Euro: Group F: FRA vs. POR, GER vs. HUN, 6/23/2021

[Suiteness]

France and Portugal survive the group of death only to end up in the bracket from hell.

 

[Moncherry]

He’s got pace to burn, decent option off the bench against Rabiot who isn’t even a LB and some tired legs. I don’t rate Rafa as a starter but he would’ve made sense in that scenario.

Anything else to add?

He's got pace to burn and does nothing with it. It would have been just as effective to put on Guedes or Pote in that regard.

 

[Wester]

Heartbroken, but proud of our boys. We stood tall in the Group of Death, without our best player.

 

[Bures Elbow]

The two pk calls in the first half:

1- I can see why to some it's 50/50 and a definite talking point. It glanced off Danilo's head first, Lloris then ensues to touch the ball first before dragonball Z punching him in the head in a perceived reckless play. To me that should always be given as a pk yet also why some refs give it and some refs haven't in the past.

2- The Mbappe dive was shambolic, an absolutely shocking call that was a blatant make up call to the refs eyes, which caused an actual pk call in added time to not be even looked at.

As for the game itself, Portugal was a lot better during the 1st half then they were all tournament, and really grew in confidence to spread play up until the Mbappe call, I knew it would shake them and wake the French up and it did. Coupled with Santos turtling in the second half when the game was there for the taking ( Felix left on the bench, how?! He should have been running at Rabiot for the entire 35 minutes that he had to replace Digne ), and I'm not surprised the way the second half went.

Sanches was fantastic, really happy for him after how his career went when he left Benfica far too early. Palhinha showed his quality, what a run in the second half when he literaly tackled through two players then nutmegged Kante, did not see that sort of skill in his locker.

Pogba is the inverse Bruno Fernandes, struggles at Manchester United at times yet amazing for France (what a play and then shot that Patricio miraculously saved). And Bruno Fernandes continues to be a complete no show at the Euros after a great club season, he's been great for Manchester United but the last month he's really struggled.

Felix HAS to start, can't have Moutinho in there at his age and his lack of legs. His experience was critical in settling the team down after the German debacle, yet Bernardo needs to play in the CM position he took up for City during the months De Bruyne was out in order for Felix to come on and join Ronaldo/Jota

 

[Venkman]

Eilts was some awesome in that tournament. I remember after we won, me and a couple of friends drove to the citycenter where everyone was meetingg and started chanting Dieter Eilts and the whole place, 1000s of fans, sang with us after a couple of seconds.

I hated that Euro 96. Figured we could win it, but ZZ had a car accident before the Euro and we played average football.
Was the first step before WC 98 though.

I rewatched the England - Germany game a few weeks ago, the drama in ET was great. Anderton hitting the post, Kuntz' goal disallowed then Gazza coming close.

First tournment I remember watching, loved it.

 

[Live in the Now]

The Mbappe play wasn't a dive. It was a terrible call but both players ran into each other. The ref was really on one here, a complete idiot. No common sense at all.

 

[TheShape]

The Mbappe play wasn't a dive. It was a terrible call but both players ran into each other. The ref was really on one here, a complete idiot. No common sense at all.

Lahoz is the only ref with a highlight tape. Not at all surprised that showman had to take over.

 

[cgf]

Holy f*** is all I have to say about that. After having had to run back to the lab at halftime, that 2nd 45 was way too tense to come back too.

Just finished watching it & still processing

 

[cgf]

I'd wager they're much happier in 2nd in the group than 1st. Not much difference in 1st round opponents, but a much weaker side of the draw overall.

Love the shade getting thrown at England

..but with the way Switzerland gets up for matches with us, you might be right lol...

I actually like England's chances against this Germany team because of how badly organized they are defensively. That's assuming Southgate doesn't put the handbrake on and let's England go at them which I doubt.

I expect he'll try to France us...so we'll see if Maguire or Stones can match the job that Varane did.

 

[cgf]

Musiala should get more playing time going forward. Really good after he came in.

That's the last we'll see of him at this tournament, but I'm glad that Flick already has a lot of trust in him from the club level.

I don't blame him for that. He had no business defending that one. Where were the defenders?

Yeah, Sane was one of the few germans consistently backtracking all game. He wasn't in sync with the other attackers, but the guy worked his ass of tonight.

 

[cgf]

France and Portugal survive the group of death only to end up in the bracket from hell.

I'm getting the odd feeling that Jogi is going to Mr. Bean his way to another title right before he leaves, just so I get even more s*** for criticizing his post-2010 work

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I'm getting the odd feeling that Jogi is going to Mr. Bean his way to another title right before he leaves, just so I get even more s*** for criticizing his post-2010 work

I'm not sure what you saw today that makes you think Germany has a chance to win this tournament. There's some very fundamental problems with the way this defense is set up and also with the way this team can generate offense vs opponents. Germany had practically no high percentage chance in this match. The 1st goal was down to very poor goalkeeper play, the 2nd was the result of a few deflections (and in any event was down to two subs Werner and Musiala finally getting the ball into the box which the Gnabry/Sane/Havertz trio had failed to do all match). Also our defense is so slow and lumbering, it reminds me of WC 98 actually. Of course we all know how that ended when they ran into a team with the attacking power to take advantage of that weakness.

 

[cgf]

I'm not sure what you saw today that makes you think Germany has a chance to win this tournament. There's some very fundamental problems with the way this defense is set up and also with the way this team can generate offense vs opponents. Germany had practically no high percentage chance in this match. The 1st goal was down to very poor goalkeeper play, the 2nd was the result of a few deflections (and in any event was down to two subs Werner and Musiala finally getting the ball into the box which the Gnabry/Sane/Havertz trio had failed to do all match). Also our defense is so slow and lumbering, it reminds me of WC 98 actually. Of course we all know how that ended when they ran into a team with the attacking power to take advantage of that weakness.

I won't pretend that the first two matches aren't a big part of my confidence in our offense. But this match helped in that we've stumbled onto the easiest path possible...despite our best efforts to bottle it. It also helps that we can be a lot sturdier against counters than we have been with some tweaks...be that Kimmich getting shifted centrally (in midfield or defense) or putting both Goretzka & Gundogan around Kroos.

We could/should still go out quickly...especially if we play like we did against Hungary...but the bracket has lined up for us to bumble our way to the final if things keep going our way.


Plus it would be the most annoying "happy ending" possible for me personally


Either way, let's hope that Nagelsmann (or Tuchel if he's sold to them) can "get Süle right" next season, Klostermann stays healthy at the next tourney, and we get a big step from someone like Uduokhai / Torunarigha / Schlotterbeck to take over the left side of the back 3.

...otherwise we might be stuck waiting for teenagers to fix our defense *sigh*

 

[Say Hey Kid]

 

[cgf]

If Kimmich isn't the next captain, I hope it's Leon.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Kimmich is the obvious choice I think given that he's clearly a vocal leader and also the only guy on the team who's basically guaranteed a spot in the first 11.

 

[cgf]

Kimmich is the obvious choice I think given that he's clearly a vocal leader and also the only guy on the team who's basically guaranteed a spot in the first 11.

Kimmich seems perfect for it and I expect him to get it, but Leon seems like a great alternative.

Plus I wouldn't be entirely shocked if Kimmich is a little too confrontational behind closed doors for the armband. Sometimes those vocal leaders are best off in a secondary leadership role, rather than being the head honcho...like Müller.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

If the NT team was run by Munich the captain would be MAtS by now

 

[cgf]

If the NT team was run by Munich the captain would be MAtS by now

Love him & think he should've replaced Neuer a long time ago...but the last thing that ter Stegen needs when he puts on the NT shirt is more pressure

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Kimmich seems perfect for it and I expect him to get it, but Leon seems like a great alternative.

Plus I wouldn't be entirely shocked if Kimmich is a little too confrontational behind closed doors for the armband. Sometimes those vocal leaders are best off in a secondary leadership role, rather than being the head honcho...like Müller.

Hopefully Flick won't be as scared of players with a bit of personality as Löw was. Löw always preferred the conformists.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Love him & think he should've replaced Neuer a long time ago...but the last thing that ter Stegen needs when he puts on the NT shirt is more pressure

Wears it like pearls

 

[cgf]

Wears it like pearls

..at the club level. For the NT (at least to this point), not so much.

Dunno if he just worries/cares more about representing his country than his club, which makes it easier for him to deal with any pressure at the club level...which he did even as a 20yo at Borussia...if it's the whole supplanting Neuer-thing, just the bad luck of coming in right as our defense fell apart, or what. But too many of MAtS' NT performances have been below his standard so far.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

..at the club level. For the NT (at least to this point), not so much.

Dunno if he just worries/cares more about representing his country than his club, which makes it easier for him to deal with any pressure at the club level...which he did even as a 20yo at Borussia...if it's the whole supplanting Neuer-thing, just the bad luck of coming in right as our defense fell apart, or what. But too many of MAtS' NT performances have been below his standard so far.

When has he played fro the NT? lool

Nuer has past his expiration date and he isn't having the best time NT. We all agree with this but we're just splitting hairs at this point.

 

[cgf]

When has he played fro the NT? lool

Nuer has past his expiration date and he isn't having the best time NT. We all agree with this but we're just splitting hairs at this point.

...the game against Macedonia

He's gotten 25 games with the NT and had a really rough time his first couple of years; especially with the press constantly wondering "why not Neuer?"...but yeah, after 2016 we should've turned it over to him full-time & hopefully seeing how washed Neuer is, gets the press to calm the f*** down so MAtS can get fully comfortable in that net.

Cause unless Nagelsmann or Tuchel "fixes" Süle and we get a big step from Uduokhai / Torunarigha / Schlotterbeck, we're going to need ter Stegen at the peak of his powers to make the noise at the WM that our wingbacks, midfielders, & attackers should.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

As long as Neuer is around every Ter Stegen blunder is seen as confirmation of why he shouldn't be the starting goalkeeper. I think psychologically he is damaged goods for Germany because that kind of 'everyone's just waiting for you to mess up so their suspicions are confirmed' situation is toxic for a goalkeeper's mindset. Would be positively surprised if he overcame it.