Flops of the Tournament

With the final tomorrow, let's take a look at some of the tournament's "flops". Who really disappointed?

The Whole Dutch Team (except perhaps the GK's and Sneijder)

So much was expected of the Dutch team and so little was delivered. "The Hunter" didn't do anything, Arjen Robben was awful, Van Persie missed sitters and the less said about Willems the better. And it wasn't just down to individuals either, it was the whole team who disappointed. A team with all that firepower only scored 2 goals which is truly dreadful. The only highlights for the Dutch was that Stekelenburg looked decent and Sneijder showed a bit of form.

Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema

Arguably France's two biggest stars and neither scored. Ribery has been questioned before about whether he is a big match player and I think that's been settled now: No, he isn't. As for Benzema, he scored 21 league goals for Real Madrid which is good considering he's in direct competition with Higuain for most of the season but here, aside from setting up 2 goals against Ukraine, he did nothing. Admittedly, he was very close with his shots but for a striker, no goals = big flop.

Christian Eriksen

Much was expected of the young Dane. Nothing was delivered. Did he actually do anything of note in Denmark's 3 games in the Euros? I can't recall anything. He disappeared during the 2 games for Ajax v Man Utd in the Europa League and was anonymous this whole tournament. Hopefully he's not a big game bottler.

Russia

After winning their opening match 4-1 v the Czech's I thought "Wow, this lot will go far". Unfortunately, they only scored 1 more goal in the tournament and crashed out when they were beaten by Greece. I don't know what happened with them, maybe they were complecent, but they left the competition with a whimper.

Aleksandr Kerzhakov

This guy deserves a whole section to himself. I've never seen anyone pass up so many chances in front of goal without scoring at all. I'm lost for words when typing this.


Chip in with your own suggestions. But don't say "Ronaldo; for not taking a penalty".

Agreed on Ribery, never actually seen him do anything.

Don't think the way Denmark lined up vs better opposition really helped Erikson.

Nani's been disappointing I feel. Shay Given too.

Ashley Young - one of England's best during qualifying, one of the worst at the tournament. Maybe expectations were a little high for him, or perhaps it was the negative system employed by Roy. Either way he has the ability to be much better.

Eriksen? Really?

On a serious note:

Given, Ashley Young, RVP, Gotze and Huntelaar for me were the biggest flops

The whole of the Dutch squad.

haha Gotze a flop.....seriously your an id**t. How many minutes did he actually play? He was also returning from injury at the end of the season. Ashley Young was poor but he was terribly handcuffed by Hodgson's appaling negative tactics. Asking England's most creative, flair player to defend and double up with Ashley Cole was always going to end in poor performances. Kerzakhov played abysmally and was embarrasing at times. The whole dutch squad were extremely poor but their defence in particular were dreadful. Benzema had no support and without Ronaldo alongside him opening up space and creating chances for him he looked a complete different player. Erikson is over-rated but I don't think he played that poorly. When he played for Ajax against United in Europa League he disappointed too, still early day for him but the fact no major club has come in for him tells you something. Rooney was horrific. The End.

Rooney, granted he only played 2 games. The hype surronding his return set up a flop.

Young was poor regardless of the tactics. Hodgeson's tactics didn't force him to make terrible decisions or remove the ability to go past people.

He always has been a tad overrated for me in any case, thought he peaked a few years ago at Villa.

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:Young was poor regardless of the tactics. Hodgeson's tactics didn't force him to make terrible decisions or remove the ability to go past people.

He always has been a tad overrated for me in any case, thought he peaked a few years ago at Villa.

I'd go along with this. Under Martin O'neil he was a devastating attacking force and while he's had his moments at Utd he's never quite replicated that form.

John wrote:haha Gotze a flop.....seriously your an id**t. How many minutes did he actually play? He was also returning from injury at the end of the season. Ashley Young was poor but he was terribly handcuffed by Hodgson's appaling negative tactics. Asking England's most creative, flair player to defend and double up with Ashley Cole was always going to end in poor performances. Kerzakhov played abysmally and was embarrasing at times. The whole dutch squad were extremely poor but their defence in particular were dreadful. Benzema had no support and without Ronaldo alongside him opening up space and creating chances for him he looked a complete different player. Erikson is over-rated but I don't think he played that poorly. When he played for Ajax against United in Europa League he disappointed too, still early day for him but the fact no major club has come in for him tells you something. Rooney was horrific. The End.

Agree almost word for word......I thought Kerzakov managed to get himself into some great positions and gave the two defenses he played against a load of issues.....his problem was of the "not being able to hit the side of a barn" variety.

FreekShow wrote:

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:Young was poor regardless of the tactics. Hodgeson's tactics didn't force him to make terrible decisions or remove the ability to go past people.

He always has been a tad overrated for me in any case, thought he peaked a few years ago at Villa.

I'd go along with this. Under Martin O'neil he was a devastating attacking force and while he's had his moments at Utd he's never quite replicated that form.

Yeah at that point he looked like he could go on and be a star, but he just hasn't progressed.

Flop of the tournament? The French infighting. It was there but it wasn't as good as 2010!

Duty281 wrote:Flop of the tournament? The French infighting. It was there but it wasn't as good as 2010!

Isn't that Nasri a horrible little turd?!!

Eriksen? Really?

He disappointed completely. Considering he was supposed to be the star of Denmark's side, he looked their weak link in a lot of games.

I cannot agree at all with John's assessment of Ashley Young. He wasn't restricted by anything, every time he got the ball he failed to do anything bar one good cross against Ukraine. One of the big problems, is unlike James Milner, he didn't offer anything defensively and left Ashley Cole stranded so often. He wasn't doubling up, so that can't be used as an excuse. England's brightest player in the build up, but worst player in the end. At least Milner ended up having a good game versus Italy and put in more good crosses than Young did.

I didn't think any of the French players covered themselves in glory, Cabaye had a good tournament but bar that most of their players underperformed.

FreekShow wrote:

Duty281 wrote:Flop of the tournament? The French infighting. It was there but it wasn't as good as 2010!

Isn't that Nasri a horrible little turd?!!

Oh yes he is. There's talk that he may be banned from the French team for a spell for swearing at that journalist.

Disappointments for me:

The Ireland team. They let their superb fans down. Roy Keane was probably the last person in the world who was entitled to criticise anybody, but he had a point. Irish Fans, 10 out of 10. Irish team, minus several hundred.


The Dutch team: Looked disinterested and didn't play anything like the team that got to the world cup final (we'll ignore the final itself). They didn't deserve to make the knockout phase.

Samir Nasri. Let himself down. Silly boy.

Wayne Rooney. At least he looked as if he cared this time, but Andrea Pirlo showed us what a world class player really looks like. It's time to end the hype. Rooney is "better than average". Nothing more.

Russian fans: Starting a fight on the bridge in Poland, and unfurling that hideous banner. Sod off, Russkis. Football doesn't want your sort.

Michel Platini: As a player, I'm told he was a genius. As President of UEFA, he only ever opens his mouth to change feet. All the wrong pronouncements, always at the wrong time.

Count Downs: These silly countdowns before kick off are irritating, unnecessary and do nothing for the atmosphere of games. They just leave players standing around wishing they could get on with the game while some clown bellows out the countdown at decibels lots and lots. Abandon this stooooopid stunt, UEFA. Get on with the game, for goodness sake.

Apart from that, it's been a great tournament..!!

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