Euro 2012 Group C Thread (Spain; Italy; Ireland; Croatia)

[Henrik Sedin]

so what happened in that Russia-Italy game? (i didn't see it)

just a meaningless friendly?

[DuckSauce]

Gonna go on a limb and say

Croatia 7
Italy 5
Spain 4
Ireland 0

[kevin21]

Originally Posted by cashy

i have watched juve (core of this team) destroy the serie A this year(especially in the 2nd half of the season)
"getting them to play as a team is difficult" just doesnt make sense in this case

Cashy,

You cannot be serious here. This is international football we are talking about, not Juve in Serie A. You know, they are surrounded by different players in the squad and are managed by a different manager with different coaching staff? You are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this line of thinking. It just doesn't work that way Im afraid.

[Zammo]

Originally Posted by kevin21

Cashy,

You cannot be serious here. This is international football we are talking about, not Juve in Serie A. You know, they are surrounded by different players in the squad and are managed by a different manager with different coaching staff? You are scraping the bottom of the barrel with this line of thinking. It just doesn't work that way Im afraid.

whereas such advanced terms as


"we seem to get up for it against good teams"
"Trap will have a plan in place"

is the zenith of 'line of thinking'

As if other managers are sat there thinking "lads, we wont bother getting a plan in place for this tournament, lets order another pint"

[kevin21]

Take your English sourness to the Group D thread, there's a good boy.

[Zammo]

Originally Posted by kevin21

Take your English sourness to the Group D thread, there's a good boy.

sourness? that's your countries domain lad. Here in England we tend to only support our country, not the opponents of others.

[kevin21]

Spoiler:

Zammo,

Click the pic

[Zammo]

I would click the pic, but I don't have a plan in place for what will happen afterwards

[kevin21]

Traps plans usually work, there lies the difference.

Last 3 games vs Italy

P3 W1 D2 L0

You are a spiky individual, that is pretty clear. Just get behind England, you just never know.

[Zammo]

true, thanks lad

[Neab]

Kevin, I think you're overating Eire a bit here. Trap has done really really well to even get Eire to qualify, hes not a miracle worker though. He can only work with what he's got, and that isn't much tbh. It's true Italy ain't in the best form right now, but come competition time you know they ll know how to defend: euro 2008 Italy were poor by their standards and still held Spain to 0-0 in quarters and only lost on pens,I think they even had 10 men for some of that game too if my memory serves me.

I like Eire fwiw but lets be realistic here, who are you hoping to win you games or score you goals? Robbie Keane?, you're probably going ot have like 40% of the ball if you're lucky vs italy and croatia and less vs Spain.Honestly if you register a win in the group or 2 draws its been a successful tournament.

Croatia could go through, that wouldn't surprise me as much cos they are a decent side and can play.

[poker edge]

Originally Posted by fanmail

The one that isn't bankrupt imo

They are all bankrupt lol.

[Hoopie1]

Originally Posted by kevin21

Huh? If anything I'd say they are being overrated since most people seem to have them as massive favourites to get out of the group. I've yet to hear why this is the case.

The reason is Paul McShane. And I don't mean Lovejoy.

[LuckyLloyd]

Zammo very mad

Anyway, they're all much better than us but so ****ing what? They're always much better than us. Getting here was ****ing awesome, so anything from now will be a bonus. Dare to dream though boys, dare to ****ing dream:

Originally Posted by nutshot2

Kev,

I am officially supporting THE EIRE for EURO 2012

[Geddy Lee]

So it's finally happening; this is Slaven Bilic's swansong - leaving for Lokomotiv Moscow after the tournament. I know the honeymoon effect has worn off quite a bit and his relationship with the Croatian media has deteriorated significantly, but he'll be sorely missed and he took the program to heights it hasn't seen in a generation. Unfortunately, I don't think this team is as strong as the '08 edition, but the players love him and I'm sure they'd like him to leave with a bang and not a whimper.

The backline worries me a ton. Dejan Lovren's injury is a killer and it makes this backline look pretty ****ing terrible, imo. Joey Simunic is like 80 years old now, Corluka is coming off a pretty lacklustre season and there's a real possibility Domagoj Vida starts, he's a Prva Liga player ffs. Yuck.

Midfield runs through two guys - Modric and Srna. I know Bilic likes to play Modric much deeper than he does for Spurs but I really think Croatia's best attacking play happens when he's leading the charge. He needs to get upfield and get involved offensively, because goals have been hard to come by over the last few years with this core. And I don't know how much Srna has left in the tank but he's deadly with the set pieces and crosses and hopefully he'll be able to give good service to whomever Bilic decides to play up front.

Speaking of which, I think Nikica Jelavic has to start; his form with Everton is simply too good to ignore. Jelavic and Mandzukic are probably the ideal forward pairing but I'm not sure how Bilic plans to use Eduardo and Olic...particularly Eduardo, who looked pretty good over Croatia's last two friendlies. Going 4-4-1-1 with Mandzukic behind Olic will be the safe play but I hope that's not what they settle for.

There'll be some tough decisions in just about every part of the park, but I'm hopeful Bilic figures out a lineup that he's confident with and the team's able to come through for him in his final tournament.

My lineup:

Pletikosa

Corluka - Simunic - Schildenfeld - Pranjic

Srna - Modric - Rakitic - Kranjcar

Mandzukic - Jelavic

I think guys like Perisic and Ilicevic could be dangerous super subs when needed. Pranjic gets the nod for me at LB because he's been there before and he'll be a bit less of a bombscare as a veteran presence than Vida or Strinic. Modric is the key - everything runs through him and we go as he goes.

Croatia-Italy on June 14th, my birthday. Pretty sure that game decides 2nd place in the group. Or, we completely **** the bed against the Irish on the 10th and we'll be out before the week is over. I could see this team being a huge bust, I could see us pulling off a shocker in the quarterfinals. Lots could happen.

VATRENI! JA TE VOLIM! HRVATSKA!!