Yes he did use similar players in the Euros, a 18 year old youngster called Pedri who was brilliant. There's coaches out there who thrive on pressure and believe in their way of playing the game which inturn is reflected in those same coaches giving chances to young highly technical players which is very easy for them.
Spain absolutely dominated Italy (by having 75% possession) who had Verratti, Jorginho and Barella in midfield and Spain with Koke, Busquets and a 17 year old Gavi in midfield. And they did that because their coach (Enrique) demands his team to exert zonal and positional control which gives the likes of 17 year old Gavi the platform to thrive against the very best midfielders in the world. Spain did to Italy what Italy did to us on the ball, but much worse.
I honestly thought at that time it was a suicidal tactic, a disaster waiting to happen. Italy was a very experience team and they purposely let Spain to have more ball, because Spain had no world class centerbacks. Thus it was a sucker punch waiting to happen.
There’s no pressure on Barca right now to win the league etc. No better time to blood some more youngsters
Why what happened?
Not saying anything but there’s a video of Bissouma being arrested going around.
I’ve just googled it, arrested at 2am at a Brighton night club but doesn’t say what he did
Sexual assault.
So Rice is gonna join us and allow Pogba to play in a two in midfield?
Spain were already better in the Euros though. They had 65% possession to 35%, 16 attempts to 7 attempts, completed 832 passes to 319 and Spain had 6 corners to 1. They were unlucky
Agreed. Spain were better on both occassions and were unlucky to lose the game in the Euros. But on both occassions Spain's approach to the game was superior which allowed them to impose their superiority in possession which is a credit to their coach (Lucho). A coach who implements a strong positional and zonal game game which hasn't only helped the more experienced players but also youngsters like Pedri and Gavi due to the platform it provides them.
That’s all well and good but it highlights Spain’s problem they lack a top striker. Feran Torres is there main scorer with 11 in 21 games. Spain play good football and control games that is no use if they can’t finish
This really frustrated me, because I have definitely seem him improve his overall game, but it was down right stupid how he was playing yesterday. He was meant to be anchoring the midfield and the amount of time he got ahead of the play, was mad. He needs to wise up when he's not got Phillips covering for him.
I don't think so for a team trying to play more expansive, when I think of everyone who's partnered him, he's not had that real responsibility to anchor. Yeah, I wouldn't say he could never do it, just showed a lot of naivety yesterday which was disappointing.
Where's all the guys saying he can hold a midfield by himself again?
Can't even hold the midfield against Hungary at Wembley. Whenever his team has the majority of possession he looks lost. He's a defensive player for a defensive team.
He's so overrated its ridiculous. People acting like he'd walk into our midfield and knit together Pogba and Fernandes by himself are out of their minds.
Keep making excuses for him. It’s everyone’s fault but Rice. He’s just not good enough, get over it.
If you're playing Rice and Bellingham, you're not longer playing a CDM. You're going back the "pivot" with two in midfield, both doing a lot of defensive cover. So does go back to my point I am worried about with Rice, is that we would still need to buy some one to play next to him.
I hate to break it to you, we need 2 new midfielders no matter what
Oh, don't worry I think we do too. It's just Rice's cost would make him prohibitive to the transformation our midfield needs.
