Random Euro Thoughts - Tournaments Turn Everyone an Idiot/Genius.... An Idius (?)

I didn’t really have time for an article last week. But I’ve definitely been keeping on track with the Euros.

To fill in the time before this week’s pod (which will be huge), here’s some of my thoughts on the tournament so far, now that everyone has played two games:

1. International tournaments are impossible to get right 100% - there’s so much happening and teams have little to no time to prepare. Everyone has horrible takes mixed in with good ones. I thought Turkey would be good and they’re not. I also thought Italy would be really good and so far they have been… I thought Germany were underrated and England overrated - so far that also looks somewhat true.

2. I use the phrase “somewhat” on purpose…. We’re making a lot of calls after teams have played only two games. There’s still a lot to happen.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo is timeless.

4. I fucking hate when a team like France cops flack for playing “route one” like there’s only one way to play soccer and everything else is wrong. It’s absolute bullshit. Snobbery and a lot of the time an analysis made by someone who only looks at the possession stats - or someone who can find stats but have no idea what to do with them:

   

   At the end of the day, you play to the strengths of your team, and if you have the best one-on-one player on the planet - it’s probably a good idea to try and isolate him quickly.
   And don’t give me the “it’s defensive football” BS either because I’d call Spain dominating the ball just so your opposition doesn’t have it being far more defensive.
   Rant over.

5. Romelu Lukaku is also timeless. Him moving out wide-right when KDB came on was scary.

6. England’s worries going forward are strange. Obviously Southgate is favoring a defensive shape. I’m not completely against this as it’s often easier to coach a defensive shape in a short amount of time compared to a fluid attacking philosophy. Still, I can’t believe Sancho not starting - he’s arguably their second best attacking option after Kane.

7. While Italy are playing really well, my biggest concern is slow CBs with a not-to-defensive number 6 in front of them. I think a fast attack might just cut through them.

8. All the Euro 2020 Cards on eBay look like they’re selling well. Already seeing some Panini Instants there for re-sale.

9. Speaking of Panini Instant, I’m interested to see how their print runs go for this tournament. I think they’ll be decent - although, Panini website is a pain compared to Topps.

10. Watching Gareth Bale strut his stuff as a number 10 got me thinking. International football is so different in a few ways. Mostly in team construction. For example, Bale probably has the ability to be a very good 10. However, the clubs that could afford players like Bale can also afford someone better to be the 10 - and the clubs that would use Bale as a 10 can’t afford him. So we only really get to see this happen with players like Bale when international tournaments come around.

11. Robin Gosens was outstanding for Germany vs Portugal. He was everywhere on the left-hand-side, and has been probably the biggest winner with Germany turning into a back three.

    

12. Billy Gilmour looked incredible against England and had probably the best performance by a player 20 and under in the tournament so far unless I’m forgetting someone.

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