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Saddened! wrote:

Italy were physically and mentally beaten before it kicked off. It was a non contest.

Player of the tournament? Jordi Alba. Best leftback in the world? On the evidence of this tournament he is, he's looked miles better than Ashley Cole, he has it all. Defensively looks very solid, passes the ball like a midfielder, has pace, can cross and is a genuine goal threat. His energy and stamina is remarkable. In the game against Portugal he was bombing on in extra time, then chasing back, then bombing on. He's a sensational player .

I can't help thinking of Julio Geordio everytime I hear his name mentioned.

Stand-Offish wrote:

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Which is slightly worrying for the future, I'm not keen on monopolies.
Hopefully things go in cycles.

This spanish team have maybe one more major tournament win in them, if they can do what no european team has ever done before and conquer south amaerica.

But this is just golden period for spanish football. The right players, at the right time, playing for the right clubs. Because pretty much their entire first 11 comes from 2 clubs, the combinations of the players are honed week in week out and becomes almost telepathic.

So of course it will end. Some of those players spain have (and the combinations with other players) don't just fall from trees.

Saddened! wrote:

Player of the tournament? Jordi Alba. Best leftback in the world? On the evidence of this tournament he is, he's looked miles better than Ashley Cole, he has it all. Defensively looks very solid, passes the ball like a midfielder, has pace, can cross and is a genuine goal threat. His energy and stamina is remarkable. In the game against Portugal he was bombing on in extra time, then chasing back, then bombing on. He's a sensational player.

Barcelona have signed him for €14m (£11m), which is outstanding business. It looks even better when you think Coentrao cost Madrid €30m and Spurs apparently wanted €40m for Bale.
I can't comment on him being player of the tournament as I've hardly seen any of it, but he could be a very special player.

How come, when discussing England, nobody ever mentions installing a quota on overseas to increase the number of English players in the league in the same way that they moan about in RL?

McClennan wrote:

How come, when discussing England, nobody ever mentions installing a quota on overseas to increase the number of English players in the league in the same way that they moan about in RL?

Don't most of the overseas players in the PL come from within the EU? Making a quota almost pointless, and probably ilegal under EU law?

McClennan wrote:

How come, when discussing England, nobody ever mentions installing a quota on overseas to increase the number of English players in the league in the same way that they moan about in RL?

People do/did moan about things like that, hence the reason they brought in this 'homegrown' malarkey, where there has to be what, eight players in total, four academy produced or something?

I also think that in football, foreign players don't really stunt the growth of homegrown players, something that seems to be viewed as the norm in RL. Furthermore, with football generally having more fixtures/fixture congestion/cup games, you see a lot more rotation, which means players will generally get their chance. I think it's nonsense anyway, if a player's good enough he should play, but some managers will always prefer somebody experienced, something I view as a bit of a weakness.

In RL, fans seem to think that Aussies coming over here and playing over young talent hinders the national side, as it reduces the pool of players to select from. In football, foreign players clearly aren't the problem, the problem is English football itself.

Wilbred T Pricklepop wrote:

This spanish team have maybe one more major tournament win in them, if they can do what no european team has ever done before and conquer south amaerica.

But this is just golden period for spanish football. The right players, at the right time, playing for the right clubs. Because pretty much their entire first 11 comes from 2 clubs, the combinations of the players are honed week in week out and becomes almost telepathic.

So of course it will end. Some of those players spain have (and the combinations with other players) don't just fall from trees.

Well maybe so ... but success breeds success and there might be one or two young Spanish kids wanting to emulate their heroes.
And Spain's reign may be longer than you envisage.
They have the formula now.

Ian Stone came up with a cracker on Twitter "It would take England a thousand years to win three tournaments."

Just noticed that the champs league starts tomorrow too lol.

What are the goings on with regards to transfers then? Been fairly quiet for obvious reasons, Chelsea and United have made good buys already, Arsenal's look decent, but most of the other clubs don't seem to have done too much to get the pieces in place. Expecting big things from Citeh, with plenty of players coming and going. They clearly need another centre half, possibly a full back to play either side and maybe a midfielder to come in and support. Assuming Tevez goes, they will definitely need another striker. Is Dzeko good enough?

Things seem quiet on Liverpool's part, I'm not expecting an awful lot given the money we've wasted over the past couple of years, but I still hope we have a few aces up our sleeve.

Roddy B wrote:

What are the goings on with regards to transfers then? Been fairly quiet for obvious reasons, Chelsea and United have made good buys already, Arsenal's look decent, but most of the other clubs don't seem to have done too much to get the pieces in place. Expecting big things from Citeh, with plenty of players coming and going. They clearly need another centre half, possibly a full back to play either side and maybe a midfielder to come in and support. Assuming Tevez goes, they will definitely need another striker. Is Dzeko good enough?

Things seem quiet on Liverpool's part, I'm not expecting an awful lot given the money we've wasted over the past couple of years, but I still hope we have a few aces up our sleeve.

I'd expect Citeh to be fairly quiet. I think they'll sign another centre half and probably a striker but other than that the incomings will just be upgrades on players that will leave.