Euro 2016 - Round of 16 - Hungary vs Belgium, 8 pm, TV3, BBC

Green Fella

RedemptionZ wrote: »

Belgium have only been tested once so far and came up short. Don't rate them too highly. Good against the minnows of the tournament.

Agree, I've been saying from the start that they will be exposed again by the good teams. Sadly it doesn't look like they will face any good teams again until the final....:rolleyes:

The draw is ridiculously lobsided

titan18

Unearthly wrote: »

Think Belgium will make the final. Easy opposition or not they are still looking more impressive than most teams this tournament. Also when Hazard and De Bruyne are on form they could beat anyone.

Should make the final based on who they've got to play to get there, but will get hammered by Germany, Spain or France imo.

Unearthly

titan18 wrote: »

Should make the final based on who they've got to play to get there, but will get hammered by Germany, Spain or France imo.

I think they'd beat France. They haven't played well once yet against 4 average teams.

Germany and Spain I'd agree would beat them

Trey13

Overall, a successful tournament. No shame in getting knocked out by the hosts France in the round of 16. It felt like we were a part of the tournament from the first game vs Sweden, unlike 2012 where we were out of place.

Going forward I think if Brady and Hendrick can get moves to a top league and play regularly we can build a team around them with the likes of Arter, Duffy, O Kane, Coleman, Randolph.

Long term I do worry about the state of the standard of football in the Airticity League and the National team itself. The football world is getting smaller and young Irish lads just arent breaking through in top clubs as much. A reason for this may simply be that they arent technically as good as European or South American players. Maybe an emphasis on more coaches doing courses and getting badges would help. Or even a school of excellence. Something to make players comfortable with the ball under pressure.

Mec27

I hear Packie Bonner implying scouts from all over Europe looking at Hendrick, hopefully they don't ask his club what he is like He probably just needs a movie, I really think he should try Bundesliga or Ligue 1. If nothing else it would be cool to see.

GavRedKing

I must say it was sporting of Belgium to start with 10 tonight, they could have done with a CF that could do any of the following anyway effectively : Hold up the ball, have a good first touch, pass the ball, if they had that they might have really turned Hungary over.

Lukake, like the WC 2 years, was terrible.

Irish_rat

Mec27 wrote: »

Wales are ****e, they should have been beaten by the North. Comprehensive 3-0 win for Hazard and co.

Na. It'll be the same game like in qualifying, Belgium having 70% of the ball but doing nothing with it. Itll be a low scoring affair.

Hungary had no midfield tonight.

d22ontour

Green Fella wrote: »

Agree, I've been saying from the start that they will be exposed again by the good teams. Sadly it doesn't look like they will face any good teams again until the final....:rolleyes:

The draw is ridiculously lobsided

Hardly their fault that England,Portugal and Spain all failed to win their groups leading to the draw we have now.

eagle eye

GavRedKing wrote: »

I must say it was sporting of Belgium to start with 10 tonight, they could have done with a CF that could do any of the following anyway effectively : Hold up the ball, have a good first touch, pass the ball, if they had that they might have really turned Hungary over.

Lukake, like the WC 2 years, was terrible.

Completely disagree with that. I thought he played ok, he did pass the ball well quite a bit too. He held it up a couple of times and set up De Bruyne at least twice but he couldn't finish. He didn't get many chances himself either despite making good runs.

I think Belgium have a great chance to win the tournament. They should take care of Wales and will then face the winner of a tough Poland/Portugal game. Both those teams have already had an extra-time game and you'd expect a tough game the next night too so Belgium should be a lot fresher come the semi-final if they make it.

What I see in that team is the two deep lying midfielders are key because they have a nice selection of players for those positions. Nainggolan and Witsel are a very good combination and Dembele should be fit for the quarter final. With the attacking talent they have and those players setting them off it's going to be very hard to stop them. They are decent enough at the back too and they have a really good goalkeeper. I think they are improving by the game in this tournament as they get more comfortable playing together.

NIMAN

Belgium looked decent last night but I wouldn't get carried away about them the way the BBC did. Hungary played very open (fair play to them for doing that and having a go, it made for a good spectacle) and it left a lot of room for the good Belgian players.

I agree with the Lukaku haters. For a guy being mentioned in the £30 - £40m bracket, he has an awful touch and little ability. If a big strong lump is worth £40m, it kind of sums up how low football has gone.