Eden Hazard's decline since leaving Chelsea is baffling
Although he's not old (32 in January) he's got a lot of miles on the clock, having started at the age of 16 and now made 618 appearances for club and country. And probably been kicked in every one of them. The likes of Messi and Ronaldo are freaks in that respect and their desire to carry on relentlessly but he might just have lost a bit of that. Who could forget that season, after all, at Chelsea, when he downed tools under Mourinho when he wasn't happy?
He left Chelsea in 2019, having scored 21 goals that season. Since then he's scored 7 for Madrid, and they've dried up for Belgium also, that's an incredibly sudden downturn
It has been a decline but, as I say, this could just been down to the lack of "desire". He scored 14 PL goals in 2014/15, threw his toys out of the pram in 2015/16, found the net just 4 times (all after Mourinho had been sacked) and then scored 16 PL goals in 2016/17. He was only 24 in that middle season.
Whats the best case scenario from the Croatia vs Canada game at present?
Either team win and we have three sides on all 3-pts.
Croatia then play Belgium in the last game | Canada finish against Morocco.
If Croatia win, they’re on four points with Morocco and Canada would be going home.
If Canada win, you have Morocco on 4, Belgium and Canada on 3, Croatia on 1.
If a draw, Morocco on 4, Belgium on 3, Croatia on 2 and Canada on 1.
The group is wide open on the final match day, as long as Croatia don’t win. Which is absolutely possible after seeing the performances of both sides in their first matches.
One 3rd place in the World Cup, and three Quarter-Finals exits in the Euros and World Cup in the last ten years - How Belgium were ever No.1 in the World, without getting close to winning anything, makes a mockery of the FIFA Rankings
In terms of their football upbringing, many of those Moroccan players are European. Combine that with national pride and the passionate support, it's a great combination
Tin-Tin, Katrine Miere, Van Diesel, Roland Duchatelet, Peter Paul Rubens, Kim Clijsters, Jean- Claude Van Damme, Hercule Poirot, your boys took a hell of a beating.
Tunisia fully deserved that. I must admit there are few teams like them and Saudi for example have surprised me they are very enjoyable to watch. Cant wait for the Spain-Germany game that should be a cracker hopefully Spain give them a thumping but as always you can never discount Germany
Breaking news CL members getting upset with Commentators. I have no problem at all with any of the commentators. It a cult on here with Lord Romford turning into Dreyfus from pink Panther with this obsession about Clive T on ITV.
I feel like Casanova at an orgy and can't say I'm always listening to every word. I have had practice at not listening after 30 years of marriage 🗣️
You gonna ignore that they've been naming the wrong Moroccan keeper for 20 minutes?
Would call it racist but would end up shutting the thread down.
Why would you call it racist if he never read the teamsheet properly?
A different goalkeeper sung the anthem than walked out on the pitch for the game.
Surely as the commentator, there at the game, you should be able to distinguish two very different looking goalkeepers?
Just seen it. So one goalkeeper was on the teamsheet and came out onto the pitch and sang the national anthem, then they swapped him just before the game kicked off but clearly nobody told the commentator.
With the keepers being fixed at one end of the ground the scope for seeing their names and numbers is greatly reduced compared to most outfield players, so I wouldn't hang out to dry a commentator for not knowing every player in every squad by sight at a distance of 50 yards plus.
Not great for the production team as a whole. Cant see how that could remotely be considered racist though.
Care to enlighten us?
I've been in a ground at the half-way line and to be honest you can quite easily see every player on the pitch and their number so don't think that would be a particularly good excuse.
I won't go into the specifics of the 'cross-race effect' but the basics is if Courtois comes off for Mignolet, commentators spot it within 30 seconds.
I'm not calling the commentator himself racist. Just an unfortunate error that would have been avoided if there were more knowledge about football from other continents. It is the world cup after all.
Wouldn't expect any less from someone with Marcus Bent as his avatar.
Breaking news CL members getting upset with Commentators. I have no problem at all with any of the commentators. It a cult on here with Lord Romford turning into Dreyfus from pink Panther with this obsession about Clive T on ITV.
I feel like Casanova at an orgy and can't say I'm always listening to every word. I have had practice at not listening after 30 years of marriage 🗣️
You gonna ignore that they've been naming the wrong Moroccan keeper for 20 minutes?
Would call it racist but would end up shutting the thread down.
Why would you call it racist if he never read the teamsheet properly?
A different goalkeeper sung the anthem than walked out on the pitch for the game.
Surely as the commentator, there at the game, you should be able to distinguish two very different looking goalkeepers?
Just seen it. So one goalkeeper was on the teamsheet and came out onto the pitch and sang the national anthem, then they swapped him just before the game kicked off but clearly nobody told the commentator.
With the keepers being fixed at one end of the ground the scope for seeing their names and numbers is greatly reduced compared to most outfield players, so I wouldn't hang out to dry a commentator for not knowing every player in every squad by sight at a distance of 50 yards plus.
Not great for the production team as a whole. Cant see how that could remotely be considered racist though.
Care to enlighten us?
I've been in a ground at the half-way line and to be honest you can quite easily see every player on the pitch and their number so don't think that would be a particularly good excuse.
I won't go into the specifics of the 'cross-race effect' but the basics is if Courtois comes off for Mignolet, commentators spot it within 30 seconds.
I'm not calling the commentator himself racist. Just an unfortunate error that would have been avoided if there were more knowledge about football from other continents. It is the world cup after all.
Wouldn't expect any less from someone with Marcus Bent as his avatar.
Tunisia fully deserved that. I must admit there are few teams like them and Saudi for example have surprised me they are very enjoyable to watch. Cant wait for the Spain-Germany game that should be a cracker hopefully Spain give them a thumping but as always you can never discount Germany
Tunisia were quite poor against Australia I do agree.
Comments
Either team win and we have three sides on all 3-pts.
Croatia then play Belgium in the last game | Canada finish against Morocco.
Real possibility that Belgium and/or Croatia are going home in the group stage now.
The fitness and pace of so many unfashionable football teams is fantastic.
If Canada win, you have Morocco on 4, Belgium and Canada on 3, Croatia on 1.
If a draw, Morocco on 4, Belgium on 3, Croatia on 2 and Canada on 1.
The group is wide open on the final match day, as long as Croatia don’t win. Which is absolutely possible after seeing the performances of both sides in their first matches.
Wouldn't expect any less from someone with Marcus Bent as his avatar.