Euro 2012 Match Discussion Thread

Well, its a very careful game from both sides with some rather unusual tactic, somewhat interesting from point of view of FM player. Regular fans must be dying out of boredom.

Hopefully Balotelli will do something ridicolous in 2nd half to spice things up.
 
I reckon Balotelli is going to score take his shirt off, that would be his second yellow and then go mad and punch a few Spain players...
 
looking good for England this, the underdogs have performed well so far also my bet of italy to win with di natale top scorer looks slightly more promising.

Edit: -_- spoke to soon
 
Well, the second half has been much better than the first.
 
My god, Buffon played Torres like a baby. Predicted ahead that Torres will switch ball to his right, timed his tackle perfectly, all while standing on his feet. Completely outplayed.
 
That David Silva pass...
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De Rossi at Libero <3. So Italy with their worst squad for years hold a draw against the favorites. I bet no one will underestimate them anymore and it will get harder for them. Very aggressive, very energetic play from them, totally confused the Spaniards with the unusual tactic (something usual in Italy). Quiet lucky though that they had this referee that is not going to show silly yellow cards and kill the game of the Italians.

And please stop with the Balloteli thingie. He is not even the best forward from the squad. It is just his flair that is needed for this team is what he gets picked for. I am very sure that either Giovinco or Borini will remove him from the starting 11 in 2 years, but for now they lack the international experience.
 
half time Croatia - Ireland 2:1 (mandzukic and jelavic for croatia and st ledgers from Ireland) COME ON CROATIA!!!
 
insanity said:
De Rossi at Libero <3. So Italy with their worst squad for years hold a draw against the favorites. I bet no one will underestimate them anymore and it will get harder for them. Very aggressive, very energetic play from them, totally confused the Spaniards with the unusual tactic (something usual in Italy). Quiet lucky though that they had this referee that is not going to show silly yellow cards and kill the game of the Italians.

And please stop with the Balloteli thingie. He is not even the best forward from the squad. It is just his flair that is needed for this team is what he gets picked for. I am very sure that either Giovinco or Borini will remove him from the starting 11 in 2 years, but for now they lack the international experience.
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I call BS on that. 5 more minutes is all Spain would have needed.

It wasn't Italy that confused Spain, it was Spain that confused itself; I wasn't convinced by the striker-less formation they played, and I was very dissapointed with Torres, Spain keeps giving him confidence but he just doesn't respond, I hope Del Bosque shows some guts and puts Llorente, anyway, I much rather we start with a difficult game and learn from our errors than having to regrett them later.
 
jgehunter said:
I call BS on that. 5 more minutes is all Spain would have needed.

It wasn't Italy that confused Spain, it was Spain that confused itself; I wasn't convinced by the striker-less formation they played, and I was very dissapointed with Torres, Spain keeps giving him confidence but he just doesn't respond, I hope Del Bosque shows some guts and puts Llorente, anyway, I much rather we start with a difficult game and learn from our errors than having to regrett them later.
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Italy was getting tired, but their tactics were pretty much on. Torres had advantage when defenders had played hour with 6 midfielders they were used to that and then Torres came in and had couple good chances because defenders werent used to play with straightforward attacker. Also Italy pushed the defence bit higher after Di Natale goal and it created chances for Torres.

After Navas came in I was surprised to see Torres come in instead of Llorente.

De Rossi was amazing and Alba was dominated by Maggio.
 
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Really wish i listened to Andy Brassell a few weeks ago when he was asked "who is your dark horse to win the golden boot" and he said Mario Mandzukic!!!
 
Also i want to add although he deserves some criticism for his finishing (2nd chance only as first chance was a bit of sensational goalkeeper by Buffon who was unreal throughout) i thought Spain created more goal scoring opportunites and looked more dangerous in that last 20 mintues with Torres then they did in the 70 without him.

Also i had 3-0 Croatia, Mandzukic to score anytime today!!! **** OFF ST LEDGER!!!!
 
Lets be honest here, if it was David Villa there and not Torres , we'd be looking at 3:1 for Spain and no one would talk about great Italy's tactics.

They did defend well for long, Buffon going vs. Fernando defender-style and winning was absolute world class goalkeeping and took balls of steel, but in the end Spain was putting serious pressure on them, and Italy got saved by the final whistle.

I predict Spain will struggle in the tournament though. Torres just cant score, Lorrente can but they don't have players to provide him with crosses, and Ramos as CB did not convince me at all.

So far none of the top teams managed to impress me. The Dutch just failed, Spain as above, Italy - meh.

Maybe Portugal even though they lost, but showed some quality defending and really scared the **** out of Germans when chasing the draw in last minutes.

We'll see what France will show.
 
Tyton said:
Lets be honest here, if it was David Villa there and not Torres , we'd be looking at 3:1 for Spain and no one would talk about great Italy's tactics.

They did defend well for long, Buffon going vs. Fernando defender-style and winning was absolute world class goalkeeping and took balls of steel, but in the end Spain was putting serious pressure on them, and Italy got saved by the final whistle.

I predict Spain will struggle in the tournament though. Torres just cant score, Lorrente can but they don't have players to provide him with crosses, and Ramos as CB did not convince me at all.

So far none of the top teams managed to impress me. The Dutch just failed, Spain as above, Italy - meh.

Maybe Portugal even though they lost, but showed some quality defending and really scared the **** out of Germans when chasing the draw in last minutes.

We'll see what France will show.
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I think Torres can score, like you say the first one was world class keeping/defending by Buffon. Torres had to pick a side to go and Buffon guessed right. The second one okay he should have scored i take that point but he got chances and looked very dangerous when he came on. He is not an impact player so start him, give him the service and he will provide i have no doubt about that.
 
Pirlo moves quite well for an ancient. I don't think any of those Spanish midfielders were expecting him to surge through the middle. That whole move was pure class.
 
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