I have touched on this issue in previous posts but it has frustrated me so much that I am having to dedicate a whole article to it.
The team selections so far in these European Championships have by and large been baffling. I was critical of Roy Hodgson for not starting Jamie Vardy or Daniel Sturridge against Wales but this is only one example of some mystifying team selections or just at times poor judgements.
Didier Deschamps for some reason decided to rest (I assume) Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann against Albania; a stupid decision given the unpredictable nature of football and the lack of quality in France’s first display. What warranted him to rest those two I do not know as Albania did very well against the Swiss with 10 men.
Another poor selection from Deschamps or Olivier Giroud. I cannot understand what he is doing anywhere near that French team.
With players like Griezmann, Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette and not to mention Karim Benzema all capable of playing up front for France, it is incredibly strange to see Giroud leading the line for the hosts.
Yes he scored in the first match, but that was after about three misses which were also evident in the second match. As Arsenal have shown, Giroud is not a striker that is going to win you a competition.
Onto the highly rated Belgians. Now why is Marouane Fellaini playing in the no.10 role when Kevin de Bruyne is the right, out of position.
I actually have defended Fellaini for his Man Utd performances; I think he gives them that control and is quite useful for them but in a team with so much quality and talent, there is surely no space for him.
Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens were sitting on the bench – two top quality wingers who could have replaced Fellaini allowing Bruyne into his favoured no.10 role.
De Bruyne is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and to waste him out wide for Fellaini is farcical and another example of the poor managing exhibited at times during the Euros.
Luckily, Marc Wilmots seems to have learnt from his mistake by dropping Fellaini for the second match for Carrasco and deploying de Bruyne in the middle.
The team selections so far in these European Championships have by and large been baffling. I was critical of Roy Hodgson for not starting Jamie Vardy or Daniel Sturridge against Wales but this is only one example of some mystifying team selections or just at times poor judgements.
Didier Deschamps for some reason decided to rest (I assume) Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann against Albania; a stupid decision given the unpredictable nature of football and the lack of quality in France’s first display. What warranted him to rest those two I do not know as Albania did very well against the Swiss with 10 men.
Another poor selection from Deschamps or Olivier Giroud. I cannot understand what he is doing anywhere near that French team.
With players like Griezmann, Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette and not to mention Karim Benzema all capable of playing up front for France, it is incredibly strange to see Giroud leading the line for the hosts.
Yes he scored in the first match, but that was after about three misses which were also evident in the second match. As Arsenal have shown, Giroud is not a striker that is going to win you a competition.
Onto the highly rated Belgians. Now why is Marouane Fellaini playing in the no.10 role when Kevin de Bruyne is the right, out of position.
I actually have defended Fellaini for his Man Utd performances; I think he gives them that control and is quite useful for them but in a team with so much quality and talent, there is surely no space for him.
Yannick Carrasco and Dries Mertens were sitting on the bench – two top quality wingers who could have replaced Fellaini allowing Bruyne into his favoured no.10 role.
De Bruyne is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and to waste him out wide for Fellaini is farcical and another example of the poor managing exhibited at times during the Euros.
Luckily, Marc Wilmots seems to have learnt from his mistake by dropping Fellaini for the second match for Carrasco and deploying de Bruyne in the middle.
Turkey were poor against Croatia but one bright spark was Emre Mor ‘the Turkish Messi’ when he came on and against Spain, you need pace and quick transition on the odd occasion you do manage to get the ball so the three behind Burak Yilmaz should have been Emre Mor, Arda Turan and Hakan Calhanoglu in the no.10 position as he is probably the slowest of the three.
It is obvious to play your most explosive players who can get past defenders and come up with a moment of magic against a team like Spain but Fatih Terim, it looks to me did not have a proper game plan.
Poland in their first match against Northern Ireland should have played Piotr Zielinski instead of their second holding player. Against a team that was so obviously going to play ten men behind the ball, there was never any need for both Grzegorz Krychowiak and Krzysztof Maczynski.
By playing both of them, they lost the penetration and attacking intensity thwy would have gotten with Zielinski.
In the Poles second match, for some obscure reason, Bartosz Kapustka was dropped. He was probably their best player in the previous match so to drop him against the World Champions either shows fear or is just plain clueless.
When William Carvalho and Renato Sanches of Portugal did not start in the warm-up match against England, I assumed they were being rested but neither started the first group game against Iceland either in probably the most surprising result of the tournament.
Iceland were largely expected to be the worst team in the group so Portugal should have been more aggressive. Joao Moutinho and Joao Mario should not have started in place of the two youngsters I mentioned. This would have given the attack some pace and urgency and would have kept the technical ability that Moutinho possesses.
Sanches looked great when he came on against England and £30million to Bayern Munich worth of quality should be and is good enough to start for Portugal.
Overall, I would say that the managers are fearful of playing their young players. Kapustka, Sanches and Emre Mor should all be starting but their managers are too scared to play attacking football.
The quality of international managers in general is poor hence the number of poor decisions and team selections.
It is obvious to play your most explosive players who can get past defenders and come up with a moment of magic against a team like Spain but Fatih Terim, it looks to me did not have a proper game plan.
Poland in their first match against Northern Ireland should have played Piotr Zielinski instead of their second holding player. Against a team that was so obviously going to play ten men behind the ball, there was never any need for both Grzegorz Krychowiak and Krzysztof Maczynski.
By playing both of them, they lost the penetration and attacking intensity thwy would have gotten with Zielinski.
In the Poles second match, for some obscure reason, Bartosz Kapustka was dropped. He was probably their best player in the previous match so to drop him against the World Champions either shows fear or is just plain clueless.
When William Carvalho and Renato Sanches of Portugal did not start in the warm-up match against England, I assumed they were being rested but neither started the first group game against Iceland either in probably the most surprising result of the tournament.
Iceland were largely expected to be the worst team in the group so Portugal should have been more aggressive. Joao Moutinho and Joao Mario should not have started in place of the two youngsters I mentioned. This would have given the attack some pace and urgency and would have kept the technical ability that Moutinho possesses.
Sanches looked great when he came on against England and £30million to Bayern Munich worth of quality should be and is good enough to start for Portugal.
Overall, I would say that the managers are fearful of playing their young players. Kapustka, Sanches and Emre Mor should all be starting but their managers are too scared to play attacking football.
The quality of international managers in general is poor hence the number of poor decisions and team selections.
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