Euro 2016

[sussexpob]

From what I've seen so far, Muller isn't the creative force he was.

Problem with Muller is, he doesnt really know what he wants to be. I guess to his credit he can play anywhere in the midfield or forward roles, but never nailed down one of them..... the type of player Ferguson loved to develop in his defence, covers anywhere for the squad, but sacrifices quality by never mastering one position. Still, his record speaks for itself. I personally think he is a pretty good player.

[sussexpob]

As for Germany, and for the benefit of budget as I know he loves to talk tactics

Not sure what this false 9 system Low is adopting is all about. The only team that has made this work is Barcelona, and they have Messi who creams goals in for fun at the time they played it. Gotze is a fantastic player, but as a lone forward in this system he is simply too small. Germany cant knock balls up to him because he gets dominated for size, so that takes a dimension out of the attack. Its the role of that false nine to drop back into deeper areas of the field and get between the lines of defence and midfield and create space for other players, but those midfielders advancing in his place have to have goal threats or the system doesnt work.

But Low picked Toni Kroos, a fine player but one who has always been famous for the poor amount of goals he contributes. Khediera is also not a goal scorer, he has hardly scored goals, and Ozil is a fantastic playmaker but another person who has never had a season of double figure goals. So you have Gotze dropping back to drag defenders out, but no one with a natural inclination to then get in his place in more advance roles, and you end up knocking around the ball aimlessly in midfield. Muller can score goals but on the wing he is wasted. And Draxler's career seemingly seems to be following the same route of Schwieni, where as a young guy he was a pacey dribbling winger, but who at club level is now being transformed into a deeper playmaker, and Low doesnt seem to have been watching his domestic league by asking him to adopt a role he hasnt played for 3 years.

So you end up with two wingers who arent really wingers, a striker who isnt a striker, and no central midfielders that carry a goal threat in a system that is designed on its requirements for the central midfield to get advanced and become the main goal threat. Additionally, this system asks a lot defensively at the top of the pitch by getting your attackers to press in the final third, but the only person in that midfield who can tackle is Sami Khedira, the rest are all luxury players who arent renowned for their work off the ball.

Defensively Germany look shaky too. How they havent conceded yet in this tournament is a mystery, Poland missed two sitters last night and should have won.

Germany have the players, but not the system at the moment

[Arthur Crabtree]

In the first game, Shurle had the ability to get between the central defence, like a sort of Rossi/Papin figure. Not saying he's in that class, it's the first time I've seen him, just that he might have been a useful game breaker as a sub. But last night he played wide on the left where he made no impact.

[sussexpob]

In the first game, Shurle had the ability to get between the central defence, like a sort of Rossi/Papin figure. Not saying he's in that class, it's the first time I've seen him, just that he might have been a useful game breaker as a sub. But last night he played wide on the left where he made no impact.

Schurrle has been used mainly as an impact sub for Germany, but his goal scoring record is very good. Id probably play him on the wing with Muller as a striker where he is best.

[budgetmeansbudget]

I haven't seen much of Germany so far so I can't really comment. Suffice to say I'm sure they'll find a way of getting to the final.

Yep, I do find tactic talk a bit taxing, tictacs are a different matter, love the orange ones!

[Gingerfinch]

Watched a bit of the German game last night in a pub, which was full of Poles. They were unsurprisingly very loud, especially when the final whistle went. The game itself was dull from what I saw of it.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Watched a bit of the German game last night in a pub, which was full of Poles. They were unsurprisingly very loud, especially when the final whistle went. The game itself was dull from what I saw of it.

I bet that was distracting, all those ladies sliding up and down provocatively.

[Gingerfinch]

Watched a bit of the German game last night in a pub, which was full of Poles. They were unsurprisingly very loud, especially when the final whistle went. The game itself was dull from what I saw of it.

I bet that was distracting, all those ladies sliding up and down provocatively.

Unfortunately not those sort of poles!

[mikesiva]

Another dull goalless first half...Sweden vs Italy.

That's the Italians for you...boring football for 88 minutes, and then Eder scores a brilliant goal.

[sussexpob]

What a goal from Eder

[Aidan11]

That's Italy through to the knockouts.

[Aidan11]

19 matches so far and here are how the scores have gone...

Five ended 2-0
Five ended 1-0
Four ended 2-1
Four ended 1-1
One ended 0-0


The tournament is lacking a high scoring game up to now.

[durham_andy]

Minutes of Euro 2016 goals thus far: 5 10 18 19 31 32 32 41 42 45 47 49 50 51 56 57 57 61 62 65 71 73 80 81 87 88 88 89 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
Incredible how many goals have been scored late on, 20% in the 90th minute or after.

[sussexpob]

Minutes of Euro 2016 goals thus far: 5 10 18 19 31 32 32 41 42 45 47 49 50 51 56 57 57 61 62 65 71 73 80 81 87 88 88 89 90 90 90 90 90 90 90
Incredible how many goals have been scored late on, 20% in the 90th minute or after.

A lot of teams of the lesser skill levels have simply tried to hang in games, so the end of the game when they tire is when the space opens up

[mikesiva]

Cech beaten...Croatia go 1-0 up.

This is a dominant performance by the Croats...2-0 now. The Czechs just don't seem to have an answer.