• Euro 2016

  • Euro 2016 General Thread - talk about cross-cutting issues

Hey, thought we would have a thread that talks about cross-cutting issues - e.g., overall quality, outstanding players, etc. 

Want to start on quality. My word! That boy Platini has taken the most compact, exciting tournament in the world and turned it into a tedious behemoth. I'm contemplating skipping the last round of games because for the most part, they really don't matter. Even Italy is rumoured to be fielding an entirely new 11. I have endured far too many mediocre games - at least 6 in the space of a week. On the converse there have been some delightful performances (anything with Iniesta, the first German and Croatian games). However, Euros was always unique because 80-90% of the games throughout the tournament were meaningful and intriguing. 
So, is this 24 team thing a mistake? Will it only get better in 2020 as poor teams continue to develop? 

Good idea Claudius, there are many general stories that don't fit in the game threads.

I totally disagree, I love the 24 team format, the games have been very competitive and it's shown that that there is real depth in European teams.
I love the chess match tactics and nearly every group game is extremely important.
Why do you want to rush through this tournament- Do you have anything more important to do until August?

On another topic- I previously said that the refereeing was excellent in the tournament, but lo and behold I spoke too soon, we have Ronaldo being denied a good goal and that Turkish ref denying Ireland a stone wall penalty whilst penalising Shane Long for being elbowed in the head all day.

I thought Ronaldo was offside on the goal. He was about 80 centimetres off the defender when the ball flew in. By the time the ball arrived, several players had run beyond him, making him appear onside. Felt sorry for the guy, but he will get no sympathy after the nonsensical comments he made about Iceland.

Quality has overall been shit, and just games where a draw is more important than a win. Terrible tournament so far with lots of teams that have no business in a major tournament.

Yup, Rex. It's a combination of having about 6 teams that should be nowhere near an international torunament + 3rd place qualifies most of the time.

I'd agree that the overall quality has been poor, and the 16 team format was probably better. However, I've thoroughly enjoyed the vast majority of games so far.

The 16 team format was brilliant IMO. Every game meant something, it made more sense to actually go for the win, quality of the participating teams was higher.

I've enjoyed it and despite the time difference have managed to watch every game so far except for Portugal-Iceland. Like Biggus I've enjoyed the tactical side and I appreciate good defending as well. I also disagree about most of the 3rd round of games being meaningless. While I don't really agree with 3rd place teams going through the fact that they do means most teams still have something to play for in the 3rd round instead of half of them already being out. Even teams with 0 or 1 point from the first 2 games could sneak through with a win if their goal difference isn't too bad. Teams already through would usually want to make sure they win the group too so they don't end having to play Germany etc in the the last 16.

Quality has been poor. The tactical side is enjoyable only if you're setting your tactics to win - rewarding a draw through this format is nonsense.

I've enjoyed the French games, the Ireland v Sweden game and that's about it, to be fair I've not given my full attention to any of the other games I've seen and I've missed both England games.
I generally enjoy games more when I have a specific interest in players or the country playing - which I do with Ireland, England and France.

Quality is atrocious and 24 teams is madness. Worst Euros I've seen in my life.

Italy-Belgium is the only 7/10 game that I've seen so far. I missed Belgium vs Ireland yesterday though. Most teams are playing bang average football both from an entertainment and a tactical perspective.

My problem is not so much with the houseboat teams, more with the top sides like France, Germany and Spain, who have all been underwhelming.

Jens wrote:

My problem is not so much with the houseboat teams, more with the top sides like France, Germany and Spain, who have all been underwhelming.

Yeah the shit teams should be steam rolled but we are seeing some really dull football from the favourites too.

It's not unrelated though. Because almost everyone gods through, the lesser teams don't need to attack at all.

The quality of football has been really poor. I don't find much interesting about tactics either - sitting back with 10 men. Matches are competitive but games in the Championship are competitive too. I don't agree it's down just to the format either.

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

It's not unrelated though. Because almost everyone gods through, the lesser teams don't need to attack at all.

Yeah but that wont stop really good sides.

Some Arsenal related stats.

Most passes so far Xhaka
Most tackles Ramsey

I have to watch every game for work and I have to say the quality on show is extremely underwhelming. In some games, it's pretty much impossible to compile a meaningful highlights together e.g. the Italy v Sweden game.

For me the best game so far is the Croatia vs Czech one. Most of the time it's not that the teams have no quality, but rather they have no heart to play. The big teams are beating teams easily without getting out of 2nd gear so they are trying to save some energy for K.O stages. The small teams while trying very hard is nowhere near good enough in such a major tournament so everything became dull. Then when they are on the verge of defeat its more often than not about keeping the scoreline down and taking that defeat because qualification isn't at stake.

Gurgen wrote:

Quality is atrocious and 24 teams is madness. Worst Euros I've seen in my life.

They should have made it 32 so the Netherlands could qualify. 😆