Euro 2012 - Knockout Stages

[daswonder]

will Germany v Portugal have the 3rd/4th place play-off embroidary thing going on?

No 3rd vs 4th place playoff in the Euro's

[Royal Rother]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

[AthleticoSpizz]

will Germany v Portugal have the 3rd/4th place play-off embroidary thing going on?

No 3rd vs 4th place playoff in the Euro's

shame

would've made a better game

[leon]

So, how come you guys find italy exciting, yet condemn England for playing the exact same style?
Italy, sit back, play the long through ball up at Balotelli, counterattack.
England, sit back, Gerrard attempts (fails) to play long through ball up, counterattack.

The two teams deploy virtually essentially the exact same gameplan, difference being Italy have Pirlo who can successfully pass it 50 yards with accuracy, and Italy don't have Parker who runs out of steam after 55 minutes in every match.

We play the same as England? Interesting opinion you have there.

I wouldn't call pressing up the pitch with the full backs while passing the ball around an interchangable midfield (with the odd longball but not with the frequency you seem to suggest and it has alot more variety than the Terry or Gerrard Hoof), with the win against Germans being less about the impact of Pirlo, rather the impact the rest of the midfield made. We may rely heavily on Pirlo but when you have that good of a player then of course you will play everything through him but then what team wouldn't? (Germany have Ozil, Spain have Xavi/Iniesta and Holland have Sneijder, I'll stop here as I could go on and on with the example).

Both goals against Germany also had nothing to do with Pirlo either, Cassano set up the first and Montolivo the second.

I am quite frankly embarassed that you have even compared us with England, I would go as far as saying there is absolutely nothing the same about either footballing nation.

agreed Italy can pass and keep the ball. You have to remember being Swedish, Ideal has some strange views

[Hoop Blah]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

No.

[Flyingkiwi]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

No.

Let's break that down, shall we. Can we all agree that England are/were shite? Probably. I have no argument here.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent? Well; here is one dissenting voice. Italy were certainly better than England (Who were, as we have established, shite) but they were far from excellent. An excellent team would never have let a shite team take them to penalties.

[Kitsondinho]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

No.

Let's break that down, shall we. Can we all agree that England are/were shite? Probably. I have no argument here.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent? Well; here is one dissenting voice. Italy were certainly better than England (Who were, as we have established, shite) but they were far from excellent. An excellent team would never have let a shite team take them to penalties.

^^This +1000

[winchester_royal]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

No.

Let's break that down, shall we. Can we all agree that England are/were shite? Probably. I have no argument here.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent? Well; here is one dissenting voice. Italy were certainly better than England (Who were, as we have established, shite) but they were far from excellent. An excellent team would never have let a shite team take them to penalties.

By that line of reasoning Barcelona are a poor side because they let a poor side like Chelsea beat them..

[Franchise FC]

Whatever.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent and England are shit?

No.

Let's break that down, shall we. Can we all agree that England are/were shite? Probably. I have no argument here.

Can we all agree that Italy are excellent? Well; here is one dissenting voice. Italy were certainly better than England (Who were, as we have established, shite) but they were far from excellent. An excellent team would never have let a shite team take them to penalties.

By that line of reasoning Barcelona are a poor side because they let a poor side like Chelsea beat them..

Given that the main object of the game is to score goals and Barca failed to score enough to beat Chelsea, masinly because of their poor finishing, that probably does suggest that they are not as good as the media want to suggest.

[Royal Rother]

Jesus people, were Italy not excellent against Germany putting in a performance that England are completely incapable of producing? And were they not miles better than us even though we somehow took them to penalties? Can you not see that?

Even the greatest of teams ever to have walked the planet can't put on the same level of performance every time they take to the pitch.

But even a blind man can tell that Italy are better than England and Barcelona are better than Chelsea.

[Flyingkiwi]

Jesus people, were Italy not excellent against Germany putting in a performance that England are completely incapable of producing? And were they not miles better than us even though we somehow took them to penalties? Can you not see that?

Even the greatest of teams ever to have walked the planet can't put on the same level of performance every time they take to the pitch.

But even a blind man can tell that Italy are better than England and Barcelona are better than Chelsea.

There's no argument that Italy are/were better than a very poor England side or that Barca were/are better than an average Chelsea, it's the tag of "excellent' that people are disputing. I, personally, don't think this Italian side is anywhere near as good as that of the early to mid 1980's and that there are no real stand-out players of the calbre of a Zoff, a Baggio or a Rossi either. As regard Chelsea. They are very good at what they do (Parking the bus and counter-attacking). An "excellent" team would be able to get around these tactics but neither Barca or Bayern could and, as such, neither is/was "excellent" although both are/were clearly superior.

[Hoop Blah]

Pirlo and Buffon have been genuine world class players at times, although from what I'd seen of Pirlo I thought he'd lost quite a bit, but he's had a very good tournament.

Italy are a decent side, but I wouldn't say they're excellent, but they are having an excellent tournament because they've got to the final and have a good chance of winning.

England are not shit though. It's not a great side no, but we're steady enough and can get results which is what it's about at the end of the day. Over various managers and with various line ups we've proved we're in the top 10 sides in the world, even of our performances haven't been the most entertaining, expansive or enthralling.