EURO 2020 - Group E

85% possession 0 goals

Imagine going from Villa and Torres to Alvaro Morata lmfao

RealGunner wrote:Imagine going from Villa and Torres to Alvaro Morata lmfao

https://twitter.com/Antetobrun0/status/1404541624412164104?s=20

lmao

Morata is surely the biggest big club fraud of my lifetime

His combined transfer fee exceeds 200m

tbf everyone knew he was a fraud even when he was being transferred for those sums

Good point but excruciating to watch. We got what we came for.

Isak played really well, Forsberg who's normally our best player played almost as a LB and Berg the guy is worse than Morata. Put him infront of an empty net and he'd miss the target on 7 out of 10 ocassions

Morata that chance 1v1 i thought was a sure goal but man he bottled it loooool so hapoy Moreno didn't start

Agreed, Morata has to be the biggest fraud I've ever seen.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:85% possession 0 goals

What is Lucho thinking starting this absolute baboon at CF? Decision making of some of these managers is outrageous

halamadrid2 wrote:Good point but excruciating to watch. We got what we came for.

Isak played really well, Forsberg who's normally our best player played almost as a LB and Berg the guy is worse than Morata. Put him infront of an empty net and he'd miss the target on 7 out of 10 ocassions

Morata that chance 1v1 i thought was a sure goal but man he bottled it loooool so hapoy Moreno didn't start

Isak is so good man. I hope we sign him. Shame Ibra got injured. Ibra-Isak would be the best combination since Abraham and Isaac

Morata certainly needs a bit more refinement to be the main #9. He does posses the tools but that lack of refinement would make any manager play him as an Second Striker rather than a #9 like Gerard for example

Terrible display.

Seeing the downfall from the golden era to this squad is one of the most depressing series of emotions Ive went through in all my time watching football.

For over two years I have seen no hope in this squad and we will be lucky to make it through the group stage, even.

Meh Spain still have their style and I feel it'll be enough for the group stage at least. Hasnt been the same after Villa tho. Spain need someone who can really bag in the goals with their ability to keep the ball

They clearly lack a finisher. Morata is not it. Doesn't have the killer instinct.

The possession football is there, but without a final ball and the finisher to put it away, opponents will simply wait them out, pounce on the inevitable mistake and then hit them on the counter. Sweden did it a few times, but couldn't finish either. Better sides will bury those chances.

Their problems run deeper than forward. I don't think that it's as dire as some here make out, but the team doesn't have the same creativity and decisiveness that the old Spain did. That old team had Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Mata, Fabregas, Cazorla, Xabi Alonso...I mean, probably every single one of those players is a more creative, more technically skilled, and better player than what Spain has got in the midfield now w/ Pedri, Thiago, Rodri, Koke, Sarabia, etc

Guys like Mata and Cazorla didn't even play, and they are shoulders above what Spain have got atm

I still think they're a talented bunch, but when I see how much the midfield has regressed + the front three being f*ckin Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo on either side of Morata...I understand the doom and gloom. With that being said, any comparison to that 2012 team is going to be a bad one. That 2012 team is one of the great international sides of all time. I still back Spain to have a decent tournament. They probably should have won today, all things considered

BarrileteCosmico wrote:tbf everyone knew he was a fraud even when he was being transferred for those sums

I feel personally vindicated, been calling Morata a fraud since 2014 when everyone kept saying how great he was because no one watched Juve outside of CL.

I disliked Spain's strategy a lot. 917 passes. They hold the ball until deep in enemy territory, but do nothing with it, just afraid to lose possession, boring stuff. A criticism that repeats often for this NT over the years. I respect more the defensive approach followed by fast counters of the czechs and the slovaks.

On swedish side Isak shows good talent the 3 times he touched the ball, for the rest it was a composed defensive block. Interesting group E

Thought Pau and Laporte were quite poor. Pau was absolutely rattled by Isak. Kid is not ready yet to play for a big team

Fully agree with Warrior and hala.

I really don't like Spain's gamplean. I figured Enrique would be more flexible like he was in Barca. This obsession with possession and recycling the ball is so boring. 85% possession and 0-0, dreadful.

Jordi Alba was probably Spain's most penetrative player. Thiago should have played, Luis Alberto should have been called up and played, then you would have a much more dangerous team. Morata is Morata, Iago Aspas as a 40 year old would be better.

I think they can be better against a bigger team that isn't parking the bus like Sweden. Problem that I see is related to what Hala said, Isak toyed with their defense. A bigger team will take advantage of it more.

I see Spain's conundrum as very much a finishing problem rather than a creativity problem even though they went from Xavi-Iniesta-Fabregas-Alonso-Silva etc to Koke-Pedri-Rodri. It could've and should've been an easy win had Olmo and Morata in particular finished their chances

Our strategy is literally a replica of Luis Enrique's Roma.

Which had a lot of possession but bland, circular passing lanes that kept possession yes but most teams just waited until the ball was close enough to be taken.

With the players Roma had and we have now there is no chance it will replicate into what made possession football, what it is.

The creativity and skill, just isn't there.

Its just incredibly naive from Enrique whom I rate, but he has to adapt to what he has and not replicate what cannot happen.

This team isn't meant for possession anyway. Our 4-3-2-1 direct attack suited us more.

Well honestly for me it's mystery that Poland continues to be bad ..... looking at this lineup ... It's team well balanced and with some great individualities.
Even the manager is  good this time imo ( I liked Sousa at Fiorentina).

For me they should even win group but yet I don't know if they go on

I wish Slovakia and Poland to do it though

Dont understand not having Thiago and Moreno out there.

You know full well you arent winning anything with Morata as your 9, he just doesnt have it.

Moreno is on form and this was the kind of game he would excel in.

I think Pedri did well from a Barca point of view, but this was a predictable outcome in some ways. Not the result, I expected Spain to win, but how Sweden would defend and the type of game it would be.

Myesyats wrote:I see Spain's conundrum as very much a finishing problem rather than a creativity problem even though they went from Xavi-Iniesta-Fabregas-Alonso-Silva etc to Koke-Pedri-Rodri. It could've and should've been an easy win had Olmo and Morata in particular finished their chances

85% possession and only 4 shots on goal iirc. The first shot in goal in the 2nd half came in the 92nd minutes.

There was a problem creating clear chances as well as a problem in finishing.

Pirlo Enrique needs to do much better

We were never going to go into this game looking to go toe to toe with Spain especially after what happened at the NL. This is sadly how we are going to play against the big teams. The coach is getting criticised alot in Sweden but he is unmoved by the criticism. According to him the game went according to plan. I don't see h changing his approach because we only play like this when we play one of the heavy weights. When we play the likes of Slovakia and Poland, we won't be playing like this or Janne will be sent to wherever Lagerbäck is. Nobody wants to see the team play negative football but they can get onboard if we manage to go far

About Spain. This was not a good game. Yes they had chances to score, but there was only one save i thought well done Olsen, everything else was meh. Thought Alba did really well. Olmo not so much and Torres/Sarabia were uninvolved. Torrea really is the new Asensio isn't he. Marcos Llorente is an amazing footballer but he is not a RB. He'd be their best attacker if he played higher up

You guys are completely exaggerating the problems. You are absolutely right about Morata, but no able to finish has always been a problem for us, even with Torres and Villa. As to the comments about rest of team, you do realize that they had 80% possession! Let’s see how they make out in next few games before writing them off. I’m not expecting this very young team to win it, IMO, France is head over heels above everyone else, but i don’t see anyone else necessarily better than this team.