Football 2015/16

[kaosmark2]

9 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

As I said, in general I'm not a fan, but these last two games he's been one of our better players.

He did nothing of note? He gave Sterling a chance on a plate at 0-0.

Agreed. I thought he was better than alli today, and I was against lallanna being on the plane. 

[lost]

On another subject when your a man and your hair starts to thin with age they say the shorter you cut your hair the better you look... Slavan Billic seems to disprove that theory.

[mjsell]

Kane and Sterling will be lucky to start anther game at this tournament. I also don't think Alli was particularly good today.

A couple of positives though, Rooney and Dier look very solid together - I actually think Rooney could have made a few more runs from deep to try and break Wales down. And Walker continues to be one of the best right backs at the tournament (despite not being tested much defensively).

[Gucci Piggy]

48 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

Agreed. I thought he was better than alli today, and I was against lallanna being on the plane. 

Yeah, so was I. I didn't want us to play with wingers based on the players we have available, but even then I'd have taken Townsend over him.

The problem for me now is, Sterling obviously has to be dropped, and unless you play someone out of position (please let's not try that once again), that probably means no wingers.

We could go with a 4-1-3-2 formation which we seemed to end up with in the second half today, but that's probably too attacking for a game we don't want to lose.

For me, we go with a 4-4-2 diamond, with Sturridge and Vardy up front. Lallana behind them. Then it's a question of who to start in CM with Rooney. Alli is ineffective that deep and hasn't performed well enough to be immune from benching imo. Wilshere or Milner partnering Rooney makes most sense to me.

Or I guess you could just play Milner or Wilshere on the wing.

In reality I probably expect him to carry on with 4-3-3 and play Vardy or Sturridge out of position at LW.

We shouldn't be afraid to make big changes. If it isn't working then we can obviously switch back, as France did last night.

[kaosmark2]

10 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Yeah, so was I. I didn't want us to play with wingers based on the players we have available, but even then I'd have taken Townsend over him.

The problem for me now is, Sterling obviously has to be dropped, and unless you play someone out of position (please let's not try that once again), that probably means no wingers.

We could go with a 4-1-3-2 formation which we seemed to end up with in the second half today, but that's probably too attacking for a game we don't want to lose.

For me, we go with a 4-4-2 diamond, with Sturridge and Vardy up front. Lallana behind them. Then it's a question of who to start in CM with Rooney. Alli is ineffective that deep and hasn't performed well enough to be immune from benching imo. Wilshere or Milner partnering Rooney makes most sense to me.

Or I guess you could just play Milner or Wilshere on the wing.

In reality I probably expect him to carry on with 4-3-3 and play Vardy or Sturridge out of position at LW.

We shouldn't be afraid to make big changes. If it isn't working then we can obviously switch back, as France did last night.

I'd make 3 changes. Sterling, kane and alli out for sturridge, vardy and wilshere / Milner. Slightly harsh on alli but he looked tired and without the kane connection I don't think he's an essential name. 

I thought sterling starting both was weird, he feels like he'd be better trying to make an impact off the bench than from minute 0, particularly as he's our only winger.

Width has to come from full backs now, there just aren't other players that offer it. 6 cams though...

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, lost said:

On another subject when your a man and your hair starts to thin with age they say the shorter you cut your hair the better you look... Slavan Billic seems to disprove that theory.

It's like the world's shortest mullet

[pink_triangle]

For all the talk about the changes making a big difference, theres every possibility that if Kane had stayed on instead of Vardy he would have scored as well.  I thought Vardy was pretty anonymous, his goal was also fortunate as it came from a free kick that shouldn't have been given and I cant believe it was amazing perception he was stood in an offside position waiting for it to hit Ashley Williams head.  For all the talk about an heroic, never give up performance, it shouldn't be forgotten that Wales are actually not very good and I'm not convinced we will get anything against Russia.

I just realized that I'm probably going to want an England win on Monday, that's going to be new for me!

 

 

[TheGayTent]

7 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

For all the talk about an heroic, never give up performance, it shouldn't be forgotten that Wales are actually not very good and I'm not convinced we will get anything against Russia.

I think that kind of attitude sums Wales up. England are not that good and Wales showed almost zero ambition. I expected to see the equivalent of a pretty average championship side against a pretty average Premier League side. What I saw was a conference side who's sole intent was to not lose. 

I'd like to think, that the philosophy will change for the Russia game, particularly as they ain't very good either. 

As for England, I feel slightly for Kane. Given Tottenham's lack of quality alternatives he's been run into the ground this season and just looks knackered. 

[pink_triangle]

3 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

I think that kind of attitude sums Wales up. England are not that good and Wales showed almost zero ambition. I expected to see the equivalent of a pretty average championship side against a pretty average Premier League side. What I saw was a conference side who's sole intent was to not lose. 

I'd like to think, that the philosophy will change for the Russia game, particularly as they ain't very good either. 

As for England, I feel slightly for Kane. Given Tottenham's lack of quality alternatives he's been run into the ground this season and just looks knackered. 

Well Wrexham certainly had more ideas playing Stoke than Wales did against England. However football is a game of small margins, if Wales hold out an uninspiring, negative performance is a heroic backs against the wall one.

It's great having Bale, but it does mean we end up playing every game just hoping for his magic to pull us out and the players aren't used to a non Bale way of winning. Look through the rest of the Wales squad and there are pretty much no goals at domestic level either.

WHat worried me is Coleman tactical inability to try something different, also why he didn't use a third time wasting sub, I will never know.

I see Russia as a 50/50 game purely because we have the superstar, we look like we have run out of steam.

[eFestivals]

13 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I would say that's stretching it from watching the game.

in the context of the tournament so far, a victory by two goals is very definitely comfortable.

 

 

[eFestivals]

13 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

Agreed. I thought he was better than alli today, and I was against lallanna being on the plane. 

I'd go as far as saying that Alli was the next-worst outfield player after Sterling. Nothing seemed to come off for him, and nothing was really being created.

I'm guessing that all of Kane, Sterling and Alli will sit the next one out.

 

 

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, eFestivals said:

in the context of the tournament so far, a victory by two goals is very definitely comfortable.

 

 

Although there are different types of 2-0 matches, a 2-0 where the side scores the second with the last kick of the ball with the opposition leaving huge space in desperation to get an equaliser is definitely not a comfortable 2-0.

[Gucci Piggy]

Was looking forward to watching Italy earlier after thinking they were the best team in the first round of fixtures. They definitely weren't great today, although I guess a draw would have been a fine result for them as they'll expect to beat Ireland and top the group. All worked out well for them anyway.

Still haven't seen a team who've looked strong across their two fixtures yet. I was going to say Croatia have looked the most comfortable out of anyone until their collapse today. Didn't really get Germany last night; surely Muller is a better option up top than Götze? Götze never looked like getting a goal.

Didn't see Spain's first game so looking forward to seeing them tonight. I was told that in the Czech game they dominated but didn't look too threatening; is that a fair assessment? Wouldn't surprise me looking at their squad; their weakness clearly lies in attack. Then again, Morata is a man for the big occasion, so can see him stepping up with some important goals this tournament.

[pink_triangle]

2 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Still haven't seen a team who've looked strong across their two fixtures yet. 

Although I would say tournament football is about peaking at the right time. Is it worth wasting a load of energy in the group phase to be great, when you can get the same result being good?

[Gucci Piggy]

10 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Although I would say tournament football is about peaking at the right time. Is it worth wasting a load of energy in the group phase to be great, when you can get the same result being good?

Yeah that's what I was meaning regarding Italy. Although maybe they just peaked in game one

But yeah you're right. Even Germany in the last world cup drew their second game to Ghana, despite being irresistible for most of the competition.

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, Will-2609 said:

Yeah that's what I was meaning regarding Italy. Although maybe they just peaked in game one

But yeah you're right. Even Germany in the last world cup drew their second game to Ghana, despite being irresistible for most of the competition.

Spain impressive today, won comfortably without needing to put in huge effort.

[Gucci Piggy]

3 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Spain impressive today, won comfortably without needing to put in huge effort.

Yeah. To be honest I wasn't really paying too much attention to the game as I was doing other things but from what I saw they looked well in control, and the pundits at the end were saying they look like the team to beat.

[pink_triangle]

It's been good to have a bit of light relief watching Ronaldo in the Euro!

[WS_Jack_III]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

It's been good to have a bit of light relief watching Ronaldo in the Euro!

What is going on with him, his head doesn't seem in the right place at all.

[philipsteak]

I'm not proud of myself, but I did enjoy that

[mjsell]

1 hour ago, WS_Jack_III said:

What is going on with him, his head doesn't seem in the right place at all.

Too self absorbed in my opinion. Never looks like he is part of a team, and I think that is exaggerated when he plays for Portugal. Looks like he believes that if they are to win anything it will be solely down to him - and doesn't trust in his team to be good enough. 

Admittedly had an extreme off-day by his standards nonetheless. 

Edited June 18, 2016 by mjsell

[pink_triangle]

7 hours ago, mjsell said:

Too self absorbed in my opinion. Never looks like he is part of a team, and I think that is exaggerated when he plays for Portugal. Looks like he believes that if they are to win anything it will be solely down to him - and doesn't trust in his team to be good enough. 

Admittedly had an extreme off-day by his standards nonetheless. 

He is very different to Bale in how he is with his colleagues. Bale is always pushing them on and supporting lesser players. Ronaldo thinks its all about him. Leaving himself last in the last Euros and Portugal running out of penalties before it got to him is typical of him.

However for all the analysis, I feel he is just a bit down on his luck. There didn't look any issues with confidence with the finish for the disallowed goal 

[st dan]

Portugal and Ronaldo seem to have very high expectations on themselves to do wel at these tournaments, when their team is very, very average at best. Ageing squad with lots of has beens, mixed in with players playing at a low club level, and some inexperienced youngsters.

Portugal of years gone by when they had the likes of Figo, Deco, Rui Costa etc and they still didn't win anything, so not sure what they're expecting to do with this bunch. Which is why I think Ronaldo is struggling as he realises he's carrying the hopes of a nation almost on his own shoulders.

Other big players in his position - Bale for example - has a lot more freedom and less pressure as Wales being there itself is a bonus, and there are no expectations on them at all.

I think Portugal would actually be a better team without Ronaldo in it, as it's quite clear they all just look to pass to him, regardless of if there is a better pass on or not.

 

[pink_triangle]

42 minutes ago, st dan said:

Portugal and Ronaldo seem to have very high expectations on themselves to do wel at these tournaments, when their team is very, very average at best. Ageing squad with lots of has beens, mixed in with players playing at a low club level, and some inexperienced youngsters.

Portugal of years gone by when they had the likes of Figo, Deco, Rui Costa etc and they still didn't win anything, so not sure what they're expecting to do with this bunch. Which is why I think Ronaldo is struggling as he realises he's carrying the hopes of a nation almost on his own shoulders.

Other big players in his position - Bale for example - has a lot more freedom and less pressure as Wales being there itself is a bonus, and there are no expectations on them at all.

I think Portugal would actually be a better team without Ronaldo in it, as it's quite clear they all just look to pass to him, regardless of if there is a better pass on or not.

 

Its a better team than the Greek champions, so why not go into a tournament with decent expectations in a competition lacking in great sides. Football is a low scoring game. Which means if a talent like Ronaldo is on fire, the must have a chance. In terms of how I would rank them in terms of winning the tournament, probably around the same as England 6th/7ish most likely.

[lost]

Curse of Nike. Seems to happen alot that who they chose for their big advert during the tournament has a shit one. Was it Euro 96 when they ran cantona with " i have worked hard to build English football up and now I must destory it" then he didn't even get picked for the french squad  The switch though is a great one.

Edited June 19, 2016 by lost