I hope they never do. They were so petulant in their attitude. Filth all over and looking to go down rather than play football. Delighted to see them sednt packing.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
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I hope they never do. They were so petulant in their attitude. Filth all over and looking to go down rather than play football. Delighted to see them sednt packing.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Think I remember a replay graphic saying 67mph.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
their defence was truly shocking and I'd have fancied Shame Long to have caused them trouble but to me it looked like they just didn't have the balls for it. After 20 mins they just stood off Wales and totally gave up the initiative. Wales had time to feel their way back into the game which was inexcusable for a team like Belgium.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
As always though, goals change games. DeBruyne should never have left his post, Fellaini and Lukaku both missed great chances.
Had we gone 1 up and Lukakau hadn't curled an exquisite shot just inside our post who knows what'd have happened? For 60 minutes Hungary gave them a really good run for their money and really should have equalised.
Anyway, another victory for a 3-in-central-defence team. Love it.
Thanks for the comments everyone. We are all enjoying it, but we aren't getting carried away. We rode our luck a bit (possibly should have conceded a penalty and a red card) although we probably deserved it overall as the stats suggest. I could hardly believe what I was seeing at times, but watching it again (day off) it's clear Belgium's defensive losses were key. They totally failed to defend against Robson-Kanu when he scored his goal. What a turn and strike, though. And, the equaliser should have been stopped by De Bruyne. But, by the same token, Ramsey should have closed down Nainggolan's goal. Overall, I think we were probably the better team. Just gutting that Ramsey and Davies miss the semis now. Ramsey has had an unreal tournament.
If ever the cliché about making your own luck was ever evident, I think this game and both these teams illustrated it perfectly.
-Obviously Wilmots has to go. The fans don't want him and the players are clearly not willing to go the extra mile for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
-Stop believing their own hype. Confidence and self belief is a great thing but I think it only really exists on the back of hard work and subsequent success. They're full of beans when the going is good, they appear hopelessly dejected when they need to dig deep. The (false) confidence they have just evaporates.
-Pick players based on attitude and form. Hazard has had a terrible season where he barely threw a leg for Chelsea and started flirted with PSG the second things got tough. He's remains untouchable within the Belgium setup though and was even made captain. He's so far from captain material it's untrue, at least to the naked eye. He was having zero impact and what De Bruyne did for the first goal was a droppable offence in itself, yet Wilmots took the easy option and replaced the less glamorous (for now) Carrasco. I could see the temptation for bringing on Fellaini to help defend against the Welsh set pieces though to be fair, but surely it should have been one of their holding midfielders or more underperforming players that made way. I think they need a manager who has no respect for reputations, it will ruffle a few feathers but that's what is needed. They have a wealth of talent, use it, nobody is indispensable.
-Even if they get all of this right there is still no guarantee of success. They still won't really have attacking players you can absolutely rely on 90% of the time. They're a pretty streaky/flaky bunch even at club level. They don't seem to have a guy that will dig them out of a hole, for all the hype they have no real superstar in my opinion, no Ronaldo, Bale or even somebody that will consistently deliver when you need him most, like a Thomas Muller. All-in-all, they've got a lot of talented players but nothing that really sets them apart.
-In their defence (literally), Kompany, Vertonghen and Vermaelen left a massive void. Most teams would struggle defensively with three first choice defenders taken out of the equation, and Kompany is one of their few players with leadership qualities and a brilliant attitude, positive, confident but no real ego. Without Dembélé, they had no real midfield playmaker either to control the game, in the mold of a Modric or a Kroos. He is a quality player I think also, and I don't think Wales would have been able to control midfield for such long spells had he been there. I presume he was still out due to the knock he picked up against us?
Defensive organisation. In fairness if we had lost as many centre backs to injury as they have, we'd have been playing Gunter, Richards and probably Joe Walsh at centre back, so you can see how tough those losses were. But Wilmots just doesn't really know how to coach defending in my view, even with a full team they've struggled against us. Nainggolan's headed 'pass' to Bale for the winner in the qualifiers comes to mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Going forward Belgium have all the talent needed to win, if you just made them hard to beat you would have a winning team, I'm sure of it.
Cagey.
Reminds me of the Argentina/Netherlands semi in 2014. Tactical matches stopping it from being a snorefest, but just not a good game of football.
The Pelle shot before the penalty is almost a trademark of his at this stage.
Surely that penalty should have been re-taken? Huge Aldridge shuffle
Beglin talking about how Pelle's getting tired in extra time after the pace of the match.
What pace?
That kind of feint/shuffle is legal these days I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
What's not legal is to pretend to kick the ball (deliberate fresh air shot) so that the keeper will move.
This and the Wales/Belgium game have been my games of the tournament so far. For very different reasons. This game is just compelling viewing.
Seems you're right - http://www.newstalk.com/Footballs-in...-penaltytakersQuote:
Originally Posted by osarusan
Just witnessed history - first German shoot out miss in 24 years and 23 penos
34 years, sorry. 1982.
And they're like buses now
This shoot out is somehow worse than the match
I'd agree with this. Reminded me of Dublin v Donegal in 2011. Compelling but in the moment was painful to the untrained eye. Tactical masterclasses from both managers and fupp me isn't Italian defensive play just a beauty to behold.Quote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Muller's head isn't right in this tournament.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
No effort for the penalty.
He's nowhere to be seen when the ball is pinging around the area. Germany's goal today is Muller's bread and butter but he was marked absent. Ozil was the one in the right place at the right time.
And the chance he did get, with goal keeper out of commission he should have scored, great effort by the defender to turn it past the post in fairness, but its debatable if his shot was even on target.
Also in one of the earlier rounds when Germany won a penalty Muller shirked the responsibility (Ozil missed then and missed again tonight in the shoot out). Wonder who would take a pen if they won one in play in the semi.
Certainly not an impressive performance from Germany throughout, if Italy had any skill going forward they should have won it. Poor Zaza looked a proper fool being brought on just for the shoot out, taking the most delayed run-up in history and then blasting it over.
https://media.giphy.com/media/bLDc0I7ys2YN2/giphy.gifQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
I found it a very compelling tactical game but I thought most everybody here would have fallen asleep at the lack of so called goal threat action after fannying about for 5 or so minutes. Anyway it was my type of knockout game between two of the best national teams. Now all that's needed is some team to beat Germany to make this an excellent tournament.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
I think he was channeling his inner James BrownQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/...le_400x225.gif
Re: Hal Robson-Kanu, one swallow doesn't make a summer.
Just released from Reading right? I imagine some Championship team will snap him up on the basis of this tournament, Soccernomics advice be damned.
Remember remember Karel Poborsky
Great goal from Giroud there. Well taken.
Way too easy for Giroud. Icelandic defence, keeper, must do better.
Could be a few in this for France. Iceland have done exceptionally all tournament, but there's always been the suspicion they're defensively suspect. Portugal created loads of chances but somehow couldn't convert. England opened them up in 5 minutes and did alright until the second goal, when they went into full retreat.
Don't think France at home will do that.
And as I type, 2-0...
Certainly seems like it's coming unstuck at the back alright, two goals they should have prevented. I doubt France will run riot, they'll want to conserve as much as they can for the semi, but hard to see them letting this lead slip.
He was impressive any time I saw him in qualification too.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
The hosts are very much in control here, bar that one scare at the other end. Jut a step too far for Iceland it seems, regrettably.
Jeez, Stu was right. A proper rout on the cards.
Looking at the goals at HT. Giroud's, the Icelandic defender has his hand up looking for an offside and he doesn't even know where the Frenchman was. Pogba's, Icelandic defence was just stepping off from before the corner was taken. Payet's, ball given away at midfield, no one closes Payet down, arguably keeper should have got to it seeing how slow it went. Griezmann's, defence split open by the through ball/dummy, keeper looked like a mug.
I don't think it's that Iceland are just bad at defending, they've had to face decent attacking outfits in this tournament and come away with points. But they do look a bit wrecked out there.
Yes pineapple stu called it. Hope he had a few euro on it.
France are a class act. The quality of players at their disposal is unbelievable. Payet going places.
There were signs against Ireland that they could have did the same to us but thankfully they didn't.
I think Iceland deserve that goal for their attacking intent. Of course, they deserve the four against too. But much nicer to have scored one at least
Five against...
What is the keeper doing there? Aside from punching his own man in the face...
Starting to remind me of that great Brazil v Costa Rica game in the 2002 World Cup, when both teams just went on the attack and to hell with defence. Maybe a slightly bigger gap between the teams though.
It is sort of all up in the air from what I can see.
Portugal have looked very unimpressive for long stretches of their games, but if Ronaldo actually turns up for a full 90 they could scorch Wales.
Wales are in uncharted waters, with suspensions to deal with, and if Bale underperforms or is marked out of the game, they'll struggle, Robson-Kanu or no. But if he keeps playing as he has, Portugal are vulnerable at the back.
Germany still seem like they are in the same kind of sleepwalking mode they were in during parts of the qualifiers. An easy enough group, an easy last 16 tie, and then a serious slog against Italy. Now injury problems. But they're the World champions for a reason. It wasn't until the semis two years ago that they really turned it on.
France really looked sub-par in the group stages as far as I could see, needing late strikes to spare their blushes twice. Ireland fell away from their last 16 tie, and now they've strolled into the semis against an Iceland defence that was as bad as the English media pretend Iceland are. But they are the hosts, and they have Greizmann, Payet and Pogba.
I haven't a clue whose going to win this tournament. The winner of the second semi will be the obvious favorite, but honestly any of them could win and I wouldn't be incredibly surprised.