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More thoughts on our group |
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Friday, 11 May 2012 12:24 |
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It is clearly the group of death and is as difficult a group stage at a major tournament as I can remember in my time as a football fan...all 4 teams in the fifa top 10 rankings...that is hectic lol!! We are certainly going to have to perform at our very best to qualify from this group, and if we should do so, then the confidence gained could be enormous for the rest of the tournament...but definitely we have to take things one match at a time and the only goal for now has to be qualifying from the group..
Here's what i think about our 3 opponents: Happy to play Germany first, they are the toughest oppenent and good to get it out of the way straight away, playing them first should force us to get into gear straight away. I think whatever happens in that first match, we shouldn't panic, even should we lose there are still 2 other matches to be able to qualify. Germany's attack could really hurt our defence, but likewise I don't rate their defence either and think we can do damage there too. They are very good but definitely beatable as well, lets not forget that virtually this same squad (and manager) lost a group stage match to Serbia at WC2010 and to Croatia at Euro2008. I think a draw in the opening match with them would be a superb result for us.
Denmark second, both teams know loads about eachother having played each other loads in the last few years. Both teams will feel this is their must-win match, so it should be heavily competitive. Denmark as always play well as a team, and make up for their lack of great individual talent with a great work ethic and good organisation. We have to match their team-work and spirit on the day...if we do i think we will beat them because there is no question we have more talented players than they do.
Lastly Holland in what could be a winner-takes all. This match will be huge and is a 50-50 to me. Yes people have pointed out that we always do well against them, but we gotta forget about this for now, every tournament and match is unique. Their attack can be devastating and will really test us, I hope we have our full strength defence available for that match. However their defence is nothing special at all, they will likely play a defence of Mathijsens, Heitinga, Van Der Wiel and Pieters...none of these is world class at all..and if our attack gets going, they could really put that defence to the sword. They will feel the same way about our defence though, so it'll be interesting.
To summarise, I think our chances of qualifying are 50-50. Germany will be faves against us, we will be faves against Denmark, and the last match against Holland is arguably a 50-50...so to have a 50% chance of qualifying from such a tough group ain't bad....can't wait for the matches to start!!!
Btw I agree we should go 4-2-3-1 as opposed to 4-3-3, with 2 holding midfielders to protect our defence better, and Moutinho playing the number 10. This is the most fluid and balanced formation nowadays in the modern game...
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