Use this thread for general daily football discussion.
This thread can also be used to discuss Transfer rumours and to post Tier 4 sources.
Use this thread for general daily football discussion.
This thread can also be used to discuss Transfer rumours and to post Tier 4 sources.
The more I think about the England Argentina game the more annoyed I am with Tuchel ngl. How is it that he made subs that left Anderson straight up not knowing where he was to play? Unless there’s like a massive injury crisis, I feel like that should never fucking happen. If you want to play as bus-parking as that, fucking train for it at least.
IMO the real problem seemed to be that second line.
In the back line he had 2 FBs and initially 3 CBs. So, he could have gone with a 5-3-2 or a 5-4-1. But, you need the right kind of 3 or 4 in front of that back 5 to make that work.
He had Anderson, but other than that, the midfield line didn’t make much sense. Initially he had Rice and Rogers to either side of Anderson, with Kane and Bellingham playing in front of the midfield. That vaguely makes sense. Rice can play that sort-of hybrid winger/CM role you need in a 5-3-2, maybe Rogers sort-of can, although he’s more of an attacking midfielder. But, then he took off Rice and Reece James and brought on O’Reilly and Dan Burn?
So, Dan Burn for Reece James seemed like maybe it was needed because Reece James couldn’t continue. So, Konsa at RB, Reece James in at CB, the back line still vaguely makes sense. But, now the midfield row has O’Reilly playing out of position as a LW, Rogers, playing out of position as a RW and Bellingham playing as a #8? Sometimes bringing on a fullback as a defensive winger works, but shouldn’t the priority have been a true #6 or a #8, or even a real RW who can defend?
If they wanted O’Reilly in as a LW to help defend the wing where Messi was operating, why not just assign someone to man-mark Messi for the rest of the game. Even at 39 he’s got incredible movement and acceleration. They probably couldn’t have eliminated him from the game. But, they could have pressured him, made him a less viable passing option, made sure he was closed down immediately every time he touched it. Instead, he got two assists.