Euro 2012 - Match discussion thread

Sport
821

Ruthless teutonic efficiency.

822

Great play from Ozil in the lead up there

823

Its Rolls Reus according to Itv. :clap:

824

Fairly obvious pun there on the German prestige car manufacturer.

825

77 minutes: Germany 4-1 Greece. Key player: Khedira.

826

Ozil has had an excellent second half. Really pulling the strings

827

Ozil really deserves a goal to top of his performance

#differentclass

828

Is that the first penalty goal of tournament?

829

The Germans give up a lot of cheap goals.

830

Penalty and an excellent counter-attack tonight.

831

I would relish our chances against Germany if we get past England on Sunday. I believe we have better tactical players and we can punish their defensive frailties.

832

First one to be score I think. Greece missed one in their opening game V Poland.

833

Breathtakingly good display by Samaras tonight. :ireland:

834

Lovely game of football that. Delighted with the win for the lovely Germans but equally thrilled for the equally lovely Samaras to have nabbed a lovely goal for himself.

Brave call to make so many changes from Low and none of the replacements let him down at all. Interesting to see how much was horses for courses and how many changes will stick. Really enjoyed the emphatic finish from Reus, thumping arrogant finish - hope he produces many of that ilk at Dortmund next season.

835

Oh and I’m delighted for Lahm too. A lovely lovely player.

836

A particularly pleasing result for German football enthusiast and Turk national Rocko.

837

Front page of the Gazetto dello Sport today.

:clap:

838

I went and bought one of these online last night

http://www.euro2012shirts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/italy-goalkeeper-change-red-2012-13-273x300.jpg

I am firmly behind Italy for the remainder of this tournament :clap: :clap: http://www.4smileys.com/smileys/flag-smileys/italy.gif

839

[left] Germany 4-2 Greece: near-total dominance[/left][left]June 22, 2012[/left][left]http://i1231.photobucket.com/albums/ee512/zonal_marking/2222222.jpg[/left][left]The starting line-ups[/left][left]Germany thrashed a poor Greece side to progress to the semi-finals with ease.[/left][left]Jogi Low, as widely reported before the game, changed three of his front four. Mesut Ozil remained, but Marco Reus, Andre Schurrle and Miroslav Klose replaced Thomas Muller, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez.[/left][left]Fernando Santos was without Giorgos Karagounis from the centre of midfield, so Grigoris Makis played instead. Sotiris Ninis played on the right, with Dmitri Salpingidis upfront.[/left][left]Greece tried to soak up pressure, but simply weren’t good enough defensively and Germany constantly created chances.[/left][left]German approach[/left][left]The most interesting feature of the first few minutes was the German pressing. They stood off the two Greek centre-backs without the ball, maintaining a good shape near the halfway line. However, as soon as the ball was played into the full-backs, Germany sprung into life and pressed suddenly and ferociously. This approach worked well throughout the game, as Greece struggled to put passes together and launch counter-attacks. The centre-backs weren’t good enough on the ball to distribute it usefully, though Sokratis Papastathopoulos went on a couple of charges forward.[/left][left]The introduction of Schurrle and Reus made Germany more energetic, quicker and more dynamic with the ball. Reus and Ozil swapped passes nicely and occasionally changed positions, with Reus motoring towards goal purposefully and dangerously. On the other side, Schurrle’s direct play was more obvious when he got the ball, as he cut inside and shot quickly, though this became a little obvious and many of his attempts were blocked.[/left][left]Greek approach[/left][left]Greece played this game very cautiously. The back four rarely moved forward, with the full-backs pressed back effectively by Reus and Muller.[/left][left]The Greek midfield was interesting, however. Kostas Katsouranis played an odd shuttling role – when Greece had the ball (or hit goal-kicks down the pitch towards the forwards) he was the highest midfielder, but when Germany had long spells of possession he often became the deepest of the trio.[/left][left]But Greece didn’t have any great structure or shape to their midfield in general – Ozil pulled them out of position, while the runs from Sami Khedira often caught them by surprise. Germany simply attacked from so many different angles, and at such great speed, that Greece’s reactive football couldn’t cope – they were trying to react to so many different things. Ninis should have defended better for Philipp Lahm’s goal, but this came at the end of constant pressure, and Germany should have been ahead before having worked their way into the penalty box repeatedly.[/left][left]Second half[/left][left]If there’s one thing Santos has done well in this tournament, it’s been half-time changes (although the inevitable question is why he can’t get things right from the start). Here, he brought on Theo Gekas upfront with Salpingidis moving to the right to the right. Central midfielder Georgios Fotakis replaced left-back Giorgos Tzavelas due to injury, with Maniatis going to right-back, and Vasilis Torosidis switching sides.[/left][left]Germany seemed to drop the tempo after half-time, almost as if they were planning on keeping it 1-0. However, while it’s difficult to say that the Greek goal was coming, or that they merited it on the balance of play, they had put together a decent break before the goal, when Gekas and Samaras combined.[/left][left]The goal came when Salpingidis, now on his natural position on the right flank, got the ball to feet and was in a position to run with it, something that never happened in the first half. He crossed for Samaras to tap in. However, it was more interesting that the goal came from a loose Schurrle pass – it wasn’t his first, and he was later the first German player to be removed. His sloppy passing might prevent him from starting the semi-final.[/left][left]http://tf-chalkboards.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images/09TBy.png[/left][left]Germany run away with it[/left][left]Greece angered Germany too early, though, and Low’s side stepped up the tempo and ended up winning the game at a canter. The second goal, from Khedira, demonstrated his ability to time runs into the both excellently from deep positions – something he’s done well throughout the tournament, probably outperforming the more established Schweinsteiger in the centre of the German midfield.[/left][left]From then on, Ozil took over to turn in his finest performance of the tournament so far (though his poor finishing is often remarkable for such a good player). He provided the assist for Klose’s headed third from a free-kick he’d won himself out on the right, then was the man who provided the run shortly before Reus’ thumped fourth.[/left][left]http://tf-chalkboards.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images/09YjB.png[/left][left]Greece eventually got a second to make the scoreline closer than it should have been, but really this was a mismatch and uninteresting tactically, aside from the different qualities the ‘new’ German attackers provided.[/left][left]Conclusion[/left][left]Germany were – put simply – too good. The changes Low made broadly worked well, giving a quicker feel to the German side, a good move against a slow, cumbersome Greek back four. Klose scored a fine header, but more importantly his movement and link-up play made Germany more fluid as a whole. With a more intelligent centre-forward and two more direct wingers, Ozil was the main man to benefit – and he played a part in all four goals. If Germany can get him constantly involved, they stand a great chance of winning Euro 2012.[/left][left]Greece’s approach relied upon good penalty box defending, but too often they were sliced open easily. Their old weakness, a poor goalkeeper, was also obvious at various points. But Santos did well to get out of the group in the first place, and his approach tonight was probably the right one on paper. Ultimately, there’s no shame in losing heavily to a vastly superior side.[/left]

840

Johnathon Wilson’s take on Spain

Spain are victims of their own success
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23/06/2012
No side has ever won three major titles in-a-row.[/font]
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That is the goal that must drive Spain on, first against France in today’s quarter-final. They are already one of the greatest international sides in history: success in Euro 2012 might confirm them as the greatest. To sustain success over a four-year period, to keep churning out performances, to maintain the hunger, to avoid tactical predictability… it would be an astonishing achievement.

And to have the luck. The West Germany team of the seventies have come closest to winning three in-a-row but, having won the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974 they were beaten in a penalty shoot-out in the final of Euro 76. Was that bad luck? Perhaps not, for Czechoslovakia held a 2-0 lead at one point but there was something vaguely farcical about coming so close to success only to be beaten by a dinked penalty from an obscure moustachioed midfielder from Bohemians.

Through the low-scoring nature of the game, the management of luck is part of football. Every team will have one of those days when 20 shots don’t go in and the opposition steals a goal on the break. Spain were fortunate they had their misfortune in the opening group game of the last World Cup when they lost to Switzerland. They were able to recover from that by winning their next six matches, but it’s almost as though that game taught them a lesson, the same lesson that Alex Ferguson learned in Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat by Real Madrid in 2000. And that is, that it is much safer for a team to have, say, six chances to the opponent’s none than to have 25 to the opponent’s three.

Spain went through the rest of that World Cup scoring eight goals in six games, conceding only one and never looking like losing. After Spain’s 1-0 win over Croatia, Slaven Bilic, the Croatia manager, noted that Spain looked “vulnerable” while Croatia’s captain, Darijo Srna, suggested that Spain would have to change their approach if they were to go on and win the Euros. They were right — up to a point: the group situation, which for over an hour meant that a Croatia goal could have eliminated Spain, did give a sense of anxiety. Ivan Rakitic did have a great headed chance that he directed straight at Iker Casillas.

Croatia probably should have a late penalty when Sergio Busquets pulled the shirt of Vedran Corluka. But that was it.

Two chances in the whole game, and one of them after Spain had scored when conceding a goal wouldn’t have mattered. Little wonder Vicente Del Bosque was happy enough having seen a re-run of the game.

“We didn’t have much incisiveness, it’s true,” he said. “But it was a good game. We knew a draw was enough. And we went through. Croatia had a shot, but not much else. They played well and denied us space. They constructed a spider’s web and it wasn’t easy. Sometimes moves don’t come off by millimetres, small technical details that don’t quite happen.”

The message was clear: Spain are happy to hold the ball, to use their passing attritionally. Some may be bored of it, but tiki taka has always had its defensive aspect and it’s hard to understand the hostility Spain face for essentially doing through mastery of the ball what others look to do by packing men behind the ball. “When you are world champions, it’s difficult to get better amid that euphoria and expectation,” said Andres Iniesta, probably Spain’s most dangerous player so far. “It makes it harder. Are we a victim of our own success? Yes. The team has earned this perception and it is higher than in previous years.”

It’s demanded that Spain put on a show – “We have gone from poor to rich very quickly and we don’t value what we have,” Del Bosque noted – but when others pack their defence against them it’s almost impossible for them to do. The USA in the Confederations Cup in 2009 showed how to play against Spain: keep the back four deep, keep the midfield narrow, cede the flanks trusting that Spain’s lack of aerial power means crosses won’t be a threat, and look to strike on the break or through set-plays. Chile aside, every team Spain has played since in a tournament game has done something similar.

So Spain, logically enough, have met reactive negativity with proactive negativity, holding the ball almost mechanically: tiki-taka has become ticky-tock. They have no obligation to entertain. The only slightly surprising thing is that Del Bosque has opted to try to counter the massed defences with strikerlessness or Fernando Torres, hoping the fluidity of a six-man (and no-forward) midfield or of a five-man midfield (and Torres pulling wide) will pick holes in massed rearguards, rather than using the immense physical threat of Fernando Llorente, who might at least force defences to play a little higher — who wants him attacking headers form 15 yards out? — leaving space behind them.

But even that is consistent with Del Bosque’s policy of control; crosses risk losing possession, and that has become his absolute taboo.[/font]