VAR has been excellent when it comes to goals, but for fouls it still has work to do, for example the rugby tackling on Kane & tonight a definite red card for Rebic for what was a terrible challenge. 

Just now, roverandout said:

Are you married to an argentinian woman?

No

If Argentina lined up like this they would have strolled through the group as they would have had some balance to their side, the way they lined up tonight was square pegs in round holes with better more suitable players on the bench. A real shame to lose them from the competition as Argentinian fans are the finest football fans in the world.

                                                  Armani

                   Otamendi          Mascherano         Fazio

Salvio                                                                                     Tagliafico

                         Banega                                Lo Celso

               Dybala                        Messi                     Di Maria

Just now, Norbert Rassragr said:

With VAR, this is an improvement on what we saw in our domestic game, but it is still a work in progress. It works pretty well in both codes of rugby, but you have rucks, tackles and so on.

That's because we have got the clowns at the FA in charge of it and English Refs using. If this world cup has shown us anything it is that the English refs are some of the worst in the world.

Just now, roversfan99 said:

That game was the second best watch as a neutral so far, after a couple of barren days really. 

Very committed and bad tempered, but littered with bits of technical excellence by Croatia, and also ineptness, like the misses first half and the mistake for the 1st.

Argentina hapless, a new formation, and although they are not world class, players like Fazio, Banega, Lo Celso, Di Maria and Dybala, all of whom would improve that starting 11 and make them better on the ball. 

Croatia one of my favourite teams to watch, the likes of Modric and Rakitic a joy to watch, so many good technical players aside from them, a threat going forward. Be amazed if they didnt get to at least the quarters.

Also, VAR has shown a few faults today, the Australia penalty was wrong, Rebic should have been sent off for Croatia.

Not a fan still, but thats due to its removal of the instantaneous passion for example when a goal is scored. Also I do think it would improve over time but it will never be implemented 100% perfectly.

Why the likes of Dybala, Fazio, Lo Celso, Di Maria & Banega aren't in getting in ahead of the likes of Acuna, Meza, Mercado & Perez is mind boggling. Also Mascherano does not have the legs to play central midfield any more he is a centre half now (which is where he has played for the last 7-8 years in club football) and he is a lot better there than any one Argentina have. 

Crazy at the end from Argentina goal difference was their best chance of going through at they just let Croatia walk through them for the third, Sampaoli just seemed clueless tactically, so unlike the coach of a few years ago.

Hard to believe that this is the same Sampaoli that guided Chile to the Copa America and managed Sevilla in 2016-2017. Some of his best players on the bench or not in the squad and every player other than Aguero and Otamendi playing out of position.

You have to laugh at the at the BBC coverage it is so anti-Russian that it is embarrassing.

6 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Where you watching the same game as me?Henderson played some lovely foward balls last night and Lingards finishing was poor but he didn't have a bad game always looked busy and got into good positions 

Lingard runs about but that is about all he does he has no technical ability, if he did he would have scored at least 3 last night. 

Good to start with a win but I thought that other than Saudi Arabia Tunisia are as poor team as I have seen, they offered nothing going forward and were all over the place at the back. Rashford has to start ahead of Sterling in the next game Sterling is a fine player for Man City but for England he offers nothing. I don't rate Lingard and don't see what he brings to any team, I would start Loftus-Cheek ahead of him as he offered the team more in 10 minutes las night than Lingard did in 90. And how on earth does Jordan Henderson captain Liverpool and start for England he offers nothing for me he is a rich man's Jason Lowe every pass side ways or backwards and always slows attacks down, I would much rather see Dier play in his place.

I'm still not a fan of VAR in football but I must say FIFA have got it running far better than the clowns at the FA did when it has been trialled over here.

No wonder no English refs have gone to this as the standard of  refereeing so far has been excellent.

This world cup has already been better than the last 2 combined .

5 minutes ago, Husky said:

Don;t forget Sevilla and Atletico seem to have done pretty well in 'that other European competition' in recent times.

Not just the Europa league but the Champions League as well Athletico 2 finals and a semi final in the last 5 seasons & Sevilla who finished 7th in Spain this year  knocked the 2nd placed team in England out

20 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Real Madrid had a poor league campaign, but generally this past decade, they and Barca have demolished teams repeatedly, particularly at home. Both Messi and Ronaldo have cashed in. 



And they have done in Europe as well winning 7 of the last 10 Champions Leagues between them. It not that  La Liga is a weak league it is that they are the best two teams in the world with the best two players, do you really think it would be any different if they played in the premier league?

Just now, roverandout said:

No he didnt..it took him a number of games to score against english clubs..his first was against utd in the cham league final but a big deal was made of it at the time that it took him a number of games to do that

I took Messi until the ancient age of 21 to score against an English club and when he did it was only in a Champions League Final,  terrible that he clearly peaked late.

Just now, roverandout said:

The premier league defences are alot better than la liga..how many strikers have struggled to score in england, gone to spain and bagged loads of goals..la liga is obviously technically superior to the epl but defenders arent the best..anyway didnt messi struggle to scors against english clubs for a long time?

Premier league defences a lot better? They certainly haven't shown that in Europe over the last few years.

Just now, scotchrover said:

He’a bang average without a world-class Barca team around him. He’s proved that time and time again for country. Put him at Crystal Palace and he’d do absolutely nothing. I even think that if you put him at Man City, and I still think he’d struggle because of how he’s built. 

You obviously didn't see Barca this season as he had a distinct lack of world class team mates around him (Infact i'd say it was the worst Barca team for 10 years at least) and he still took them to a league and cup double losing only 1 league game all season.

1 hour ago, scotchrover said:

I think it ultimately shows that Ronaldo is a far better player than Messi.

I also think it highlights how poor La Liga is. Yes Ronaldo is playing there currently, but he’s performed it in the Premier League too.  

Would that be the same La Liga that produced the last 5 Champions League winners & 7 of the last 10 finalists. And that has also produced 4 of the last 5 Europa league winners.

I can never understand why players take those stupid run ups.

1 hour ago, Audax said:

I think it shows how Barcelona's vast talent helps Messi so much while here,  Iceland were able to break down the attack pretty effectively.  Man, on our online game, I went to pick a tie than thought, maybe Argentina is a lot better and changed it. I see in late March, Spain defeated Argentina 6-1 in a friendly FWIW. Guy from Norway, scored a lot of points picking Iceland to draw, sort of a homer pick for him I guess.  Looks like Iceland's recent friendlies didn't reflect well on them either.

Can't agree with that Messi took a poor Barca side to a league and cup double this season losing only 1 game in the league all season. Without Messi this season Barca would have been struggling to get into the top 4.

What I can't understand is why Dybala doesn't start for Argentina as he would ease the load on Messi as he can create chances from nothing whereas today you felt if it wasn't coming from Messi no one else would create something for Argentina. Dybala playing would also give Messi more space and allow him to player further forward at times he was much to deep today.

The VAR farce has started.

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He isn't over rated by those who actually saw him play. It the immortal words of John McEnroe - " You Cannot Be Serious Man ".  He was the best, you can argue about who comes second.

I saw Pele play & in my opinion not as good as Maradona. Infact I would say Pele is not the best Brazilian player of all time for me that would be Garrincha, 1962 is the first world cup I remember and his performance in that tournament is only equalled by Maradona in 1986.

51 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

No Pele ? 

He'd be 6th on my list a world class player no doubt but slightly overrated by many 

7 minutes ago, Audax said:

Then you have the great teams, together everyone achieves more....

'66 England, ''74 Germany yes, with the Kaiser and the last 3 World Cup champions, Germany, Spain and Italy, maybe there is someone you might pick out of the Spanish team but still, none of the names like Pele and Maradona and Zidane,

 

They aren't attacking players and goal scorers like those 3 but Xavi & Iniesta at their peak were world class (Iniesta in fact still is) & as good anyone that I have ever seen in that central midfield position.