Match Thread: World Cup Group F - Matchday 3 - Canada v Morocco - December 1, 2022 - 6pm local time / 10am ET / 7am PT

[Cicero]

Poor defending effort by Adekugbe on that run, danger of team quitting right now...

[Big_M]

is borjan the worst #1 keeper in this tournament? he needs to step away from the national team after this one instead of the coach having to make that decision

[CCrTFC]

Maybe Junior can take a few cracks from distance? 

[scullion44]

It's not like Morocco are world beaters either. Most of their players play in top leagues but for below average clubs. Coach has them firing like crazy

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, Big_M said:

is borjan the worst #1 keeper in this tournament? he needs to step away from the national team after this one instead of the coach having to make that decision

If I’m red star I’m taking a closer look at the Saudi keeper…

[Unnamed Trialist]

It's not the objective quality of the players, not only. It is also a lack of character on the pitch, and on the bench. We don't deserve to have this kind of performance. 

There has to be some leadership on the pitch and off, and players have to keep their heads up and show much more professionalism.

[Joe Keeper]

We must change formations right now. This starting line up is a disaster. Get David up top with Larin and Buchanan. Move Davies to CAM. 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Joe Keeper

[VinceA]

Herdman once against using Davies as a 10.

Fucking hell man not once this tournament has Davies beaten a man out wide and sent it a cross. That's literally his game! What is going on here. Davies as a 10 has not worked for us at all why would it now?

[Metro]

For all our struggles in the back, Johnston has been a beast. Whatever Celtic paid, it’s a bargain.

[VinceA]

1 minute ago, scullion44 said:

It's not like Morocco are world beaters either. Most of their players play in top leagues but for below average clubs. Coach has them firing like crazy

They're team is much stronger on the whole than ours lmao.

[Floortom]

Borjan has regressed to the mean. During the Octagonal he played above his level and singlehandedly saved us points multiple times. Obviously that wasnt going to continue forever

[dyslexic nam]

Just now, VinceA said:

Our CM pool is great if even like two of the prospects pan out. I'm not worried about that at all. The reason our CM's look bad today is Because Herdman doesn't get it through his head that a two man midfield against better teams is suicide for us. Our attack quality doesn't offset the amount of work the midfield and defence have to do.

Agree with both elements of this, but especially the latter.  No idea why, when playing very high quality opposition, we do t recognize the shortsightedness of playing an attacking formation.  Yes, it might work against Curaçao.  But we are playing teams that have world class players.  We should have set up to be defensively solid first and used our speed on the counter.  

[canuckgbp]

Is Davies as a CM really the answer here? What is going on. 

[Floortom]

are we going to get a shot off at some point?

[JAVIERF]

The ref is now  in the 50/50 giving all in favour of the marroc these Brazilian refs are always crooks 

[rdb9ty]

How masochistic are the rest of y'all feeling?  lol

[king1010]

1 minute ago, scullion44 said:

It's not like Morocco are world beaters either. Most of their players play in top leagues but for below average clubs. Coach has them firing like crazy

Most of them are pretty top tier club in the starting line up. Couple Anger and Sampdoria players, but still quality. 

[frmr]

I'm sorry but Larin is fucking useless. He's a target man, nothing more.

[Cicero]

Just now, VinceA said:

Herdman once against using Davies as a 10.

Fucking hell man not once this tournament has Davies beaten a man out wide and sent it a cross. That's literally his game! What is going on here. Davies as a 10 has not worked for us at all why would it now?

Herdman is smarter than you...can't you see? He's smarter than all the other managers at the WC, in his own mind.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

20 minutes ago, king1010 said:

No he wont

He does a mean powerpoint presentation by all accounts so that probably helps.

If there's no World Cup qualification until 2028 onwards the CSA need to carefully consider if Herdman is out of his depth at this level and whether Croatia and Morocco knew exactly what to do after watching the Belgium game to dismantle what he was trying to do tactically.

Don't claim to know all the answers on that but it's something that can be carefully disected. To be fair to John Herdman I think we have tended to underestimate Morocco a bit. The quality of their passing and composure in possession around their own box is tremendous so far.

[football_world]

Cyle Larin looked a bit clumsy there, as he lost the ball twice.

[dyslexic nam]

Not piling on MAK but how many times has he passed directly to the opposing team?  It is getting up there.  

[Addona]

Larin has been pretty terrible too ...

[jhoops__]

1 minute ago, canuckgbp said:

Is Davies as a CM really the answer here? What is going on. 

Herdman outsmarting everyone 

[JAVIERF]

2 minutes ago, VinceA said:

Herdman once against using Davies as a 10.

Fucking hell man not once this tournament has Davies beaten a man out wide and sent it a cross. That's literally his game! What is going on here. Davies as a 10 has not worked for us at all why would it now?

For me Davies has to play CAM or SS