Re: The EURO 2016 Thread

[Con]

YES!!!

Doesn't look like the Ref was bought at all.* He was probably given the game because he was German and the authorities thought that would be enough to bias him to knock England out of the competition before 23rd June. But he was very good. Maybe he supports Brexit!  

Until Sturridge's goal I thought the England team didn't want to win... Vardy's goal was a fluke (he could hardly miss from 3 yards after William's error) but Sturridge scored something out of nothing... Best England goal ever!

*was not sold by Johnny William's dive in the penalty box

[Trotters]

England win despite Roy's vest effort to have no shape, no tactics and no clue.

There a brilliant team in there somewhere but this manager won't ever find it. At least not in a competetive match that matters.

[De Kuip]

Great result and we needed it. Funny thing tournament football where we top the group after 2 games and yet could still end up 3rd! Shame we've got Woy in charge and despite all the blather about the golden generation I think this England team has much more potential if managed properly. I see the Poland fans are on the rampage now over in France. Apparently over 100 cars have been washed and valeted, 50 boilers repaired and 5 walls built....

[Con]

Sturridge had so much more of ball in the second half compared to Kane in the first because he dropped much deeper to pick up the ball. His ball skills made the difference at the end for the goal. He even made the cross that was nodded down by the Welsh defender to Vardy.

http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/euro/2016/2017887_tpd.pdf

Other stats here.

Great performance by Northern Ireland. They seemed so comfortable defending that one goal lead. Very well drilled team!

[BillytheKid]

What a game en half i got a Welsh grandad so adds spice to this fixture today aha i honestly thought we drew this today what a finish and if i was Woy i would start Vardy and Sturridge next game as i think Kane is burned out tbh

Credit to the Welsh thought they fought bravely and made a fight of it best they could i hope they also go through along with us but what win today for us that could be massive and if the unthinkable happens and we somehow go on and win it we could look back on that late drama today as the point it turned,,,,,,,we can dream right?

[De Kuip]

Yeah good shout for NI Con they were really good today and their fans are class. Tell you what though, watching the game after the England one, it looked like either the pitch was twice as big or the teams had only half the players, such was the space available. Ukraine must be the worst pressing team in the tournament cos for all NI played well, I couldn't believe the acres of space there was for them to play into.

[BillytheKid]

NI wow just wow cracking win or what, they might still qualify i think as third place although after just watching first half Germny match they might do better aha

[Con]

Germany have some great players but they don't have fast, attacking full-backs. They have not replaced Lahm. Their attacks are too easy to defend. Shows how important that position has become to the modern game.

[VillaBill]

Germany are definitely missing a presence up front, Spain are similar, its an open tournament without a stand out side, could we dream ?

[De Kuip]

Bill I think we can dream and as long as the team is pretty much the second half of yesterday one, why not.
Dier needs a good game though cos Dier was dire I thought.
I still stand by my prediction on page 1 of this thread we can win this.

[The Utterer]

For me he needs to stop using the ineffective players, then we could have a decent tournament.... that's with a bit of "rub of the green" thrown in too of course which is essential in these tournaments.

Sterling is one of those ineffective players in my opinion. He flatters to deceive. He can go on a mazy run for sure and does cause the opposition some problems on that score but his finishing, final pass and crossing (surely all the things you need as a forward) are consistently poor at Premiership level let alone international level!

As for Lallana i find him similar. He can turn up in awkward places and create an opening etc but just seems to lack that final bit, a goal creating through ball or top draw strike just don't happen anywhere near often enough for the positions he gets himself in. Maybe he will improve that but jury is out for me.

Then we have Harry Kane who has clearly got what the other two lack... an instinctive finish from almost anywhere... but he is clearly burned out at the moment and for me would be much better as an impact sub at the mo.

If only Roy can find a way around this. You would think that would simply be a case of playing Vardy & Sturridge although i do understand his wanting to keep a bit back at this stage and if one of those got injured now it would be a shame... but surely you have to just go for it don't you at a tournament like this?

[Lammypaul]

I could be wrong as I never got to see the game as I was traveling back from Manchester so I had to listen to the radio (I have seen the goals), it sounded like we did well yesterday, we took on a well organised team that defend well and like to hit you on the break and we contained them to few chances.

[Trotters]

There was a lack of any real creativity in the first half. England, to me, just seemed to aimlessly knock the ball about and hope that Wales made a mistake rather than forcing the issue.
The second half was better as England had 275 Centre forwards on the pitch so a goal was bound to come. I was surprised the Wales manager didn't spot that England had very little midfield and try to take advantage of that by going 4-5-1 and dominating the area of the pitch that Woy clearly had no interest in playing in.

A good result but I can't see that happening against a better team with a better manager.

The Utterer summed it up well for me. Kane, quality as he clearly is, just isn't ON at the moment, Sterling might give you a moment of brilliance but if he doesn't you're effectively down to ten men. Alli seems a pointless player and both Lallana and Dier were a bit lost in the Wales game. It really needed someone who will go and look for the ball, hold it, spot a pass and create something from nothing. Putting him and Vardy on for Sterling and Kane would have been my preference but luckily pumping the ball into a box full of strikers did the trick.

There's a lot of skill, guile, pace and creativity in this side but Woy can't seem to bring it out.

[De Kuip]

For me he needs to stop using the ineffective players, then we could have a decent tournament.... that's with a bit of "rub of the green" thrown in too of course which is essential in these tournaments.

Sterling is one of those ineffective players in my opinion. He flatters to deceive. He can go on a mazy run  for sure and does cause the opposition some problems on that score but his finishing, final pass and crossing (surely all the things you need as a forward) are consistently poor at Premiership level let alone international level!

As for Lallana i find him similar. He can turn up in awkward places and create an opening etc but just seems to lack that final bit, a goal creating through ball or top draw strike just don't happen anywhere near often enough for the positions he gets himself in. Maybe he will improve that but jury is out for me.

Then we have Harry Kane who has clearly got what the other two lack... an instinctive finish from almost anywhere... but he is clearly burned out at the moment and for me would be much better as an impact sub at the mo.

If only Roy can find a way around this. You would think that would simply be a case of playing Vardy & Sturridge although i do understand his wanting to keep a bit back at this stage and if one of those got injured now it would be a shame... but surely you have to just go for it don't you at a tournament like this?

Agree with every word there mate - possibly the only thing I'd add is whilst I agree about lallana he is bloody good at pressing and putting oponents under pressure - his speed over 5 - 10 yards is so quick he's on people before they know it. That's so valuable when disrupting opponent's play.

[Fpuppys]

Just watched the first half of the Spain V Turkey game...Gabby if you ever read this you should have departed Villa back in December to play for
Kayserispor  You might have made the National team for the Euros if you had any Turkish relatives... I beg you to reconsider

[De Kuip]

Just watched the first half of the Spain V Turkey game...Gabby if you ever read this you should have departed Villa back in December to play for
Kayserispor  You might have made the National team for the Euros if you had any Turkish relatives... I beg you to reconsider

Well he spent last season in the kebab shop so he's eaten more Turkish meat than an Istanbul hooker. That might qualify him.........

[Con]

Belgium don't start Benteke vs Ireland. It's 0-0 at half-time.

[Con]

Now 3-0 to Belgium in the second-half. Clark not covering himself in glory just yet.

[De Kuip]

I think Ireland caught the Belgian backlash and allied to them not being at their best which they would have had to be to get anything from that fixture, it just never worked out. Iceland are doing well at the time of writing looks like if this score stays the same they could well qualify for the last 16. Fairytale stuff.
Austria v Portugal later so I'm likely to get more crockery thrown at me by Mrs DK if they lose lol...

[NARLA24]

Italy for me look by far the best side so far followed by France. I have France in the sweep at the local. England may well get to the semi´s but i cannot see them winning this tournament. I hope i am wrong but i just cannot see it.

[Guest]

I think the England team you've put out has been fairly alright. I'd probably have swapped Kane for Vardy and Sterling for whatever, but except from that I think it's been ok.

The problem is that the English players simply aren't that good as people think. There are a host of teams in this Euros that can give you a good match and arguably knock you out. I honestly think people expect too much.

[Dazzle]

England have controlled both games thus far, never looked like losing either game. One or two tweaks and we will hopefully see more end product that matches the overall performance. I haven't seen a better fullback this tournament than Kyle Walker, I think both our fullbacks have been good and effective, it's a good base to build on. To stand a chance of good progression we now need one of our goalscorers to ignite, I'd hoped Kane would be up and running by now and still think he can be the man if played properly against Slovakia. We need as many forwards with confidence as we can.

[Rawlie]

Woke up at 3am (Hong Kong time) to watch ten white shirts defend for 90 minutes against an England side lacking any creativity. Jack Fucking Wheelchair... over Drinkwater and Noble??? I don't care how far 'Woy' gets, I hope they fuck him off after this tournament.

[De Kuip]

Usual inability to finish the job. Agree about Wilshire fucking useless. We've always struggled when teams park the bus. I was so convinced it would be 0-0 I started browsing on line for camper vans cos I'd run out of swear words by 63 minutes. Scary thing for me is we could well end up playing Austria which is likely to end up in divorce for the DK household lol

[Villa_Dan]

Jordan Henderson is the footballing equivalent of the colour beige

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