Euro: R16: France v Switzerland, 6/28/2021

[S E P H]

Absolutely insane game, glad I got to finish it when I was done with my on-call shift.

Pogba is world class times a million, I don't want to hear any thing else ever again in those EPL game threads. He just needs to get off of Dark Age United and go to a team that will let him play how he wants. He did so much I am not sure that I can put it into words because without him France finishes last in their group.

Benzema, what can you say about that first goal? He made an absolutely terrible pass into an absolutely brilliant move which juked out the entire Suisse defence. Unbelievable goal and would be goal of the tourney if Pogba didn't outclass him with his own beauty. Crazy to think I am writing about a team who got eliminated, but again too many passengers for France regardless of the elegance we were able to see.

Kimpembe and Kante, holy smokes they were f***ing atrocious on Suisse's GTG. Give credit to ex-Balkansussie for taking advantage of them since Gavranovic's strike was a thing of beauty. However, Kante covering literally no one in the middle of the pitch and allowing braindead Xhaka to line up his pass, while Kimpembe - who has always been overrated on this board simply because he starts for PSG - biting as hard as a dog does for an invisible treat. Sommer was bloody good and was one of the main reasons why they won. He suckered Mbappe in with his fake hand wave, forcing him to shoot where Sommer was going to go regardless. Brilliant reverse psychology by him.

4 games doesn’t earn you the right to get player of the tournament with not wanting to hear about it (no questions asked) especially since you won ONE game out of those four.

I mean who has been close to him? He's been on another planet and I don't think Evilo is far off from that hottake at all.

 

[Theokritos]

Let's face it's hard for any team to win the world cup and euro back to back.

Not winning the tournament is one thing, going out in the round of 16 against Switzerland after being up two goals is another thing. Big failure.

Those South Korea vs Italy one was fixed tbh.

Then I guess Christian Vieri must have been in on it?

 

[Havre]

no spirit, no togetherness and a poor attitude…france.

I love how in every picture (I have seen at least) after Mbappe's miss he is all by himself.

#teamspirit

 

[Your old Jofa helmet]

How do you say a "chokejob" in French? I wonder what was bigger, this or losing the final to the lamest possible Portugal.

Mbappe is a glorified sprint runner with no balls and miniscule football IQ who is used to play against the likes of Angers and Troyes. Sometimes he comes big once in a while but that's not enough to even be considered the best player in the game. And he showed it again today, it was just pathetic.

 

[Savi]

This should go over well

 

[Savi]

I'm watching some of the highlights again and I still have no clue what Lenglet was doing on that first goal

 

[Cloned]

Whatever happens in penalties is always on the striker, never on the goalie. For the goalie it's only anticipation, for he striker it's precision. It's impossible to save a well placed shot.

I'm not talking about the penalties. I'm talking about the goals from open play.

 

[Eisen]

I'm not talking about the penalties. I'm talking about the goals from open play.

Sorry, my bad.

 

[Eisen]

Not winning the tournament is one thing, going out in the round of 16 against Switzerland after being up two goals is another thing. Big failure.



Then I guess Christian Vieri must have been in on it?

The Italians tried to clobber and scratch their way through and failed. This was no one's fault but their own. If anything, they should have been carded a lot more.

 

[Cloned]

Somewhere, Aymeric Laporte is probably sleeping well tonight.

On a related note, France could’ve used Theo Hernandez too.

 

[Incubajerks]

The shouts of exultation outside the windows and the street for the last missed penalty by Mbappé who anticipated the live broadcast I was following on RaiUno by a few seconds. What a great moment of collective euphoria !!
I really think none of us wanted to meet France!

 

[Havre]

Good to see that the initial pictures with Mbappe alone was just media trying to distort the picture again. His teammates clearly support him with the pictures we now see.

 

[Eisen]

Good to see that the initial pictures with Mbappe alone was just media trying to distort the picture again. His teammates clearly support him with the pictures we now see.

Of course they do. Every shooter knows that he could miss as well.

 

[Havre]

Of course they do. Every shooter knows that he could miss as well.

It wasn't so obvious from the pictures several media outlets released yesterday. Obviously they got my clicks so they did their job.

And you never know what happens in these squads. Remember the Dutch from some years back? Civil war within the group.

 

[Evilo]

 

[JaymzB]

Bergkamp would be proud. What a great goal.

 

[cgf]

No from me.

He's an italy fan.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Let me help you.
Without looking it up I bet Mbappe at 19 had more knockout stage goals in a single WC than Messi in his entire WC career (3 WC).

Yes becuase goals=better play.

 

[Eisen]

It wasn't so obvious from the pictures several media outlets released yesterday. Obviously they got my clicks so they did their job.

And you never know what happens in these squads. Remember the Dutch from some years back? Civil war within the group.

The French let us know in advance when team chemistry is crap.

 

[Eisen]

He's an italy fan.

Ok, then perhaps.

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

For all his talent and skill, the pivotal Pogba moment occurred in the 90th minute when he lost the ball in midfield allowing the Swiss to score essentially a counter-attack goal in the last minute of a game they were trailing in. Why there's 6 French players i.e. everyone except the back four in the Swiss half in the 90th minute in a game they lead? Who knows. Funnily enough it's almost certainly Pogba's absence that opens that space right in the center through which the pass to Gavranovic is played. It gets even better when you consider that the French had possession 20 seconds before the goal, then again 10 seconds before the goal. Controlling the game with a lead? You'd expect better from France.

 

[Evilo]

Yes becuase goals=better play.

Of course not, but that's a quite telling number, isn't it?
How many assists then?

 

[bluesfan94]

They didn't lose any either.

Which is why I’m still betting on them to win the euros.

 

[cgf]

After this match, Zuber has claimed the record for most assists at a Euros with 4.

 

[Evilo]

For all his talent and skill, the pivotal Pogba moment occurred in the 90th minute when he lost the ball in midfield allowing the Swiss to score essentially a counter-attack goal in the last minute of a game they were trailing in. Why there's 6 French players i.e. everyone except the back four in the Swiss half in the 90th minute in a game they lead? Who knows. Funnily enough it's almost certainly Pogba's absence that opens that space right in the center through which the pass to Gavranovic is played. It gets even better when you consider that the French had possession 20 seconds before the goal, then again 10 seconds before the goal. Controlling the game with a lead? You'd expect better from France.

Nope, it wasn't Pogba who was supposed to cover. Kante was standing and when Pogba lost the ball, him and Sissoko just stood and covered no passing lane. XHaka took quite a few second before making his pass, and nobody moved. There were 30 meters between the D and Pogba.
It's not just a collective problem, because Lloris, Pogba, Rabiot and Benzema did their job. I'd say Varane and Kimpembe were pretty good in the tournament too. But playing with Pavard is playing hurt. Lucas is an above average player and nothing else, as I've said for 5 years or so. He has no business starting at LB given the number of good players we have there.
Sissoko coming on instead of Griez made sense in order to play more bodies in midfield but he was played.... RW. Tolisso would have covered that Pogba turnover. He was on the bench.
You need a goal and you have Lemar sitting and you pick up.... Thuram???

DD, Pavard, Lucas, Kante, Mbappe were all part of the problems over this tournament. The bench options used by DD (Lenglet, Thuram, Sissoko, Digne) were all massive failures (Digne only because of injury).
Player selection is a big problem. You can't have Lenglet starting a KO game when you have so much depth at CB (Zouma, Fofana, Kounde played out of position, etc...). You can't have Sissoko playing RW when you have so many better options, including several class midfielders (Caqueret, Camavinga, Ndombele, etc...).

This is a collective failure, with the exception of Lloris, Pogba, Rabiot, the two CBs and Benzema. Griez was OK. Rest was just abysmal.