i was expecting him to blow it at the first shot
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2011-12 Football/Soccer Thread
- Thread starter The_Chaser
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Well, at least Balotelli made his PK. If he missed it, it would solidify a lifetime of criticism rofl
Disappointed, not because Italy won - they fully deserved to, but because I honestly believed England were better than that. Rooney and Young in particular I felt was really not in the game at all. I don't know if it is tiredness or lack of sharpness or lack of fitness or whatever but Rooney really couldn't do anything right in that game (and the game before for that matter).
The dilema as a manager is do you bench your (potential) best player when he is off form or do you persist in order to show faith and build a good relationship with him for the future. Welbeck had played quite well, held the ball up and won many flick-ons that Rooney couldn't get on the end of, logic dictates that taking Rooney off might be a better option but I think in reality Hodgeson doesn't have much choice but to keep the more experienced player on no matter how he is playing.
Pirlo on the other hand, what a performance. That was pretty much perfection up until the penalty kick at which point it was freaking sexual. The problem was England just let him have the ball and he could dictate the play however he liked and he was a master at it in that game. I wonder if Rooney could've dropped deeper and kept an eye on Pirlo and let Welbeck be the lone frontman. I was really really impressed with Italy in their first game, I thought they were better than Spain, and although they haven't been electrifying in their previous two they were unbelievable today. It was like watching a mix of Germany and Spain.
Overall I think England got what they deserved from this tournament. Solid, performances and plenty of effort saw them get out of their group and they gave everything against Italy but were one man short in midfield against a Pirlo in rape mode. I have been very pleasantly surprised by Carroll and Johnson; Terry and Cole have been amazing; Hart looks really assured for England while Gerrard has been unbelievable. Disappointments would probably be Young who I was really looking forward to seeing play in a major tournament, and Rooney who I thought might be all fired up to finally come in but never really arrived at all. Good effort England, let's get Wilshere back, may Jones keep improving, may the Ox destroy all opposition and bring on the world cup qualifiers!
The dilema as a manager is do you bench your (potential) best player when he is off form or do you persist in order to show faith and build a good relationship with him for the future. Welbeck had played quite well, held the ball up and won many flick-ons that Rooney couldn't get on the end of, logic dictates that taking Rooney off might be a better option but I think in reality Hodgeson doesn't have much choice but to keep the more experienced player on no matter how he is playing.
Pirlo on the other hand, what a performance. That was pretty much perfection up until the penalty kick at which point it was freaking sexual. The problem was England just let him have the ball and he could dictate the play however he liked and he was a master at it in that game. I wonder if Rooney could've dropped deeper and kept an eye on Pirlo and let Welbeck be the lone frontman. I was really really impressed with Italy in their first game, I thought they were better than Spain, and although they haven't been electrifying in their previous two they were unbelievable today. It was like watching a mix of Germany and Spain.
Overall I think England got what they deserved from this tournament. Solid, performances and plenty of effort saw them get out of their group and they gave everything against Italy but were one man short in midfield against a Pirlo in rape mode. I have been very pleasantly surprised by Carroll and Johnson; Terry and Cole have been amazing; Hart looks really assured for England while Gerrard has been unbelievable. Disappointments would probably be Young who I was really looking forward to seeing play in a major tournament, and Rooney who I thought might be all fired up to finally come in but never really arrived at all. Good effort England, let's get Wilshere back, may Jones keep improving, may the Ox destroy all opposition and bring on the world cup qualifiers!
feelsbadman
i hate losing on penalties.
i hate losing on penalties.
yup
I think the only players that can say they performed at a good enough level were Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole (despite the poor penalty), Parker, and maybe Joe Hart. Gerrard was great in the group stages, but he struggled to make much of an impact against Italy. Young had a poor game and a mediocre tournament, Milner was similar. Welbeck just couldn't get into the game and might have been better coming off the bench instead of Carroll and having us start another midfield player.
I think a tactical error was trusting Rooney to spend the time when we didn't have the ball picking up Pirlo. We want Rooney to be attacking, and when we have almost 30% possession he is wasted trying to man-mark a creative midfielder. In hindsight, starting Jones or Henderson and having them man-mark Pirlo would have given us a better foothold in the game and allowed Rooney to make more runs. In the end, he just couldn't do the job he was assigned and this is why 442 won't work against the better teams, because Rooney (nor any of our strikers for that matter) can simultaneously do the striker job and dirty job of stopping creativity. I remember the same thing happening against Spain when Busquets was allowed to control the play in a similar role to Pirlo. It just doesn't work.
Alas, it wasn't to be. Germany will steamroll through Italy like they would have against England anyway. Predictions for semi-finals:
Spain 1-2 Portugal
Germany 3-1 Italy
I think a tactical error was trusting Rooney to spend the time when we didn't have the ball picking up Pirlo. We want Rooney to be attacking, and when we have almost 30% possession he is wasted trying to man-mark a creative midfielder. In hindsight, starting Jones or Henderson and having them man-mark Pirlo would have given us a better foothold in the game and allowed Rooney to make more runs. In the end, he just couldn't do the job he was assigned and this is why 442 won't work against the better teams, because Rooney (nor any of our strikers for that matter) can simultaneously do the striker job and dirty job of stopping creativity. I remember the same thing happening against Spain when Busquets was allowed to control the play in a similar role to Pirlo. It just doesn't work.
Alas, it wasn't to be. Germany will steamroll through Italy like they would have against England anyway. Predictions for semi-finals:
Spain 1-2 Portugal
Germany 3-1 Italy
No idea about the Spain-Portugal game, in theory Spain dominates the midfield which stops Moutinho and their midfield getting the ball to Ronaldo and Nani in the first place, but Spain just haven't looked all that convincing, their a team that struggle with fast counter attackers, they barely scraped past a worse Portugal in the world cup with a better team then they have currently have. There also pretty weak in the air which Bruno Alves and Ronaldo are more then good enough to expose.
I think the lack of rest and extra two days for Germany will eventually get the better of Italy, though I think there the remaining team that have the best chance of stopping the Germans.
German - Italy 2-1 After extra time
Spain - Portugal 3-2
I think the lack of rest and extra two days for Germany will eventually get the better of Italy, though I think there the remaining team that have the best chance of stopping the Germans.
German - Italy 2-1 After extra time
Spain - Portugal 3-2
Eh, the Italians have been Germany's bane for god knows how many years. Kinda wished England would go through just so that Germany would have gotten an easier matchup.
I'd be surprised if Llorente didn't play a role for Spain, was the difference maker in the World Cup against Portugal.
I'd be surprised if Llorente didn't play a role for Spain, was the difference maker in the World Cup against Portugal.
I just really fancy Portugal at the moment. If they defend like they have all tournament, with Ronaldo on his current form and if Nani shows what she showed in earlier games, I think Portugal can win. I wasn't that impressed with Postiga so maybe his injury could be a blessing in disguise, depending on how Portugal choose to line up.
Germany will have the fitness factor on Italy, if Germany score first I think they will manage to expose Italy and score a few goals. The end result won't be that close IMO, but we all know how well Italy can defend sometimes. Germany won't make the same mistakes England did, and if it goes to penalties again we all know who wins this time :P
Germany will have the fitness factor on Italy, if Germany score first I think they will manage to expose Italy and score a few goals. The end result won't be that close IMO, but we all know how well Italy can defend sometimes. Germany won't make the same mistakes England did, and if it goes to penalties again we all know who wins this time :P
Predicting a Spain-Germany final;for Ronaldo to make a difference he'll require his teammates to provide him with possession which they won't be able to do vs the likes of Spain imo and Germany are equal to Italy in midfield and defense and better in attack which,I think,will prove decisive.
I don't know if you watched the first two games, but Portugal's defence was far from good, portugal will need space and possession to have any chance of getting the best out of ronaldo vs spain, and they are the team that will not give it to them, especially with the majority of the spain team being real/barca who know his tricks, and won't let him out.
That being said I don't particularly think it will be a high scoring game, 2-1 spain, maybe a 1-0.
Germany will walk over italy, italy struggled to get past england, pirlo/buffon aside they were pretty average, so take englands dogged defence, add the best attack team in the world to it, and it's not going to end prettily. 3-0/3-1 germany.
If Italy can learn to finish in front of the net, their offense will be at least a little more potent. No reason to believe that they couldn't have completely blown England out if De Rossi, Balotelli, Montolivo, et al didn't blow their shots.
Balotelli in particular is bad about finishing in front of the net. His explosive energy gets him into position very often, but he hesitates way too much. Di Natale, while not as athletic as Balo, is much more consistent and reliable in my opinion. Starting him with Balo coming in as a second-half sub is really effective in my opinion.
Balotelli in particular is bad about finishing in front of the net. His explosive energy gets him into position very often, but he hesitates way too much. Di Natale, while not as athletic as Balo, is much more consistent and reliable in my opinion. Starting him with Balo coming in as a second-half sub is really effective in my opinion.
If this is true then Spurs will have to change their system to accomodate him because I think he looks really suited to the 4-2-3-1. I guess that won't be a problem now that Redknapp is gone but I don't see Sigurdsson being effective in a 4-4-2 unless he plays the Van der Vaart role. Speaking of which, could he be a replacement for VdV?
you just know it was haunter who edited the thread title.
who use \ instead of / apart from him? lol
to keep this on topic, spurs are gonna steal siggurdson away from liverpool. not sure if this is a blessing in disguise.
who use \ instead of / apart from him? lol
to keep this on topic, spurs are gonna steal siggurdson away from liverpool. not sure if this is a blessing in disguise.
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