Euro 2016 Discussion

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Duty281 wrote:Sterling and Rooney have been woeful thus far and need to be dropped (but 1 of them certainly won't be), but I would favour giving Kane one final chance. He's had an excellent couple of seasons, and England shouldn't jettison him at the first sign of difficulty.

Rooney woeful? I'm not his biggest fan but he's been pretty good so far, working well alongside Dier allowing Alli to push on further

You can if you have two or three quality operators, with lightning pace on the counter. You could sit in your half all day & all night.

Skrtel has gone fenerbahce

They tend to get very isolated however. I don't mean sitting your side up to counter, I mean genuinely parking the bus like last night. Skrtels looked pretty dodgy in Slovakia's last 2 games when they've been more open.

As for Spain, you can pretty much put them in the final.

Second round vs possibly Slovakia
QF vs Switzerland or Poland
SF vs Belgium or Wales
F vs Germany

If Spain spank Croatia and Czech beat Turkey, decent chance Wales play Croatia I think?

Crimey wrote:I think the media have really overreacted to the changes made last night. I didn't think that the team was significantly weaker, Sturridge and Vardy were likely to play anyway. I thought the only player to play significantly worse than the players they replaced were Bertrand and Wilshere, for Rose and Wilshere. 

I think even if you started the team that played against Wales, we'd have seen a similar result. Let's not forget that the "first choice" side struggled to break down both Russia and Wales. I think the changes were not the problem at all last night and it's been blown out of proportion.

I think maybe if you were looking at it in terms of concern prior to tournament we didn't really know our best starting XI or formation. Midfield was a big conundrum in terms of putting Rooney in there and choosing the two to play with him and how to play them. He seemed to settle on these three things in the first two games and it surprised me more so that it was here he made changes last night. Rooney is new to the role in this England side, and Alli and Dier have played very little football alongside him. If that's the 3 your going to rely on come the latter stages then get them playing together and learning each other's game now. I do feel they were needless changes when looking at it in that manner.

Hoping N Ireland can pull off a shock today and make it 3 Home nations into the last 16.

Alli looked nackered in the first two games to be fair, so I think he probably needed a rest. I can understand the problem with dropping Rooney, but he's also had problems lasting the course in the past. 

Other than that, Vardy and Sturridge were likely to play anyway and I don't think there was much harm rotating the full backs.

i dont like to see defences messed with, the best back lines are ones that play together all the time. you get to know how to play together better the more game time you have. might not have been a problem last night but it might if we meet better teams

I agree but our defense is pretty much Dier, Cahill and Smalling. Walker and Rose have had very little to do at the back.

Don't give excuses to Alli. He had a three-game domestic ban, which gave him a month's rest. He's been beyond poor & deserved to be dropped, not rested.

As for the second round game, I can't see Vardy being effective from the start. It's knockout & the opposition will be sitting deep, it will be little difference to the group games in my opinion, especially as third placed sides will be playing group winners in one-sided contests. Iceland, Hungary & Austria are all limited & will all sit back, especially knowing our weakness in breaking teams down. I can only see us looking better against side coming on to us, but that won't happen until the QF, whereby the opposition will actually have the quality.

Everyone keeps saying that, regards we will only look good when teams come on too us instead of sitting deep....

If I was any of the top teams though, I'd be looking at this England side and thinking with their limitations in breaking relatively poor sides down (yes they sit men behind the ball) why not just follow suit and just hit us on the break/ counter when we inevitable make that poor/desperate pass to try and break through. If the likes of those in the group can keep it tight and compact and make it difficult to score then those higher quality teams can do it with far more ease and know that they have the two or three players to hurt us on the counter.

Top teams have the quality to just keep the ball & break us down, so why would they go against their strengths, copy inferior sides tactics & just give us the ball. Spain, for instance, would not be a good counter attacking side, Morata, Silva, Iniesta have no pace, they need possession to push higher up the field & break teams down through incisive passing.

I'm looking for positives, as everyone else is & this is really the only one I can think of. We don't suit possession, it's not in the English DNA, we're a nation suited to high tempo, running with the ball & the counter style. Therefore, conceding possession against top sides, will play to our strengths & Vardy's strengths, if we continue to play him.

They'd be looking at copying the tactics of 3 teams that rarely threatened to score a goal?

It is a good and fair point to say that the main strength of the English attack is on the counter - as proved by the comprehensive 2-0 win in Switzerland - and that will come to the fore against better teams, but it is equally right to point out that:

a) England are not a clinical side. They will struggle to put away what chances that do arrive.
b) England have a poor defence, and will not be able to survive consistent pressure without shipping a goal or two, which would immediately negate any advantage on the counter.

But I would dearly love to be proved wrong.

Reality is, breaking down teams that are content just to sit 10 men behind the ball and well organised is hard even for Spain or Germany. England don't have play makers on their level.

I'd be happier to compare the likes of Alli etc when teams are prepared to play a more even game and there's space in behind. Look at Wales' goals against Russia, we rarely got that kind of room in behind because teams sat so deep.

Not copy per se, they certainly don't need to sit as deep or be as defensive. But I think every top team will be happy to leave us have the ball because in terms of our tempo we don't look like we would concern them at all. Id be more than happy to sit and allow a team to move the ball side to side before looking to nick it when they try that desperate ball over the top, or poor through ball that doesn't get by the last man. What I am saying is that because we do look rather unimaginative in the final 3rd I'm not so sure the top teams are going to be pressing us and leaving gaps behind as much as others think.

Another week almost till we worry about that anyhow...for now onto tonight...any predictions for Group F? Who do we see finishing in top 3?

Today - Northern Ireland need a point against Germany to be relatively comfortable and assured of qualifying in third place. Anything more is a bonus.

Poland have an outside chance of finishing top if they beat a hapless Ukraine side.

Mind you, finishing second in this group means a last-16 game against Switzerland, which isn't the most arduous task in the world.

Thought Will Grigg would have been able to get into this NI side.

He is on fire.

Indeed.

All seriousness, surely he's no worse than Lafferty, Washington etc.

Not going to change the team after the previous performance.

He had a good season this year - but he's been a perennial league 1 player and barely played throughout qualifying - so not a huge surprise he's not been given a go yet

Think we might be about to see what Germany can do when a team opens up against them (and they play a striker).

Should be 2 or 3 nil already. N Ireland need to pull in together and get some sort of shape or the game will be over in the next 10 minutes.

Shored things up a bit but still the Germans could have scored twice in the last 15 minutes.

Here come the floodgates, will be 5 or 6 here.

The problem for NI is actually that they have in their head the equation needed to go through and so they'll nest at home for most of the game. That will be difficult to cope with for ....

was actually going to post that and the goal happened..

After seeing the hashtag #RUSWAL or #WALRUS for the Wales v Russia game last night I can only hope that Nigeria and Germany don't meet at any stage during the World Cup

An old un but a good un Dave.

Ireland have done well to go in only 1-0 down, would love Ireland to come out 2nd half and nick something but I think its wishful thinking.

Astonishing that Northern Ireland are only 1 down.

Goal difference could be so pivotal and, of course, being only 1 down does keep them in the game should a deflection or flick-on go their way.

Don't get why you wouldn't chuck Will Grigg on, riding a wave and the reaction from the fans would lift the team.

The most one-sided 1-0 in football history!

Northern Ireland may still squeeze through, however.

NI are essentially pretty much through as far as I can tell

Would need the Czechs, Republic and Sweden all to win to be knocked out

Yes, just checked and NI are almost certainly through - and will almost certainly play France.

LiamB wrote:Second round predictions or looking likely

France vs Northern Ireland
Wales vs Czech Republic
England vs Hungary
Portugal vs Belgium
Italy vs Croatia
Switzerland vs Poland
Spain vs Slovakia
Germany vs Austria

Switzerland v Poland confirmed & N.Ireland v France looks likely now

Can't see Croatia getting a point, looking at those teams

That ball from silva

Spain 1-0 - Morata

Turkey 1-0 - Yilmaz

Marko Pjaca looks a real talent, dribbling ability looks top notch

1-1 Kalinic

Bilic and Wright aren't the best of pals, are they.

If Croatia were to win this, the draw would be quite frankly ridiculous & so lopsided. You would have Germany, Italy, Spain, England & France on one half of the draw & just Croatia, Belgium & Wales on the other.

Never, ever a pen

shocking decision

How far off his line

What a goal Pero!!!!

Croatia 2-1 Spain - Perisic

De Gea beaten at near post.

Roy Hodgson what have you done

France, Germany, England, Spain, Italy all in the same half of the draw?

we should of won last night. England won't ever get a better opportunity to win a major tournament. Basically Croatia can make the final without playing Germany, Spain, Italy, France or England