Football - Euro 2020 Championship

p90fool

I thought Grealish looked lively and Saka was busy too, but I'm not sure what Kane is there for to be honest. I've never really watched him before and can't decide if he's injured, lazy or just shit. 
When the opposition defence are in possession most strikers hound them, but Kane is just slightly in the way as he trots backwards and forwards along the halfway line. 

Still, the age old tactic of boring teams into submission and snatching a goal is working so far, and it's usually good for at least a quarter final place to be fair.

EricTheWeary

p90fool said:

I thought Grealish looked lively and Saka was busy too, but I'm not sure what Kane is there for to be honest. I've never really watched him before and can't decide if he's injured, lazy or just shit. 
When the opposition defence are in possession most strikers hound them, but Kane is just slightly in the way as he trots backwards and forwards along the halfway line. 

The commentators said something about a Czech strategy to keep Kane marked by two men so I thought okay maybe he is just pinned down and never touches the ball but at least he’s effectively keeping the Czech team a player short. But every time I could pick him out on the pitch no evidence of close marking at all. If Kane was doing something useful it was far to subtle and tactical for me to work out. 

crunchman

EricTheWeary said:

p90fool said:

I thought Grealish looked lively and Saka was busy too, but I'm not sure what Kane is there for to be honest. I've never really watched him before and can't decide if he's injured, lazy or just shit. 
When the opposition defence are in possession most strikers hound them, but Kane is just slightly in the way as he trots backwards and forwards along the halfway line. 

The commentators said something about a Czech strategy to keep Kane marked by two men so I thought okay maybe he is just pinned down and never touches the ball but at least he’s effectively keeping the Czech team a player short. But every time I could pick him out on the pitch no evidence of close marking at all. If Kane was doing something useful it was far to subtle and tactical for me to work out. 

He made a few good passes last night.  He played the ball out to Grealish in the build up to the goal.  There were one or two others as well.  He's not at his best though.

boogieman said:

Does Walker have a clause in his contract that says he’s only allowed to pass backwards? 

Thought England looked distinctly average tonight. We really need to up our game if we’re going any further. 

I'd play Trippier over Walker.   Walker is better defensively, but he's a liability on the ball.  Trippier isn't as fast, but he can whip in a killer cross, and he would add a lot at set pieces.

boogieman

Kane doesn’t seem to have contributed much but I suppose Southgate has to keep him in, in case he turns it on at some point. He does looks tired and leggy though. I assume he’s marked so tightly that he’s never going to get many chances in the first place. 

Saka looked great, really quick and made lots of problems. Likewise Grealish. I’d keep them both in. 

Rashford looked off form and gave the ball away far too much. 

munckee

boogieman said:

Kane doesn’t seem to have contributed much but I suppose Southgate has to keep him in, in case he turns it on at some point. He does looks tired and leggy though. I assume he’s marked so tightly that he’s never going to get many chances in the first place. 

Saka looked great, really quick and made lots of problems. Likewise Grealish. I’d keep them both in. 

Rashford looked off form and gave the ball away far too much. 

I would keep Grealish in and probably have Saka from the bench.  For the next round I would play:

Pickford
Walker, Maguire, Stones, Trippier
Rice, Phillips
Foden, Sterling, Grealish
Kane


I think Walker's pace gets Maguire out of trouble sometimes.  While a bit dull to watch the two holding midfielders seems the right option against more dangerous attacking teams than we have played.  It was often a criticism that we couldn't keep the ball and we seem to be dealing with thatm we just need to be sharper attacking and hopefully Grealish and Foden can do that with Saka and Sancho to bring on if needed.

proggy

You've got to hand it to Billy Gilmour though.

At least he managed to get Scotland their only positive result.....

Snap

A good result, a clean sheet again and top of the group. Job done. Portugal didn't win a single game in their group stage in 2016, but went on to win.

Saka was brilliant last night. Lots of positives to take away, and I think we will be better again in the next round. Don't care who we get really. The game is at Wembley in front of 45000 fans so we have a good chance of making it through. Home turf and no travelling. Sound.

The only real criticism I have of the game last night was the tendency to pass back a lot. That was clearly a tactical decision by Southgate and I can't see him doing that at all from here on. 

last night: job done.

Snap

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

I don't know one person that says footy. So quite clearly, not everyone says it. Maybe everyone under the age of 9 does.

Right. I'm from the north west which is the heartland of footy and I live in Sheffield which has the world's oldest footy club, Hallam. You, from London, don't have this heritage and therefore can't comment. Soz, but that's the end of it. 

'footy' club! Do they play in a 'footy' stadium? Do they wear a 'footy' kit and 'footy' boots?

Yes to all of those questions, obviously!

Rugby football - that's not footy, for the record. It's not even "foot" ball. And it's shit.

Battle cruiser: in true cockerney style, wouldn't this actually be simply "battle"? "Owoight larv, Oim gowin dahn ve battle for a point" Or samink.

I genuinely didn't know what a battle cruiser was, my mate says it all the time. I thought he was talking about his Zafira. 

proggy

Snap said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

I don't know one person that says footy. So quite clearly, not everyone says it. Maybe everyone under the age of 9 does.

Right. I'm from the north west which is the heartland of footy and I live in Sheffield which has the world's oldest footy club, Hallam. You, from London, don't have this heritage and therefore can't comment. Soz, but that's the end of it. 

'footy' club! Do they play in a 'footy' stadium? Do they wear a 'footy' kit and 'footy' boots?

Yes to all of those questions, obviously!

Rugby football - that's not footy, for the record. It's not even "foot" ball. And it's shit.

Battle cruiser: in true cockerney style, wouldn't this actually be simply "battle"? "Owoight larv, Oim gowin dahn ve battle for a point" Or samink.

I genuinely didn't know what a battle cruiser was, my mate says it all the time. I thought he was talking about his Zafira. 

Yes, Battle, always just say the first word. Like saying "I don't know me ol' china" If you said china plate it wouldn't sound right.
Well, wouldn't sound like a Cockney would say it.
Hope that's cleared that up, me ol' china, I'm off now for a nice cuppa gypsy.

Gassage

Rather worryingly, The Proclaimers have just announced a triple protest album to celebrate Scotland's eternal humanistic struggle of being the plucky underdog.

It's on an independent label.

guitars4you

Yes a win is a win, but that performance won't have the other teams in the knockout stage worried

Saka the best player IMO on the night for us - Looked very tasty a few times this season when  I've seen Arsenal on the box and IMO a far better option than Sancho - Don't know why MUFC want to buy Sancho at any price let alone 70/80 million 

Maguire looked good for his run out and that is some good news

Sterling might be our top scorer but other than the goals I did not see much from him that I'd consider pro-active or useful as to many times the end product is not there - ie poor final pass or runs into a dead end - Hope Southgate goes with Foden and Saka, but you know he won't 

Grealish had a good first half, but wasn't sure if he was tired in the 2nd half, but certainly the 2nd half was poor - Granted we did not look like we were hanging on, yet equally we did not have control of the game and take it to them

We had a few glimpses of what we might be able to offer - But glimpses is the key word - In short if I was to judge this match regarding entertainment then it was poor 

p90fool

I think the biggest single thing separating England from the top handful of teams is their lack of single touch passing when moving the ball around in the middle third. 

You kind of forget about it when you're watching them until you see the teams who do it, as it immediately creates so much space.

It has its risks obviously, but nothing wrong foots an entire defence the same way. 

DefaultM

Break-even betting wise on the tournament now. I don't know what it is about football that's just so difficult. Royal Ascot last week I studied it every night and picked winners at 33/1, 40/1 and 80/1, along with some smaller wins and places. Football bets are between 4/6 and 7/4, but the players play like they're 100/1.

mrkb

EricTheWeary said:

Surely on here it’s simply The Dog and Duck? 

I think proggy would all it the “Canine and Canard”

Flanging_Fred

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

I don't know one person that says footy. So quite clearly, not everyone says it. Maybe everyone under the age of 9 does.

Right. I'm from the north west which is the heartland of footy and I live in Sheffield which has the world's oldest footy club, Hallam. You, from London, don't have this heritage and therefore can't comment. Soz, but that's the end of it. 

'footy' club! Do they play in a 'footy' stadium? Do they wear a 'footy' kit and 'footy' boots?

Yes to all of those questions, obviously!

Rugby football - that's not footy, for the record. It's not even "foot" ball. And it's shit.

Battle cruiser: in true cockerney style, wouldn't this actually be simply "battle"? "Owoight larv, Oim gowin dahn ve battle for a point" Or samink.

I genuinely didn't know what a battle cruiser was, my mate says it all the time. I thought he was talking about his Zafira. 

Yes, Battle, always just say the first word. Like saying "I don't know me ol' china" If you said china plate it wouldn't sound right.
Well, wouldn't sound like a Cockney would say it.
Hope that's cleared that up, me ol' china, I'm off now for a nice cuppa gypsy.

Gypsy’s Kiss = piss
Rosie Lee = tea

I hope you’re not going to go and have a cup of piss.

proggy

Flanging_Fred said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

I don't know one person that says footy. So quite clearly, not everyone says it. Maybe everyone under the age of 9 does.

Right. I'm from the north west which is the heartland of footy and I live in Sheffield which has the world's oldest footy club, Hallam. You, from London, don't have this heritage and therefore can't comment. Soz, but that's the end of it. 

'footy' club! Do they play in a 'footy' stadium? Do they wear a 'footy' kit and 'footy' boots?

Yes to all of those questions, obviously!

Rugby football - that's not footy, for the record. It's not even "foot" ball. And it's shit.

Battle cruiser: in true cockerney style, wouldn't this actually be simply "battle"? "Owoight larv, Oim gowin dahn ve battle for a point" Or samink.

I genuinely didn't know what a battle cruiser was, my mate says it all the time. I thought he was talking about his Zafira. 

Yes, Battle, always just say the first word. Like saying "I don't know me ol' china" If you said china plate it wouldn't sound right.
Well, wouldn't sound like a Cockney would say it.
Hope that's cleared that up, me ol' china, I'm off now for a nice cuppa gypsy.

Gypsy’s Kiss = piss
Rosie Lee = tea

I hope you’re not going to go and have a cup of piss.

You're right, it is Rosie Lee, I heard somewhere that it came from Gypsy Rose Lee but it didn't.
To be honest though, it did taste a bit pissy...

axisus

Kane is not having a great tournament. I think it's a constant failing of England over the years that we pin our hopes on an out of form 'star'. Just for once I'd like to see a manager with the balls to make big decisions based on form.

Jalapeno

What was the point of bringing Henderson on ? Did we need MORE back passing or something ?

Commentary was poor, he had the Czechs double marking both Kane & Grealish - should have been acres of space for the rest !

How many times did Sterling give the ball away ? <sigh>

Grealish and Saka were great in the first half, but less so after the team decided to grind out a 1-0.

Snap

proggy said:

Flanging_Fred said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

Snap said:

proggy said:

I don't know one person that says footy. So quite clearly, not everyone says it. Maybe everyone under the age of 9 does.

Right. I'm from the north west which is the heartland of footy and I live in Sheffield which has the world's oldest footy club, Hallam. You, from London, don't have this heritage and therefore can't comment. Soz, but that's the end of it. 

'footy' club! Do they play in a 'footy' stadium? Do they wear a 'footy' kit and 'footy' boots?

Yes to all of those questions, obviously!

Rugby football - that's not footy, for the record. It's not even "foot" ball. And it's shit.

Battle cruiser: in true cockerney style, wouldn't this actually be simply "battle"? "Owoight larv, Oim gowin dahn ve battle for a point" Or samink.

I genuinely didn't know what a battle cruiser was, my mate says it all the time. I thought he was talking about his Zafira. 

Yes, Battle, always just say the first word. Like saying "I don't know me ol' china" If you said china plate it wouldn't sound right.
Well, wouldn't sound like a Cockney would say it.
Hope that's cleared that up, me ol' china, I'm off now for a nice cuppa gypsy.

Gypsy’s Kiss = piss
Rosie Lee = tea

I hope you’re not going to go and have a cup of piss.

You're right, it is Rosie Lee, I heard somewhere that it came from Gypsy Rose Lee but it didn't.
To be honest though, it did taste a bit pissy...

Excellent. Cracked me up. 
I wonder if any other countries have similar rich and varied dialects? I got a book on Lancashire dialect, it's great. Rhyming slang is fantastic. When you think about what goes into it, it's brilliant. And what's the point?! 

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Saka the best player IMO on the night for us - Looked very tasty a few times this season when  I've seen Arsenal on the box and IMO a far better option than Sancho - Don't know why MUFC want to buy Sancho at any price let alone 70/80 million 
......

Grealish had a good first half, but wasn't sure if he was tired in the 2nd half, but certainly the 2nd half was poor - Granted we did not look like we were hanging on, yet equally we did not have control of the game and take it to them

Listening to the pre-match build-up on the radio last night, after the team was announced, someone commented on how the constant moaning on Twitter had "shifted seamlessly" from why wasn't Grealish starting to why was Saka being picked ahead of Sancho.  Made me laugh, anyway.