I can't see us beating Spain, but at least we might look as if we are interested in trying.
Everyone tries to beat Spain by playing 4-5-1, why not try something different and play a 4-3-3 and try and press them high up the pitch?
I think we have seen by now that the Spanish can unpick a 5 man midfield quite easily, so why not pressure their defence before they can release the ball into midfield?
Lol. A year or two ago every fan on earth would have been happy if their team could play like Spain but now they are boring and dull, dull, dull.
Quite what do we want? Every game they play is against 11 plus 1 bus, yet they still keep on winning. Sometimes it's not as pretty as others, true enough, but if it were England it would be "effective" and "job done" and not "dull".
I agree Bournemouth. A large slice of the blame is with the oppo team stifling the game but the alternative is often being cut apart.
I do thank that teams are mentally beaten before they take to the pitch but Italy showed they have weaknesses at the back and can be beaten. Not easily of course and any team that attacks them is taking a risk.
Remember Charlton were accussed of being boring and sitting on one nil leads by fans of other clubs last year. We just laughed and pointed at the league table.
Lol. A year or two ago every fan on earth would have been happy if their team could play like Spain but now they are boring and dull, dull, dull.
Quite what do we want? Every game they play is against 11 plus 1 bus, yet they still keep on winning. Sometimes it's not as pretty as others, true enough, but if it were England it would be "effective" and "job done" and not "dull".
I see your point BA but the point is that Spain could and should have won 4-0 and put on a real show - but they played it ultra safe and were happy to take a 1-0 win, with the late pen an added extra.
When I think back to the great Brazil side of 1982 they would never have done that, they wanted not just to win but create something truly memorable - and they did.
Sure Spain might win this tournament but will people remember it - outside Spain - for more than a couple of weeks?
The point is that football has to be about more than getting a result if you are a top, top team, there has to be some entertainment there and I don't see how anyone outside Spain supporters could have been entertained by that.
Spain have found a ruthless style of play which suits them but it is certainly not entertaining to people outside their fan base and the real footballing cognoscenti.
All I know is that 30 years after the event I can remember them dismantling teams or fun until they got beaten 3-2 by the Italians in the knockout stage.
Apart from Maradona in 1986 I can't remember too many memorable teams/performers since then, apart from maybe the Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002 in Korea/Japan.
Well so far the quarters have not lived upto the expectations generated by the group stage. A festival of football has become a dirge. As someone said on the BBC 5 Live podcast "How could I have not enjoyed a 6 goal match, but I didn't" and yesterday a match I labelled as potentially the best of the tournament was a boring as hell. Welltodays game is the bore of the tournament so should be an enjoyable match based on the form of the rest
I bet the Brazilians didn't see it that way. A fantastic team like Holland in 74 and Hungray in 54 but didn't win it or even reach the final.
True, but people still recall the beautiful, wondrous football played by the teams of Puskas in '54, Cruyff in '74 and Socrates in '82, it's what made generations fall in love with the game.
Spain scored 8 goals in 7 games to win the last WC and, taking out the irrelevant penalty and the turkey shoot against the woeful Irish have scored only 3 in 3 from open play here.
Even my 7 year old son picked up on it his morning, asking why Spain "did not want to score any more goals" as they played dull, possession football for 70 minutes to close the game out.
Bottom line, this is not just supposed to be a competition, it's supposed to be a celebration of football and, most importantly, enjoyable to watch with thrills, spills and dramatic moments - not much of that from Spain, is there?
Who would ever have thought the Germans would be the most exciting team to watch?
I have heard a lot of Spaniards take this view of "If we're boring then what does that make England?" - its complete crap.
Spain are reigning EC and WC champions with the bulk of the best team in Europe (Barca) in their side, they have been together a long time and are well drilled.
England? Lost their coach weeks before the finals, without several of their best players and coming off a shocking WC 2010 in SA.
With that record you cannot expect that much from England, they are clearly a team in transition, but Spain have the perfect opportunity not to just BE something special with back to back EC's but to DO something special with some memorable football - it is an opportunity they seem disinclined to take.
I see what ur saying ormiston and in some ways I agree but if Spain came and opened themselves up, got turned over and went home early we would be saying how much of a disappointment they were.
Its dull but it doesn't matter as long as you win the competition. Against good or lessor teams it is almost guaranteed to work. If England played them I could see 90 minutes of us chasing the ball (not a criticism of us - a compliment to Spain). Germany on the other hand could be an entirely different situation. Both can go up through the gears to much higher levels. But I think it's difficult to switch from a defensive to attacking approach and for this reason I think Spain will only win the competition if Germany fail to reach the final.
Comments
WTF was Blanc doing with that team selection?
If we can get past Italy...
Everyone tries to beat Spain by playing 4-5-1, why not try something different and play a 4-3-3 and try and press them high up the pitch?
I think we have seen by now that the Spanish can unpick a 5 man midfield quite easily, so why not pressure their defence before they can release the ball into midfield?
In a dream world England V Portugal final and we get revenge for all the times they've knocked us out.
Quite what do we want? Every game they play is against 11 plus 1 bus, yet they still keep on winning. Sometimes it's not as pretty as others, true enough, but if it were England it would be "effective" and "job done" and not "dull".
I do thank that teams are mentally beaten before they take to the pitch but Italy showed they have weaknesses at the back and can be beaten. Not easily of course and any team that attacks them is taking a risk.
Remember Charlton were accussed of being boring and sitting on one nil leads by fans of other clubs last year. We just laughed and pointed at the league table.
When I think back to the great Brazil side of 1982 they would never have done that, they wanted not just to win but create something truly memorable - and they did.
Sure Spain might win this tournament but will people remember it - outside Spain - for more than a couple of weeks?
The point is that football has to be about more than getting a result if you are a top, top team, there has to be some entertainment there and I don't see how anyone outside Spain supporters could have been entertained by that.
Spain have found a ruthless style of play which suits them but it is certainly not entertaining to people outside their fan base and the real footballing cognoscenti.
All I know is that 30 years after the event I can remember them dismantling teams or fun until they got beaten 3-2 by the Italians in the knockout stage.
Apart from Maradona in 1986 I can't remember too many memorable teams/performers since then, apart from maybe the Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002 in Korea/Japan.
True, but people still recall the beautiful, wondrous football played by the teams of Puskas in '54, Cruyff in '74 and Socrates in '82, it's what made generations fall in love with the game.
Spain scored 8 goals in 7 games to win the last WC and, taking out the irrelevant penalty and the turkey shoot against the woeful Irish have scored only 3 in 3 from open play here.
Even my 7 year old son picked up on it his morning, asking why Spain "did not want to score any more goals" as they played dull, possession football for 70 minutes to close the game out.
Bottom line, this is not just supposed to be a competition, it's supposed to be a celebration of football and, most importantly, enjoyable to watch with thrills, spills and dramatic moments - not much of that from Spain, is there?
Who would ever have thought the Germans would be the most exciting team to watch?
Guillem Balague @GuillemBalague
Sorry if a bit boring 4 the neutral. It certainly wasnt 4 me! So tense!! We in the semis! Time to celebrate!! Feels great to make it so far!
--------------------
Guillem Balague @GuillemBalague
Right, time to have more wine. I hope England makes it to the semis entertaining the crowd. Otherwise the demanding fans will complain! ;-)
Spain are reigning EC and WC champions with the bulk of the best team in Europe (Barca) in their side, they have been together a long time and are well drilled.
England? Lost their coach weeks before the finals, without several of their best players and coming off a shocking WC 2010 in SA.
With that record you cannot expect that much from England, they are clearly a team in transition, but Spain have the perfect opportunity not to just BE something special with back to back EC's but to DO something special with some memorable football - it is an opportunity they seem disinclined to take.
In a way they simply can't win!