UEFA Euro 2024: Mod Note Added 2/7/24

Xander10

Useless Costa couldn't save a penalty 🥴

sligeach

Tough on Joao Felix.

yerwanthere123

Glad France won that, think it'll make for a better semi final. If Portugal can't score a goal for three consecutive games then they don't deserve to be there.

Ferris_Bueller

What an absolutely miserable game. Probably the worst quarter final I can recall at an international tournament. I hope Spain stuff France in the semis.

eagle eye

I think France win it. Defense is crucial in semi-finals and finals and they've got the players up front who you'd expect will get goals, it's hard to believe they'll be that bad in every game.

McDermotX

Pepe cryin'

I'll take it 🤣

castletownman

Poor Pepe 😪

robwen

Hopefully not an England France final that would be some borefest

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345401#Comment_122345401

It's just hubris at this stage with Ronaldo.

Wouldn't surprise me to see him strolling out for Portugal at the next World Cup.

Weepsie

Martinez not removing ronaldo for Ramos or anyone who would make themselves a nuisance after 60-70 mins is a shocker.

He;s a manager who has failed upwards and turned some of the most talented squads into mediocre underachievers

Garzorico

Lovely to see Pepe and Ronaldo consoling each others egos there. No chance there weren’t a better Portuguese defender and striker available to Martinez for the Euros. You’d wonder what goes on behind the scenes in these competitions.

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345447#Comment_122345447

France have not scored a goal from open play in the entire tournament. 2 ogs and a penalty. Their shooting has been as desperate as portugals

Headshot

Martínez really destroyed this Portugal team.

With the talent Portugal have should be playing so much better and really should be in the semi's.

Portugal played throughout this competition without a striker, they were essentially down to 10 men in every game.

Augme

No idea how anyone can say Ronaldo would start ahead of Morata. Stephen Kelly delivering some quality gold here.

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345473#Comment_122345473

Pepe was excellent. Ronaldo should have either be on the bench to come on against a tiring defence or have 60 mins to bust a gut and then bring on Ramos.

Royale with Cheese

Into the semi finals having scored a penalty and two own goals for the entire tournament. The only way France are winning this is another couple of 0-0 shootouts.

This tournament has been largely dogshít.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345485#Comment_122345485

And ahead of Havertz. Laughable stuff.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345482#Comment_122345482

Belgium had a golden generation he pissed away. Awful manager

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345368#Comment_122345368

He played on the left and right at the start of his career, and until his second last season at United, was seen as a one trick pony. Step overs and an inability to beat his man one on one, he'd take it to the corner and usually give a poor delivery. He had that season at United then, which was brilliant, and the following year he was being deployed as an out and out striker. Him being this great midfielder, is rubbish.

For all his time at Madrid, he played as an out and out striker. Just because you played in a different position poorly for several years, albeit having that one good goal scoring season, doesn't mean you should automatically be considered one of the two best ever. He's a poacher like Haaland, but we put him on a different pedestal because he once played at right mid.

He's actually been continually shown to contribute less than the likes of Suarez, Lewandowski, Griezmann etc in general play, despite him supposedly being this great midfielder at one stage. He doesn't link up play, or contribute anything infact, unless he's set up for his stat counting.

He isn't in the same sphere as Cruyff and Maradona, and it's a huge insult to their legacy and brilliance, that he's ever talked about in the same conversation. These guys pulled the strings and controlled games, week in, week out, doing everything every game. And a man who's spent most of his career standing around in a box is seen as anywhere close to them, is such a huge disservice to their brilliance.

He's on a pedastal alongside the likes of Gerd Muller and the great goalscorers, which is no insult. But lets not pretend he was something that he's wasn't!

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345525#Comment_122345525

Everyone gets it, you don't rate Ronaldo. Everyone else does. No point clogging up the thread with an utterly pointless argument. There's no objective data to prove greatness. You're not gonna change your mind and your not presenting any information to change anyone else's.

Fitz*

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345468#Comment_122345468

And you know what, I hope he does.

But for Portugal's sake, and his own, let it be a super sub role. He'll excel at it, and will further accentuate his overall legacy imo. Him scoring 2 goals as a sub in 50 mins overall over 5 games is better than 0 in ~500 like this tournament. Doesn't matter if they are tap ins at the end of the group stages or whenever, he'll have done it! A knockout winner gets remembered forever.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345532#Comment_122345532

True, I guess people are starting to realise it for themselves

AdamD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345525#Comment_122345525

If he was Italian you'd be writing essays on why he's the greatest player that ever lived, you're actually full of it.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345408#Comment_122345408

you sure about that?

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345538#Comment_122345538

Nobody is realizing it. Nobody is judging Ronaldos legacy based on these performances, his career ended at the elite level a long while back. Nearly everyone thinks he's one of the greatest players of all time. You don't which is fair enough, you're entitled to your opinion as is everyone else.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345542#Comment_122345542

Was never a fan of Luca Toni for example, didn't contribute enough in open play!

Then again, if Ronaldo was Italian, he may have been a better ball player in general, which would actually help him in being considered one of the best ever

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345525#Comment_122345525

how has he won so many medals as the best or one of the best player if he’s a stats padding tap in merchant?

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345551#Comment_122345551

As I said, as out of shape and unfit as Cruyff would be at 38, I bet he could still string a pass together or play a through ball to actually contribute something, as poor as it may be. Ronaldo offers literally nothing. These performances of Ronaldo, actually show how limited he is in terms of vision and creativity, which don't go with age. And if he lacks that, he's no where close to the discussion of the greatest ever.

siblers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345473#Comment_122345473

Pepe is actually really good to be fair, what's happening with Ronaldo is a joke though, it's incredibly unfair on the rest of the team

glenjamin

Portugal where my pick to win the Euros. Immense squad with experience and youth. Blessed with such incredible attacking players, solid centre midfielders, strong centre backs, exciting full backs, and a top goalkeeper. Never took into consideration the Martinez factor. He has to be gone after the Euro's. Out of his depth managing two top international sides during their golden eras and failing with both.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345563#Comment_122345563

Thats your metric. It isn't everyone's.

No point derailing a thread for a pointless discussion.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345569#Comment_122345569

you never took into account that they had the same squad in the last World Cup and went out to Morocco without scoring. We’d seen it before and much the same thing happened

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345569#Comment_122345569

They actually have a good team and system, as we seen in 2016. But Ronaldo has done his best to hinder it for years. Fitting him in has become more important than the whole. They won Euro 2016 because he was off the field, and scapped through the rest in spite of him dragging them back!

Dick phelan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345581#Comment_122345581

Ah that's not really fair about 2016. He saved them from going out to Hungry in the group stage with 2 fine goals. Also scored a bullet of a header in the SF against Wales. No doubt though he's held them back the last two tournaments and his performances this year were just sad.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345594#Comment_122345594

He's there to score goals as a basic requirment. If he wasn't on the field, they would of probably been further ahead to begin with. We seen how much better in the final they were when he went off.

It's no secret the Juve players were sick of him. One of the best and most well drilled efficient teams put out of sync to accomodate him. Dybala really suffered playing out of position. But he scored 28 goals and got his "stats", that was more important than the team functioning as a whole.

But we like to rewrite history, and his fanboys equate Ronaldo in 16, to Maradona in 86. He carried Portugal apparently!

DM_7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345603#Comment_122345603

Mod: that is enough from you, in this thread, about Cristiano Ronaldo's standing in the game. This is a Euro 2024 thread. You can start a Cristiano Ronaldo thread if you want.

Osmosis Jones

24 minutes all tournament for Goncalo Ramos

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345525#Comment_122345525

You don't know what you are talking. He played on the left for nearly all his time at Madrid. Benzema was the centre forward.

DM_7

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345687#Comment_122345687

Mod: poster can't respond and was asked not to continue this topic, please return to Euro 2024 talk as per thread purpose.

Quazzie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345548#Comment_122345548

I'm sure that used to be the rule. Couldn't guarantee it still is.

Lad GAGA

Portugal and France one of the worst matches I've ever seen, especially given the quality of players on both sides. Martinez's decision to continue to play Ronaldo in matches was disgraceful and probably cost them progressing further, France were there for the taking. Hopefully Spain can put out a decent side on Tuesday to send them packing.

Mantis Toboggan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345976#Comment_122345976

I thought the game was decent, both teams had plenty of chances to get the winner. Some of the defending was fantastic and both goalies done well.

StringerBell

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345976#Comment_122345976

Bit simplistic to blame it on his decision to play Ronaldo.

Probably better to blame his general tactical approach being completely incompatible with the players at his disposal, and IF you're going to play Ronaldo for the full game all the time to again decide your tactical approach is going to be constant recycling of possession, slow resets to build attacks and refusal to put early deliveries into the box to make the most of his best attribute these days (being his movement in the box and heading ability) and completely ignore the constant darts in behind the defence in favour of yet another sideways or backwards pass.

Portugal's problems come from the touchline, not any particular player on the pitch. Martinez is turgid to watch in terms of play style, but **** me Deschamps has actually made France worse than England to watch. All that talent and the tactical approach from minute 1 is to just sit back and hope for the best.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346179#Comment_122346179

Re:defending....

Was listening to that clown Rio talk about all the great defending, and in particular his bigging up of EPL great Saliba.

Saliba is a fine player, and is playing well, but come on..... Rio himself or indeed myself could play CB in this France team. They are playing in a deep block, have Ngolo sweeping all over the field putting out fires. They haveonlt to defend small, tight spaces and they are always protected by having numbers around. He was praising Saliba for a 'great block' last night - Saliba fluffed a simple header straight to a Portugal player but because there were so many defenders about, the forward had no place else to kick it and Saliba blocked it! It wasn't great play, it was a bad error covered by Dechamps defensive system!

You'd think Franco Baresi had come back the way Rio was sh1teing on about him.

CalamariFritti

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345976#Comment_122345976

Wasnt Ronaldo.

Both teams (managers?) seemed completely risk adverse. As in keep the ball, take zero risk and hope your expected goal statistics based on your EA FIFA team strength coefficient will make it happen for you (somehow). Might as well simulate the game. Bit like England's approach.

At least we got to watch the total opposite earlier on the day. If I spent hundreds/thousands to watch France Portugal in the stadium I'd feel like I got scammed tbh.

Lad GAGA

I agree Ronaldo wasn't his only problem but a strong manager would not play him period. That guy Vitinha, what did he actually do in the match? I think playing Ronaldo at this point is like playing with 10 men. As for France they have been turgid all tournament, hopefully Spain will see them off.

bucketybuck

I'd say Ronaldo must have a sore arm this morning with the amount of times he raised it calling for a pass that never came.

He is clearly limited in what he can do now, so to play him every single minute but then also set the team up not to pass to him is just the strangest damn thing.

I don't think it would have mattered all that much had they swapped him out for a different striker to be honest. Didn't matter who was in the middle, the Portuguese players weren't ever looking up for any passes or crosses into the box. Jota for example would have given them an extra outlet and a bit more pressing, but the ball would still have ended up being passed around the middle third with very little penetration.

AdamD

It was a pretty cowardly game all round, nobody willing to make a forward run or play a pass through the lines.

Zeek12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122345489#Comment_122345489

The quality of the French spot kicks was superb. And their defence is so good, they concede so little. Probably Deschamps has recognised a couple more scoreless draws with penalties is France's best route to the trophy. Which won't be a great watch for most fans.

I really hope Spain win the Semi but have a feeling France will do them. All those suspensions will weaken the Spanish

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122346518#Comment_122346518

Spain have players coming in who a lot would argue should be starting.

If Nacho s injured then Dani Vivian should start alongside Laporte. That would mean current Athletic club players at GK and centre back and a former one as the other CB. I'd argue that Vivian should be ahead of Le Normand.

The weak spot is right back I think. It'll be Navas starting there. He's done okay since moving back to full back and he'll work well with Yamal but he has a big mistake in him.

Midfield should see Zubimendi, Merino and Olmo starting with it looking like all three starters are out.

Zubimendi is a quality defensive midfielder, Merino is a top notch box to box guy and you all seen what Olmo did when he came on the last day.

Up top will be the same starters and they are capable of opening any team up at any time.

The issue is a lot of these players are going to have to play the full 90.