Euro 2016 Group A, France v Albania, 8PM TV3 & ITV

paulie21

R00ster wrote:

Yeah, they would have to win by at least 3 to have a chance. The games have been very close so far, no drubbings yet.

No team has scored 3 goals yet and no game has been goalless. Goes to show the closeness in the games

Paully D

vicwatson wrote: »

Why?

Have you read the co-owner David Sullivan's comments of late?

"“It’s as simple as this – we are not selling him – not at any price. “West Ham United is building a team around Dimi Payet – he will not be moving anywhere and that is that.”"

I've heard that sort of talk from owners and managers so many times at this stage that it goes in one ear and out the other.

If a bigger club comes in for Payet and he wants to go, he'll be going.

jamesbere

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Thats kind of what you'd expect him to say regardless though. Keeps fans onside, and only serves to drive up the price.

But at the end of the day, he's 29...if the right offer comes in he'll go, and West Ham will do verrrrry well out of it.

How much did they pay for him

Ludo

jamesbere wrote: »

How much did they pay for him

10.75M I believe.

vicwatson

Correct 10.75m, and I think DSDG aren't stupid enough to be seen to be a selling club in a year that we move to a 60,000 seater stadium, it might happen but not in 2016, there would be uproar in E20 (!)

~Rebel~

vicwatson wrote: »

Correct 10.75m, and I think DSDG aren't stupid enough to be seen to be a selling club in a year that we move to a 60,000 seater stadium, it might happen but not in 2016, there would be uproar in E20 (!)

It's always expected that there'll be uproar when these things happen, but it never stops them happening.

It'll take a big bid, but if someone offers 40 to 50m, he'll be gone, and the story will all be towards giving it to Bilic to reinvest to push forward. And to be honest, I think that would be the right move for the club. His value will never be higher than it is right now, and given his age, this makes sense as the time to cash in.

Next year will be bright for WH regardless I think.

jamesbere

~Rebel~ wrote: »

It's always expected that there'll be uproar when these things happen, but it never stops them happening.

It'll take a big bid, but if someone offers 50m, he'll be gone, and the story will all be towards giving it to Bilic to reinvest to push forward. And to be honest, I think that would be the right move for the club. His value will never be higher than it is right now, and given his age, this makes sense as the time to cash in.

Next year will be bright for WH regardless I think.

Bilic seems to be a good man to spot talent, if payet is sold I'd say he'll find someone to replace him

Mec27

Kante and Matuidi tells you everything you need to know about modern football, no guile or craft, just work horses, Pogba is talented but he doesn't have the panache of midfielders of yesteryear. We need a rant about Dunphy about this when Slovakia or something knock out France in the semis. Remember his rant at the 2006 world cup about needing dictatorships and poverty to create world class players.

Andre 3000

It wouldn't surprise me if City made a move for him. A team he'd slot into no problem, a team that would use him very effectively and theres been rumours with months about a move. Going to the likes of Barca and Madrid is all well and good but with MSN and BRB you've two irreplaceable front threes, with world class players like Isco, Rodriguez and Turan struggling to make an impact. The lure of lining out for one of those is unbelievable though and at his age and seemingly at the peak of his prime why not cash out. Bayern or Juventus is another option and is probably more realistic in terms of having a team that'll use you well but City would make most sense.

iroced

SlickRic wrote: »

Hilarious.

Giroud is in for his height and heading ability, misses a thousand headers, then tiny Griezmann scores with a header.

No. Giroud is there because he integrates well with the team (he combines well with Griezman/Coman), offers presence upfront, and has a good mentality (he never made a mess 'cause he was benched, e.g. WC 2014). Then Gignac is there thanks to his amazing season in Mexico. Benzema's out because of the sextape affair. Lacazette is not there because he's only proven in Ligue 1 (pretty low standard), for instance he was catastrophic in Champions League this year. Gameiro's absence is more unfair but he doesn't fit Deschamps playing style.

Giroud is actually not that great for scoring headers, he's good (with his head) in a "pivot" role and is important for defensive duties. He's more interesting in the collective play of the team as I said above.

Rayne Wooney wrote: »

It's amazing with so many stars on the pitch and their main form of attack has been crossing/long passes to Gigroud

Mec27 wrote: »

Don't they play like that intentionablly? They have no creativity at all. Pogba is good but he's not exactly Pirlo.

Wel. Who are our stars? Griezmann who became Atlético star player. Pogba who's a pivotal player to Juve. And that's it. Martial & Coman are developing. And Payet is emerging when we had lost the faith on him (again thank you Bielsa!). Finally Kanté is coming from nowhere and looks like he's there for ages.

Now, Pogba's problem is he can't find his role/position with les Bleus. I think Deschamps should change his 4-3-3 from

....................... Giroud
.........Payet .......... Griezmann
.........................................................
.....Matuidi ............... Pogba
................. Kanté

to

....................... Giroud
.................................. Griezmann
....................... Payet
....... Pogba
.........................................................
.. Matuidi ................... Kanté

Such that Pogba is in the left wing advanced position he shines in at Juve. Matuidi stays on the left as a good cover for Evra and is given more defensive duties allowing Pogba to bomb forward. Payet takes all the space from Pogba to the right wing and is given the freedom he enjoyed at WH. And Kanté is also given more freedom to play his box to box role like he did for Leicester since Matuidi can cover him when he goes forward.
This formation also has the advantage to give us a stronger and better balanced defensive formation when we'll hopefully meet strong squads like the hoped and expected Germany in semi-final. Their attacking quartet (Draxler, Muller, Gotze, Ozil) where all 4 players are very mobile will give a very hard time to Kanté in our current formation where Pogba and Matuidi are higher up the field.

~Rebel~ wrote: »

Why have they not brought Lacazette by the way? Seems he'd provide a different option to Gignac and Giroud.

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Coman-Griezmann-Payet has to be the front three the next day. It's a shame Ben Arfa wasn't brought. He could definitely do a job.

As I said above, don't forget Lacazette & Ben Arfa are only proven in Ligue 1. Now, put PSG aside and look at the French clubs results in Europe for the last 10 years. We now lose to Cyprus, Ukraine, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary etc... So, despite their great season(s) in France, their level for international football is unknown. It was unfortunately a bit too late for them for Deschamps to give them enough game time to really consider them. For example, Ramy was brought back in because Deschamps considers that the regular defender of Sevilla FC who won Europa League offers better guarantees at top level than a good defender in French league (Umtiti). Though, in the end, the latter is also whithin our 23.

---

Now to come back to our game, what's worrying is our first half. It's always hard to score against a team who parks the double-decker bus. But unlike Spain we did not create enough, particularly in the first half to force Albania to crack. Deschamps 4-2-3-1 (not really a 4-2-3-1 by the way, more a 4-3-3 with Payet at the top of the "middle triangle") did not work well. Though it was almost never tested. Deschamps was tempted to use it because we finished like this against Romania but hard to say if it really worked since we won thanks to a wondergoal from Payet. Also, I think our best 4-2-3-1 is with Pogba in place of Matuidi, I mean if we play against a very defensive team, Kanté alone in front of our centre backs should be enough since we should have the control of the ball for the vast majority of the game.

Anyway, we struggled but we showed character again. It's great for Griezmann too. If we wanna go far we'll need a super Griezmann.

mansize

jacool wrote: »

Watch Germany tomorrow night. Might change your mind.

No.