Euro 2024

[17 stone giant]

2 hours ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I want the Netherlands, revenge for 1993!

Before this tournament one of my mates changed our WhatsApp group name to "Can we not knock it?" in reference to those years (92 -93) and the great Graham Taylor documentary that accompanied that wcq campaign. We're always quoting from it, so it feels appropriate that it's ended up with England playing Netherlands.

[wilsontown]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

I just feel we need to beat Turkey to avenge ... I mean, there must be something from the Crusades we need to get one back for, right?

Ask a Leeds Utd fan. On second thoughts, don't.

[Maximus Decimus]

14 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

Before this tournament one of my mates changed our WhatsApp group name to "Can we not knock it?" in reference to those years (92 -93) and the great Graham Taylor documentary that accompanied that wcq campaign. We're always quoting from it, so it feels appropriate that it's ended up with England playing Netherlands.

Funny, I watched it again last week. I was too young at the time to know anything other than we didn't qualify.

I felt genuinely sorry for Graham Taylor whilst seeing that he clearly wasn't well-suited to the job.

[Maximus Decimus]

So amazingly this is gonna be the first time England-Netherlands have ever played in a knockout game of a major tournament.

Pre-tournament I said I'd like to see us beat one of the big nations when it matters. I'm on the fence whether this fully counts, but I'd take it!

I've been using Chatgpt to get stats quite well this Euros, but got properly wrong results for when I asked for England-Netherlands results (it missed out 1988!). Turns out that I think even it struggles with the whole Netherlands/Holland thing. 

[DavidM]

8 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

So amazingly this is gonna be the first time England-Netherlands have ever played in a knockout game of a major tournament.

Pre-tournament I said I'd like to see us beat one of the big nations when it matters. I'm on the fence whether this fully counts, but I'd take it!

I've been using Chatgpt to get stats quite well this Euros, but got properly wrong results for when I asked for England-Netherlands results (it missed out 1988!). Turns out that I think even it struggles with the whole Netherlands/Holland thing. 

Is saying Holland actually wrong ? I’ve known Dutch people say Holland 

[Gerrumonside ref]

20 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Is saying Holland actually wrong ? I’ve known Dutch people say Holland 

Isn’t Holland the region that Amsterdam is in whereas Netherlands more correctly covers the whole country?

[DavidM]

1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Isn’t Holland the region that Amsterdam is in whereas Netherlands more correctly covers the whole country?

Think so , Holland is where the Hollish live 

[Gerrumonside ref]

42 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Think so , Holland is where the Hollish live 

Haha!

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 hour ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Isn’t Holland the region that Amsterdam is in whereas Netherlands more correctly covers the whole country?

Yeah, it's the region along the coast. It was the dominating province of the Kingdom of the Netherlands when it gained independence from the Holy Roman Empire, which I guess is why people sometimes refer to the country as Holland quite often.

The wider Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of 4 constituent countries, which are Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten.

[Maximus Decimus]

2 hours ago, DavidM said:

Is saying Holland actually wrong ? I’ve known Dutch people say Holland 

I've always seen it as people saying England when they're talking about the UK.

I might be wrong, but I think they even used to use Holland on TV graphics and things.

I watched something with Van Dyck the other day, and was surprised to hear him say Holland. I always presumed it was an error foreigners made.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

35 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I've always seen it as people saying England when they're talking about the UK.

I might be wrong, but I think they even used to use Holland on TV graphics and things.

I watched something with Van Dyck the other day, and was surprised to hear him say Holland. I always presumed it was an error foreigners made.

Yeah, it is essentially like what you say about people saying England to mean UK, England being the largest and most populated part of the UK and Holland being the most historically important and populated part of the Netherlands.

Edited July 7 by The Hallucinating Goose

[Maximus Decimus]

22 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Yeah, it is essentially like what you say about people saying England to mean UK, England being the largest and most populated part of the UK and Holland being the most historically important and populated part of the Netherlands.

I was shocked to find it was only 6 million out of 17.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Anyway, whether it’s Holland, Netherlands or Nether-regions, they are going to be a tougher nut to crack than anything England has faced so far in the tournament.

Looking forward to it and a place in the final is now within our grasp despite all the flapping that people did during the group stage on the form of this team.

Personally I’m optimistic of getting there.

 

[The Hallucinating Goose]

1 minute ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Anyway, whether it’s Holland, Netherlands or Nether-regions, they are going to be a tougher nut to crack than anything England has faced so far in the tournament.

Looking forward to it and a place in the final is now within our grasp despite all the flapping that people did during the group stage on the form of this team.

Personally I’m optimistic of getting there.

 

I must say I'm more confident of beating Netherlands than I was of beating Switzerland. Netherlands play a similar style to us, slow, cautious, possession based so if we can just speed our game up a little, push forward more like we showed signs of in the Switzerland game, use Saka on the wing to push into the box like he did so well against Switzerland, I think we have a very good chance of reaching the final.

Alright, we've got no chance against Spain in the final (cos if they don't beat France it would be ridiculous) but getting to two finals in a row would be incredible in itself anyway.

[Maximus Decimus]

11 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Anyway, whether it’s Holland, Netherlands or Nether-regions, they are going to be a tougher nut to crack than anything England has faced so far in the tournament.

Looking forward to it and a place in the final is now within our grasp despite all the flapping that people did during the group stage on the form of this team.

Personally I’m optimistic of getting there.

 

We came into the tournament thinking we might be the best team. Although the bookies odds are limited, we were clearly one of the best.

Things haven't panned out like that but I'm fully embracing the chaos of it. Yes we've been lucky but we've been unlucky in the past, so I don't worry too much about that.

We've also been lucky in the past. 1990 was similar in it's chaotic nature, in 1996 we basically robbed Spain in the QF and in 2018 we survived a penalty shootout. 

Bring it on!

[Maximus Decimus]

Reactions to the QF have been interesting. Obviously, the nature of the penalty win has English people excited but there's also been some positive reviews. The pundits on The Rest is Football we're very pleased about it and felt it a step in the right direction.

On the continent, reviews were far less kind. The write-up in the Spanish press on El Pais was pretty scathing (especially of Southgate) and as if nothing had changed. 

Similarly, I've been following the analysis on Four-four-two and he was probably less positive than for previous games. Apparently after the subs we abandoned all semblance of a coherent system.

I'm not too fussed. I thought it was clearly better, without being too amazing.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

43 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

Reactions to the QF have been interesting. Obviously, the nature of the penalty win has English people excited but there's also been some positive reviews. The pundits on The Rest is Football we're very pleased about it and felt it a step in the right direction.

On the continent, reviews were far less kind. The write-up in the Spanish press on El Pais was pretty scathing (especially of Southgate) and as if nothing had changed. 

Similarly, I've been following the analysis on Four-four-two and he was probably less positive than for previous games. Apparently after the subs we abandoned all semblance of a coherent system.

I'm not too fussed. I thought it was clearly better, without being too amazing.

I completely agree, I couldn't care less if we abandoned all semblance of a system because we won the game and that is what matters. They can play however they want if it means they'll win.

[GeordieSaint]

Looking forward to this. Navas vs Mbappe is some mismatch…

[GURNER]

On 07/07/2024 at 17:41, Maximus Decimus said:

I've always seen it as people saying England when they're talking about the UK.

I might be wrong, but I think they even used to use Holland on TV graphics and things.

I watched something with Van Dyck the other day, and was surprised to hear him say Holland. I always presumed it was an error foreigners made.

When he said holland. was it in a cockney accent?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

What a first half of football! Brilliant stuff and we've witnessed history with Yamal's goal! 

[Maximus Decimus]

47 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Looking forward to this. Navas vs Mbappe is some mismatch…

What a crazy half. 

France score and then have Spain fully on the ropes, before a wonder kid scores an amazing goal from nowhere and then Spain take control...

[Futtocks]

When the kid who scored Spain’s first goal was born, the UK No.1 single was Umbrella by Rihanna.

Feeling old, anyone?

[The Hallucinating Goose]

48 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

When the kid who scored Spain’s first goal was born, the UK No.1 single was Umbrella by Rihanna.

Feeling old, anyone?

I find it hard to comprehend anyone born after the millennium. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

A star was born tonight 

[The Masked Poster]

Spain deserve to win this, they are the best side by a country mile. I mean, I'd like England to win it but if they don't then Spain are very deserving of the title .

That said, the semi final could well have taken a lot out of them and they might not be as explosive as they've been all tournament so far. But probably not.