Who Wins Euro 2012? - Page 13

On June 26 2012 07:50 XenOsky- wrote:


lol... Alonso, Busquests, Silva, Fabregas and Pique... are just a bunch of overrated players just because they are teammates of Xavi, Iniesta and Casillas. i can name like 3 or 4 players equal or even better at their respective positions.

On June 26 2012 22:52 alderamin wrote:
Pique is playing very bad right now. He had a poor season and was injured often. But he ought to be able to becoem no.1 central defender once again. How can Pepe get even close when Pique plays his top game?

On June 27 2012 00:26 mathemagician1986 wrote:
I'm pretty sure Germany is going to take it this time. They have stopped playing the total aggression football (although it was beautiful to watch) and switched to a more moderate result oriented style.

Italy will be tired from the long quarter final, and is generally a much older team than Germany, I think Germany will take it 2:1 in a very exciting match.

Spain I think simply hasn't met an equal in this tournament so far, and still their wins seemed shaky at times. Contrary to a lot of people here, my opinion is that the key to winning against Spain isn't counter attacks, but using their own style against them, i.e. holding the ball in your own ranks, and constantly applying pressure. Spain is remarkably patient in only trying for a goal if the chances are very good, they will rather keep passing the ball around and wait for an excellent chance, than losing it on a long shot for example. Being defensive and counter attacking just leads to Spain being able to play the game they want to play, whereas putting them under pressure is something they haven't had to deal with in a long time. I think Germany has the class to be able to do just that.

edit: having said that, the only weak link in the German team is Jerome Boateng IMO. I'm always scared whenever the ball is near him. I wish we had another Lahm on that position.

On June 27 2012 05:07 Tyree wrote:
The thing to admire about German football is how they managed to adapt to the game and develop more technical players because the game today demands it more than big, oafs who can head it in.

Countries like Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina have no had to adapt because they were always developing technique over anything else.

Scandinavian countries, eastern european and the entire of U.K needs do what Germany has done.

On June 27 2012 14:59 Stimp wrote:


That and any little touch being called a foul helps the little technical players a lot, as any meaty challenge that was acceptable a decade ago isn't allowed now.

On June 27 2012 17:56 Aeroplaneoverthesea wrote:


Perhaps you mean 25 years ago.

On June 27 2012 00:40 Rebs wrote:


Ive been harping about this for a while now. Nothing pisses Spain more of then a team that can keep the ball. Italy did it well enough, and Germany is more than capable. You can win playing the counter sure but its a low percentage way to play and really an option you take when you dont believe your good enough to actually take them on. Problem is people have seen so many teams get stung doing it in the past its very easy to fall into the trap of dropping back. Im not saying you need to attack all gung ho, but just the willingness to get forward and keep it and play some football when you get it goes a long way.

That having been said Portugal hasnt shown the technical ability to manage that. Their midfield struggled for the majority of the game against the Czechs and even the group stages didnt really show anything special. They were decent earlier but against a flooded midfield they struggled and really it was Ronaldo trying to win the game by himself, and thats what he pretty much did with a little help.

Veloso, Moutinho and Mereiles havent cut it for me this tournament. Moutinho's been good but he isnt going to win or even challenge for a midfield battle by himself. So I can see them dropping a fair bit and we may well get a game similar to the ones Spain has been playing the last couple.

On June 26 2012 23:25 kyllinghest wrote:

I think Spain is better in all parts of the game really. I don't trust their central defence 100%, but neither do I trust the portuguese one. The spanish fullbacks are simply class. Alba is so good at overlapping down the wing, and Arbeloa is not only excellent in 1v1 situations (has made both Ronaldo and Messi look average in the past) he is also the defender in the entire Euros that spend most time in the oppositions penalty box.

On June 27 2012 21:42 Markwerf wrote:


Spain simply outclass on midfield but then again they play with 1-2 more midfielders then any other team. Their offense is fairly lacking. Defense of spain hasn't been great either, alba is fantastic but so is coentrao. Pepe + alves has done much better then ramos and pique so far. Pique has simply been bad this entire year including this EC and Ramos is ok but quite reckless. Pepe has been doing fantastic this EC, probably best defender overall with Hummels. He hasn't been making any fouls basically which is his typical flaw.
Both rightbacks suck though. Arbeloa is by far the weakest player for Spain, he is alright defensively but on offense he is virtually useless. His teammates ignore him most of the time as they know this as well, he is alone on the right side most of the time and when he gets the ball he can't do anything with it anyway. Portugal's rightback suffers a bit of the same problem though.

Still I expect a win for Spain simply because of their dominance on the midfield. Except for moutinho Portugal's midfield is a bit lacking (Meireles is bad imo). I just don't see them reaching Nani or Ronaldo often today but the danger of fast counters is still there which is Spain's achilles heel since they play so far forward with their defense and their defenders aren't the quickest.

On June 28 2012 01:15 Aeroplaneoverthesea wrote:


There is nothing more ridiculous than saying the defence of Spain is lacking.

Spain are defensively the best team in the tournament by miles.

They've conceded 1 goal, yes just 1 goal in the four games they've played this tournament.

They conceded 2 goals in 7 games at the last world cup.

They've conceded exactly 0 goals in the knockout stages of Euro 2012, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008. That is 7 games in a row without conceding in knock out football. That includes shutting out Germany (x2), Russia, Italy, France, Holland and Portugal in knock out games.

Spain are defensively the best side to play international football since the days when Italy could send out Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini and Bennarivo.

Perhaps when people who know nothing about football look at their back four on paper they think stupid things like "Ramos is unreliable, Pique is slow, Alba is too attacking and Arbeloa is shit," but in real life football, played on a football pitch and not a computer screen, Spain's defensive record is arguably the best the game of football has ever seen on the international stage and easily in the top five of all time.