Hazard is on his way too. That's too much for any team if clicked.
Italy- Euro 2020 discussion
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I still think they are an outstanding team. Not a great performance tonight but credit Austria for playing well. I would have them favourites over Belgium.
Terrible shout, France are head and shoulders favourites over every other team. Italy are behind them, Belgium and even England IMHO.
Terrible post. I didn't even mention France in the post and you think it's a terrible shout because it differs from your own opinion. Terrible terrible stuff SalfordRed18.
Not their best performance, but one bad game means nothing especially against an opposition who had parked the bus. They'll have more chances (and will concede more as well) vs likes of Belgium and all and I think the issues around breaking down sides won't be that difficult
Austria didn't park the bus, they were the far better team in the 2nd half
They did in the 1st half. They grew into the game in the 2nd half and were a good match, don't think they were better. Italy had a few decent chances of their own in the 2nd half as well, which they should have dispatched + their attackers won't have this bad a day everytime
I think a lot of people who have jumped on the Italy bandwagon in the media don’t realize how inexperienced this team is.
For a lot of them that was their first knockout match in an international tournament. It’s crucial that they made it through that, after getting pushed and facing adversity for the first time.
This is not a tournament we were supposed to win coming into it, but we have as good a chance as anyone. Bring on Portugal or Belgium.
For a lot of them that was their first knockout match in an international tournament. It’s crucial that they made it through that, after getting pushed and facing adversity for the first time.
This is not a tournament we were supposed to win coming into it, but we have as good a chance as anyone. Bring on Portugal or Belgium.
That might be a good point if Austria could be accurately described as having "parked the bus". But I don't see how they can. You don't have 49% possession if you park the bus, and the Austrians attacked gamely and contested the whole pitch.
Think they will be out in the next round. They were not good in the second half. This game could be a blessing, their group was too easy and their games prior to the tournament as well.
They had more problems today than in the group games combined
They had more problems today than in the group games combined
Guess their piss poor group flattered them. Wales came second and was saw how they did today!
Very impressed with them in the group stage however I think of the traditional top teams in the tournament, Italy has one of the weaker sides on paper. I expected this to be reflected in the knockouts especially when they have to get through Belgium/Portugal and France. It really felt like they got away with one today, they could well have lost that in the 2nd half of normal time.
Just a reminder they struggled against Australia in wC 2006 and still ended up winning it.
Normally Italy are one of my favourite teams I hope go far, but I find myself not liking this team. Classic Italy was always that ladies man with gel in the hair who just happened to be a great player. There was a concomitant elegance to what he did. You could imagine after a game that a Nesta would go attend to his real job as a clothing designer or see Pippo Inzaghi waiting tables at the Osteria Francescana.
This team feels more like a bunch of hard men in an army cut battling it out with military precision. When they go home it's to the barracks to eat stew and have fist fights in the mud. Maybe Immobile goes to get his nails done but that's it. Mancini too was a guy if you didn't know who he was would think was a tennis coach with a taste for aged wine and young girls. Now he looks more like a man fearing imminent arrest.
I can only hope Ronaldo gets his hands on enough brylcreem to show them the error of their ways.
This team feels more like a bunch of hard men in an army cut battling it out with military precision. When they go home it's to the barracks to eat stew and have fist fights in the mud. Maybe Immobile goes to get his nails done but that's it. Mancini too was a guy if you didn't know who he was would think was a tennis coach with a taste for aged wine and young girls. Now he looks more like a man fearing imminent arrest.
I can only hope Ronaldo gets his hands on enough brylcreem to show them the error of their ways.
Might be a problem of too much nostalgia perhaps? They are just a bunch of professional players.
I think star power is lacking across the board. It's like these guys are cogs in the machine instead of unique personalities. It's not just Italy who has this problem.
As others have said, one bad game means nothing. Germany, France and Portugal struggled against Hungary. I hope this was a lesson.
Without wanting to disrupt the topic. You’re implying that today’s problem is we have a lack of star power regarding football? Where everything is overanalysed and with the advent of social media and all that?
I'm sure there are many factors at play. Speed and physique becoming dominant, limiting the body type you see in football. The biggest clubs don't even have a true first elven for the most part, preferring to rotate 18-20 first team players so it's even harder to stand out individually. Star players still exist but they are less frequent and often feel like watered down versions of past legends. A Pogba can do some Zidane esque moves but he's no Zidane. And Kane is no Batistuta or Patrick Kluivert either. Maybe he's another Peter Beardsley. It's more about the teams now, the tactics they play and managers they employ. You need good players but you don't need Ronaldinho. Even a Batistuta would probably be told to cease most of his long range shooting because it is not efficient enough.
Why Italy in particular has gone down the tubes so much is another matter. They've been knocked out at the group stage in two straight world cups and the last time they didn't even qualify for the tournament. This team might surprise everybody but I think it's too early to call it mission accomplished as of yet.
I'd say he's already better than Kluivert. Kluivert was a really poor finisher with a silky smooth first touch. As for the Italy thing i think they had some really bad luck with the lack of talent of players born between 1985-1995. Probably one of the worst generations in the last 40 years. Also really miss the era of the fantasistas. Where'd you'd know as soon as that player got the ball something special might happen
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I also had the feeling for quite some years now, that in todays football there are much less typical superstar players around than it used to be. Back then the top nationalteams were stacked with superstar players, every single one of them. Just compare the 2006 WC teams for example with todays teams. Now i look at teams like Spain, Netherlands, Italy, England and others and i struggle to find any true superstars (or just 1-2). Only France, and to some extend Belgium, seem to be stacked with stars. And even this France squad doesn't look as good as the 2006 one.
And this obviously also translates to club football.
Maybe the latter is related to the former.Maybe the problem is that at that time we still hadn't the chance to see every game from the top leagues week in week out, added with the globalization of Champions League Football.
Well there's a case to say in 2006 we already saw much more football from foreign leagues, but having grown up watching football Pre Bosman Rulling I have to say European Competitions were way more magic because you had the chance to see the best players from your country playing for your clubs.
Ok there is nostalgia on this. Then if we add the evolution of Football where everything is studied, padronized, more collective, less space for the individual, where the elimination of the number 10 is almost certain, or for some coaches they have to play on the wings, having 2 on your NT is a problem (hello Santos), where you are only allowed to make at least 2 touches, dribbling is show boating, reason why players like Neymar are hated, or Damsgaard look refreshing to watch, and now we want to turn the number 6 to more Kante likes, and the guys like Jorginho or Pirlos are labeled as passengers on your team and lack of pace, I don't know if the natural evolution of the game has been 100% perfect.
Far from being a reactionary, but football without individuals is turning into a monolithic scientific predictable stuff. If is that @Poltophagy is mentioning, maybe it really is different, but hey, there's always pricks like Ronaldo ready to light up the it's all about me, don't worry, he will put the cream for the chicks.
This is an amazing post
Couldn't put my finger on why I found myself not particularly liking Italy this time round and I think you've nailed it. Too rigid and machine like, not very many likeable players and a an unlikable coach.
I think there missing chiellini at the back. His leadership and dominance at set pieces is a massive miss. They have some decent midfielders in there who are chipping in with goals, locatelli, Pessina. They need immobile to up his game in the next round because he was awful last night.
Absolutely true
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The game played out like it was the semi-final, as opposed to a first-round knock-out game. You got two extra games under your belt, not as sharp as you were in the earlier rounds, playing in fits and starts and looking good in those moments but not able to maintain it. Being taken all the way and getting two quick goals to basically kill the game, but not looking totally convincing while doing it but who cares because you're now in the final.
After watching that I'm not sure if they're got enough in them to get that far, now. They weren't awful, and credit to Austria, but yeah - it didn't feel like a first-round knock-out game. Especially considering they arguably had the "easiest" draw out of the big team favorites.
After watching that I'm not sure if they're got enough in them to get that far, now. They weren't awful, and credit to Austria, but yeah - it didn't feel like a first-round knock-out game. Especially considering they arguably had the "easiest" draw out of the big team favorites.
That's because Austria actually started playing in the 2nd half. No team is going to dominate all games en route to victory, definitely not in a tournament after the kind of season these players have had.
They've still been the most convincing team this tournament and while they are young and may lose out to say a France or a Belgium, they will leave with a lot of optimism for next year's WC
great postBig mistake tampering with that midfield. Mancini should have kept the same mf's he had on the pitch aginst the Swiss. Dropping Locatelli to the bench for Veratti could have cost him. He got away with it and could well be Italy who end up champions.
A CB would be proud of that tackle.
I think Verratti was fine, the front 3 kept making the wrong decisions time and again. Berardi didn't really stretch the Austrian backline, Insigne had a couple of chances, so did Immobile, any one of those chances go in and Italy would cruise the game maybe 3-0.
Verratti if fit, has to play.