OT: Who will win the Euros and why?

Park the bus won't work to be honest.

We have more attacking versatility than any other team, tiki taka and posession is the core of both our defense and attack but it opens up room for other traditional areas of the pitch to be exploited by guys like Navas , Mata , Llorente , Soldado and Cesc.

My money is on the Germans, literally.

Interesting point. Navas did play a significant par at WC 2010 but he is older and less fit now. So I doubt what he will do and he is not even a squad certainty. Mata can shoot at times but I am not sure how much he will add and we will need to be lucky to get goals from long shots. Llorente I am not sure how much game time he will get and when he plays will he fit the system well. Isn't it not too dissimilar to Ibra at Barca? Soldado I had hope from but seeing how Valencia collapsed in the second half I doubt he has mettle for the big occasion. As for Cesc he will find it hard to be a starter. If he can play as a trequartista he can make some difference but Del Bosque will likely play two DMs making this difficult.

The Euros are a notoriously unpredictable tournament. A team that is being underrated now such as Italy or France may win it. Maybe it is meant to be C.Ronaldo's year totally and Portugal springs a surprise. Germany and Holland can win of course. Among the big guns I am only ruling out Spain and England. One small point helps Spain though. The Barca and Real players can get along a little better now. Since Mourinho has begun to win the on pitch battles he hasn't had a need to make them fight off the pitch.

After a worrying couple of months Navas is back to top form, he will add much off the bench.

I dunno if Del Bosque will start both DM's probably, I'm not worried about that. The versatility is off the bench, I wouldn't mind starting the Barca 3 then bringing Alonso off the Bench along with a winger and a striker if we find oppositions tough to break down.

Wouldn't mind him starting either instead of Busquets we start Llorente and 2 wingers like Mata and Silva.

I agree Cesc should only play as a teraquista.

What I'm talking about is overall capability for adjustment when needed. If we can't break down attacks we can throw on a completely different style if we need to.

Teams get compact on us , all of a sudden we throw on Navas and Mata and get in crosses to the Strikers. We have all the neccesary pieces to ensure that no team can park the bus against us effectively.

Also, a final point, our defense will still be the best in the world.No matter whom plays alongside Pique whether it be Ramos or Puyol, I doubt we will concede many goals.

Ball starvation will ensure that.

We have a range of left backs who are very good the best being Enrique and at RB Iraola has impressed me this season to the point I would say he is a top 3 right back.

Xavi and Iniesta to lead Spain to glory (another Euro).. I want one of them to win a ballon d'or, this is their best chance!!

Khaled wrote:Xavi and Iniesta to lead Spain to glory (another Euro).. I want one of them to win a ballon d'or, this is their best chance!!

the ballon d'or has got Ronaldo's name written all over it (provided he wins the CL, of course).

France will have Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Ribery and Benzema as a front 4 i expect them to walk it

Spoiler:

Cabaye ain't in the league of the other 3.

But the other 3

Le Samourai wrote:Cabaye ain't in the league of the other 3.

But the other 3

http://watchhighlightsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/video-papiss-cisse-goal-vs-stoke-city.html

I'm hoping we can take it but realistically I'm leaning more towards ze Germans, Spain and possibly France (in that order, even though I'd hate to have the Germans win it). Italy now has a younger side which is an approvement for their play, but I do not see them going all the way.

So in a nutshell:
What I'd like: Netherlands (and if they can't grab it I'd like Spain to win it)
What I predict: Germans, but the Spaniards and the French could well give them a run for their money.

Spain would win it. They have so much talent and depth in their squad. In the midfield you have Xavi, Inestia, Busquests, Fabregas, Alonso, Thiago, Martinez, Arteta and more. Attack as well we have plenty of opportunites even with Villa out. Llorente and Soldado have struck wonderful form. Of course like Barca, we may struggle in defense. Ramos has played for Madrid at CB and well I like him more than Puyol there (Puyol too slow though he can play a few minutes in the group stages) though that leaves positioning at RB. Arbeloa has not impressed me at all this season and has only had one great performance and that was in Clasico. He is not a great or better option than Ramos in attack and his crossers are terrible. If we do play 2 holding mids then we need at least one of our fullbacks attacking and well if Arbeloa is terrible then whoever is on that left flank needs to create danger otherwise Spain should play only one holding mid.

samourai, great comments from you - enjoyed reading them. Yes we do have some variety but it will be a hard task for Del Bosque to decide who to use when. Not sure how far he will play safe and how much he will gamble.

Khaled wrote:I want one of them to win a ballon d'or, this is their best chance!!

Don't show me those dreams again. For that to happen both the UCL and the Euro had to be won.

Brady2Moss wrote:
the ballon d'or has got Ronaldo's name written all over it (provided he wins the CL, of course).

Newsflash - C.Ronaldo cannot win this season's UCL any more.

So now it could be quite an open race.

Personally if the best squad's are chosen i reckon the Semi's will be France, Italy, Germany and Spain.......

Holland are also possibilities but outside of that i dont see anyone springing any suprises.

Mole you can't have all 3 of France, Italy, Spain in the semis becasue they are on one side of the bracket. My teams for Semis are Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain, but if one of Spain/france don't win their group and both meets in 1/4, then France IMO will shock Spain.

I fear though that luck will pull average Portugal in the quarters over one of Ger/Ned.

matpol wrote:Mole you can't have all 3 of France, Italy, Spain in the semis becasue they are on one side of the bracket. My teams for Semis are Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain, but if one of Spain/france don't win their group and both meets in 1/4, then France IMO will shock Spain.

I fear though that luck will pull average Portugal in the quarters over one of Ger/Ned.

Was'nt aware of that lol, should have checked the brackets before hand if thats the case then i will probably agree with what you said then.

matpol wrote:
I fear though that luck will pull average Portugal in the quarters over one of Ger/Ned.

If that doesn't happen and Portugal exits in the group stage of the Euros, how much of a chance will C.Ronaldo still have of winning the Ballon D'or?