thought, should absolutely be in the first XI and I'm not sure what his performance against Liverpool has to do with his World Cup selection. Martinez is a dickhead so it wouldn't surprise me if Belgium just end up being massively disappointing and don't get past the group stages.

I think it has plenty to do with being selected - players performing or failing to do so in crunch matches is a marker for how they'll fare mentally in knockout stages should Belgium proceed that far. If Nainggolan can't cut it over two legs against a team with the amount of defensive frailties as Liverpool, how will he do against Brazil, Germany or Spain?

With that said I know where you're coming from - for a lot of casual observers in the UK his Liverpool performance will be all they've seen of him and it's difficult to judge a player based on only two matches in a season. I didn't think him fantastic in either match against Barcelona in the previous round, but haven't seen him in Serie A to judge and Roma's midfield must have done something right to make it to the UCL semi-finals.

The other thing to consider is that if he's as big a party animal as you say, perhaps he's been left out for the same reason as Icardi rather than on any performance basis - as a potentially disruptive, divisive and inconvenient addition to the squad. I'd say that for international squads it's important to have as cohesive a unit as possible and if Nainggolan, Icardi or anyone else threatens that unity then perhaps it's a good idea to leave him out.

Again though, you'd think there would be other players in the Belgium squad more likely to incite trouble, they're not a well oiled machine of a team at the best of times - Courtois and his partner-stealing for a start.

Corazon de Leon wrote:

Mafro wrote:Nainggolan is a massive party boy and likes his smoking and drinking, they've mentioned it a few times on the Totally Football Serie A podcast and how he's not arsed about a move away from Roma because he loves the nightlife there so much He's an excellent midfielder thought, should absolutely be in the first XI and I'm not sure what his performance against Liverpool has to do with his World Cup selection. Martinez is a dickhead so it wouldn't surprise me if Belgium just end up being massively disappointing and don't get past the group stages.

If Nainggolan can't cut it over two legs against a team with the amount of defensive frailties as Liverpool, how will he do against Brazil, Germany or Spain?

He scored against us in the 2nd leg, but he also gave bobby the ball who passed it to Mane for our first goal earlier on in the same game. I thought he was pretty poor overall in both legs, he looked to be off the pace and in the first leg we basically bypassed him from defence to attack because we realized a long ball was doing more damage than anything else.

Looking at that France squad... they have potential everywhere. Talent everywhere. They could really win the entire thing.

So here's my prediction now that the mockers are on: a shock exit at the first round, Deschamps gone, Wenger to return to London triumphant in the late stages of the next European Champs.

No, It's a Labo Logo wrote:Wenger to return to London triumphant in the late stages of the next European Champs.

I can’t see past Germany at the moment, but France certainly have the potential.

I would like a new winner though, rather than one of the usual suspects. That’s why I am putting all of my money on a Morocco v Australia final.

Moggy wrote:

No, It's a Labo Logo wrote:Wenger to return to London triumphant in the late stages of the next European Champs.

I can’t see past Germany at the moment, but France certainly have the potential.

I would like a new winner though, rather than one of the usual suspects. That’s why I am putting all of my money on a Morocco v Australia final.

The most likely new winner is Belgium if they click.

I’m just hoping the tournament is just as exciting as the last World Cup was when it came to group stages.

The only issue with France is they have a young side. But if Deschamps doesn’t get the best out of that attack and resorts to playing long balls to Giroud then he needs replacing.

The Germans have a sort of tricky group. There’s no hard game but there’s no easy game too. Mexico, Sweden and South Korea all capable of causing a upset if the Germans are not at it. I was going to put money on Timo Werner to win the golden boot, but with that group I don’t think I’d bother.