Euro 2016

[Cance > TheRest]

As has been said, Belgium lacked a game plan today. Once again they were not able to create enough chances from possession-based attacks.
My favourite moment was Robson-Kanu's goal. Nice move, but ridiculously bad defending from Fellaini and Denayer (?). It was almost comical.

 

[Jagartrott]

Good game for the neutral fan.
But you could see that Belgium was playing without a plan while Wales did have one. Even after the 1-0, Belgian players didn't look confident - somehow. They missed 4 defenders, but still, you should be able to buffer that as a team.

Sad for Wales they will miss their best player in the semis.

 

[sniper]

Re:

Good game for the neutral fan.
But you could see that Belgium was playing without a plan while Wales did have one. Even after the 1-0, Belgian players didn't look confident - somehow. They missed 4 defenders, but still, you should be able to buffer that as a team.

Sad for Wales they will miss their best player in the semis.

belgium started dominant, but totally gave away the initiative after the 1-0.
question is whether that was a deliberate tactical choice (in which case stupid) or whether they just couldn't keep possession.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Some observations in the Belgium game:

- Their defense looked poor, but that's mostly due to bad luck. Kompany, Vermaelen and Vertonghen all injured. I mean, Alderweireld, Kompany, Vermaelen and Vertonghen is a defense good enough to win this tournament; Meunier, Alderweireld, Denayer and little Lukaku is always going to be tough against a decent opponent. Kompany was also a real leader in the defense and actually of this team in general, missing him really hurts.

- Wilmots' tactics were terrible. After they scored a goal they stayed back and tried to counter. How on earth can you think that type of strategy will work if you have a lousy defense? You have a world class attack that can do much more than a few counters, why don't you use it? Whenever Belgium was attacking they got more chances than Wales, as far as I could see, but they only really attacked for small periods of the game.

- The ref missed two obvious fouls by Wales and it would've changed the game if he didn't screw up here. First Lukaku passed two defenders just outside the penalty area and there wasn't anything between him and the keeper, but one of the defenders whom Lukaku just passed took him down. The defender who committed a foul already had a yellow card early in the game IIRC, so basically Wales should've been left with 10 men here and Belgium should've gotten a free kick from a very dangerous position. Shortly after that Nainggolan had somebody step on his foot in the penalty area; it didn't look that bad to be honest, but in the replay you could clearly see somebody stepped on Nainggolan's foot; it would've have been normal if Belgium received a penalty for that. So in a period where Belgium was putting on the gas and getting some chances, twice they've been denied a good chance by a foul, which if the Welshmen had been booked for it would've resulted in a red card and a penalty. And then a few minutes later 3 - 1.

In my opinion - I might be biased because I was cheering for Belgium -, even though though Belgium also has itself to blame for crappy tactics, they mainly lost due to having all their good defenders injured and due to some very poor calls by the ref. I don't want to take anything from Wales by the way, they had some beautiful goals, they took responsibility when they were behind and they defended well. The fouls they committed that I was complaining about weren't that nasty and I can't blame Wales for having luck.

 

[sniper]

good post, have to agree on all accounts.
Although i was cheering for Wales, it changed when the ref got those two crucial decisions all wrong.
In fairness, in the first half the ref also overlooked two bookable challenges on Hodgson-Kanu on the right wing, but altogether as you point out the ref's blindness definitely favored Wales, especially those two incidents against Lukaku and Nangolan.

Generally the refereeing has been terrible imo (with the exception of Clattenburg, who I found really good, and disclaimer: i've only seen ca. 30% of the games).
I guess the directive guidelines for the refs this tournament are to let play go on as much as possible, Premier League style, but that hasn't really worked out, imo. Yesterday showed why.

 

[Flamin]

Re:

- Wilmots' tactics were terrible. After they scored a goal they stayed back and tried to counter. How on earth can you think that type of strategy will work if you have a lousy defense? You have a world class attack that can do much more than a few counters, why don't you use it? Whenever Belgium was attacking they got more chances than Wales, as far as I could see, but they only really attacked for small periods of the game.

Wilmots is bad and should go, but to be fair to him, some players acknowledged it was more of a natural reflex rather than a clear cut tactical choice. The players themselves were scared of the inexperienced defense and you can't really blame them for trying to create an extra buffer for the young guys at the back.

And don't forget Belgium played on the counter for the majority of the game against Hungary as well. Though it was just Hungary, it worked pretty well and I guess they reckoned they could do the same against Wales.

 

[Brullnux]

Italy vs Germany tonight should be a good game; Germany are up against their bogey team and although the beat them earlier this year, have never bested them in an actual important match. Candreva is still out for Italy which is a Shane and De Rossi is on the limit which may mean Sturaro (who isn't good enough to be in the squad IMO) may play. Germany, meanwhile have a full squad but it will be their first game against proper opposition: Poland are decent and would've beaten them if they remembered how to finish but they were pretty happy with a draw. Italy OTOH have had one of the hardest draws I can remember, especially considering the amount of weak teams in the tournament and round of 16.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Rooting for Italy this evening.

 

[jsem94]

Forza Azzurri!

 

[CheckMyPecs]

I never understood why the catenaccio gets so much grief. It might not make for spectacular football but it's beautiful in its execution.

 

[jsem94]

I love teams like Iceland, Leicester, this Italy side and Atletico Madrid. It may not be free flowing one touch football, but it's entertaining in a completely different way. There is more than one way to win a football match.

 

[CheckMyPecs]

Like Greece in 2004.

 

[Eshnar]

Re:

I never understood why the catenaccio gets so much grief. It might not make for spectacular football but it's beautiful in its execution.

We haven't used it since the '60s.

But if by "Catenaccio" you mean "defending", alright...

 

[sniper]

if italy wins, beer is on me.
but i'm afraid 0-2 for germany is a fair prediction.

 

[dfromdub]

I also think Germany will win this one. Finally...
Italy is much better than I was expecting but they have problems; in the previous game they were all dead tired after the 60'-70' minute, Spain came back but eventually they also got tired. Also Italy's bench is really poor especially midfielders.

Too bad this is not the final
Anyway Forza azzurri

 

[Amsterhammer]

I'd like to see Italy win, but I expect that the Germans will.

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Forza Italia!

The only thing that trumps a Dutchman's hate for defensive football, is his hate for German football!

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Oh snap, Löw put in Höwedes instead of Draxler.

What kind of a formation are they playing with then? They got: Neuer; Höwedes, Boateng, Hummels, Hector; Kimmich, Khedira, Kroos, Özil; Müller, Gómez. He takes off an attacker and puts in a defender, so 5-3-2? But I guess Kimmich can also play in midfield rather than in defense as he did in the previous game, so 4-4-2 maybe? Some funky tatics by Löw!

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Neutral here, don't really like any of the teams, so anything entertaining will do.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Forza Italia!

The only thing that trumps a Dutchman's hate for defensive football, is his hate for German football!

Amen brother. Hopefully those Italians can save us from more Löwly ball-sniffing. If Nibali's practising voodoo tonight, they should be alright

 

[sniper]

Re:

Oh snap, Löw put in Höwedes instead of Draxler.

damn, that's unfortunate indeed. I was looking forward to seeing him play from the start.
Lame decision from Low. I hope it backfires.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Re:

good post, have to agree on all accounts.
Although i was cheering for Wales, it changed when the ref got those two crucial decisions all wrong.
In fairness, in the first half the ref also overlooked two bookable challenges on Hodgson-Kanu on the right wing, but altogether as you point out the ref's blindness definitely favored Wales, especially those two incidents against Lukaku and Nangolan.

Generally the refereeing has been terrible imo (with the exception of Clattenburg, who I found really good, and disclaimer: i've only seen ca. 30% of the games).
I guess the directive guidelines for the refs this tournament are to let play go on as much as possible, Premier League style, but that hasn't really worked out, imo. Yesterday showed why.

Perhaps not surprising, I'm a proponent of a "harder game" in football, but clearly we need consistency with the refs.

 

[DBotero]

Wtf no Draxler I hope Germany will win but this is a poor decision from Low

 

[lenric]

I love Italy, but Germany is simply stronger. In normal conditions, I'd say they have 70% chances of winning.

But it's funny to look at the schedules since the group phase. Loads of good teams (at least theoretically) on one side, and on the other side we have all the outsiders.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Great stadium, perfect size.