Football - Euro 2020 Championship

octatonic

I see that the cliche-a-thon has begun already on the news.

Snap

I think England could beat Italy. I think we will tonk Denmark tonight. Italy aren't that good and Spain have been terrible really. People talk about how Italy are unbeaten for ages, but the list of teams they have played is very mixed, and tbh it doesn't really count for much once a tournament has started.
Italy have been patchy through this tournament whereas England have been better every game and haven't let a single goal in. We are also ranked 4th in the world (for what that's worth).

I'm expecting an open game tonight, end to end and will go out on a limb and say we will beat the Danes 3-0. They aren't a brilliant side, and they aren't as good as us. We should be confident. It won't be a walk over, but I can see us getting a decisive win. We aren't complacent, but we can be very confident. Scored 6 goals in our last two games, the players are on fire and have the confident platform of 5 clean sheets and a home game with 60,000 in tonight.

If football doesn't come home this time it can chuffing move out for good!

Get in boys.

AlbertC

octatonic said:

I see that the cliche-a-thon has begun already on the news.

and also noticing presumptive speculation about the final with Italy, like it's a forgone conclusion we're going to brush Denmark aside 

mikeyrob73

Rocker said:

Dreadful match. Great goals but otherwise awful. 

England will never get a better or easier chance to win Euro. 

oh aye , Italy have conceded 3 goals in like 30 games , Bonucci and Chiellini look like they would rather eat their own children than concede a goal. 

Snap

mikeyrob73 said:

Rocker said:

Dreadful match. Great goals but otherwise awful. 

England will never get a better or easier chance to win Euro. 

oh aye , Italy have conceded 3 goals in like 30 games , Bonucci and Chiellini look like they would rather eat their own children than concede a goal. 

Yet they conceded last night against a very mediocre Spain team. 
Here are some of their illustrious opponents in this last 30 game list that everyone goes on about (prior to the Euros):
USA
Armenia
Lichtenstein
Bosnia Herzegovina
Finland
Greece
Moldova
Estonia
Poland
Netherlands
Bulgaria
Northern Ireland
Lithuania

Before this tournament they haven't played a decent team since 2018 and those were Argentina (lost), France (lost), Portugal (lost) and England (1-1). I'd argue that neither Netherlands or Poland are particularly decent recently either.

They breezed the group stage, but as soon as they came up against Austria and then Belgium, they conceded. OK, they ground it out, but once the heat is up, they start to give ground. Austria were poor, Belgium were not on par and Spain have been ropey throughout, with a defence that leaks like a teabag.
Unlike England.

Case closed. Like I said, if we win tonight, we can have Italy,.

DefaultM

I've got a member of England as Young Player of the Tournament, and a member of Italy as Player of the Tournament so I hope England win tonight.

DefaultM

Actually I've got £5 on Pickford at 25/1 as well just in case he goes the whole tournament without letting a goal in. Though maybe that's more to do with England's defenders than just him.

UnclePsychosis

If Scotland had a chance of playing Italy in a major final I'd be desperately lying to myself that they weren't very good too. For all the talk about how they haven't played anyone decent neither have England - beating an ancient Croatian team at the end of an era and a past it Germany side who lost to North Macedonia (and almost contriving to lose, at home, to Scotland) recently is great in the context of a tournament but objectively its not going to scare anyone. 

England have a very good chance of winning the tournament but I haven't half heard some utter shite in the last week from people who should know better.

Snap

UnclePsychosis said:

I haven't half heard some utter shite in the last week from people who should know better.

it's called excitement!!

UnclePsychosis

Snap said:

UnclePsychosis said:

I haven't half heard some utter shite in the last week from people who should know better.

it's called excitement!!

You can be excited without coming out with tripe like "italy's defence is woeful". 

mikeyrob73

UnclePsychosis said:

If Scotland had a chance of playing Italy in a major final I'd be desperately lying to myself that they weren't very good too. For all the talk about how they haven't played anyone decent neither have England - beating an ancient Croatian team at the end of an era and a past it Germany side who lost to North Macedonia (and almost contriving to lose, at home, to Scotland) recently is great in the context of a tournament but objectively its not going to scare anyone. 

England have a very good chance of winning the tournament but I haven't half heard some utter shite in the last week from people who should know better.

this in spades 

munckee

mikeyrob73 said:

UnclePsychosis said:

If Scotland had a chance of playing Italy in a major final I'd be desperately lying to myself that they weren't very good too. For all the talk about how they haven't played anyone decent neither have England - beating an ancient Croatian team at the end of an era and a past it Germany side who lost to North Macedonia (and almost contriving to lose, at home, to Scotland) recently is great in the context of a tournament but objectively its not going to scare anyone. 

England have a very good chance of winning the tournament but I haven't half heard some utter shite in the last week from people who should know better.

this in spades 

Do you not think this may be as you are seeing, reading, hearing a lot of English based press and opinions where you aren't so exposed to other countries, and other countries may do this too?  Have you seen the Italian headline this morning "God is Italian"...

Creed_Clicks

As a non English person, I find the best way to avoid the shite and hype from the media is to just not tune in to it. Job done. I'm sure the Italian media is the same.

MrSwanson

Spain were exactly as they have been for years, they have the majority of the possession but lack the cutting edge. Obviously they've been successful doing this in the past.

Italy looked dangerous on the counter and could have arguably had a few more, I think Mancini made a mistake with some of his choices.

It's definitely England's for the taking however, there are so many exciting players in the squad. They just need to cope under the building pressure....

Rocker

The free flowing football that Italy can play was completely lacking in last night's game.  This was simply explained by the fact that Italy set out to win the game even if it came down to penalties.  There was no threat from Spain when Spain had the ball in their own half.  The Italians allowed Spain to pass the ball across and back as much as they wanted.  No threat when the ball was in Spain territory and where every Italian could see it.  Most of the Italian attacks came as a result of long ball from defence.  There efforts were easily dealt with by the Spanish defence but in Italian minds it only needs to work once....

The match was one of the poorest games in the tournament but the Italians don't care one bit.  The result is what matters, ball possession percentage means nothing.  Entertainment rating means nothing.  Winning is what matters.  A lot like England in fact.  Which may result in a cagey final that might require penalties.  I still think that England will come through.

Someone asked if I watch much football.  I do, and Rugby too, but I see the game from a strategic viewpoint and how the players operate under pressure.  It is always interesting to see how a team responds to going a goal down.  Or how a team copes with going a goal up.  Ukraine collapsed when England went two up early in the second half for example.  That is what I look for in a football match.  Hence my poor opinion of last night's game.

Hattigol

Rocker said:

The free flowing football that Italy can play was completely lacking in last night's game.  This was simply explained by the fact that Italy set out to win the game even if it came down to penalties.  There was no threat from Spain when Spain had the ball in their own half.  The Italians allowed Spain to pass the ball across and back as much as they wanted.  No threat when the ball was in Spain territory and where every Italian could see it.  Most of the Italian attacks came as a result of long ball from defence.  There efforts were easily dealt with by the Spanish defence but in Italian minds it only needs to work once....

The match was one of the poorest games in the tournament but the Italians don't care one bit.  The result is what matters, ball possession percentage means nothing.  Entertainment rating means nothing.  Winning is what matters.  A lot like England in fact.  Which may result in a cagey final that might require penalties.  I still think that England will come through.

Someone asked if I watch much football.  I do, and Rugby too, but I see the game from a strategic viewpoint and how the players operate under pressure.  It is always interesting to see how a team responds to going a goal down.  Or how a team copes with going a goal up.  Ukraine collapsed when England went two up early in the second half for example.  That is what I look for in a football match.  Hence my poor opinion of last night's game.

Aaah. So you watch it on a higher level and with a greater level of understanding than us idiots who thought it was a great game?

Got it. Thanks.

AlbertC

If there was a world cup of talking bollocks, we'd have no problem winning that

Teetonetal

Rocker said:

The free flowing football that Italy can play was completely lacking in last night's game.  This was simply explained by the fact that Italy set out to win the game even if it came down to penalties.  There was no threat from Spain when Spain had the ball in their own half.  The Italians allowed Spain to pass the ball across and back as much as they wanted.  No threat when the ball was in Spain territory and where every Italian could see it.  Most of the Italian attacks came as a result of long ball from defence.  There efforts were easily dealt with by the Spanish defence but in Italian minds it only needs to work once....

The match was one of the poorest games in the tournament but the Italians don't care one bit.  The result is what matters, ball possession percentage means nothing.  Entertainment rating means nothing.  Winning is what matters.  A lot like England in fact.  Which may result in a cagey final that might require penalties.  I still think that England will come through.

Someone asked if I watch much football.  I do, and Rugby too, but I see the game from a strategic viewpoint and how the players operate under pressure.  It is always interesting to see how a team responds to going a goal down.  Or how a team copes with going a goal up.  Ukraine collapsed when England went two up early in the second half for example.  That is what I look for in a football match.  Hence my poor opinion of last night's game.

I really disagree. This was one of the best matches I have seen in years, certainly in Tournament football in knockout stages. It was not cagey at all. In fact, I've really enjoyed Euro 2020 as a whole.

Contrasting styles, Spanish still playing the possession game, but being much faster and much more direct than the glory days approach. They created some excellent chances, 2 of them being the biggest misses you will ever see in football. But as Spain struggle to score, you knew that Italy would get a chance and their goal was counter attacking football at its absolute best. A quick short throw from the keeper, lovely running and a little luck generated by getting the support up into Spain's box. 

When you come up against a team that are so good in possession, you either have to out do them or counter and be clinical. Italy chose the latter and it suited them well.

DrCornelius

I love the way Italy take risks with the ball when they break . It means they can do it quickly as they will often play the ball into space rather than to a player . Mancini has really transformed them

Creed_Clicks

Snap said:

I think England could beat Italy. I think we will tonk Denmark tonight. Italy aren't that good and Spain have been terrible really. People talk about how Italy are unbeaten for ages, but the list of teams they have played is very mixed, and tbh it doesn't really count for much once a tournament has started.
Italy have been patchy through this tournament whereas England have been better every game and haven't let a single goal in. We are also ranked 4th in the world (for what that's worth).

I'm expecting an open game tonight, end to end and will go out on a limb and say we will beat the Danes 3-0. They aren't a brilliant side, and they aren't as good as us. We should be confident. It won't be a walk over, but I can see us getting a decisive win. We aren't complacent, but we can be very confident. Scored 6 goals in our last two games, the players are on fire and have the confident platform of 5 clean sheets and a home game with 60,000 in tonight.

If football doesn't come home this time it can chuffing move out for good!

Get in boys.

Italy have a history of winning the big games and tournaments when it counts. England don't. I did expect them to beat Spain easily last night though, so shows what I know!