2018 World Cup Final: France v Croatia

[Uppercut]

Nobody really 'dominates proceedings' at international level any more, definitely not from the right wing. So much of a team game now.

Obviously the future is unpredictable, but he's the best teenager since Maradona. Messi and Ronaldo were nowhere near this good at 19. If you don't get excited about Mbappe you'll never be excited about anyone.

More to the point

 

[OverratedSanity]

Obviously the future is unpredictable, but he's the best teenager since Maradona. Messi and Ronaldo were nowhere near this good at 19.

Messi was imo. Got that famous Clasico hattrick when he was 19 iirc. And if by Ronaldo you meant the Brazilian one, I'd say he was definitely better too. He was 19 in that crazy Barcelona season.

 

[Uppercut]

Ehh, maybe it's closer than I suggested, but Messi was 19 for the 2006 World Cup and hardly played, whereas Mbappé played every minute, won it, and was widely considered the best player there.

I was talking about Cristiano, but you're probably right about Brazilian Ronaldo.

 

[vcs]

Messi had also scored that goal against Getafe at 19.

 

[wpdavid]

Ehh, maybe it's closer than I suggested, but Messi was 19 for the 2006 World Cup and hardly played, whereas Mbappé played every minute, won it, and was widely considered the best player there.

Yeah, it's the last bit I'm questioning. Not about him being unbelievably talented and probably the most exciting prospect on the planet. But I would argue against him being as vital to France's win as some are making out. If pushed, I'd argue that Griezmann's delivery of set pieces and the French defence were more important to them winning the thing than anything Mbappe did, apart from the Argentina match of course.

btw does he play on the right for his club side too? I think he's a bit wasted there, although Deschamps would probably, and not unreasonably, point out the overall result. Maybe he'll play a more central role for the national side when he's older.

 

[sledger]

Yeah, it's the last bit I'm questioning. Not about him being unbelievably talented and probably the most exciting prospect on the planet. But I would argue against him being as vital to France's win as some are making out. If pushed, I'd argue that Griezmann's delivery of set pieces and the French defence were more important to them winning the thing than anything Mbappe did, apart from the Argentina match of course.

btw does he play on the right for his club side too? I think he's a bit wasted there, although Deschamps would probably, and not unreasonably, point out the overall result. Maybe he'll play a more central role for the national side when he's older.

I'm not sure if this could ever meaningfully be calculated/analysed tbh. Mbappe's movement on and off the ball would have contributed to Griezmann being in a position to deliver the ball, and to the France defence being able to get a breather and so on.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, it's the last bit I'm questioning. Not about him being unbelievably talented and probably the most exciting prospect on the planet. But I would argue against him being as vital to France's win as some are making out. If pushed, I'd argue that Griezmann's delivery of set pieces and the French defence were more important to them winning the thing than anything Mbappe did, apart from the Argentina match of course.

btw does he play on the right for his club side too? I think he's a bit wasted there, although Deschamps would probably, and not unreasonably, point out the overall result. Maybe he'll play a more central role for the national side when he's older.

Yeah that's probably fair, although I'd say it has more to do with how the team was set up than Mbappe himself. They really leaned on the ability of Varane/Umtiti/Kante to soak up pressure.

He plays on the right for PSG too. It's fair enough because they have Cavani up front and Neymar on the left. I think he was probably better playing from the left at Monaco, these days almost everyone is better on the opposite flank to their preferred foot, so I'd be surprised if he stays RW for his whole career. Up front on his own would probably involve too much donkey work to get the best out of him, but it'd be great to see him go full-Henry in a front 2.

 

[wpdavid]

Yeah that's probably fair, although I'd say it has more to do with how the team was set up than Mbappe himself. They really leaned on the ability of Varane/Umtiti/Kante to soak up pressure.

He plays on the right for PSG too. It's fair enough because they have Cavani up front and Neymar on the left. I think he was probably better playing from the left at Monaco, these days almost everyone is better on the opposite flank to their preferred foot, so I'd be surprised if he stays RW for his whole career. Up front on his own would probably involve too much donkey work to get the best out of him, but it'd be great to see him go full-Henry in a front 2.

I was thinking about Henry too. If memory serves he played on the right in 1998 before moving to a central role later. Playing ahead of someone like Griezmann would be perfect. And it's not as if they'd miss Giroud's goals.

 

[sledger]

The best forwards are often the ones who start out predominantly as wingers/wide players it seems. Henry, Messi, Ronaldo etc. So it's not too much of a worry for him to be playing there at the moment for mine.

 

[Uppercut]

The best forwards are often the ones who start out predominantly as wingers/wide players it seems. Henry, Messi, Ronaldo etc. So it's not too much of a worry for him to be playing there at the moment for mine.

Playing on the right might hold him back though. He won't pick up the set of tricks a right-footed left-winger can do, which is much larger than the set available to a right-footed right-winger.

 

[sledger]

Playing on the right might hold him back though. He won't pick up the set of tricks a right-footed left-winger can do, which is much larger than the set available to a right-footed right-winger.

Yeah very true.

 

[Burgey]

Might be time to archive this subbie tbh

 

[Starfighter]

I'm agreeing with Burgey here.