dayokanu: Let Spain show their trophies

they murdered germany @ the last world cup - they went on to win it.
spain also sodomised germany in the final of euro 2008 - they went on to win it.

I'm tipping Holland to win the Tournament.

England as someone rightly said is a big joke. The first mistake they made was employing Roy as their manager. He cant handle real talent, he makes boyish mistakes and he is very biased it hurts.

Can he explain why his team is largely Liverpudian? Can he explain why his team was bossed by Belgium? Did they (England FA) subtley sack Fabio for this . . .?
His tactics seem similar to Fabios even though the latter had more guts to attack smaller teams. I saw Gerard play from deep against Belegium and the team had no spine. They wouldnt survive even France with such formation let alone Spain! They would need more than chelsea luck to pull it off.

As for Italy, i like what they have played like under prandelli. I think he has given them a different dimension beyond defend and counter attack. this italian team actually pulls a string of passes and its funny how they use more technical smaller strikers than past times. Nevertheless they stand no chance. They certainly cant contain Spain, Germany and the Oranje with that pattern of play, their defence seems porous to me and the hovering cloud of match fixing me thinks would hurt them seriously.

I am beginning to look at France with that outside chance shot as favorites. I was impressed with their display against Iceland and serbia. Particularly the Iceland game because the Tempo was maintained regardless of the substitutions that were made.

It is still Spain, Germany and Holland. Poland would make it to the next round to fulfill the Cinderella story that usually surrounds Hosts. I wish them well.

mba emeka: England as someone rightly said is a big joke. The first mistake they made was employing Roy as their manager. He cant handle real talent, he makes boyish mistakes and he is very biased it hurts.

Can he explain why his team is largely Liverpudian? Can he explain why his team was bossed by Belgium? Did they (England FA) subtley sack Fabio for this . . .?
His tactics seem similar to Fabios even though the latter had more guts to attack smaller teams. I saw Gerard play from deep against Belegium and the team had no spine. They wouldnt survive even France with such formation let alone Spain! They would need more than chelsea luck to pull it off.

Can someone pls correct me if I'm wrong but didn't england just win both their warm up games whilst also keeping clean sheets?
If England do a greece and win their next six games 1 nil, i'm willing to bet no England fan would give two hoots about the style of football they played.
Spain who are Everybody's favourite struggled against the chinese last night( England's defence is much better)whilst Germany who are everyone's second favoured had their ass,..es handed to them by Switzerland.
With a bit of luck England might just prove some of their doubters wrong.

mba emeka:
As for Italy, i like what they have played like under prandelli. I think he has given them a different dimension beyond defend and counter attack. this italian team actually pulls a string of passes and its funny how they use more technical smaller strikers than past times. Nevertheless they stand no chance. They certainly cant contain Spain, Germany and the Oranje with that pattern of play, their defence seems porous to me and the hovering cloud of match fixing me thinks would hurt them seriously.

Italy's has always had technically gifted players,players who actually string passes together. Infact we had more of them before than we do now.
The only difference being unlike now we were blessed with an abundance of Great defenders to choose from and therefore we played to our strength. Defensive Solidity.
Yh the defence of late has been shocking. Need to get back to the defensive solidity we showed during qualification.

It looks like Liverpool England are going on a summer tour of Ukraine/Poland.
England's case is a pathetic one.The squad they are taking resembles closely a DisneyLand all-star selection of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto et al.
I can't believe folks like Micah Richards, Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick aren't going along even with all the injuries.
Glen Johnson,Jordan Henderson,Martin Kelly are in a national team squad on this planet.
As per the Azzuri, judging from the defending vs Russia, I'm not sure they can make the quarter finals.
@dayokanu,
Even you knows Spain will run several rings around Germany if they meet, even though I'm hoping for a reverse.
@coogar,
Spain or Germany, choose one.
I'd say aside Spain and Germany, the Euros dont have a clear favourite.
Even the Irish could get lucky like Greece in 2004(highly unlikely though).
I don't think the French are that good either but they should progress from the group stages.
The beauty of the Euros is that it's hard to pick a winner accurately. . .

chic2pimp:
Can someone pls correct me if I'm wrong but didn't england just win both their warm up games whilst also keeping clean sheets?
If England do a greece and win their next six games 1 nil, i'm willing to bet no England fan would give two hoots about the style of football they played.
Spain who are Everybody's favourite struggled against the chinese last night( England's defence is much better)whilst Germany who are everyone's second favoured had their ass,..es handed to them by Switzerland.
With a bit of luck England might just prove some of their doubters wrong.


Italy's has always had technically gifted players,players who actually string passes together. Infact we had more of them before than we do now.
The only difference being unlike now we were blessed with an abundance of Great defenders to choose from and therefore we played to our strength. Defensive Solidity.
Yh the defence of late has been shocking. Need to get back to the defensive solidity we showed during qualification.

So you think the way they played against Norway and Belgium has any significance to what will happen in the Euros?
They are called warm up matches for a reason.
If we have to go by that logic, Spain and Germany who you claim have 'struggled' should not be seen as contenders then.

The Irish team is now on a 14 match unbeaten run - lets see what they will do when the tourny starts.
This English team can't score goals and let us wait until their defence gets tested.

That Greek team that won the Euros had some good players back then - Stelios, Basinas, Zagorakis, Katsouranis etc were decent players, yes they over achieved but they were solid and played good footy.
The last 2 games England played, I fell asleep and I don't think it was a coincidence.

StarBoard:
@coogar,
Spain or Germany, choose one.
I'd say aside Spain and Germany, the Euros dont have a clear favourite.
Even the Irish could get lucky like Greece in 2004(highly unlikely though).
I don't think the French are that good either but they should progress from the group stages.
The beauty of the Euros is that it's hard to pick a winner accurately. . .

spain - sergio busquets is my favourite player in europe!

chamotex:
So you think the way they played against Norway and Belgium has any significance to what will happen in the Euros?
They are called warm up matches for a reason.
If we have to go by that logic, Spain and Germany who you claim have 'struggled' should not be seen as contenders then.

Ofcourse it won't
However I'd rather have my team go into tournament high on morale whilst posting one nil wins than go in low on confidence having played fantastic football.
C'mon that's a silly logic as we all know the likes of Spain(recently) and Germany should never be counted out. The point I am trying to get across is that these teams are Beatable.

chamotex:
The Irish team is now on a 14 match unbeaten run - lets see what they will do when the tourny starts.
This English team can't score goals and let us wait until their defence gets tested.

They don't need to score many goals.
1 nil wins in their next 6 games would do them just fine.
Or How many goals do you think spain scored on their way to winning the World cup? 8. The so called "Best team and Most Beautiful team in the Universe" could only muster Eight goals.
That tells me a Win is a win.
With the way the dealt with spain when the two teams last met, their defence should do alright.

chamotex:
That Greek team that won the Euros had some good players back then - Stelios, Basinas, Zagorakis, Katsouranis etc were decent players, yes they over achieved but they were solid and played good footy.
The last 2 games England played, I fell asleep and I don't think it was a coincidence.

Yes they had some good players but this England team are most definitely better. Joe Hart for starters is much better than the white haired Dude they had in goal.
Also as the Greeks and Chelsea showed,the best teams don't always win. 1-NIL wins would do the job nicely.
Lastly the Greek did not play any Good football. All they did was bore teams into submission. I very well remember the likes of Lineker,Hansen et al complaining about how dire and negative their football was.

Why you no go fall asleep when you dey shack ogogoro+poli from dusk til dawn .

chic2pimp:
They don't need to score many goals.
1 nil wins in their next 6 games would do them just fine.
Or How many goals do you think spain scored on their way to winning the World cup? 8. The so called "Best team and Most Beautiful team in the Universe" could only muster Eight goals.
That tells me a Win is a win.
With the way the dealt with spain when the two teams last met, their defence should do alright.

abeggi, with the way most teams put 11 men behind the ball against spain, no
team would score more than a goal. every team spain faced bar chile were out
to stop them instead of playing their own game....xavi and iniesta were particularly
disappointed that their opponents didn't let their fans enjoy the football but they
had to rise up to the challenge.

chic2pimp:
Ofcourse it won't
However I'd rather have my team go into tournament high on morale whilst posting one nil wins than go in low on confidence having played fantastic football.
C'mon that's a silly logic as we all know the likes of Spain(recently) and Germany should never be counted out. The point I am trying to get across is that these teams are Beatable.


They don't need to score many goals.
1 nil wins in their next 6 games would do them just fine.
Or How many goals do you think spain scored on their way to winning the World cup? 8. The so called "Best team and Most Beautiful team in the Universe" could only muster Eight goals.
That tells me a Win is a win.
With the way the dealt with spain when the two teams last met, their defence should do alright.



Yes they had some good players but this England team are most definitely better. Joe Hart for starters is much better than the white haired Dude they had in goal.
Also as the Greeks and Chelsea showed,the best teams don't always win. 1-NIL wins would do the job nicely.
Lastly the Greek did not play any Good football. All they did was bore teams into submission. I very well remember the likes of Lineker,Hansen et al complaining about how dire and negative their football was.

Why you no go fall asleep when you dey shack ogogoro+poli from dusk til dawn .

England had the same run-in nto the last World Cup too.
They cruised through their qualifying group and warm up matches
Tourny started and the could only steal a narrow win against Slovenia.

England can't hack it at the big stage - simple
The only thing going for them is that no ones expects them to do well and probably the team might feel a little less pressure.

chamotex:

England had the same run-in nto the last World Cup too.
They cruised through their qualifying group and warm up matches
Tourny started and the could only steal a narrow win against Slovenia.

England can't hack it at the big stage - simple
The only thing going for them is that no ones expects them to do well and probably the team might feel a little less pressure.

it's bad enough england don't have enough technical players in comparison
with their european counterparts, to leave the rolls royce players like
carrick and rio at home would be ugly to watch. roy hodgson would be doing
back to the wall defending a la chelsea in nou camp/allianz arena.........

so i really think dropping those players are for football reasons like he claims.
what we have are a buncha mechanical players. defend hard and look for breaks.
up in the air, hoping for a rebound - and score from it. that's what england
would be serving this summer.

coogar:

abeggi, with the way most teams put 11 men behind the ball against spain, no
team would score more than a goal. every team spain faced bar chile were out
to stop them instead of playing their own game....xavi and iniesta were particularly
disappointed that their opponents didn't let their fans enjoy the football but they
had to rise up to the challenge.

And when did putting ten men behind the ball become Illegal?
Spain are the first and would not be the last to encounter such drastic tactics so I see no reason for the likes of Xavi,Iniesta and co to moan.
Forget the one nil score line, they hardly created any chances. All they did was pass the ball sideways and backwards. At least Barca created enough chances during their tie v Chelsea.
Also Germany did not pack the bus but guess what Spain still won by the same scoreline.

chamotex:

England had the same run-in nto the last World Cup too.
They cruised through their qualifying group and warm up matches
Tourny started and the could only steal a narrow win against Slovenia.

England can't hack it at the big stage - simple
The only thing going for them is that no ones expects them to do well and probably the team might feel a little less pressure.

Big difference.
Unlike the worldcup where England were expected to do extremely well and play good footy. The QuarterFinals was the minimum expected of that lot. This current England team has little to no expectations.
I've heard a few say they'll be lucky to get out of their group. That's how low expectations are.
So unlike the worldcup where a 1 nil win vs Slovenia was met with uproar, the England fans would happily take three boring 1 nil wins as far as the group stages are concerned.

I'm not saying England will definitely win it but at the same time I know England are not as poor as people are making out.
If Greece can win it, So can England.

coogar:
what we have are a buncha mechanical players. defend hard and look for breaks.
up in the air, hoping for a rebound - and score from it. that's what england
would be serving this summer.

In other words, "Winning Football"
Ask Greece and Chelsea. It works a treat .

chic2pimp:
And when did putting ten men behind the ball become Illegal?
Spain are the first and would not be the last to encounter such drastic tactics so I see no reason for the likes of Xavi,Iniesta and co to moan.
Forget the one nil score line, they hardly created any chances. All they did was pass the ball sideways and backwards. At least Barca created enough chances during their tie v Chelsea.
Also Germany did not pack the bus but guess what Spain still won by the same scoreline.

what are you talking about?
when have you ever seen a dutch/german side playing negative football
in the history of the world cup. germany didn't come out to play.
they came to stop spain. it was only after puyol scored that germany
changed tactics and started playing attacking football.

holland simply parked the bus....waited for the break/counter-attack.
then they put de jong in the middle to maul spain's creative players.
it was negative tactics after negative tactics against spain. what can
you possibly do to teams who deploy catenaccio? uproot them with bulldozer?

coogar:

what are you talking about?
when have you ever seen a dutch/german side playing negative football
in the history of the world cup. germany didn't come out to play.
they came to stop spain. it was only after puyol scored that germany
changed tactics and started playing attacking football.

holland simply parked the bus....waited for the break/counter-attack.
then they put de jong in the middle to maul spain's creative players.
it was negative tactics after negative tactics against spain. what can
you possibly do to teams who deploy catenaccio? uproot them with bulldozer?

Forget the Netherlands.
They were a disgrace to football that night. Period.
However Germany did not park the bus. Spain simply had more ball possesion.
Germany played the exact the same way throughout the tournament. Soak up pressure and hit on the fast break/counter.
The Fact Germany scored first in most of their games really helped their cause.

The problem with spain centers around these three players xavi, busquets and xabi alonso. They are slow and when you have three of them in the starting eleven, spain becomes too slow and struggles to win matches most times. That was so evident in their last friendly match and they did not have such problems in the previous two matches before that. Spain will suffer also in stretching the play on the right as arbeloa is not so good going forward like ramos or other spanish defenders but he is solid defensively.

Spain need to stop using two defensive midfielders if they want to retain the cup or increase the tempo of their game and those three mentioned players should not be in the starting eleven at the same time.

Bontee: The problem with spain centers around these three players xavi, busquets and xabi alonso. They are slow and when you have three of them in the starting eleven, spain becomes too slow and struggles to win matches most times. That was so evident in their last friendly match and they did not have such problems in the previous two matches before that. Spain will suffer also in stretching the play on the right as arbeloa is not so good going forward like ramos or other spanish defenders but he is solid defensively.

Spain need to stop using two defensive midfielders if they want to retain the cup or increase the tempo of their game and those three mentioned players should not be in the starting eleven at the same time.

that's the philosophy of their game.
short passing....xavi, busquets and alonso are not slow.
they don't even want to play long balls or counter-attacks...
spain wants to tear your defence apart with short passes, little
triangles using the tiki-taka. how many of their corners do they
hit long? is it because they are slow too?

you guys need to understand how spain wants to play.....

coogar:

that's the philosophy of their game.
short passing....xavi, busquets and alonso are not slow.
they don't even want to play long balls or counter-attacks...
spain wants to tear your defence apart with short passes, little
triangles using the tiki-taka. how many of their corners do they
hit long? is it because they are slow too?

you guys need to understand how spain wants to play.....

That's the philosophy championed by barca and for Spain i would say they are a great football passing team. They press their opponents instead of shadow marking but barca presses and passes more than the national team. Remove the Barcelona players and Spain will not play full tiki taka.

You should watch the three friendly match again and you will see for yourselves that the third match was different and the coach came out to say they were extremely slow in that game (The only time he complained about being slow in all the friendlies). How many la liga teams plays tiki taka?, they are either a football passing team or counter attacking team with the exception of barcelona that plays tiki taka. Real madrid, A-madrid, valencia and sevilla plays counter attacking football while the others pass the ball around intelligently.

Chickenshrimp who is the other black dude in the Italian team aside Ballotelli?

That should be Angelo Ogbonna.He's of Nigerian descent and plays as a centre back for Torino in the Serie A.

Bontee:
That's the philosophy championed by barca and for Spain i would say they are a great football passing team. They press their opponents instead of shadow marking but barca presses and passes more than the national team. Remove the Barcelona players and Spain will not play full tiki taka.

exactly ma point.
the barcelona players make 70% of the team.
puyol, pique, xavi, busquets, iniesta, pedro, villa.
under normal circumstances, these 7 players are starters.
how else do you want their gaffer to manage spain? like real madrid?

You should watch the three friendly match again and you will see for yourselves that the third match was different and the coach came out to say they were extremely slow in that game (The only time he complained about being slow in all the friendlies). How many la liga teams plays tiki taka?, they are either a football passing team or counter attacking team with the exception of barcelona that plays tiki taka. Real madrid, A-madrid, valencia and sevilla plays counter attacking football while the others pass the ball around intelligently.

spain play tiki taka because they are essentially a barcelona side.
7 players of the starting 11 are barcelona players. the spine is barcelona.
pique-busquets-iniesta-villa.....it would be wrong for any manager of spain
to play the team in a tactics unfamiliar with the majority of the players.

It will be a miracle if England pass the first round. I no fit shout.

dayokanu: Chickenshrimp who is the other black dude in the Italian team aside Ballotelli?

Angelo Obinna
As u can tell by his surname, his parents are Nigerian.
He is a center Back by trade but can also play the Left Back position(Kinda Like Boateng)

FBS: It will be a miracle if England pass the first round. I no fit shout.

if france and sweden don't beat england...their managers
should be sacked.

coogar:

if france and sweden don't beat england...their managers
should be sacked.

Chei No talk that one.
Hodgson should flogged with koboko if England don't make it past the Group Stages.

chic2pimp:
Chei No talk that one.
Hodgson should flogged with koboko if England don't make it past the Group Stages.

with parker, gerrard, and milner in the midfield?
jaglieka and terry in the heart of the defence?
oh ma days, benzema and ibrahimovic would be trembling
in their boots.

coogar:

with parker, gerrard, and milner in the midfield?
jaglieka and terry in the heart of the defence?
oh ma days, benzema and ibrahimovic would be trembling
in their boots.

Ok First of all we all basically agree that the remaining three teams in that group are fighting for the second spot behind France Right?

Now Club Loyalty and Jokes aside, do you actually think Sweden and Ukraine will finsh ahead of England?....C'mon now U.K.R.A.I.N.E!!!

The only player in that swedish team England should be wary off is Ibra. Handle him properly and England should win that game.

chic2pimp:

Ok First of all we all basically agree that the remaining three teams in that group are fighting for the second spot behind France Right?

Now Club Loyalty and Jokes aside, do you actually think Sweden and Ukraine will finsh ahead of England?....C'mon now U.K.R.A.I.N.E!!!

The only player in that swedish team England should be wary off is Ibra. Handle him properly and England should win that game.

elmander nko? seb larsson nko?
england have never beaten sweden before even
when they had a decent squad. sweden would mash
england or at worst get a draw.

ukraine are the hosts....i expect them to get a draw or win too.
england is going to this tournament hoping to play like chelsea
in the champions league. it will not work in the group stage as
it requires you to win 3 points, not play for a draw.

coogar:

elmander nko? seb larsson nko?
england have never beaten sweden before even
when they had a decent squad. sweden would mash
england or at worst get a draw.

Which Elmander? The one of the Bolton fame? Abeg that's the type of physical battles english center halves(JT most especially)thrive on. I'd be more concerned If JT was facing a short nippy striker.
Larsson would be aptly dealt with by the world's best left back.
Even if everything somehow contrives to go against England, they'll still come out with a creditable draw.

coogar:
ukraine are the hosts....i expect them to get a draw or win too.

We both know you did not type that statement with a straight face on
UKRAINE!!!....The same ukraine that is being led by a Liverpool flop come reject and by a dude whose last great season was when he dorned the Jersey of the Great Milan.
Or are we talking about a different Ukraine?

coogar:
england is going to this tournament hoping to play like chelsea
in the champions league. it will not work in the group stage as
it requires you to win 3 points, not play for a draw.

Ofcourse they are. Roy has not hidden that fact.
If it worked for an Inferior Greek team, then it surely can work for England

How come Italy is taking black players and no one is yelling yet when Germany took such players in 2010 everyone was shouting

chic2pimp:
Which Elmander? The one of the Bolton fame? Abeg that's the type of physical battles english center halves(JT most especially)thrive on. I'd be more concerned If JT was facing a short nippy striker.
Larsson would be aptly dealt with by the world's best left back.
Even if everything somehow contrives to go against England, they'll still come out with a creditable draw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKxNIlGQ7oE

We both know you did not type that statement with a straight face on
UKRAINE!!!....The same ukraine that is being led by a Liverpool flop come reject and by a dude whose last great season was when he dorned the Jersey of the Great Milan.Or are we talking about a different Ukraine?

they are better than the england squad hodgson is taking
to the tourney.

Ofcourse they are. Roy has not hidden that fact.
If it worked for an Inferior Greek team, then it surely can work for England

the inferior greek team could defend. england cannot!