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The Euro 2020 Thread

mattmid said:
A pretty good first half, Grealish and Saka in particular driving forward with the ball every time they had it. Second half, Henderson on for Rice, Czech's came back into it a bit but didn't really threaten but we showed very little ambition to add to our lead really then some more subs pretty much killed the game. Struck me that if we are going to play in this way, get ahead and sit on it we might as well get Mourinho in as manager! I mean it's job done but we've effectively played for 20 minutes at the start of the Croatia game and the first half tonight, with very little else of note. Need to play for 90 minutes next Tuesday.
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Yeah it's getting tougher now.
Good defense all three games though.
 
mattmid said:
Well that was yet another hugely underwhelming second half of settle for what you have football from Southgate.
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I'm not very edutcated on the english but I don't understand why sancho and rashford start on the bench.
You've got so much talent /quality in your squad but these two have creativity and if you play them like classic wingers you got crazy speed, unpredictability and crosses for Kane.
 
mattmid said:
Yeah it always has been for as long as I can remember.
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We bring it on ourselves though don't we.
Like you said, we start on the front foot, score a goal then start being overly cautious. Change the manager & players, its always been the same.

Tonight's game was slightly better than Fridays, but i noticed a few times where we passed the ball right back to the keeper and this was from their own half, and it lost us our momentum as the Czechs were being pressed.

Also noticed where Grealish took someone on, advanced down the pitch, then layed the ball off, only for the reciever (can't remember who) to play the ball back to the part of the field where Grealish had just run from.

At least come next Tuesday, the BS stops, and we will really see what we're made of.
 
rockstrongo said:
In shock every time I hear the Scottish national anthem,always thought (and always will) it's "I'm gonna be (500 miles)" by The Proclaimers?
Sort it out @Flipper the Priest
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If it would be any Proclaimers song it'd be Sunshine on Leith. Glourious.

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The Modric goal summed up the game perfectly tonight. Lapses in concentration and organisation exploited by top quality. Scotland not good enough tonight and against Czech Republic and can do better. Progress though, and time is on this pool of player's side.
 
Flipper the Priest said:
If it would be any Proclaimers song it'd be Sunshine on Leith. Glourious.

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The Modric goal summed up the game perfectly tonight. Lapses in concentration and organisation exploited by top quality. Scotland not good enough tonight and against Czech Republic and can do better. Progress though, and time is on this pool of player's side.
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Hope to see you guys back asap
 
Watched the England match. Good first 30 minutes but after that, boring as hell. It was like watching Spurs under Mourinho.
The talent is there, but this team has no entertainment value whatsoever and the more so considering all their matches have been home matches.
 
Stan said:
Watched the England match. Good first 30 minutes but after that, boring as hell. It was like watching Spurs under Mourinho.
The talent is there, but this team has no entertainment value whatsoever and the more so considering all their matches have been home matches.
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Totally agree. We have as much young attacking talent as I can ever remember and it's being shackled which led me to comment yesterday as you have here, that we might as well get Mourinho as manager if we're going to play like this.
 
I think these extra subs are slowly killing a lot of the matches too, It makes the games feel like friendly's.

I remember the days under Sven before subs were capped at 6 in friendlies, they were unlimited and Sven used to practically play an entirely different 11 players in the 2nd half.
 
Stan said:
Watched the England match. Good first 30 minutes but after that, boring as hell. It was like watching Spurs under Mourinho.
The talent is there, but this team has no entertainment value whatsoever and the more so considering all their matches have been home matches.
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mattmid said:
Totally agree. We have as much young attacking talent as I can ever remember and it's being shackled which led me to comment yesterday as you have here, that we might as well get Mourinho as manager if we're going to play like this.
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The trouble here from what we have witnessed, is that Southgate is going to put all his eggs into a defensive basket. Hoping he can get a goal start then kill the game off. I hear talk in the media about "he knows what it takes to win a tournament, and that sometimes winning isn't pretty" or words to that effect.

It's like i was saying to Pro Too yesterday, if we were to win, it will have 2004 written all over it.

Still, i can't see a winner coming from anyone but France/Germany/Italy/Belgium.
 
France/.Italy/Germany, but not Belgium.
We showed considerable weaknesses in our 3 matches.
We'ere still rather good attacking, but defensive we are weak. As a Spurs fan i love both Alderweireld and Vertonghen, but they have diminished considerably. From what i've seen in this tournament, Boyata is our best defender and he used to be our weakest link...
 
MafiaMurderBag said:
I remember the days under Sven before subs were capped at 6 in friendlies, they were unlimited and Sven used to practically play an entirely different 11 players in the 2nd half.
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And come the Tournament, he would stick mainly with the usual suspects. :)) I am sure it is all down to the Board :THINK: they must pick the teams. :FAIL:
 
Stan said:
France/.Italy/Germany, but not Belgium.
We showed considerable weaknesses in our 3 matches.
We'ere still rather good attacking, but defensive we are weak. As a Spurs fan i love both Alderweireld and Vertonghen, but they have diminished considerably. From what i've seen in this tournament, Boyata is our best defender and he used to be our weakest link...
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It's a shame though Stan, i would really have liked them to live up to the "Golden Generation" tag (unlike England did) and win.
Some cracking talent, it is a pity that someone of Kompany's Stature wasn't still around....

But like Jimmy Greaves used to say "It's a funny old game"
 
Buzzy said:
And come the Tournament, he would stick mainly with the usual suspects. :)) I am sure it is all down to the Board :THINK: they must pick the teams. :FAIL:
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Well the critiscms of Southgate's loyalty to Sterling (Even though he has scored our only 2 goals of the tournament lmao) did remind me of Sven's unbridled loyalty for Beckham when he was out of form in that era of 04-06 too. People we're clamouring for him to drop Becks in favour of a pacey winger like Lennon or SWP or even adapt to a 4-3-3 and put someone behind Gerrard and Lampard at the expense of Becks.

I mean, who knows but there's politics with clubs or associations i'm sure. We joke about the Dutch playing any other system than 4-3-3 above being a sin but i'm sure Real Madrid would've sentenced the manager to death if he didn't start Raul every game unconditionally either .
 
Stan said:
France/.Italy/Germany, but not Belgium.
We showed considerable weaknesses in our 3 matches.
We'ere still rather good attacking, but defensive we are weak. As a Spurs fan i love both Alderweireld and Vertonghen, but they have diminished considerably. From what i've seen in this tournament, Boyata is our best defender and he used to be our weakest link...
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But still...
de Bruyne can erase even those weaknesses.
In a top match Alderweireld, Vermealen and Vertonghen can squeaze a last quality performance out.
And Lukaku 2.0 on his Conte fish diet is pretty scary.
I think France Italy and Germany woudn't like a match against you.
 
MafiaMurderBag said:
Well the critiscms of Southgate's loyalty to Sterling (Even though he has scored our only 2 goals of the tournament lmao) did remind me of Sven's unbridled loyalty for Beckham when he was out of form in that era of 04-06 too. People we're clamouring for him to drop Becks in favour of a pacey winger like Lennon or SWP or even adapt to a 4-3-3 and put someone behind Gerrard and Lampard at the expense of Becks.

I mean, who knows but there's politics with clubs or associations i'm sure. We joke about the Dutch playing any other system than 4-3-3 above being a sin but i'm sure Real Madrid would've sentenced the manager to death if he didn't start Raul every game unconditionally either .
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I think the problem with the English are the defenders during ball posession.
They are pretty bad at build up play, slowing down ball circulation dramaticly.
If the English would play a 4-3-3 with wingers. the defenders have two more long ball (safe passing) options.
This could work with grealish and sterling if they're positioned with strong leg on the outside. (classical winger)
Giving Grealish the chance to live up to his Beckham reminiscing backnumber and haircut. He's got the cross. He just needs more space

But now they are positioned more back and mostly inverted.
So you have Maquire and Stones playing the ball to eachother for ages scared shitless to make a mistake.
And are likely to then play the ball to the wingbacks who are not the most creative I feel.
When Grealish and Sterling finally get the ball the oposition saw it coming and are well adjusted.
Forcing them to play back or do something more predictable than they are capable of.
Harry Kane is now unrecognisable as a result of this.

Nevertheless Southgate is gentleman looking sincere wanting live up to the imense pressure.
But he looks nerveous as well.
You could use a Hiddink, another Italian, Ancelotti who is a king at making his squad just play for fun even on the biggest stage.
 
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KaKa'225 said:
I think the problem with the English are the defenders during ball posession.
They are pretty bad at build up play, slowing down ball circulation dramaticly.
If the English would play a 4-3-3 with wingers. the defenders have two more long ball (safe passing) options.
This could work with grealish and sterling if they're positioned with strong leg on the outside. (classical winger)
Giving Grealish the chance to live up to his Beckham reminiscing backnumber and haircut. He's got the cross. He just needs more space

But now they are positioned more back and mostly inverted.
So you have Maquire and Stones playing the ball to eachother for ages scared shitless to make a mistake.
And are likely to then play the ball to the wingbacks who are not the most creative I feel.
When Grealish and Sterling finally get the ball the oposition saw it coming and are well adjusted.
Forcing them to play back or do something more predictable than they are capable of.
Harry Kane is now unrecognisable as a result of this.

Nevertheless Southgate is gentleman looking sincere wanting live up to the imense pressure.
But he looks nerveous as well.
You could use a Hiddink, another Italian, Ancelotti who is a king at making his squad just play for fun even on the biggest stage.
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Exactly, Like most modern teams they're trying to to adapt to the trend of over possession and building from the back but not all teams can play like Barca 2011 so when English defenders to it they often end up complicating things and losing possession in their own final 3rd. The game against Netherlands in Nations League is a perfect example of this.

And what we saw against Scotland like you mentioned is not distributing the ball quickly enough in the dangerous areas. By the time Sterling or Grealish got the ball the momentum had fizzled out because there was too much dithering in the final 3rd allowing the opposition to settle and hold their shape, it's infuriating to watch.

Half the reason Gazza was able to look so brilliant and stand out from his English contemporaries was because he ignored the managers instructions and did is own thing which made him unflappable but not very popular with his bosses.
 
MafiaMurderBag said:
Exactly, Like most modern teams they're trying to to adapt to the trend of over possession and building from the back but not all teams can play like Barca 2011 so when English defenders to it they often end up complicating things and losing possession in their own final 3rd. The game against Netherlands in Nations League is a perfect example of this.

And what we saw against Scotland like you mentioned is not distributing the ball quickly enough in the dangerous areas. By the time Sterling or Grealish got the ball the momentum had fizzled out because there was too much dithering in the final 3rd allowing the opposition to settle and hold their shape, it's infuriating to watch.

Half the reason Gazza was able to look so brilliant and stand out from his English contemporaries was because he ignored the managers instructions and did is own thing which made him unflappable but not very popular with his bosses.
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Make Gazza manager, do it now!~
 
I'd happily take Hoddle back as manager, he'd get the best out of our players I think. Hell I'd take him in midfield as a player, he'd still be our best passer of ball! :LOL:
 
I really thought Poland was going to rise to the occasion against a this stubborn Swedish side, It's having a team of Master league defaults and Lewandowski as your only signing. One world class player alone can't drag your team further into the tournament if the rest of the team are dragging their feet.
 
Lewandowski will have nightmares about that double crossbar header for years if they lose this match
 
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