It's more like he has done well against ireland...not entire tourney

This post has been edited by mrkenn: Jun 20 2012, 09:45 PM

Spain really miss david villa .Del bosque should give llorente a chance.If the midfielders keep creating chances who is gonna take them then without a striker?I feel fabregas drops too deep from his starting position.

he was poor against italy and crotia?

Why are u asking me? U said he has done well this tourney meaning u have watched him playing all the games so far right? lol

He didnt even start against italy. And yes he was poor against croatia.

huh? i asked for ur pov ma since u mention ireland match only...silva didnt start against italy, u sure bro???? against croatia imo the spain were below par, so i can understand if u say he was poor that match...yeah i said imo he has done well this tourney as a whole la with spain because i thk he performed better than most of his teammates especially in spain's attack, but tat's just me la

and of coz better than his wc2010

This post has been edited by SGSuser: Jun 20 2012, 10:37 PM

Mistake i thought u were talking about torres wtf lol sorry.

deswai i see 2 diff person in you guys punya discussion lol. i think the most dangerous person in spain team so far in the group stage must be silva

apuuuu

Yes silva very dangerous....iniesta as well...these 2 can rip any defenders

Use Llronte against France.

spain dont need alonso he said...

This post has been edited by skystrike: Jun 25 2012, 06:00 PM

I think espana are game on for another final.Stop ronaldo and you stop portugal.They are too reliant on him.

The scary thing is espana are winning without hitting top form

This post has been edited by Rotuham: Jun 24 2012, 09:40 PM

OK finally I've got some time in my hand, so I would like to comment on barca96 post. Since his post is a long one, so is mine too



I agree with your observation. Its obvious VDB has been playing the safest card in this tournament. It resulted in Spain being more keen to keep the ball, and subsequently Spain offered relatively little, compared to the amount of possession they have.

But you have to remember, gone are the days when teams would face Spain in open game. Virtually all of them will close up shop (Italy may be the exception so far in this Euros). So, unlike Pep who have all the time to work on small details on Barca's team to beat the defensive teams, VDB don't have this time luxury.

Because of this time constraint, Pep can afford to be more adventurous in his tactics, while VDB can't. We all would like Spain to be more adventurous, but Spain have to put measures to stop opponents' counter attack as the main priority.

Besides, being the side with most goals scored during group stage, with most shot on goal, although they have been really slow, they are still among the most dangerous side.



I think you misunderstood his intention (I'm gonna comment based on the Croatia game).

Sure Navas is a typical winger. But I don't think he was brought on to send the crosses in. Yes he spend much of the time hugging the line.

But remember his goal? Right there, I think VDB instructed Navas to do just THAT, to beat Croatia's offside trap.

I don't think it was some clueless move from him.



I agree with this one.

During the WC I've been critical of this double pivot crap. But I think things are getting worse right now, because Xavi for some reasons couldn't make more forward runs, and spend more time picking up the ball near Busquets. So what we have now is triple-farking-pivot.

Among Xavi, Busquets, and Alonso, Busquets' place is the most indisputable. So either Xavi and Alonso need to give way for an extra attacker. Llike you I'd prefer Xavi. I think Xavi is better than Alonso at playing around tight defence.



I afraid Arbeloa is the best option. Personally, I think Juanfran is the better wing-back than Arbeloa, but his inexperience make his selection unthinkable when we are at the mid stage of Euro. And Ramos can not leave the CB area. Martinez is not that experience in that role either. He only played regularly at CB under Bielsa.

Yes he was only involved against the Swiss in the first game. And then was dropped thereafter. Reason?

When I said Silva has not given himself a good shout, I didn't say he has been playing badly. What I try to say is he still look very awkward playing under the team gameplay.

The main problem with Silva is that his best position is very similar to Iniesta.

IMHO the player of the tournament so far for the Spanish, for me, is Iniesta, by a huge margin. Of course he lacks the evidence in terms of statistics, as Silva has a goal and some assists to his name already. But Iniesta so far has been awarded Man of the Match award in 2 matches (vs Italy and Croatia), and only Torres and Alonso goalscoring feat stopped him from receiving 100% record throughout this tournament.

But Silva on the other hand, has largely failed to gel into the team's gameplay, much like his failure during WC2010. The difference between now and then; during WC, VDB had Villa, Pedro and Navas all fit, and Silva lost his place, while here, VDB only has Navas. So far Silva's place is relatively safe.

But after Pedro's encouraging performance against France, its interesting how VDB gonna use him. Silva may have his place threatened again.

Oh well, if Mr. Vicente is willing to grant only one of my wish, I would like him to drop Torres entirely. For me, although Alonso and Silva have been interfering with the gameplay rather than enhancing, Torres's presence on the other hand can be too stressful for me. Seriously.

Dangerous?
He keeps losing possession with his dribbles.
I don't find him dangerous at all.

Unless you look at his stats and see that he has a few goals and assists then maybe yes.
But if you watched all the matches then your view might be different.

---

Added on June 26, 2012, 4:49 pmSo because he scored 2 goals which includes a penalty he's indispensable now?
He himself said that he could go forward with Spain because he knows Busquets got his back covered.

So what does that mean?
He's taking up Xavi's space in front of Busquets.

---

Added on June 26, 2012, 5:42 pmYes, teams don't play an open game.
But Barcelona face it week in week out.
Just look at the Chelsea match for example.
They penetrate and they had enough chances to bury the tie at Stamford Bridge but they just couldn't put the ball in the net.

VdB doesn't need to tinker.
He knows that 4-3-3 suits the players that he has at his disposal.
It's just that he wants to accommodate players like Alonso & Silva who cause VdB to change formation & system.

Alonso because of his experience but he just doesn't suit this type of play.
Silva because of his good first half of the season with Man City and because of him making noise.

It's starting to look like the English squad over the years where the coach picks a team based on reputation instead of form.

This playing safe method is going to back bite on him when they do a Barca by conceding stupid goals and when they need to make a comeback.
Their mentality now is to just play the ball around and not penetrate.

Navas has been an out and out winger all his life and he showed that expect the moment where Iniesta laid the ball for him to tap in. He was always trying to beat 1 or 2 men to the byline which never worked.

He wasn't brought on to score goals.
Pedro, Llorente, Negredo's total goals for one season equates to Navas' goals in the whole of his career.

If VdB put Pedro in (Croatia) then it would've made more sense.
Pedro is a winger who can go out or in and actually create chances and score unlike the one dimensional Navas.
Mata too.

Xavi doesn't have the legs for it.
Or so I thought but he actually scored a lot of goals this season from runs from midfield.

If Alonso gives way, who is going to set the tempo and dictate the play?
Alonso isn't a playmaker, he tries to but he ain't.

Cruyff said it before.
Because of this selection, they take one extra touch too many.
You don't need to have so many ball playing players.
At Barca, Busi will collect from the back and move it to Xavi who will then play on.
At Spain NT, when Busi gets the ball, Alonso will come in between Busi and Xavi and request for the ball.

It takes one too many touches.
And he doesn't move the ball fast enough.
He will always take a touch and then only look up and then tries his long passes which only finds its target 1/5 times.

I don't really know Juanfran so I can't comment on him.
But you could see how time and time again the players ignored him even though he was given acres of space by every opposition.
If he does get the ball, I can bet on my car that he will screw it up.

Ramos is Spain's best CB (and RB!).
But this situation is similar to when Alves is injured or suspended for Barca.
Puyol will then be moved to RB.
I think Ramos should be moved to RB too.

With the amount of possession Spain has, their defense is hardly tested.
J. Martinez can definitely cope.

And just a few days ago, they were showing an old game where Ramos at RB for Spain.
It was like Alves in a Spain shirt.
Terrifying.

Yes Silva does still look awkward.
He just doesn't sync with his team mates.
You wonder why he never got a place in the team until he started making noise.

He offers nothing much going forward. He also is frequently 2nd half of the field with the rest of the midfielders when his job is to stretch the defense.

Keeps losing possession. Not a goal threat.

Yes, he scored 2 goals and 2 assists.
But it could've been much better.
If Im not mistaken he used to play on the left for Valencia.
So why not put him at LW and tell him to stretch the width and Pedro on the right and Iniesta back in midfield at Alonso's expense?

Like I said before, I think Alonso, Silva & Arbeloa are the only ones who should make way.

It's going to be a tough match for them to play against 2 pacey wingers in Ronaldo and Nani.
Ronaldo will have a field day if Arbeloa plays (if Paulo Bento is smart enough to ask Ronaldo to stick on that wing).

Even if Busi is going to offer cover it won't be enough because Busi is slow.
Ramos is needed at RB.

Casillas
Ramos-Pique-Martinez-Alba
Iniesta-Busi-Xavi
Pedro-

Cesc, Mata, Llorente, Cazorla, Negredo & Navas
to slug it out for the remaining 2 spots
I make it bold before people start questioning.
And before you call me anti-Madrista or barcafag, please count the number of Madrid players in the squad first.
And as far as I know, there is no quota set by the Spanish FA to play x number of Madrid/Barca players.
Form over reputation for me all day everyday.


This post has been edited by barca96: Jun 26 2012, 05:46 PM

i hope ramos play RB...put albiol CB with pique..

arbeloa will failed if he play against ronaldo..

wow spain is a team.. not real madrid vs barca..

why some people maybe a fan-haters-gonna-hate will differentiate that and think players in their rival team are not accurate enuff to be mix with the spain team ... ?

just let what VDB doing.. hes not peps or the special one.. but he the one bring the title for wc n euro before for a long time spain team missed it..

im supporting spain not because im real madrid supporter..

because i like their charity when they area together from mix club player in one team have no hatred each others.

This post has been edited by zeronehza: Jun 27 2012, 06:39 PM

I must agree with that, why in the hell put Arbeloa if u have Ramos.

Alba and Ramos, nice combo for attacking football.

but then, we would have an untested partnership for the defensive line, either pique-martinez, or pique-albiol if we would shift ramos to his original position in spanish team. and I pretty much sure that vdb wouldn't really take such a risk at this stage of the game.

well, let's just see how the team will lineup tonight