OT: euro possible group of death

It's possible for Spain, Germany, Portugal and France to be in same group. Ouch!!!!!!!!!

Bill vs Babun vs Me vs Sport

If it's 0-0 and goes to a shootout, France will win . If we need to score goals, with the putrid playmaking midfield that we have, you can forget it. We haven't given up more than a goal in any game in the Blanc era.... so like i said, we're going to do it Italy 90s style

sportsczy wrote:If it's 0-0 and goes to a shootout, France will win . If we need to score goals, with the putrid playmaking midfield that we have, you can forget it. We haven't given up more than a goal in any game in the Blanc era.... so like i said, we're going to do it Italy 90s style

Sports... What? You don't have the defensive capabilities for that, you're going out in the group stages again regardless of the draw

Giovanni10 wrote:

sportsczy wrote:If it's 0-0 and goes to a shootout, France will win . If we need to score goals, with the putrid playmaking midfield that we have, you can forget it. We haven't given up more than a goal in any game in the Blanc era.... so like i said, we're going to do it Italy 90s style

Sports... What? You don't have the defensive capabilities for that, you're going out in the group stages again regardless of the draw

Excuse me lol... Sagna, Rami, Mexes/Sakho, Abidal is the best defensive back four of any NT out there. Add Cabaye and M'Vila to the midfield and nobody gets through. All those guys are defensive specialists.

Besides, the better the competition, the better we play. Every lesser team is parking the bus on us, like Belgium and USA, because they don't feel that our midfield has the creativity to break such a tactic... and they're right. Our greatest threat is the counter attack. When we played teams that tried a more attacking style over last year (Bosnia first leg, England, Brazil, Croatia and Chile), we looked good

IDK if France can make it and qualify for the second tour, but i'm pretty sure that will be in pain.
IMO, there are 3 big teams and the others: Germany, Spain and Netherland.
England, Portugal, Itlay, France come in the second level.
This is Germany's trophee

Babun will probably rage about this lol... but you cannot win a major international trophy without a great defense. Impossible. Sooner or later you're going to have to win a tough, defensive-minded game and you need to have that ability. Spain plays great defense when they have all their players available, with 2 recovering midfielders.

To me, Germany is the most enjoyable side to watch right now. But this 3-man defense tactic would be suicidal against Spain. Also, France and Italy thrive on teams that commit themselves forward and allow for counter attacks.

Btw, England is not in the second tier. Don't let that victory over Spain fool you (they parked the bus and got lucky). They are 3rd tier. So is Portugal. They have big holes in their lineups. The 2nd tier teams have full talent, which is why they're considered dangerous.

Chances are, I would probably want England to win it. Not because of any silly fandom. I just wanna see English fans go wild out on everyone here in these parts. Also, it's about time the 3 Lions win something.

But in reality, France's defense, Spain and Germany's midfield would carry their respective nations really far. Portugal would need each player to play out of their skin to really make a mark and there is this nation in the form of Italy that enjoys not being the favourites for anything. Holland would probably choke somewhere in the quarters or semis...

sportsczy wrote:Babun will probably rage about this lol... but you cannot win a major international trophy without a great defense. Impossible. Sooner or later you're going to have to win a tough, defensive-minded game and you need to have that ability. Spain plays great defense when they have all their players available, with 2 recovering midfielders.

To me, Germany is the most enjoyable side to watch right now. But this 3-man defense tactic would be suicidal against Spain. Also, France and Italy thrive on teams that commit themselves forward and allow for counter attacks.

Btw, England is not in the second tier. Don't let that victory over Spain fool you (they parked the bus and got lucky). They are 3rd tier. So is Portugal. They have big holes in their lineups. The 2nd tier teams have full talent, which is why they're considered dangerous.

I want France and Spain in the same group as Germany

futbol_bill wrote:It's possible for Spain, Germany, Portugal and France to be in same group. Ouch!!!!!!!!!

Senor bill, I'll post your info in general section on your behalf This thread has potential

Don't quite agree that France's back four is the best defensive unit out of all the national squads haha

France problem is the attack and #10 that links play between Cabaye and M'Vila.......

Thier defence is brilliant and thier Goalkeeper outstanding.......

With a proper #10 linking play between Ribery, Benzema and Remy and Cabaye and M'Vila then they become incredibly dangerous......

I obviously will support them out of these four teams because Cabaye plays for them

Immaculate_Mole wrote:France problem is the attack and #10 that links play between Cabaye and M'Vila.......

Thier defence is brilliant and thier Goalkeeper outstanding.......

With a proper #10 linking play between Ribery, Benzema and Remy and Cabaye and M'Vila then they become incredibly dangerous......

I obviously will support them out of these four teams because Cabaye plays for them

One more reason why I want them in the same group as Germany

hrealmadrid wrote:Don't quite agree that France's back four is the best defensive unit out of all the national squads haha

Who's better defensively? I'm not talking about teams who have attacking fullbacks and CBs... i'm talking pure defense here.

Immaculate_Mole wrote:France problem is the attack and #10 that links play between Cabaye and M'Vila.......

Thier defence is brilliant and thier Goalkeeper outstanding.......

With a proper #10 linking play between Ribery, Benzema and Remy and Cabaye and M'Vila then they become incredibly dangerous......

I obviously will support them out of these four teams because Cabaye plays for them

Everyone is hoping Nasri develops... but i have my doubts. I'm praying Ben Arfa emerges over this year. Martin is too timid when he starts for whatever reason. He only takes risks when he comes off the bench.

To stay with the discussion... Spain is the best team in the world. They're WC champs and Euro champs. All these friendlies, etc. mean nothing. Key is to qualify for the Euro and be as prepared as possible when the tournament comes around. One of the reasons i'm all for the Benz/higuain rotation is that he'll be super fresh come next summer. Same goes for Nasri being rotated at City. All the guys playing every game get killed come the summer tournaments, especially in the more physical leagues... which is why Spain also has an advantage because La Liga is the least physical of all the elite leagues. Bundi ends earlier than the other leagues, which is a huge advantage for Germany.

sportsczy wrote:

Immaculate_Mole wrote:France problem is the attack and #10 that links play between Cabaye and M'Vila.......

Thier defence is brilliant and thier Goalkeeper outstanding.......

With a proper #10 linking play between Ribery, Benzema and Remy and Cabaye and M'Vila then they become incredibly dangerous......

I obviously will support them out of these four teams because Cabaye plays for them

Everyone is hoping Nasri develops... but i have my doubts. I'm praying Ben Arfa emerges over this year. Martin is too timid when he starts for whatever reason. He only takes risks when he comes off the bench.

Nasri does'nt have the skillset to be a AM he is a winger/inside forward always was and always will be.....

Ben Arfa has the talent as we all know but he was off for more than a year it will take him time to get back to a level where he should be considered for France....

I ofcourse hope he does because that means 2 Newcastle players in starting eleven

Yeah... i can totally see a highly defensive midfield trio of M'Vila-Cabaye-Gonalons. If Diarra recovers form, he'll play in front of Gonalons. Nasri will be on the right wing.

We actually were playing our best when we had M'Vila-Diarra-Diaby. Blanc will go with what works.

Benzema is going to have to carry all the creative load in the middle.

Ahaha, Zidane, Platini, and Kopa type player, even Djorkaeff would make 4-2-3-1 doable for your NT, Monsieur Sportsczy, but you really really don't have that figure now? If you have that figure, even with two defensive DM as the base in MF you would do really really great, as you only really lose Thuram figure from WC 2006. It's quite a shame, but you can still do it France! I'm all for Germany though, they need to win ASAP

sportsczy wrote:Yeah... i can totally see a highly defensive midfield trio of M'Vila-Cabaye-Gonalons. If Diarra recovers form, he'll play in front of Gonalons. Nasri will be on the right wing.

We actually were playing our best when we had M'Vila-Diarra-Diaby. Blanc will go with what works.

Benzema is going to have to carry all the creative load in the middle.

I forget about Gonalons, yh i can totally see that aswell.......

I actually prefer to see a 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1 for France........

Personally when i look at France i see more CM/DM depth and quality than AM why not use that strength?

And have a front 3 of Ribery-Benzema and one other whether that will be Remy, Nasri, Gamiero,Menez ect etc

It may not be the most pleasing on the eye as a 4-2-3-1 with a #10 would be but with no #10 shouting from the roof tops PICK ME ! i think a 4-3-3 with M'Vila-Cabaye-Gonalons is the best bet currently its not like they cant pass either......

Superstone Mariomintsch wrote:Ahaha, Zidane, Platini, and Kopa type player, even Djorkaeff would make 4-2-3-1 doable for your NT, Monsieur Sportsczy, but you really really don't have that figure now? If you have that figure, even with two defensive DM as the base in MF you would do really really great, as you only really lose Thuram figure from WC 2006. It's quite a shame, but you can still do it France! I'm all for Germany though, they need to win ASAP

thuram, Makalele, Zidane, Henry, Vieira, Trezequet, Cisse, Anelka, Malouda, Abidal, Sagnol, Gallas, Ribery, etc. That 2006 team was 10x more talented than the current squad. They were literally all the best at their positions or close to it. Domenech didn't even manage to mess it up...

Yes they were sir, but I mean the successor is comparable in the positions of the other players (Abidal and Ribery are still here) and they also have good potential, only Thuram is different type of player. And well, we don't have to discuss Zidane's role for France in the noughties, underrated too much in this forum, especially from the Messi lovers. I agree Laudrup and Platini are better than him, but he's certainly on the same class with those two, only seem overrated because he won many prestigious awards in the recent years. He's still above CR, Kaka, and Raul for me, and I don't think the goalscoring freak could catch his greatness, maybe CR could surpass Zizou's achievements but not the greatness. Oh no, I suddenly discussed about Zidane, aahhh!!!

Blame it on Blanc for not nurturing Martin in that role, he could do a decent job

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Blame it on Blanc for not nurturing Martin in that role, he could do a decent job

Martin reminds me of Borja a bit Nick... he has trouble in physical games. He's a late game sub for me. We're going with 2 DMs (2 of M'Vila, Diarra and Gonalons) and a B2B (Cabaye). Unless someone breaks through, i don't see it any other way.

Btw, in 2011, France NT allowed the 3rd lowest number of goals per game (0.38) in its history. Only the 1984 and 1995 squads did better. That's just the identity of the team right now.

The 84 have your avatar bro, it's totally different. It's hard too be optimistic, but yeah you still should. And what happen to the 95, why no mention now?

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Blame it on Blanc for not nurturing Martin in that role, he could do a decent job

4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 whats your take on it Nick......

I forget about Gonalons, yh i can totally see that aswell.......

I actually prefer to see a 4-3-3 than 4-2-3-1 for France........

Personally when i look at France i see more CM/DM depth and quality than AM why not use that strength?

And have a front 3 of Ribery-Benzema and one other whether that will be Remy, Nasri, Gamiero,Menez ect etc

It may not be the most pleasing on the eye as a 4-2-3-1 with a #10 would be but with no #10 shouting from the roof tops PICK ME ! i think a 4-3-3 with M'Vila-Cabaye-Gonalons is the best bet currently its not like they cant pass either......

My take on it.

Seriously, I feel I'm the only Real fan here who wants England to win...