The Official EURO 2012 thread

[yiddo2786]

I like that a lot

And great post Fuego

 

[1882]

Robben's stock is low. Cheeky bid?

what, to be our regular Penalty taker ahead of Vdv or Ade...? fudge ORRRF!!!

 

[Fuego]

Fuego that is a fair assessment although Walcott plays as a wide striker as part of their 4-3-3 - not wide midfielder / winger

You should be comparing him to the likes of Dempsey, Sturridge, Ben-Arfa, (on some occasions, etc.), Moses, etc. He isn't deployed as a conventional winger and he's a much better player the Downing, imv

Why do you follow the scum so well, btw?

EDIT: Are you comparing him to other English candidates only - in that case, ignore the first bit

Yeah, I was. I figured it was just about the England squad, so I wanted to show how he does compared to other guys that he was competing with for his place.

I did mention that at one point in my post when I compared him to Lennon (although I didn't call it a "wide striker", I have to remember that term), but Roy seems nailed on to play 4-4-2, so Walcott is likely to be deployed as a wide right midfielder for England, even if he does play in a forward 3 for Arsenal.

Yeah, Walcott is better than Downing, I just found it funny that his stats don't look great when compared to someone with 0 goals and 0 assists... I was more disgusted with Downing being in the squad than Walcott, but I was disappointed that Walcott made it.


-----

Two main reasons. Firstly, my family are all Arsenal supporters, so when I get the inevitable comments from someone when they're doing well, I'm always well prepared to point out the things often glossed over. Secondly, most games are with teams that don't affect us, so this year I got to watch Wigan beat them at their place and so on. It's great, most weeks I end up supporting an underdog that has absolutely no chance on paper but I feel like a fan. It's the closest thing I can get to how I feel when I watch Spurs. The added bonus is, if the team loses, it was expected and while it sucks at the time, I get over it a lot quicker than when Spurs lose. But it feels really huge when they win... Usually with Spurs, the expectation is there. So while it's always great to win, we expect to win the vast majority of our games and aside from against the Manchester clubs, we don't often go into games as massive underdogs. (The CL was the exception, I'm talking about the league.)



Aside from that, I watch almost everyone. Each week I watch all the live games that it's possible to watch and record anything on Sky that's on at the same time, (unless it's Spurs, which I watch live, obviously, but I record every PL game on Sky), I record 4-5 football firsts, MotD and I also record the Real Madrid games, Barca games and the weekly Revista (including the match specials).... Then CL matches (and highlight shows), Europa league matches and so on.

So I watch a lot of football. I tend to watch more PL matches than I should (because it means I often don't watch more than 2-3 Spanish games a week), but I like to see how Arsenal, City, United, Chelsea, Saudi Sportswashing Machine and co are playing, plus the teams we're due to play in the next few weeks.


That's why I generally don't know much about players from outside the English and Spanish leagues unless they play in the CL and I've watched quite a few of their matches.

-------------

Nevermind, got it.

Awesome. That saved me some time, I was working out Bale's stats manually from Whoscored. Thanks for that.



Bale doesn't compare that well with Lennon... Then again, Bale hasn't scored in 15 games or something insane... But 9 goals to 3 in double the time... *Sigh.*

The Man United wingers all have similar stats.

Things like that often make me wonder how well the players would do at different clubs, both those at smaller and bigger clubs. It'd be interesting to see how many goals Pilkington and Jarvis could get for a Manchester club if they got 8 each for their actual clubs... By contrast, it'd be interesting to see how often the City players could create chances for a bottom 6 team.

 

[Rossi22]

It's also telling how Valencia is heralded for his delivery whereas Lennon is slated for his ... just goes to show that once a player "earns" a particular tag, it's very hard for them to shake it off.

 

[Mumorn]

Would love for them all to be on the same amount of moments. So I'd like to see say Valencia's, Walcott's etc. stats for 1581 minutes which is the most Lennon's played this season.

 

[Mumorn]

just seen the potential french team:

..........................Lloris.....................
Debuchy......Mbiwa....Rami.........Evra
...................M'Vila.....Cabaye.............
Nasri................Gourcuff.............Ribery
........................Benzema.....................

With a bench with the likes of Giroud, Martin, Ben Arfa, Mexes, Mandanda etc. It's a VERY good squad and I think they'll do well, could we potentially call it a shock? (considering how brick they were at the WC)

 

[Baleforce]

i'm in the strange position of wanting to support germany, they play the most interesting football in my opinion, they were a delight to watch in the world cup

i can't bring myself to cheer for england if terry is in the team

 

[Rossi22]

Think Koscielny will start alongside Rami. Valbuena/Remy/Ben Arfa instead of Gourcuff too, either way I don't see England winning. Maybe sneak a 0-0.

 

[Mumorn]

Isn't Remy injured? Not sure about Ben Arfa to be honest, still a bit of a loose cannon, I think he'll be on the bench. But Valbuena could quite easily be instead of Gourcuff, both haven't had the best seasons though.

You're probably right about Koscielny, really built himself into the team, shame about Kaboul.

 

[Rossi22]

He said he's hoping to be fit, similar to Parker I think.

 

[Mumorn]

Fair enough. If he's fit, he'll probably be on the right then with Nasri playing behind Benzema

 

[indianspur]

Ribery #-o

watch him bottle some more big games

 

[rosenthal]

Support Spurs players involved, and cheer for teams playing attacking and attractive football

 

[rosenthal]

just seen the potential french team:

..........................Lloris.....................
Debuchy......Mbiwa....Rami.........Evra
...................M'Vila.....Cabaye.............
Nasri................Gourcuff.............Ribery
........................Benzema.....................

With a bench with the likes of Giroud, Martin, Ben Arfa, Mexes, Mandanda etc. It's a VERY good squad and I think they'll do well, could we potentially call it a shock? (considering how brick they were at the WC)

They have some crazy love in for Mexes though, a player I don't rate too highly.
Both him and Benzema has much higher hype than they deserve in my opinion.
Mexes seem to be first choice at the back for France, together with Rami who I do rate very high.
Mbiwa actually only made the squad as Kaboul pulled out.
Gourcuff as well only barely made it didnt' he? So I'm not sure those two will be starters, unless they impress in the friendlies before the tournament.

No lack of talent in the french team, but then again it never is, even when they didn't qualify in early 90s they were still full of talent. Clue is too make them strong as a team

Giroud would be leading their front line If I was in charge, got a feeling he might be a superstar after the EUROS.

 

[rosenthal]

I'd probably line up France like this if in charge.
Take advantage of the fresh legs and form of Ben Arfa,
and build on Giroud's presence up front.

Lloris
Debuchy - Rami - Koscielny - Evra
Cabaye - M'Vila
Ben Arfa - Nasri - Ribery
Giroud
​

Nasri, Gourcuff, Martin
No lack of quality in the support role,
either could do great and be a star of the tournament.
No Zidane though, no clear world class superstars like they used to have

 

[indianspur]

Giroud could very easily turn out to be another Gignac.....im still not convinced by the Montpellier striker

 

[Mumorn]

Giroud could very easily turn out to be another Gignac.....im still not convinced by the Montpellier striker

Gignac was a one season wonder though.

 

[indianspur]

Gignac was a one season wonder though.

and what is Giroud?

this is only his second season in the top division, most of his career has been in the lower leagues....and he is 26 years old this summer, for a country that loves to promote good players when they are young, why has it taken so long for him to reach the top.

 

[Mumorn]

and what is Giroud?

this is only his second season in the top division, most of his career has been in the lower leagues....and he is 26 years old this summer, for a country that loves to promote good players when they are young, why has it taken so long for him to reach the top.

He did well in the lower divisions (like Drogba, Cisse etc.) you still have to score goals in whatever division you are regardless. Some people consider the Scottish division the equivalent to League One or League Two yet Jelavic who scored goals for fun is also scoring goals for fun in the top division in England.

Second year in the top flight and has scored 33 goals in those two seasons, not a bad return at all. His goals have won Montpellier the league arguably in a season they were told they would get relegated by many many people.

 

[rosenthal]

and what is Giroud?

this is only his second season in the top division, most of his career has been in the lower leagues....and he is 26 years old this summer, for a country that loves to promote good players when they are young, why has it taken so long for him to reach the top.

His career kicked on at age 24, same age as Drogba started to perform.
Could be they needed their body to be fully developed, they are both physical strikers.
Adil Rami, another key player for France, also took the step up at same age as Giroud.
Late developer both of them. I know Giroud had a lot of focus on his education earlier as well.