“Oh my word”, this tournament gets better by the day


ONE of the most fascinating aspects of watching a major championship like Euro 2008, at least for me, is to observe and attempt to read the thought-processes of the managers between and during games.

Again, this thrilling second round of an increasingly thrilling tournament has been very instructive and thrown up some wonderful tactical manoeuvring, with some of the managers coming out looking like gods, while others continue to scratch their head in search of the right formula.

Let’s start with Saturday morning’s brilliant ‘group of death’ fixtures.

Donadoni, for starters, had some real headaches after being walloped by de Oranje on md1. There was much criticism directed at him, including calls for the re-instatement of world cup winner Lippi. I felt those calls were a little over the top, given Italy created enough chances, but there was still room for tinkering, in all areas, especially in central defence and midfield, as I noted in my md1 review here.

Donadoni did exactly that, making five changes, reshaping his whole defence (Barzagli and Materazzi were dropped, Panucci went central, Chiellini came in, Zambrotta shifted to the right and Grosso came in on the left), freshening the midfield (Milan duo Gattuso and Ambrosini out, De Rossi and Perrotta in), and partnering Toni with Del Piero up front.

Overall, those changes were pretty effective as Italy controlled much of the game and created enough pressure to win two games, but ultimately they were thwarted by a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, the bad luck that appears to be plaguing Toni, a surprising lack of quality from Pirlo (who has really struggled in both games), some resolute work by Tamas, Goian, Codrea and Lobont and Romania’s willingness in this game to break with real purpose and numbers.

For Romania, other than a couple of personnel changes, that change in mind-set was the major difference for md2, and ultimately they were a little unlucky to be thwarted by a great Buffon stop. Overly defensive on md1 against France, this was the Romania of old, offering something going forward, and, but for his miss, Mutu had a good game.

Fast forward 45 minutes to the Dutch/Le Bleu clash and we saw some more wonderful tactical work, most of it coming from de Oranje dugout.

But let’s start on the other side of the technical area. Domenech has literally been on the run following the unimpressive 0-0 with Romania, reportedly throwing a decoy to ward-off the chasing press at his final training session. The laugh may have been on the press that afternoon, but it now firmly on Domenech.

He made belated changes to his starting 11 but didn’t really go far enough. Evra was finally given a sniff, Henry came in, but the team was still overly built to defend, a strategy that got them to the world cup final two years earlier.

An early goal rocked the plan (what was Malouda doing?), and France had to come out and play. But, as the game went on, instead of sacrificing one of the two holding midfielders, Makelele or Toulanan, Domenech left them on for the full 90. It was one of the most puzzling things I’ve seen. As was his decision not to introduce Benzema, instead giving too much time to Malouda and Govou, and a surprise run for Gomis.

Domenech’s lack of tactical conviction has hardly been a surprise. As I’ve hinted in my preview, he certainly made some puzzling squad selections. Certainly, if Donadoni doesn’t panic, and the Azzurri get a bit of luck, they should do Le Bleu, and possibly get through.

But Piturca might have something to say about that, and Romania certainly had the edge over Holland in the qualifiers.

De Oranje certainly are flying, and seeing whether van Basten tinkers with that momentum by resting some of his stars, in the process ‘helping’ eliminate two of the big guns, will be interesting.

It would be a dangerous strategy indeed. Hitherto van Basten has made all the right moves.

Here he started with the same 11 that counter-attacked so beautifully against Italy. But at the break, up 1-0, he made a positive change, introducing Robben for holding midfielder Engelaar. Ok, the kid wasn’t having the greatest game, but it was partly tactical as well. With Domenech showing blind faith in his two holding midfielders, it was an opportunity to shift Sneijder infield alongside van der Vaart.

Suddenly the Dutch had two forward thinking central midfielders, with only de Jong sitting.

The message? If you’re not going to take the initiative Raymond, I will.

Later, when he took off the tireless Kuijt, surely it would be for a defensive player? On came van Persie. Adhering to the Dutch ideals, the equation was attack equals defence.

Once again Holland were brilliant and have been the most convincing team (a word not normally associated with Dutch sides) to date. Van Persie’s goal was set up by a wonderful piece of flair on the half-way line from van Nistelrooy, something we rarely see from the poacher. Robben’s goal, so expertly called by Martin Tyler, came just after Henry had provided a life-line, and typified the technique and pace that characterises this side.

“Oh my word”, indeed Martin. We haven’t heard that one for a while.

Sneijder’s sealer, reminiscent of his great work at Real this season, summed it up.

If you want another example of adapting during a game, then Terim’s work in the group A 1500 metre freestyle final on Thursday was fascinating. He started with a small, mobile and technical attack, and for 20 odd minutes it looked to be working as Arda on the left caught the eye. But as soon as the flood came and conditions started favouring the more physical and direct Swiss style, Terim had to adjust.

He did exactly that, introducing two big fellas at the break. One of them, Semih, got the equaliser, before Arda capped a very impressive game in injury time to knock-out the hosts.

Terim showed he can adapt before and during the game, good work indeed.

Twenty-four hours later, Bilic got it absolutely right in devising a strategy to counter and upset Germany.

No doubt reasoning that Ballack and Frings were the key for Loew, and that the space between his midfield and attack needed to be filled, he dropped striker Petric for left midfielder Rakitic and shifted Krancjar in the hole between Modric and Olic.

Effectively, it suffocated the Germany engine-room, provided a link between midfield and attack for Croatia and sorted out their left side, which was non-existent against Austria. Left back Pranjic was a transformed man.

As good as Bilic was, Loew was poor. His decision to stick with left back Jansen was exposed, he made the wrong call in introducing Odonkor ahead of Schweinstieger, failed to stiffen the midfield and he stuck with his front two for far too long. Podolski should have been moved higher earlier. As good as Germany was against Poland, this was the team I saw in the two pre-tournament friendlies.

While Bilic got it right before game and won, sometimes you get it right and still lose. Witness Bruckner’s work in the group A clash with Portugal 24 hours earlier. I thought his work was magnificent and, had it not been for that little bit of extra class from Ronaldo and Deco, the Czechs would have escaped with a draw. They certainly deserved a point.

Bruckner’s decision to go for the more mobile Baros, and introduce Matejovsky for Jarolim worked well and really gave the Czechs much of the initiative. Sionko was having a field day with Ferreira down the right, but I thought he could have been moved central, where he eventually caused Pepe and Carvalho some headaches, a little earlier.

Bruckner v Terim wets the appetite.

Indeed, in a tournament that just grows by the day, let’s hope the tactical battles, both before and during games, continue to be as fascinating as some of the flowing technical work we’ve seen to date.