I disagree.
That goes without saying.
That's quite harsh. But not entirely untrue, obviously.
That goes without saying.
That's quite harsh. But not entirely untrue, obviously.
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Euro 2020 - General Talk Thread (56 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dostoevsky
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Yeah Pedri showed himself to be the best central midfield talent in Europe in this tournament.
Top performances as a teenager. I assume it's a given that he will win young player of the tournament.
On another note about Spain's midfielders. I was surprised by how good Busquets was, he really put on a vintage performance, and by how bad Thiago was. Thiago looked terrible.
Top performances as a teenager. I assume it's a given that he will win young player of the tournament.
On another note about Spain's midfielders. I was surprised by how good Busquets was, he really put on a vintage performance, and by how bad Thiago was. Thiago looked terrible.
Seems like a lot of people here are overreacting to the midfield performance. I really don't think Italy's midfield trio played a poor game. The way i see it, they did well playing 3 vs 6. If they are able to fully recover for the final game, they should be able to win midfield battle against Denmark or England. Neither of those teams will sacrifice the threat on goal just to have more of the ball, the way Spain did yesterday. The tricky part will be to covert that territorial advantage into a goal and coping with their speed on the counter.
Why? Of course it's hard to measure against someone like Varane or Marquinhos or Maguire as they play in completely different teams, different leagues, but from the guys I've seen de Ligt play with - Blind, VVD, de Vrij, Chiellini, Bonucci, Demiral - which contains several defenders of the highest quality - de Ligt doesn't look a level below any of them. He has a hard tackle that he puts to use often, has a good pace, strong in duels and in the air and reads the game well. It's a matter of taste whether you rate him TOP5 or TOP20, but surely he's in the TOP20.
Seems he fell off a clip since he joined Liverpool.
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A final with England ain't really a big final imo, their history in both the WC and Euros are simply too poor. They're miles away from having the status of Germany, Italy, France and probably Spain also.
Yes they're a big football nation but I never seen their national team as anything prestigious. Germany, Italy and France also had way better players historically - not to forget Holland.
England is pure hype and nothing to show for it. Talk the talk but doesn't walk the walk.
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A final with England ain't really a big final imo, their history in both the WC and Euros are simply too poor. They're miles away from having the status of Germany, Italy, France and probably Spain also.
Yes they're a big football nation but I never seen their national team as anything prestigious. Germany, Italy and France also had way better players historically - not to forget Holland.
England is pure hype and nothing to show for it. Talk the talk but doesn't walk the walk.
It will be indeed. Though I wonder why is that? Where does the rivalry come from?
They met only twice at world cups and never in a knock-out round. Only twice in EUROs, and only one of them a knock-out quarter-final match (in 2012). It doesn't come even close to Argentina-Brazil, Italy-Germany, Italy-France, Argentina-Germany, or even England-Germany.
Club-wise, in the CL, Italian and English teams played only 4 finals (all of them included Liverpool) which is nothing compared to Italy-Spain CL finals (8), or England-Germany (6), even England-Spain (5).
So why are they such rivals? Did it start at Heysel, or maybe in the late 90s when the EPL was trying to become better than Serie A?
They met only twice at world cups and never in a knock-out round. Only twice in EUROs, and only one of them a knock-out quarter-final match (in 2012). It doesn't come even close to Argentina-Brazil, Italy-Germany, Italy-France, Argentina-Germany, or even England-Germany.
Club-wise, in the CL, Italian and English teams played only 4 finals (all of them included Liverpool) which is nothing compared to Italy-Spain CL finals (8), or England-Germany (6), even England-Spain (5).
So why are they such rivals? Did it start at Heysel, or maybe in the late 90s when the EPL was trying to become better than Serie A?
CBs in general don't have many exceptional games, their exceptional quality for the most part is not having shit games, f.e. Barzagli who for 3-4 years barely made any mistakes or lost a 1v1 duel.
But just to humor you, Juventus 3:1 Parma, April 20, de Ligt had an assist, a goal and 8 clearances, is that exceptional or not?
But just to humor you, Juventus 3:1 Parma, April 20, de Ligt had an assist, a goal and 8 clearances, is that exceptional or not?
There is no rivalry, it's only in the heads of tuz, ratcafe etc. This is just an internet rivalry of premfaces vs fed up people.
For players it must feel like the least heated final they have ever played. Both countries have rivalries with Germany, Italy with Brazil too.
speaking of ratcafe: Thiago Alc*ntara the Fingerer of Merceyside
For players it must feel like the least heated final they have ever played. Both countries have rivalries with Germany, Italy with Brazil too.
speaking of ratcafe: Thiago Alc*ntara the Fingerer of Merceyside
Why not the same rivalry with Spain, tho?
There is probably a starting point to this rivalry, but I think it also has to do with jealousy. In the way that the English are aware that they don't have Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, so they say "fuck it, these guys are superior". Spanish football is too different from English, and there can be no comparisons. But Italy are nothing special at first glance. No Pele, no Messi, no tiki-taka. Yet they win a lot and England doesn't. You know that feeling when someone who you think is not better than you gets everything and you get nothing. And why do they get everything? Because they cheat and they play unfairly. Then you repeat this year after year. The Italians defend themselves and there is your rivalry.
There is probably a starting point to this rivalry, but I think it also has to do with jealousy. In the way that the English are aware that they don't have Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, so they say "fuck it, these guys are superior". Spanish football is too different from English, and there can be no comparisons. But Italy are nothing special at first glance. No Pele, no Messi, no tiki-taka. Yet they win a lot and England doesn't. You know that feeling when someone who you think is not better than you gets everything and you get nothing. And why do they get everything? Because they cheat and they play unfairly. Then you repeat this year after year. The Italians defend themselves and there is your rivalry.
Their leagues also have radically different philosophies, which is also demonstrated by the unsuccessful trade deals across the leagues. The last time an Italian player was successful in EPL was probably around 2 decades ago when di Canio and Zola played their last games for West Ham and Chelsea. Since then you have the shitshow of Bianchi, Darmian, Balotelli, Borini, Aquilani, Pelle, Ogbonna, Gabbiadini, Zappacosta, Zaza, Giaccherini, Santon etc who were all ranging from underwhelming to straight-out flops in EPL.
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Sounds about right, dont forget the rivalry between english and germans is equally as strong if not more, but that might be down to the number of times they've met.
Cheating, Divers, Old, Retired, Complainers, Defensive, Cat and Mouse football, time wasters, yada yada, these cliches never end. Its promoted everytime it happens, you only gotta see what a big scene Immobile made when he got up from the floor to celebrate against Belgium. These endless dogmatic beliefs and constantly fed. They go far back, i remember Fergusons famous quote "When an Italian tells me its Pasta under the plate, I check under the sauce to make sure". This quote happened to come out just before their quater final clash in 1999 with Inter - the same yeah they won the CL.. they've always been bitter but now they've done enough atleast at an English club level to brag about.
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