[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i ended up taking out my spanish forward. i had silva, but he looked weak last game, and torres sucked, and i don't know what the fuck is happening there. from last game my fave player was fabregas but i dont know who will play so i only kept iniesta because he's great and i have faith he will deliver.

Spain are trying to play without an out and out striker, using Barcelona's whole 'false 9' thing, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere near as effective, and when they concede and put a striker on, they go with Torres (who, if nothing else, has finally made me appreciate how crucial David Villa was to Spain's success). So I'm thinking that for all their forward strengths, teams will struggle to score against them, so I've kept Ramos in my defence (and Iniesta in midfield, for reasons identical to yours).

i took out podolski and put in little mueller. i like where booger-eater makes him play and he was a top scorer last world cup so i have high hopes for him. in bayern he plays in a more central position which doesn't make him such a scorer. but here i expect him to do well. also he played lots better than podolski and i expect him to be more in the action. also, he plays with gomez in bayern and they are bound to understand each other better in case of goal-creating scenarios. gomez finally pulled the cork out of his ass and scored but at 11.5 i couldn't afford him. so i picked his associate, ha ha. plus i don't know if gomez will puss out again-- mueller is tiny but has balls of steel. i really have faith in his diminutive person.

i wanted also to pick hummels as a defender because he is fucking fantastic but ultimately picked lahm because he can go on the attack and score and i know him better and he's SOLID.

kroos i like a lot, he is an immensely great kicker and can shoot a goal from very far, but boogereater didn't let him play much so i took him out. fucker! i thought kroos-gomez-mueller would generate a strong current cuz they play together year round. eh!

I'm tempted by German players, obviously, but I think that's such a tight group they're in that it's hard to predict clean sheets, and the problem specific to Germany is that (as you suggest) while it's likely that one of their players will absolutely explode with goals, it's a nightmare trying to predict who. Even Spain are easier to forecast than Germany, at least going forward.

and funny, i did put in di natale as well, as a gamble, and italy is bound to win teh coming games so there will be goals. i don't know but i think balotelli is a fucking fucktard, throwing little fits like a shit and hesitating like that in front of the goal and begging to get carded? i'd bench him for the rest of the tournament. so dinatale is the man.

Italy are the team I'm most looking forward to seeing more of. I love Balotelli but I'm hoping you're right about him being benched. I saw Italy's manager give an interview about it and he seemed to be suggesting that he'll start Di Natale but I'm increasingly thinking it was a silly risk to take. Not that I'm really expecting Italy to have a goalfest against either Croatia or RI.