BhritanniaBhlue wrote:

Luca wrote:

BhritanniaBhlue wrote:Ozil is going to run riot with whatever assortment of wingers/strikers he is paired with

Ozil-Khedira-Schweinsteiger will expose Pirlo's defensive liability just like they did with the Netherlands

De Rossi, Marchisio and even Montolivo (or Motta) provide more than enough defensive cover for Pirlo.

De Jong-MVB isn't exactly a shabby defensive combination either, and yet look what happened to them...

You're right, but 3 midfielders all working for Pirlo, and then also Pirlo himself, that's pretty strong.

The media, the Germans and their foreign supporters (very few), will be convinced that the pasta eating, pizza flinging swarthy Italians will be destroyed by the efficient and powerful German Wehrmacht. Then the game is played.

Germany are not destroying anyone, This Italian side are under-rated, they are not Greece, Portugal, Denmark or even Holland.

They are solid all round and I hope Germany beats them

Should be a very good game. I can't wait for it.

this is not to say anything against germany or towards fans, but UEFA is terrible with scheduling semi final. are they doing it to get more revenue or what??? few days of rest for italians until they meet germans.

i like germans, i am fan of both german and italian football. but i think italians might just win it. germans are killer in attack, but i think italians will defend very deep, and hit germans in counterattack, something they are a little weak at.

also depends, how cassano and balotteli does. because against england cassano had horrendous game, he simply cant afford that anymore now to waste chances. same applies to balotelli. italians have been pretty good overall in defense, and in midfield, solid but not spectacular but finishing has been terrible. they work on finishing italians may win it.

germans meanwhile have great weapon in attack but the germans need to definitely help schweinsteiger and khedira a lot more because just two of them will not be enough in midfield to marshall defense and help in attack at the same time. the wingers whowever will play poldi or reus or mueller they also need to drop back to help a bit. schweinsteiger has been playing through pain which even makes things harder for germans so, in midfield they need to give helping hand. otherwise i am convinced italians wil win it. germans firepower in attack are brutal so im absolutely convinced italians at the back will be more defensive this time around like against spain

i would say 2-1 italy

REWB wrote:^^fck me ozil looks EPIC in that pic. looks like a total beast.

back on topic, i think it will be an even game. i have a feeling ozil will flop though, pirlo will shine again. Germany will go through as they have much more clinical players.

He looks like a retard.

leemhuis wrote:The media, the Germans and their foreign supporters (very few), will be convinced that the pasta eating, pizza flinging swarthy Italians will be destroyed by the efficient and powerful German Wehrmacht. Then the game is played.

wow, talk about distorted pictures. every semi-informed german football fan has tremendous respect for the squadra azzurra, if not fear.
But yes, you can be sure that the italian media will come up with plenty panzer references...

Italy will win because Italy is Italy and winning is what Italy does.

sbaggio wrote:

REWB wrote:^^fck me ozil looks EPIC in that pic. looks like a total beast.

back on topic, i think it will be an even game. i have a feeling ozil will flop though, pirlo will shine again. Germany will go through as they have much more clinical players.

He looks like a retard.

Lol sbaggio uber-nationalism

He's going to make a few Italian players look retarded :lucas :

#SaveUsNeuer#JusticeForFootball


Hopefully this dosent end up in deception

ELO wrote:every semi-informed german football fan has tremendous respect for the squadra azzurra, if not fear..

Respect, yes. Fear - never.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Italy completely outclassed England but England almost beat Italy last night.

Italy will need to improve on their finishing and defending because the Germans won't ask twice.

Yeah, I think di natale will play next - their finishing problems is no more.

I'm fine with them having possession and what not, but we can easily hurt them,, even england made their chances yet they have zero creative force under hodgson.

I'm very worried about our defense for this match but still see us pulling through here

Germans will have more rest too.. Sad that Maggio cant play as a sub vs Germany, Abate will get his hands full.

Seriously, you guys think Ozil will boss a midfield of Pirlo, Marchisio? Not happening. He is not that good yet.

Midfield will be the key in this battle once again..

But Italy do need to capitalize on the chances they get.

Germany could be very scary on the counters though ,Italy need to watch out.

Especially Reus vs Balzaretti is quite worrying indeed.

I'm afraid of many things against Italy, but losing the midfield battle isn't one of them. I respect Pirlo, but he alone isn't enough to make up for playing against Khedira, Özil and Piggy/Kroos.

Italy demonstrated chemistry though, they played as a unit, maybe even more so than we did so far. Pirlo has balls of steel. They didn't finish for shit, but the chance creation was decent, and the movement from both Cassano and Balotelli was excellent.

And one thing people tend to understate, and which I said evne before the tournament started:

Forget star players, forget who's best player is better than who elses best player.

Italys greatest strength is that they really have no weak link. Spain have no striker and a shoddy back four, Portugal have no #10, no #9 and are prone to panick, Germany get cocky when they take the lead, and their tactics expose the back four to a lot of pressure.

Sure, Germanys fire power is superior to that of Italy, but in my opinion Italy is the most balanced team in the competition, and that's why I fear them.


We'll still win though. It's our year.

kiranr wrote:

Seriously, you guys think Ozil will boss a midfield of Pirlo, Marchisio? Not happening. He is not that good yet.

Why are you as a Barca fan laughing? You of all people should know by now how dangerous Ozil is.

VivaStPauli wrote:Italys greatest strength is that they really have no weak link. Spain have no striker and a shoddy back four, Portugal have no #10, no #9 and are prone to panick, Germany get cocky when they take the lead, and their tactics expose the back four to a lot of pressure.

I agree with most of that but I don't think a lack of a #9 is a problem for Portugal, they just need someone in there who will keep the CB's busy and Almeida can do that. CR is their true attacking outlet. Lack of a #10 is their real issue I agree but Moutinho has shown he can step up when needed.As for panic we'll have to wait and see but I agree it could be a problem for them.

Italy actually do have a weakness and that is that they can't put their stamp on a game all the way through. England had some real chances last night nad they weren't playing very well at all, they didn't even man mark Pirlo for some reason. Germany can get at them imo.

I don't disagree, Zeal, those are just the most obvious weaknesses. On the whole I think Germany should win - Italy let a weak England side come too close to their goal too often, but I stick by my main point: they're a very, very balanced side.

Though they seemed exhausted after the match and have 2 days less to regenerate than Germany do... This won't matter until like minute 80 or so, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the fitness aspect unless the match actually goes to extra time.

Zealous wrote:

kiranr wrote:

Seriously, you guys think Ozil will boss a midfield of Pirlo, Marchisio? Not happening. He is not that good yet.

Why are you as a Barca fan laughing? You of all people should know by now how dangerous Ozil is.

As a Barca fan how afraid am i of Ozil

Let us just say that i fear Benzema and CR more than Ozil everytime in Clasico.

As much as i love Ozil, he is not there yet to be able to say that Italian midfield can be dominated by him. Not going to happen.

Italy's greatest weakness is thier width ( or lack of) the whole game is centralized and thier fullbacks who are asked to provide the width are quite poor going forward while good defensively.

I don't really see an out come with Ozil dominating anyone..... because Italy will out number Germany in the middle he will never have any space to operate, that's the strength of the 4-3-1-2 they will always have 4 players in the middle but their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness.

The players that will shine in this game if Germany win are the fullbacks, wide players and Gomez if he plays because Chiellini wont be playing as i'm not really sure Barzagli and Bonucci are well equipped with to deal with like i think Chiellini could.

Italians have Pirlo.

Germans have Özil, Schweinsteiger, Khedira.

Why again are we only talking about Özil? And why would you think the Italian midfield might win that battle?

mole breakfast win, much better than continental one.

French and Italian breakfasts suck big time lol

VivaStPauli wrote:Italians have Pirlo.

Germans have Özil, Schweinsteiger, Khedira.

Why again are we only talking about Özil? And why would you think the Italian midfield might win that battle?

Well in that case, Germany has Pirlo, Marchisio and De Rossi. I don't really think Germany has a superior team in the this case apart from the forwards. That is going to be the difference between them this Euro. Not the midfield.

kiranr wrote:

Zealous wrote:

kiranr wrote:

Seriously, you guys think Ozil will boss a midfield of Pirlo, Marchisio? Not happening. He is not that good yet.

Why are you as a Barca fan laughing? You of all people should know by now how dangerous Ozil is.

As a Barca fan how afraid am i of Ozil

Let us just say that i fear Benzema and CR more than Ozil everytime in Clasico.

As much as i love Ozil, he is not there yet to be able to say that Italian midfield can be dominated by him. Not going to happen.

LOL that's your problem not Ozil's. He's a big reason why Madrid beat Barca last time and the game before that he was even better arguably.

Ozil can have a big game imo and it's not like he won't have support, Khedira, Schweinsteiger/Kroos, Muller etc will all put in a shift as well. Italy aren't going to be playing a team who plays two banks of four and leaves Pirlo free lol

We'll see what happens but either way the game will be great.