**Official World Cup Brazil 2014 Thread**

[BigOscar]

Gustavo was actually pretty awful and would be facing a retrospective ban if this was a league match.

Otherwise I agree.

I thought he did well defensively, fighting a losing battle trying to cover the holes single handedly while Paulinho charged around like a moron and the fullbacks tried their hardest to avoid defending. He does nothing with the ball, but I didn't expect him to

Gustavo was utter garbage.
He is slow, he can't read the game, and he has the accurate distribution of a postman on acid.
You must have been watching a different game to the rest of us.

Gustavo had the highest pass completion of anyone on the pitch (at a pretty ridiculous 96%), so criticising his distribution seems strange. Uninspired yes, but criticising the accuracy just seems bizarre?

 

[davymcfc]

Croatia were absolutely robbed. Never a penalty and the equalizer should have stood.

Brazil being 3/1 favorites is a joke. Put my money on Argentina at 4/1.

 

[nijinsky's fetlocks]

I thought he did well defensively, fighting a losing battle trying to cover the holes single handedly while Paulinho charged around like a moron and the fullbacks tried their hardest to avoid defending. He does nothing with the ball, but I didn't expect him to

Gustavo was utter garbage.
He is slow, he can't read the game, and he has the accurate distribution of a postman on acid.
You must have been watching a different game to the rest of us.

Gustavo had the highest pass completion of anyone on the pitch (at a pretty ridiculous 96%), so criticising his distribution seems strange. Uninspired yes, but criticising the accuracy just seems bizarre?

Maybe I phrased it badly - he usually finds a man, but not the one who could inspire a promising counter attack.
He handles the ball like a hot potato, and just offloads it to the nearest shirt, rather than try anything creative or positive.
Workmanlike is possibly the best description, but this being Brazil I expect a bit more imagination really.

 

[BigOscar]

Gustavo was utter garbage.
He is slow, he can't read the game, and he has the accurate distribution of a postman on acid.
You must have been watching a different game to the rest of us.

Gustavo had the highest pass completion of anyone on the pitch (at a pretty ridiculous 96%), so criticising his distribution seems strange. Uninspired yes, but criticising the accuracy just seems bizarre?

Maybe I phrased it badly - he usually finds a man, but not the one who could inspire a promising counter attack.
He handles the ball like a hot potato, and just offloads it to the nearest shirt, rather than try anything creative or positive.
Workmanlike is possibly the best description, but this being Brazil I expect a bit more imagination really.

Tbh I think they need two of him more than they need none of him. With both fullbacks and both CB's going on the rampage, they need the central midfielders to cover for them far more than they need them to create imo. If they had him with Fernandinho instead of Paulinho, I think they'd be fine. Either that or get fullbacks with even a slight willingness to defend

 

[mat]

Well fuck me Jurnos finally clicking about a potential link between the reffing and the current political situation there. Think some of us sussed it a year ago when Spain didn't turn up in the final.

 

[DannyBoy2890]

Had neymar first scorer and Brazil 3-1.
Scrunched up my slip after the OG went in.
Only just seen on twitter, neymar first & 3-1 paid out.
I didn't know that if there's an own goal it rolls over to the next goal on a score cast.
Winner.

Regarding the game, thought Croatia started very sharply and looked good.
A few questionable decisions to say the least.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Gustavo had the highest pass completion of anyone on the pitch (at a pretty ridiculous 96%), so criticising his distribution seems strange. Uninspired yes, but criticising the accuracy just seems bizarre?

Maybe I phrased it badly - he usually finds a man, but not the one who could inspire a promising counter attack.
He handles the ball like a hot potato, and just offloads it to the nearest shirt, rather than try anything creative or positive.
Workmanlike is possibly the best description, but this being Brazil I expect a bit more imagination really.

Tbh I think they need two of him more than they need none of him. With both fullbacks and both CB's going on the rampage, they need the central midfielders to cover for them far more than they need them to create imo. If they had him with Fernandinho instead of Paulinho, I think they'd be fine. Either that or get fullbacks with even a slight willingness to defend

Just summed up my response to your earlier comment. Both Paulinho and Gustavo failed to cover for the fullbacks many times. Fernandinho would never have allowed Croatia to fill that space so easily, or let Modric have the lay of the land.

 

[BigOscar]

Maybe I phrased it badly - he usually finds a man, but not the one who could inspire a promising counter attack.
He handles the ball like a hot potato, and just offloads it to the nearest shirt, rather than try anything creative or positive.
Workmanlike is possibly the best description, but this being Brazil I expect a bit more imagination really.

Tbh I think they need two of him more than they need none of him. With both fullbacks and both CB's going on the rampage, they need the central midfielders to cover for them far more than they need them to create imo. If they had him with Fernandinho instead of Paulinho, I think they'd be fine. Either that or get fullbacks with even a slight willingness to defend

Just summed up my response to your earlier comment. Both Paulinho and Gustavo failed to cover for the fullbacks many times. Fernandinho would never have allowed Croatia to fill that space so easily, or let Modric have the lay of the land.

I agree, but I blame Paulinho for that as he didn't seem to be even trying to do anything defensively. Gustavo seemed to be almost forced into a third CB so often that he couldn't get out to the wide areas or press Modric, it was too much work for one player so he was left chasing shadows. If Fernandinho was playing with Paulinho, he would of been struggling just as much, no one can cover both fullbacks, a CB who charges forward and then also press the other teams central midfielders.

Neymar playing centrally doesn't help, as Oscar would of put more pressure on Modric/Rakitic, but both central midfielders need to be doing mental amounts of covering in that system for it to work, not just one of them. The fullbacks need to seriously buck up their ideas as well

 

[Vienna_70]

I'm not sure who was more biased; the ref or crimson Clive.

Some of the decisions were questionable, to,say the least; Neymar should have seen red for his forearm smash and anyone would have thought it was the rags playing, the way Tyldesley was screaming every time Brazil scored.

ITV's coverage down to its usual poor standard, IMHO.

 

[Instant_Offense]

Gustavo was actually pretty awful and would be facing a retrospective ban if this was a league match.

Otherwise I agree.

I thought he did well defensively, fighting a losing battle trying to cover the holes single handedly while Paulinho charged around like a moron and the fullbacks tried their hardest to avoid defending. He does nothing with the ball, but I didn't expect him to

Gustavo was utter garbage.
He is slow, he can't read the game, and he has the accurate distribution of a postman on acid.
You must have been watching a different game to the rest of us.

Honest question. Can someone please explain to me how these fools start over Fern? They are both clearly.....clearly inferior. Is it reputation? Some type of ingrained Brazilian bias?