Marion and his adoptive mother:
Very emotive.
Didn’t see that game as I was skippering TFK AFC to a 9-1 victory at the same time (live on TV3, but highlights later on 3E for those who missed it).
Haven’t even had time to read up on the reaction but I can’t imagine there’ll be too much praise for the team selection. I like Kroos as a player, I think he’s a big part of the future of this team and you could make a very strong argument for including him now. But doing so at the expense of a natural winger, and moving Ozil out of that pivotal role as a result, looked a bad move from the start. Presume the intention was to get Kroos marking Pirlo a bit more but while Pirlo deserves every respect given to him, Germany have had a terrific midfield trio for a while now and changing that balance looked wrong and evidently didn’t work. Regardless, taking Ozil out of his natural habitat is fairly hard to defend.
Reus seemed unlucky not too start, seemed to have done ok when he came on. Italy would have been uncertain about both full backs - two excellent defenders but neither were playing in their natural position and Germany’s gameplan to date was almost tailor made to exploit that or at least ask questions of them. Even when Abate and Balzaretti slowed down against England they were important possession outlets and having one of them mark Reus or Gotze may have caused problems.
Hummels seems to be coming in for a bit of stick on twitter. He’s still very young for a centre back. Clearly immensely talented and has huge potential but he remains error prone. Didn’t see the goals properly yet (just on a montage going to an ad break) so haven’t seen his role in them but he’ll remain in the team now having forced his way in and will only improve.
They need to find another full back anyway and it doesn’t even matter which side he is because Lahm can do either. There’s a few guys with the potential - Castro, Schmelzer etc but the policy of continually playing Howedes/Boateng/Badstuber out wide just isn’t working. It imbalances the side too much from an attacking perspective, though I suspect it’s at least partially influenced by a need to get more defensive height into the back four with Lahm not exactly a towering imposing figure.
Super…
My commiserations to the people of Turkey, Poland, Ghana and Germany on the loss tonight. The only consolation is that they lost to the best footballing nation in the world.
Is there a sense that football has gone a bit too far down the stats route to justify tactics?
In the last few years it seems people have become fixated with for example how many passes the likes of Xavi complete in a game, how many kms a player runs in a game etc. Does this really matter all that much? Stats won’t hide that Xavi is a bit redundant in the Spanish side without a decent forward or that Milner can run all day but will do precious little with it.
Dont get me wrong stats have a part to play in analyzing performance but I can’t help feeling that they inhibiting some coaches from going with their gut instincts. Definitely get the sense from Low’s selections over the last couple of games that he was unnecessarily complicating things. Winning teams in tournaments shouldn’t be going through wholesale changes.
After England went out, was reading a few articles and all were quoting stats of how inept they were and the valid point of how technically inferior they were to the other big European countries. The biggest factor I’ve found with England in the last few tournaments is their players have a crippling lack of conviction on the pitch embodied by Rooney. It’s almost like they aren’t worthy to be on the same park despite more than holding their own as individuals in the European club competitions against the same players. This won’t be reflected in stats.
It was the same with Ireland after the third Croatian goal went in, their seemed to be a collective collapse of self belief. The talk even from the players for the rest of the group stage was incredibly defeatist. We know we are technically inferior but fuck it let’s get in place a system that suits the players at our disposal and more importantly go out on the pitch with a belief that we can shine at the highest level.
I hate Balotelli but even I have to admit what a game he had tonight. 
Now go and win on Sunday so I can win the work sweepstake.
Brought a tear to my eye. Italy have played the best football by far in this tournament and it will be a crime if they are not crowned Champions on Sunday. I fucking love this Italian team
KIB Man touting his kick and rush up and under em, foreigners don’t like it up em approach.
Whats happening is the same evolution of the game since its beginning. Spain and Barcelona have developed a style which encourages constant passing, by technically adept players who are comfortable with it. Barcelona have Messi. Spain have Torres. Teams are finding ways of playing against it, after a few years of complete dominance by them. Look at Chelsea, now Italy. The question is how do Spain counter it and make their approach play count by scoring goals, the thing they’re lacking. Loew probably thought a bit too much about this game and confused his team with the changes. I don’t think its an obsession with stats to justify tactics, its one tactic trying to counter another. If nothing else, its fascinating and we all win from it.
Italy 2-1 Germany: Balotelli double
June 29, 2012
The line-ups for most of the first half, after Ozil and Kroos switched early on
Jogi Low tried to change his shape to compete in the centre of midfield, but Italy produced an excellent performance to qualify for the final.
Cesare Prandelli kept his diamond system. Giorgio Chiellini returned at left-back, but Ignazio Abate was unfit, so Federico Balzaretti moved over to an unfamiliar right-back role.
Jogi Low had decisions to make in his front four, with only Mesut Ozil sure of his place. Mario Gomez was chosen ahead of Miroslav Klose, and Lukas Podolski was selected rather than Andre Schurrle. But the real surprise was in the other role, as Toni Kroos came into the side.
That was an attempt to deal with Italy’s midfield diamond, but Germany didn’t have the right structure in the centre of the pitch and were disappointing for long periods.
Ozil / Kroos
The use of Kroos was a big surprise, though it wasn’t an illogical decision. Italy’s clear area of strength was the centre of their midfield, where they use four very fine passers. Germany only play with two men in that zone, with Ozil much higher up, so when the teamsheets were unveiled and Kroos was in Germany’s XI, it was widely expected that he’d be a third central midfielder, allowing Germany to battle in that zone, with Ozil on the right.
From the start of the game, however, it was the other way around. Ozil played in his usual central position, Kroos was on the right. After around eight minutes, they switched. Was this a deliberate tactic from Low, to trick Prandelli into thinking Germany were playing a different way? Did he suddenly get concerned that Ozil wouldn’t be able to pick up Andrea Pirlo? Or had he told Kroos and Ozil to rotate, and that was simply how things turned out?
Whatever the true story, Germany ended up with Kroos in the centre of the pitch – broadly picking up Pirlo. Ozil took up a position on the right but drifted inside onto his left foot quickly.
Problems
This gave Germany two problems. First, Kroos didn’t do a particularly good job on Pirlo. It wasn’t as bad as Wayne Rooney’s performance on Sunday, because Kroos at least spent much of his time goalside of Pirlo. But he constantly didn’t put enough pressure on and dropped too deep. That would later be a factor for Italy’s first goal, as the move stemmed from a long Pirlo diagonal, and though he wasn’t as pivotal as against England (naturally, as Italy had less of the ball), he was still the key midfielder. Daniele De Rossi did a good job alongside him, covering when Pirlo moved forward.
Second, Germany didn’t attack with enough width – which was strange as Italy’s full-backs had no protection from ahead because of Italy’s narrow shape in midfield. Furthermore, both Chiellini and Balzaretti were playing away from their normal positions (Chiellini can play left-back, but is more renowned as a centre-back), so these were the players Germany should have attacked, but both got away without much of a test.
You can understand what Low was thinking – he wanted a third central midfielder and couldn’t drop Ozil so had to play him wide. This meant he could compete against a diamond with four central players within the natural 4-2-3-1 (a slightly obscure link would be the way Manchester United outplayed (but lost to) Chelsea at Stamford Bridge three years ago) then have natural width on the other side, with the use of Podolski. But even Podolski was dragged into the midfield battle without the ball – Balzaretti barely went forward and wasn’t a threat – and Podolski had little attacking impact on the game.
But Germany did enjoy a decent opening, and created a couple of good opportunities. A couple of times they found space either side of Pirlo to have long-range attempts, but like other matches this tournament – Portugal 3-2 Denmark[/url], [url=“http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/06/24/spain-2-0-france-blancs-double-right-back-plan-fails/”]Spain 2-0 France[/url], [url=“http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/06/28/spain-0-0-portugal-portugal-upset-spains-rhythm-but-fail-to-record-a-shot-on-target/”]Portugal 0-0 Spain – the movement came primarily from one side of the pitch – Germany’s right, Italy’s left.
Germany right / Italy left
This was a complex situation. Italy didn’t have anyone on that side because of the diamond, while Ozil moved inside quickly into central playmaking positions. That meant both the full-backs had space to exploit, but both did so only sporadically. Jerome Boateng was troubled by the movement of Antonio Cassano into the channels, but on two occasions he overlapped swiftly, was unmarked, and provided dangerous crosses. The first nearly produced a calamitous own goal.
Chiellini attacked less frequently, and because of his natural tendencies as a centre-back, plus the movement of Ozil, he often got dragged narrow next to his centre-backs. But when he did attack, no-one picked him up. Ozil didn’t seem to have any defensive responsibilities, and when Chiellini got forward early on, it was Boateng who came out to meet him.
The first Italian goal showed the two major things Germany were getting wrong – first, despite the initial pressure from Ozil, he drops off Pirlo and allows him time to play a long pass to the flanks. Second, because Ozil is in the centre, Kroos presumably should have been on the right (or at least in a right-centre position, where he could shuttle over towards Chiellini). Instead, Chiellini is completely unmarked. This forces Boateng out, which in turn allows Cassano space and brings Mats Hummels out, and then after a brilliant turn and cross from Cassano, Balotelli overpowers Holger Badstuber, left isolated in the middle, and heads in.
The goal could have been prevented along the way with better defending, but it seemed from Germany abandoning the right flank and allowing Chiellini space. That was only acceptable if they were competing in the middle and not allowing Pirlo space.
1-0
Another interesting feature was the positioning of the two defences. Italy kept a high line, pushing Mario Gomez away from goal. Germany played deeper than usual, probably as they were afraid of Balotelli’s pace, having seen how he got a couple of chances from long balls over the top against England. This changed after Italy went ahead, as Germany were forced to push forward, and Italy sat back.
Italy shifted to a slightly more defensive system at 1-0 up. The forwards played wider and deeper, often drifting into zones that made the German full-backs nervous about getting forward, for fear they should be picking them up. Most impressive was the role of Riccardo Montolivo – he constantly chased high up the pitch and disturbed Germany’s passing rhythm in midfield. Often he conceded free-kicks, but the spoiling job was done, and he could then shuttle back into a deeper position to join Pirlo. Sometimes, Italy’s midfield looked more like a flat four when defending, especially when the ball was wide.
Montolivo’s main contribution was in attack, though – with a tremendous ball over the top for Balotelli’s second goal, after Italy had kept two strikers high up the pitch when defending a corner. Germany’s three should have been able to cope, though.
Second half
Italy were firmly in control, and Low needed to make dramatic changes. He did – Klose replaced Gomez, while Marco Reus replaced Podolski, and went to the right. Ozil was in the centre, and Toni Kroos started on the left and moved inside into the middle, safe in the knowledge that Balzaretti wasn’t attacking much.
Germany had a good spell of pressure for the first 15 minutes of the second half, producing a couple of chances – one fell to Philipp Lahm, who moved forward well from the left-back position, with no direct opponent.
Italy subs
But Prandelli used his bench very wisely. He replaced Montolivo, who had covered a lot of ground, and introduced Thiago Motta as a more defensive option. He then withdrew Cassano and brought on Alessandro Diamanti, who played much deeper and was constantly in a position to link the play and retain possession. The introduction of Antonio Di Natale for Balotelli was another good move, as the Udinese striker was a threat on the break and should have scored a third.
In fact, Italy had plenty of opportunities on the counter-attack, probably more than Germany produced in the second half. Some wasteful finishing prevented them from extending their lead, but Prandelli’s substitutions helped stop Germany having such long spells of pressure, and gave Italy fresh legs to attack.
Low’s final move was Thomas Muller replacing Boateng, who wasn’t attacking enough from right-back. This was the last roll of the dice – Bastian Schweinsteiger ended up playing as a makeshift right-back, Khedira was the sole central player, and Muller joined Kroos, Ozil, Reus and Klose in attack. This didn’t really work – Low had to gamble, but Germany had little structure to attack within, and were shambolic in their attempts to press and win the ball quickly. A late penalty gave them hope, but Italy merited their victory.
Conclusion
Did Low adapt his side too much? Or not enough? Having spoken of the need for Germany to play their own game, it was a surprise to see Kroos in the starting line-up. But from there, Germany didn’t have a clear plan to stop Italy in the midfield zone; Pirlo wasn’t picked up effectively, while Montolivo and De Rossi also had excellent games. Germany didn’t play to their strengths, nor nullify Italy’s.
Italy’s goals were well-worked and expertly finished, but the most impressive part of their display was the defensive side of things. The defence kept a high line in the first half, then defended well inside the box when Germany piled on the pressure. Montolivo’s role was also crucial in stopping Germany building attacks from deep.
Tactically the game will be remembered for Low’s tinkering, rather than Prandelli’s instructions. That’s a shame, as this was Italy’s best performance at this tournament by a distance – previously they’d failed to beat anyone aside from an Ireland side already eliminated, but here they conclusively defeated a very strong side. Having performed well against Spain with a 3-5-2 system in their opening game, Prandelli must now decide whether to stick with the diamond for the final
In all fairness the Germans are becoming as delusional about their place in the World order as the English. It’s sixteen years now since they won a major tournament and on the evidence of last night they are as far away from it as ever. Spain and Italy are light years ahead of them in terms of technique and tactics and the Bundesliga is at best the fourth best in Europe.
I’d agree with KIB Man here {maybe its the Wexford roots} but Sky Sports showed a team of the tournament this morning based on player stat’s and Andrea Pirlo wasn’t in it.
Low, instead of playing to his strengths tried to to tactically outwit his opponent yesterday and it failed miserably. I’m sure he regrets not lining up his team in his normal fashion and maybe forcing Italy to compromise to them.
I’m not sure that stats had anything to do with Germany’s tactics or team selection last night.
It seems they brought Kroos in to provide a central attacking option who could also look after Pirlo. They started Gomez ahead of Klose when the latter’s stats are better for his time on the pitch.
Certainly agreed that Low seemed to overcomplicate things and while some changes over a tournament might be expected it was very odd to bring in Kroos at this stage. Nothing against him, I think he’s a fine player with loads of potential, but if he wasn’t good enough or important enough to play against Netherlands, Portugal, Greece or Denmark then I don’t think enough changed since then to justify that change.
Xavi, to be fair, is about far more than stats. Whether he’s a passenger for Spain or not isn’t really up for debate as far as I’m concerned. He hasn’t been massively influential in this tournament on the pitch but he is almost single-handedly responsible for a fairly revolutionary change in how football is being played. Guardiola obviously facilitated this at Barca but Xavi plays the game (for better or worse) the way nobody else ever did and both Barcelona and Spain have responded to that, built a system around that style, developed players to copy him as far as possible, and have been hugely successful. I think dismissing his achievements as mere statistical is grossly understating his contribution to two dynasties to be frank.
thought schweinsteiger was utter rubbish last night…whats the story with boateng still getting in the team??..he was muck in the world cup and again last nite…too clumsy to play anywhere but up the middle…and thats at club level…
Would love to see Torres play against Italy…as bad as his finishing is he made some brilliant runs against the italian defence in opening game when he came on…kept finding space and looked a serious threat…
As I said elsewhere they still haven’t really developed or trusted a second full back so it’s been a case of playing a centre back out wide and they’ve tried Badstuber, Boateng, Hummels and Howedes in that position over the last couple of years. I suspect some of is to do with Lahm’s lack of height which persuades Low to pick a third centre back but it’s been a clear problem in a couple of tournaments now and should have been addressed before. It’s not like they don’t have reasonable alternatives.
Schweinsteiger is definitely not fit. Hasn’t been this season at all really. Rushed back by Bayern, retained by Germany but every game he’s an injury doubt because he seems to train only every third day or so.
Boateng has played well centrally for Bayern I think. Not up to it at full back though, I think that was obvious before now but it should be abundantly clear now.
yeah that’s true about schweinsteiger…he’s been rushed back in fairness and always for big games which is harder…his reputation kept him in German team more than anything…the signs were there with bayern in champs lge that he was struggling…
think Boateng and badstuber are quite poor as centre halves…both seem to get turned very easy…Hummels got done for the first goal in a similar way but had been better up to that…Mertesacker before them was similar…given their history you’d expect the germans to have good ball players at centre half…
Boateng up against Iniesta wud have been car crash …
Andrea Pirlo, who was named man-of-the-match, also sounded a note of caution for Sunday’s final. “We haven’t done anything yet,” he said. “There’s no use going to Rome and not seeing the Pope. We want to go home with this cup.”
I’m just watching the game in full now, christ the first Italian goal is a thing of beauty. Given the defending was atrocious, Cassano does exceptionally well to make room to cross and Balotelli makes the run of a naturally brilliant striker. And of course it all comes from Pirlo.
Rocko makes a good point above about Xavi. Look what this man has done throughout his incredible career.
Whats happening here is that we now have more immediate access to the stats, whgich leads to people like Rocko being able to share them with us. As someone who grew up (like most of us actually) thinking Saint and Greavsie was the height of sophistication and then realising that we had been sold a massive cold fish, I am massively enjoying the analysis of association football we see now.
I actually probably find it more interesting as I live in a country which generally cannot grasp the concept of association football. I love my AFL, but Australians can’t seem to comprehend what is actually happening in soccer. Thye want their points, and they want them now. Trying to explain to someone that a 0-0 draw in an international between Spain and Portugal was like watching chess grand master play on a huge board does not seem to get through to them. There are though, plenty of people here who love the game and are realising the tactical and technical nature of it.
I detest rugby league as there is absolutely no intelligence or tactical nature about the game. Someone with the sensibility of Xavi or Pirlo or Ozil could never play that game. But they thrive in a sport where intelligence has become the key.
Balotelli just scored the second. As beautiful a goal as I’ve seen in my forty years.
I understand what KIB Man is saying, but I don’t agree. As for Ireland, this can only come from an underage belief in the simple skills of the game and encouragement of Irish players to seek a career away from Britain. The future is the continent.
you’re a detestable idiot
the future is the continent-wtf- whats wrong with us doing things right in Ireland and furthering the advances made under koovermans