Spain NT discussion

That depends on whether he'll back out of it as soon as it suits him.

I could have tolerated Prandelli's code of ethics if he actually applied it equally and stuck by it no matter what but the entire thing was a farce that went out the window if an important player was involved for a final tournament call up.

The Franchise wrote:Wow. Its so rare to see a decision being made by merit on the Spain squad.

Though when you look at Bartra and Cesc, you wonder why.

Is it just that Costa sucks, or that he also is such a bad apple there has to be a line drawn?

I think it's rare to see because NT coaches have to have a longer time frame in their heads. For example, after an initial struggle this season and constant disappointments in the CL and CA Martino didn't call up Higuain for the NT. The decision was widely celebrated because Higgy has been scape goated by the Argentine media as the sole responsible man for not winning both competitions. Almost immediately after this announcement, Higgy has scored something like 5 goals in the last 3 games. Would Martino still make the same decision 2 weeks later? I'm not so sure.

If you end up making decisions by 6 weeks of form you're going to end up with a lot of turn around, and team chemistry will suffer for it. This is why people are usually dropped only after being bad for an extensive period of time.

That's true, but my philosophy on NT call ups are different.

For me, its how you play for the NT. Higuain can do what he wants for Napoli, but if the forward ahead of him play better for Argentina, then he isnt coming back unless one of them cant perform that role. I think this limits turnover more.

If you go by what someone is doing with their club every time then thats what what you speak about happens.

Costa to me shouldnt be dropped (on football terms) because of his Chelsea seasons so far...but because he hasnt played well for Spain. The poor performance for Chelsea would simply make me think about other alternatives who could get a shot before him, if there is a need for a change.

FFS

anyone watching this game?

WHY IS THIAGO OFF AFTER 27 MIN?!?!?!

Pulled something in his knee. No word yet how bad.

hope nothing serious.

KNEE :facepalm.

why do most sexy goals happen against england lol

The goal was incredible but Fabregas' pass my gosh, I love the way he makes it look perfect, work of art

Spain's provisional squad: I Casillas, D de Gea, S Rico, S Ramos, G Pique, D Carvajal, J Alba, M Bartra, C Azpilicueta, M San Jose, Juanfran, Bruno, S Busquets, Koke, Thiago, A Iniesta, Isco, D Silva, Pedro, C Fabregas, S Niguez, A Aduriz, Nolito, A Morata, L Vazquez.



Chelsea forward Diego Costa and Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata have been left out of Spain's squad for this summer's European Championship.

Vicente del Bosque named the squad he plans on using to defend Spain's title in France on Tuesday, with Costa and Mata among a whole host of household names to miss out on a place in the provisional 25-man squad.
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Interesting decisions by VDB

That squad looks terrible.

Their attack looks extremely weak, the rest is great. And i like Lucas, but he is plain average.

Essentially a team without elite, pacy wingers, and no quality proven CF. they will bore us to tears with maximum possession and 0 end product

How does a guy like Bartra, who never gets to play a single minute of football, and probably with relatively good reason, get into that squad?

Instead no Javi Martinez?!? WTF is this?
Spain should've parted ways with Del Bosque long ago.

Would have binned Azpi for Bellerin tbh

RealGunner wrote:Would have binned Azpi for Bellerin tbh

cant do since azpi is left back

@Hans, isnt Javi Martinez an injury machine? would be laughable if your supposed back up is injured in the world cup when you need him. why take the risk? Bartra is an infinite scrub though, that i concede

RealGunner wrote:Would have binned Azpi for Bellerin tbh

Apparently Bellerin, who is in fact the 3rd best right back in the world after Lahm and Dani Alves, has never once beencalled up fot the senior team yet

Del Bosque has lost his touch. Martinez has been in top form lately. Surely he's among Spain top 5 players.

Mr Nick09 wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Would have binned Azpi for Bellerin tbh

cant do since azpi is left back

@Hans, isnt Javi Martinez an injury machine? would be laughable if your supposed back up is injured in the world cup when you need him. why take the risk? Bartra is an infinite scrub though, that i concede

Javi shouldn't be a back up, he should be starting lol.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Would have binned Azpi for Bellerin tbh

cant do since azpi is left back

@Hans, isnt Javi Martinez an injury machine? would be laughable if your supposed back up is injured in the world cup when you need him. why take the risk? Bartra is an infinite scrub though, that i concede

Javi shouldn't be a back up, he should be starting lol.

there is no room for him to start. top 5 lol

as for bellerin, Carvajal and Juanfran both are having great seasons and are playing CL finals. he is good too, but he has no chance for now

I beg to differ! Costa and Alcacer are left out because Aduriz and Morata have been much much better. Wingers / Ams are all good, although you have to bear in mind two will be dropped. Midfield is Iniesta, Koke or Thiago with Busquets. There isn't a better midfield out there. I agree re Bartra, but it was actually a choice between him or Nacho and he gets the nod because of more NT experience. However it is the 4th CB and likely will get next to nothing re playing time. So how good or not these guys are really depends on how effective the offense can be without any elite striker. That isn't a lot difference from previous teams!!! This time we are not recognized as a favorite, and with comments like those above it just may work to our advantage. Sports will tell you, France is a shooin, but I'll take my chances with this squad or Germany!!

The choice for the two to be dropped is likely a choice between Nolito, Pedro, Lucas or Saul (2 to go) or unless they feel they have enough coverage for Busquets in San Jose (who can play DLM or CM) to let Bruno go. In that case only one winger would be dropped. My choice would be to let Pedro, Bruno go or Pedro, Lucas.

I feel starters will be

De Gea; Juan Fran, Ramos, Pique, Alba (IMO we would be better with both Carvajal and Azipili but likely VDB goes with the more experienced); Iniesta, Busquets, Koke; Silva, Aduriz, Nolito.

Hapless_Hans wrote:How does a guy like Bartra, who never gets to play a single minute of football, and probably with relatively good reason, get into that squad?

Instead no Javi Martinez?!? WTF is this?
Spain should've parted ways with Del Bosque long ago.

Hans he said he wouldn't go with those that have injury problems. That's the case with Javi and Costa. Besides San Jose brings the same to team as Javi did.

Agreed with nicky boy, that team looks all neat passing and zero end-product. A glaring lack of proven goalscorers. Maybe they can get a lot of 1-0 wins, I dunno.

halamadrid2 wrote:

Re-Javi Martinez, does that guy ever play anyways?

He has always played when he was fit. He had another operation on his damaged knee in winter but he has been fantastic since he's back.

Art Morte wrote:Agreed with nicky boy, that team looks all neat passing and zero end-product. A glaring lack of proven goalscorers. Maybe they can get a lot of 1-0 wins, I dunno.

Art, they will score more goals and of course win more games than your England!!! LOL