Offical Euro 2008 Thread.

[bus24]

Bastian the pig mounter was good for Ze Germans too. He gets bonus points for batting way above his average in the female stakes. and I mean way, way, WAY above his average.

He squeeks into my team. Good tournament, plus I want a chance with his female.

Casillas

Altintop
Marchena
???
Zhirkov

Senna
Schweinsteiger
Sneijder
Ballack
Turan

Villa


Arshavin
van der Vaart
Pranjic
Buffon
Xavi
Senturk/Podolski/Pavlyuchenko
Anyukov

 

[Bradesmaen]

You do know, he's not 'really' in the side as a defensive player?

He wasn't even that bad defensively, just out of position alot, as generally happens when you go bombing up forward as a right back.

He was superb on the ball, lacked a bit defensively, but Spain wouldn't have minded that seeing as though he was in there as an attacking full back.

I realise that... However he did get beaten a fair bit. With the middle of SPains defence being crap, I'd rather have a solid RB.

 

[RoosterLad]

Bastian the pig mounter was good for Ze Germans too. He gets bonus points for batting way above his average in the female stakes. and I mean way, way, WAY above his average.

Do we have any pics or at least a name of his sheila?

 

[ShearMagic9]

Do we have any pics or at least a name of his sheila?

 

[davey_magik]

Not sure why you've chosen to single him out. Happens in just about every game. In every league.

I can't remember a game this season (and fair to say I watched a few - I love the 5 games at once, that's ace) where I didn't see a fair bit of diving, play acting or injury faking. It's actually encouraged in many leagues around the world.

Because a) Torres is one of the worst going around and b) Platini's recent comments about going lightly on divers post-match really irked me.

To be honest in today's game I would never put the ball out when a player is down 'injured' unless he needs the stretcher, because the amount of shit (It is not just Torres, more the whole football world) that players do to kill momentum like that is infuriating.

 

[bus24]

The photo of her holding the two jugs

Spoiler

of beer

is better though.

Sarah Brandner I think it is.

 

[Corrosion]

I hope it's a Spain Vs Argentina final at South Africa. Would be a fantastic game. Those two teams in two years times.....wow!!! Talent galore.

 

[davey_magik]

2010 is still way too far off to judge IMO. Spain and Argentina certainly have talent, Brazil will as always be ominous (Anderson, Kaka, Fabiano, Robinho etc), Portugal will still have a very good side, you could also argue Holland rival Spain for pure talent on the park, Portugal will be strong and then there's still Germany and Italy who as we know have a habit of firing at World Cups.

 

[bus24]

Photo of the tournament for me.

Hilarious.

 

[DonMania#5]

 

[youngsaint]

I realise that... However he did get beaten a fair bit. With the middle of SPains defence being crap, I'd rather have a solid RB.

He was dominate after about 15mins this morning as all of the spanish side was. He made good tackles and got forward as much as he could which is his main objective. Aragones wouldnt have cared if he got caught out a few times. The two CB's were decent this morning much better then Germany's lumberjacks anyway. Best form of defence is attack is the line isen't it??

 

[Bradesmaen]

He was dominate after about 15mins this morning as all of the spanish side was. He made good tackles and got forward as much as he could which is his main objective. Aragones wouldnt have cared if he got caught out a few times. The two CB's were decent this morning much better then Germany's lumberjacks anyway. Best form of defence is attack is the line isen't it??

He was? I must have been watching the Euro 2008 final while you were watching something else.

Also, while that saying is sometimes true.. you still have to have some form of defence just incase your attack is not up to what it should be and is too busy diving all over the place.

 

[youngsaint]

What did he do wrong after about 15min mark? No disgusting mistakes, cut out promising runs from bastian and podolski down his side, set up torres for his shot that hit the post and passed and kept the ball well and nearly scored himself.. What more could you want from a 22yo in his first massive final??

 

[Bradesmaen]

What did he do wrong after about 15min mark? No disgusting mistakes, cut out promising runs from bastian and podolski down his side, set up torres for his shot that hit the post and passed and kept the ball well and nearly scored himself.. What more could you want from a 22yo in his first massive final??

He cut promising runs out? Jansen cut him to pieces on that left side.

 

[ShearMagic9]

Because a) Torres is one of the worst going around and b) Platini's recent comments about going lightly on divers post-match really irked me.

To be honest in today's game I would never put the ball out when a player is down 'injured' unless he needs the stretcher, because the amount of shit (It is not just Torres, more the whole football world) that players do to kill momentum like that is infuriating.

It happens even in the local games.

I must admit, unless it's a head injury, I never stop the play and get the player seen to until it goes out.

It's a bit different in juniors, and I'm usually quicker in stopping the play, but even in juniors some of them play it up.

The photo of her holding the two jugs

Spoiler

of beer

is better though.

Sarah Brandner I think it is.

He was? I must have been watching the Euro 2008 final while you were watching something else.

Also, while that saying is sometimes true.. you still have to have some form of defence just incase your attack is not up to what it should be and is too busy diving all over the place.

He cut promising runs out? Jansen cut him to pieces on that left side.

To use your own line:

I must have been watching the Euro 2008 final while you were watching something else.

 

[A Bit High]

Putting Torres in the same bracket as Drogba in terms of diving/acting is like putting Mike Tyson's wealth with Bill Gate's.

Not denying that Torres does all those things, but the only one in the same league as Drogba in acting is Ronaldo, Joe Cole and Arjen Robben

is that 1, or 3 you listed??

 

[youngsaint]

Haha bollocks. He gave them nothing decisive. No killer crosses, not anything. Plus he played Ramos and the other Spanish bloke onside stupidly for Ramos's header which Lehmann had to save.

Getting back to original point, Lahm is a lightweight and showed his defensive incapabilities against a quality striker in Torres. Now im not saying Ramos is the perfect defender but that is mainly because he is buccaneering forward so much. If he sat back and played as a more defensive full back as you suggested then alot of Spain's attacking prowless down their right side would have been lost. Plus who gives a rat's clackers about sitting back and not attacking even if your CB partnership might not be rock solid.

 

[bus24]

Jansen tore him to pieces?

I saw Jansen get forward about twice, and both times he fell over his own feet.

Quite clearly was brought on as a more defensive option than Lahm who was being badly exposed. Would have been told not to bomb on too much, and he didn't.

 

[apollo_creed]

toss a racist day.

 

[davey_magik]

Getting back to original point, Lahm is a lightweight and showed his defensive incapabilities against a quality striker in Torres. Now im not saying Ramos is the perfect defender but that is mainly because he is buccaneering forward so much. If he sat back and played as a more defensive full back as you suggested then alot of Spain's attacking prowless down their right side would have been lost. Plus who gives a rat's clackers about sitting back and not attacking even if your CB partnership might not be rock solid.

In terms of defending, Lahm > Ramos. Don't try and blame Lahm for the goal, your left back should not be chasing strikers down the centre of the park, that's the job of your CB's, but in this case they were non-existent so Lahm had to try and do the job instead.

Ramos doesn't deserve the criticism given here, I think in terms of defending he can do it very well, he just needs to choose when to attack and when to stay back because there were plenty of times this morning when Puyol had to cover down the right side for Ramos.

I still think Lahm is the best fullback in the world, but Ramos isn't a Daniel Alves-esque fullback who can't defend like some people seem to think.

 

[Bourky23]

and Dani Alves isn't the shit defender everyone makes him out to be either.. he'll be wonderful at barcelona where there is a bit more quality in the centre than at Sevilla.. don't know a right back that works harder than alves.. he just gets caught out and resorts to professional fouling from time to time.. otherwise he is decent (not the best but still a decent defender)

like Ramos, he'll have Puyol to cover him

 

[Cooldude]

is that 1, or 3 you listed??

Gotta love semantics police, adds nothing to the discussion and drags it off topic. Even less surprising that you're a Manc

Anyway, if it's a Lahm vs Ramos thing, then Lahm seems like the bet.

 

[davey_magik]

and Dani Alves isn't the shit defender everyone makes him out to be either.. he'll be wonderful at barcelona where there is a bit more quality in the centre than at Sevilla.. don't know a right back that works harder than alves.. he just gets caught out and resorts to professional fouling from time to time.. otherwise he is decent (not the best but still a decent defender)

like Ramos, he'll have Puyol to cover him

He works hard because he has to run back all the time when he leaves the wing exposed.

In terms of pure defending he's very average IMO, but Barcelona will tear teams apart when he links up with Messi on the right flank.

 

[DB10]

They look like pall bearers!

Nah, credit where it's due to the racist prick. None of the others could do it.

 

[Lowie01]

The player of the tournament is.....Xavi.

In typical style, they wimp out on naming a best XI and pick a 23-man squad.

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Iker Casillas (Spain), Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands).

Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Carlos Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Carles Puyol (Spain), Yuri Zhirkov (Russia).

Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Turkey), Luka Modrić (Croatia), Marcos Senna (Spain), Xavi Hernández (Spain), Konstantin Zyryanov (Russia), Michael Ballack (Germany), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Lukas Podolski (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands).

Forwards: Andrei Arshavin (Russia), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Fernando Torres (Spain), David Villa (Spain).