Non-Boro Football

[Tanksie 10]

OK here we go. Argentinas defence is weak. its weaker than weak, its Franky pathetic. Name Argentinas 5 best players. Messi. Aguero, Tevez, Pastore and Higuain. Can you see the problem here? people just look at argentinas star power and go "wow they must be great" Well their not. their midfield is pretty darn average. And give me a formation you can use that has those 5 star players in it that could actually work...at all.

 

Brazil suffer from a distict lack of expirience. the squad is younng ad will get MUCH better in time, but they flopped at the coppa(like argentina) and still have serious teething problems. I expect brazil to come good within the next 2 years but they have some SERIOUS work to do.

 

Now why are Greece so high? Lock at their recent record. I know you wont acctually look it up and will just throw some criticism but here it is.

11 Aug 2010 Serbia v Greece W 0-1

03 Sep 2010 Greece v Georgia D 1-1

07 Sep 2010 Croatia v Greece D 0-0

08 Oct 2010 Greece v Latvia W 1-0

12 Oct 2010 Greece v Israel W 2-1

17 Nov 2010 Austria v Greece W 1-2

09 Feb 2011 Greece v Canada W 1-0

26 Mar 2011 Malta v Greece W 0-1

29 Mar 2011 Greece v Poland D 0-0

04 Jun 2011 Greece v Malta W 3-1

08 Jun 2011 Ecuador v Greece D 1-1

10 Aug 2011 Bosnia-Herzegovina v Greece D 0-0

02 Sep 2011 Israel v Greece W 0-1

06 Sep 2011 Latvia v Greece D 1-1

07 Oct 2011 Greece v Croatia W 2-0

11 Oct 2011 Georgia v Greece W 1-2

11 Nov 2011 Greece v Russia D 1-1

15 Nov 2011 Greece v Romania L 1-3

29 Feb 2012 Greece v Belgium D 1-1

26 May 2012 Greece v Slovenia D 1-1

31 May 2012 Armenia v Greece W 0-1

08 Jun 2012 Poland v Greece D 1-1

12 Jun 2012 Czech Republic v Greece L 2-1

16 Jun 2012 Greece v Russia W 1-0

22 Jun 2012 Germany v Greece L 4-2

 

And they have won their last 2 games as well and 8 out of 9 before that. Now lets face it. How much would Roy Hodgson and the England FA give to lose only 4 games in their next 37 fixtures? No matter the opposition, no matter the importance of the fixture. It is quite frankly amazing. Again people just look at the lack of star power and turn up their noses. Greece get results like no other team. No Messi, No Neymar. Just discipline and Pride. Oh and of those 4 losses 1 was a friendly, 1 was to germany (no shame in that) and 1 was in a game where they only had access to 1 center back. Now can we please just stop the argument. Its just my opinion and thats the reason for it. You have my full blessing to formulate your own. But i'm sure you already knwe that. Thank you.

[richmfc 41]

most of the teams they have beaten are pretty poor , only croatia are any good and you have greece below them , are you saying you think greece would beat argentina and brazil right now !!!

[2plus2 290]

Yep.

Spain

Germany

Italy

Portugal

Uruguay

Croatia

Netherlands

Greece

Argentina

Brazil

 

Wow. Just wow.

 

Some of those teams I can see why you would place above Brazil. But Greece, seriously? If you honestly think they are the 8th best team in the world then you know nothing about football. They are abysmal with their only real strength being their ability to park the bus and frustrate teams. Aside from that, they offer very little. Clearly that outshines Brazil's ability... No doubt you will make the same argument about England (ie. my Greece analysis being similar to your England analysis), and to an extent you would be right, especially against the better teams. But the biggest difference would be the standard of the individuals in play and their own achievements.

 

On top of that, the Netherlands seem to only be showing their ability as individuals for their clubs and are disjointed to say the least when it comes to playing as an offensive unit. The tactics chosen are questionable too. Croatia are an exciting prospect, but better then Brazil? No way. The same can be said for Uruguay. And vs a few others it's close.

 

This is only a very quick personal ranking, so take it with a pinch of salt, but I'd probably roughly view the rankings myself as something like this...

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Portugal.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Italy.

(6) Argentina.

(7) Netherlands.

(8) Croatia.

(9) Uruguay.

(10) Russia.

(11) England.

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,489]

As Rich says its a good record but very little in the way of big names. England who are below Greece in your view have beaten Spain and Italy in that time. If you put Capello's and Hodgson's record together in the time you have put Greece's. On paper Englands level of opposition and results surpasses Greece in my opinion. We're not a good team to watch but generally we have been effective in what we do.

We lack at present a Scholes in the midfield and a Shearer like player up front which to me is the difference between getting out of the group and getting to the latter stages of the competition.

[Borodane 6,299]

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Portugal.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Italy.

(6) Argentina.

(7) Netherlands.

(8) Croatia.

(9) Uruguay.

(10) Russia.

(11) England.

 

I would change it just a tad:

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Netherlands.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Argentina.

(6) Italy.

(7) Uruguay.

(8) Portugal.

(9) England.

(10) Denmark

[Tanksie 10]

@ Two Plus Two And yet Greece beat russia in that run of form twice. Your logic is interesting to say the least. What ever floats your boat. And Guess what? If the ability to park the buss and frustrate teams wins them games then it is still a legitimate way of winning. being the best is about winning games and like I said. Doesn't matter who its against, that record is great. And Bosnia, Russia, Belgium, Poland and Serbia aren't whipping boys.

[boroinbishop 65]

argentina have a great 11

 

romero/andujar

zabaleta-demichelis-burdisso/ottamendi-pareja

di maria-mascherano-pastore-lavezzi

-messi-aguero

 

that's in a 4-4-2 which they probably wouldnt play, would be more of a:

 

romero/andujar

zabaleta-demichelis-burdisso/ottamendi-pareja

-----------mascherano--------------------

------pastore------------ guinazu

di maria-----------------------------messi

-------------tevez/aguero----------

 

then on the bench you've got the likes of:

Usatari

Gago

gaitan

banega

rodriguez

higuain

lavezzi

Jonas

Garay

Banega

Mouche

pluss all the others in there with a "/" between the players

 

not bad really

---

@ Two Plus Two And yet Greece beat russia in that run of form twice. Your logic is interesting to say the least. What ever floats your boat. And Guess what? If the ability to park the buss and frustrate teams wins them games then it is still a legitimate way of winning. being the best is about winning games and like I said. Doesn't matter who its against, that record is great. And Bosnia, Russia, Belgium, Poland and Serbia aren't whipping boys.

 

don't suppose you are greek/have greek relatives?

[richmfc 41]

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Portugal.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Italy.

(6) Argentina.

(7) Netherlands.

(8) Croatia.

(9) Uruguay.

(10) Russia.

(11) England.

 

I would change it just a tad:

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Netherlands.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Argentina.

(6) Italy.

(7) Uruguay.

(8) Portugal.

(9) England.

(10) Denmark

 

id go pretty damm close to this. 2+2 the one big problem i have with your list is portugal who i think are awfull , nani and ronaldo get them out of all sorts of trouble but they cant do it every time then they lose

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,489]

Surely given your views on Greecen England should be a lot higher on your rankings list having only lost 2 competitive matches (3 if you include penalties) in the last 2 tournaments including the qualifiers.

I also think 8 or 9 times out of 10 Brazil and Argentina would beat Greece in a match.

[Tanksie 10]

Surely given your views on Greecen England should be a lot higher on your rankings list having only lost 2 competitive matches (3 if you include penalties) in the last 2 tournaments including the qualifiers.

I also think 8 or 9 times out of 10 Brazil and Argentina would beat Greece in a match.

 

England would be my 11. But the original point is they need to improve to be competative in brazil, which I am sure we can all agree on. Oh and here's the rest.

England 11

France 12

Denmark 13

Russia 14

Ivory coast 15.

 

Japan and a few other teams would be the rest of my top 20.

[Mcgoogle 2]

Uruguay got smashed 4-0 by Colombia last weekend. Ecuador are also above them in the WC qualifiers and they sit 4th in qualifying, yet you would still rank them above Brazil, Argentina, England, Netherlands etc? Don't see your logic pal

[tylergomez 53]

I agree with what everyone else said! Well all those who are talking sense anyway!

[Neverbefore 10,939]

I would have an absolute stats filled field day if i had time to comment on this thread, why couldn't this have come up earlier in the week!!

[2plus2 290]

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Portugal.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Italy.

(6) Argentina.

(7) Netherlands.

(8) Croatia.

(9) Uruguay.

(10) Russia.

(11) England.

 

I would change it just a tad:

 

(1) Spain.

(2) Germany.

(3) Netherlands.

(4) Brazil.

(5) Argentina.

(6) Italy.

(7) Uruguay.

(8) Portugal.

(9) England.

(10) Denmark

 

id go pretty damm close to this. 2+2 the one big problem i have with your list is portugal who i think are awfull , nani and ronaldo get them out of all sorts of trouble but they cant do it every time then they lose

 

Yea, can't really disagree with either of you. 3 through 6 in mine were pretty much a lottery to be honest. Couldn't make my mind up. Though in terms of grouping (1-2 + 3-6 + 7-11) I don't think I'd change. Perhaps I ranked Portugal a little too high, but I don't think their awful. Their main deficiency in my opinion is a lack of strikers, but having Ronaldo - arguably the world's best player - is hardly a make shift solution. When you have a player like that to, as you say, get them out of all sorts of trouble, it does increase the effectiveness and dangerousness (is that a word?) of the whole team. A team isn't created with one great player, but it helps.

 

being the best is about winning games and like I said. Doesn't matter who its against

 

Sigh, *face palm*

 

Oh and here's the rest.

England 11

France 12

Denmark 13

Russia 14

Ivory coast 15.

 

Japan and a few other teams would be the rest of my top 20.

 

But I can't argue with this. They would all be included somewhere in my list 10 through 15 ish.

[Tanksie 10]

2+2 you still have not explained how russia who lost to greece twice recently are better than greece.