Day 9: Hungary vs France | Portugal vs Germany | Spain vs Poland

Who would have thought that our nonfunctional double DMs (shown many times over the years) would be exposed also by their slowness vs a dynamical team?
Sanches surely must know he will be in the bench again next game, our golden DM duo has to play :lol:
 
Didi Hamann on RTE being an absolute kill-joy, after a German victory, about Ronaldo's no-look pass.

'It's disrespectful and he looks a fool now because they lost'

Piss off :lol:
 
hellhunter said:
Don't you think it's also the managers job to tweak the formation in a way that your weak link doesn't get exposed every single time? It's not that Goosens had a better game than Semedo, they scored all their goals with more or less the same play.
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Renato came in for Bernardo on that side at half time and it didn't help. William-Danilo pivot will get the blame but if we play Moutinho or Renato instead of one of them then we'd be even more exposed. I honestly don't think we have the players to play in a way that massively protects our fullbacks that can't defend while still being a threat going forward. The only way I can think would be playing them as wingbacks with 3 CBs but we only have 3 centrebacks in the squad and two of them are 38...

Maybe it's time to try Palhinha in midfield. Anyway, he'll probably try something different against France so we'll see.
 
No De Gea for Spain. Surely this is the worst international tournament for United players?
 
always_hoping said:
Strange day thus far Hungary drawing with France and Germany beating Portugal 4-2. Can Poland grab a result against Spain next?
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Germany beating Portugal it's a strange result?

Germany most of the times beat Portugal
 
Peyroteo said:
Renato came in for Bernardo on that side at half time and it didn't help. William-Danilo pivot will get the blame but if we play Moutinho or Renato instead of one of them then we'd be even more exposed. I honestly don't think we have the players to play in a way that massively protects our fullbacks that can't defend while still being a threat going forward. The only way I can think would be playing them as wingbacks with 3 CBs but we only have 3 centrebacks in the squad and two of them are 38...

Maybe it's time to try Palhinha in midfield. Anyway, he'll probably try something different against France so we'll see.
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The FBs clearly struggling to contain Kimmich and Gosens, i think what Santos should do is to change the formation into 3-5-2 solidified the defense with back 3 and tasked the FBs to focus on Germany flanks. Changing players without changing the tactic will do nothing imho.
 
Peyroteo said:
Renato came in for Bernardo on that side at half time and it didn't help. William-Danilo pivot will get the blame but if we play Moutinho or Renato instead of one of them then we'd be even more exposed. I honestly don't think we have the players to play in a way that massively protects our fullbacks that can't defend while still being a threat going forward. The only way I can think would be playing them as wingbacks with 3 CBs but we only have 3 centrebacks in the squad and two of them are 38...

Maybe it's time to try Palhinha in midfield. Anyway, he'll probably try something different against France so we'll see.
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Renato from the start definitely would've helped. The problem with Portugal was the 2 DMs are both central, so neither can help out out on the flank. You need at least one box to box midfielder covering the flanks against wingbacks, ideally 2. France had Rabiot and Pogba covering the sides, alongside Griezzman dropping back.

Basically Portugal in defence needed to drop in midfield to something like
Renato - Bruno - DM - one of the wingers

As it was Semedo was tucking in to be close to the CB as all fullbacks do, but with 0 cover from midfield against the wingbacks
 
marktan said:
Renato from the start definitely would've helped. The problem with Portugal was the 2 DMs are both central, so neither can help out out on the flank. You need at least one box to box midfielder covering the flanks against wingbacks, ideally 2. France had Rabiot and Pogba covering the sides, alongside Griezzman dropping back.

Basically Portugal in defence needed to drop in midfield to something like
Renato - Bruno - DM - one of the wingers

As it was Semedo was tucking in to be close to the CB as all fullbacks do, but with 0 cover from midfield against the wingbacks
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Agreed, it was a systematic issue more than a player issue, I think. Goosens was good, sure, but would expect any decent attacking WB to find success against a defense like that. TAA would probably finish the game on a hattrick.
 
barros said:
Today proved one more time this coach sucks, left semedo the entire game when all the goals came from his side, changed the formation a little too late, Sanches was the best player with Ronaldo.
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I'm not a fan of Semedo but I don't go with the majority who blame him, Germany played with high wings and so they played with 5 in front against 4. So they had there 1+ so you have to put high pressure that if they play the ball long it isn't without pressure on the player who plays the long ball. This defeat is totally on the coach. Midfield had to put pressure high and not low like they did.
 
Renato played like EXACTLY what United need in midfield. Drive well, dynamic, physical, and good passer Hhmmmmmm...
 
Peyroteo said:
The only way I can think would be playing them as wingbacks with 3 CBs but we only have 3 centrebacks in the squad and two of them are 38...
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And one of those 38 year olds is Jose Fonte who is utter trash.

I remember a time when all Portugal needed was a CF. You never really got one, just pigeonholed Ronaldo there. But now the entire defensive side of your team is suspect.

Still at least you guys are fairly level headed with your expectations. Unlike our country, who seem to think we can win every tournament we participate in:lol:
 
Maluco said:
Hardly shocking. Most of Portugal’s first eleven wouldn’t even make Germany’s squad. He certainly did his best today with the little service he got at 36 years old.
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Yeah today was probably his best performance out of these 5 games. Against Lahm he always was completely useless.
 
feck, the Euros are fecking great. Just got a lesson in how to pronounce some French cities and other words.
 
Two good games already today, hopefully the Spain game will be as good.

A rare almost full good day of football
 
justboy68 said:
Good performance from Germany. That final match day is spicy now.
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I expect a goalless draw in France - Portugal and a win in the other game. France second and in probably the easier table side and Portugal probably one of the best thirds. They have the advantage that they know if the result is enough because their group finishes the group stage.
 
OutlawGER said:
Yeah today was probably his best performance out of these 5 games. Against Lahm he always was completely useless.
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Of course it was easier to stop Ronaldo then when we had 0 offensive threats aside from him and you had a better team in every single part of the pitch Ronaldo vs Lahm in Madrid vs Bayern always went very differently than Portugal vs Germany for obvious reasons.

He's half the player he was in 2012 or 2014 but today it was an easier game for him because we have more talent in attack.
 
marktan said:
Renato from the start definitely would've helped. The problem with Portugal was the 2 DMs are both central, so neither can help out out on the flank. You need at least one box to box midfielder covering the flanks against wingbacks, ideally 2. France had Rabiot and Pogba covering the sides, alongside Griezzman dropping back.

Basically Portugal in defence needed to drop in midfield to something like
Renato - Bruno - DM - one of the wingers

As it was Semedo was tucking in to be close to the CB as all fullbacks do, but with 0 cover from midfield against the wingbacks
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I think Palhinha can be a solution as he covers more ground than William and Danilo combined despite not being as good on the ball. Renato to close off the right wing means no Bernardo who gives us quality in possession but I think that could work too. Bruno needs to step the feck up too, both offensively and defensively. Changing his role in midfield is crucial, I'd even think about playing him out wide as it's clearly not working with him in the middle.

Semedo-Pepe-Dias-Guerreiro
Renato-Palhinha-William- Bruno
Ronaldo-Jota

Something like this maybe?
 
Isotope said:
Renato played like EXACTLY what United need in midfield. Drive well, dynamic, physical, and good passer Hhmmmmmm...
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Is start was poor, he didn't help Semedo at the 1 - 3, and if that happens on the end of the half or at the start of the game you can say that you were caught by surprise but in the first half the same thing happened a lot of times in the first half. Didn't he see the first half?
 
If you listen to the Polish national anthem it sounds like they're just singing Lewandowski over and over again :lol:
 
krentz said:
No De Gea for Spain. Surely this is the worst international tournament for United players?
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Pogba and Lindelof have won MOTM once already.

James has been one of Wales' best forwards, Mctominay played well last night as did Shaw.

Bruno had a good first game but faded quickly today.
 
Peyroteo said:
I think Palhinha can be a solution as he covers more ground than William and Danilo combined despite not being as good on the ball. Renato to close off the right wing means no Bernardo who gives us quality in possession but I think that could work too. Bruno needs to step the feck up too, both offensively and defensively. Changing his role in midfield is crucial, I'd even think about playing him out wide as it's clearly not working with him in the middle.

Semedo-Pepe-Dias-Guerreiro
Renato-Palhinha-William- Bruno
Ronaldo-Jota

Something like this maybe?
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Could work, Portugal played similarly in the last Euros if I remember properly with Nani playing the Jota position. 4 in midfield packing it and hitting on the breaks.

It's a tough one because since then the number of top attackers have increased a lot for Portugal so you'd want them to put more of them on. I wouldn't like to be Portugal coach right now but one thing for sure the 2 DMs helps absolutely no one.

Personally I quite like Jaoa Felix, he can hold the ball up a bit like Nani and beat players so I'd play him though I know he's quite a bit down the pecking order. Something like
Jota - Ronaldo - Felix
Palhinha/Neves/Moutinho/Bernado/ - DM - Renato

I think if you're going to counter as Portugal do you can't have one of your wide players be as static as Bernado. His best asset is his pass so if consider putting him into midfield. Bruno I've dropped for now since he's looked very leggy for United over the last 2 months, his style requires a lot of movement but he's basically played 2 games a week since June 2020 running non stop and it's caught up with him. Maybe rotate him from the bench.
 
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Laporte was called by Deschamps few years ago and now is playing for Spain. Surely he didn’t play a minute for France otherwise it won’t be possible.
I am a bit shocked to be honest. Would have been a good option for France.
 
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