EURO 2012

he's turned into an ugly man, i think?

i'm missing the reference unless that's simply a direct slur.

he used to be such a looker though
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CBrg2cTGKFU/Rw_AKNLq1CI/AAAAAAAAAM8/fFDvudb11YU/s400/Fabregas.JPG

no, you have me rightly

it is weird how he has come to represent the cuntish face of that brutally arrogant team. i think pique spitting on the official's head as they were supposed to be celebrating a world cup was a grim watershed. cesc is like the new ronaldo in terms of smug fuck ref whining though. that smiling face and constant shake of the head is horrendous, someone needs to have a word.

Phil Brown tried to warn us...

Say what you like about Fabregas, but at least he wasn't too homophobic to play in England.

But...the manner in which he was dressed!

Germany were disappointing last night, their lack of experience was sorely evident. There were three (I think? Cassano, Pirlo, Buffon) World Cup winners in the Italy team and it showed, they played the game exactly right, and bashed Germany on the counter-attack. Schweinsteiger was totally off-key, when on his day he's an amazingly effectively strings-puller. They didn't seem to know what they were doing. Kind of gutted, as I've really enjoyed watching them pull teams apart.

Cassano isn't a wc winner.

de rossi and barzagli are though.

I don't think Germany's problem last night was lack of experience really, except maybe at the back. On their day they could have beaten Italy, probably comfortably.

tactics seemed wrong. who was meant to be getting at pirlo? ozil? kroos? case of what alan hansen would term "who goes for it? you go for it? i go for it? no one goes for it".

not sure Buffon played with a WC winner's command all night tbf

who was on the right? There was no space made for ozil/khedira to operate in the middle, nobody stretched them

Yeah he fumbled badly two or three times very early on and was lucky there was someone there to clean up after him.

italy didn't look comfortable when balls were whipped into the box (lol buffon almost designed that o.g. earl on), and had no natural full-backs, should've ran at them and put some balls into the mixer, low! easy, bish bash bosh.

Cassano's "I'll win the WC because I was born when we wont it" thing always confuses me (given that they actually did win it when he was about 25, but not in the squad).

In my mind De Rossi is still only about 22, but I'm living in Roma's past there.

xpost - Yeah, that's the point, Jim - Italy didn't look amazing or impenetrable, but Germany didn't have the werewithal to take advantage, and Italy did, and I put that down to experience and big-game temperament.

I actually think Germany screwed up cos they did try to plan for Italy. Went away from their classic shape which BM play and most of Bundesliga and tried to narrow up the midfield. Meant nobody played wide-ish right and Poldi wasn't offering anything left. Of course if they'd played as normal it may have meant the 4 central MFs for Italy dominating anyway but better to go with your usual style I think.

Having said that they hadn't come across 2 CFs as good as Cassano and Balotelli so far in the tourney either.

a lot of the players from that german team played in the world cup semi last time around and the euro 2008 final. they're not lacking experience on the big international stage, especially when compared italy. players who are not experienced in the latter stages of international tournaments who played last night for italy: cassano, balotelli, montolivo, marchisio, thiago motta, diamanti, antonio di natale (played in a euro quarter final).

spain are gonna batter italy. vialli may think that spain won't be able to close pirlo down, but I'll be surprised if he isn't completely neutralised. The german's passed their way through the italian defense too often, and it was only rushed finishing that saved them. I certainly don't think they'll be as effective closing down the spanish as the portugese were. Iniesta's been a POTT, and he hasn't even hit full stride yet.

If Spain play to their full potential they just won't let Pirlo have the ball in the first place.

The german's passed their way through the italian defense too often, and it was only rushed finishing that saved them

italians had the better of the chances though.

Anyway as discussed upthread, current Spanish midfield rollcall of cuntishness - Busquets >> Fabregas > Xavi >>> Silva >>>>> Alonso > Iniesta.

Possibly being a bit harsh on Alonso there.

also we've already seen spain vs italy. admittedly italy using 3-5-2 instead of the diamond. and we saw that italy could compete with them, match them. until they started fading near the end of the 90 minutes though (which might be the key here).

spain are gonna batter italy

They might win, but they won't batter them. I think it will be very close.

forced to predict an italy win by the maths of my work sweepstake. would probably predict 0-0 at 90mins otherwise.

yeah it's gonna be similar to the first Spain - Italy i think except with both sides a little more into their rhythm. think this is a quality match-up of styles.

munich last night

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/417543_10150897424081510_1034356037_n.jpg

Busquets >> Fabregas > Xavi >>> Silva >>>>> Alonso > Iniesta.

busquets is a cunt obviously but he has been quiet this tournament. fabregas has really developed as a cunt since moving to barcelona.

He was always a cunt, even at Arsenal, it was just less noticeable because he spent most of his time doing his sad Victorian orphan face (most recently perfected by one L. Modric).

What's Silva done? That's a lot of >s.

Signed for City. He seems fine but I wanted to patronisingly convey the exalted goodness of Xabi and Iniesta.

LOL @ Arsenal buying Podolski.

spain are gonna batter italy

Man, I want Italy to win so much, it's like 2006 all over again!

All this Spain hate makes me sad.

He was always a cunt, even at Arsenal, it was just less noticeable

I think people started swaying towards the cunt view following the Hull City spitting and sneering and wearing a squinty leather jacket thing. Then the will he/won't he go to Barca thing and I can't remember what other shit - but it's been a growing viewpoint for almost three seasons.

i wanted spain to lose because i promised myself when they won the world cup 2 years ago that i'd stick a tenner on them every other week to win this thing and kind of never got round to it apart from the first tenner. i'm ambivalent about this final now.

I kinda want them to break the three-tournaments-in-a-row record actually.

The playing without a forward thing is the deal breaker for me tbh

Like all the Spain MF incl Cesc and want them to win on Sunday.

I'd love to see them get the 3-in-a-row record.

Generally watch games in a pub full of Arsenal fans who will no doubt be supporting Spain (because of Cesc) in the same way they all supported France (because of Henry... and because Italy are "boring") in 2006

really want them to lose. i have italy in the work sweep but would be up for them regardless.

yeah me too. TBH I am the worst kind of disgusting football savage, a permanent neutral who likes seeing great teams win. And I think Cesc is an amazing, amazing player and good looking to boot. Sue me! That said, Italy were tremendous and it would be great to see them defy expectations. So I really will be happy either way unless the game's boring, but it's hard to imagine it will be.

I love Italy. Desperate for them to win. It's also by far the better option for excitement.

the playing without a striker thing is a bit of a red herring. they've actually looked their best and most threatening at times when using cesc as the non-striker (essentially in the role messi plays at barca).

then you take into consideration that they have the greatest crop of midfielders, perhaps ever and that they would be taking one out for who? llorente is completely unsuitable to the system of play, majority of his goals come from headers, he has no pace, he's an old fashioned cf, and don't imagine his fitness is partic great after that season. torres is no more of a goal threat than fabregas at the moment. negredo just isn't that good a player, though he offers a goal threat and maybe could be slightly more compatible than llorente, and is not worth sacrificing a midfielder for imo.

i want italy to win, but i would be happy to see this spain team, the greatest national team i can remember, winning the 3 championships in a row.

pedro also not fully fit. but i think him and navas on the wings and cesc in the middle dropping deep is a great option to have.

They started the last game with a striker and he was shit.