Topic: World Cup 2018 | OT | Jules Rimet Still Gleaming

@WanderingBullet @andreoni79 Giroud plays as an isolated centre forward to bring the 3 attacking players around him into play so France can break. Totally different from a Striker or false 9. His hold up play and layoffs are second to none.

He should have scored tbf but he poses a threat, usually the centre backs marked him out of the game leaving space for Mbappe and Griezmann. Kane suffered the same fate in the knockout stages - unfortunately the space he created didnt amount to much due to Lingards and Alli being less capable compared to the French set of forwards.

I think its extremely harsh to critisize any player in a WC winning team. Ozil was singled out for playing badly when Germany won it when his role was as a continuity midfielder during patterns of play. He wasnt necessarily a left sided attacking midfielder yet was critisized for not creating or scoring enough chances - he won the WC!

Basically, the same role of players like Mandzukic, Lukaku, Ibra, Vieri and other muscolar forwards who score(d) a lot.

@andreoni79 No. Completely different with Deschamps tactics. Where as Mandzucic and Lukaku were trying to hold up play and passing it a midfielder behind them - then running on to latch onto the ball. Giroud was laying it off forwards most of the time.

Hes not going to score if hes behind everyone. Also I didnt see Madzucic, Ibra or Lukaku lift the WC.

@themcnoisy Then I just don't understand its role in France, whose players scored mostly thanks to fast counters in which he wasn't involved...

@andreoni79 I agree with @themcnoisy. Giroud is super important, creating space for the other players of the team, and also working for both offense and defense.

There wasn't a match France played in which they weren't clearly the better team. They have the most quality players,, and showed that quality consistently during the cup. That makes them the deserved winners in my opinion.

@Kidfried First two goals werent deserved, Croatia was better in first half but that undeserved penalty broke us.

Sorry @YeYa, like you I supported Croatia during the game, but you just have to admit when another team is better, or otherwise you are just a bad sport.

• Croatia was better during the first half, but they blew their load.Croatia made many mistakes during the second half, and France none. France was more fit as a team. You can see it on the statistics too (running distance) that it is clear that Croatia got tired in the second half. This is a repeat from the game against Belgium, by the way. They blew their load in the first half, and couldn't keep up with the more fit France team in the second.
• The hands ball by Perisic was undeniably that: his hand was in a position where it never should have been, to touch the ball. That's hands. It might not have been on purpose, probably a bad reflex, but it is without a doubt a foul.
• If you get broken by one goal against you, then youre just not a professional soccer player. I don't think they were, they were just tired of all the matches they played and we're outclassed on the field here.

@Kidfried First goal they got was from free kick for foul that was not commited. Everywhere I see big football legends telling that wasn't penalty (look what Peter Schmeichel, Gary Lineker, Jose Mourinho, Iker Casillas and even Antoine Griezmann said about that). You just can't do that on world cup final. France went on a break with a lead that they didn't deserve and that breaks you mentally. Lightly said Croatia was robbed!

@themcnoisy I get what you're saying about his link up play with his teammates but he had zero shots on target throughout the entire tournament (I believe it was 560 minutes played), though.

@WanderingBullet Yeah that is pretty shocking. What you have to remember is Giroud was out in the first group game and France looked ordinary. They brought him back in to the line up from the second game and started playing well. But yeah no shots on target is pretty bad.

@Kidfried I'm pretty sure France did make mistakes in the second half. The Lloris gaff for Croatia's 2nd goal? And there were others which is fine as no side is perfect. But to say made no mistakes in the second half is just not true.