yesterday france played portugal with the two teams playing most unattractive football in the tournament . both teams can be called playing buggy football a term being associated with teams playing under scolari . both teams had been lucky to be over here . both teams havent played any good football even when having a wealth of talent in their squad . team cohesion had been the major trouble with both the teams . at times both teams had been one dimensional in their approach but they had reached the finals .
france started the game with their 4-3-3 formation with the same squad that they had been using in the q/f and the semifinals . while portugal also had the same squad which had been used in the semis . the game started with potugals sitting deep with both the front players nani and ronaldo retreating into the midfield to congest the field of play for france . even though nani and ronaldo were dropping in the midfield they were not pressing france or trying to do mark somebody . instead they were just there . this is the lack of cohesion in the portugal squad . cohesion isnt just in offense . it is in defense too . when one starts to press it is cue for the others to do the same thing instead of just sitting back and watching the ball . even though portugal had three in the middle ( renato sanches coming inside to make it three in the middle ) there were enough gaps in the portugal defense that france could work the ball upfield . france tried to play through giroud with him and griezman combining . at least for france these two had been in good form with griezman getting space between lines and playing one two with giroud who is not given enough credit for his assists . portugal were playing deep and they had the best of the chances in the first half with patricio making a very good save from griezman but overall portugal were able to keep france at bay .
the main joy that france had in the first half or in the entire match was the running of sissoko with the ball when he would come deep collect the ball and run with it . the reason why sissoko could do that was because portugal even though had three in the middle. portgual used to play 4-1-3-2 with carvalaho in front of the back four . adrien and renato sanches were upfield compared to carvalaho and they formed a triangle in the middle . the trouble was with sissoko's positioning . he had a wide right position but would come inside to collect the ball to move it upfield . since his opposite number gurrero wouldnt be coming with him leaving his position he wouldnt have a direct opposite number . to be honest i would like to take a moment here but what was adrien's role in the team had baffled me the entire tournament . he is pushed up just behind ronaldo and nani but they dont play through him . i havent seen him making any great defensive effort to man mark somebody out of the game . he is not a no.10 nor does he gets alongside carvalaho and protect the back four . there was space between adrien and sanches and sissoko was just using this space to start him run . sissoko is a strong runner and its not very easy to dislodge him off the ball . there were other's factor which were contributing to sissoko getting the space . carvalaho was playing in front of the back four when sisokko was coming in front of the back four or in the zone which was carvalaho's he would get in two minds since he had griezman to look after and other sissoko coming marching on . i think france just couldnt take advantage of sisokko's run . first off they couldnt line up players around sissoko to whom he could slip the ball . secondly its the shortcoming in sissoko's game that when he had done the good work or taking the ball upfield and attracted the offense on him that he should now pass the ball to somebody in scoring position . france had the same joy with coman who came on in the second half for payet and was immediately troubling cedric and was a live wire but then again the lack of cohesion in the france team just couldnt use him to their advantage .
portugal even though had won the competetion had been very poor offensively they had been dependent on ronaldo's aerial powress and that been the main weapon offensively . whenever the ball would come near the box they would just try to whip it into the box trying to find ronaldo or nani into the box . they never ever tried to work the ball from wide areas to have deeper penetration . portugal had the major blow when their captain left the field through injury . santos was made to change the shape of the play where on he left nani upfront and bought quaresma wide and moved sanches behind nani . the trouble with this move was that portugal with style didnt had a target man in the box . so the two changes he made in the game were the game changers . first off he bought moutiniho who runs the game better than sanches or carvalaho and uses the ball pretty better . he gets the players around him ticking and secondly when he realized that he needs a target man in the box he bought eder and switched nani wide . this was a good move and one which bought him the title .
eder's winner can be contributed to some stupid defending by koscielny and umiti . first off was koscielny showing him the back . why did he let him off . he could have backed just a little bit but could had stayed with him . secondly umiti could had come fast forward and stopped the shot or even stood in front . in football the straight line is the shortest distance path . it is first taught to stop to the straight shot atleast make him work with the shot . eder should be lauded because he was showing the eagerness to have the ball and work it . in november he wasnt sure as to whether he would be in the portugal squad when i had heard from one of the commentators in the english premier league that his lack of game time wouldnt hamper his chances in the portugal team .
all and all the competetion was boring and the level of football compare to that in the copa america was quite substandard . expect for one or two teams all the other were just not upto the task . even when these two came against an organised defense they too folded . it would be better to have the original format of 16 teams since it would keep the games interesting and each game would have a meaning .
now many a players are in the transfer market . paul pogba is supposed to be a 100 mil plus player but i dont think so that he is that good . he is technically very good and has the making of a good player but is not a finished product yet . mouriniho is known to work with finished product rather than just with developing a product . i dont think so that man utd should go and buy him for 100 mil instead if he is there for 50 mil then that too will be too much . i was impressed with jao mario of portugal and i think that kid has potential . he is good on the ball and strong too . technically good and most importantly i think he will develop better than pogba if man utd buy him . gurrero of portugal is good and would have many suitors in the coming days .
i forgot to give names of the players in the first pic but then the back didnt change for france so it is there in the second diagram .
france started the game with their 4-3-3 formation with the same squad that they had been using in the q/f and the semifinals . while portugal also had the same squad which had been used in the semis . the game started with potugals sitting deep with both the front players nani and ronaldo retreating into the midfield to congest the field of play for france . even though nani and ronaldo were dropping in the midfield they were not pressing france or trying to do mark somebody . instead they were just there . this is the lack of cohesion in the portugal squad . cohesion isnt just in offense . it is in defense too . when one starts to press it is cue for the others to do the same thing instead of just sitting back and watching the ball . even though portugal had three in the middle ( renato sanches coming inside to make it three in the middle ) there were enough gaps in the portugal defense that france could work the ball upfield . france tried to play through giroud with him and griezman combining . at least for france these two had been in good form with griezman getting space between lines and playing one two with giroud who is not given enough credit for his assists . portugal were playing deep and they had the best of the chances in the first half with patricio making a very good save from griezman but overall portugal were able to keep france at bay .
the main joy that france had in the first half or in the entire match was the running of sissoko with the ball when he would come deep collect the ball and run with it . the reason why sissoko could do that was because portugal even though had three in the middle. portgual used to play 4-1-3-2 with carvalaho in front of the back four . adrien and renato sanches were upfield compared to carvalaho and they formed a triangle in the middle . the trouble was with sissoko's positioning . he had a wide right position but would come inside to collect the ball to move it upfield . since his opposite number gurrero wouldnt be coming with him leaving his position he wouldnt have a direct opposite number . to be honest i would like to take a moment here but what was adrien's role in the team had baffled me the entire tournament . he is pushed up just behind ronaldo and nani but they dont play through him . i havent seen him making any great defensive effort to man mark somebody out of the game . he is not a no.10 nor does he gets alongside carvalaho and protect the back four . there was space between adrien and sanches and sissoko was just using this space to start him run . sissoko is a strong runner and its not very easy to dislodge him off the ball . there were other's factor which were contributing to sissoko getting the space . carvalaho was playing in front of the back four when sisokko was coming in front of the back four or in the zone which was carvalaho's he would get in two minds since he had griezman to look after and other sissoko coming marching on . i think france just couldnt take advantage of sisokko's run . first off they couldnt line up players around sissoko to whom he could slip the ball . secondly its the shortcoming in sissoko's game that when he had done the good work or taking the ball upfield and attracted the offense on him that he should now pass the ball to somebody in scoring position . france had the same joy with coman who came on in the second half for payet and was immediately troubling cedric and was a live wire but then again the lack of cohesion in the france team just couldnt use him to their advantage .
portugal even though had won the competetion had been very poor offensively they had been dependent on ronaldo's aerial powress and that been the main weapon offensively . whenever the ball would come near the box they would just try to whip it into the box trying to find ronaldo or nani into the box . they never ever tried to work the ball from wide areas to have deeper penetration . portugal had the major blow when their captain left the field through injury . santos was made to change the shape of the play where on he left nani upfront and bought quaresma wide and moved sanches behind nani . the trouble with this move was that portugal with style didnt had a target man in the box . so the two changes he made in the game were the game changers . first off he bought moutiniho who runs the game better than sanches or carvalaho and uses the ball pretty better . he gets the players around him ticking and secondly when he realized that he needs a target man in the box he bought eder and switched nani wide . this was a good move and one which bought him the title .
eder's winner can be contributed to some stupid defending by koscielny and umiti . first off was koscielny showing him the back . why did he let him off . he could have backed just a little bit but could had stayed with him . secondly umiti could had come fast forward and stopped the shot or even stood in front . in football the straight line is the shortest distance path . it is first taught to stop to the straight shot atleast make him work with the shot . eder should be lauded because he was showing the eagerness to have the ball and work it . in november he wasnt sure as to whether he would be in the portugal squad when i had heard from one of the commentators in the english premier league that his lack of game time wouldnt hamper his chances in the portugal team .
all and all the competetion was boring and the level of football compare to that in the copa america was quite substandard . expect for one or two teams all the other were just not upto the task . even when these two came against an organised defense they too folded . it would be better to have the original format of 16 teams since it would keep the games interesting and each game would have a meaning .
now many a players are in the transfer market . paul pogba is supposed to be a 100 mil plus player but i dont think so that he is that good . he is technically very good and has the making of a good player but is not a finished product yet . mouriniho is known to work with finished product rather than just with developing a product . i dont think so that man utd should go and buy him for 100 mil instead if he is there for 50 mil then that too will be too much . i was impressed with jao mario of portugal and i think that kid has potential . he is good on the ball and strong too . technically good and most importantly i think he will develop better than pogba if man utd buy him . gurrero of portugal is good and would have many suitors in the coming days .
i forgot to give names of the players in the first pic but then the back didnt change for france so it is there in the second diagram .
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