it baffles me how the spanish players are so gifted, and thus have already had beautiful plays especially with their passing, yet they can still struggle because of some inconsistencies, like the guy below stated...just for a good show, i really hope for a spain-brazil final (is it even possible? i dont know who faces who after the group stage)
I think Spain is the most balanced team in this World Cup. But their defense is simply unpredictable. Even with world-class defenders and full-backs, they don't show confidence.
Isco excellent again. Probably my pick for player of the tournament thus far, even in a struggling-for-form Spain team. A long way to go of course but he looks very sharp indeed.
Well done De Gea this might be your first save in the tournament. And there goes the world best goalkeeper in the world theory down the drain EPLers. Not saying De Gea is a crap gk but he's a great one. But best in the world is a bull crap at it's finest that emits steam of that corrupts the entire air. Subscribing to De Gea being the best in world bull crap would be denying good work of other gk like Oblak (Better then De Gea), Neuer (Best Goalkeeper in the world but not this year), Buffon (Legend), Ter Stegen are doing for quite a while. It easier to look like a great gk in team that sits deeply like Man Utd even players like Smalling, Jones or Bailey. It's much much much difficult to be a great gk in a team that plays Highline like Spain or Bayern Munich or Barcelona even with good defenders like Boateng and Hummels, Ramos and Pique (Best defender in the world as per 442 magazine and goal.com). By playing Highline any goalkeeper is exposed to counterattack with no defensive cover.
@Ffaris- Yes, Neuer is the best in the world but I don't think you can say De Gea loses credit for playing behind a deep defensive line whilst also crediting Oblak and Buffon who play(ed) behind even deeper ones. I think the GK situation is thus (of the ones you mentioned): Neuer > De Gea > Oblak > Alisson > Ter Stegen, all things considered- but the differences between them very small. Ultimately anyone would be happy if any of those were your team's GK.
The only thing that's left between that gk and that player is goal post. So it's easier to look like a great gk in defense that sits deep then a defense and being surronded by okay defenders then a defense that plays Highline despite being surrounded by good defenders. I should mention the good work As Roma Alliso too; he's been a monster for Roma in Serie A.
Anyways, we have to wait n see that FIFA website will upate that that single save De Gea finally made. But so far as per older article De Gea failed to maked any saves in FIFA official website. Nuff said.
@Ffaris- They haven't updated the late kickoff games, as we speak, but the 'Saves' stat can be a bit misleading. Using the England GK, Jordan Pickford, as an example- he has made just a single save at a rate of 33.333% . Sounds terrible when you read it out but of the 3 attempts he has had a chance to save, one was a penalty and one was an unsaveable shot in the 6-yard area so his success in real-life expectation terms is 100%. Ochoa's save rate is very high (14 saves from 15 shots = 93.333%) but a few of those were straight at him.
Anyone else prefer a 4-4-2 for Spain? Barcelona took first, Atletico took second, and Valencia took fourth using a 4-4-2.
Alba, Busguets, Iniesta and Pique played in a 4-4-2. Costa, Koke and Niguez played in a 4-4-2. Moreno played in
a 4-4-2. Many or all of the Real Madrid players played a match or more in a 4-4-2. If Spain concedes goals, as it has so far, playing Costa and Aspas to try for goals is an option. Real Madrid and Barcelona have won by scoring more.
@ergtyr - Not really. Barca has Messi and Suárez, Atléti has Costa and Griezmann, Real has Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema up top. Costa and Aspas don't compare, especially if you had to sacrifice the strength of the team (a midfielder) to play with 2 strikers. Though they should be more ready to rotate and sub when things aren't going well, even their second line midfielders are world-class!
@andrew7taylor Aspas scored more goals in league play than Bale, Benzema and Griezmann. The Costa at
Atletico plays for Spain also. Spain's midfielders rarely score for Spain or for their clubs. Giving them two goal
scorers to pass to makes sense for their club and for Spain.
@ergtyr - 3, Of course Aspas scored more than Benzema and Bale. Celta only has the league, so he can play every match. Real also has the CL though, so they played only about 20 matches worth of minutes each. But they have proved over a number of years that they are world-class. Aspas didn't. Btw, Isco has 9 and Silva has 10 goals this year. The latter is also the fourth highest scoring Spanish international player ever. I wouldn't call that rarely scoring ;-)
@ergtyr - 2, But Pedro was at his best at right wing; for Aspas it's only his secondary position. Silva or Isco to him wouldn't be just a slight decrease; I like him at Celta, but he never performed at a bigger club, at Liverpool or Sevilla.
@ergtyr - 1, In theory I would agree with you, two goal scorers would make them play better, as they did in 2010 when they changed Silva to Pedro. A little bit decrease in personal ability, but it made their attack more unpredictable, therefore better.
@andrew7taylor I see 23 goals in 36 club appearances for Aspas, 8 goals in 45 club appearances for Isco and
9 goals in 40 club appearances for Silva. If you calculate goals as a percentage of games the midfielders score
less than half as often as the forward. Spain has at most 4 games to play, not 40 or more, so more frequent goal scoring matters. Aspas' two recent goals for Spain have shown me what I look for. Isco and Silva can be played
with Costa, Aspas, Iniesta and Busquets.
Thank you warriors for everything <3 we were in death group, and I think we deserved to qualify, we were better than Iran and Portugal but we lost them, and we were about to win vs Spain, we were unlucky, refs were bad, VAR is useless it's just there to help big team's asses.
@TetouanMorocco Why is VAR useless ? All decisions were correct so far, its really good. Morocco played very well indeed, in every game but finishing is not their strength and you don't get points for fighting and playing technically good football. The decision for the second goal was correct, since everyone could see, that Aspas was not off side due to the line being drawn. So why is VAR useless ? It is the best innovation in football in decades...
@TetouanMorocco I love Morocco, go there twice a year. Really nice people and when I go to the beach, I see only very skilled young people playing football. But also not really interested in finishing ... ; -) Heads up, Morocco was one of the few teams to enjoy watching as opposed to teams like Portugal, Uruguay, Argentina or my country.
Spain have problems in their backline. Pique and Ramos don't look fast enough to play such a high line. They have problems defending counter attacks. Given De gea's form, they will go out with this kind of performances. I like Ramos but he has been lacking consistency for a couple of years in his performances. Spain needs more aggression and physical strength in midfield as they don't have the control they had years ago. They need more protection for their defense.
Morocco deserved a point. They were bravest in the group and played the best football. Shame that it didn't work out for them, but a draw against Spain is an incredible result!
@nexus747 the 45 year old goalkeeper is egyptian not moroccan plus they want to go out with some honor so i doubt they will play their reserves could be wrong though
If Portugal's win against Iran is confirmed then Spain may rest their key players but both the matches will start @ the same time. So this is an important match for Spain & they won't rest their players.
@Book i guess that for spain is absolutely the same if they end first or second, they can easily beat pretty much every team but mathematically they can still jump out to 3rd place so this game is a must win for spain
Spain on this game, I think they would have been qualified after 2 wins against Portugan and Iran, so they will rest there players, so Morocco will have a chance to draw and then qualify <3 I hope this happens #MoroccoBlackHorse
@Davisson yeah unfortunalty we can't delete comments, look we had so much faith on our players ( just check the squad), and we had a two good games but the luck wasn't with us. And also Spain sacked there coach, if not I'm sure they would have won vs Portugal easily. we never know what future hides for us :)
@TetouanMorocco Spain never "easily wins" Portugal. Last time they played against Portugal, it was a friendly match which was not really a friendly in practical terms and Portugal won 4-0, so...
it baffles me how the spanish players are so gifted, and thus have already had beautiful plays especially with their passing, yet they can still struggle because of some inconsistencies, like the guy below stated...just for a good show, i really hope for a spain-brazil final (is it even possible? i dont know who faces who after the group stage)
@Icarax It is possible. Those 2 were the teams I predicted to reach the final months a go
I think Spain is the most balanced team in this World Cup. But their defense is simply unpredictable. Even with world-class defenders and full-backs, they don't show confidence.
Isco excellent again. Probably my pick for player of the tournament thus far, even in a struggling-for-form Spain team. A long way to go of course but he looks very sharp indeed.
excuse me, but Morroco is better than Portugal in every aspect instead of experience. Nice squad
@koevasd123 Okay.
Well done De Gea this might be your first save in the tournament. And there goes the world best goalkeeper in the world theory down the drain EPLers. Not saying De Gea is a crap gk but he's a great one. But best in the world is a bull crap at it's finest that emits steam of that corrupts the entire air. Subscribing to De Gea being the best in world bull crap would be denying good work of other gk like Oblak (Better then De Gea), Neuer (Best Goalkeeper in the world but not this year), Buffon (Legend), Ter Stegen are doing for quite a while. It easier to look like a great gk in team that sits deeply like Man Utd even players like Smalling, Jones or Bailey. It's much much much difficult to be a great gk in a team that plays Highline like Spain or Bayern Munich or Barcelona even with good defenders like Boateng and Hummels, Ramos and Pique (Best defender in the world as per 442 magazine and goal.com). By playing Highline any goalkeeper is exposed to counterattack with no defensive cover.
@Ffaris- Yes, Neuer is the best in the world but I don't think you can say De Gea loses credit for playing behind a deep defensive line whilst also crediting Oblak and Buffon who play(ed) behind even deeper ones. I think the GK situation is thus (of the ones you mentioned): Neuer > De Gea > Oblak > Alisson > Ter Stegen, all things considered- but the differences between them very small. Ultimately anyone would be happy if any of those were your team's GK.
The only thing that's left between that gk and that player is goal post. So it's easier to look like a great gk in defense that sits deep then a defense and being surronded by okay defenders then a defense that plays Highline despite being surrounded by good defenders. I should mention the good work As Roma Alliso too; he's been a monster for Roma in Serie A. Anyways, we have to wait n see that FIFA website will upate that that single save De Gea finally made. But so far as per older article De Gea failed to maked any saves in FIFA official website. Nuff said.
@Ffaris- They haven't updated the late kickoff games, as we speak, but the 'Saves' stat can be a bit misleading. Using the England GK, Jordan Pickford, as an example- he has made just a single save at a rate of 33.333% . Sounds terrible when you read it out but of the 3 attempts he has had a chance to save, one was a penalty and one was an unsaveable shot in the 6-yard area so his success in real-life expectation terms is 100%. Ochoa's save rate is very high (14 saves from 15 shots = 93.333%) but a few of those were straight at him.
Anyone else prefer a 4-4-2 for Spain? Barcelona took first, Atletico took second, and Valencia took fourth using a 4-4-2. Alba, Busguets, Iniesta and Pique played in a 4-4-2. Costa, Koke and Niguez played in a 4-4-2. Moreno played in a 4-4-2. Many or all of the Real Madrid players played a match or more in a 4-4-2. If Spain concedes goals, as it has so far, playing Costa and Aspas to try for goals is an option. Real Madrid and Barcelona have won by scoring more.
@ergtyr - Not really. Barca has Messi and Suárez, Atléti has Costa and Griezmann, Real has Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema up top. Costa and Aspas don't compare, especially if you had to sacrifice the strength of the team (a midfielder) to play with 2 strikers. Though they should be more ready to rotate and sub when things aren't going well, even their second line midfielders are world-class!
@andrew7taylor Aspas scored more goals in league play than Bale, Benzema and Griezmann. The Costa at Atletico plays for Spain also. Spain's midfielders rarely score for Spain or for their clubs. Giving them two goal scorers to pass to makes sense for their club and for Spain.
@ergtyr - 3, Of course Aspas scored more than Benzema and Bale. Celta only has the league, so he can play every match. Real also has the CL though, so they played only about 20 matches worth of minutes each. But they have proved over a number of years that they are world-class. Aspas didn't. Btw, Isco has 9 and Silva has 10 goals this year. The latter is also the fourth highest scoring Spanish international player ever. I wouldn't call that rarely scoring ;-)
@ergtyr - 2, But Pedro was at his best at right wing; for Aspas it's only his secondary position. Silva or Isco to him wouldn't be just a slight decrease; I like him at Celta, but he never performed at a bigger club, at Liverpool or Sevilla.
@ergtyr - 1, In theory I would agree with you, two goal scorers would make them play better, as they did in 2010 when they changed Silva to Pedro. A little bit decrease in personal ability, but it made their attack more unpredictable, therefore better.
@andrew7taylor I see 23 goals in 36 club appearances for Aspas, 8 goals in 45 club appearances for Isco and 9 goals in 40 club appearances for Silva. If you calculate goals as a percentage of games the midfielders score less than half as often as the forward. Spain has at most 4 games to play, not 40 or more, so more frequent goal scoring matters. Aspas' two recent goals for Spain have shown me what I look for. Isco and Silva can be played with Costa, Aspas, Iniesta and Busquets.
Thank you warriors for everything <3 we were in death group, and I think we deserved to qualify, we were better than Iran and Portugal but we lost them, and we were about to win vs Spain, we were unlucky, refs were bad, VAR is useless it's just there to help big team's asses.
@TetouanMorocco Why is VAR useless ? All decisions were correct so far, its really good. Morocco played very well indeed, in every game but finishing is not their strength and you don't get points for fighting and playing technically good football. The decision for the second goal was correct, since everyone could see, that Aspas was not off side due to the line being drawn. So why is VAR useless ? It is the best innovation in football in decades...
@neumi17 thank you tho for saying we played good, but yeah we were bad in finishing.
@TetouanMorocco I love Morocco, go there twice a year. Really nice people and when I go to the beach, I see only very skilled young people playing football. But also not really interested in finishing ... ; -) Heads up, Morocco was one of the few teams to enjoy watching as opposed to teams like Portugal, Uruguay, Argentina or my country.
@neumi17 you can also check the corner for the 2nd goal of Spain, the ball was out in the right side but they played it in left.
Did Isco really play that good to get a 9.7 rating? (I didn't watch this match)
@MrNemobody Yes he did and you could also check his stats.
2 fixed games. Shame on Spain and Portugal.
@tzenix Do u have any solid proof or r u just assuming?
@tzenix How fixed?
Spain, see you in QF. Greetings from Croatia.
Spain have problems in their backline. Pique and Ramos don't look fast enough to play such a high line. They have problems defending counter attacks. Given De gea's form, they will go out with this kind of performances. I like Ramos but he has been lacking consistency for a couple of years in his performances. Spain needs more aggression and physical strength in midfield as they don't have the control they had years ago. They need more protection for their defense.
Morocco deserved a point. They were bravest in the group and played the best football. Shame that it didn't work out for them, but a draw against Spain is an incredible result!
@andrew7taylor <3
awful spain ,they are awful , idk who is worse portugal or spain
Crap Spanish team lucky to qualify for next round . They don't deserve it
@footballover how do they not deserve it? talking out of your arse
70% pocession and Morocco still scores a second goal.Pk and Ramos not clicking at the back.Urugway will eliminate Spain at the Knockouts
@royboyzez Uruguay? The totally boring and dull Uruguay ? Certainly not
@royboyzez - Spain can't meet Uruguay until the final.
awful game by spain
i think both Iniesta and Ramos deserve half of an error for that
De gea has now equaled the number of saves Suarez made in the 2010 world cup
Iniesta should also have an 'error' IMO, him and Ramos both gifted the ball away by standing and waiting for each other.
Spain 3-0
@nexus747 well ..
SPAIN De gea , Alba , Ramos , Pique , Carvajal , Thiago , Sergio , Isco , Silva , Iniesta , Costa
Morocco will keep Spain on the ground with 2-2 no matter how much we like Ramos.
@cvu999 - Good call!
@cvu999 no they won't...and we definitely don't like Ramos.
Morocco are going to play their 'reserves' including their 45 year old goalkeeper as they are already eliminated. Spain want to win the group.
@nexus747 Sorry was trying to read 3 games at once :)
@nexus747 the 45 year old goalkeeper is egyptian not moroccan plus they want to go out with some honor so i doubt they will play their reserves could be wrong though
Ramos to score in 90th minute from set piece for Spain win
@vikasjoshi9617 good joke
Spain 1:2 Morocco
@ambrose almost!! but VAR works just for big teams.
3-0 Spain.
Diego Costa gotta score a brace. CS SPAIN 2-0 9PM EAT
7PM UK time Spain V Morocco 7PM UK time Iran V portugal
Both teams KO at the same time.
If Portugal's win against Iran is confirmed then Spain may rest their key players but both the matches will start @ the same time. So this is an important match for Spain & they won't rest their players.
@Book i guess that for spain is absolutely the same if they end first or second, they can easily beat pretty much every team but mathematically they can still jump out to 3rd place so this game is a must win for spain
Spain on this game, I think they would have been qualified after 2 wins against Portugan and Iran, so they will rest there players, so Morocco will have a chance to draw and then qualify <3 I hope this happens #MoroccoBlackHorse
@TetouanMorocco, lol hahahaha I don't think so...
@Davisson yeah unfortunalty we can't delete comments, look we had so much faith on our players ( just check the squad), and we had a two good games but the luck wasn't with us. And also Spain sacked there coach, if not I'm sure they would have won vs Portugal easily. we never know what future hides for us :)
@TetouanMorocco portugal vs spain wasn't that easy as you're saying..
@mastertipster I said IF Spain didn't sack Julian Lopetegui they could have won easily vs Portugal
@TetouanMorocco Spain never "easily wins" Portugal. Last time they played against Portugal, it was a friendly match which was not really a friendly in practical terms and Portugal won 4-0, so...