The Euro2020 Thread

[Minsk]

Some very dire performances there. Phillips as bad tonight as he was good against Croatia, everything backwards. Foden played well and was rewarded with being the first to be subbed off.

Oh well, another 0-0 draw (or any draw) against the Czechs and we go through in 2nd place - leaving the Czechs to face Germany, Portugal or France in the next round.

[Yozzman]

The Yorkshire Pirlo not so good tonight.  Reverted to type.

[Sunglasses Ron]

Absolute pish, Sterling drives me f’ing bonkers when he plays for England.

[Badger]

  On 18/06/2021 at 19:46, SW5 SAINT said:

Taters saying Adam’s has been the best player on the pitch……!

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Thought Ally McCoist did a great job in talking Che's value up for us.

[hackedoff]

Two teams,both without a cat in hells chance of winning this competition.

[Cabrone]

Same old England. Not smart enough to get past an organised team like Scotland. The draw was fair.

They will get through and then be booted out the first time they meet a heavyweight. Looks like they are on course to play Portugal\Germany in the first knockout game, that's the end of their tournament.

[Badger]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:03, Minsk said:

Some very dire performances there. Phillips as bad tonight as he was good against Croatia, everything backwards. Foden played well and was rewarded with being the first to be subbed off.

Oh well, another 0-0 draw (or any draw) against the Czechs and we go through in 2nd place - leaving the Czechs to face Germany, Portugal or France in the next round.

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Who would we then face by finishing second ?

[CB Fry]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:17, Badger said:

Who would we then face by finishing second ?

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Sweden, Slovakia maybe Spain.

[Whitey Grandad]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:00, Roo1976 said:

What you were in Glasgow in 1880 something for the first 0-0......................

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LOL

In this tournament…

[aintforever]

Draw was a good result, the last thing we want to do is win the group.

We will get dumped out by the first decent team we meet as usual.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

If we have any ambition then we need to win the group. If we finish second then we end up with France in the quarters. Finish first then we get the beatable Portugal/Germany and then the beatable Spain

[aintforever]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:26, Ex Lion Tamer said:

If we have any ambition then we need to win the group. If we finish second then we end up with France in the quarters. Finish first then we get the beatable Portugal/Germany and then the beatable Spain

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Can’t see that shite beating Portugal, Germany or Spain, best we can hope for is the quarters IMO.

[Sarnia Cherie]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:26, Ex Lion Tamer said:

If we have any ambition then we need to win the group. If we finish second then we end up with France in the quarters. Finish first then we get the beatable Portugal/Germany and then the beatable Spain

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Did you watch England tonight? On that form they won't beat any of them.

[S-Clarke]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:26, Ex Lion Tamer said:

If we have any ambition then we need to win the group. If we finish second then we end up with France in the quarters. Finish first then we get the beatable Portugal/Germany and then the beatable Spain

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We'll do well to beat the Czechs tbh.

[Fan The Flames]

England are the Southampton of international teams. We are all fuckin cursed.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:32, Sarnia Cherie said:

Did you watch England tonight? On that form they won't beat any of them.

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No matter how bad we were, I'd still be aiming to win rather than settling for second so we can say we got the quarters.

[aintforever]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:35, Ex Lion Tamer said:

No matter how bad we were, I'd still be aiming to win rather than settling for second so we can say we got the quarters.

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Better than saying we got to the last 16.

[wild-saint]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:04, Yozzman said:

The Yorkshire Pirlo not so good tonight.  Reverted to type.

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Exactly this. Two defensive midfield players expected to provide the creative link through midfield. Negative dull football. I’d sack Southgate right now before we ruin yet another generation of top talent.

[Danny R]

Both Saints players were fantastic, Che in particular, the work rate and coming deep.. so good. 

[Baird of the land]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:45, Danny R said:

Both Saints players were fantastic, Che in particular, the work rate and coming deep.. so good. 

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The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

[suewhistle]

  On 18/06/2021 at 20:16, egg said:

If he takes Mount or Foden off rather than Sterling, my TV is going out of the window. 

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I went to watch this game round aged mum - that wan't really an option for me,   unfortunately.

[Danny R]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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Seriously? Clearly by someone who has never played the game to any kind of standard. His link up play and tracking back was superb. Was MoM in my opinion and I think Scotland lost their way a little when he was subbed. 

[Turkish]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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It is the guardian. What do you expect 

[suewhistle]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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So he did.. He made a valid point about his finishing, but really?

[Dusic]

Supporting a team that is expected to win really isn't all that.

Lucky, being a Saints fan.

Admirable performance by Scotland who left it all out there...

Adams overall game much improved vs when we signed him.

 

Edited 18 June, 2021 by Dusic

[Wurzel]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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He did, which was nonsense. Although quite rightly, he gave no England player a higher score than Adams.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:40, aintforever said:

Better than saying we got to the last 16.

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We got to the semis in 2018 by beating a tough-ish team early (Colombia) then having the draw open up.

We were crap tonight but there's a good team in there somewhere. I'm not writing this tournament off yet.

[saintquin]

Say's it all when for me Pickford was probably England's MOTM!

[Danny R]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:52, Turkish said:

It is the guardian. What do you expect 

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[verlaine1979]

Is Sancho injured? He's been one of the most creative players in Europe for two seasons, but hasn't had a minute yet.

[cambsaint]

England were so poor and lacklustre to be almost unbelievable.

Scotland played their hearts out and by the end for the first time in my life I didn't want England to thrash the Scots (in any sport) and was hoping it would end a draw.

On thes last two performances Levy won't be able to give Kane away. Is he completely unsettled?

 

 

[SaintBobby]

I was at Wembley. Utterly dire.

[John Boy Saint]

This is a game in isolation Ingerland could have been on a 1000 game imperious winning streak - and Scotland would be the fly in the ointment. 

[kyle04]

Sterling playing the worst football of his career and stays on the pitch = Southgate is  a cunt of a manager. We are going no further than R16 no matter who we play. Fucking league 1 standard by both teams, France et al must have been laughing watching that, what a shambles.

[Jonnyboy]

Are people going to stop calling Phillips by his first name now as if they are mates with him? 

Edited 19 June, 2021 by Jonnyboy

[AlexLaw76]

Southgate has fallen into the failed processes that ends all other England managers

Pick players based on past efforts, pick injured players and generally remain way too safe

 

we have an array of attacking talent, yet he is failing miserably.

[BotleySaint]

  On 18/06/2021 at 23:07, verlaine1979 said:

Is Sancho injured? He's been one of the most creative players in Europe for two seasons, but hasn't had a minute yet.

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Southgate decided to bring Rashford on instead yesterday. Can't get my head around that one either.. he's out of form and struggling for goals. Sancho the opposite.

[Toussaint]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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Perhaps they found out he voted Conservative? 

[qwertyell]

  On 19/06/2021 at 04:37, AlexLaw76 said:

Southgate has fallen into the failed processes that ends all other England managers

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Nah, he's just garbage, always has been. No serious club in England would hire him as a manager; he lucked into the u21 gig - where he did nothing of worth - and has since lucked into the senior job. Not because of footballing merit, but because the FA needed a nodding dog to tow the party line and not make waves. He sticks steadfastly to the script - which can also be said of his tactical approach.

The easiest ever run in a world cup, where he lost three times and only beat Tunisia, Panama and Sweden somehow elevated him to "elite" manager status - whereas he's still the guy who's only meaningful contribution to football management is getting Middlesbrough relegated.

Watching a keeper, two centre backs and two holding midfielders slowly pass the ball backwards between themselves while an array of attacking talent stands in a line 70 yards away alongside opposition defenders who can't believe how easy a night they're having isn't a new development. He's been playing this way - no matter the formation - since day one.

He's one of those basic managers that saw Spain dominate the 2010s with possession football and concluded that keeping the ball was all that's required to ensure success. No nuance to it. Just keep passing back and the wins will follow. Propaganda-ball.

And he's not helped himself by picking a squad of injured players. By my reckoning, Henderson, Maguire, Rashford, Kane, Grealish and Saka (he's been managing a hip problem for months) are way short of optimum condition. More poor management.

I mean, even Spurs haven't tried to hire him. 

[rooney]

Roy Keane commented on the poor set pieces, Where was our boy JWP?

[qwertyell]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:47, Baird of the land said:

The guardian ratings somehow had Adams as Scotland's worst player. Not sure what game their correspondent was watching.

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He's a striker and completely fluffed their two best chances. Maybe that worked against him - he didn't do his job.

Gilmour was their best player. 

[LenPa]

  On 19/06/2021 at 06:43, qwertyell said:

He's a striker and completely fluffed their two best chances. Maybe that worked against him - he didn't do his job.

Gilmour was their best player. 

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Could be a point but he still played well (especially as if you think about the differences in strength between these to teams (which should normally be present). But yes, Gilmour played really well.

[eurosaint]

With far less individual ability (they are the 3rd lowest ranked team in the competition), Scotland had a much better game plan and with a slice of luck / quality finishing would have won it !

England will need to improve dramatically if they are to compete with the likes of France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Portugal !

Home advantage so far has counted for very little but may come into play later on !

The group stages don't tell you everything as some teams peak early and some late but given the perceived lack of fitness of some key players (Kane, Henderson, McGuire etc..) something has to change fairly quickly ! 

 

[CB Fry]

  On 19/06/2021 at 06:42, rooney said:

Roy Keane commented on the poor set pieces, Where was our boy JWP?

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That performance was stultifying, lifeless and without inspiration. I can't believe that anyone can be seriously thinking that the solution was for JWP to be in the team knocking around his tepid little sideways passes.

 

[East Kent Saint]

Scotland's back 5 nullified England's attack plus Scotland's players played their hearts out while out of form England players passed the ball between themselves allowing Scotland to all get behind the ball . At the end the goal mouth scramble showed Scotland throwing themselves at the ball to keep it out while several England players stood waving their arms !!!

[The Cat]

  On 19/06/2021 at 07:10, East Kent Saint said:

Scotland's back 5 nullified England's attack plus Scotland's players played their hearts out while out of form England players passed the ball between themselves allowing Scotland to all get behind the ball . At the end the goal mouth scramble showed Scotland throwing themselves at the ball to keep it out while several England players stood waving their arms !!!

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I thought it was Scotland's discipline throughout the whole team which nullified England. They were constantly cutting off passing angles and kept their shape really well.

After the first 20 minutes England ran out of ideas and had no plan to try and break down the defence. Where was Sancho? Seems very strange that he's not getting on the pitch. 

That scramble was hilarious.

[JRM]

  On 19/06/2021 at 07:10, East Kent Saint said:

Scotland's back 5 nullified England's attack plus Scotland's players played their hearts out while out of form England players passed the ball between themselves allowing Scotland to all get behind the ball . At the end the goal mouth scramble showed Scotland throwing themselves at the ball to keep it out while several England players stood waving their arms !!!

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Mings said himself in the post match interview that England "lacked intensity " without giving any reason why. Seemed to me the players just couldn't match Scotland's commitment and effort, no excuses for that. 

Pleased to see Adams receive so many compliments during the game, been great experience for him, just a shame he's not a better finisher. Certainly on the basis of that one game if you offered me the choice between Kane and Adams i know who I would pick. 

[Sarnia Cherie]

  On 18/06/2021 at 21:43, wild-saint said:

Exactly this. Two defensive midfield players expected to provide the creative link through midfield. Negative dull football. I’d sack Southgate right now before we ruin yet another generation of top talent.

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Good post. According to the FA, Southgate is safe until after the next World Cup. No pressure or reason for him to stop playing cautious, boring football, then. He has some talented, young players at his disposal. I want to see them given the chance. 

[stknowle]

  On 18/06/2021 at 20:52, aintforever said:

Southgate is just a shite manager.

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He's the main problem. Simply cannot imagine us winning anything with him in charge.

[waylander]

  On 19/06/2021 at 07:08, CB Fry said:

That performance was stultifying, lifeless and without inspiration. I can't believe that anyone can be seriously thinking that the solution was for JWP to be in the team knocking around his tepid little sideways passes.

 

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Would have been no worse than the backwards and sideways passing that was on display last night and the piece deliveries were dire - he would certainly have improved on those.