Football Season 2020-21

[Julius]

Italy were imperious today, they've been the best team in the tournament from the first day until now -- if they carry on like this, I seriously doubt that anyone can get between them and the trophy. 

It's a rare thing to see an international team so energetic and forward-thinking, yet so disciplined in their defending. I said it during the group stage and I'll say it again, because I think it was made all the more clear after tonight's match: their game management has been superb so far.

They're a resolute unit, they get behind the ball, the flow of their play is great through the middle, they're lethal on the wings with Chiesa and the overlapping Spinazzola (who they will sorely miss in the next game if that is his tournament over, he's been perhaps their standout player in the tournament so far), they have players like Insigne who can shine with a moment of pure magic (though hilariously he's tried that a few times every match he's played at this tournament so far!), players like Chiesa and Barella who are just as competent and adventurous going forwards as they are willing to defend...and they have insane depth all over the pitch just to top it all off. Donnarumma has been fantastic (he's my age for goodness' sake and he's playing like a prime Buffon), so it's a bit of a shame he and his Raiola have been a thorn in Milan's side and have been making outrageous demands, otherwise he could've become one of the best players in Italian football on both the domestic and international stages. 

Genuinely think if Mancini wins this he deserves to be awarded as Manager of the Year, he's done a phenomenal job so far. I think Italy are the only team where I've proactively chosen to watch all of their games (watching England is an obligation, and a dull one at that), they're genuinely that exciting to watch. 

Roll on tomorrow, then. I fully agree with @Fierce_LiNk -- I get wanting to support your home nation, but I find it almost disrespectful to Ukraine, Sweden and Denmark to just brush them off. Is it a favourable draw? Compared to being on the other side where we'd have been up against some of the best teams in the world right now, so sure. But we can't take it for granted, the teams on our side of the tournament tree right now wear their hearts on their sleeves and are courageous in their forward-minded play, two things this England team have been sorely lacking to this point. 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Julius

[darksnowman]

For a nation that didn't qualify for the last World Cup, Italy are looking very good indeed. Dare we say champions elect or would that be tempting fate? They are so fast at turning it on, getting into the attacking third and going for goal instead of faffing around.

Enrique will be out for revenge after suffering a broken nose to Italy as a player. Let's see how that goes for him.  

So what is it with these golden generations? Belgium have looked great on paper for a few tournaments now and what do they have to show for it?  There isn't a lot more players like De Bruyne could be asked to do (and Doku leaves it all out on the pitch), so what do they need to get them over the line?

[Hero-of-Time]

26 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

For a nation that didn't qualify for the last World Cup, Italy are looking very good indeed. Dare we say champions elect or would that be tempting fate? They are so fast at turning it on, getting into the attacking third and going for goal instead of faffing around.

Enrique will be out for revenge after suffering a broken nose to Italy as a player. Let's see how that goes for him.  

So what is it with these golden generations? Belgium have looked great on paper for a few tournaments now and what do they have to show for it?  There isn't a lot more players like De Bruyne could be asked to do (and Doku leaves it all out on the pitch), so what do they need to get them over the line?

Score goals.  

Italy do look very good and I had either them or France to win the tournament. Saying that, I don’t think they are unbeatable. As I said last night, Belgium had a few opportunities to level the game and even go ahead but they squandered them. Had they been more clinical then Italy would have had to step it up a notch.

[LazyBoy]

10 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said:

I'm seeing a lot of posts online about people assuming England will just somehow breeze into the final to play against Italy. This is the same England that were underwhelming against Scotland. I don't think anything should get taken for granted. Focus on the next game first. 

Totally, all set for an upset against Ukraine.

[Julius]

54 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

For a nation that didn't qualify for the last World Cup, Italy are looking very good indeed. Dare we say champions elect or would that be tempting fate? They are so fast at turning it on, getting into the attacking third and going for goal instead of faffing around.

It would be tempting fate; it is a cup competition after all, and just because Italy have been the best team in the tournament until now, it doesn't mean they're above bottling it. 

I agree with @Hero-of-Time that they have their own set of weaknesses. After the first match, because of how Spinazzola roams forwards and their RB tucks in to form a back three, I said that they'd be susceptible to some fast-paced wingers if they came across any later on in the tournament, and surely enough Doku pretty much was that last night. Unfortunately for Belgium they just couldn't make better use of him, but at least he managed to win them the penalty. 

I do think Spinazzola's injury - out for months with a broken Achilles - will have a big impact on how the rest of Italy's tournament plays out, though, because he's been one of their standout players. It's not just that he's looking to go forwards and overlap, it's the fact that he's also a right-footed left back, which makes him difficult to predict and defend against. Him being right-footed also plays a big part in why his linkup play with Insigne is so natural despite only playing together for the national team, as neither of them have to accommodate for the fact that the other player is left-footed. I think the game slowed down for a number of reasons after his injury when Emerson came on - defending the lead, the initial shock of a big injury, and Emerson sitting deeper and staying back - and while Emerson is adventurous moving forwards, he simply isn't Spinazzola, and Mancini might need to adapt. 

Speaking of fast wingers, though, there aren't many left in the tournament. Against Spain you've got fast players like Ferran Torres and Oyarzabal who could cause problems, but because of how Spain play - slowing the tempo and passing it around to spot a gap, which they do most of the time centrally - they won't get to make any long sprints against Italy unless they adapt. Sure, they could pass it around the middle before launching someone down the wings, but assuming Mancini adapts and keeps Emerson in position, while it's still their weak spot, I think they could handle it. 

They also have an advantage where Spain have faced two rounds of extra time in a row, being pegged back late on in normal time in one and facing a penalty shootout in the other, so that'll be another thing going their way. But football is football, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. 

1 hour ago, darksnowman said:

So what is it with these golden generations? Belgium have looked great on paper for a few tournaments now and what do they have to show for it?  There isn't a lot more players like De Bruyne could be asked to do (and Doku leaves it all out on the pitch), so what do they need to get them over the line?

Belgium has been the #1 ranked team in the world for long stretches over the last 5-10 years, but it's a tournament, and I think it's as simple as that: winning the Euro's is making the best out of seven matches (once you've qualified). There's also the fact that Belgium haven't had many wingers or centre backs come through that Martinez has deemed worthy of a call up, so they've been getting by with an aging squad -- they're still using Chadli and Vermaelen for crying out loud. International football is so different to club football in that way, because these managers are basically left waiting for a new crop of promising players to come through, so it's making the most of what you have now. 

Anyone can be beat, even on a good day, and that's just football. The "Golden Generation" thing is something that needs to be dropped because I think it does more harm than good, there's already more than enough pressure on these players to perform, but to be fair, at least Belgium made more use of their modern Golden Generation than we did.

They'll have one more chance at the World Cup next year to go all the way with this team, and the quality is undoubtedly there, but I think the issue now is more the mental side of things. Let's also not forget that Hazard is in the worse shape of his football career and couldn't even play last night after struggling to even make it to the tournament, so if this team is to go further I think he needs to find some drive and get in tip-top shape over the next year and a half. 

[darksnowman]

Of course they aren't above anything--they missed out on the last World Cup.  

Austria pushed them (and Austria looked questionable in the previous matches) and there's nothing to say Spain won't pass circles around them and score a bunch of tap-ins. 

It should be an interesting semi as it is by no means a shoo-in who England will get in the final.  

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Denmark playing some beautiful football in this game. They’ve looked dangerous since their second game and seem to be going from strength to strength. 

[Hero-of-Time]

I still think Kane is rubbish.  

[killthenet]

Kind of worried about over confidence creeping in now, the way the commentators and pundits are talking it's as if they think England are already through. Ukraine caused them all sorts of problems after that substitution, they could well get back into it early in the second half - then things would get nervy 

[Julius]

Maguire not accepting that hand up was embarrassing. He was looking for that foul and he got it, I can't blame Yarlomenko for pushing Yaremchuk. Commentators are blind -- it was clear to me that they weren't giving Maguire an earful over winning the foul, it was over the lack of sportsmanship. 

Ukraine have maybe been too respectful so far, but they've had chances of their own, and have looked stronger since their change. We should be 2-0 up, so the fact that it's only 1-0 means we need to go out there and get that second goal, because they're going to keep coming at us; we've been slowing it down too much for large parts of that first half, so we need to kill it off. 

[nekunando]

 

[LazyBoy]

Need a second, but I’m confident. 

[killthenet]

Finally, a set piece goal! 

[Julius]

Yep, exactly what we needed after the break. 

Now control the game. We've been poor at managing games so far, let's see it now. 

[Hero-of-Time]

14 minutes ago, nekunando said:

 

This has aged like milk.  

[LazyBoy]

Oh piss off that third was fucking beautiful. Have you have seen it headed through the goalies legs before?

[Julius]

Nice to see us extend the lead, but Ukraine look knackered. Passing has been sloppy and they've look laboured since coming back out. 

It'll be a shame if this is how they go out. They might not be able to turn it around - I hope they don't - but I hope we still see some spirit from them in the remaining 40 minutes or so. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Soooooooo happy for Hendo. 

[nekunando]

21 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

This has aged like milk.  

Thank goodness!

I was getting sick of Shaw, Maguire, Stones and Walker passing it between themselves!

It was reminding me of that classic The Simpsons episode

[Happenstance]

Never matters how well we are doing, Pickford always leaves me worried.

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, nekunando said:

Thank goodness!

I was getting sick of Shaw, Maguire, Stones and Walker passing it between themselves!

It was reminding me of that classic The Simpsons episode

[nekunando]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

That's the one

I can't find a way to get pictures into my posts from my phone or I would have googled it myself!

[LazyBoy]

A good performance ruined by typical English arrogance.

[Julius]

Great result, goes without saying. Luke Shaw was fantastic, what a strange surprise that Sancho played great -- who would've thunk? (We did, literally everyone did, he better start against Denmark)

Flashes of complacency do have me a bit concerned going into the Denmark match. Some passes too short, or too long, or too sloppy, Pickford looks like he's always capable of making a mistake or overthinking things, and to be honest we were lifeless for long periods in that first half of the match. 

Not looking forward to the next few days where everyone says stupidly arrogant things about this England side. It's an enormous result, but there are still games to play against hard-working sides. I'm hopeful, I want us to do well, but I think there are objective weaknesses to this side on show for all to see, and that's why I won't be running away with it. The clean sheet run is the main source of my optimism. 

Oh, and one last thing: Rio not knowing the last time England scored more 4 in a knockout match is heresy. Seriously, when else other than the cup win we don't shut up about would we have scored 4? 

[killthenet]

I think the media might get over confident and carried away but I think within the squad and the coaching staff they will still be taking it one game at a time, Southgate only has to point to France losing to Switzerland to drill it in to the players that no opponent can be taken lightly. 

I expected England to win tonight but I thought Ukraine would put up more of a challenge, that the last 10 mins of the first half would be more of an indication for how the game would go, but apart from that little spell it was very comfortable for England. Denmark have been superb so far and with the drive and togetherness they have it wouldn't surprise me if they continue the fairytale on Wednesday night but I am optimistic that England will be able to beat them. 

Whether they can overcome Italy (or Spain)if they do reach the final is a whole other question though.