Really looking forward to this one , even though it may turn out to be a cagey affair.... I am going to pick France , i think they have the players to exploit Spain and to follow Blancs gameplan , also , i would like to see the Spanish eat a bit of humble pie... Pity its on ITV as they are proving the biggest ******s in commentary history , apart from that idiot Jonathan Pearce on BBC 2-1 France
I'm sure it won't be a boring game unless the French betray their attacking principles and do what they have constantly slagged off other teams for doing and park the bus. It would be very, very funny if they did though. Before the tournament I said that I thought Spain would go out in the quarter finals and I have a feeling that they will tonight even though the French aren't very good.
Looking forward to this one as well. I don't know why but I get the feeling this game would be worse in a World Cup. If the French put decent pressure on the Spainsh defence then they could disrupt the tippy tappy crap. It'll be close Spainish win IMO.
I think that Spain will win, as they have the better team. I hope that France win though, as they are definitely more beatable IMO than Spain and will give us a better chance if we manage to progress. Should be a cracker, so it probably won't be.
Agreed. Going against all logic I think the french will scrape through. Germany will win the competition.
Spain are mind numbingly boring the majority of the time. Looks like it'll be the same again tonight.
I was just about to say I was thinking exactly that. They have a decent striker in Llorente on the bench, just give him a game for pete's sake! For all their possession, they seem to go absolutely no where as there is such little impact up front..... and then they bloody score with a defensive midfielder pushing forward, crap!
Like I said - Spain and games featuring Spain are boring as f**k. France just looked like they couldn't give a crap.
Only one team has turned up in the 3 1/4 finals so far...Spain didn't have to do much at all to win this.
Not really, I agree.. I think that the better spanish weapon is the fear of our rivals. France have good forwards and Blanc didn't use them today...
I really really hope Spain don't win this playing with 6 midfielders. Boring bull**** football. I used to like watching their football but now they've evolved into a boring side that just passes all game. Much better to watch when Villa or even Torres is playing [yt]QkrFqgzbVow[/yt]
Del Bosque is a bad coach, thats what 75% of spanish people think, and think that he was the coach when we won the World Cup. With del Bosque, players go to the national team just by being in a big team, even if they don't deserve (Arbeloa made a bad season, Albiol and Torres were just a substitute player... And players as Adrian or Soldado are in Spain right now). With Del Bosque we pass with no risk, why? He plays with Alonso and Busquets, two players that do THE SAME so they hinder each other. That makes Xavi plays forward, not as a mid player, iniesta needs to play on wing, we don't know why but he hates Silva (he always substitute him) or Llorente (best spanish forward this season, 0 minutes) or Mata (one of best Chelseas player, 0 minutes, meanwhile Torres...). Del Bosque makes Spain plays by boring the rival.
Wow , that was excruciatinly bad , arrogant spain reinveting the football wheel with no striker on the pitch , and allowed to get away with it by a mind numbingly dreadful French team what a waste of a saturday night that was
Well with attitudes like these English football is not going to improve. Hardly surprising Rodgers got abuse from our neanderthals in the terraces. Get it into the mixer etc etc. I'd rather watch this scientific chesslike football than taking aimless potshots from distance , overhit crosses and running at top speed into blind alleys which seems to excite much of the footballing public here. Spain did not even have to get out of third gear for this game against a team some rank as the third best in Europe. Yes it is not exciting in one sense but I enjoy the technical aspects greatly of manouevering the opposition around. del Bosque is a cautious coach. I don't know if he feels Pique is vulnerable after a poorish season and wants two defensive midfielders. Unlike say Parker they can pass and shoot and are comfortable on the ball. What is disappointing is a lack of a recognized striker. Odd that he brings on Navas at times and takes Torres off for instance. I don't know if del Bosque as a Madridista has something against the Bilbao players. Martinez has had one subsititute appearance, Llorente is he carrying an injury from the end of last season and Munian was not even picked from the preliminary selection. Silva is undeserving of his place. Still looks off the pace. France were cowardly and I'm glad to see the back of Malouda and Nasri whose ego's along with several others need to be downsized. The way to get at Spain is to be bold and not be passive. Portugual and Argentina with 4-0/4-1 victories albeit in friendlies attacked the entire game but then again particularly the latter had the players with the skills and technical abilities to do so. Personally I prefer Argentina's tiki taka from 2000-2002 and 2005-7 which was more exciting as seen in the Cambiasso goal against Serbia and Spain from 2008. I think Spain after the Euro's could do with a coaching shake up to bring new ideas in as del Bosque becomes increasingly conservative.
Smudger , you accuse people of poor attitudes at the start of your post , then more or less concur with everything everyone says in the rest of it ?
There is football in between those two styles you know. Football is supposed to be entertaining and unless you're a tactics bore that was mind numbingly shyte last night.
Really Layton ? I thoroughly enjoyed Spain's performance in third gear as well I might add. Argentina in their pomp under Bielsa 2000-2 and Pekerman between 2005-6 and Chile under Bielsa 2008-10 played very attractive pass and move football that you might call more entertaining being more direct to attack the box and with faster transitions back to front. I never unlike you said Spain were boring. I just said I think Argentina show more flair but I enjoy watching both teams greatly although for footballing reasons an attack does need a focal point and I would like del Bosque to have a nine upfront. Nonetheless Spain have had the most shots on target in this tournament strangely enough and they do not pass the ball backwards more than any other team either. It's just that the sheer amount of posession they do have adds to that illusion. If you want entertainment go to the cinema. This is sport. You may find watching England exciting. Lumping the ball into the box to the big man, playing back to front with great rapidity, lots of huff and puff, getting stuck in, aimless crosses and long shots one of which might fly in once in a blue moon. I find it awful and most unentertaining. Besides it takes two to tango. If France had not been cowards and decided to play as they tried to for a brief spell in the second half it might have been more of a contest. Italy hd the guts to do so under Prandelli who is an attacking coach as seen with Fiorentina. Blanc decided to hope for a lucky break a bit like Hodgson against France.
That was more my point rather than Spain were boring...France hardly made Spain work. Most teams would have just spent time passing the ball around against a side that hardly put a tackle in. They didn't need to go all out and were probably saving themselves for the semi and potential final. Neturals paying for that match would have been disappointed in terms of the lack of excitiement but that wasn't Spain's fault at all.
You are so up yourself it is untrue Smudger. Anyone saying that they enjoyed that game is a liar trying to sound like some sort of footballing intellectual.
