2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia (Maidenfans WC Pool inside)

Niall Kielt said:
A female caller on Talksport just literally just said what NP said. Art thou female, NP? Art thou on the radio?
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The Flash said:
Southgate did a phenomenal job. The outing of Big Sam's transfer fraud was a blessing.
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Yes. It was. I think this England can do wonders in next Euros. Just keep them together.

Anyways, I hope Hrvatska proves that Deschamps is a fraud in the final.
 
France should eat Croatia. Should.
Either way, I'm happy that 3 of the last 4 are relatively unexpected (or 2 anyway).
And England can be hopeful for the Euros considering a shit Greece team and a shit Portugal team have won in the recent past....
And Belgium will beat England by 2 goals.
 
Niall Kielt said:
France should eat Croatia. Should.
Either way, I'm happy that 3 of the last 4 are relatively unexpected (or 2 anyway).
And England can be hopeful for the Euros considering a shit Greece team and a shit Portugal team have won in the recent past....
And Belgium will beat England by 2 goals.
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Exactly. But Deschamps is useless, so... Go Hrvatska. (If Zidane was the French coach, the final would've ended 5-0 for France...)

But yeah, England should do great things in Euro 2020.
 
The Flash said:
I think you're way too harsh on Deschamps.
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He is the luckiest manager in the world. Ever.

Yesterday, when they scored, he should've subbed Giroud (who was useless) for Dembele and create a countering machine and they would've scored 2nd. Also, I don't forgive him the bottle job against Portugal in 2016. Both Zidane and Deschamps are average or below average tacticians, but Zidane is a world class motivator and authority, which Deschamps isn't.

France has the potential to be the fastest side in the last 20 years if you set up them right. I agree with Deschamps' starting 11. But when the opponent dominates and you have the tools to counter, use them and sub the right players on (but I hope he doesn't) .

Go Hrvatska.
 
I'm totally out of my depth here in terms of history and tactics but I don't think anyone can fluke getting to a World Cup Final. Can they? Does he not deserve some credit? If not, then what does a manager have to do to get credit?
And Zidane. Three Champions Leagues in a row. OK, that may be a simplistic view of things but how can you argue against that record? I wish that Man Utd's recent shit managers had that record. I am open to education and I understand that the stars can align sometimes and results can flatter to deceive but surely, in these two cases, they have earned their credit.
 
matic22 said:
He is the luckiest manager in the world. Ever.
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Is he really? His philosophy doesn't lend itself to fun football, but it gets results.

He took a Monaco team that finished 15th in the league to the 2nd place in his first year as a manager. Led them to the Champions League Final in his second year. Kept them in the Top 3 until his departure, after which Monaco completely fell off as a team and eventually got relegated. The one year in Juventus doesn't count, they were in the Serie B. He took over Marseille and led them to the title in his first year. Won three straight French League Cups. They were bad in the league in his last season, his only unsuccessful season as a club manager.

Then he took over France. They played very well in 2014 but ran into Germany. Then they made the Final in Euro 2016, in which they were clearly the better side and would've won the tournament had André-Pierre Gignac been able to convert an open goal at the last minute. And now his team is in the World Cup Final.
 
Night Prowler said:
Wow, I totally forgot he was the coach for the final vs. Porto.
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Pretty special season, that one. It also happens to be the season in which I started to watch football consistently, became an Arsenal fan and started to play that text-based manager game that more or less laid the foundation for my English skills, so I'm partial to it.

Real Madrid had just added David Beckham to the likes of Ronaldo, Raúl, Zidane, Figo and Roberto Carlos.
Milan were the defending champions and were absolutely loaded.
Juventus were the runners up and were absolutely loaded.
Man Utd had dominated the Premiership in the previous seasons.
Arsenal had the Invincibles squad.
Chelsea had just been bought by Abramovich and spent a ton of money on their squad.
Deportivo was having its glory days.
Bayern weren't as good, but they were still Bayern.

But in the end you had Porto and Monaco, two complete underdogs led by 41 year old José Mourinho who had only been a manager for four years, and 36 year old Didier Deschamps who had only been a manager for two years, respectively.
 
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