Spain vs Morocco - Round of 16, 6 December

[Matt]

1 minute ago, purpleronnie said:

Dont understand why so many choose silly run ups, especially the walk up, giving the advantage to the goalkeeper.  

Lewandowski's penalty did me the other day.

 

Yes Lloris was off his line but it was such a slow, laboured run up from Lewandowski I don't think Lloris had much choice. It certainly shouldn't have been re-took imo, it was just a shit penalty.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, RoboFox said:

 

Keeper was great. Really got some Elevation for the save.

 

They must be so high right now they might get Vertigo.

 

It really is a Beautiful Day for them! The Sweetest Thing! 

 

Joshua Tree.

 

Have a little pride.

[Raj]

Most definitely  better than the real thing.

[NasPb]

I'm in ecstacy i can't believe we won that, i feel like im dreaming 

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Kinda of the point. They created more than Spain over the 90 minutes this afternoon yet are 31st for creating good goalscoring chances in the entire tournament 

Ahh I see where you're coming from now! Long day at work sorry mate haha

[urban.spaceman]

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

[HighPeakFox]

39 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

Where's the 'world's tiniest violin' emoji when you need it?

[cruzFOX]

Rodri is such a sore loser 

[Dan]

6 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

Embarrassing deflection. Spain were totally clueless, created virtually nothing for 120 minutes, that's on them.

 

Spain's biggest problem is their lack of x-factor attacker. They've a lot of good players but nobody particularly outstanding. Nobody seriously fears Ferran Torres or Morata.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

12 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

I like Rodri but this is an awful take. Its not Morocco's duty to play attractive football and make it easy for you to win. They're an inferior footballing side who will adopt whatever tactics it takes to get a result.

It's the attitude like this that playing attractively and controlling games matters more than winning that has given Spain a weak losers mentality and total inflexibility in recent years. 

[Lcfc098]

Rodri slams Leicester tactics after Manchester City defeat | Football News | Sky Sports

My gosh, he does not know how to handle a defeat  

[fuchsntf]

15 hours ago, Matt said:

Lewandowski's penalty did me the other day.

 

Yes Lloris was off his line but it was such a slow, laboured run up from Lewandowski I don't think Lloris had much choice. It certainly shouldn't have been re-took imo, it was just a shit penalty.

He moved..it's bloody easy to hold your line until ball is kicked...Just mental strength,or cheating..

[fuchsntf]

30 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

I like Rodri but this is an awful take. Its not Morocco's duty to play attractive football and make it easy for you to win. They're an inferior footballing side who will adopt whatever tactics it takes to get a result.

It's the attitude like this that playing attractively and controlling games matters more than winning that has given Spain a weak losers mentality and total inflexibility in recent years. 

Plus defence is a major part of the game,and Spain didn't have the key to unlock it..

Plus they all want to stroke a penalty home...If it doesn't work twice,hammer the bloody thing...

But the macho Spanish are to "matador" to do such things..

[Lionator]

13 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

What a prat. If Cheddira could finish then it wouldn’t even have gone to penalties. Like pretty much every tournament since 2012, they bottled it. Morocco are psychologically solid, Spain are weak. Work on your mindset rather than pathetic entitlement. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

18 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

Plus defence is a major part of the game,and Spain didn't have the key to unlock it..

Plus they all want to stroke a penalty home...If it doesn't work twice,hammer the bloody thing...

But the macho Spanish are to "matador" to do such things..

Exactly. The other team is there to stop you scoring.

 

it beggars belief that Spain play the way they do yet don't have a plan for breaking through a massed defence, which they must face so often.

 

Their plan B was Nico Williams. Why not get a bigger presence up front (I know Morata is that to some extent), put a second striker in the box with Morata and get Williams and someone else other side sticking crosses in? And then pick up the second balls from clearances. It's your world cup at stake FFS, just lose your principles to get a result.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

18 minutes ago, Lionator said:

What a prat. If Cheddira could finish then it wouldn’t even have gone to penalties. Like pretty much every tournament since 2012, they bottled it. Morocco are psychologically solid, Spain are weak. Work on your mindset rather than pathetic entitlement. 

I agree Spain seem to be extremely mentally fragile. Even when they were miles better than every other team in the world they still missed bucket loads of chances and should have won games by more than the odd goal. You'd never, never back them in a penalty shootout. The bloke who was bought on just to take one looked like he was almost crying walking up to the spot. It makes England look like 'mentality monsters'

[filbertway]

I don't know why teams who are expericing 70-80% possession and a team that has no intention of attacking, don't just have a couple of lumps up front and absolutely bombard teams with crosses. At some point there'll be a "genius" manager who tries it and gets lauded.

 

You're playing a team that'll sit deep? Alright then, here's 2 6ft 3 strikers who are brilliant in the air. We'll just keep pumping balls in the box. If they clear it, they're so deep that the ball just gets recycled anyway. 

 

 

[Fox92]

13 hours ago, urban.spaceman said:

Hahahaha he said this when he lost 5-2 to us too

 

 

 

He's full of excuses whenever he doesn't win. Same with De Bruyne. They can't take it.

[davieG]

21 hours ago, davieG said:

Didn’t Rodri call Leicester anti football when we beat them 4-2

Quote

 

Man City star repeats Leicester City rant after shock World Cup defeat
The latest Leicester City news as the midfielder played the full 120 minutes of Spain's 0-0 draw with Morocco and has hit out at the opposition's tactics.

SPORT
ByAmie WilsonMidlands football writer
11:26, 7 DEC 2022
Rodri controls the ball during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Round of 16 match between Morocco and Spain
Rodri has criticised Morocco's tactics in the World Cup round of 16 time, repeating comments he made about Leicester City after a 5-2 loss. (Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Spain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri has claimed that Morocco offered ‘absolutely nothing’ against Spain after the African side came out victorious in a penalty shootout to knock his team out of the World Cup.

The two sides met in the round of 16 on Tuesday afternoon, but despite Spain having 77 percent possession throughout the game, they failed to find the back of the net over 120 minutes. Goalkeeper Bono was the hero as Morocco won the penalty shootout 3-0.

Rodri played all 120 minutes of the game, but didn’t get the chance to step up and take a penalty in the shootout. Following the match, the defensive midfielder blasted Morocco’s tactics of sitting back and hitting Spain on the break.

 

"Morocco offered absolutely nothing, without disrespecting them,” he told reporters (via the Express ). “In the game, they did nothing.

“They just waited for the counters. They stayed behind and tried to counter us!"

It’s not the first time that the Man City man has voiced his displeasure at a team using a counter-attacking system against a team he plays for. Leicester City came out as 5-2 winners over Man City using a similar system back in September 2020.

Goals from Jamie Vardy (x3), James Maddison and Youri Tielemans made it a memorable afternoon for City as they had success in restricting Pep Guardiola’s side while also causing havoc on the counter.

Rodri made similar comments after that game at the Etihad Stadium, claiming that City did ‘nothing’ and that the result was ‘not fair’ on his side. "Football has not been fair with us," he told Sky Sports after the game.

"We deserved many things. We played, we tried. Only with a few things they come here, do two or three things and beat us. I don't know if it's our fault or their strength.

"I am young and I try to learn every game. But games like this when [the] opponent does nothing but wait, wait, wait - even when you are winning - you are a bit confused and you don't know what to do.

"For me, they're lucky. With two or three things they win this game. It's OK and we have to congratulate them, but it's not the way I like to play."

 

Nearly correct except 5-2

[Arriba Los Zorros]

3 hours ago, filbertway said:

I don't know why teams who are expericing 70-80% possession and a team that has no intention of attacking, don't just have a couple of lumps up front and absolutely bombard teams with crosses. At some point there'll be a "genius" manager who tries it and gets lauded.

 

You're playing a team that'll sit deep? Alright then, here's 2 6ft 3 strikers who are brilliant in the air. We'll just keep pumping balls in the box. If they clear it, they're so deep that the ball just gets recycled anyway. 

 

 

Exactly. You could argue that a couple of lumps up front wouldn't enable you to have that much possession but it should absolutely be used when another team doesn't even want to try and score. Seems so obvious you wonder why it's not done. 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

Have Spain always played this way? I can't remember what they were like before tiki taka except they were like England and usually lost as soon as they played a good side. 

[Manley Farrington-Brown]

19 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

Have Spain always played this way? I can't remember what they were like before tiki taka except they were like England and usually lost as soon as they played a good side. 

As far as I can remember they played a bit like England really, with some psychotically dangerous defenders. If they had a good goalscorer they were a threat. Then they got some players (Xavi and Iniesta mainly) who were phenomenally good at passing, and thus tiki-taka was born and was hugely successful. Now they just keep playing the same way even though Xavi and Iniesta are long gone and nobody else is anywhere near as good at it as they were. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work as well.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

18 minutes ago, Manley Farrington-Brown said:

As far as I can remember they played a bit like England really, with some psychotically dangerous defenders. If they had a good goalscorer they were a threat. Then they got some players (Xavi and Iniesta mainly) who were phenomenally good at passing, and thus tiki-taka was born and was hugely successful. Now they just keep playing the same way even though Xavi and Iniesta are long gone and nobody else is anywhere near as good at it as they were. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work as well.

It's hard to imagine a Spain team not full of technically proficient midgets these days! They sound like they were a bit like Uruguay or Italy before the tiki-taka revolution, so maybe we should be happy they have adopted the passing to death approach so we don't have to watch another team of that ilk!

[Manley Farrington-Brown]

6 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

They sound like they were a bit like Uruguay or Italy before the tiki-taka revolution

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. To be fair though, most teams were like that!

[CosbehFox]

Irony with Rodri is that he’s the water carrier in a very good team. He isn’t in the Man City to thread passes together but instead win the ball and recycle.  
 

Shoehorned into the Spain team because there is a bloke at retirements door still better than him at in his preferred role