Spain 🇪🇸 v 🇫🇷 France

[MarkoRaj]

14 minutes ago, Utdtillidie2 said:

Tbf I don’t think it really matters who’s up front for Spain. Morata did hee haw today and is at best a decent not world class striker. They should have enough back up regardless of who’s up front.

Morata was outstanding tonight

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, GordonS said:

The utter myth of Deschamps' success:

Euro 2016 (at home)

Beat Romania with an 89th minute goal. Beat Albania with goals in 90th and 96th minutes. Draw 0-0 with Switzerland.

Beat much weaker opposition in Ireland and Iceland in knock-outs, good win against Germany, then lose impotently on their home pitch against a Ronaldo-less Portugal.

World Cup 2018

Beat Australia with a late goal, beat Peru 1-0, draw with Denmark.

Argentina pushed France into playing a different game and actually having a go, they show their quality when they don't play Deschamps' tactics, win 4-3. Then beat Uruguay, Belgium and Croatia; good sides, but not greats and all limited in some ways. Par performances for that team.

Euro 2020

Beat Germany with an OG, drew with Hungary and Portugal.

Had a 3-1 lead against Switzerland, played conservatively, Switzerland came at them and scored twice, knocked out on penalties in the R16.

World Cup 2022

Beat Australia well, beat Denmark with a late goal, lose to Tunisia.

Did well enough beating inferior Poland, England and Morocco sides. Played shitty conservative Deschamp-ball in the final and go 2-0 down; forced to attack, they show their class and get back to 2-2. Repeat in ET, lose on penalties. They had a much better team than Argentina.

Euro 2024

Beat Austria with an OG, 0-0 with Netherlands, 1-1 against a dreadful Poland thanks to a penalty.

Beat Belgium with a last OG, beat Portugal on penalties after a 0-0, lose 2-1 to Spain. One goal from open play in 6 matches.

 

I'd say France have had the best starting 11 and bench in the world through that period and what do they have to show for it? One trophy and two blown finals. It's an absolute myth that Deschamps has been successful.

 

 

1 hour ago, throbber said:

@GordonSyou’re selling them a little bit short for the World Cup triumph in 2018, you glossed over the Belgium win like it was nothing when they were the number one ranked team at the time were they not?

Yeah, and whether anyone likes it or not England were in great form in World Cup 2022 too. France were damned fortunate to win that game actually. If Kane's penalty doesn't enter orbit I imagine England probably win. To dismiss it as an "inferior England side" is daft IMO.

It's possibly gone stale for Deschamps and France and a change is likely required, as it probably is with England now too, but to suggest it's a myth Deschamps has been successful when he's won a World Cup, been twice a runner up and once a losing semi finalist is nonsense.

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

It would be the ultimate reflected glory for us as well. They’ve really sorted themselves out since we pumped them at Hampden 

Only Rodri remains as a starter from that dreadful starting 11 against us tbf.

[Elixir]

1 hour ago, Paranoid said:

Spain also have an extra 24 hours prep.

They were able to rest pretty much their entire starting XI in their final group match as well, and have only been taken to extra-time once with that late German equaliser.

Speaking of which, hopefully the Dutch are a bit fresher than England tomorrow and can do the business. Two wins in 90 minutes versus two slither jobs via extra-time and penalties.

[GordonS]

30 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

 

Yeah, and whether anyone likes it or not England were in great form in World Cup 2022 too. France were damned fortunate to win that game actually. If Kane's penalty doesn't enter orbit I imagine England probably win. To dismiss it as an "inferior England side" is daft IMO.

It's possibly gone stale for Deschamps and France and a change is likely required, as it probably is with England now too, but to suggest it's a myth Deschamps has been successful when he's won a World Cup, been twice a runner up and once a losing semi finalist is nonsense.

England and Belgium were inferior to that France team. I'm obviously not trying to argue France didn't have a single good game or good result in that run, I'm saying that it's not as good as it should have been.

For the talent they have, they've underachieved. They should have had two World Cups and a Euros in that spell. They lost the two finals because they played bad football. 

[Skyline Drifter]

2 hours ago, GordonS said:

England and Belgium were inferior to that France team. I'm obviously not trying to argue France didn't have a single good game or good result in that run, I'm saying that it's not as good as it should have been.

For the talent they have, they've underachieved. They should have had two World Cups and a Euros in that spell. They lost the two finals because they played bad football. 

You're hard to satisfy eh? Its not easy to get to the latter stages of international tourneys. To have reached semi finals at least in 4 of the last 5 finals is pretty remarkable. Suggesting otherwise is like winning a million quid on the lottery and moaning it wasnt a rollover that week! Its not like they were they only decent side in the world. Its fair to say they maybe should have won both finals they lost but you can still acknowledge the achievement getting there. They cant really have any complaint this time though. Spain are simply better.

[Sonam]

Missed the whole match, was it a good game? Was it an end to end matchexcitinll. It's starting to look that

[throbber]

Spain have got it completely right this whole tournament and have been entertaining throughout, last night was a superb first half, stagnated a bit in the second half but we had got our moneys worth by then and it was still exciting to the end.

Rodri just oozes class, he seems like a complete walloper but he cruises through games doing the dogged work but making it look so easy. Reminds me of Busquets who was also a massive walloper. 
 

I just  can’t see England winning it should they get through. 

[The Holiday Song]

Thought it was going to be a classic after 25 minutes. Fell away a bit but still a good watch. I may be misremembering things, but the way this Spanish team plays compared to the 08-12 team reminds me why was never a massive fan of them. This team more direct, get the ball forward quick. They also seem more open (France got down the wings a lot in the second half it felt) which makes the games more exciting, but does give me a bit of fear for the final!

[Lurkst]

1 hour ago, The Holiday Song said:

They also seem more open (France got down the wings a lot in the second half it felt) which makes the games more exciting, but does give me a bit of fear for the final!

Yes the Dutch could really exploit that.

 

[lanky_ffc]

14 hours ago, throbber said:

@GordonSyou’re selling them a little bit short for the World Cup triumph in 2018, you glossed over the Belgium win like it was nothing when they were the number one ranked team at the time were they not?

Harsh evaluation for me as well.

I know FIFA rankings can be slightly flawed but Peru and Denmark were 11th & 12th going into the tournament, so they arguably got the strongest teams from Pots 2 and 3. I'll concede that Croatia (20th) is one of the most charitable fixtures you could hope for in a WC Final but Argentina (5th), Uruguay (14th) and Belgium (3rd) is a challenging path which they navigated relatively comfortably.

They definitely played within themselves but were still more adventurous than this current iteration IMO.

[PauloPerth]

22 hours ago, Utdtillidie2 said:

Que?

Oui