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Was poor from Nov/Dec onwards Maybe Silva saw something in him, as coincidentally it all went downhill for both after october or so.

He's talented, sure. But he only scored 5 goals in 38 games and didn't look that great. That's insane money. I should probably try to put myself on the footballing market. I mean, seems like clubs will pay a lot of money for a Brazilian independently of whether they're good footballers or not.

He's a proven goalscorer as well though. He's not as direct as Cristiano, but surely him with Bale, Benzema, Isco, Asensio and Lucas they don't get much worse. He'll score a shit load in La Liga as well. can he make the jump from sub 20 goals a season to plus 30/40? i really don't see it but who knows they need neymar imo At his best he scored 16 at Chelsea, he could easily score 25+ in the La Liga especially in a side that is so dominant such as Real.

City with Mahrez have done well as well tbf.

He's a proven goalscorer as well though. He's not as direct as Cristiano, but surely him with Bale, Benzema, Isco, Asensio and Lucas they don't get much worse. He'll score a shit load in La Liga as well.

could get interesting Hazard Suarez Messi Coutinho Rakitic Busquets With Arthur and Dembele off the bench? Ridiculous if it happens. Imagine if Juventus still ended up winning the CL with Cristiano

Great signing for Real Madrid that. Will be interesting to see how he does in terms of goalscoring production.

I’m taking it for granted he’s better than what they have but is he really that good? Surely not 65-70m good That's de Gea/Oblak/Neuer/Courtois (in contract) prices I mean no one is worth that, but hasn't De Gea been rumoured around £100m?

Alisson apparently done now. £67m for a goalkeeper. Unbelievable the value of players these days. Liverpool going to challenge for the title this year if they all adapt quickly. Some great signings.

Really not. Thiago was immense as well. Loads of people having him as the CB of the tournament. Don't see how it's biased to have any of them above of each other. Only thing I'm certain of, is that both deserve to be there as they were BOTH great and imo far better than Umtiti, Varane or Vida. Watching Thiago Silva live was an incredible experience. The way he reads the game was ridiculous, he was at his absolute best at this World Cup. Godin was freaking excellent as well, but didn't get to see him live.

Vrsaljko had a great tournament, better than Trippier in open play. More than an acceptable pick at RB. Agree with CBs. CBs have to be Silva and Godin. Both were freaking excellent all tournament. The French and Croatian CBs did well due to the collective but were nowhere near as dominant as the other two individually. They're also the only two I'd have in the team who didn't make the semi-finals.

I think that's harsh on France. They're only the second team (the other being Brazil 2002) since Argentina in 1986, before which it was a different format, to win the four knockout stage games without needing extra time, they've not had it easy either, Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium was a tough route to the final but they've absolutely breezed it. They started very slowly but many winners have. They're an excellent side and deserved winners. Wouldn't say they've breezed it tbf, but yes they've deserved it. However, both Argentina and Uruguay are no special sides as shown in this World Cup group stages as well as in the qualifiers. Belgium for everything were lucky to even go that far. I'm probably just mad we lost and probably jealous of France, who deservedly won. But still think all the past winners since '98 would've beaten them or at least were more talented. Honestly, just can't digest Brazil didn't win this based on the performances from the other sides. France looked very solid, but nothing special all tournament imo. Happy for Kante and M'Bappé though. Love those two.

Amazing. Think all the semi-final teams are coming back to their countries celebrated as winners.

VAR was ok. Needs to be more transparency regarding the communication between the refs. VAR didn't fail today, the referee did. However, at least he got a chance to go there and look at it and make the decision himself rather than some turd hidding behind a screen in the middle of nowhere ruling out the Gabriel Jesus incident.

My feeling exactly. This is depressing.

This one was by far the one I enjoyed the least in terms of quality since 1998 Just look at the teams in the final. Two decent sides, but nothing to write home about. Think Germany in 14, Spain in 10, Italy 06, Brazil 02, France 98 would all have beaten both these sides comfortably. Although was fun if you like underdogs going far, or if you are English/Belgian/Croatian/French.

42 you mean?

All in Croatia now. Two horrible decisions giving france the title right now.

For all their players, Belgium had no idea how to create something out of possession. They were at their best when counter-attacking all tournament. I mean even 2-0 up against Brazil and they couldn't keep possession .

Am I the only one that feels like there seems to be way too much talk of Modric v MBappé rather than France v Croatia. Both have been excellent, but both teams have gotten to where they are based on the collective and not individual performance. Don't think any of the players has carried their teams to the final, goes especially for MBappé that decided to be ridiculous in the first KO match and then only again in the semi-final for few bursts. That said, see this as a competitive game, but at the end of the day do expect France to be a tad too much for this Croatian side. 2-0 final score.

Don't think anyone, including Thiago had recovered from that match. Should've just forfeited it.

The 3rd-place game is always ace unless your team is actually forced to play in it. Hated it in 2002 Didn't even watch the one in 2014. I'm of the opinion it should be scraped. A game between two losers. Horrible. Although this one seems to mean a lot as this Belgium side could become historical if they win it.

do you believe the two are remotely comparable man? Is there a difference between corruption and corruption? I think the World Cup in Qatar is a bit bad due to the fact that it's a small country with no history in the sport and feel other would be able to probably host a more interesting event. But evidence seems to suggest that both countries won their bids with help of bribes.

There’s been nee standout good LBs like. I was going to Vrsaljko there but I’m stickler for the deets on shit like this. I just picked Hernandez as he got to be the final but he’s probs been France’s worst starter. Went for Meunier for exactly the same reason, I thought he was excellent for Belgium and I honestly couldn't pick a left back. Couldn't believe how poor Marcelo was. He played like he had the runs or something. Marcelo was fine man. He wasn't at his best, but he definitely wasn't poor either. Was an average World Cup from him. Lots of people have chosen him in their team of the tournament which I believe to be based on his quality rather than what he showed at the World Cup, but think calling him poor is very harsh. Meunier is a good shout however, very impressed by him this World Cup. Been very good for PSG but hasn't always been easy as he competes with Dani Alves for that spot. Yeah you're probably right, but I meant 'how poor he was' by Marcelo's standards which are obviously incredibly high, he didn't look right to me. He was the player I really expected to shine at this World Cup as well. I for one thought Filipe Luis should've started against Belgium, because thought he had two excellent games against Serbia and Mexico. That being said, probably first time in a long time where Brazil went out in the quarters but none of the players were actually terrible. Sure Paulinho, Willian and Gabriel Jesus weren't very good, but they weren't horrible either like in 2014 where half the team was poor.