Euro 2016 thread

lloyd

England are a good team but put 10 professional footballers behind the ball and any good team will struggle to break them down.

England did well to keep knocking on the door and never give up.

Belgium failed to score in two games in qualifying against this Welsh team and tactic and nobody would call Belgium a bad team.

I'm not sure whether to be happy with the effort of Wales or be disappointed by the total lack of any kind of outlet or attacking threat?

Overall I'm pleased, and the game went pretty much as expected and our forward players were feeding of scraps and England were picking them off easily.

kjdowd

mudslide73;1113443" said:

[quote="kjdowd;1113432"]octatonic said:

Yes, all this- but mainly they failed to score enough goals.





You jest, but I was in the car a lot today and listening to 5 live, Into the 9th hour of build up, John Hartson's filibuster-like endurance faltered and he was reduced to saying that England would really need to score more goals than Wales to win (to which there was the learned rejoinder that goals win games). No. Shit. Sherlock.

I'm a big fan of John.. he's lucky to be alive too.

[/quote]

He's great. But no one can pundit for that long. No one.

quarky

lloyd said:

England are a good team but put 10 professional footballers behind the ball and any good team will struggle to break them down.

I agree. Expectations around England seem like a Pirate Ship ride. People seem to either expect them to be world-beaters, or shit, rarely anything in the middle. To me, England should expect to be in the middle. There are no current England players who would make a World XI (I think). Getting to the QFs should be par, SF a bonus. A tournament win needs good performances from the players, and a slice of luck (and there have been tournaments where we were unlucky to go out).

lloyd

quarky said:

lloyd said:

England are a good team but put 10 professional footballers behind the ball and any good team will struggle to break them down.

I agree. Expectations around England seem like a Pirate Ship ride. People seem to either expect them to be world-beaters, or shit, rarely anything in the middle. To me, England should expect to be in the middle. There are no current England players who would make a World XI (I think). Getting to the QFs should be par, SF a bonus. A tournament win needs good performances from the players, and a slice of luck (and there have been tournaments where we were unlucky to go out).

Said it above but while England are a good team, they're not a great team. 

In the last 20 years they've never had the players to put them in the top 5 IMO, Internationally you have Brazil and Argentina, then in Europe Germany, Spain, France, Italy and (usually) Holland always have better players.

How many English players would get into the team of the tournament before it kicks off? None. 

As you say tournament football you need some luck, the last really good England team for me was the 1998 WC team in France, they got knocked out by Argentina, when Campbell's header was wrongly called a foul. 

This tournament has been ok media-wise, but looking on from a Welsh perspective, the hype that has been thrown towards past England teams, followed by the slamming of them when they fail to live up to the high standards is the main reason there is an ABE attitude amongst the Celtic nations.

EricTheWeary

I couldn't sleep last night so tried working out the permutations from this coming Monday's possible results. Remarkably complex but there were more options for England to go through to the knock out stages than not. Fairly sure a win or draw and they are through regardless of the other match. Although that's based on my mental calculations at 4am (:|

menamestom

Fretwired said:

England suffer Hart failure .. :-)

England were lucky .. all that possession for so few attempts on goal. There's a car crash waiting for Roy and the team when they meet the likes of Germany.

Germany would be favourites but we beat them away in March. Slovakia beat them in May. They couldn't score against Poland, a half decent team, but 40/1 outsiders who are behind Wales, NI and Bosnia in the Fifa world rankings. Perhaps people are saying the same thing in Germany today '70% possession and only 3 shots on target against Poland. We're in trouble when we meet a Spain or England'

lloyd

menamestom said:

Fretwired said:

England suffer Hart failure .. :-)

England were lucky .. all that possession for so few attempts on goal. There's a car crash waiting for Roy and the team when they meet the likes of Germany.

Germany would be favourites but we beat them away in March. Slovakia beat them in May. They couldn't score against Poland, a half decent team, but 40/1 outsiders who are behind Wales, NI and Bosnia in the Fifa world rankings. Perhaps people are saying the same thing in Germany today '70% possession and only 3 shots on target against Poland. We're in trouble when we meet a Spain or England'

Germany get the job done more often than not in the knock out stages.

Nobody would mention Spain and England in the same breath in terms of fearing them, more likely Spain and France.

BigLicks67

lloyd said:

How many English players would get into the team of the tournament before it kicks off? None. 

I disagree we've got a guy who has scored 52 goals at international level and is currently in midfield doing a passable impression of Andres Iniesta.

Ben8010

Deserved win for England yesterday, I have to disagree with the people saying we were lucky - no need to be negative. I do agree that Sterling has been shite though and there are plenty of other players (Vardy, Barkley, Wilshere) who deserve a chance in his place

Both games we've had now have been against teams that were defending deep which makes it tough, games against the bigger teams (no disrespect to Wales) will have more space in the final 3rd for us and we might be able play more fluently and create more chances. The defensive worries will still be there though.

Slovakia should be a good game, they will be needing a win (I think) so might try and play abit

menamestom

lloyd said:

 

This tournament has been ok media-wise, but looking on from a Welsh perspective, the hype that has been thrown towards past England teams, followed by the slamming of them when they fail to live up to the high standards is the main reason there is an ABE attitude amongst the Celtic nations.

Yeah it's embarrassing.  I'd be an ABE if I wasn't English.  It doesn't seem quite as bad this year, expectations seem more realistic but it could be that I'm just not exposed to the awful media I would have been when I was younger.

I agree about none of the England players getting into a Euro 11.  Funny thing is nobody has shone much at all so far, but I would expect the usual suspects (players and teams) to start clicking by the end of the group phase.  Hopefully Vardy can be one of those players.

Hart will be the Achilles heel for England.  Expect another error of epic Ronaldinho / Seaman proportions in the QF.

lloyd

EricTheWeary said:

I couldn't sleep last night so tried working out the permutations from this coming Monday's possible results. Remarkably complex but there were more options for England to go through to the knock out stages than not. Fairly sure a win or draw and they are through regardless of the other match. Although that's based on my mental calculations at 4am (:|

Win and you're through.

BigLicks67 said:

lloyd said:

How many English players would get into the team of the tournament before it kicks off? None. 

I disagree we've got a guy who has scored 52 goals at international level and is currently in midfield doing a passable impression of Andres Iniesta.

So you put Rooney in central midfield in your tournament XI before a game kicks off? 

Come on.

BigLicks67

lloyd said:

So you put Rooney in central midfield in your tournament XI before a game kicks off? 

Come on.

Maybe not before but I will do now : >

lloyd

BigLicks67 said:

lloyd said:

So you put Rooney in central midfield in your tournament XI before a game kicks off? 

Come on.

Maybe not before but I will do now : >

Jesus.

So you're claiming Rooney as one of the best midfielders in Europe?

He's played against Russia, who are fairly shit, and Wales who gave him all the time in the world to pick passes we sat that deep with zero press....

menamestom

 

lloyd said:

 

Nobody would mention Spain and England in the same breath in terms of fearing them, more likely Spain and France.

I did re read that and realised how ridiculous it looked
:P

Teetonetal

Regarding England - I always feel that getting out of the group stage is minimum, but anything else is good enough. Knock out football is always going to be about who makes the lease mistakes and gets a bit of luck.

Over the Years England have been unlucky, 96, 98 and 04 and all of those teams were good. 

I guess the frustration for English fans is that since 04 we've always been very flat at tournaments, unable to break down the defensive sides, and ripped apart by the good ones. However despite the short comings, this team for me at least looks up for it. In both games they really banged on the door. I feel they are really playing for Hodgson and winning at the death yesterday shows a lot of heart too. That said I don't think they are playing that well.

For me this is a tournament that any of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, England and a few others could realistically win or do well in - the Gap is closer right now as Spain and Germany have faded and a few teams have some outstanding individuals, so you can see some upsets. Lots of teams not been in a major competition for a long time, so are giving it everything... Really feel the winner of this is hard to predict.

lloyd

menamestom said:

lloyd said:

 

This tournament has been ok media-wise, but looking on from a Welsh perspective, the hype that has been thrown towards past England teams, followed by the slamming of them when they fail to live up to the high standards is the main reason there is an ABE attitude amongst the Celtic nations.

Yeah it's embarrassing.  I'd be an ABE if I wasn't English.  It doesn't seem quite as bad this year, expectations seem more realistic but it could be that I'm just not exposed to the awful media I would have been when I was younger.

I agree about none of the England players getting into a Euro 11.  Funny thing is nobody has shone much at all so far, but I would expect the usual suspects (players and teams) to start clicking by the end of the group phase.  Hopefully Vardy can be one of those players.

Hart will be the Achilles heel for England.  Expect another error of epic Ronaldinho / Seaman proportions in the QF.

In fairness I'm no ABE I want a good tournament from England, which for me would be a SF. 

Nobody ever really shines in the first two games though, they're bloody nervy games where on mistake can put you out before it's really started.

Payet and Hamsik have caught my eye so far, but as the tournament goes on you'll see one or two step up.

BigLicks67

lloyd said:

BigLicks67 said:

lloyd said:

So you put Rooney in central midfield in your tournament XI before a game kicks off? 

Come on.

Maybe not before but I will do now : >

Jesus.

So you're claiming Rooney as one of the best midfielders in Europe?

He's played against Russia, who are fairly shit, and Wales who gave him all the time in the world to pick passes we sat that deep with zero press....

Toni Kroos was praised to the high heavens for playing well against Ukraine, who as Northern Ireland proved are pretty shit.

Why can't you accept that an English player can be as talented as his foreign counterparts?

lloyd

Teetonetal said:

Regarding England - I always feel that getting out of the group stage is minimum, but anything else is good enough. Knock out football is always going to be about who makes the lease mistakes and gets a bit of luck.

Over the Years England have been unlucky, 96, 98 and 04 and all of those teams were good. 

I guess the frustration for English fans is that since 04 we've always been very flat at tournaments, unable to break down the defensive sides, and ripped apart by the good ones. However despite the short comings, this team for me at least looks up for it. In both games they really banged on the door. I feel they are really playing for Hodgson and winning at the death yesterday shows a lot of heart too. That said I don't think they are playing that well.

For me this is a tournament that any of Spain, France, Germany, Italy, England and a few others could realistically win or do well in - the Gap is closer right now as Spain and Germany have faded and a few teams have some outstanding individuals, so you can see some upsets. Lots of teams not been in a major competition for a long time, so are giving it everything... Really feel the winner of this is hard to predict.

A big frustration for me if I was English would be the manager, pretty much every person on the planet was calling for Sterling to be dropped, he's been shit all season, was shit against Russia and again, shit against Wales for 45 minute-he blasted over the bar early on, when in reality he should be scoring or making the 'keeper work, but he didn't because he can't finish.

Comes off at HT and fuck me, England start to look a much better team....

cj73

New footage of Bale's goal from an unusual angle....

Ben8010

BigLicks67 said:

lloyd said:

BigLicks67 said:

lloyd said:

So you put Rooney in central midfield in your tournament XI before a game kicks off? 

Come on.

Maybe not before but I will do now : >

Jesus.

So you're claiming Rooney as one of the best midfielders in Europe?

He's played against Russia, who are fairly shit, and Wales who gave him all the time in the world to pick passes we sat that deep with zero press....

Toni Kroos was praised to the high heavens for playing well against Ukraine, who as Northern Ireland proved are pretty shit.

Why can't you accept that an English player can be as talented as his foreign counterparts?

Bang on. Rooney has been brilliant in CM for us and deserves credit not criticism