Euro 2024

Who will win?

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
FinBarcelonafan said:
In the end, you have to take in account Spain's past few tournaments, they couldn't create **** without Yamal and Williams. They needed these gamebreaking wingers to do anything. That's why they are surprise of the tournament. Nobody expect this sort of performance from either of them.
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True. But even though people were sleeping on Spain - they were still seen as a realistic winner. It's just that people were hyping up the flashier players from Portugal and France.

You're essentially right though - Spain as a unit play the type of football that then allows the gamebreakers to win the games, and those gamebreakers are smart enough to contibute to the unit at other times too. Whereas. with Portugal, not only does someone like Leao not play in a cohesive team, but he's actively part of why they're not cohesive, because his useless decision-making (along with plenty of others in that team) leads to them playing a poor quality game. Yamal for example is much smarter than leao and Felix, and much better in the decisive moments too.

Spain have the well-built team AND the gamebreaking wingers. And both make each other better. Much more so Yamal than Williams, admittedly.
 
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FinBarcelonafan

FinBarcelonafan

Well-known member
Maradona37 said:
True. But even though people were sleeping on Spain - they were still seen as a realistic winner. It's just that people were hyping up the flashier players from Portugal and France.

You're essentially right though - Spain as a unit play the type of football that then allows the gamebreakers to win the games, and those gamebreakers are smart enough to contibute to the unit at other times too. Whereas. with Portugal, not only does someone like Leao not play in a cohesive team, but he's actively part of why they're not cohesive, because his useless decision-making (along with plenty of others in that team) leads to them playing a poor quality game. Yamal for example is much smarter than leao and Felix, and much better in the decisive moments too.

Spain have the well-built team AND the gamebreaking wingers. And both make each other better. Much more so Yamal than Williams, admittedly.
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True. It's the overall performance which makes them great but they needed those impact wingers. What I really like Spain's setup is also Ruiz and Rodri has a great kick from 20-30 meters, which adds threats from the middle. Ruiz also makes deeper runs sometimes for crosses, same with Morata, which makes it harder for opponents to defend. Then you add Olmo who's been brilliant and is a small threat himself with good dribbling and finishing. Then you add Yamal and Williams from sides. It's pretty cool. Even without world class striker they've been able to make it work. Still hard to shutdown this setup completely. Morata is good enough for his role. I appreciate his hard work.

I think it's a very well setup team. De la Fuente has found a perfect mix for this team.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
FinBarcelonafan said:
True. It's the overall performance which makes them great but they needed those impact wingers. What I really like Spain's setup is also Ruiz and Rodri has a great kick from 20-30 meters, which adds threats from the middle. Ruiz also makes deeper runs sometimes for crosses, same with Morata, which makes it harder for opponents to defend. Then you add Olmo who's been brilliant and is a small threat himself with good dribbling and finishing. Then you add Yamal and Williams from sides. It's pretty cool. Even without world class striker they've been able to make it work. Still hard to shutdown this setup completely. Morata is good enough for his role. I appreciate his hard work.

I think it's a very well setup team. De la Fuente has found a perfect mix for this team.
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Totally agree with every word mate - great insightful post.
 
Loki

Loki

Well-known member
Yeah, although I hate Fuentes for forcing Gavi as the only player in the squad to play both games where he tore his acl, he successfully changed the squad from a slow passing machine that nobody feared, to a fast pace but still technical squad. Of course Spain loses the ball more often now, but in return they gained the much needed threat in front of the goal.
Interesting to know how Gavi would fit in the squad now. Would he play for Ruiz/Olmo? Would he be benched? Lamine and Nico have their starting spot safe, Morata probably too. Rodri we don't even need to mention.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
Loki said:
Yeah, although I hate Fuentes for forcing Gavi as the only player in the squad to play both games where he tore his acl, he successfully changed the squad from a slow passing machine that nobody feared, to a fast pace but still technical squad. Of course Spain loses the ball more often now, but in return they gained the much needed threat in front of the goal.
Interesting to know how Gavi would fit in the squad now. Would he play for Ruiz/Olmo? Would he be benched? Lamine and Nico have their starting spot safe, Morata probably too. Rodri we don't even need to mention.
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Yeah it's hard to say if Gavi would get in at the moment if he was fit. But it it is a squad game after all.

As for Morata, his game isn't always pretty, but I think he's pretty good at hold-up play and he does a lot of hard-grafting donkey work that isn't fun to watch but is very appreciated by his more explosive and talented team-mates. I don't think he's a bad striker - he has a decent goal record - he's just more like a striker who allows the wider players to shine, like a discount Firmino when he enabled Salah and Mane.
 
Maradona37

Maradona37

Well-known member
jamrock said:
If Spain wins the final, without PKs, they would be the first team in international football to win a competition without a single draw or lost.

They've played
Croatia
Italy
Germany
France
And the dutch..
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It depends if you count extra-time as a draw.

Some would say it is a draw as they go by after 90 minutes.

Even at that. Germany equalised with only a minute of normal time left.

If Spain win it they'll be the first team to win this tournament without the need of penalties, since it's been at least a 16/24 team tournament (I think).
 
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