Euro 2016

[Colly]

But they did have something to defend. If this was the knockouts and they played like that when a goal down you might have half an argument, but this is the first game of the groups against the supposed strongest team. A narrow loss saving them goal difference could easily get them into 3rd place which could get them through, no one's playing to win the tournament at this stage.

You're massively ignoring quite how big even a narrow loss would've been, you can fit the entire male football aged (and even that's going up to 40) population of Iceland into St James Park. If you're in that age bracket you have a 1 in 2000 chance of being in the squad (or in fact better as some will be big fatties). Barring a handful these players are so obscure that even despite their lengthy surnames Nerf hasn't heard of them. And they got a point.

[GoN_]

And China's population is around 130 times that of Portugal. It is not like they are a football super power.

And yes, that was me being dense on purpose. I get the point, I still don't agree that that is a good approach at this stage. I still maintain that a team with that kind of mentality will hardly ever do anything of real relevance in a tournament like this. It seems like we will have to agree to disagree.

[Colly]

But that's just it, they aren't expecting to do anything of relevance, but rather than just being content to make up the numbers and roll over like the majority of La Liga they're using the most appropriate tactics to progress. And it's working.

[Gazz]

14 minutes ago, GoN_ said:

And China's population is around 130 times that of Portugal. It is not like they are a football super power.

And yes, that was me being dense on purpose. I get the point, I still don't agree that that is a good approach at this stage. I still maintain that a team with that kind of mentality will hardly ever do anything of real relevance in a tournament like this. It seems like we will have to agree to disagree.

Greece. Euro 2004

[Moses Julep]

33 minutes ago, GoN_ said:

 

 

Repetitive? We just changed our tactics for our last few matches. We stopped trying to play with a clear striker (because we have no one who can do it well) and just put Ronaldo and Nani/Quaresma open up front. We are much closer to a 4-4-2 with the two upfront playing wide, rather than the 4-3-3 that we had been using for the past 15 or so years. There was a lot of underperforming on our midfield and a lack of defensive organization.

Right, except the entire match consisted of Portugal going right through the exact same attack, crosses, crosses, crosses, non-stop, and hoping what hadn't worked before would actually work now. Their goal literally happened because Iceland were caught napping once and that was that. The truth is that unless you legitimately have a team full of world-beaters like Spain in 2008-2012, you will not always win matches by doing the same thing over and over. That's a big reason why Germany won the last world cup, when Jogi Low would see something wasn't working, he'd tweak the team and they'd score. 

[Liam]

Iceland had very little to do. Portugal really didn't come close to scoring again. That was the bad thing - with so much possession,  they should have done more.

[DavidMarrio]

Cracking goal by Hamsik.

Slovakia are 2-0 up against Russia. 

[Gorka]

Hamsik with an absolute belter just now!

[Baddar]

Great goal by Hamsik. That first one was far too easy though. Weiss took out two defenders in one move. 

[GA!]

Russia need to make changes defensively. Also, those Russian hooligans should appreciate England - if we weren't so shit in the 92nd minute, Russia would be on the brink of being out now.

The stream from BBC Sport is out of sync. Even ITV doesn't have this problem, and they're fucking shit!

[Colly]

Is it wrong that I'd quite like a bit of crowd trouble (as long as no one gets hurt) just to cast some doubt over the World Cup?

[therockbox]

Slovakia showing how poor Russia really are.

The media and an awful lot of our fans have completely deluded themselves over the England performance in the opening game, especially Rooney's role in it. It was an average performance against an ageing Russian side (who still finished the game looking stronger) missing a number of key players through injury, who gave Rooney all the space you could want as a midfielder and yet he still put in a performance that was only slightly above average.

We'll struggle against Wales and Slovakia. Wales will absolutely dominate the midfield if we start with Rooney there again. If we don't beat Wales - and I think it'll be a very, very tough game - then all the pressure is on us to go out and attack Slovakia, and they showed in the first half they've got the ability to pick us off at will. The thought of Hamsik running at Cahill and Smalling for 90 minutes is terrifying.

[LUKIE]

I watched Iceland/Portugal. I thought that the referee was very pro-Ronaldo and there were a couple of free-kicks that were completely bullshit. Iceland played smart. You don't go into a match against a team like Portugal when you are the INCREDIBLE UNDERDOG and go all out attack. You play it smart. It worked, they drew, which is essentially a huge win for Iceland.

Ronaldo was a fucking cunt. He completely walked off after his bullshit second free kick to complain to the referee about injury time then walked off the field. His entire team shook hands with the Icelandic team. This game was everything for Portugal to win. They lost their own game. Icelands goal was amazing and very much deserved.

I can't fathom how anyone is complaining about the way they played. Ronaldo is just playing the sore loser card. His attitude was pathetic. Own your game.

[Lineker]

Police warned that Isis jihadis are en route to France and Belgium from Syria. Terrific.

[Rich]

2 hours ago, Lineker said:

Police warned that Isis jihadis are en route to France and Belgium from Syria. Terrific.

This isn't the politics forum!

[Baddar]

No Pogba or Griezmann. Interesting. 

[The Lusophone]

Rested for the Switzerland game, probably. Let's hope they seriously underestimate Albania and get the shock of a lifetime.

[Moses Julep]

There's been a serious debate about Pogba's form in the French team in France and I really think this is Deschamps telling him not to fuck up.

[Just Joe]

Well, this is a bit boring.

[Chris2K]

I dunno, it's fun watching Albania combine suicidal defending with targeting the unsurprisingly weak area of "Anthony Martial: Wing Back".