EURO 2020 ('21) THREAD

[HawkMan]

Who is going to win the Euros, who would you like to win it, do you care and how much will you watch ?

[GeordieSaint]

I’ve voted for France; just because I don’t know the state of the other favourites in the competition less England. How strong are Spain and Germany? Italy strengthened after their recent fall from the top? The Portuguese always do well in these tournaments too...

[DavidM]

I’ve voted for france . I expect little from us . I find Southgate’s teams reflect Southgate , boring and bland . It’s painful watching us . He loves to rely on set pieces so I’m surprised he didn’t pick Ward-Prowse in among his 57 defenders , I’m sure he could fit in at right back if needed 

[HawkMan]

I think England will be 2nd in the group stages,  Croatia will probably beat us first match, but Scotland and Czechia should not be a problem. I think a quarter final is where we'll end up, so a failure then.

Meanwhile the fun has started. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57379875

[Gerrumonside ref]

I think Italy are peaking at the right time, have a settled team and a group that looks promising for them.

I don’t feel good at all about England’s defence which is the weakest and most inexperienced part of the team in terms of big time football.  Maybe they’ll rise to the occasion.

My other shout was for Spain as they looked great in the last few months playing other top European nations.  However their preparations have been thrown into disarray due to Covid which will either galvanise or break them I feel.

[Leeds Wire]

[Tommygilf]

Its hard to look past France, on paper their second team would be good enough to win.

That said the Euros have a way of enabling sides who are plucky or take their rare chances. Denmark, Greece, even Wales and Iceland making it very far etc. Only Spain in 2008-2012 properly dominated like a tournament favourite should on the way to winning.

Sadly I don't see England in that same way. Perhaps its 23 years of punishment forcing me to be pessimistic? That said, low expectations were good in the most recent world cup. My main gripe is that we still don't seem to be able to attack creatively outside of set pieces despite having as good an attack as anyone in the world.

Germany, Italy and Spain look solid as ever. The Netherlands are finally coming good again after a few years in the doldrums. Belgium, like England, have so much talent but just don't seem to be able to get the best out of it in a creative sense at times.

[DavidM]

Our midfield was absolute rubbish in recent tournaments , devoid of any creativity , drive or threat at all . Hopefully Henderson won’t get fit and Southgate decides to play some players who can actually be lively and go forward , rather than pass endlessly sideways and backwards very slowly . There’s this thing about possession , which is pointless really if you’re going nowhere . Just have a go at least and we’ll accept failure a bit easier 

[gingerjon]

3 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Perhaps its 23 years of punishment forcing me to be pessimistic?

Noob.

[Tommygilf]

4 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Noob.

Well I say 23 years, I can actually only remember as far back as Euro2004...

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Tommygilf said:

Well I say 23 years, I can actually only remember as far back as Euro2004...

Really should have beaten Portugal.

[DavidM]

10 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Really should have beaten Portugal.

God yes , that was the tournament . Rooney would have won us that comp , one hundred percent . But even then we scored and just stopped playing . I clearly remember Motson saying ‘ England are playing like it’s the last 5 minutes ‘  . Then the goal we conceded , then the disallowed goal ... If tournaments were won on what ifs we’d have stars galore on our strip . We do get some bad luck as well mind , added to often not being quite good enough or having the winning mentality when it really counts . And a bit of shooting ourselves in the head . Apart from that tournaments are great fun 

[gingerjon]

Just now, DavidM said:

God yes , that was the tournament . Rooney would have won us that comp , then the usual bad luck struck . But even then we scored and just stopped playing . I clearly remember Motson saying ‘ England are playing like it’s the last 5 minutes ‘  . Then the goal we conceded , then the disallowed goal ... If tournaments were won on what ifs we’d have stars galore on our strip . We do get some bad luck as well mind , added to often not being quite good enough or having the winning mentality when it really counts . And a bit of shooting ourselves in the head . Apart from that tournaments are great fun 

Yeah, in many ways, that was the one more than Euro 96 because the path was right there.

I'm a very fairweather England fan so I'm not even sure when or who we're playing in the group stages. I'll pay proper attention if we look like doing anything interesting.

[DavidM]

One thing I remember about that match was Ashley Cole chasing Ronaldo up and down the wing all night and doing a great job . Greece winning it just made it sink home even more , we had a good side there . Euro 96 all I see is Gazza not getting his sliding foot on that ball and Andy Moller taking the proverbial after the penalty .

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, DavidM said:

One thing I remember about that match was Ashley Cole chasing Ronaldo up and down the wing all night and doing a great job . Greece winning it just made it sink home even more , we had a good side there . Euro 96 all I see is Gazza not getting his sliding foot on that ball and Andy Moller taking the proverbial after the penalty .

I was mostly incredibly drunk for Euro 96 which turned out to the best coping strategy.

[Robin Evans]

6 hours ago, Johnoco said:

No idea who are favourites and I honestly have no idea who is good or bad for England. But I'll watch the England games anyway. 

They do seem a bloody boring side to watch but I hope I'm wrong, I haven't really watched enough of them lately to have a real opinion.

Pretty much this!

[Gerrumonside ref]

I think learning to play at a slower tempo is the only hope for England if you want to win the tournament especially with it being further expanded.  That’s why I think to the frustration of a lot of England fans, Southgate is deliberately preparing the ground for the long run.

Realistically the format doesn’t suit us and it’s not surprising that teams either built around possession or rock solid defence or a balance will have the advantage when fatigue starts to kick in later in proceedings.

There’s a lot of attacking talent in the England squad on paper, but not much of it has played together in the national team.  Hopefully players can gel quickly, we’ll avoid injuries and get some luck in the tournament draw like we had in Russia.

 

[DavidM]

25 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

I'm a very fairweather England fan so I'm not even sure when or who we're playing in the group stages.

Croatia , Scotland and erm someone else . I’m all over it ...

[Gerrumonside ref]

Just now, DavidM said:

Croatia , Scotland and erm someone else . I’m all over it ...

Czech Republic 

[DavidM]

Just now, Gerrumonside ref said:

Czech Republic 

Is it true they’re officially Czechia ? I thought I heard that somewhere 

[Tommygilf]

Just now, DavidM said:

Is it true they’re officially Czechia ? I thought I heard that somewhere 

Aye it is now

[Gerrumonside ref]

Unfortunate rebrand

[DavidM]

By the way I do like the Ukraine top . Russia says it’s sheer political provocation . Well yeah 

[Gerrumonside ref]

Seems like most of the media still using Czech Republic.

[Maximus Decimus]

I love big tournaments, although I think the expansion to 24 teams has considerably lessened the euros. You could make an argument that a 16 team Euros was the highest standard international tournament, but adding 8 poorer quality teams has made it much weaker overall. 

Usually I'd be crazy excited about the opening game but I'm less so this time. When most 3rd place teams go through, it makes the group games less important. It reminds me of how I felt about the top 8 playoff in SL. England could have 2 poor results and still be in the second round. Scotland's quest to reach a knockout round for the first time is cheapened this way too.

As for England, I think many are harsh on Southgate. Maybe I'm longer in the tooth than many, but at least this England team looks like they've played football before. For around 10-15 years we'd reach major tournaments and be unable to string 2 passes together. Yes we'd make it to pens but after having created about 1 chance in 120 minutes.

Croatia will be tough, but I'm dreading the Scotland game. They seem to be in a positive place and could use the emotion to get a shock result.

Apparently, finishing top could be the worst thing we could do being guaranteed a match against someone from the group of death as a reward.