Round of 16 | England vs Slovakia | Spain vs Georgia

[AfonsoAlves]

Why do people keep bringing up Dembeles injury issues like he wasnt signed for 100m+ at 21? He was not signed to be a young player you ease in. He was signed to replace Neymar.

Also Yamal is physically way more developed that all those other diminutive players you mentioned.

Diminutive? Pedri, Gavi and Fati are/were amazing players.

Pedri and Gavi's fitness issues are all because of the same pattern that Yamal is going through - outrageous amounts of minutes at a very young age.

Once you have bad injuries at that age, it's very likely to repeat over and over again.

Dembele is a good example because it's that classic case of being overplayed as a teenager, not necessarily just for Barca, and that resulted in some muscular inbalances which is why his hamstring can't hold itself together for long periods of time.

 

[AfonsoAlves]

Pele played in a World Cup at 17.

Yeah but I doubt anyone here has watched, or remembers, the 1958 world cup.

By nobody, i don't mean literally nobody, I mean nobody here or in most places with a first hand account.

 

[LA BOMBA]

Pedri and Gavi's fitness issues are all because of the same pattern that Yamal is going through - outrageous amounts of minutes at a very young age.

Barca is broke though. It's not like they have any choice. They don't have money to sign quality squad players so they have to give maximum playing time to youngsters.

 

[moses]

Yeah but I doubt anyone here has watched, or remembers, the 1958 world cup.

By nobody, i don't mean literally nobody, I mean nobody here or in most places with a first hand account.

I don't believe anybody hasn't seen his goal v Sweden in the final?

It's Pele FFS. If you haven't watched every minute of Pele and Maradona you can then address that!

 

[AfonsoAlves]

Barca is broke though. It's not like they have any choice. They don't have money to sign quality squad players so they have to give maximum playing time to youngsters.

They could always rotate in Pedri/Gavi and play gundogan, Frenkie, Romeu and Roberto.

Also, they could ease Yamal's playing time by using the other forwards they paid a lot of money for, like Raphinha, Torres.

Even if they split Yamal and Vitor Roque's playing time by rotating each other, it would have done a lot more for both of them than just burying Yamal here.

Feels like short term gain for long term problems atm.

 

[massi83]

The saddest thing about tournament coming closer to its end, is that we won't get to hear great and extremely funny and universal jokes about Gelsenkirchen's public transport anymore.

 

[AfonsoAlves]

I don't believe anybody hasn't seen his goal v Sweden in the final?

It's Pele FFS. If you haven't watched every minute of Pele and Maradona you can then address that!

I thought the context was around decision making and incisiveness?

Highlights of Pele's best moments in 1958 isn't going to highlight how his decision making was.

If Spain win or get to the final, all the plaudits are going to be "Yamal was incredible this Euro's"

Nobody will be able to testify in 10 years time how good his decision making was at this age.

 

[Semper Fudge]

Watching the favourites.

England played earlier.

 

[#07]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[George The Best]

England played earlier.

That was the Darts

 

[Semper Fudge]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

81 likes in twenty minutes. Embarrassing.

 

[VorZakone]

Checked who Spain were playing against Morocco in 2022 when Morocco knocked them out.

Busquets started that game? Can't remember that at all. Upfront they had Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo. Yamal & Williams are so much more exciting.

 

[NewGlory]

Morata isn't great but it seems to work in this side. He's a pretty decent player for occupying defenders and making runs, it makes the whole front line of Spain quite hard to handle with the wingers playing so wide.

I'm sure they'd love an upgrade but at least it seems to work stylistically unlike Harry Kane for England where he's clearly still a top forward as evidenced by this season but no fecker runs ahead of him and he starts drifting into other people's space.

Yeah, you make a great point. Their wingers love to score so Morata works well for them. If you have a striker who wants to score himself, you need wingers to assist more, be selfish less. Very much the problem we have at United Our wingers don't work for Hojlund

 

[Zehner]

Can't see Germany stopping them.

Will be a very tough match for us. Williams vs. Kimmich could be a key duel.

 

[Berbaclass]

Will be a very tough match for us. Williams vs. Kimmich could be a key duel.

Yeah. Really looking forward to it.

 

[FootballHQ]

Checked who Spain were playing against Morocco in 2022 when Morocco knocked them out.

Busquets started that game? Can't remember that at all. Upfront they had Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo. Yamal & Williams are so much more exciting.

Spain have been really pedestrian in last decade. Still can keep possession with their eyes closed but just passing for passing's sake. Pretty poor run by their standards to go out of tournaments to Italy, Russia and Morocco in last 16 since 2016.

Yamal and Williams give them an incredible alternative way to play. Basically their default setting is to knock it around like Man. City in near robotic manner. However those two mean they can now counter attack like Arsenal/Liverpool do.

It's going to take an exceptional performance from someone to beat them over 90/120 minutes. Germany on home turf won't be easy but think they win that.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

Southgate extremely lucky tonight, it’s embarrassing how badly he has this team playing. What in the name of god was the logic in brining Tony on with 90 seconds left?

 

[utdalltheway]

Yeah. Really looking forward to it.

I expect the Germans will be kicking lumps out of the young Spanish wingers.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Is that you Matterface ?

I can actually hear my comment being said in his voice.

 

[redshaw]

Some nice football from Georgia, just a little hurried in the last part, they could've hurt Spain and made it quite difficult and perhaps put pressure on Spain to unsettle them.

Spain do seem to have all the play types at their disposal. Can't wait to see how they do against Germany.

 

[Judas]

At least this Spain team is fun to watch, been decades since that was true.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

At least this Spain team is fun to watch, been decades since that was true.

Amazing what happens when you finally get some dynamic wingers and commit to playing more direct.

 

[tentan]

No idea how England won that

 

[That_Bloke]

I expect the Germans will be kicking lumps out of the young Spanish wingers.

Nah, not their style.

 

[Swoobs]

Morata is still that morata we all know, Pedri was pretty off as well. Rodri was incredible

 

[Real Name]

Its so enjoyable seeing Spain play.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

No idea how England won that

To be fair, as shite as they were for over an hour, it was pure domination from the hour mark and Slovakia were absolutely out on their feet. Felt inevitable that if England made the pressure count and get the equaliser, there was only one way the match was going.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Amazing what happens when you finally get some dynamic wingers and commit to playing more direct.

Yup, infinitely more fun to watch. So much so I could almost cheer them on again after 15 years of absolutely detesting the boring feckers.

 

[SilentWitness]

Would have been very funny if England got knocked out. I think that momentum boost will probably get them over the line to the final but they still have to improve massively. It's embarrassing how poorly they're performing.

 

[hasanejaz88]

Would have been very funny if England got knocked out. I think that momentum boost will probably get them over the line to the final but they still have to improve massively. It's embarrassing how poorly they're performing.

Don't think they'll be at Switzerland. I was thinking they'll improve a lot yesterday but it was more of the same and they barely got over the line. There seem to be some fundamental issues in the XI that Southgate doesn't want to address and that would mean they'll struggle again versus a very impressive Swiss team.

There's always the element of individual quality when you have Foden, Kane and Bellingham, which saved them yesterday, but you can't rely on that always.

 

[TheGame]

Would have been very funny if England got knocked out. I think that momentum boost will probably get them over the line to the final but they still have to improve massively. It's embarrassing how poorly they're performing.

I'm resigned to them losing so it's a shock when they win. I have no hopes to beat Switzerland.

 

[SilentWitness]

Don't think they'll be at Switzerland. I was thinking they'll improve a lot yesterday but it was more of the same and they barely got over the line. There seem to be some fundamental issues in the XI that Southgate doesn't want to address and that would mean they'll struggle again versus a very impressive Swiss team.

There's always the element of individual quality when you have Foden, Kane and Bellingham, which saved them yesterday, but you can't rely on that always.

I feel like they run on vibes though. Those vibes always seem to get them out of tricky situations. Switzerland will be a huge test though and it won't be a surprise if they lose.

 

[giorno]

Jesus Navas is older than Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams combined

He's also older than LY's dad

 

[Redstain]

Would have been very funny if England got knocked out. I think that momentum boost will probably get them over the line to the final but they still have to improve massively. It's embarrassing how poorly they're performing.

An example where expectations can only be set by the level of performance to match. England don't have the foundations to successfully win football games so it will require individual brilliance to bail them out.

Honestly, you could just swap the white shirt for red, the trajectory and narrative of this England team is exactly the same as United. The only difference is they have a greater selection in player quality from the midfield to attack so it's more of a indication of poor coaching.

United approaching 36 months with no more than 2 months at best of playing well from a performance standpoint. The resemblance is uncanny.