Euros 2020 (21)

[threechilliman]

They need to leave Kane and Sterling on the bench for the next game, Kane's head isn't in the game, too busy thinking about his big money move to City, Sterling being weighed down by his MBE 

 

Correct.

[The0neAnd0nly]

Scotland played like it was their cup final - barring a few fluffed chances and mis hits probably should have scored 1 if not 2.

England yet to click into gear and surprisingly our defense doesn't look too bad its poor midfield and up front possession putting our team into trouble. Pre tournament it was meant to be the the other way around!!

Sterling looked tireless and hungry IMO. I'm a big Grealish fan but he looked poor when he came on probably too much pressure and not enough time to influence game. He got his customary fouls but plenty of misplaced passes.

I'd stick with Kane as class always shines through. Would like to see Grealish start probably in place of Rice however think Southgate will go defensive again and make changes earlier against the Czechs if a goal is needed.
If Maguire is back that might give Southgate the belief to just play with Philips or Rice, however Mings has looked decent in both games. Maybe a switch to 3-5-2?

Anyway dont think it's all doom and gloom as Im sure the papers will make out tomorrow. Scotland played with passion and desire but probably wont play better again this tournament even if they get through.

[lamboman]

England just aren't good at football no shame in that.

[The0neAnd0nly]

I know we all think we're a England manager but id go with the below against the Czechs.
Should mean plenty of possession to build confidence. I don't rate Shaw for England at all and would put Trippier in for set pieces (our corners were shocking tonight).
Unless we start playing with a bit of confidence in posession we'll be going home last 16

Pickford

Walker  Maguire  Stones

James Mount Philipps Grealish Trippier

Sterling Kane

[JontyR]

Not a big fan of Jack Grealish but he made a big difference when he came on as a substitute in a team that struggled to break down Scotland.

Did you think? I wasn't watching that closely but although he gave it a go he produced very little. There is a difference between having a lot of the ball and actually playing well.

From a wider perspective I am not too concerned as yet. Teams that win tournaments tend to build through them rather than starting quickly. The concerns prior to the start of the tournament was relating to the defence and we haven't conceded as yet.

The selections of Southgate have confused somewhat, not because he's picked differently to what I think but seemingly because he's picked differently to what I think he thinks!! It's almost as if he (in some cases) is trying to get minutes into players that he may have to use later on but wouldn't be first choice if it were a knockout game.

[Blackpool Rock]

Well what a load of shite that was 

England lucky to get a point, thought the Scots would tire over 90 minutes and gift England a goal but it didn't happen 

There was no England player tonight who I thought "Yeah but Joe Blogs played well"; it was mediocrity all round and we may as well have played with 10 men for the majority of the game as Kane wasn't in it for the 2nd game in a row.
Think they gave some stats at the end and something like 156 minutes for Kane with 3 shots at goal and none on target 
He doesn't look half a yard short he looks 5 yards short and no way should he start the next game, forget the "Too big a star to drop" crap he isn't fit, a fully fit Kane would have been buzzing like a wasp tonight but he had zero energy; drive; motivation or impact on the game, the tournament is a month or two too soon for him coming back from injury

Tactically Southgate choked it taking Foden off before taking Kane off, Grealish was a welcome introduction but didn't have enough minutes to make the difference

[Coriniumstud]

How the hell did Mount stay on  ? That prick couldn’t take a corner if his life depended on it

[maxxblue]

How the hell did Mount stay on  ? That prick couldn’t take a corner if his life depended on it

Don't think the Evening Standard agree with you:

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[ulstersubbie]

This is how I see Tue final group round, if Scotland plays as they did tonight, think they can beat Croatia

Scotland v Croatia                2 - 0  Scotland in second place, and England in Third
England v Czech Republic      0 - 1  Czech Republic in first place

Nope. England will win the group, thanks for giving us a 2-0 win over Croatia. We don't score goals, the other teams do and therein lies the problem.

[isbcar]

Might not be to bad in the long run. England finishing 2nd in their group would mean they'll face 2nd place team from group E - poland, sweden, or slovakia provided spain win the group.

[PunterNumber69]

Maya Jama - nil points this week due to outfit selection.

[Thephoenix]

It's good to get the win.
Not sure we had a skill/possession advantage.
It was a sound workmanlike performance.
Defence was good, but I think we lacked real creativity and guile in midfield, with not enough players wanting to turn with the ball and create something going foward apart from Phillips.
Too often the ball was just played backwards again.
Only Sterling had the courage to really run at players.
Whilst Mount, Rice and Foden were ok, I don't think they did enough to guarantee a place against Scotland.

More or less repeating what I said after the last game.

Henderson deserves a chance, Calvert Lewis and Rashford to start in place of Kane and Foden.

[Pillowtalk]

Why are England so boring to watch and why, despite change of manager and players, do they always play the same game i.e. dominated by square and backward passes?
Can I suggest that any player passing square is fined 10% of his match fee (per square pass) and 15% for a backward pass. should liven things up a bit!

[Pillowtalk]

Meant to say I like Foden. He looks like a psychopath and every team needs at least one!

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Grealish should start on Tuesday, he’s wasted as a sub. He was always going to struggle last night because he’s not an impact sub in the way that Rashford or Loftus-Cheek can be. Taking Foden off for Grealish was madness last night. Play Grealish in a number 10 role to feed Kane so I’d have taken Sterling off. Instead that dour manager stuck him out of the left and our play was then mainly focused down the right.

Imagine if we had a manager who was a little more attack minded......time for Southgate to go. He’s too scared of losing and sets his sides up as negative and boring.

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Meant to say I like Foden. He looks like a psychopath and every team needs at least one!

He’s gone full on Slim Shady!

[catweazle]

Looked to me like Sterling's performance in the first game was his high watermark. He was rubbish in the last World Cup, and yesterday's performance was very similar.  Interesting that Golden boy wonder goal machine and Captain Kane has been subbed off in both games.

[Blackpool Rock]

Looked to me like Sterling's performance in the first game was his high watermark. He was rubbish in the last World Cup, and yesterday's performance was very similar.  Interesting that Golden boy wonder goal machine and Captain Kane has been subbed off in both games.

I actually thought Sterling was one of our better players last night and at least he seemed willing to run and once he got the ball go forward rather than passing it back, that said being one of the better players in an overall crap performance is still crap 

As i've already posted Kane has been a bag of shite every minute he's played and needs to be dropped for the next game as he's clearly not fit and struggling, i'd have him on the bench as an impact sub if we need him for the last 20-25 minutes.

I previously slated Kane on the other thread for being over rated however what i'm going to say is that we really needed a fully fit Kane at his best last night, unfortunately he isn't so was more like a zombie making up the numbers

[Gordon Bennett]

Whilst they have all but qualified, they have not mathematically.

Yes, fair do's, you're right. My circular shaped Sunday Times wallchart is confusing me! I'm pretty sure if Germany and Hungary lose today that's England through whatever. Come Tuesday its 99.9% certain England will be through without kicking a ball..... what a shambolic set-up this tournament is!

[cotton]

Why are England so boring to watch and why, despite change of manager and players, do they always play the same game i.e. dominated by square and backward passes?
Can I suggest that any player passing square is fined 10% of his match fee (per square pass) and 15% for a backward pass. should liven things up a bit!

Historically England have had a problem with players not being able to keep possesion and players not being comfortable on the ball, the boring pass it sideways and backwards seems to be a poor mans answer to this, just without the threat power or penetration the top sides have alongside keeping the ball.  So nowadays we have a team that looks comfortable and like it can keep the ball but dosnt have the wherwithall to actually power through teams and score goals.
At least this last game i realised Kane was playing , even though he was very poor.
Foden was ok and id persevere with Sterling and give Grealish a chance.
Southgate is making a team that can eek out a result against mediocre opposition but is going home as soon as they meet France or Germany, as usual.

[Gordon Bennett]

Minute Southgate named the 23 man squad it was clear we were stuffed. Too many out of form players. I reckon I could name a team of 11 championship players who would have put up a better showing than last night.... they'd deffo have more pride, belligerence and desire than those knee-bending tarts had last night.

[mr.bluesky]

Historically England have had a problem with players not being able to keep possesion and players not being comfortable on the ball, the boring pass it sideways and backwards seems to be a poor mans answer to this, just without the threat power or penetration the top sides have alongside keeping the ball.  So nowadays we have a team that looks comfortable and like it can keep the ball but dosnt have the wherwithall to actually power through teams and score goals.
At least this last game i realised Kane was playing , even though he was very poor.
Foden was ok and id persevere with Sterling and give Grealish a chance.
Southgate is making a team that can eek out a result against mediocre opposition but is going home as soon as they meet France or Germany, as usual.

Not so sure about Germany they look a pale shadow of past German teams. They need a good result against Portugal today or they could be out. Knowing Germany  they will probably win their last game and scrape through to the knockout stages then go on and win it.

[webpunter]

+1

Scootland were 'up' for the match & this showed
England gave the appearance of a team mid-table in the prem on the last match of the season
More interested in jetting off on their summer hols

Southgate is perfect for the blazers
Says all the right things
And won't rock the boat
Amazed he took off Kane, should have done this earlier
And he should have got Fallon D'Floor on earlier, at least he tried
And WTF was Southgate wearing ? Looked like he's working for Morrisons 

They looked like a bunch of jessys doing a curtsey
Virtue signalling bollox

Minute Southgate named the 23 man squad it was clear we were stuffed. Too many out of form players. I reckon I could name a team of 11 championship players who would have put up a better showing than last night.... they'd deffo have more pride, belligerence and desire than those knee-bending tarts had last night.

[ulstersubbie]

Not so sure about Germany they look a pale shadow of past German teams.

The poorest German team I have seen in many a year. Have they ever failed to get out of the group stage at the Euros, not sure?

[mr.bluesky]

The poorest German team I have seen in many a year. Have they ever failed to get out of the group stage at the Euros, not sure?

Their opening game defeat was the first time they have lost the first game in the European championships.  I don't think they have ever failed to progress beyond the group stages. 

[NIK]

I haven't watched an England friendly for years, and until last night haven't really seen them at all since the last world cup.
Now I know why I haven't bothered. Vastly overhyped players. One example is Harry Kane who  might be a very deccent payer, but he's hardly Marco Van Basten.

As for the jocks they were carrying on as though they had won the tournament, when they hadn't even won the match. Shows the limits of their expectatons. Amazing to think how far they have fallen considering all the great players they had when I was young in the 70's. They still did nowt though.

I think a draw was probabaly a fair result. On that performace two bang average sides that haven't a prayer.

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Now i know feck all about football but the little bit i saw there were some very  near miss's of the goal, just an inch or two the other way and it might have only been 1 - 0 but we'd all be crowing a very differnt tune today would we not?...

[NIK]

Another thing I don't know if it shows I'm getting old or losing interest in football, but it was many years before England picked a player who I had never previously heard of. Must have been the 80's or 90's. Now it's routine. There were three or four in the squad who I was previously unacquainted with.

Then again when I was a kid in the late 60's / early 70's I could name every stadium, nickname, club colours of all football league clubs, and the manager and even most of the squad of First Division clubs. When managers stayed for years, clubs only used 14/15 players a season, shirts didn't change with the wind and new grounds were non existent nor were they sponsored, it was a damn sight easier.

Now my own local club, who aren't even currenly in the league, must have used over forty players a season every season for the past five years. 

[Lev Gagarin]

Their opening game defeat was the first time they have lost the first game in the European championships.  I don't think they have ever failed to progress beyond the group stages. 

Euro 2000

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[Blackpool Rock]

France Vs Hungary and France have missed loads of chances they should have taken but Hungary are 1-0 ahead at half time thanks to an injury time goal 

[Scotpunter]

I haven't watched an England friendly for years, and until last night haven't really seen them at all since the last world cup.
Now I know why I haven't bothered. Vastly overhyped players. One example is Harry Kane who  might be a very deccent payer, but he's hardly Marco Van Basten.

As for the jocks they were carrying on as though they had won the tournament, when they hadn't even won the match. Shows the limits of their expectatons. Amazing to think how far they have fallen considering all the great players they had when I was young in the 70's. They still did nowt though.

I think a draw was probabaly a fair result. On that performace two bang average sides that haven't a prayer.

This is my exact take from the game. Overall Scotland were the better team on the night. But neither were worthy of any great merit. What Scotland teams of the past had was a bunch of  well known footballers who played with a massive amount of National Pride.

[martini2429]

France Vs Hungary and France have missed loads of chances they should have taken but Hungary are 1-0 ahead at half time thanks to an injury time goal 

France finally scored a goal but the Hungarians held out to earn a draw, celebrated like they had won the game, just got to beat the Germans in the last game and they should be through

 

[Thephoenix]

England 0  Scotland 0

Scotland win on National Anthems.

Please Charlie, ditch it when MaMa ktb.

Sorry to highjack. I started a post about National Anthems a couple of years ago, so will resurrect.

[Blackpool Rock]

England 0  Scotland 0

Scotland win on National Anthems.

Please Charlie, ditch it when MaMa ktb.

Sorry to highjack. I started a post about National Anthems a couple of years ago, so will resurrect.

But doesn't this just open a can of worms about how the UK National anthem is GSTQ which is played for England but Scotland have to do their own thing as usual     

[mr.bluesky]

But doesn't this just open a can of worms about how the UK National anthem is GSTQ which is played for England but Scotland have to do their own thing as usual     

As do Wales who have their own national anthem. So should we have our own inststead of that dreary dirge God save the Queen. 

[Blackpool Rock]

As do Wales who have their own national anthem. So should we have our own inststead of that dreary dirge God save the Queen.

Yeah the other thread has been resurrected now

[mr.bluesky]

Euro 2000

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Commenter said at the end of German game they had not lost their opening game before so he did not do his research properly. 

[Blackpool Rock]

Commenter said at the end of German game they had not lost their opening game before so he did not do his research properly. 

But according to that article they drew the 1st game 1-1 with Romania

They've also been saying they haven't lost their 1st 2 games so after losing the 1st one and going 1-0 down to Portugal it was looking dodgy however they are now 4-1 up 

[ratedj]

Write off the Germans at your peril...

[webpunter]

This is quality 

"Hire him as Southgate replacement and its coming home"

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[webpunter]

They are good at taking on single countries
Especially against a weaker 'side'
Facing the Brits, the yanks + some resistance fighters & the outcome is generally different 

Write off the Germans at your peril...

[webpunter]

I rest my case

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[ratedj]

They are good at taking on single countries
Especially against a weaker 'side'
Facing the Brits, the yanks + some resistance fighters & the outcome is generally different 

 

[mr.bluesky]

Write off the Germans at your peril...

Looks like normal service has been resumed. Interesting last round of games. You have to fancy Germany to beat Hungary so it will all come down to the Portugal v France result

[Blackpool Rock]

Looks like normal service has been resumed. Interesting last round of games. You have to fancy Germany to beat Hungary so it will all come down to the Portugal v France result

Yeah that "Group of Death" is looking tasty for the last round of games, one of the pundits did say before any of those group games were played that Hungary may be the deciding factor in that group in as much that if they get a win or draw it could fuck the other team up

France were nailed on to beat Hungary so nothing is guaranteed and France have looked good getting plenty of goal scoring chances but their "Stars" have only scored 2 goals in 2 games.
Was it 2002 when they went out of the World cup without scoring a single goal and that was even with Thierry Henry in the side 

[myothernameis]

On bbc or itv coverage, dont know if they were joking, but suggesting England could throw there final game, as if they were to win, they could face Portugal 

But if they came in second place, they then would face,  Slovakia or Spain

But if the results went the right way, and they come in third, these could be teams they face: Holland, Belgium, Sweden

So looks like second place could be the best option for England to get through to the Q-finals

[Gordon Bennett]

As do Wales who have their own national anthem. So should we have our own inststead of that dreary dirge God save the Queen. 

I tell you what really gets my goat..... when a Welsh club plays at Wembley, like say Swansea in play-off final last month, they play the Welsh fucking anthem before the match as well as GSTQ. Ludicrous!! Piss off and play in Welsh league if you want your anthem playing - condition of playing in English league should be leave your anthem at home. To be honest I've now made myself uptight again and I'm wondering why these foreign teams are even allowed in English football..... wish EUFA would stick their noses in and outlaw the nonsense. Get shot of them and make room for fine clubs like Notts County, Hartlepool  and Torquay in EFL.

[Blackpool Rock]

On bbc or itv coverage, dont know if they were joking, but suggesting England could throw there final game, as if they were to win, they could face Portugal 

But if they came in second place, they then would face,  Slovakia or Spain

But if the results went the right way, and they come in third, these could be teams they face: Holland, Belgium, Sweden

So looks like second place could be the best option for England to get through to the Q-finals

Well England are 2nd and a draw with the top side would mean we were guaranteed of finishing 2nd however given the shit performance last night i'm expecting them to lose 

[lillythesavage]

On bbc or itv coverage, dont know if they were joking, but suggesting England could throw there final game, as if they were to win, they could face Portugal 

But if they came in second place, they then would face,  Slovakia or Spain

But if the results went the right way, and they come in third, these could be teams they face: Holland, Belgium, Sweden

So looks like second place could be the best option for England to get through to the Q-finals

It will make little difference, they simply are not good enough to win this, prolonging the inevitable.

[ulstersubbie]

To be honest I've now made myself uptight again and I'm wondering why these foreign teams are even allowed in English football..... wish EUFA would stick their noses in and outlaw the nonsense. Get shot of them and make room for fine clubs like Notts County, Hartlepool  and Torquay in EFL.

Good point. I wonder why a foreign team like Berwick Rangers plays in the Scottish League, absolute nonsense as you say.