They have gone for Iniesta.Personally I thought Jordi Alba had a massive tournament and Pirlo, Ronaldo, Balotelli and Ozil may all have been in with a shout. Views?
Pirlo was over hyped because he basically took the piss out off our midfield. But that's not exactly hard tbh.
Rubbish, Pirlo had an excellent tournament even discounting the game against England, but I'd have gone for Alba too, he was outstanding in every match.
Alba was great, but "that" pass last night was sex on a football pitch. it was simply incredible. made by Alba's run I realise, but still a sensational pass. Would love to see Foxy make those runs.
Didn't say he played rubbish or he isn't a good player. I said his play was over - hyped because of how we let him play against us. Which is true, he wasn't on the same level as most of the spanish players or even cassano.
Cassano really impressed me all tournament. his bustling. hustling style reminded me of Kevin Keegan at The Dell. (without the perm)
Well, I'm saying he wasn't over-hyped. He was better over the course of the tournament than nearly all of the Spanish players.
PtF, it's funny how we sess things, because I think the Spanish players were "unhyped" in terms of performance. I thought they were excellent, but there were moments in the Italy group game, the Portugal semi and even the France quarter, when they were stifled a little by the opposition. For me, they always looked capable of stepping up a gear to deliver. Pirlo was great all tournament, not over-hyped, but the Spanish were excellent throughout too. I just think people get carried away and expect 90 minutes of utter brilliance, when the reality is that teams will have moments and get on top for a little of the game. What has really peed me off is this "so good it's boring"" tag. Only the Brish could come up with that. Knocking winners again and loving a gallant loser.
I'm not in the 'boring Spain' camp myself, don't understand that attitude at all, but the only game other than the final in which they really clicked was against Ireland. I think some of their players were excellent in spite of this, I was particularly impressed by Fabregas considering he was played out of position (and spent a lot of time on the bench), and Alba as previously mentioned was outstanding. But I was disappointed with the likes of Xavi and Iniesta who failed to impose themselves on the games in the way to which we have become accustomed, and Spain seemed to suffer at times as a result (though they had their moments of course). On the other hand, Pirlo seemed to be able to evade the attentions of the other team by dropping into a deep position just behind the opposition's strikers and pulled the strings magnificently in most of Italy's games. I think the semi against Portugal showed (in that game at least) that actually they didn't have another gear, they looked really tired and unimaginative and they were maybe a couple of inches away (on Alves and Fabregas's penalties) from being eliminated, but that seemed to act as a bit of a wake up call and they made up for that in the final (and then some). I guess it just goes to show that any team can have a few off days, but they were still good enough to do what they had to do and the final was just an absolute masterclass. You could argue that Italy made it a bit easier for them with some tactical errors and a bit of bad luck, but Spain were utterly ruthless in taking advantage, and 4-0 didn't really flatter them in the end. Anyway, that's my analysis, you're free to disagree of course.
Dare I say Torres had an excellent tournament considering he barely played and still got the Golden Boot?
Yes I agree, he missed a hatful of changes to win the group game against Italy but after that his impact from the bench was incredible, like a totally different player to the one we've seen playing for Chelsea. I hope with Drogba gone he can reclaim his old form (though not against us of course!)
Jordi Alba just won me the Dream Team league in our pub and £300 !! But i would say Alonso of Spain or Pirlo of Italy. Pirlo is a class apart and Alonso is very understated but weighed in with goals too.
