Spain v France

Thanx 4 The Fish

Was great for Xabi to get that goal on his hundredth cap. As a liverpool fan he is the player that we have sold that I would have back any time in any capacity over any other player.

kitakyushu

Debuchy = Spains best defender.

Mr.Crinklewood

WTF?

That's like something I would do.

Jimmy Iovine

What the **** was Debouchy at there?

kitakyushu

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Was great for Xavi to get that goal on his hundredth cap. As a liverpool fan he is the player that we have sold that I would have back any time in any capacity over any other player.

:eek:

Mr.Crinklewood

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

Do you work in Ulsterbank?

No but Ray Houghton does

tayto lover

France need Nasri on as he can pick out a killer pass and also retain possession, something they are not doing now.

Stevecw

Good effort by Cabaye, finally something from France

keano_afc

Harsh yellow there, not really sure how Ramos can get out of the way.

Paully D

Is there much tension between the Spanish players that play for Madrid and Barcelona in the Spanish camp, given what we see between the two clubs when they play each other?

super_furry

Is Malouda actually on the pitch?

Hank Scorpio

Trust Malouda to mess that up :-)

Dempsey

Paully D wrote: »

Is there much tension between the Spanish players that play for Madrid and Barcelona in the Spanish camp, given what we see between the two clubs when they play each other?

Del Bosque has that well managed AFAIK, certainly nothing like it was before his reign.

coonecb1

Anyone else feel this is not really a great game? Just can't get into it for some reason

Mr.Crinklewood

I'm kinda bored.

kitakyushu

First broken biscuits impression for the night.

Stevecw

Paully D wrote: »

Is there much tension between the Spanish players that play for Madrid and Barcelona in the Spanish camp, given what we see between the two clubs when they play each other?

Well they have won Euro 2008, WC 2010 together so they must manage to get along pretty well when necessary.
Del Bosque has to take a lot of credit for that, has somehow got them all to unite when in Spanish shirt.

J. Marston

Can't he put the shirt on himself?

Paully D

coonecb1 wrote: »

Anyone else feel this is not really a great game? Just can't get into it for some reason

Yeah, I feel the same. To be honest Spain bore me at times. I know they play some lovely stuff etc but France are very poor and aren't putting up much of a defensive front which makes it worse.

The game has had such an inevitable feeling of Spain will win since the 1st minute.

mike65

The beautiful game?

This semi-abstract variation is most over rated! If it wasn't for the fact I saw the goal scored I wouldn't have believed it possible that a goal could have been scored in that half.

Jimmy Iovine

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

I'm kinda bored.

Spain are a boring enough team to watch. They are so patient that there is very rarely a counter-attack or something out of the ordinary to excite you. I think it's up to the other team to cause the excitement, as was seen in the Italy match.

Brain Stroking

Blanc seems to have picked his team very conservatively by funnelling back and letting the Spanish 6 play in front of them. The French team was also picked based on Torres possibly starting i'd imagine. Malouda would not be my choice but i can understand Blanc in that Malouda is experienced and is more suited the defensive demands that Spain inevitably pose rather than Ben Arfa, Menez etc.
Negative but he will need to change it now. And that plays into Spain's hands

kitakyushu

I don't find Spain boring at all. I'd be more bored by Malouda giving the ball away, Debuchy defending for Spain and Benzemas allergy to the paint around the penalty area.

kitakyushu

"Sprint baaccckkkkkkhhhhhh..."
- Carragher

(eh, can someone get me a towel?)

GavRedKing

Benzema has been a pain in this championship and hasnt carried his good Real madrid form into the Euros.

I have money on France from the putset of the Euros but it looks to be going down the swanny with Frances challenge.

MisterAnarchy

mike65 wrote: »

The beautiful game?

This semi-abstract variation is most over rated! If it wasn't for the fact I saw the goal scored I wouldn't have believed it possible that a goal could have been scored in that half.

Neither keeper had a save to make.

This Spain team are just content to keep passing the ball around to tire out the opposition and create a few good oportunites.
Its like a boxer jabbing for most of a fight then landing a big k.o.
Effective but boring.

Mr.Crinklewood

Wonder if Pat has got his wicked way with the girl in the three advert.

They have been out on dates the last four or five Saturdays, bound to have go some action by now.

darkman2

So, er, how many passes have Spain put together so far and is their world record v Ireland under threat?

mike65

Germany better win the Euros cos if Spain do playing like this it'll be very grim.

kitakyushu

darkman2 wrote: »

So, er, how many passes have Spain put together so far and is their world record v Ireland under threat?

I think they're on around 360 atm.

The Ireland one was 850-950 depending on where you read, so I think the record is safe.

machiavellianme

I think I hate tippy tappy football. Give me a hoofed long ball route 1 goal or a scrappy bounced off god knows who's backside effort any day. Who cares if it's 90% possession if they do nothing with it? Beginning to think I'd rather watch Stoke than Spainalona....

Dempsey

As a spectacle it is boring, not doubt. Largely because France cannot get near the ball and the result looks inevitable. But as a technical exercise, it is near flawless in the way Spain are able to breakdown teams by tiring teams to the point of them making mistakes.

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Neither keeper had a save to make.

Cabaye's FK was in the top corner only for Casillas reading it brilliantly and made tipping it over the bar look easy.

darkman2

mike65 wrote: »

Germany better win the Euros cos if Spain do playing like this it'll be very grim.

But don't you acknowledge the beautiful passing It is great to watch IMO.

Where To

gavredking wrote: »

Benzema has been a pain in this championship and hasnt carried his good Real madrid form into the Euros.

I have money on France from the putset of the Euros but it looks to be going down the swanny with Frances challenge.

If they put on Sir Francis Drake it still wouldn't do any f*****g good

Mr.Crinklewood

Fair play To George with the reference to Alan McDonald.

Paparazzo

Spain are boring to watch. In the world cup they won every knockout game 1-0, score and dont give the ball away. Effective, but boring to watch.
That's why I'm sick of the likes of Brady telling us that's the way football should be played and we're not football fans if we don't like it.

Brain Stroking

Dempsey wrote: »

As a spectacle it is boring, not doubt. Largely because France cannot get near the ball and the results looks inevitable. But as a technical exercise, it is near flawless in the way Spain are able to breakdown teams by tiring teams to the point of them making mistakes.



Cabaye's FK was in the top corner only for Casillas reading it brilliantly and made tipping it over the bar look easy.

Agreed. I think it is brilliant to watch but i look at the standard of football on show as opposed to incidents, chances, mistakes etc

Stevecw

It's up to France to make this interesting. Spain have done their bit, and will pass ball around for next 45 mins if they can. France need to up their game, need to get Nasri on fast.

Witcher

Alonso interrupted the pass around routine there and nobody had a clue what was going on:pac:

Bodhisopha

This Spanish side is a lot less exciting to watch without Messi.

Leiva

Spain look like they still have two gears in reserve.

darkman2

Is the way Spain play worse than the way England or Ireland for that matter are playing atm? i.e 10 men behind the ball and hoofing it up the pitch. Rather watch this Spanish side play silk passing than that tbh.

kitakyushu

To people using Spain/Barca interchangeably, despite how it might seem, there's only 5 Barca players in this 11 atm (and that drops to 4 when they go with the more "regular' Torres lineup).

Paparazzo

darkman2 wrote: »

Is the way Spain play worse than the way England or Ireland for that matter are playing atm? i.e 10 men behind the ball and hoofing it up the pitch. Rather watch this Spanish side play silk passing than that tbh.

Well, Italy are typically defensive, but I bet you €100 England Italy tomorrow will be more exciting to watch than this tripe.

ramos with another massive tackle

Dempsey

Blay wrote: »

Alonso interrupted the pass around routine there and nobody had a clue what was going on:pac:

Lucky not be subbed for that!

homer simpson

Bloody horrible game to watch thus far if ya ask me. Not a big fan of tappity tappity football personally, actually in short its a pretty poor tournament in general thus far.

Leiva

rarnes1 wrote: »

ramos with another massive tackle

One of the players of the tournament for me so far. He has been immense.

machiavellianme

kitakyushu wrote: »

To people using Spain/Barca interchangeably, despite how it might seem, there's only 5 Barca players in this 11 atm (and that drops to 4 when they go with the more "regular' Torres lineup).

It's not just the players. It's the dull tactics.

Dempsey

Paparazzo wrote: »

Well, Italy are typically defensive, but I bet you €100 England Italy tomorrow will be more exciting to watch than this tripe.

You could watch LOI matches that are more exciting tbh