We’re well into Euro 2016 now, and we’re now well into the second round of group games so let’s have a look at what we’ve learned so far.
Holding Midfielders
Holding midfielders tend to go about their work in a quiet and effective way and are worth their weight in gold to their teams. The Premier League has shown over the years how effective players who play in these positions can be, with Claude Makelele innovated the position over a decade ago, whilst Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante have more recently shown its importance. Kante has taken his domestic form onto the international stage, whilst Eric Dier has shown that he’s a must pick for England. Spain have Sergio Busquets and Italy have Daniele De Rossi. History shows that successful sides have holding midfielders in their side that can break down the opposition’s play.
No rollovers
The tournament expansion and subsequent inclusion of smaller nations suggested that there could be some wash-out results in the Euros. The bigger sides would look to rack up the goals against the smaller teams, but it has been anything but that. Iceland held Portugal to a draw, with Ronaldo throwing his toys out of the pram after, whilst Hungary went and beat many people’s dark horses in Austria. Albania were resilient against France for most of the game, until conceding late on. One team will take a hammering at some point, but the tournament would be worse off if all of the results were one-sided.
Play for 90 minutes
Both Germany and Italy have benefitted from seeing out games through their defence, profiting on mistakes from their opponents, before running up the other end and scoring to boost their winning margin. Three of France’s four goals have come after the 89th minute, whilst Russia also scored in injury time to deny England a much deserved victory. The teams who don’t lose concentration and switch off are those most likely to progress deep into the knockout stages of this tournament.
One Man Teams
There are plenty of teams in this tournament with one star player, but not much else on the field. Ronaldo has often been frustrated with the quality of his Portuguese teammates who aren’t of the same quality as his Real Madrid colleagues, whilst Zlatan’s impact has been limited due to a lack of quality around him.
Lack of strikers
Look through the squads named in this tournament and there aren’t many top quality strikers named in them. The ones that are playing in this tournament have been kept quiet so far. Robert Lewandowski wasn’t afforded much time against Northern Ireland, whilst Harry Kane spent more time by the corner flag than in the penalty box. Dimitri Payet is the top scorer so far in the tournament, whilst several strikers are still yet to score.
Team Spirit
Much can be said for team spirit and how it is a superior asset to having individual talent. Belgium have one of the strongest squads in the tournament, yet seemed unable to pass the ball to each other. On the other hand, team spirit in the Wales camp is high, with all players buying into Chris Coleman’s philosophy.
