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Feel sorry for Croatia, didn't deserved to lose the game but thats the way football goes. Slaven Bilić is a top coach, I hope we see in the premier league in the future.
UEFA Euro 2012 - Group C - ** spoilers ** (Croatia, Italy, Rep Ireland, Spain)
- Thread starter Robbo
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Ahaha just heard that
Soldato
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Errrm Netherlands???
Soldato
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Loved the judo throw in the penalty area there.
I was thinking that myself, it was an obvious penalty. Makes you wonder what use those two extra Muppets standing at the side of the goals are.
Excuses for not introducing technology.
I would fancy Germany to beat Spain I think. And maybe Italy in a rematch.
Man of Honour
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Not on the evidence tonight would I be calling Spain a good team, technically superior is beyond question but their performance in this match was lacksadaisical at best and I'm far from convinced that their goal should have been allowed. Ultimately Croatia would have gone out with a 0-0 as well but after their defensive effort they deserved not to lose a goal - not that deserving something means you'll get it.
Am I the only one who thought Spain's goal should have been given as offside?
Navas was close enough to the keeper to distract him imo. Fair enough if you're running from the half-way line or something but in my mind, it shouldn't have been given.
Definite pen for croatia too.
Navas was close enough to the keeper to distract him imo. Fair enough if you're running from the half-way line or something but in my mind, it shouldn't have been given.
Definite pen for croatia too.
Spain annoy me, they have torres making good forward runs at times but pass into the middle, then when he comes off its all forward play, would have liked to see jesus and torres on together.
If they played with 2 wide men and a proper striker all the time they'd rip everyone open.
If they played with 2 wide men and a proper striker all the time they'd rip everyone open.
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Agree 100%. Think they haven't got the tactics right, they were lucky to get the win today.
Am I the only one who thought Spain's goal should have been given as offside?
Navas was close enough to the keeper to distract him imo. Fair enough if you're running from the half-way line or something but in my mind, it shouldn't have been given.
Definite pen for croatia too.
same here, problem is the keeper has to watch navas as hes onside so he couldn't really go out to cover.
as for the pen, couldn't understand the commentators on bbc saying he got the ball first, far as i'm aware it relates to the foot being off the floor with studs showing, based on intent ?
as for spains tactics, they seem to be trying to do the same as barca, but they don't seem to move the ball as quickly as barca do.
And of course they don't have Messi.
I keep expecting him to pop up in the middle and score from nothing to carry their average performances but then I remember...
What did Andrews get sent off for? The BBC highlights conveniantly skip it...
Caporegime
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Navas was behind Iniesta when that pass happened, simple as that. If Navas had been ahead of Iniesta at all then it would have been offside. THe pass from Fabregas to Iniesta was onside.
The reason Spain scored when they couldn't with Torres on there. Xavi sits too deep in this Spanish team, FAR too deep, they have two useless DM's who offer nothing offensively and Iniesta has a habit of running mindlessly into a group of defenders and losing the ball. It took Fabregas passing someone in behind to create a truly great chance for Spain.
For Barca Xavi and Iniesta, this season at least have been doing less of that passing, both because Messi for most of the last half of the season has been playing in the middle and stupidly deep for a "striker" which has pushed Xavi miles back compared to normal and Iniesta hasn't ever been prolific in goals or assists. Good inbetween player but not the main creator. 5 years to 1 year ago Xavi in particular, but Messi and Iniesta have been playing diagonal balls in behind and balls over the top for Messi, Villa, Eto'o, etc to run onto and score from. In the past season they've almost entirely done tippy tappy.
Fabregas has also played ahead of Xavi a lot this year, doing more of that kind of passing for Barca and he's doing that kind of passing for Spain.
They need without question to play a striker, drop a DM and drop one of the current starting attacking mid's. You've got Iniesta, Silva and Xavi of which all three prefer to be the guy passing in behind(though not as much lately as explained) and you've got no Lampard/Fabregas who will make that run in behind and create passing options. Drop any of Iniesta/Xavi or Silva for Fabregas to make those runs and be more direct, drop one DM for a striker and you've got an immense team.
The reason Spain scored when they couldn't with Torres on there. Xavi sits too deep in this Spanish team, FAR too deep, they have two useless DM's who offer nothing offensively and Iniesta has a habit of running mindlessly into a group of defenders and losing the ball. It took Fabregas passing someone in behind to create a truly great chance for Spain.
For Barca Xavi and Iniesta, this season at least have been doing less of that passing, both because Messi for most of the last half of the season has been playing in the middle and stupidly deep for a "striker" which has pushed Xavi miles back compared to normal and Iniesta hasn't ever been prolific in goals or assists. Good inbetween player but not the main creator. 5 years to 1 year ago Xavi in particular, but Messi and Iniesta have been playing diagonal balls in behind and balls over the top for Messi, Villa, Eto'o, etc to run onto and score from. In the past season they've almost entirely done tippy tappy.
Fabregas has also played ahead of Xavi a lot this year, doing more of that kind of passing for Barca and he's doing that kind of passing for Spain.
They need without question to play a striker, drop a DM and drop one of the current starting attacking mid's. You've got Iniesta, Silva and Xavi of which all three prefer to be the guy passing in behind(though not as much lately as explained) and you've got no Lampard/Fabregas who will make that run in behind and create passing options. Drop any of Iniesta/Xavi or Silva for Fabregas to make those runs and be more direct, drop one DM for a striker and you've got an immense team.
Yeah from one angle it looked like Nava was ahead but looking at it again he did well to stay level, though IMHO it still should have been called offside from the Fabregas pass (although I understand why he wasn't) - I think it's a scenario where far too much advantage is given to the attacking team when the 'onside' player clearly has an influence on the defenders' and goalkeepers positioning, not to mention he has a 5 yd head-start on supporting the through player from his 'not interfering with play' position.
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They were both onside. Jesus navas was offside when the ball was played to iniesta but back inside when it was squared to him. Iniesta was onside when it was first played through by fabregas.
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At least Spain went for the win even though they did not need it. If they defended like the Croatians did with 11 players behind the line the goalkeepers would not have touched the ball once.