Who do you see Euro 16 dangerously prepared for?

Dangerously prepared for Messi Player of The Tournament.

England looks legit, better than all the teams bar maybe France. Definitely can see them in the semis/finals depending on who they meet

Not having you all jinx us tbh, RG put a stop to all these haters imo.

We haven't got a chance because we'll resort to type when it matters and our defense is crap anyway.

I'm being serious, Italy/Belgium are crap, Germany isn't the same as the WC14 Germany, Spain have been irrelevant since 2013, rest is fodder, only France is legit, they'll probably win it i think. But it gives room for England to challenge, maybe even give an upset

Italy turns it on when it matters imo

We have a history of doing well in friendlies but not producing in tournaments. Germany and Italy have a history of being meh in friendlies but producing in tournaments. So let's not use our win last night as evidence that we're a contender for the Euros.

From what I see. France is a given. Italy, Germany and Spain will be involved in it. Then come England and Belgium.

Maybe I am being biased. But I don't see what most teams have over Italy right now. Our lack of a top CF is glaring, but otherwise the team looks great. England's defense and mid are nowhere near ours. Only their strikers. Germany and France have more complete teams but even Germany's defense seems weak. Spain's mid is great as usual, their defense is good, their forward line is bad. I see England probably a step behind these.

Depending of the setup, Spain will have a mid with players like Busquets, Iniesta, Fabregas, Silva. Italy's something like Florenzi, Marchisio, Verratti, Candreva. Germany with Khedira, Kroos, Ozil, Muller. Those all look significantly more talented than England's. And there is more of a gap in defense.

Definitely not Italy. They aren't winning shit when Conte is fielding provinciale players whose only redeeming quality is that they run their socks off. (:

England v Germany final with England Germany winning on penalties 7-0.

Casciavit wrote:Definitely not Italy. They aren't winning shit when Conte is fielding provinciale players whose only redeeming quality is that they run their socks off. (:

Who are these provincial players? who would you field?

Giaccherini is the only one that comes to mind out of the 23 players. Names are names, in the end of the day its who performs, and he did.

Italy got turned inside out when they met Belgium 2 or so months ago, Conte keeps opting to field guys like Pelle, Okaka. 1 decent match against a crap Spain side doesn't mean anything, but Conte not using a plethora of in form playerssuch as Insigne, Jorginho and Bonaventura just to name a few is pretentious. Alright, let him use Giaccherini and Pelle, but come the Euros don't surprised as to why Italy isn't doing as well as you'd like

But Conte has called everyone. A CT should look to all and try everything. He has called every player that has been remotely performing except Criscito, who's NT career eneded with the match-fixing scandal. You can say the pool lacks talent, but you can't blame him for picks when he went through all. He even called Balotelli once to "asses him personally"!

Pelle won his call ups fair at Southampton, and earned his place by performing through the qualifiers. Okaka got called twice. We don't have 1 great CF. Who should he call?

Insigne, Jorginho and Bonaventura are in the team. The problem with Insigne (who has been called up before by Conte) is that he left the squad to go back to Napoli. 99% chance Insigne will be in the euros. Bonaventura was set to play as well but got the flu. Jorginho WILL play. He is not a starter though, and he shouldn't be, there are better players in his position.

He called up Berardi and Bernardeschi. Rugani to try him out. El Shaarawy performed at Roma so he called him again. Dropped De Sciglio when he dipped form and called Antonelli as he became the best LB option.

Pelle is the best CF Italy to play with his back to goal. He 100% deserves to go. Giaccherini is the only to complain about, and he still performs for Bologna.

Don't read much into friendlies....  Especially second half play of friendlies where you have massive rotation. Regardless of the half, the tackles and physical play are very minimal as avoiding injury is really the top concern.

Only friendlies that are interesting are the ones right before a tournament because you see the likely tactics... Guys are obviously still avoiding anything that could lead to injury.

He called them up now, and be called them up before!'v everytime he's reluctant to use Bonaventura, Insigne has seen some sparing minutes, Berardi didn't get called up, he is playing for the U-21.

My point being is crap players like Parolo who get rated for workrate and the odd good pass get to start ahead of Jorginho/Bonaventura etc

Pelle is crap, Eder would be better upfront than that hack. If he really wanted to call an in form Italian striker, why not Pavoletti? Or Rossi who's been in good form with Levante. Heck, even Zaza would be better.

Nevermind his switching of formations every now and then, at least Prandelli had some consistency and persisted with it until it paid off, he had makeshift AM in Montolivo and it paid off, 4 at the back and they reached the Euros final, you can argue about Pirlo and Cassano, but the matter still stands that guys like Pelle, Giaccherini and Parolo aren't guys that'll help you reach the final

More power to Switzerland! As soon as Xherdan Shaqiri is back, they will have creativity again and then be all very wary!!

ES wrote:He called them up now, and be called them up before!'v everytime he's reluctant to use Bonaventura, Insigne has seen some sparing minutes, Berardi didn't get called up, he is playing for the U-21.

My point being is crap players like Parolo who get rated for workrate and the odd good pass get to start ahead of Jorginho/Bonaventura etc

Pelle is crap, Eder would be better upfront than that hack. If he really wanted to call an in form Italian striker, why not Pavoletti? Or Rossi who's been in good form with Levante. Heck, even Zaza would be better.

Nevermind his switching of formations every now and then, at least Prandelli had some consistency and persisted with it until it paid off, he had makeshift AM in Montolivo and it paid off, 4 at the back and they reached the Euros final, you can argue about Pirlo and Cassano, but the matter still stands that guys like Pelle, Giaccherini and Parolo aren't guys that'll help you reach the final

Is this about Bonaventura not playing more?

Berardi was called up before and he got injured, now he is with the U21. I don't know how closely you follow the team. You praise Prandelli but do you realize that Prandelli not only called up Giaccherni, but made him a starter in the Euros? Prandelli sticked with it? He played a back 3 against spain in the 1-1 then switched to back 4 mid tournament. Coaches are supposed to be flexible, thats a good thing.

Parolo is not the one competing with Jorginho. Marchisio and Motta are. Different midfielders, Parolo is a very good CM, don't how in the world he is more provincial than Bonaventura. Parolo is basically a sub for Verratti. Nothing wrong with that.

The striker issue is the real problem. Having Eder or Pelle in there give you different things. Its good to have both. Pavoletti is fair shout now, but before this season he did nothing at all. Now thats a provincial player. Picking Pelle for the qualifiers was good, and he came through. Sticking with your proven man is not all that bad when the alternative is calling Pavoletti.

He hasn't had the tournament to actually show much. He picked up that mess of a team for the qualifiers and didn't lose a single game. Then used every friendly to try stuff. Fair game. I would have Insigne and Bonaventura playing more too. He is the CT though, regardless of choices I disagree with, what he has done has made sense. Look at how the team fits, not just names.

Criticizing him for Giaccherini and calling for Pavoletti makes no sense.

I'm praising Prandelli for having some consistency, not his overall tenure, and that Spain 1-1 game there was an injury to one of the CB's and DDR had to play CB iirc, that change is understandable considering the circumstances.

Its not just about Bonaventura, its about the other players that don't get even scrap minutes.

Pavoletti is just an example i used to illustrate how crap Pelle is, he shouldn't lead the line for Italy

I've argued this before, i cba to argue anymore, lets agree to disagree

Romania, led by Segunda superstar Andone, and Nicusor Stanciu, the 2nd coming of Hagi.

ES wrote:I'm praising Prandelli for having some consistency, not his overall tenure, and that Spain 1-1 game there was an injury to one of the CB's and DDR had to play CB iirc, that change is understandable considering the circumstances.

Its not just about Bonaventura, its about the other players that don't get even scrap minutes.

Pavoletti is just an example i used to illustrate how crap Pelle is, he shouldn't lead the line for Italy

I've argued this before, i cba to argue anymore, lets agree to disagree

agree to disagree on the whole thing

Just a thing on Prandelli switching to 3 CBs. You don't switch from 2 CBs to 3CBs because 1 CB got an injury. He switched because it was good tactics and it worked, his hand wasn't forced. The standard for him was just a back 4. He went with De Rossi at the back to up the midfield presence. I wish he had stuck with the final, we might have had a chance.

The Guardian: Roy Hodgson says he will not jettison Wayne Rooney for Euro 2016

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Italy turns it on when it matters imo

The last two world cups didn't matter then ?

That's in the past imo

I do think England have a talented squad capable of winning it. The problem is that their manager is Roy Hodgson and I also just can't see England getting it together enough to win a major tournament tbh. Then again, you have a young starlet in Dele Alli and Harry Kane the champion of England, so anything could happen.

Going to go with my roots here and say Austria, led by David Alaba

It's all about getting out of group stages... Which often comes down to winning the first game. Everyone is at risk because nobody has established a rhythm. Once you get to elimination rounds, the better teams rise up since they'd had a few games to get into the tournament.

In elimination round games, it's about having experience imo... The teams that have faced elimination round games before understand the pressure/requirements. That's why it often takes a tournament or two for a team to then win.

Don't see it prepared for someone. But for a change I'll try to support England this time around and see how it goes