Dage, even though you support teams that I really oppose, like Germany and Bayern, you are one of my favorite posters. You are very respectful to the opposition mostly. You only seem to have trouble with the Real Madrid fans, lol.
Candreva was ruled out. It is looking like De Rossi won't play either. We lost Marchisio, Verrati, and Montolivo before the cup. We are left with the horrible Thiago Motta who is thankfully suspended. How can we beat Germany with this decimated midfield???
Hehe, I don't support Bayern, I'm fan of the mighty VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach and my local club 1. FC Union Berlin. thx!
Based on his time at Juventus, he's really stubborn and won't make wholesale changes ever. We might see a slight deviation in player roles, meaning a 3-5-2 which morphs into something different.
Most of our crosses from open play are with few numbers in the box and come from our FBs, who aren't good crossers. This is worth distinguishing from our set-pieces, which feature decent numbers in the box coming from one of the better set-piece takers in the tournament; Kroos. One is a high-efficiency, dangerous outcome for us in possession, and the other isn't.
Is your side quicker than Belgium? No. Therefore it will be difficult for you to get in and behind Italy if they shut down the spaces. Is your side technically stronger than Spain? No. Therefore it will be difficult for you to pass/create through a tight defence. Width and height are the key to breaking this defence down. Width b/c its a weakness of the 3-5-2 and height b/c when the ball is in the air in the box anything can happen. I agree. I'm expecting Germany to be more like Belgium than Spain. When Italy went forward with numbers and lost possession Spain, being Spain, were slow in building attacks which enabled the Italians time to get behind the ball. However whenever we lost the ball in attack v Belgium (b/c Belgium are extremely dangerous running at pace into space), the Italians took the professional foul rather than risk anything developing. So yes this is where we are vulnerable b/c you will transition into attack quickly. So whilst they will be fully aware of this risk it still is a concern especially b/c of Italy's high YC count. Speed is a factor of this Italian team. Florenzi, Giaccherini, Sturaro, De Sciglio, Parolo. This likely 5 man midfield are all either fullbacks, wingers or box-to-box mids. The Italy of 2012 was packed with midfielders who were strong at passing the ball around. Montolivo, Pirlo, De Rossi etc. This team is built around a very different philosophy: very rapid transitions from defence to attack. If Italy was worried about the oppositions strength on paper they would have barely made it out of the group. The Spain and Belgium matches were fantastic encounters. I expect a similar outcome.
Dage I've always been curious and if my post offends you then I apologize , but are you both an ethnic german and national german....or just a national german? Not that is matters.... but the reason why I ask is someone here in the Italy board called you a fraud once saying you didn't even know what the abbreviation DDR in Deutsch meant and it seemed odd to me why he'd say that? I didn't know what to make of that or why he said that and if he was perhaps a troll himself?.....I forgot who said it....I would have to go back about 6 years to find the post. This happened when you were talking about how the 1934 WC wasn't legit when answering one of my posts in the WC thread.....remember?
Hummels amd Boetang are solid but can be beaten by smaller type forwards. But nonetheless they are very solid.
I really don't remember that but it's not a far stretch to think if a world cup in that time with that conditions could have been influenced by officials. But whatever we will never know for sure, the same like the rumors about doping in the German team of the 50s and the Netherland 's of the 70s. Personally I was born in the DDR in Berlin and also suffered of the dictatorship 's kid associations when I went to grammar school in 1989. So I really don't know what the guy was talking about. Cheers
sorry to hear that mate what was the climate like in East Germany when they managed to beat the West Germans in the 1974 WC? They got as far as the 2nd group that WC.....they did well in the 70's also narrowly missing the 1970 WC and 1978 WC in qualifying.....2 pts shy in 70 and 1 pt in 78 if you were too young too remember what did your elders think?
I think Hummels-Boateng are better than simple "goons". And for the record, Balo scored on the Hummels-Badstuber pairing, not Hummels-Boateng.
Depends on your definition of goon. Both of those goals were Balotelli v Hummels though right? In any case, Pelle is a very different challenge to Balotelli. Is Boateng > Badstuber?
What's your definition of goon then? Balotelli overpowered Badstuber for the first goal after Hummels overplayed on Cassano. Balotelli's second goal was a sprint against Lahm on a counter off a set-piece. Absolutely Boateng>>Badstuber. I don't know if you've watched any Germany games in this tournament, but Boateng has probably been our best player, full stop.
Hummels and Boateng are top defenders. I wouldn't call them "goons". I don't even know in what context they'd be "goons"