Euro 16 gamethread

tbrep

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World class performance from Hazard, best I've seen him play in a long long time. Stats courtesy of BBC: 90% pass accuracy, 10 take-ons, 4 chances created, 1 assist, 1 goal
 

BelgianSoxFan

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Hideous, and there is zero connection to their colors.

At least Portugal could say that green is a national color, even if it isn't glow in the dark green.
I like the shirts a lot. They are a throwback to the cycling team from the 50s and 60s which dominated cycling.
Hazard was spectacular, he has been talking about the net game forever. To play at Lille again is very special. I am worried it might be too special.
I don't know what the team could have done to get more respect from Keller and Martinez. They missed a lot of chances, bu that is football.
 

Schnerres

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In a match with Portugal or Poland, Belgium would not get 10 chances like they did today. They are absolutely able to turn it on in a minute and burn their opponents 4-0 like seen today, just like France. They have the superb talents in the offense. But what happens when those teams meet a steady and calm defense? We´ve seen Belgium disappoint hugely vs.Italy with just one or two decent chances. I also think Belgium will have trouble with Wales´defensive approach.
The early set piece goal was perfect for them today, because Hungary had to come out to some degree.

France got lucky today, Griezmann seems to be in perfect form. He´s their good luck charm.
I´m really looking forward to the Spain-Italy match, but I think it will disappoint a little bit, as Italy will sit back and Spain won´t find that many holes and pass backwards a lot.
Germany´s defense steadied a lot with Hummels back in form now, but they didn´t play a tough opponent twice in a row now and now comes an absolute killer match.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Belgium's lineup and tactics were horrific against Italy. Wilmots has gotten it better since. That said, vermalean is out, so we'll see who comes in at LB (presuming Wilmots has the sense to put the Spurs pairing back in the middle).

Wales will provide a stout challenge, by doing what they did in that qualifier- put 10 behind the ball, cede possession, and hope Bale scores. It worked in qualifiers, it has worked in the finals, and it may work against Belgium again.
 

teddykgb

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...

It wouldn't be a "major" disappointment in the sense that "major" is not strong enough of a word. This is by far the best squad in their history and the only time they could have a legit claim to best XI on the continent. For this team to lose to the likes of Poland would be "everybody's getting fired" levels of disappointment.

Another way to put it: even the English, people raised to expect failure, would be massively disappointed by being knocked out by Poland.
I guess I see better where you are coming from but I just don't agree. Yes, this may be their best chance for a while but any objective analysis says that they aren't so much better than a team like Poland that they should not lose to them. Poland have a bunch of players who play for osme of the best teams in Europe. Not just Lewandowski but also Blascykowski and Pisczek at Dortmund.( all spellings likely butchered). Krychowiak is a very good player at Sevilla. I can't say I've watched much of Torino but Glik plays in Italy. The keepers in England. There's a spine there that is every bit as cultured and experienced at the highest club levels of football as what Belgium can put out. We venture into Anglo-centrism with Belgium because so many of their players are stars in England.

I guess we're just coming at it different ways. I'm sure they'd be extremely disappointed but in my mind they don't have a right to EXPECT a victory against teams of the class of Portugal or Poland. I'm not sure even Germany or Spain could say that and Belgium certainly don't have that kind of pedigree.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I like the shirts a lot. They are a throwback to the cycling team from the 50s and 60s which dominated cycling.
Hazard was spectacular, he has been talking about the net game forever. To play at Lille again is very special. I am worried it might be too special.
I don't know what the team could have done to get more respect from Keller and Martinez. They missed a lot of chances, bu that is football.
Good clarification, and they do look like cycling shirts. I still don't like 'em. :D

After listening to Keller and Martinez it was funny to hear the FW guardian podcast people rave about Belgium's performance. I actually thought they were somewhere in between but headed in the right direction.
 

fletcherpost

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Spain V Italy in a knock out tournie. They're calling it the final too soon - but in French.

Even if it's a shit game, it's a great occasion.
 

teddykgb

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This is a bit more open than i expected. LIke last night, players are constantly putting the ref under pressure both with acting and heavy challenges.
 

Zomp

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I suppose I've never thought about it but I wonder if Conte will play 3-5-2 at Chelsea? Will be interesting to see how EPL fans take to him.


Also I'd give almost anything to have Florenzi on United.
 

swiftaw

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I suppose I've never thought about it but I wonder if Conte will play 3-5-2 at Chelsea? Will be interesting to see how EPL fans take to him.


Also I'd give almost anything to have Florenzi on United.
I think he's played 3-5-2 everywhere he's been, so you would think he would. Not sure if he has the players for it though (yet).
 

teddykgb

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He seems to prefer 3-5-2 but I have no idea how he's going to play that with the talent available at Chelsea.

Spain is about to meet something called a bus. Poor from De Gea there on the initial save
 

Schnerres

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New De Gea hasn't had a great tournament
It´s true that he has to do better on the 1st save. But his defenders were sleeping as well. There were like three Italians and one Spaniard in the 6y box, which is essentially what this match has been like: Spain looks flat and one step behind, Italy wants it more, looks more stable in everything and is swarming the ball when Spain has it.
 

teddykgb

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I don't think you guys have any clue how difficult the modern ball is to handle when it's rocketing and knuckling.
I think everyone who watches regularly has a clue about this. He did not do well on the free kick. If the knuckling is a problem he's worried about he's supposed to push it wide. He felt he could handle it and he didn't do a good job of that. He has done well in the match overall.
 

SocrManiac

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Disagree wholeheartedly. That's one of the hardest shots to do more than simply stop. It was a rocket with late movement. It was in the pocket between a driven, extending dive (easy to sweep away), and a collapse dive where he's fighting gravity to get his arms and body behind it. You don't have any forward arm extension to provide a cushion. It's a bastard of a shot and your defense has to do more than simply watch.
 

fletcherpost

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De Gea's arguably the best goalie in the game, but he is human. He might not have been 100% set on that free kick. He's redeemed himself already though.

I love watching Italy.
 

teddykgb

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Disagree wholeheartedly. That's one of the hardest shots to do more than simply stop. It was a rocket with late movement. It was in the pocket between a driven, extending dive (easy to sweep away), and a collapse dive where he's fighting gravity to get his arms and body behind it. You don't have any forward arm extension to provide a cushion. It's a bastard of a shot and your defense has to do more than simply watch.
It doesn't matter. If he's concerned about it the last thing he should do is spill it forward. He will have trained that specific shot probably a trillion times in his career. Yes it was moving hard and from a dangerous location. He's trained to deal with exactly that. He really can't leave that ball in front of his goal. HIs teammates should have done better to deal with it after he did, for sure, but De Gea did not handle that well at all.
 
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As a former keeper, I side with SocrManiac. If a shot is close enough to him that he can drop his knee into the path as a backstop, then maybe you can say his hands should be good enough to catch that. But if it's wide enough that he has to dive, then he has no Plan B - proper technique is to get in front of it first, and make sure it can't get over your outstretched body or take a funny bounce over your hands. From the angle he was at, he had no reasonable way to dive AND punch it away, unless you're going to take an outsized risk of missing it entirely. De Gea probably catches that in his hands a majority of the time, but it's not the 90%+ that some people are acting like it should be.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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It was a tricky shot and the defense should have done much better but nevertheless giving up that kind of rebound is still poor. It was 25 yards away completely unscreened and De Gea had it in his sight the entire way. He just misjudged the ball, tried to palm it wide, and ended up cushioning it instead.

Conte has put on another master class. 11 well organized men with a good plan >>>>> 11 much more talented guys without much of a clue.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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As a former keeper, I side with SocrManiac. If a shot is close enough to him that he can drop his knee into the path as a backstop, then maybe you can say his hands should be good enough to catch that. But if it's wide enough that he has to dive, then he has no Plan B - proper technique is to get in front of it first, and make sure it can't get over your outstretched body or take a funny bounce over your hands. From the angle he was at, he had no reasonable way to dive AND punch it away, unless you're going to take an outsized risk of missing it entirely. De Gea probably catches that in his hands a majority of the time, but it's not the 90%+ that some people are acting like it should be.
If you could get the best keeper in the world (or one of them at any rate) to spill a rebound like that 50% of the time (or any kind of reasonably high percentage) simply by hitting the ball hard, low, and square, then guys would shoot straight at the keeper all the time. The reason you don't see that is because top keepers are expected to deal with that ball quite consistently, either catching or palming it around the post.
 

BaseballJones

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So basically, De Gea makes a better play on that ball, it should be 0-0. Or, conversely, if he doesn't make two spectacular, world-class saves, it could be 3-0.
 

teddykgb

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Lol @ the ref. Pique absolutely destroyed Eder there.

He's had to wave off a lot of simulation but that certainly wasn't one of them.

If Spain does lose this, in spite of my opinion on the goal, De Gea will not be the reason why, he's certainly made a bunch of saves that maybe even his counterpart in this match doesn't make.
 

candylandriots

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Lol @ the ref. Pique absolutely destroyed Eder there.

He's had to wave off a lot of simulation but that certainly wasn't one of them.

If Spain does lose this, in spite of my opinion on the goal, De Gea will not be the reason why, he's certainly made a bunch of saves that maybe even his counterpart in this match doesn't make.
It looked like he did, but the reaction of -- scream, scream, writhe in agony -- stop -- look at my stomach to see if there is a mark -- resume writhing in agony -- certainly seemed like he was being dramatic about it.
 

fletcherpost

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It looked like he did, but the reaction of -- scream, scream, writhe in agony -- stop -- look at my stomach to see if there is a mark -- resume writhing in agony -- certainly seemed like he was being dramatic about it.
Leave him alone, he's Italian. It was world class writhing, gesturing and gesticulating...worthy of this fine match.
 

tbrep

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It looked like he did, but the reaction of -- scream, scream, writhe in agony -- stop -- look at my stomach to see if there is a mark -- resume writhing in agony -- certainly seemed like he was being dramatic about it.
Yeah, was definitely a foul and possibly yellow card. But I thoroughly enjoy seeing some of these drama queens take a beating every now and then.
 

tbrep

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The ref has basically decided "okay, you guys want a no-blood-no-foul game? Here you go." And then both sides elect to complain about it.
He's given a few ticky tacky fouls too that were questionable. Just poor refereeing rather than a conscious decision to raise threshold of contact required, I think
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Gigi has an "I really need a drink" look on his face.

Either Italy is going to hang on and win 1-0 or Spain is going to find a late equalizer and win 4-1.