Greece v Argies & Nigeria v Sth Korea - Tues - BBC @ 7.30

[Narborough_fox]

Mick McCarthy

"He'd need to wear a long sleeved shirt to fit that one."

[FoxyPV]

Demichelis just scored.

Greece moving to attacking formation 6 - 4 - 0

[MC Prussian]

The Argentinians are whizzing all over the place and the Greeks can't cope with the speed, the dribblings, the precision. The Gauchos play football from another world, with Messi in the centre of it all.

Impressive and stunning.

2-0 through Martin "Oldie" Palermo.

[Salieri]

Fair play Diego. Took loads of stick during the qualifiers and leading up to the World Cup, but he's done a great job in this tournament thus far.

[Corky]

Pleased Greece are out, far too negative.

Argentina to go far in this.

[Fox You Forest]

Yakubu. :laugh:

[Salieri]

Yakubu miss! :laugh:

[Joe.]

Yakubu's miss!

[Jimothy]

Must be a Nigerian thing.

[Benji]

Feed the Yak and he will miss an open goal from 2 yards

[dandannieldanok]

Fair play to him for stepping up with that penalty just two minutes later.

[davieG]

I can't understand all the animosity towards Greece, sure they were ultra defensive but what do you expect them to do put out a team that stands no chance and fits the Argentinian's needs?

They did what the had to do and I actually thought it made for an interesting tactical encounter, their defensive approach forced Argentina to put the effort and guile into trying to break them down. I rather think a 6-0 thrashing would have been boring after the first 2 goals went in.

I guess people have forgotten or were not around when LCFC played in a similar ultra defensive way with man marking of Juninhoto to beat Middleboro' when winning the League Cup, I didn't hear any complaints then.

[FoxyPV]

Greece simply played to their strengths - they only have two forwards in the whole of Greece and 12,000,000 defensive midfielders/ defenders.

I thought they would have tried a bit more once the Argies scored though.

[davieG]

Greece simply played to their strengths - they only have two forwards in the whole of Greece and 12,000,000 defensive midfielders/ defenders.

I thought they would have tried a bit more once the Argies scored though.

They did but the Argies then decided to play possession football at the expense of trying to score, somewhat negatively just passing it around at the back and in the middle until the Greeks gave up then they started to attack again. The Argies were able to dictate the pattern of the game,

[Alexikokopops]

Hate to say it but I actually quite like Maradona now.

I think I love him.

Nice to see Messi actually defended properly.

I was also impressed with Messi's attitutde. He didn't get frustrated, kept ploughing on, and in the end it was his shot that set up Palermo's goal. How often have you seen other players get frustrated and become ineffective as a result of another team trying to mark them out of the game?

As an aside I can't believe Palermo scored.

I can't understand all the animosity towards Greece, sure they were ultra defensive but what do you expect them to do put out a team that stands no chance and fits the Argentinian's needs?

They did what the had to do and I actually thought it made for an interesting tactical encounter, their defensive approach forced Argentina to put the effort and guile into trying to break them down. I rather think a 6-0 thrashing would have been boring after the first 2 goals went in.

I guess people have forgotten or were not around when LCFC played in a similar ultra defensive way with man marking of Juninhoto to beat Middleboro' when winning the League Cup, I didn't hear any complaints then.

I agree with this.

[marbelladave]

They did but the Argies then decided to play possession football at the expense of trying to score, somewhat negatively just passing it around at the back and in the middle until the Greeks gave up then they started to attack again. The Argies were able to dictate the pattern of the game,

Always (except with England of course) an issue when the stronger side scores first and the weaker has to come out of it's carefully constructed defensive positions.

Greece did well enough for a very limited side and, first half at least, I thought they got much the worst of the decisions. Sure they were robust and physical and gave away a few free kicks but they produced nothing as nasty as the two footed lunge from Veron that he got away with completely.

When playing a technically more accomplished side you need to confront them in other aspects of the game, determination, good organisation, terrier like tackling, pace on the counter are all quite legitimate tactics and kept Greece in the game until after half time.

[FoxyPV]

They did but the Argies then decided to play possession football at the expense of trying to score, somewhat negatively just passing it around at the back and in the middle until the Greeks gave up then they started to attack again. The Argies were able to dictate the pattern of the game,

It didn't sound like that on the radio. It just sounded like the Argies dictated the game like you have said. Chris Waddle spent the last 30 minutes complaining about Rehhagel's tactics and selection.

[davieG]

It didn't sound like that on the radio. It just sounded like the Argies dictated the game like you have said. Chris Waddle spent the last 30 minutes complaining about Rehhagel's tactics and selection.

As did Hansen on the BBC, like he didn't play for a Liverpool side that dominated football for a decade or two with an overly defensive approach they proved extremely successful. Most of these 'pundits' have been involved in similar games taking on the same approach as Greece, hypocrisy at it's finest.

[Mack]

I can't understand all the animosity towards Greece, sure they were ultra defensive but what do you expect them to do put out a team that stands no chance and fits the Argentinian's needs?

They did what the had to do and I actually thought it made for an interesting tactical encounter, their defensive approach forced Argentina to put the effort and guile into trying to break them down. I rather think a 6-0 thrashing would have been boring after the first 2 goals went in.

I guess people have forgotten or were not around when LCFC played in a similar ultra defensive way with man marking of Juninhoto to beat Middleboro' when winning the League Cup, I didn't hear any complaints then.

Spot on.

Greece know if they go toe to toe with a football superpower like the Argies they would get hammered, so it's a pragmatic and sensible approach, and takes a lot of skill and technical nous.

I also enjoyed the game from a technical point of view, and thought the Greeks showed how to shut Argentina down. Of course once they were chasing the game it opened up and Messi found space and became a nuisance, but up until that point the Greeks did a very good job of keeping Messi under wraps.

In the end the Greeks are one dimensional and it can be flawed in games where a more attacking approach is required, however unlike Turkey, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Russia etc etc they qualified for the World cup from a tricky UEFA group with the swiss, and that alone is a superb result.

[Koke]

It's one thing parking the bus in front of goal if you need a draw, but to do it when you need a win is absolutely bizarre. Greece registered their first shot on target after 89 minutes. They were banking on battling out a draw here and hoping Nigeria could do them a favour. If Yakubu didn't miss that sitter and Nigeria had won [and Greece got a draw], Greece would have gone through. I'm glad they didn't.

[davieG]

It's one thing parking the bus in front of goal if you need a draw, but to do it when you need a win is absolutely bizarre. Greece registered their first shot on target after 89 minutes. They were banking on battling out a draw here and hoping Nigeria could do them a favour. If Yakubu didn't miss that sitter and Nigeria had won [and Greece got a draw], Greece would have gone through. I'm glad they didn't.

That's one view I thought they were relying on a long ball out to their number 7 who actually caused the Argie defence some problems and he could have scored. This is not a unique approach by Greece and is part of what makes football unpredictable. There's been plenty of teams not being actively defensive who've hardly registered a shot on target so that in itself is not a certain measure of intent or is it the sole measure of what makes a game entertaining and intriguing..

No one's denying their defensive approach but as I said I still found it an entertaining and gripping match which I wouldn't have if it had been a riot of Argie goals and surely that is the main criteria for a neutral fan.

Oh well each to their own I guess.