Alexander

Gross. I'd rather keep the Glazers. What's the point anymore.

You've said it yourself. They both have a similar output in terms of goals (not assists) but Messi did everything whereas Cristiano just dedicated himself to scoring goals. I remember people criticising Modric for not providing assists at Spurs. If you reduce everything to goals you'd end up comparing Gerd Muller to Maradona. You might suggest Lampard was better than Iniesta. There's no comparison at all, Messi was always leagues above Cristiano at their peak. He had solo goals in him. He had that quality that all the greats have in that he could receive a ball dead under his legs and go

It was a weak debate to begin with since CR7 never touched peak Messi. Now it's just embarrassing. Remember how we used to compare Ruud to Henry? That was embarrassing. The gulf is bigger than that.

I would if you hadn't written them off for the final. You bottled it m8

What a World Cup. Magical. Btw the term my GOAT is now as applicable to Cristiano as it is to Niklas Bendtner.

Thanks mate. It used to get embedded automatically after I paste the link. Do you all do something different?

https://twitter.com/ianmccourt/status/1602768177708113921 This is a joke. How the hell is he doing that at 35.

It was an achievement to solve the discord between Madrid and Barca but that has little to do with style; Don't think it was that hard to fit those players in, esp. Alonso. The biggest challenge would have been Arbeloa but inverted fullbacks weren't a thing at that time. Pep picked it up in Germany, I believe. What world class players do England have? Kane and Foden. Walker might be too. Alexander Arnold as a specialist. Gnabry, Sane, Musiala, Kimmich, Rudiger maybe one of Goretzka or Gundogan if Kimmich goes to RB would all start for England, easy. Pedigree. Unlucky against Japan

I agree with you. Southgate would make a poor club manager and Ole might make a decent international manager, emphasis on might. Spain's run were the exception that proves the rule. That style was ahead of the curve at the time and they had the advantage of being able to apply it instantaneously. I don't think it's incidental that their success was paired with Barcelona's. I don't agree with you about Germany and Spain. I could make the case but really who cares at this point. I agree with your assessment on Southgate, perfectly said.

Fair points, but Germany and Spain still have a decent squads, you expect more from those players. It's easy to be an armchair critic which is why I'm so great at it , but my amateur take is that the problem with those teams is that they're trying to apply club coaching standards to international football. I think it's a different context. Cup managers are what you need, simply because you cannot hedge your bets through a long run of matches. I'm a stickler for style when it comes to club football but I can't expect it at the international level because there's just not enough time to co

Harsh take. True about Croatia and Italy especially. This one feels different but it counts too. I don't consider 3rd place matches relevant. You left out breaking the duck against Germany and beating Colombia on penalties which, at the time, felt like same old England going out on penalties. I think he needs to move on now. He's had his chance and done a decent job of it.

I thought he'd miss it. Theo hernandez, Luke Shaw and Upamecano have had performances to forget.

Magical World Cup. It's concievable that we will get another France vs Croatia final which would be hilarious but boring. This Moroccan side are immortal, pity their squad has been ravaged by injuries. Portugal never showed they deserved it barring that one game against the Swiss. Good riddance and good riddance to Ronaldo. So much for showing the critics up .

I remember thinking Louis Van Gaal and Virgil Van Dijk chatting about keeping Messi quiet could come back to bite them. I don't know why you would do that. It's so daft. It's the same with Kyle Walker 'not rolling out the red carpet for Mbappe' and suggesting he's kept him quiet in the past. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mbappe retired Walker tonight.

Thanks for the fotmob resource. Top man You've only served to reinforce my view though. That chance that Messi set up was 0.38 xG (so I was wrong about making it 0.5 or greater. I decided during the Argentina match I'd use that as reference). No shot on gets close to that in the Brazil game apart from a 0.46 and the goal itself (though some of them cover the others so I'm not sure I got them all). I also just watched the official highlights and I've seen only 1 great save (the first one). How is Croatia NOT an underdog? They're not too much better than Japan and Morocco. Look at thos