Easily the best peformance by a " big team " so far .

farfan wrote:Easily the best peformance by a " big team " so far .

Scraping past Belgium with a back-to-the-wall game?

No.

It's either the best performance OR by a big team, it can't be both.

Scraping

Lol,they had the better chances,played the better football.Should've crushed Belgium if not for poor finishing.

Its all black or white on this forum sadly.

When people see teams like Italy for example shut up shop late in the 2nd half it means they parked the bus the entire game on here So ridiculous.

I didn't say they parked the bus. But the game went down like Italy were the underdogs and Belgium the favourite.
That's also the reason why people are celebrating Italy so much
Gil has been somewhat successful apparently

Guys.

It's Belgium.

BELGIUM.

You don't win against Belgium, go home, stop competing.

People are not celebrating because Italy won(atleast not me). Its more to do with the fact that all the hype around them and their #1 ranking came crashing down in a big way.

Its like Italy taught them a footballing lesson.

Its not just Gil.The EPL circle,English and other foreign pundits all were overrating them.
I read an article where the journalist was perplexed how Belgium with a team full of EPL stars lost to this Italian side.That's the kind of hype they generate.

S wrote:
Its not just Gil.The EPL circle,English and other foreign pundits all were overrating them.

That is true tbf.
You for example even made a bet they would top the group

You know why i did?

Because i expect Italy to botch their games against Ireland and Sweden while Belgium will most likely win against both.It would be classic Italy to scrub it up against weaker teams.

This Belgium-Italy group so eerily reminds me of Man City-Juventus' champions league group of last season.

S wrote:I read an article where the journalist was perplexed how Belgium with a team full of EPL stars lost to this Italian side.That's the kind of hype they generate.

I think the kicker had the perfect headlines in today's print issue when they reviewed both Italy and Belgium:

Italy - A Team without Stars
Belgium - Stars without a Team

The power of James

Valkyrja wrote:If they get to the QF against Germany than a SF place is in the pocket. That would be the easiest bet to place ever

I said they'd make it to the quarters if they were lucky. Seems like they're lucky.

Tour is over.

Tour over like I said.

Squad just lacked quality. Without Buffon and the Juve CB's can't imagine how embarrassing it would have gotten.

Don't call me James wrote:Tour over like I said.

Squad just lacked quality. Without Buffon and the Juve CB's can't imagine how embarrassing it would have gotten.

That's like me saying imagine how amazing they would've been with Verratti, Marchisio and a fit De Rossi.

There certainly was nothing embarrassing about Italy's run in this tournament and it's embarrassing if you think so.

I didn't say their run is embarrassing. Read my post again.

Anyways, I called them getting knocked out in the quarters and they did. This thread was dumb as shite because everybody and their cats can tell looking at that Italian squad that it would never win the Euros.

Agreed, this thread was completely serious and uniquely so. There exists no such tradition on GL of making such threads, with diverse motives, nor shall there ever be.

Can only hope the OP is forgiven. We can't all be as immune to hype as you.

For the very least, McAgger finally got a prediction spot on. Hopefully he sends Pelle and Zaza a fruit basket as compensation for this momentous occasion.

juvealbanian wrote:P.S i really liked Conte not bothered to even play Insigne and SES or even Zaza.
He is saving the mass destruction weapons for more serious opponents.

Can't wait to see Zaza destroying some overrated team like he did with Napoli....Zazaaaa remember this name folks

Dont worry, people will remember Zaza.

I thought it was weird that Insigne wasn't a starter. Looked their best player whenever he was on the pitch tbh. Shaarawy probably would have been nice for some pace up front as well.

Still hard to be down on Italy after their run. They did well for themselves and really outside of some comically horrible PKs they'd have beaten Germany.

Curtinho wrote:I thought it was weird that Insigne wasn't a starter. Looked their best player whenever he was on the pitch tbh. Shaarawy probably would have been nice for some pace up front as well.

Everyone in the world other than Conte agrees with you (:

Cruijf wrote:

Curtinho wrote:I thought it was weird that Insigne wasn't a starter. Looked their best player whenever he was on the pitch tbh. Shaarawy probably would have been nice for some pace up front as well.

Everyone in the world other than Conte agrees with you (:

Do they?

Eder and Pelle combined for 3 goals in the tournament and put in great performances. They shared a real chemistry and it's quite clear to everyone why they were a preferred combination up top.

On talent alone, neither are starters and obviously that goes to Insigne but relax on your armchair with your hindsight 20/20 statements.

Before and during the tournament multiple people were criticizing Conte for not playing Insigne. This is by no means hindsight, we've been saying this from the start.

And you're the first person I've seen disagree. What exactly makes Eder and Pelle so good? They certainly performed over their talent level so I guess you can give credit to Conte for getting the best out of them, but Insigne was far better than both whenever he came on. That SES only got 10 minutes all tournament is criminal.

Maybe he wanted more hardworking and strong forward. Whatever I have seen of Insigne the guy cannot be described as blue collar worker bee that Conte system demands. He is very good when team has more possession.

Cruijf wrote:Before and during the tournament multiple people were criticizing Conte for not playing Insigne. This is by no means hindsight, we've been saying this from the start.

And you're the first person I've seen disagree. What exactly makes Eder and Pelle so good? They certainly performed over their talent level so I guess you can give credit to Conte for getting the best out of them, but Insigne was far better than both whenever he came on. That SES only got 10 minutes all tournament is criminal.

To be clear, I wanted Insigne to start as well. He's our best forward by quite some distance.

What I'm saying is, I'm understanding why Conte went with Eder-Pelle and I don't think the decision cost the team anything in the end. In the end, Italy took Germany to penalties and lost. Eder and Pelle played well in each and every single game and had decisive moments in the tournament.

As for SES, his position was deemed as a WB in Conte's system and in Conte's system, as a WB I don't think he ever really had a chance because he does not do enough defensively. MDS won the position from Darmian on the left and kept it during the tournament and was excellent.

With this group, it clearly wasn't about starting the most talented player in a player for player type way. It was about a system that would work for how Conte wanted to play and he executed it as well as he could have for his own perspective of playing. Is he perfect? Far from it. Did he do well? Absolutely. At the end of the day, Conte chose a team and accepted the criticism with his selections long before the tournament began. He was then applauded for his efforts. I'll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt, even after the defeat, because he proved us wrong at every turn and was not far off from defeating Germany either (who were very much the better team).