⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Dreadboost]

It's seems like only Xavi amongst the famous new coaches in European nations football that has gotten the ball rolling, I say famous because teams like Portugal also had a change of administration but the coach isn't as news worthy as Xavi, klopp, zidane, no disrespect to him though.
I think Netherlands even though they haven't been at there best has really been very impressive so far under Xavi, Germany to me has been the worse so far and the fact that they lost yesterday proves my point.

A lot is happening with Germany. The worst thing is that Germany can't score a goal anymore. We all thought Klopp was going to instantly change Germany's underperforming football, but maybe we have so much expectation from him that it made us forget that football doesn't happen that way, especially when there is a change in manager. Klopp will have to understand this team. It will take a process before he starts getting it right.  I know he is in a tough situation here because Germany, in history, is one of the greatest footballing teams in the world.

[MorganaX]

It's seems like only Xavi amongst the famous new coaches in European nations football that has gotten the ball rolling, I say famous because teams like Portugal also had a change of administration but the coach isn't as news worthy as Xavi, klopp, zidane, no disrespect to him though.
I think Netherlands even though they haven't been at there best has really been very impressive so far under Xavi, Germany to me has been the worse so far and the fact that they lost yesterday proves my point.

I don't think we have seen the last of Jurgen Klopp, I just think this UEFA's Nation league qualification is just a playing ground to him, that's what I want to believe because from the squad he is using  and how it feels like he isn't taking it serious, I just think that he is cooking something dangerous.

As fir Zidane, Olise just saved him today as he too was experimenting, he is trying to plug that defensive hole France has and that Belgium was a practice run, imagine bringing in his creative players in the 80th minutes, this coaches are just playing.

[Majestic-milf]

 France were able to snatch a last minute win through Micheal Olise's shot and this has made it the second win for Zinede Zidane. He's the only French coach since 1994 to win his opening game in the UEFA nations Cup and he has now gone to win the second.
France now have six points from two games and top of their group A. As it stands, I don't think any of the other teams in the group of France can hold them from ending group stage with a total of 9 points from three games because Italy are not that strong even though they've got big names but France can still overpower them.

[GbitG]

Bastian Schweinsteiger disagrees with you, he says Germany is now just an ordinary team and they are. Granted, the individual quality hasn't completely vanished, but the team's overall level and approach are a far cry from the Germany of the past. It is quite clear that German football is in need of restructuring and significant change.

This current Germany team would not make it anywhere near the finals in the world cup or even the nations league. There is no quality in the team right now, compared to the Germany that played against Brazil in the 2014 world cup.

Their game against Greece was a disappointing result for both the team and their newly assigned coach. Klopp has not won two of his first games as the Germany coach which does not portray his class in the Premier league, has Germany really become an ordinary team now?

Exactly the current team of Germany are absolutely disgusting like we all saw them in World Cup that how badly they got numb even we were expecting that at least they will recognize into knockout stages bit unfortunately they got knocked out at round of 32. Now in Euro they have the same behavior like their team is still not showing any strength although they brought Kloppe to regain their quality but unfortunately they getting worse and worse......

German staff brought Kloppe on scale of big expectations like he will bring more stability and quality or blah blah blah but unfortunately tomorrow match show us that Germany are actually still struggling to find their identity. I hope Kloppe will find something better. However let's see what happens next.

[pawel7777]

Another win for France, but yet again, just like the game against Turkey, it was far from convincing. And just like the game against Turkey, France won with a minimal 1-0 score. The winning goal against Belgium was scored by Olise 2 minutes before the end of regular time.
So, despite their 6 points, France is somewhat disappointing, or maybe it's just that the expectations for them are set very high.

Yesterday, Portugal earned a 2-1 win over Norway, despite Norway dominating in shots on goal and in possession. Cristiano Ronaldo was watching the game from the bench this time. Haaland managed to score one for 1-1, but Ramos responded only 3 minutes later, and it was Portugal that earned 3 points.

[programmer3666]

It's seems like only Xavi amongst the famous new coaches in European nations football that has gotten the ball rolling, I say famous because teams like Portugal also had a change of administration but the coach isn't as news worthy as Xavi, klopp, zidane, no disrespect to him though.
I think Netherlands even though they haven't been at there best has really been very impressive so far under Xavi, Germany to me has been the worse so far and the fact that they lost yesterday proves my point.

A lot is happening with Germany. The worst thing is that Germany can't score a goal anymore. We all thought Klopp was going to instantly change Germany's underperforming football, but maybe we have so much expectation from him that it made us forget that football doesn't happen that way, especially when there is a change in manager. Klopp will have to understand this team. It will take a process before he starts getting it right.  I know he is in a tough situation here because Germany, in history, is one of the greatest footballing teams in the world.

International football is a completely different atmosphere compared to the club side management. Back at Liverpool, Klopp  had the luxury of meeting and working with the players every blessed day of the week in order to perfect his tactics. But the national team has a different angle because he will only get to see and work with the players for just a few days before they go into the pitch to play against another opponent. If the players has some lapses or baggage of fatigue they bring over from their respective clubs, then it will be difficult to instill his will or strategy easily on them and I don't think any manager on God given earth can magically fix the lack of scoring instinct within 48 hours.  

[MorganaX]

France were able to snatch a last minute win through Micheal Olise's shot and this has made it the second win for Zinede Zidane. He's the only French coach since 1994 to win his opening game in the UEFA nations Cup and he has now gone to win the second.
France now have six points from two games and top of their group A. As it stands, I don't think any of the other teams in the group of France can hold them from ending group stage with a total of 9 points from three games because Italy are not that strong even though they've got big names but France can still overpower them.

I beginning to not like this Zidane guy, give me this French National team and I will get atleast 7 points out of the nine, that French squad is stacked with one of the most creative attacks and even the defense is amazing, imagine putting In Cherki, Olise and Dembele and you don't expect a win ?  

One fact I don't like about Zidanes managerial career is that he always go for the easy teams, he did same for Real Madrid and now the FRENCH NATIONAL TEAM, of all teams, this squad quality is even better than Spain's it's just that DLF makes Spain look better

[pawel7777]

Fixtures and odds (from 1win) for the last 10 games of matchday 2 to be played tomorrow are:

Finland x1.58 Vs Belarus x6.10; Draw x3.86
Moldova x2.84 Vs Faroe Islands x2.79; Draw x2.95
Czechia x8.90 Vs England x1.36; Draw x5.10
Spain x1.20 Vs Croatia x13.10; Draw x7.20
Scotland x4.27 Vs Switzerland x1.86; Draw x3.58
Slovakia x1.27 Vs Kazakhstan x11.80; Draw x5.70
San Marino x46.70 Vs Albania x1.05; Draw x14.30
Slovenia x1.64 Vs North Macedonia x5.90; Draw x3.68
Bulgaria x1.68 Vs Estonia x5.80; Draw x3.54
Luxembourg x3.44 Vs Iceland x2.18; Draw x3.37

The most exciting ones would be games in Group C, where Spain is taking on Croatia and Czechia hosts England.
I'm tempted to bet on Finland, though. They massacred San Marino in their first game (7-0), which may not sound like much of an achievement, but many teams in the past struggled to get convincing wins over San Marino. Belarus lost 2-0 against Albania in their first game, so I don't expect them to perform much better against Finland.

[Btcdeybodi]

Another win for France, but yet again, just like the game against Turkey, it was far from convincing. And just like the game against Turkey, France won with a minimal 1-0 score. The winning goal against Belgium was scored by Olise 2 minutes before the end of regular time.
So, despite their 6 points, France is somewhat disappointing, or maybe it's just that the expectations for them are set very high.

I thought am the only one who is not impressed by France performance. France is a big team, it is expected that they'll score a lot goals but seeing how they struggled to win the 2 matches with just 1 goal each. France should not make their matches become boring by scoring single goal.

Yesterday, Portugal earned a 2-1 win over Norway, despite Norway dominating in shots on goal and in possession. Cristiano Ronaldo was watching the game from the bench this time. Haaland managed to score one for 1-1, but Ramos responded only 3 minutes later, and it was Portugal that earned 3 points.

Portugal tried for winning Norway despite that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't play. Sometimes, it is good to make some tough decisions. I noticed that Portugal players were very united and they didn't depend on individual brilliance.

[LGD2Business]

Playing this poorly against Italy is simply unacceptable. If there was ever a match where Türkiye could have gotten points, this was it, but they threw in the towel within the first 30 mins of the game. It's clear this won't work out with Montella. We've been saying this for years, but federation is not listening. The media needs to really step up the pressure on Montella now. The national team won't take a single step forward until this guy is fired.

We're still putting up with a team that insists on playing without a striker. What is Barış Alper Yılmaz doing out there? The guy can't play anywhere other than the left wing, but Montella stubbornly keeps trying to play him as a striker. I wish Orkun and Salih wouldn't get more playing time. They're at risk of getting injured. They should rest. Demir Ege isn't bad, he could get more playing time. The defensive line is a disaster. It's no surprise Türkiye is conceding so many goals. Altay is not even playing for months and he's in the goal. That's ridiculous.

[Smartvirus]

Another win for France, but yet again, just like the game against Turkey, it was far from convincing. And just like the game against Turkey, France won with a minimal 1-0 score. The winning goal against Belgium was scored by Olise 2 minutes before the end of regular time.
So, despite their 6 points, France is somewhat disappointing, or maybe it's just that the expectations for them are set very high.

I was almost getting settled on a draw for the Belgium vs France fixture. Didn’t expect the game to go above 70minutes without a goal but, even at the 80th minute we were yet to see a goal until we had a Manchester city and Bayern Munich special, creating such an important goal for the French side. A win for sure but far from anything impressive given the fire power the team has got. Another under 1.5 and so close to the final whistle.

Italy on the other hand were all out for Turkiye today, they really sort to remedy their loss over the course of last week and they did, scoring 3 goals in the first half and got their 4th in the second half. Turkiye was able to draw a goal back but, the damage was done already. That was an impressive game for Italy.

[Qhunman]

I thought am the only one who is not impressed by France performance. France is a big team, it is expected that they'll score a lot goals but seeing how they struggled to win the 2 matches with just 1 goal each. France should not make their matches become boring by scoring single goal.

Your right that France is a big team,their opponents was turkey and Belgium and the last that I check,those two teams were formidable opponents but France still manage to walk away with all three points. The Belgium match was a tough one and the reason france didn't score lot of goals like you had expected was because mbappe wasn't on the pitch. They didn't have mbappe on that match but somehow,they still manage to defeat Belgium, that is what is important to me. The goals don't matter as long as France win because that is what count.

[9ja Amaka]

Another win for France, but yet again, just like the game against Turkey, it was far from convincing. And just like the game against Turkey, France won with a minimal 1-0 score. The winning goal against Belgium was scored by Olise 2 minutes before the end of regular time.
So, despite their 6 points, France is somewhat disappointing, or maybe it's just that the expectations for them are set very high.

Yesterday, Portugal earned a 2-1 win over Norway, despite Norway dominating in shots on goal and in possession. Cristiano Ronaldo was watching the game from the bench this time. Haaland managed to score one for 1-1, but Ramos responded only 3 minutes later, and it was Portugal that earned 3 points.

France's victory over Belgium has kept Michael Olise in the spotlight. He went viral as many journalists and sports analysts are campaigning for him in the upcoming Ballon d'Or event that will be happening next month. A video shows Zidane with a sudden burst of pent-up energy, kicking the ball with excitement. Additionally, the magic Cherki gave the assist. Two subs combined to give the winner.

[Rruchi man]

Another win for France, but yet again, just like the game against Turkey, it was far from convincing. And just like the game against Turkey, France won with a minimal 1-0 score. The winning goal against Belgium was scored by Olise 2 minutes before the end of regular time.
So, despite their 6 points, France is somewhat disappointing, or maybe it's just that the expectations for them are set very high.

Yesterday, Portugal earned a 2-1 win over Norway, despite Norway dominating in shots on goal and in possession. Cristiano Ronaldo was watching the game from the bench this time. Haaland managed to score one for 1-1, but Ramos responded only 3 minutes later, and it was Portugal that earned 3 points.

France's victory over Belgium has kept Michael Olise in the spotlight. He went viral as many journalists and sports analysts are campaigning for him in the upcoming Ballon d'Or event that will be happening next month. A video shows Zidane with a sudden burst of pent-up energy, kicking the ball with excitement. Additionally, the magic Cherki gave the assist. Two subs combined to give the winner.

He has a right to be in the discussion, certainly for the Ballon D'Or, as Yamal and Mbappe are in that discussion.

He has been as influential with assists and goals in very important games where his team needed him, both for the club Bayern Munich, as we have seen, and for the country France, as we saw in the World Cup and again today against Belgium.

Good win for France with Mbappe absent.

[LUCKMCFLY]

I can't recall now, but didn't Kane have this problem before, the slipping foot when he takes penalties? In this match it was the decider, if he scored that goal, it would have been over.

Well, I think that penalty should have been retaken. That's a problem with the pitch, so it shouldn't be like that. It's obvious that if a player slips, it's the pitch's fault. There are rules and regulations that favor the goalkeeper, not the shooter. That's why they used the goal kick. The slip caused him to touch the ball with his instep and the toe pointing upwards, which is why it went so high.

I was surprised by Italy, because Italy beat Turkey 4-1, when Turkey played a tremendous match against France. Wow, that's surprising.

[GIF-JOBS]

I regret not betting on Belgium, even though the odds seemed obviously skewed to me,

They're playing France tonight, so I wonder if you'll be going with a moneyline bet or something else.
^{- FWIW, I see Mbappe's injury as a blessing in disguise because without him, they tend to play better as a team, so I'm predicting a high-scoring game with France as the winner (the safest bet is probably BTTS, but I'm going with over 3.5).}

Brother, it seems you lost the bet, I can't believe that Belgium won't score any goals, they should have scored at least 1 goal, and at the same time France had a lot of attacks, but they only managed to score 1 goal. Ousmane Dembélé came on in the 67th minute and Michael Olise came on in the 76th minute, there was still no score, the match was almost heading towards a 0-0 draw, but in the end Michael Olise scored a goal in the 88th minute, which was expected to see a lot of goals, it is unexpected that the match will end 1-0. And besides, despite Belgium being a strong team, they could not attack strongly, the result in terms of score disappointed most, but France won the match anyway.

[Arenga pinnata]

I was almost getting settled on a draw for the Belgium vs France fixture. Didn’t expect the game to go above 70minutes without a goal but, even at the 80th minute we were yet to see a goal until we had a Manchester city and Bayern Munich special, creating such an important goal for the French side. A win for sure but far from anything impressive given the fire power the team has got. Another under 1.5 and so close to the final whistle.

Italy on the other hand were all out for Turkiye today, they really sort to remedy their loss over the course of last week and they did, scoring 3 goals in the first half and got their 4th in the second half. Turkiye was able to draw a goal back but, the damage was done already. That was an impressive game for Italy.

Personally, I had already suspected that this match would be low-scoring. So a 0-1 score was what I had in mind from the start. That’s because I also thought France would lack firepower up front without Mbappé.  Usually, Mbappé (who was injured in the previous match) is always able to throw the opposing defense into disarray with his speed. But still, France deserved to win because they consistently created chances quite well.

The Italy vs. Turkey match seems to have defied my predictions. Mancini appears to have successfully revived this team’s performance. Turkey, on the other hand, looked quite the opposite. I’m actually very concerned about Turkey in their match against Belgium. I think Turkey should use the same formation they used against France.

[meser#]

Playing this poorly against Italy is simply unacceptable. If there was ever a match where Türkiye could have gotten points, this was it, but they threw in the towel within the first 30 mins of the game. It's clear this won't work out with Montella. We've been saying this for years, but federation is not listening. The media needs to really step up the pressure on Montella now. The national team won't take a single step forward until this guy is fired.

We're still putting up with a team that insists on playing without a striker. What is Barış Alper Yılmaz doing out there? The guy can't play anywhere other than the left wing, but Montella stubbornly keeps trying to play him as a striker. I wish Orkun and Salih wouldn't get more playing time. They're at risk of getting injured. They should rest. Demir Ege isn't bad, he could get more playing time. The defensive line is a disaster. It's no surprise Türkiye is conceding so many goals. Altay is not even playing for months and he's in the goal. That's ridiculous.

We played terribly in the first half. Although we seemed to recover a bit in the second half, the match was already over for us by the break.
Altay has never been a top-tier goalkeeper. Uğurcan is out of form, yet there was a goalkeeper available to replace him—but Montella sidelined him. We were the ones who punished Berke. Just make him apologize and bring him into the squad; he’s in better form than Uğurcan.
In my opinion, Altay bears the main responsibility for yesterday's defeat. He kept spilling the shots that came his way. The wet pitch might have played a part, but the fault is still his.
Barış threw himself to the ground again in this match, but the referee didn't buy it. Someone needs to tell this moron that VAR exists.
Kerem blasted the ball into orbit with an open goal in front of him. This is what happens when you pick players for the squad out of habit, regardless of their form. In a country of 85 million people, there isn't a single striker.

[mandown]

Our biggest mistake was underestimating the opponent. Everyone we asked predicted a Turkish victory, but that didn't happen. Once Italy made it 3-0 in the first half, the match was effectively over for us.
The scoreline was largely due to numerous individual errors by the Turkish players. Altay inspired no confidence in goal; he spilled shots, and one of Italy's goals came as a result of this.
It was a bad day for Turkey. We will most likely be relegated to the lower league.

[Uhde]

Our biggest mistake was underestimating the opponent. Everyone we asked predicted a Turkish victory, but that didn't happen. Once Italy made it 3-0 in the first half, the match was effectively over for us.
The scoreline was largely due to numerous individual errors by the Turkish players. Altay inspired no confidence in goal; he spilled shots, and one of Italy's goals came as a result of this.
It was a bad day for Turkey. We will most likely be relegated to the lower league.

imo Turkey is in desperate need of a major overhaul much like Belgium did back in the day...
after 2002, Belgium failed to qualify for the World Cup for 12 years. during that time, they invested heavily in their youth academies and the next generation. and they spent around two years strictly drilling a back three system. at the endthey knocked out Japan and Brazil in the tournament and could reach to semifinals.

teams of Turkey's caliber need to think long term like this and focus on developing themselves first.