The Football Thread.

Creed_Clicks

Is there an expectation that England should be beating Denmark ? 

thecolourbox

I reckon people might be starting to see my point of view of picking a different team to support rather than England! 

That said, I don't think Southgate is the problem, there have been plenty of managers who've also failed with various squads and he's managed more than most of them did, people like Sven and Fabio with big reputations also failed to do anything. It's the mentality of the players collectively as much as anything I think. We don't really seem to produce proper winners in many sports, only talented players who lose out when it actually counts

Shrews

There's some oscar winning acting in the Italy v Spain game. Impressive thespian work. 

EricTheWeary

Creed_Clicks said:

Is there an expectation that England should be beating Denmark ? 

The population of Denmark is about 6 million, they are a team that pull above their weight in that sense. MrsTheWeary said it's because it's so flat there, you can practice football anywhere. It is a very flat country. 
My maths (although not always a reliable source of information) say that England can go out now at the group stage. Leaving it a bit late to warm up, find that other level. FFS. 

mgaw

The Danes were sharper, more committed, better organised, harder working, more “together” as a team and led by a manager who had the wit to play his squad to their strengths.

England are boring as fuck, led by a bloke who seems boring as fuck, We (Scotland) may be a bit shit but our team have passion whilst playing for their nation.

listening to the post match interviews today, it summed up the “vibe” for me.  

We know we need to do better, experiment, tournament football etc etc

hiw about getting your fucking shit together before the tournament, play to the squads strengths, Kane is slow and not a “presser” so adapt to that or get another striker on.

munckee

Creed_Clicks said:

Is there an expectation that England should be beating Denmark ? 

Denmark are a decent side and we have no expectation that we can turn up and beat them, what we expect is more effort and passion from the players and better management than we’re getting.  

Lestratcaster

Only caught the first half but same old typical England in major tournaments. Take the lead but then fail to capitalise on chances and kick on. All the hype and expectation built up only to be disappointed. 

scrumhalf

Out lack of adventure was disappointing, as was our passing. The playing surface may be partly to blame but if you're an international footballer you should be able to get around that.

LionAquaLooper

Denmark were playing on the same pitch. 

Boromedic

It seems that the Gareth effect has finally worn off and we're back to the usual England performances post Euro 96/France 98 promise a lot and deliver almost abject performances.

You do have to wonder why and perhaps it's weight of expectations holding them back again. After 3 major tournaments and decent performances in each (Semis, Final, Quarters), this is the first tournament where we've gone in as favourites that I can remember, they've been hyped to the max and you have to think that has an effect probably. The other thing is talk of individual players and how great they are, well those players play in teams with a lot of world class players around them that probably make them look better than they are in isolation. Easier to contribute and look great in an exceptional team than it is to the be the one to lift an above average team.

Who knows, I mean I'd take a win and a draw at this stage, despite the unconvincing performances. The bigger worry is if both of them performances were against Spain and Germany, we would probably be losing by 3+ goals at the moment. We certainly don't look like tournament winners but then again we didn't in Italia 90 either until we played West Germany. We did look decent during Euro 96 and France 98 until Beckham got sent off against Argentina, but not until Euro 2020 did we look that good again, hopefully things will improve, he needs to find some urgency, balance and togetherness and we'll get better, fingers crossed anyway!

guitars4you

See Southgate moaning he has not been able to replace K Phillips - Why not use Mainoo - Why not use Bellingham deeper with freedom to move forward as required with Foden at 10 and Gordon wide/left 

munckee

Mainoo or Wharton would seem the obvious choices, either they’re not delivering in training or he’s not prepared to take a chance with them in which case why take them. 

marooned

I think Bellingham is in danger of “Ronaldo syndrome “ , he always throws his toys out the pram when he’s tackled…not every tackle is a foul Jude , but he sits on the pitch and throws his arms up in the air looking petulantly at the ref for a foul. Just get up and get on with it.

I think England will still do well this tournament, if Southgate opens up and plays more attacking football, not this side to side backwards nonsense.
Hes too scared to lose a goal, just let them off the leash , give Palmer and Gordon a game and you’ll probably score 3 or 4.

Shrews

Let's face it we will beat Slovenia and top the group. Best to have a bad performance now than in the knockouts.

Today

Poland 0 Austria 0

Quite evenly matched I think. We've not seen a 0-0 yet but I think both defences are strong enough to cope with a moderate attacking threat.

France 2 Netherlands 0

First half goal, then a 2nd late on. Tight first half, the Dutch with missed chances and France defending well in the 2nd.

Slovakia 1 Ukraine 0

My outside tip for the tournament obliged against the Belgians and this organised side can frustrate Ukraine as they did Belgium. 

menamestom

thecolourbox said:

I reckon people might be starting to see my point of view of picking a different team to support rather than England! 

That said, I don't think Southgate is the problem, there have been plenty of managers who've also failed with various squads and he's managed more than most of them did, people like Sven and Fabio with big reputations also failed to do anything. It's the mentality of the players collectively as much as anything I think. We don't really seem to produce proper winners in many sports, only talented players who lose out when it actually counts

Southgate is not the only problem, but he is the main one, currently.

He played TAA in centre midfielder, having never tried him there, at the start of a tournament.   It didn't work and we were pushed back into our own 3rd by Serbia.

So the next game, he anounces EXACTLY THE SAME THING.  And guess what happens - exactly the same thing!

Foden is out on the left when he plays at his club through thte centre as number 10.  Bellingham can easily play at number 6, so why not do the obvious and bring on Gordon for TAA.  That's even before we consider Mainoo or Wharton.

guitars4you said:

See Southgate moaning he has not been able to replace K Phillips - Why not use Mainoo - Why not use Bellingham deeper with freedom to move forward as required with Foden at 10 and Gordon wide/left 

Exactly!

He'll probably do it in the third game. He has to do something different.

scrumhalf

LionAquaLooper said:

Denmark were playing on the same pitch. 

My point exactly. They were able to mitigate the effect of the pitch, England weren't.

thecolourbox

My chosen team Austria have their best chance of three points today against Poland, could be a bit of a feisty match as there's sometimes a bit of hostility between them I think. A bit like Scotland in qualifying, they have managed to put together a good side without any massive stars, by playing to their strengths and wanting to win (rather than previously, where they used to vaguely hope they might chance a win but mostly just tried not to get thrashed). Baumgartner looks a good player, if he keeps up his form he might well get some interest from other clubs perhaps. If they can get the win today then hopefully hold the Netherlands to a draw in the third match, they've just got to hope they can scrape through via 3rd place perhaps

AlbertC

Shrews said:

Let's face it we will beat Slovenia and top the group.

Yeah, you’re right, I mean how could they possibly lose? 

Did you not watch the last two games? 

Shrews said:

Best to have a bad performance now than in the knockouts.

Although it’s not like we’re restricted to one bad performance per tournament. Again, we have no consistency. We’ve had good knockout round wins in the past only to struggle/play negatively once again in the following round

LionAquaLooper

Way too early to panic.  It was only the 2nd group stage match.  Have a bad match now while the consequences are still minimal.  Although I think piling on the pressure on the England team isn't a bad thing because they SHOULD hear how bad they were and use that as motivation.

Scotland as an example - played rubbish in the first match, came out guns blazing next match. 

Only worrying thing is England teams typically get complacent and over-confident very quickly.  Watch them play Slovenia out of the park, and the general consensus will suddenly shift to "we can beat anyone now!" again.    

Rocker

Spain -v- Italy was the most comfortable one zero win I have ever watched on TV. Spain attacked in numbers, there were always several Spanish players lurking in and around the Italian box. Brilliant to watch so why not play that way rather than depending on one or two heavily marked guys to win the game?

Football is a simple game - score more than the other team and you win. Fear of winning is the same as fear of losing, England have good footballers in their squad, FFS let them play winning football. And the nation should forget about 1966, or consign that win to the history books, drop the expectation of always winning and allow the players to play as they can.