QuoteSo lets forget about Russia who we got a point off in qualifying who came in third in a group topped by Greece and the Czechs . The facts remain unfortunately that we got no points. Conceeded 9 goals and scored one. Not good enough.
...or even strung a few passes together.
Funnily enough, I think Italy was our best showing.
So lets forget about Russia who we got a point off in qualifying who came in third in a group topped by Greece and the Czechs . The facts remain unfortunately that we got no points. Conceeded 9 goals and scored one. Not good enough.
It was Doyles best game. He made a couple of superb tackles on Pirlo in that game. Something the Germans and English failed to do.Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
No matter what way you look at our group, there's no place to hide from our deficiencies
For the first time in ages football is at the forefront of eveyone's thoughts in Ireland. Even if you fully buy into the view that there was simply nothing more that could have been done it still represents an ideal time to review things - even if the conclusion is only to confirm that view.
I agree with Geysir - despite the quality of the opposition we made things harder for ourselves than we needed to. Adressing these deficiencies might even make us more competitive in WC14 qualifying. Trap version 2 possibly / hopefully. Still hard to beat but with more cohesion, less standing off the ball and more putting pressure on the ball and adapting a shape that helps our midfielders.
And hopefully any review will look at possible deficiencies in the way we nurture footballers and how the game is structured in the country.
A bit unfair that. Russia were a good side that could have got 7 or 9 points in that group. Greece were blessed in that game against Russia. Russia carved them open on occasion and missed. Greece got a goal straight from a botched Russian throw in. Stuff happens in football.
But I do agree we deserve criticism for our showing. It wasn't good enough. Some here (including me) were thinking we might beat Italy though. That was fanciful in hindsight.
How bad was the German defending for both goals? Hummel was beaten ridiculously easily by Cassano for goal 1 and that high line / through ball sucker punch was pretty basic stuff for number 2.
If you spin a coin 100 times you will see 6 heads in a row.
That might lead you to believe the coin is doubled headed but such things are expect to happen purely based on luck.
Try it if you don't believe me.
Got to disagree. Samaras was man of the match and the Greeks robbed of a blatant peno. The star/stars of this tournament so far have been Pirlo and even more so Prandelli. His selections, tactics and substitutions have been spot on.
Wardy would never have been beaten like that.
There is no silver lining, no sugar coating. Regardless of who we played we were atrocious, ****-poor, just plain bad.
My Guarantee
Am looking for old Irish matches on VHS, PM me if you have some and I'll upload them here
If Pirlo was Irish would Trapatoni play him.
Could Pirlo do the job that Trap would demand in his 442
Okay Pirlo is getting all the plaudits but he is very abely assisted by the other 3 midfielders.
Croatia were probably the third best team at the Euros.
They had Spain and Italy well under control and nearly got the better of them. Spain only scored in the 88th minute when Croatia had to go looking for a goal. Because 5 points wasn't enough to get through.
Well no, Trap would never play the way Prandelli is playing.If Pirlo was Irish would Trapatoni play him.
Could Pirlo do the job that Trap would demand in his 442
Okay Pirlo is getting all the plaudits but he is very abely assisted by the other 3 midfielders.
And in the 2006 semi-final against Germany Trap would have held out for the penalties. Lippi made 3 attacking substitutions to finish off the tired German defence in extra time and Italy scored in the 119th minute. That man Pirlo was instrumental.
Maybe the fact that Spain and Italy are in the final puts a little gloss back on our results, but as others have said it doesnt hide very poor performances. For me our worst game in the last four years was Spain, people will say that they are World Champions and play such great football, but we were hopeless that night. Also in my opinion, but I'm sure very few on here will agree, Spain are not this invincible force that the likes of Sid Lowe and Graham Shunter claim them to be. We could maybe have held them to a draw or at the very least only lost by a single goal. In the cold light of day they've scored half of their goals in the this tournament against us in that one match. Italy generally restricted them to few chances, Croatia did the same and were actually the better team for large parts of that match in Gdansk, the Portuguese showed how they could be stifled. If you look at the Spanish record in competitive games they havent really taken teams apart by 4 goals like that very often. Paraguay, Chile, Switzerland, Lithuania, Scotland all these teams have lost by a single goal yet through a series of catastophic errors we put ourselves on a par with Licthenstein.
Last edited by Closed Account 2; 29/06/2012 at 9:38 AM.
I read in one paper that the writer thought that Spain v Italy in round 1 was a borefest. I thought it was a cracker, the highest overall standard of football played in any game so far.
Yeah, it was a great game, maybe people are just so used to the E.P.L. style stuff they have no time for, or don't even recognize it when teams serve up the football equivalent of opera instead of roller coaster.
Some people prefer soap opera entertainment and would fall asleep during Citizen Kane but you wouldn't regard them seriously as a film critic.
The Spain v Italy match was a great game. Overall this has been a very good Euro's. Lots of very good matches. As other posters have said I have found it miles more enjoyable than the Champions league.
It was a cracker. This tournament has shown up the inability of a lot of the Irish and British press to get over their bias towards the EPL and CL.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
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