Kanouté
#NewEra
- 26 April 2008
And why would this Spain team not be considered one of the best of all time, ffs, they are on the verge of doing something NO team in the world has ever done.
I'm sure there is nobody who disagrees with that.
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And why would this Spain team not be considered one of the best of all time, ffs, they are on the verge of doing something NO team in the world has ever done.
most of u guys are mixing up "quality" and "entertaining".
exactly. most of u guys are mixing up "quality" and "entertaining".
u can rate a performance in terms of quality (how did that team play? well? not well?). but u cannot rate a performance in terms of entertainment. because the entertainment comes from the whole game experience. and the whole game experience is a result of the combination of the performances of both teams. u just can't separate the performances of both teams, because each team's performance effects the other team's performance.
the spanish just do what they're good at (wich is normal as everyone always tries to play to their strenght). the thing is other teams often prefere to set up a counter strategy wich perfectly fits the spanish game. and the result is pretty boring.... wich is absolutely normal, because what generates excitement is conflict, contrast.
when u have one team wanting to hold on to the ball, and an opponent who is absolutely happy with its counterpart holding on to the ball, u have no conflict. the 2 teams aren't fighting for the same thing, their respective gameplans perfectly match each others; the result is inevitably dull.
but this is not just spain's fault. both teams create this, because the script of a football match is written by both teams. and that is why the spain italy game was so exciting, while some others spain matches weren't. because, unlike most of spain's opponents, italy didn't adapt to spain. we said "ok, we're not cool with u doing this, so now we're gonna try and do something different". the italians weren't happy with spain feeling confortable in their passing game and so they did something about it. and the result was fun: but it wasn't just italy's merit (exactly as it isn't entirely spain's fault when their games turn out to be dull)...... it was the combination of both performances that ended up into something exciting.
one last note: excitement obviously doesn't equal to quality; they are indeed 2 completely different things: u can watch 2 poor teams playing against each others and find the whole experience extremely entertaining, even though the quality of the football is horrible (epl being a good example here. i mean i absolutely love the epl and i actually enjoyed it more than serie a this season, but obviously i got to admit the overall quality of the football is quite poor when compared to serie a, liga and bundi). the same way, u can watch 2 great teams playing some fantastic football and yet be feel frustrated by an overall dull experience, in terms of pure entertaining. it's an obvious remark, but it thought it was worth doing it.
I'd rather watch technical masterclasses like these than seeing aimless long balls being thrown up the pitch, aimless crosses, speculative long range shots and running fast nowhere into blind alleys.
yep, but u see that's the point. what u "watch" isn't just a single static force. u don't "watch" spain, u watch spain playing against another team. a football game is a matchup between 2 dynamic forces, so when u wanna judge how entertaining the whole experience was, u just can't simply extrapolate one team's performance and put the other team out of the equation. because both teams effect each others performances and the "entertainment factor" comes from an inseparable combination of both performances.jamezinho said:I'm not sure people are saying Spain aren't quality - far from it - although you are absolutely correct in differentiating quality football from entertaining football.
Do I think Spain are the most technically able and intelligent team in the world? Yes.
Do I find Spain interesting to watch? Not really.
having said that, i entirely agree with u that spain needs an outlet upfront and also someone who can provide width
It's all subjective in the end. I enjoy watching teams putting crosses into the box. You never know what's going to happen and who will get on the end of it. The unpredictability of football at its best.
Direct football can be beautiful too. Just look at Bergkamp's goal vs Argentina at France 98.
no arguments there, but that's what we think from our "neutral" perspective. if we were spanish we would probably have a different opinionjamezinho said:Spain looked more lively once Pedro was subbed on. They have exciting wide players and strikers in the team but they persist with playing 5 or 6 central midfielders which is why they are not an entertaining team to watch for some people.
I'd love to watch Spain with Pedro, Navas and Llorente on the pitch at the same time. What I don't enjoy watching is a team of Spain's ability playing two DMFs every match.
Spain looked more lively once Pedro was subbed on.
There is no middle ground between possession and hoofing in your world?
The only reason why Spain do what they do is to win by using as little energy as possible.
They just eliminated a major team using nearly no energy what so ever, and the match was as entertaining as watching paint dry. Kudos to them, but I watch football matches for entertainment reasons. What they do is impressive, but it's killing the game at the same time.
It's all subjective in the end. I enjoy watching teams putting crosses into the box. You never know what's going to happen and who will get on the end of it. The unpredictability of football at its best.
Direct football can be beautiful too. Just look at Bergkamp's goal vs Argentina at France 98.
Spain looked more lively once Pedro was subbed on. They have exciting wide players and strikers in the team but they persist with playing 5 or 6 central midfielders which is why they are not an entertaining team to watch for some people.
I'd love to watch Spain with Pedro, Navas and Llorente on the pitch at the same time. What I don't enjoy watching is a team of Spain's ability playing two DMFs every match.
They looked more lively for two minutes, then they nearly stopped playing forward.
long post containing "I know better than you" info
I'd be surprised if Portugal attempt to go toe-to-toe with Spain in a competitive game.
I'd expect them to park the bus like they did against Germany and try to get a goal on the break.
No, in fact the short passing game that Spain does is energy conserving, because they're almost entirely JOGGING. Jogging does not take a heavy toll on fatigue, sprinting does.
I'm not asking them to attack non stop, but passing the ball from the byline back to the midfield because they've gotten the idea that crosses are bad, then they lost my vote.
watch out against Portugal you are not so convincing and u played against only week teams yet
I'd say France & Croatia are on par with Portugal and Italy is better.
Azur, Did you watch the game today?
Italy completely outclassed England. The stats say it all. 33 shots compared to like 6 of which only 2 were on target. Buffon basically didn't have to make a save all night until the penalties lol.