All things Football (soccer) related

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turkey play very much like Spurs:

- The goalkeeper's distribution is rubbish
- They play too many backwards and sidewards as their first thought
- When they do play it forward its rushed and decision making is poor
- And then there was the free kick on the stroke of half time.... good...grief...[8|]

Agreed.

Italy's high press is possibly counter-productive. When you have a team that appeals for a penalty every time a Turkish player touches the ball in the penalty area then you have team that has no confidence in their ability to score goals from open play. Ease off the press, draw the Turks out and get more room for you own forwards.

Best wishes,
Steve

[gamer78]

I'm not surprised. Burak(striker) in his younger days known for looking for a penalty, always. He was also known to be in offside all the time, first half he didn't do anything to keep the ball. How he has scored 16 goals and 5 assist mystery to me in French league, Lille as champion. Anyway I've stopped watching after second goal. Italy is very solid team possibly at least they'll play quarter final maybe more.

[warspite1]

....and the second half was even worse. That was truly like watching Spurs play - soooo bad. They weren't a team, had no midfield and were really poor.

In fairness to Italy, they had the right attitude from minute 1. They played like a team, attacked and defended as units.

For an opening game that was very enjoyable - often dull affairs, this was very good.

On to Wales vs Switzerland and the all Scandi affair - Denmark vs Finland later.

C'mon Wales!!

[shunwick]

Italy 3 Turkey 0

Disappointed with the Turks. Not hugely impressed with the Italians. They did what they had to do against a mediocre side. They certainly worked hard. First goal was an own goal. Last goal was Turkey self-destructing curtesy of a goalkeeper whose distribution throughout the game was poor. I need to see more from the Italians to make any kind of reasonable assessment. My thinking so far is that Italy should not have any particular problem qualifying from the group. Not sure I see them as semi-finalists but the jury is still out on that one.

Best wishes,
Steve

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

For an opening game that was very enjoyable - often dull affairs, this was very good.

On to Wales vs Switzerland and the all Scandi affair - Denmark vs Finland later.

C'mon Wales!!

Nice to see an Italian team with a positive mentality from the kick off.

And yes indeed... cheering on Wales tomorrow.

Best wishes,
Steve

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: shunwick

Italy 3 Turkey 0

Disappointed with the Turks. Not hugely impressed with the Italians. They did what they had to do against a mediocre side. They certainly worked hard. First goal was an own goal. Last goal was Turkey self-destructing curtesy of a goalkeeper whose distribution throughout the game was poor. I need to see more from the Italians to make any kind of reasonable assessment. My thinking so far is that Italy should not have any particular problem qualifying from the group. Not sure I see them as semi-finalists but the jury is still out on that one.

Best wishes,
Steve

warspite1

Yes, football can be difficult to gauge as a team having a stinker can make another look like world beaters.

My assessment of Italy was perhaps a little more positive than yours. But I don't buy into the Jermaine Jenas guff that Turkey were 'tired'. That is pathetic. I think they expected a tight, typical first game, and decided to play not to lose. It was Italy that had other ideas and, imo, their attitude made Turkey look even worse than they otherwise would have been.

My poor view on England is that, tactically, we can rarely (and never when it matters) do what Italy did tonight and play with an attacking, fast paced game. Our game is more akin to Turkey, whereby passing backwards and sideways IS the end goal. I think we'll know more when we find out if Grealish and Foden start or not.

But I agree, its too early to make judgements of ultimate potential based off one match.

[shunwick]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: shunwick

Italy 3 Turkey 0

Disappointed with the Turks. Not hugely impressed with the Italians. They did what they had to do against a mediocre side. They certainly worked hard. First goal was an own goal. Last goal was Turkey self-destructing curtesy of a goalkeeper whose distribution throughout the game was poor. I need to see more from the Italians to make any kind of reasonable assessment. My thinking so far is that Italy should not have any particular problem qualifying from the group. Not sure I see them as semi-finalists but the jury is still out on that one.

Best wishes,
Steve

warspite1

Yes, football can be difficult to gauge as a team having a stinker can make another look like world beaters.

My assessment of Italy was perhaps a little more positive than yours. But I don't buy into the Jermaine Jenas guff that Turkey were 'tired'. That is pathetic. I think they expected a tight, typical first game, and decided to play not to lose. It was Italy that had other ideas and, imo, their attitude made Turkey look even worse than they otherwise would have been.

My poor view on England is that, tactically, we can rarely (and never when it matters) do what Italy did tonight and play with an attacking, fast paced game. Our game is more akin to Turkey, whereby passing backwards and sideways IS the end goal. I think we'll know more when we find out if Grealish and Foden start or not.

But I agree, its too early to make judgements of ultimate potential based off one match.

I would be happier with the Italians if they had created more chances for all their dominance. Not convinced they can score many goals from open play. You are probably right that the Turks planned for and expected a tighter, dull affair in which they thought they could earn a draw. The Italians surprised them and they never really recovered.

England.... are traditional tournament bottlers. Southgate was a defender and it shows a bit in his tactics. I really hope they surprise me. Tournament games are to be won. You either say damn the consequences and go all out to win or you go "safety first" which is nothing or the sort and disappoint everyone.

Best wishes,
Steve

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

England actually have some really promising young players available for this tournament. Sadly, historically our tactics seem to be the same regardless of who is available or who is picked.

I have absolutely no doubt England will remain true to form and for this tournament I see one of two outcomes:

Scenario 1

We lose or draw to Croatia, then under pressure, we lose or draw against Scotland (we won't lose both) and then finish off with a scraped victory or draw against Czech. Maximum points = 4. Result: exit at group stage.

Scenario 2

We beat Croatia, fall over ourselves with ridiculously mis-placed optimism and draw or lose with Scotland. We manage to do enough against Czech to qualify. Result: we make it to last 16 but fail to top the group and so lose home advantage and tamely lose to Spain, Poland or Sweden in the round of the last 16.

Very unlikely to lose to Scotland. They are a very very poor team.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: wodin

ORIGINAL: warspite1

England actually have some really promising young players available for this tournament. Sadly, historically our tactics seem to be the same regardless of who is available or who is picked.

I have absolutely no doubt England will remain true to form and for this tournament I see one of two outcomes:

Scenario 1

We lose or draw to Croatia, then under pressure, we lose or draw against Scotland (we won't lose both) and then finish off with a scraped victory or draw against Czech. Maximum points = 4. Result: exit at group stage.

Scenario 2

We beat Croatia, fall over ourselves with ridiculously mis-placed optimism and draw or lose with Scotland. We manage to do enough against Czech to qualify. Result: we make it to last 16 but fail to top the group and so lose home advantage and tamely lose to Spain, Poland or Sweden in the round of the last 16.

Very unlikely to lose to Scotland. They are a very very poor team.

warspite1

Well lets hope you are right wodin but I think you are forgetting that this is a derby - and anything can happen in a derby, form goes out of the window.

Just three years ago we needed a bit of Harry Kane magic two and a half minutes into stoppage time to avoid defeat in a World Cup qualifier. The Scotland team that day was not as good as the current squad under Clarke (a good man and a good manager).

Who can forget the play offs for Euro 2000. We comfortably beat Scotland away 0-2, setting up a nice easy, comfortable second leg at Wembley.... what happened? Scotland were far the better side and it was only their perennial problem of lack of goals that saw them go out 1-2 on aggregate. Still beat us on the night though.

Yes we should beat Scotland based on individual player quality and experience - but as said, this is a derby and a game Scotland are always up for.

[warspite1]

The rumour is Sterling will start tomorrow....

Why do England do this? Sterling appears out of form and has lost his regular starting place for Man City. But despite that, we are potentially going to bench either Grealish or Foden so that he can start.

Let's hope the papers have this wrong.

[wodin]

Hate Sterling

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: wodin

Hate Sterling

yeah, I prefer the Euro myself

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: loki100

ORIGINAL: wodin

Hate Sterling

yeah, I prefer the Euro myself

I saw what you did here [:)]

I watched the match this morning, quick forwarding some parts because, of course, I couldn't avoid the "spoilers". I agree that one can't really tell how strong the Azzurri are after one match against an obviously out of shape opponent (Turkey had exactly one strong player, they right winger, who was regularly able to leave the defenders in the dust only to find himself alone with no one to pass to). Still, I liked the cohesiveness of the team and how everybody was "in the game".

What I didn't like was the number of times Italians just had to pass the the ball and shoot it in the net only to lose themselves in a byzantine web of passages in the finalising phase. I overheard the frustration of many customers, with a prescient one who said "The first time they will just pass and shoot we will score!" - which is what happened even during Turkey's own goal.

Ah, well, the most important thing is that winning was the cherry on the top. The best part was this sense of return to normalcy. True, both the match and our little corner of Italy still had to respect a lot of sanitary rules, because we are still not out of the woods (we were allowed to open at half-capacity, but we still do home-delivery and that side of the business went well on a big match evening). Yet, I really missed the evenings with the big screen and the running commentary by the customers.

I think (conspiracy theory alert) that the government looked at this match as the opportunity to do some hidden propaganda: to show that "it was hard but, slowly, we are making it; just a little more effort!" And what better event than a match of the National team? I wonder how people in other countries will feel.

[shunwick]

Media reaction to the Italian game is bordering on the insane. Apparently, the Italian performance was so good that all the other teams in the competition might just as well go home.

Games Today...

Group A

Wales v Switzerland at the Olympic Stadium, Azerbaijan.

Group B

Denmark v Finland at the Parken Stadium, Denmark
Belgium v Russia at the St Petersburg Stadium, Russia.

Obviously glorious wins for Wales and Finland.

Belgium v Russia is interesting. Belgium have promised so much over the past few tournaments. Is it time for Belgium to fulfil that promise? I am assuming the Russians fancy themselves in this group.

C'mon Waland or is that Finales? Will the Welsh wizards smash the Swiss rolls? Will the Danish pastries pale before the gods of Finlandia?

These questions and more will be answered today.

Good luck to all but particularly Wales and Finland.

Best wishes,
Steve

[warspite1]

C'mon Wales (I must admit I preferred the old, more classic, dragon to this simpler version)

[warspite1]

And good luck to Finland and Russia. Finland because they are the underdog and Russia because they are the underdog and there is something about the Belgian football team that I really don't take to. Maybe its because they have talented players (like us) but actually play decent football (unlike us)..... [:(]

[loki100]

ORIGINAL: wodin

ORIGINAL: warspite1

England actually have some really promising young players available for this tournament. Sadly, historically our tactics seem to be the same regardless of who is available or who is picked.

I have absolutely no doubt England will remain true to form and for this tournament I see one of two outcomes:

Scenario 1

We lose or draw to Croatia, then under pressure, we lose or draw against Scotland (we won't lose both) and then finish off with a scraped victory or draw against Czech. Maximum points = 4. Result: exit at group stage.

Scenario 2

We beat Croatia, fall over ourselves with ridiculously mis-placed optimism and draw or lose with Scotland. We manage to do enough against Czech to qualify. Result: we make it to last 16 but fail to top the group and so lose home advantage and tamely lose to Spain, Poland or Sweden in the round of the last 16.

Very unlikely to lose to Scotland. They are a very very poor team.

well that is a wee bit harsh. They are a limited team, but Clarke has a means of setting them up to get the best out of the players available. And plenty of not great, but well organised sides have done ok in the recent past (Iceland for one).

hard to say what a mostly empty Wembley will do, it might settle Scotland or it may well deprive them of the adrenalin from what has been rumoured to be an enthusiastic supporter base.

My personal view on Scotland is we lose the first two in a faintly frustrating manner and then, because it really doesn't matter, beat England on our way to yet another early exit from a major competition (but then I remain terminally scarred by Ally's Army and Argentina 78)

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: loki100

My personal view on Scotland is we lose the first two in a faintly frustrating manner and then, because it really doesn't matter, beat England on our way to yet another early exit from a major competition (but then I remain terminally scarred by Ally's Army and Argentina 78)

warspite1

England vs Scotland is your second match [;)]

[RFalvo69]

ORIGINAL: shunwick

Media reaction to the Italian game is bordering on the insane. Apparently, the Italian performance was so good that all the other teams in the competition might just as well go home.

That's normal [:D] If Italy wins everybody was expecting it, and is able to explain in painstakingly details all the qualities of the team he was aware of since last year.

If Italy loses the coach is crucified and everybody points out how it was just obvious to any two-bit soccer fan that the team was heading towards disaster - but no one listened to them.

Of course the match commentary itself was as dire as usual. They actually explained in detail that "Italy is not scoring. The problem is that Turkey is trying to avoid it" and that "The first half ended up goal less, but of course the first half is only half of the game."

Then there is what I call "the horror movie" moment. When Italy was winning 2-0 they started to say "Now Italy can control the game... After the second goal they are playing on the velvet..." Do you know that scene you see in every horror movie? "Now this house is free... Your kid is safe and he will be able to grow up normally..." and you just know that the really bad things are about to happen.

I saw part of the interviews to the coach, Mancini, with questions like "Are you happy with Italy's performance?" One day I'll become coach of the "Azzurri" only to be able to answer, live "No. I hoped to lose 2-0. To spruce things up for the next two matches, you know..."

[RangerJoe]

"How people started saying 'It ain't over till it's over'"

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34324865

Just remember that.

Also, be careful during that Swiss game because of the "Save the W(h)ales people!"