The Euro2020 Thread

[Turkish]

Great game. Italy deserved it. They’re going to take some beating 

[Antrimsaint]

Super team the Italians. Nailed on winners there

[Jimmy_D]

Ah well. Italy might be through with that ruthless game management at the end, but it still means Belgium are out.

[M271]

The Italians have always been a cheating unsportmanship type team with wimp outcomes from fouls (or not). Gives the game a bad name and is not the way to play it, referees should ignore it but never do. Wish there was VAR for injury seriousness and book those that are feigning it.

[sadoldgit]

Another cracking game of exciting, attacking, end to end football. It is just so refreshing to seeing teams but so much effort into trying to score rather than not concede. But then I will be told that it didn’t work for Belgium as they are going home. Thing is they might also have gone home if they had played with multiple full backs. If you are going to lose, that is the way to go out.

[Lighthouse]

Italy to beat England in the final I reckon, although my predictions for the last 16 games were equal to random 50/50 guess work, so what do I know.

[stknowle]

Thought that Doku lad looked very Mane-esque. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Italy to beat England in the final I reckon, although my predictions for the last 16 games were equal to random 50/50 guess work, so what do I know.

 

Lets just hope Southgate isn’t as dopey as some of our posters and sets us up properly. I reckon we’ve half a chance, unless we try and outplay them. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

As good as the Italians were, their rolling about and cheating at the end left a bad taste. Typical, they’ve been like it for years. I hope the Spanish beat them AET on Tuesday .

 

 

Edited 2 July, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[aintforever]

Can’t see us beating the Italians, they look head and shoulders above anyone else.

[Antrimsaint]

1 minute ago, aintforever said:

Can’t see us beating the Italians, they look head and shoulders above anyone else.

Looking a bit far ahead eh? Have to beat Ukraine first

[Dry Toast]

Italy are going to be very hard to beat. I hope Spain beat them but they are unlikely to given tonights performance. I also hope we beat Ukraine and one or other of Denmark-Czech Republic and if so doing so, will be available at the final to perform.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Let’s hope Italy & Spain have a long gruelling, end to end, injury ravaged semi final. 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Let’s hope Italy & Spain have a long gruelling, end to end, injury ravaged semi final. 

Yep penalties with a couple of injuries and sendings off. Can’t see Spain beating Italy though

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yep penalties with a couple of injuries and sendings off. Can’t see Spain beating Italy though

Neither can I. The only hope we’ve got is they punch each other out and final is one game too many. 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Neither can I. The only hope we’ve got is they punch each other out and final is one game too many. 

The way Italy play has to take it out of them so with 7 games in just over 3 weeks maybe (hopefully) they’ll start to be leggy especially if Spain can take them to extra time. 

[Kenilworthy]

10 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

As good as the Italians were, their rolling about and cheating at the end left a bad taste. Typical, they’ve been like it for years. I hope the Spanish beat them AET on Tuesday .

 

 

I guess that of the six minutes added time played then less than two was actual football. The answer would be to make time added on actual ball in play time, with the clock stopped for every stoppage. Although I do sometimes wish that Saints would learn some lessons about game management.

[egg]

16 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

I guess that of the six minutes added time played then less than two was actual football. The answer would be to make time added on actual ball in play time, with the clock stopped for every stoppage. Although I do sometimes wish that Saints would learn some lessons about game management.

I've thought the same, and I think one answer may be to do what rugby does and stop the clock selectively. If that last 6 mins was actual football playing time, it would have been much more interesting for the fans. 

Edited 3 July, 2021 by egg

[Whitey Grandad]

56 minutes ago, egg said:

I've thought the same, and I think one answer may be to do what rugby does and stop the clock selectively. If that last 6 mins was actual football playing time, it would have been much more interesting for the fans. 

I shouldn’t really say this but if anybody was time wasting when I was refereeing I would add on an extra 50% of injury time.

[Chapel End]

11 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

As good as the Italians were, their rolling about and cheating at the end left a bad taste. Typical, they’ve been like it for years. I hope the Spanish beat them AET on Tuesday .

 

 

The Spanish do exactly the same

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Chapel End said:

The Spanish do exactly the same

The Italian fella who played dead then jack in the boxed when they scored was on another level though. 

[egg]

9 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I shouldn’t really say this but if anybody was time wasting when I was refereeing I would add on an extra 50% of injury time.

I suspect that where there's no cameras or scrutiny that happens a lot. I'd do the same. 

[Lee On Solent Saint]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

The way Italy play has to take it out of them so with 7 games in just over 3 weeks maybe (hopefully) they’ll start to be leggy especially if Spain can take them to extra time. 

Looks like they may be without Spinazzolo to, he looks a player

[Turkish]

14 minutes ago, Lee On Solent Saint said:

Looks like they may be without Spinazzolo to, he looks a player

Yep, he’s done his Achilles apparently, will be out for a while. Shame as like you say looks quality. But good for England.

[Turkish]

18 minutes ago, egg said:

The Italian fella who played dead then jack in the boxed when they scored was on another level though. 

Immobille. What a clown. He scores for fun For Lazio but has looked a cart horse in this tournament.

[egg]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Immobille. What a clown. He scores for fun For Lazio but has looked a cart horse in this tournament.

Yep. Was in my fantasy team throughout the group stages ahead of Ronaldo. Didn't go well. 

[Wurzel]

1 hour ago, Kenilworthy said:

I guess that of the six minutes added time played then less than two was actual football. The answer would be to make time added on actual ball in play time, with the clock stopped for every stoppage. Although I do sometimes wish that Saints would learn some lessons about game management.

I'd love to see that for the whole game. Last time I saw the stats average playing time for a game in the PL was 59 minutes. So why not play 30 minutes each way of actual play, with the clock stopping asnd restarting (like in Basketball) with every blow of the referees whistle. It would totally negate time wasting tactics of all kinds at any stage in the match.

[Lighthouse]

8 minutes ago, Wurzel said:

I'd love to see that for the whole game. Last time I saw the stats average playing time for a game in the PL was 59 minutes. So why not play 30 minutes each way of actual play, with the clock stopping asnd restarting (like in Basketball) with every blow of the referees whistle. It would totally negate time wasting tactics of all kinds at any stage in the match.

I’ve always advocated for this. 30 minute ‘in play’ halves, which end the first time the ball goes out of play, off the pitch (I.e. not a free kick or penalty)

[whelk]

I respect the shithousery from the Italians. Woudl be disappointed if they didn’t do it.

[Red]

2 hours ago, Kenilworthy said:

I guess that of the six minutes added time played then less than two was actual football. The answer would be to make time added on actual ball in play time, with the clock stopped for every stoppage. Although I do sometimes wish that Saints would learn some lessons about game management.

They played 6 mins extra time, but only 5 mins was allocated at the end of the game, which is a joke. The Spinny injury was 6 mins alone (I timed it) and in fairness to him he looked like going off the pitch and immediately called for a substitution but his team mate told him to lie down on the pitch and that's when the drama started - yes he was injured and I feel sorry for him but no need for the histrionics and he was well able to limp off the pitch. What made it worse was the Ref was pointing to his watch as if to say "I know they are time wasting and I will add on extra time".

Add to that all the subs and the obvious other time wasting (feigned injuries, keeper taking ages, etc. etc.) extra time should have been more like 10 to 12 mins. As long as the officials allow  teams to get away with this they will - just like the diving in the penalty area before the booking for doing so was introduced. The real shame is Italy were so much better and did not need to resort to such tactics. Hope we are in the final against them leading by a goal and do the same, but we won't because don't know how (and that's a good thing in my books unless we lose coz of it) 

[Matthew Le God]

1 hour ago, Wurzel said:

I'd love to see that for the whole game. Last time I saw the stats average playing time for a game in the PL was 59 minutes. So why not play 30 minutes each way of actual play, with the clock stopping asnd restarting (like in Basketball) with every blow of the referees whistle. It would totally negate time wasting tactics of all kinds at any stage in the match.

Not entirely as sometimes the purpose of time wasting is to break up the flow and pace of the game by slowing things down and preventing the opponent building and/or maintaining momentum. 

Edited 3 July, 2021 by Matthew Le God

[Wurzel]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

Not entirely as sometimes the purpose of time wasting is to break up the flow and pace of the game by slowing things down and preventing the opponent building and/or maintaining momentum. 

Those tactics (which are legitimate apart from feigning injury) would still work, but what it wouldn't do is reduce the playing time remaining.

[nta786]

@whelk this video is for you - what do you make of this?

[whelk]

26 minutes ago, nta786 said:

@whelk this video is for you - what do you make of this?

So if it goes to pens tonight. Who will win Ukraine or England? Clearly no lottery so should be able to tell me who are clear favourites?

what makes me laugh that the counter argument to ‘it’s a lottery’ is not saying there is skill involved. Everyone knows that. The lottery aspect is North Macedonia are as likely to win a pen shoot out as England. 
As seen with Swiss. One day you look like ice cool assassins the next like nervous chumps.

[OttawaSaint]

21 minutes ago, whelk said:

So if it goes to pens tonight. Who will win Ukraine or England? Clearly no lottery so should be able to tell me who are clear favourites?

what makes me laugh that the counter argument to ‘it’s a lottery’ is not saying there is skill involved. Everyone knows that. The lottery aspect is North Macedonia are as likely to win a pen shoot out as England. 
As seen with Swiss. One day you look like ice cool assassins the next like nervous chumps.

I think the issue is with the word “lottery”. Lottery implies that it’s completely random (like a coin flip). 

Its not random because teams can exert a fair amount of control over it by strategizing who will take them, what the goalies tendencies are etc. 

As you say though the other variables such as, nerves, pressure, confidence, what has already happened in the shootout are in play.

So not a lottery as such but there isn’t as big as an advantage for the stronger team as there is in normal play.

[nta786]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

So if it goes to pens tonight. Who will win Ukraine or England? Clearly no lottery so should be able to tell me who are clear favourites?

what makes me laugh that the counter argument to ‘it’s a lottery’ is not saying there is skill involved. Everyone knows that. The lottery aspect is North Macedonia are as likely to win a pen shoot out as England. 
As seen with Swiss. One day you look like ice cool assassins the next like nervous chumps.

If you can see this, whilst not ‘clear favourites’, the bookies think that should the game go to penalties then England are the favourite to win via that method.

I think your Eastleigh vs Brazil example is a but far fetched though, I’d expect Brazil to win 9 times out of 10 - the goalkeeper/penalty takers are miles better than the Eastleigh equivalents.

[SaintBobby]

Yeah, there's a big difference between something being unpredictable and it being a lottery.

One of the great joys of football is how damned unpredictable it can be. But that doesn't mean it's a game of luck.

[whelk]

The fuckers at UEFA being paid off by Azerbaijan should be sacked. No place playing games in Baku FFS

Edited 3 July, 2021 by whelk

[OttawaSaint]

Thumping header, great start for Denmark!

[sydenhamssocks]

Delaney’s price just went up a bit. Good header. Good player. 

[whelk]

Has anyone done a count on McCoist’s “it really is” or “it really was”

double figures already 

[OttawaSaint]

Ouch! We totally blew that Maehle signing eh?

Edited 3 July, 2021 by OttawaSaint

[Jimmy_D]

That’s incredible technique for that cross.

[Sunglasses Ron]

Great work by JV for that 2nd Denmark goal!

[northam soul]

Who says you need left footers at left back

[Jimmy_D]

Ouch 😕

That looked potentially serious.

[Antrimsaint]

6 hours ago, whelk said:

I respect the shithousery from the Italians. Woudl be disappointed if they didn’t do it.

Its world class shithousery. Absolute masters at it and fair play. If only other teams would do it back to them. If it wins them the cup then its worth it. Not only are they brilliant at it but they play brilliant football too.

 I applaud them. 👏 

[Dark Munster]

Ok lads, you know the plot. Denmark goes 3-1 up, game over, surely. Then Czech gets two late goals to go to extra time.

Edited 3 July, 2021 by Dark Munster

[Dark Munster]

3 hours ago, OttawaSaint said:

I think the issue is with the word “lottery”. Lottery implies that it’s completely random (like a coin flip). 

Its not random because teams can exert a fair amount of control over it by strategizing who will take them, what the goalies tendencies are etc. 

As you say though the other variables such as, nerves, pressure, confidence, what has already happened in the shootout are in play.

So not a lottery as such but there isn’t as big as an advantage for the stronger team as there is in normal play.

Don't forget the 3 most important factors. Practice, practice and practice.

[trousers]