Loves playing in Italy. Must miss his nonna whenever he has to play anywhere else.

Aren't like 87%* of his goals penalties though


(* figure may be slightly exaggerated)

was surprised luis enrique kept busquets on the pitch until the end

his legs went in the 2nd half

not sure playing both busquets and koke in midfield is a good idea against the better teams.....not enough energy

Yeah probably.

Busquets was our best midfielder in possession though. He was the only one playing the ball into uncongested areas consistently throughout the game. Most of the times we suddenly seemed to have a bit of forward momentum it was because Busquets had chosen the right pass.

A tournament like this will be a great learning experience for Pedri, but he's still way too green to know how to adapt to different challenges and to the changing situations in a game like a veteran might.

Yeah I don’t think you can leave Busquets out. Rodri is just not nearly as good with the ball.

Pedri’s been impressive, though he seems to fade a bit in games. Hell of a future ahead of him.

Jose must be pissssed, Spinazzola could be out for a whole year.

Arab getting his excuses for José in early I see

Ahh man poor guy. He’s had some bad injuries before I believe. Can’t be many worse times than to do it in a tournament that your country have a good chance of winning.

comment by Scott The King McTominay (U10026)
posted 6 minutes ago
Yeah I don’t think you can leave Busquets out. Rodri is just not nearly as good with the ball.

Pedri’s been impressive, though he seems to fade a bit in games. Hell of a future ahead of him.
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Yup, I might prefer Rodri in a team that played with more energy and risk, but Busquets is still better for a possession game.

Agree on Pedro, but at many stages today he looked rather lost. The Swiss were really well organised and we had huge trouble playing out from the back. I really missed Xavi today (and a Villa-Torres calibre finisher of course).

It is a huge shame for Spinazzola, heartbreaking. But his being unavailable for JM can only be seen as a silver lining.

comment by FloPo delenda est (U6426)
posted 1 minute ago
It is a huge shame for Spinazzola, heartbreaking. But his being unavailable for JM can only be seen as a silver lining.
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I miss Xavi every time I watch Spain and Barca.

It says a lot for the faith Enrique has in Pedri that Thiago hasn’t had a look in.

Yeah, but it’s too complex a position for a guy his age to properly lead a side at this level I reckon. It’s one thing to succeed in a position where you rely much more on your own individual skill and quite another if too the bloke whose role it is to dictate the game in the middle. I don’t even know if Pedri is actually that sort of player really.

Yeah that’s fair. Though I think there’s an element of having lower expectations before the tournament, and looking for collective control and balance in midfield.

There obviously must have been some internal confidence, but I don’t think there was the expectation to win this competition. Not like previous squads, that were more talented and experienced.

Could benefit him in the future being giving this experience.

Yes I agree. If only there was a way of him only benefitting from the experience when he played for Spain and not for Barça...

You’re right about the expectations too. I had none whatsoever. But even though we’re in the semis now, it still doesn’t feel like we’ve done anything particularly important or difficult. We’ve scraped past teams we would expect to be beating (or not losing to) on aggregate 8 or 9 times out of 10.

Yeah that’s true. I guess had Spain lost to Croatia it wouldn’t have been that unexpected, but given France went out it’s appeared that you’ve kind of done what you should.

The finishing is the ridiculous thing, though. Spain really could, and should, have won every game by a comfortable scoreline. It’s not been perfect, but I think only Italy have been a more impressive team this tournament, even if opposition needs to be taken into account.

Well, I think we’ll see our truer level against Italy. Semis is still much better than anyone here would have put money on, and it’s still in our top five or six big tournament performances.

Finishing today was just ridiculously bad. There was barely a shot I can think of that was struck cleanly and accurately. Nearly everything was scuffed or tame and straight at the ‘keeper. And a good number of poor final ball choices too.

If Spain can put it a good performance against Italy but still go out there’s probably not too much they can complain about.

True. Not a bad parting thought. See ya Daz. 💤

comment by FloPo delenda est (U6426)
posted 12 hours, 15 minutes ago
Busquets was our best midfielder in possession though. He was the only one playing the ball into uncongested areas consistently throughout the game. Most of the times we suddenly seemed to have a bit of forward momentum it was because Busquets had chosen the right pass.

A tournament like this will be a great learning experience for Pedri, but he's still way too green to know how to adapt to different challenges and to the changing situations in a game like a veteran might.
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busquets is still very good with the ball at his feet no doubt about that

but against decent opposition his legs give up, and he can't cover space. becomes very easy for the opposition players to run off him

i thought towards the end of the 1st half spain began to lose control of the match, which lasted until the sending off...a major reason for that was Busquets's increasing lack of mobility

i certainly wouldnt play koke and busquets together against italy .

SANCHO!

Surprised by that. Still think Grealish should start with Sterling right, it’s his best position.

While it’s all been working and I’m not too critical of Southgate bar the Scotland game. I don’t really get the lack of use of a player who is most suited to international football out of everyone

I guess he must just see Sterling as a left sided player. But I really don’t get it, his best football for England and City is from the right.