The Official World Cup 2018 Megathread

[YoungWolf]

To be fair he had one of the highest conversation rates in the league. It was just actually creating any chances let alone the volume IMO. Get him in the penalty area and he is very dangerous generally. But that didn't really happen at all in this tournament (apart from two chances against Sweden).

 

[MARKakaJIM]

I think the main issue for him in an England shirt is that Alli and Lingard aren't David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. He misses plenty of chances for City too but he gets so many more of them that he scores plenty.

I think the coaching will have a lot to do with it, Pep seems to be very anal with his tactics so Sterling would presumably be going out with a lot of instructions, where to be, what passes to look for etc. with that he wouldn't have to be doing as much thinking for himself, just do as he's told, go where he's meant to and look for the people for the next pass. I doubt he gets anything like that support with England, against Croatia in particular it was very much 'chase the ball and do something', and so he's a lot more reliant on making his own choices, that's where he struggles for me, you often see him get into a decent position and he freezes while he figures out what to do, like the one on one against Sweden. I might be something that'll never balance out because of the nature of international football and the lack of time they get to spend together as a team he'll perhaps never get the level of support and understanding that he's able to get day in day out at City.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Missed an open goal vs Tunisia too (albeit it was flagged offside, can't remember if it was rightly or wrongly).

The system needs tweaking as we go on - Alli and Lingard are imperfect fits in those roles, we can probably play one but not both. Need a proper box to box midfielder in there. We didn't have one available for this tournament (RLC is not the answer either in that respect) so fair enough, you mask your deficiencies as best you can.

 

[Johnny75]

I think the main issue for him in an England shirt is that Alli and Lingard aren't David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. He misses plenty of chances for City too but he gets so many more of them that he scores plenty.

This. The zonal marking guy put an article up yesterday on why playing with two number #10's works for Man City and then went on to say this is what should happen with England. Of course that's nonsense as at Man City Sterling's movement pulls defences apart whilst KdB and Silva pass through the holes to him and Sane.

For all of Dele Alli's ability he can't do that passing role, he's a player who picks up bits and pieces and plays with Harry Kane as his foil and they both have Eriksen to do the passing bit. England lack the KdB, Eriksen player for this system to work to get the best out of Sterling.

Alli struggles to keep possession well enough and when you have somebody who also struggles to do that in Lingard then Sterling is making runs for zero reward.

 

[Tredman]

To be fair he had one of the highest conversation rates in the league. It was just actually creating any chances let alone the volume IMO. Get him in the penalty area and he is very dangerous generally. But that didn't really happen at all in this tournament (apart from two chances against Sweden).

I'm not sure you are allowed to be fair to Sterling..

IMO England used him in a very different way to City - at city he was always the one arriving late to put the finishing touch (bit like Jota for wolves) for England he was the point man, almost always ahead of Kane - I guess the idea was for Kane to arrive late and apply the finish, not sure kane is fast enough for that though.

 

[b3h]

I think the main issue for him in an England shirt is that Alli and Lingard aren't David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. He misses plenty of chances for City too but he gets so many more of them that he scores plenty.

This. He's been decent this World Cup but he doesn't have KDB putting the ball on the end of his foot 10 times a game

 

[Tredman]

This. He's been decent this World Cup but he doesn't have KDB putting the ball on the end of his foot 10 times a game

As per YW above that's bollocks

5th best conversion rate in the prem last season:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...layers-201718-ranked-shot-conversion?page=0,3

 

[Johnny75]

As per YW above that's bollocks

5th best conversion rate in the prem last season:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...layers-201718-ranked-shot-conversion?page=0,3

Stats are sometimes very deceptive. It's the quality of the chances that allow him to be that clinical. Not being provided with decent chances then your conversion rate looks pap.

 

[YoungWolf]

That is true, Johnny and no doubt having De Bruyne and Silva (and the rest) behind him gets the best out of him. Also the style of the team.

I think we can all agree that give him a good quality of chances and he will score enough goals. For whatever reason (there are more than one, I reckon!) that just hasn't happened for him in an England shirt.

He's also not the type to score a goal from nowhere (like say, Sane might or the very very best in the world) but he makes up for that in other ways with his speed, movement and intelligence.

He's going to have a lot of competition in the next few years anyway (I'm so excited for what Sancho can become) so either way he will need to up his game, which is obviously a good thing!

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Maguire with his brother. The sheer size of his fucking heid, man.

 

[machin05]

You're obsessed man...

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You don't see that kind of sight very often. I thought those days were gone when Joe Royle retired from management.

It's a double take every time I watch him play.

 

[b3h]

As per YW above that's bollocks

5th best conversion rate in the prem last season:

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/feature...layers-201718-ranked-shot-conversion?page=0,3

14 goals, so 14 shots went in and 56 didn't? What are you saying is complete bollocks? The only thing is "10 times a game", fair enough it's less*

*Possibly. Those stats don't show the times he completely fluffs it and there's no shot

 

[b3h]

DW at half time in a game the other day, forget which, they did a piece on Maguire and mentioned his large head. Thought you might have enjoyed it

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

DW at half time in a game the other day, forget which, they did a piece on Maguire and mentioned his large head. Thought you might have enjoyed it

I was miles ahead of the curve:

https://twitter.com/OscillateWWFC/status/917046006117781505

I thought I'd mentioned it after we played Leicester last pre-season too, obviously not on Twitter.

 

[Tredman]

14 goals, so 14 shots went in and 56 didn't? What are you saying is complete bollocks? The only thing is "10 times a game", fair enough it's less*

*Possibly. Those stats don't show the times he completely fluffs it and there's no shot

Stats mean crap if you don't compare, he is 5th best in the league at conversion, not much else to say is there?

 

[Stan Hullis]

Maguire's nickname within the squad is "Slabhead"

:icon_lol:

 

[Kenny]

We can all start planning for the next World Cup.

Nov 21st - Dec 18th.

So, do we spread the disruption over 2 or 3 seasons like this

The 21/22 season will finish early to allow for the 22/23 season to start earlier. Will probably mean a later finish meaning the 23/24 might start later.

Or

Do they cram whatever they can in between Aug & Nov 2022 and then another packed month or 2 from January. Possible the League Cup is not run to ease fixture congestion or Prem Teams pulled out for 1 season?

 

[b3h]

Have a winter break in England from then on

 

[leedswolf]

Maguire's nickname within the squad is "Slabhead"

:icon_lol:

Imagine the 'Corinthian' figure. It would need a 600mm x 600mm baseplate to prevent it from falling over.