Biggus wrote:

Deschamps did well the players let him down, I wouldn't mind him here.

he got almost everything wrong in the final. he did hook payet early, which was probably the only good thing he did all night.

This is the first time in history a Euro final has ended 0-0 after 90 minutes.

Portugal finished 3rd in their group, failed to beat Iceland, Austria and Hungary, only won one game in 90 mins against mighty Wales and have won the European Championships through a goal by fucking Eder.

Platini, who changed the rules of European Championship has ironically costed his home country the victory as it allowed Portugal to sneak through as the 4th best 3rd placed team.

he didnt cost his team anything.. they cost themselves by not finishing a single fucking chance in the final

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

Massive win for Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal! He helped his country win their first ever major trophy, something that neither Eusebio nor Figo managed to do. Meanwhile Lionel Messi's Argentina, a team loaded with attacking talent, lost three straight major finals in which they didn't even score.

MistaT wrote:

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

i disagree.  they didnt even remotely look like the better team for any of the match until the end when they were killing off the game. 

Portugal were not the better team until extra time.

Delighted for Portugal. What some describe as boring was great organization throughout. And Pepe was a colossus in central defense. Congrats to the better managed team.

One disappointment was the number of folks on the forum who reveled in Ronaldo's injury and complained about how long it took for him to come off. I assumed at first he'd done a knee ligament - which allows you to keep walking around but with reduced mobility. The guy's waited 12 years for this moment. To win the Cup. He wasn't just going to walk down the tunnel at the first hint of pain. Fiyah!!

Claudius wrote:

Delighted for Portugal. What some describe as boring was great organization throughout. And Pepe was a colossus in central defense. Congrats to the better managed team.

I know you backed Portugal from the start so I'm not having a go but that's exactly the sort of revisionist logic that people applied to Chelsea's CL win in 2012 and it's not true. An example of that sort of organisation this tournament would have been Italy - not Portugal - but unfortunately they were in the tougher arm of the knockouts.

Mirth wrote:
Biggus wrote:

Deschamps did well the players let him down, I wouldn't mind him here.

Not sure that's true. The first part of that sentence anyway.

Well at the end of the day he did fail so must bear some of the responsibility.

USArsenal wrote:
MistaT wrote:

For all this slagging off of Portugal you would think they had played poorly, when in fact they looked the better team for much of the match.

May have been a piss poor tourney but I won't take anything away from Portugal as they knew their boundaries and won out on them. Plus, Pepe was immense and that's worth something I suppose.

i disagree.  they didnt even remotely look like the better team for any of the match until the end when they were killing off the game. 

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

Biggus wrote:

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

No, no. That's the winning team. Just like in life, the best team doesn't always win.

Although it's hard to say France were 'better' - they brought this on themselves.

Didn't see the match as I qas too knackered to stay up. But boy do some of you sound awfully sour.

One can commend a team's organization if they keep out an attacking team. France barely attacked with any commitment the whole game. That too at home. No one spoke of Portugal's organization when they conceded in the group stages when the likes of Hungary attacked in numbers.

I don't blame Portugal, France at home were the cowards.

yeah I'm more upset for Kos and Giroud than for France as a whole, meh.

Portugal were rubbish from day one though - ironically enough given that Platini and co pushed for an expanded tournament, Portugal would have been knocked out in the group stage were it only 16 teams. They lucked their way to the final, and then France didn't show up. Them's the brakes. This is just as blechhhh as Greece in 04, I think.

Mirth wrote:
Claudius wrote:

Delighted for Portugal. What some describe as boring was great organization throughout. And Pepe was a colossus in central defense. Congrats to the better managed team.

I know you backed Portugal from the start so I'm not having a go but that's exactly the sort of revisionist logic that people applied to Chelsea's CL win in 2012 and it's not true. An example of that sort of organisation this tournament would have been Italy - not Portugal - but unfortunately they were in the tougher arm of the knockouts.

Yeah. It's always easier to defend in numbers than to be the one on the front foot trying to have ideas to break through. Just ask the most impressive group stage team Croatia who had no answers to Portugal's defensive tactics.

When you look back at this 10 years later, the only attribute you can pinpoint to is luck. There are no outstanding individuals or game changing tactics, it's similar to the Greece victory of defending and hoping for the best.

France lost this match? Oh wow what a bunch of losers. After surviving the german onslaught in the semis they should've been raring to grab this opportunity at the trophy. Guess that goes with the nature of the crap tournament.
Kudos to everyone who watched the whole match.

i didn't think portugal were bad. france underperformed, portugal pretty much played to their level. i thought fonte, pepe, guerreiro, and rui patricio were very good

sissoko was the only one to turn up for france

Even off the pitch he was the most entertaining aspect of the game.
France froze, Portugal were canny enough to go for the jugular just at the right time.
Deschamps subs bar Martial weakened a team that already needed a spark.
Coman? Gignac?  Not what their game needed.

Disappointed because I really wanted France to win but ultimately I think they weren't brave enough.

Mirth wrote:
Biggus wrote:

I never could grasp this concept of "the better team" theres no such thing as a better team, just like in life you take whatever chances you get when you can and the best team is the one that scores the most goals, its simple no need to overcomplicate it.

No, no. That's the winning team. Just like in life, the best team doesn't always win.

Although it's hard to say France were 'better' - they brought this on themselves.

The object of the the game is to put the ball into the goal more times than your opponent, the team that achieves this is the best.

This simple fact is obscured by those who like to talk and pour over statistics over analyse and look for complex reasons why things have happened when there aren't any.
Football is more than technique more than athleticism more than hard work more than confidence it is all these things of course but it is also more, and its these intangibles (the crowd support the weather and who is up for it more on the day etc)  that makes the game so interesting for me.

He is more than a poncy superstar, the guys will to win is phenomenal.

y va marquer wrote:

Even off the pitch he was the most entertaining aspect of the game.
France froze, Portugal were canny enough to go for the jugular just at the right time.
Deschamps subs bar Martial weakened a team that already needed a spark.
Coman? Gignac?  Not what their game needed.

Disappointed because I really wanted France to win but ultimately I think they weren't brave enough.

coman offered a lot more than payet today

Biggus wrote:

The object of the the game is to put the ball into the goal more times than your opponent, the team that achieves this is the best.

This simple fact is obscured by those who like to talk and pour over statistics over analyse and look for complex reasons why things have happened when there aren't any.

Yes, the objective is to put the ball into the goal more times than the opponent, but it's what has to be done to achieve that objective that makes the sport great. This blustering reduction is silly, it's the opposite of telling it how it is.

L'Equipe brutal in their analysis. Can't believe Koscielny got 5 though, he had a good game.

😆 The average across the pitch is about 5. Not happy, France?

Yeah thought Clattenburg was good. The game was poor and players were overly aggressive at times. Could've easily been a red in it if you had one of those useless European refs.

I always thought France struggled against possession teams throughout the tournament and they relied on too much brute force to find their way through, Sissoko being the battering ram. Too much powder puff and not enough creativity and composure when the going got tough.

maybe the game did need a couple of reds to make it interesting.

Shame for France. How jammy were Portugal? Won the whole thing winning only 1 game in 90 minutes.

Burnwinter wrote:
Biggus wrote:

The object of the the game is to put the ball into the goal more times than your opponent, the team that achieves this is the best.

This simple fact is obscured by those who like to talk and pour over statistics over analyse and look for complex reasons why things have happened when there aren't any.

Yes, the objective is to put the ball into the goal more times than the opponent, but it's what has to be done to achieve that objective that makes the sport great. This blustering reduction is silly, it's the opposite of telling it how it is.

Come on Burnsy you're on a hiding to nothing, the rules clearly state the object of the game and how to achieve it and what determines the best team who are awarded with points or whatever......All the rest is just self indulgent masturbation (as taken to its ultimate conclusion) by Le grand branleur.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

4 for Clatts? He had a great game. Sour onions

I'm going to argue that Twattenburg played a big role in the outcome of the game which, for me, rules out him having a great game. His mistake at awarding Portugal a free kick and giving Koscielny a yellow was huge. How he mistook Kos' very white arm with a black arm was baffling. Now, the free kick itself almost decided the game, but for the goal a few minutes later I'm pretty certain that Kos is taking Eder out if he is not, wrongfully, on a yellow.

Biggus wrote:

Come on Burnsy you're on a hiding to nothing, the rules clearly state the object of the game and how to achieve it and what determines the best team who are awarded with points or whatever......All the rest is just self indulgent masturbation (as taken to its ultimate conclusion) by Le grand branleur.

You're always banging on with this line, though: fuck tactics, fuck possession, it's all about putting the goal in the back of their net and keeping the ball out of the back of ours. Well where do you think the finer nuances of tactics and possession come from? Why do we have holding midfielders, inverted wingers, forwards who run the channels, dead ball specialists, overlapping fullbacks etc? It's from their vital importance to scoring and not conceding. That's where it comes from. The objectives define the form, but the form is necessary to optimise the objectives. To dismiss scrutiny of the form is nothing more than to accept scoring fewer, and conceding more goals.

Glad France lost; they were ridiculously lucky against Germany.

Joke of a game to end a joke of a tournament. Glad it's over to be honest.

Kel Varnsen wrote:

Glad France lost; they were ridiculously lucky against Germany.

And Portugal wasn't lucky at all?

Pogba really had an below average tournament. 120m my arse.

Yeah but international football is a lot of hype job. Plenty of coverage but low quality football, we have seen the likes of Henry/Ibra/Ronaldo etc have underwhelming tournaments whilst average players like Milan Baros absolutely kill it.

If you want to get ripped off in the transfer market you should buy players based on their performances in international tournaments.