Clean sheets win tournaments

MFP said:
Of course it's bloody tenuous because it was a match three years ago that you keep on referencing and completely fail to acknowledge how poor they've been since, including their atrocious recent form going into the Euros.
And the Czechs were the bottom ranked team in pot 3, 40th in the world and all they proven yesterday is that the can beat ten men.
Click to expand...

Again some balance is required. I've never suggested Croatia are World beaters but it is an undeniable fact they have many players who reached the final of the biggest and most prestigious tournament in football. Which means when you meet them in a tournament they're not going to be pushovers.
MFP said:
They should have been 1-0 down literally moments before de Ligt was dismissed with Malen one-on-one and messed it up. The Czechs never had an opportunity like that. If you think beating the 10 men of the Netherlands is impressive, then fair enough, but please don't pretend they're a good side.
Click to expand...
They matched the Dutch before the sending off. Again not a world class team but blindingly blindingly obvious that they're a difficult team to play against.
Also do you think that the sending off happened in a vacuum which had nothing to do with the game? It happened because the Czech striker was about to go clean through on goal and as he's one of the top scorers in the competition, could very likely have scored.
 
MFP said:
They should have been 1-0 down literally moments before de Ligt was dismissed with Malen one-on-one and messed it up. The Czechs never had an opportunity like that. If you think beating the 10 men of the Netherlands is impressive, then fair enough, but please don't pretend they're a good side.
Click to expand...
Shoulda woulda coulda
 
It's a bit off topic but I can't believe anyone would downplay the Czech result on the basis that the Netherlands had a man sent off. The game started 11v11 and only ended 10v11 because De Ligt deliberately hand balled it to stop Schick going through one on one with the keeper. As with the failure of the Dutch forward to score 26 seconds earlier, this was a combination of good play by the Czechs and poor play by the Dutch.

Now to get back on topic, if the Dutch could defend properly and/or weren't so open in their approach, De Ligt might not have been sent off, they may have kept a clean sheet and they might now be in the QF. Similarly with a porous Portugal side and hopefully after tomorrow night with Germany - if you can't keep clean sheets you don't win international tournaments.
 
The Card Cheat said:
Again some balance is required. I've never suggested Croatia are World beaters but it is an undeniable fact they have many players who reached the final of the biggest and most prestigious tournament in football. Which means when you meet them in a tournament they're not going to be pushovers.

They matched the Dutch before the sending off. Again not a world class team but blindingly blindingly obvious that they're a difficult team to play against.
Also do you think that the sending off happened in a vacuum which had nothing to do with the game? It happened because the Czech striker was about to go clean through on goal and as he's one of the top scorers in the competition, could very likely have scored.
Click to expand...
Then by all means provide some because your argument is very selective and outright ignorant. Croatia reaching a World cup final 3 years isn't relevant when their form since then has been poor.
 
MFP said:
Then by all means provide some because your argument is very selective and outright ignorant. Croatia reaching a World cup final 3 years isn't relevant when their form since then has been poor.
Click to expand...
Performance in tournament football is more important than results in qualifiers or the nation's league. Teams frequently do very well in qualification and **** up in the tournament and vice versa. Croatia are a good side.
 
MFP said:
Then by all means provide some because your argument is very selective and outright ignorant. Croatia reaching a World cup final 3 years isn't relevant when their form since then has been poor.
Click to expand...

I'm really surprised this is such a difficult concept for you to comprehend, so I'll try and put it as simply as I can.
Croatia reached a world cup final. This is very hard to do. They were only able to achieve this because they have some excellent footballers, some of them world class. Many of these excellent players still play for Croatia. This means though they are possibly not as good, they are still a good team.
This is neither tenuous or ignorant (but thanks for the insult), it is a fact.
Also don't give me form going into a tournament it means nothing, Turkeys pre tournament form was excellent including beating France.
Could I ask why have you felt the need to make such a big issue of the very middle of the road and uncontroversial opinion I've expressed that actually Croatia and Czech Republic weren't easy games?
 
MFP said:
B-But they reached a World Cup final three years ago. :ROFLMAO:
Deary me.
Click to expand...

I'm seriously worried about your comprehension capabilities.

I've consistently said Croatia are not world beaters but the fact they have several players still playing who took them to a world cup final means they can cause most teams problems, something which has just been proven against Spain.
The fact you can't or wont understand these very simple facts is not my problem.
 
The Card Cheat said:
I'm seriously worried about your comprehension capabilities.

I've consistently said Croatia are not world beaters but the fact they have several players still playing who took them to a world cup final means they can cause most teams problems, something which has just been proven against Spain.
The fact you can't or wont understand these very simple facts is not my problem.
Click to expand...
No, the problem is your terrible argument that Croatia are a good team because they reached the WC final three years ago, dismissing their poor form since then, coming into this tournament and in it as well. Not only that, but the argument they must be a good team because a handful of their players are still with the team who played in that final.
And just to sum up what a ***** argument it is, here is you arguing Germany are a poor team because they lost against Spain and North Macedonia in non-tournament football and completely ignoring the fact they still have a handful of actual WC winners among them like Muller, Kross, Ginter, Neuer and Hummels.

fmttmboro.com

Formation against Germany

Obviously they have good players but so do we, I hope the emphasis isn’t entirely on nullifying Germany and worrying about their players to the point of preventing our players showing they can pose threats. It’s knockout football now, you only progress by winning. This German team are nothing...
fmttmboro.com fmttmboro.com
 
The margins between teams are narrowing year on year and we continually underestimate certain teams and to repeat a much said cliche, there are no easy games in tournament football, I think this is being evidenced by results, with the exception of Denmark, underrated, no other team has had an easy game or impressed in the last 16 to reach the quarter finals.

On the day any team in the tournament is capable of getting a result against any other, this afternoon the biggest stumbling block for England is psychological, Germany are not one of the better teams left in the competition but they are one of the few teams that have tournament winning experience and one who have had a game plan of defeating England over the years, to win tonight England must continue with the functional play that has become Southgate’s go to system and hope that when the chances come we are not afraid to take them, I expect a tight game and a 1-0 England win with Kane to score.
 
Can all you bloody negative-ninny, anti-Southgate, no nothing 'fans' now zip it!

We nullified their threat of wingbacks who had caused real problems in every game, today they did nothing. 4 games at a finals without conceding that's never happened before for us (EDIT: we did do it in 66), unbeaten and never looked like losing in the 4 games.

Southgate knows what he is doing, he just nullified the tactics of a willy experienced international manager, he stuck with Sterling while all the negatives where saying get him out, Philips was superb again today despite most people saying he shouldn't be anywhere near an England side.

Southgate knows his onions, and just got revenge for 96
 
Last edited:
Well that’s 5 clean sheets out of 5 and we are into the last 4. With the exception of Spain, the last 4 have proven to be tough nuts to score against, whereas the likes of France, Portugal, Germany and Netherlands, for all their offensive threat, are long gone because they’ve leaked goals consistently.

England may go on to win this tournament or we could lose in the SF or Final. But yet again, a tournament is dominated by the teams with the best defensive records and the most likely winner is the team that has best overall control of its games. For me that means it’s between England and Italy.
 
WilliamMunny said:
Well that’s 5 clean sheets out of 5 and we are into the last 4. With the exception of Spain, the last 4 have proven to be tough nuts to score against, whereas the likes of France, Portugal, Germany and Netherlands, for all their offensive threat, are long gone because they’ve leaked goals consistently.

England may go on to win this tournament or we could lose in the SF or Final. But yet again, a tournament is dominated by the teams with the best defensive records and the most likely winner is the team that has best overall control of its games. For me that means it’s between England and Italy.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%.
5 clean sheets is pretty impressive.
England v Italy {if it happens). would be a defensive masterclass.
Both teams aren't too bad going forward mind.
 
Well there you go, the team with the most clean sheets meets the team with the second highest number of clean sheets in the final. Before anyone points out that England and Italy have played more games than most, it's also a clash between the side with the fewest goals conceded inside 90 minutes (1 in 6 games) against the team with the second fewest goals conceded inside 90 minutes (2 in 6 games).

Whatever happens on Sunday, this is yet another international tournament that will be won by the team with the best or joint best defensive record.
 
BoroMart said:
We nullified their threat of wingbacks who had caused real problems in every game, today they did nothing. 4 games at a finals without conceding that's never happened before for us (EDIT: we did do it in 66), unbeaten and never looked like losing in the 4 games.
Click to expand...
Not quite true as we went 4 games without conceding a goal in 1982 when we got knocked out without losing a game. But I agree with your sentiment 👍
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top