[Closed] EURO 2012 **SPOILERS**

Just lost 5 years off my life expectancy.

Why is watching England so hard, even when we win?

Mrs Stephen Fry ?@MrsStephenFry

Are you watching Dolph Lundgren? Max von Sydow? Benny and Bjorn? Ace of Base? Swedish Chef? Your boys took one hell of a narrow defeat!!!!

lol 😆

... just me who thinks the 3rd goal was accidental ? 😐

... just me who thinks the 3rd goal was accidental

Played for, and got!

yayage

wellbeck's goal is the goal of the tournament so far. great move, fabulous finish.

rooney in for young who was poor, should help us keep the ball a little better. get the ox on for milner who has no form

i think we're way off the pace of the real contenders at the moment. but it's a real rollercoaster following us and i've got to say that i'm enjoying it.

Gerries or eyeties await if I have my facts right englishfolk.

Mmmmm. Torres vs terry could be tasty. Spain will romp that I think.

Funny with linear asking if england could win it? Pundit corner fell off their seats.

Parker was bobbins.

if that was scored by messi or ronaldo the press would be spunking over that for years

+1,000,000

He saw the ball was played behind him, and that flick was the only way to get it goal bound. Class finish.

Strange old game that ended well

Ashley young was terrible tonight, Parkers lack of creativity & composure on the ball is being highlighted, mind got to admire his commitment. Milner doesn't look fully match fit.

nice selection dilemma at the top end for the next game at least!

Glen Johnson even had a decent game 🙂

I thought Joe Hart was back to his best - couple of good saves, came for crosses at the right time, would have saved Mellberg's effort for the first but it then hit GJ and bounced in.

Can't help thinking that Gerrard is a bit wasted lying quite so deep, Parker seemed to get into the forward positions more often and as said above doesn't have the class of Gerrard in front of goal or for the final pass.

Cracking header by Carroll, was a great cross but still had a fair bit to do with his head from 15 yds out.

How slow did John Terry look though......

Having watched Spain, admittedly against an out of their depth Irish side, then watching England it left me shouting at the telly.

Still no sense of how a team should work, still very little vision, very little ability to take the ball, keep the ball, move the ball. Too reliant on passing back to the keeper; which demonstrates the lack of options in defence and midfield, and an inability to maintain possession for any length of time.

Watch Spain and count the number of passes acheived in a run of play; I stopped at 30 or so. England were managing 4 or 5...

We won, but there was little to cheer about.

defensively we were awful. does roy play zonal marking still ? looks like the players were not sure who/where to mark on this evidence..............

[img] [/img]

it's all good fun though. don't expect anything so everything's a bonus really.

I've a feeling it may be kicking off in a different style tonight!!

can't say i'm happy with the talk that wellbeck will be dropped with rooney coming in and young playing in behind the front two.

surely rooney is the man for that role ? the only really creative player we've got and always willing to track back. young has done less than bugger all so far. keep wellbeck in and drop young. we'll probably never have another chance to just go for it, no one's expecting us to do anything anyway.

can't say i'm happy with the talk that wellbeck will be dropped with rooney coming in and young playing in behind the front two.

You want to keep Andy Carroll in the team?

Just trying to get my head round who'll be going through if the Dutch beat Portugal & Germany beat the Danes.....

confusing!

Cool as a cucumber... 😀

Holland looking as shit as Ireland. 🙂

Squeaky bum time for ze Germans

Perfect timing 😳

How disappointing have the dutch been... Portugal & Germany to make at least the semi's

Along with Spain & Croatia?

Are you England?
Are you England?
Are you England in disguise?!!!

Was running through my mind watching Holland there

And can England be Greece in disguise???

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/jun/17/euro-2012-betting-tv-pundits#start-of-comments ]Martin Kelner[/url] in the Guardian today. Worth a read. 🙂

It's good to see that no-one is getting carried away with the limited success we've had so far in this tournament. It seems the lack of pressure this time is perhaps working in our favour.

Oh.

"I think we're good enough [to win it]," [Rooney] said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/17/euro-2012-wayne-rooney-england-ukraine

I also think perhaps that despite Rooney's obvious talents - messing up a reasonably successful team formula to bring in a sulky, petulant egotist is not the best plan.

Grum - I'd just spotted that myself. And thought exactly the same. Well done Shrek! He's properly put the hex on it all now. 🙁

It's good to see that no-one is getting carried away with the limited success we've had so far in this tournament. It seems the lack of pressure this time is perhaps working in our favour.

despite Rooney's obvious talents - messing up a reasonably successful team formula to bring in a sulky, petulant egotist is not the best plan

"I think we're good enough [to win it]," he said. "We've got the players to. I know, obviously, everyone doesn't want us to build up expectations but I firmly believe that we've got the players. Obviously, you need a bit of luck as well but I believe we've got a good opportunity. We've always believed.

* Ok gerrard is up there too.

You want to keep Andy Carroll in the team?

Absolutely, play to your strengths. I bet there isn't a centre half in the competition that saw carrol's goal on friday and didn't shit themselves.

I can't see any reason not to play the same formation with rooney playing the free role that young wasted on friday.

JY - Binners is a United fan IIRC and he agreed with me so hardly evidence of the ABU conspiracy you are always on the lookout for. 😉

Reasonable - one draw, a shambolic defence and some quality finsihing.... you call this reasonably succesful...christ your expectations were low

Yup.

ABU still even with your best player by a country mile*

I agree he's almost certainly our best player, but does picking the best players automatically make for the best team? One thing I have noticed in the last couple of games is the attitude has been better.

From the Martin Kelner article linked to above:

ITV's Gordon Strachan came up with a reason why the nation's incurable optimists might just get paid out. "There's more to football than tactics and skill," he said. "Spirit can get you to a lot of places." He was encouraged by the esprit de corps in the England squad. "You can see it when players are substituted," he said, pointing out that there seems to be good-natured acceptance rather than annoyance as players leave the field, with a handshake and good luck wishes for the replacement.

He feels this is because England have one of the younger squads, including a number of players who graduated to international football together, rather than the celebrity-studded groups who had gone to previous tournaments.

Whatever England might be lacking at the moment, it's not really goals is it? Four in the last 2 games is decent enough - the main problem is our at times comical defending.

He feels this is because England have one of the younger squads, including a number of players who graduated to international football together, rather than the celebrity-studded groups who had gone to previous tournaments.

One thing thats struck me about Welbeck, Young, Johnson, Walcott and this young crop of England players is the lack of the Terry, Cashley style monumental and obnoxious arrogance and entitlement.

They all seem pretty grounded and modest. Working together for the team. Which doesn't half show the likes of Terry up for exactly what he is. The problem with previous England squads filled with these enormous ego's is that they thought all they had to do was turn up, and a grateful world would hand them a trophy.

A bit like Arjen Robben last night

binners - big +1 to all that. Much easier to support a team that doesn't carry itself with such monumental arrogance.

Loved the way Walcott celebrated his goal for instance - John Terry would have exploded in a fit of chest pumping and badge kissing if he'd scored that goal. Can't wait until we get shot of him.

binners - Member

One thing thats struck me about Welbeck, Young, Johnson, Walcott and this young crop of England players is the lack of the Terry, Cashley style monumental and obnoxious arrogance and entitlement.

Give them time.......

...don't recall either JT or AC being arrogant when [i]they[/i] were young hopefuls

Out of our midfield 4 only young can beat a man 1 on 1, and doesn't even try most of the time.

Without this space gaining danger the better teams will easily cope with us.

Grum I thought binners was agreeing with the hex put on by Rooney and not your description of him as
- messing up a reasonably successful team formula to bring in a sulky, petulant egotist is not the best plan

I bet there isn't a centre half in the competition that saw carrol's goal on friday and didn't shit themselves.

It was a good goal for sure but you may be overstating it.

Aye everyone is scared of the long ball lumped in to the Big man...Spain are revaluating their whole approach to football as we type etc
It was a good goal for sure but you may be overstating it.

Don't think i'm overstating anything, we haven't got many things going for us but carrol's ability in the air is one of them. if you think any defender in the competition would want to have to deal with it then i think you're mistaken.

if anyone's overstating anything it's you claiming that i've suggested more than i have.

True Hilldodger. Cashley reached the ripe old age of 26 before he declared in the press how insulted he was that Arsenal offered him the derisory sum of 'only' £90 grand a week.

John Terry has always thought of himself as the best thing in the world ever though! He's an ego the size of a planet!

But I kow what you're saying. Will the youngsters be effected by fawning agents blowing smoke up their arses. Lets hope so eh?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. He bloody marvelous tha Casillas.
[img] [/img]

Can someone please explain to me why currently Italy are going through instead of.Croatia?

Aaah just worked it out.... Confusing!

Spain boring everyone to death again, trying to walk the ball in the net. Prefer us to face them in the next round rather than Italy and we beat them last time out. They've been shite, Croatia should've won this.

Spain boring everyone to death again, trying to walk the ball in the net.

i see what you did there.

it was shinned in however, so points should be deducted.

"Jesús was the savior." 🙄

Jesus, am I glad that's over. May I never suffer three games like that again. Made very hard watching. Would have loved a part in seeing Italy out of a competition but we were shite. 🙁

Unlucky Croatia!!

Spain can control the midfield but look short of ideas in front of goal, they are really missing David Villa, Torres looked like he was regaining his confidence in the last match but offered nothing today and still just doesn't have that spark. Goal was offfside.

Great finish by Balotelli in the other game.

dd,

you once twisted the knife when i was feeling the pain of being an arsenal fan....

tonight, i will simply offer my condolences and say, sincerely, i'd have liked ireland to progress.

i feel your pain. i too would have loved to have see italy knocked out.

Great finish by Balotell in the other game.

as, I wasn't twisting the knife back then, just felt you were being over pessimistic.

Anyway, thanks for the condolences. STW has been mercifully kind in not completely taking the piss. I'm not sure anyone was quite prepared for how bad we'd be. Granted, seeing some of the other sides in other groups, we got a properly shit draw. Ah well...

could be worse,

could be a hollander!

greece v germany,
GREECE V GERMANY

GREECE V GERMANY

The Spain goal totally undermined the guidance I'd just given my missus on the offside rule. She looked at me like I'd been winding her up for the past 5 minutes.

Who's going for a ride tonight - weather looks great 😉 !?!

Ireland looked stronger than they have, but just not enough. hardly a great goal by balotelli, unmarked in the 6yd box due to an overstretched side that was down to 10men. Italy at least played (and celebrated) with some passion.

Spain looked less in control than they have.

Tonight we need a huge win or a loss. The result that leads to a saturday night match is just no good (cousins wedding!)

hardly a great goal by balotelli, unmarked in the 6yd box

Really? then who is the chap in the white shirt with his hands all over him?

terrible defending for Balotelli goal, nice finish.

spain had a decent slice of luck, Croatia really should have score that header after a great move

Is it too early for a beer?? Nerves getting the better of me!!

Is it too early for a beer?? Nerves getting the better of me!!

Is Shevchenko was on the pitch, we'd be in trouble by now! Not good

Do we (Eng) have a midfield? Gerrard awol (again), Parker (pointless) and Milner (er..). Only Young doing anything. So Rooney dropping back further and further WTF?!!?

Really should have gone for a ride instead!

Are we watching the same game? 😉
Everything's coming down Ukraine's right, Gusev and Yarmalenko v Cole on his own.
Young's invisible.

Gerrard has been fairly good, its his passes that has released young.

Milner and Parker have been absent though, stage is definatly set for Walcot and the Ox to come on at some point, hopefully soon.

A smile and a cheer, he's alright!

Phew! Well done Woy. Must have put a rocket up em.

Phew! Well done Woy. Must have put a rocket up em.

Weally? Well yes your wight,

yes at least consistently mock him for a speech impediment..anything less makes you look stupid 😕
EDIT: see that's it let your intelligence shine through like a beacon to all

you are the sun and I claim my cheap holiday, anti euro flag and a picture of a lady with her breasts on display

nice one Tezza, best save ever - over the line or not 😕

I reckon they'll might be a bit of a kerfuffle after the match now.

Damn can't criticise Terry now either 😉

That should be a goal.

Unlucky Ukraine ... 😯

You can always criticise Terry THM. On account of him being a ****! 😀

Gerrard has been imperious.

Strangest thing, the German commentator was talking about Carroll, then mentioned Harry Enfield in the middle of the conversation, I wasn't really listening so don't have a clue why 😕

+1 for Gerrard.

Quarter Final against Italy looks very likely now. No matter what happens there Roy can come away from this tournament with his head held high

Get in!