Who Was The Biggest Flop Of Euro 2012?

Like there are the stars, every tournament has it's fair share of disappointments.

When I think of WC 2006, I think of Ronaldinho. When I think of Euro 2008, I think of Franck Ribery. When I think of WC 2010, I think of Cristiano Ronaldo.

This time I don't even need to think because the answer is a bit too blatant - Arjen Robben.

It's sad for me to write this about someone who I considered one of my favorite players not too long ago.

I spoke with Mr. Clark Whitney of Goal.com and he was of the opinion that after what Robben has gone through in terms of losing three major finals and the crucial mistakes he made this season which cost his team major titles, he just will never be the same again. Even if he plays well in a few matches, in the big games the past demons will catch up with him. For those who may not know Mr. Whitney has long been one of Robben's biggest supporters.

To this we need to add that he has lost some of his pace. For a player heavily reliant on that his game has suffered.

Lastly he has always been accused of being selfish but in just my humble opinion that selfishness was often curbed in the past with quality guidance. The much maligned Louis van Gaal handled him very well. Now though things are going too much out of control and the kind of selfishness he showed at Euro 2012 is perhaps more deplorable than anything seen from C.Ronaldo in his entire career for instance.

So what do you all think. Will Robben ever fully recover? Do you also consider him the biggest flop of this tournament? If not then who is your top pick for this not so coveted title?

Van der weil

I agree with Robben choice..Though you have to consider what a traumatous few weeks it was for him going into the EURO as he bottled hard in the three most important games of Bayern's season.

But really for someone who is coming at the back of a stellar campaign for Arsenal ,winning Pl player of the season ,i really expected much more from Van Persie honestly.

Van Persie was as big as a flop as Robben imo.

Also Van Der Wiel was probably the worst defender of the Euros.

I think Robben didn't play that bad. He attacked and tracked back from his wing in all 3 games. Holland in general was flop of the tournament.

Rooney and Young stand out imo, both were rather poor.

Van Persie didn't reach his potential. Benzema too imo.

Complete Netherlands team, Benzema, Balotelli all disappointed. But if I have to choose I'd chose Robben. Didn't defend and was wasteful in attack.

Was it just me who tought Robben was Netherlands most dangerous player after Sneijder?

Anyway, I nominate Van Flopsie. Kept bottling chances which in the end cost them their chance to go out of the group stage.

If dangerous means being wasteful than I agree.

urbaNRoots wrote:Complete Netherlands team, Benzema, Balotelli all disappointed. But if I have to choose I'd chose Robben. Didn't defend and was wasteful in attack.

Balo overall was pretty ok..I dont think he was 'dissapointing' imo.

You can call Benzema a dissapointment though.After such a good season with Madrid ,with all the hype generated ,he failed to really stand up for his country when it mattered.

Benzema. At this point we should all expect Robben to flop. First in the BL, then the CL, its no surprise he did this time either

Surag wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:Complete Netherlands team, Benzema, Balotelli all disappointed. But if I have to choose I'd chose Robben. Didn't defend and was wasteful in attack.

Balo overall was pretty ok..I dont think he was 'dissapointing' imo.

You can call Benzema a dissapointment though.After such a good season with Madrid ,with all the hype generated ,he failed to really stand up for his country when it mattered.

Balotelli was not ok, he was just as wasteful as Robben or van Persie - making silly fouls, wasting chance after chance, poor touches etc... It's no coincidence that 90% of Italians wanted Di Natale to start after his first two matches.

Surprised no one mentioned Young.Complete utter shit every game.
List is too long though.

Thanks for some interesting replies guys. As for your question prototype, the reason Young is not mentioned is because we talk about players from whom we expect something and not many of us expected anything from Young anyway.

I think Robben played alright for Netherlands overall. Rooney, I don't think he can be a candidate, since he missed the first 2 games and might not of gotten used to the tactics properly.

RVP
Willems
Samaras
Milner
Young
Schezney
Given
Robben
Benzema
---------------

The ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Samaras was good....

And fully agree with Sczczczc what a horror show

Willems is a flop? The 18 year old who like 2 weeks before the tournament was playing for Holland u18?'

Give the dude a break. I can think of 10 worse defenders this tournament, 3 of them played alongside him.

Samaras also did very well to me.

Mexes and Nasri deserve a mention too.

The Franchise wrote:Willems is a flop? The 18 year old who like 2 weeks before the tournament was playing for Holland u18?'

Give the dude a break. I can think of 10 worse defenders this tournament, 3 of them played alongside him.

Samaras also did very well to me.

Also agree about Willems.

Glad to see we agree on some things :lucas :

We have our moments lol

Nasri doesnt deserve a mention I should add.

He was excellent vs England and was wrongly dropped vs Spain. Nothing he could do about that.

Willems was completely out of his depth....maybe calling him a flop was harsh. I didn't know he was 18.

And fully agree with Sczczczc what a horror show

Only got to play about 30 mins in his nation's first ever hosted major footballing tournament.

I'll add Baros too. Was a waste of space for the Czechs.

Ronaldo the flop at World Cup 2010?????????
don't be bias...Messi was invisible the whole tournament...
CR scored a goal!

Cotes wrote:Ronaldo the flop at World Cup 2010?????????
don't be bias...Messi was invisible the whole tournament...
CR scored a goal!

thats a lie. Messi was argentina's best player, at WC 2010, almost all their goals were created primarily by messi.

Messi may have flopped by his standard but to me he perfomed far better than christina

The Franchise wrote:Nasri doesnt deserve a mention I should add.

He was excellent vs England and was wrongly dropped vs Spain. Nothing he could do about that.

Oops..

And i was thinking why Nasri was totally invisible against Spain

My bad..

He had a good game against England but was pretty meh in the rest of the games he's played in.