Yeah, not an OG for me. That seemed to be going in anyway. Even if it was close, the benefit of doubt should go to the player imo. I'm not confident at all with Navas defending on Mbappe's side though. And Mbappe is not wearing the mask anymore and seems to be playing 500% better. Shame about Carvajal's suspension (which was a BS yellow!).
They just need to double team Mbappe by giving Navas as much help as possible. Just to lessen his threat. We managed to do it in the CL.
Am getting greedy, but I feel like Spain should maybe have taken another chance while they have full control over the midfield. France will most likely be addressing that at halftime.
I wouldn't think too much of it. When you expected your home team to be there and you're watching 2 other teams, one must find a a way to have some fun and entertain yourself.
Lamine Yamal. It's hard to believe our boy is only 16 (will be 17 this week). What a goal, and what a stage to score it on. He's everything we hoped Fati would have been. Let's hope he keeps making strides. This Euro has also shown that we need to stop overthinking it and activate that Nico buyout clause. He seems to be worth every penny. My ideal LW is Kvara, but Nico is a damn good alternative. Him and Lamine have been tormenting every defender they have faced this tournament. Imagine Nico-Alvarez-Yamal. A trident worthy of rivaling anything Madrid have, and that includes Mbappe who has been very underwhelming this tournament to say the least. As I've mentioned a while back, Spain have everything except a great #9 and were on of my favorites for this Euro. If they had a better #9 they'd have been the outright favorites from the start IMO. Also, it must be said, Cucurella is having a great tournament and begs the question of why we let him go. He's full of energy, so quick and has been defensively solid. I hope Balde can get back to the form he's shown before last season. Finally, I love Pedri, but I wouldn't bench Olmo for him in the final if I were the coach. Pedri has also not yet reached the heights he reached in the past. Too many injuries, too few games to get back to the form we're used from him. Also, I agree with @celito. Kounde out, Cubarsi in together with Araujo and hopefully we can get Frimpong or another good RB.
To be fair, I based my assessment of him off this tournament alone. I don't follow Chelsea so I have no idea how he's doing there.
Let's not jinx this. What's more, Barca need to learn how to manage minutes and to manage loads, especially for the young jewels [Yamal/Pedri/Gavi/Cubarsi], but also, the geezing geezers in the roster. [Lewandowski/Gundogan.] Overloading the very young and the very old player has been a disaster for this club and those players. I prefer Nico, because he seems to have good quimica with Yamal and others already here. The other thing is that his pace enables Spain to stretch the field, which has opened up spaces for players around him in the formation, to include Cucurella behind him. At ~58MM Euros for a 21 year old speed merchant, it would be like hand-in-glove for this roster. He has the pace that few in this roster possess. This is the one thing that Dembele had that this roster does not any more, IMO. Nor do Kvara, nor Ferran, nor Felix. I think their scoring output contraindicates this as a "dire need," but rather, a "want." They rolled through the "group of death," and then beat two of the pre-tournament favorites. They're playing well right now, without a great #9. Some guy named, "Jordi Alba" had the spot locked down for a decade, so I don't lament him moving on. Rather, I celebrate him having success elsewhere. It was simply the wrong time for him, given that there was a legend ahead of him at the time. Different players who do different things. Pedri's distribution > Olmo's, but then Olmo's nose for goal > Pedri's. It depends on what your team needs, IMO. I would pump the brakes on Cubarsi and the other young jewels in the team. Again: Load management, and minute management. We've already seen what sh!tty load management had done to Fati, Gavi, and Pedri. I would certainly have Cubarsi as part of a rotation, but I wouldn't make him an auto-starter for all 90 minutes, for each and every match, and continually expose him to injury as they had done to Fati/Gavi/Pedri. I'd rather keep Kounde, and find a Pivot to finally replace Busi, once and for all, rather than NOT replace Busi, and then open up another hole in the lineup at the same time. In any case, the #6 is a more important role than a RB, IMO.
Fati never produced this type of performance on the stage that Yamal has. That's the difference. As for jinxing it, I don't really believe in such superstition. If he is to be great than he'll be great regardless of what is said about him. I do absolutely agree about the minutes management. That's what screwed Pedri IMO, and he never really recovered 100% from that crazy season where he played absolutely everything for club and country. Agree to disagree. IMO bar pace, Kvara is better (but not by much) in everything else; dribbling, scoring, decision-making, passing etc. Of course Kvara is also 2 years older, so Nico can eclipse him at some point. With that being said, as I've mentioned in my post, Nico is probably the best possible alternative and I am all for paying his buyout clause becuase IMO he's worth every penny and might even have a higher ceiling than Kvara. Hindsight is 20/20 though. As I mentioned in my post, if they had a proper #9 they'd have been the outright favorites from the start, when no one could have predicted the way Yamal and Nico have more than covered for their lack of a proper #9. I will say that Morata is a hard worker and helps the team out in every other way possible. Seems like a great captain too. Sure. However, unless Cucurella was demanding a starting spot than I don't see why we couldn't have kept him and phased Alba out slowly, especially in his last year here. Cucurella would have been in his early 20's still. I'm not mad about it though, as we have Balde who has more potential than Cucurella IMO. With that being said, as I also mentioned in my post. I was basing my assessment of Cucu solely on this tournament. I have no clue how he plays regularly at Chelsea. Agreed, however, at the end of the day Olmo seems to have more of a positive impact on the team at the moment. The media and fans alike seem to agree on this. When Pedri is in his best form than it's a different story. I'll bet the coach starts Olmo for the final, he'd be mad not to. Again, agree on the minutes management. Disagree on pumping the brakes on Cubarsi in that regard. He hasn't participated in this Euro Cup so his minutes are fine. Moreover, being a starter doesn't necessarily imply starting every single game in every single competition. Rotation is still a thing and should be applied accordingly by the coach. It's up to the coach to manage the minutes properly. If he does that, than there's no reason we cannot rely on our jewels.
Group of death is definitely Group D, imo. Croatia isn''t that good anymore, and without a strong "third team" there is no case for G.O.D.
To me, this is the key piece: Overuse from idiotic lack of load management has sidelined too many top talents in this club. And I think this came from a lack of attention to this detail, as well as unrealistic expectations brought upon younger players. Culers should likewise temper their expectations, given his youth, and give this club's ability to royally fvkc things up with young jewels. There's also the chemistry Nico already has with Yamal/Pedri/Gavi, whereas Kvara has never played with Barca's young jewels. There's also the proof of Nico having had success in La Liga, while Kvara has not played in La Liga. Taken together, Nico has the one attribute this roster lacks [pace], combined with a level of familiarity with Barca's roster and with this league that other LWs do not have. Which means that for Barca, Nico >>>> Kvara. Were it a different club, in a different league, then perhaps Kvara > Nico. You are familiar with the mouthbreathing morons in the British football media, aren't you? There is simply NO WAY that any other team, apart from England were going to be 'favourites,' even though that team was not as complete as others. Sure. But this club has the idiotic habit of giving ancient players more cash than they deserved, rather than thinking of ways to slowly ease them out of the club. Back when Cucurella was here, they were shovelling cash towards Pique and Alba, rather than thinking of setting up successors for their roles. This is another aspect of roster management that this club has failed at, which is the question of "How and When to say goodbye to a club legend?" Cubarsi also has the horrific disease known as "ball watching." His 1:1 defending is adequate, but like others in the roster, his team defending concept is lacking. In sum, he's not a complete player for his position, and he still has much to learn to be the player he could become. So I suppose it isn't "just" Load Management that concerns me, its that he's made mistakes that a more complete player does not make. And to assume that Cubarsi is more developed than he is would be to set him up to fail, IMO.
Meh. Poland and Austria, any one? Meanwhile, Spain's group had the defending champions Italy, and twice WC semifinalists Croatia in it. That group had [I believe] 3 Top 10 ranked sides in it. I will agree that Croatia suddenly "got old," and Italy are down a bit, but I still think that Group B was the "Group of Death" for this tournament.