Topic: Euro 2016 Thread

@BAMozzy: Agree on all points.

Rooney 3/10 - when the pressures on he's awful
Sterling 4/10 - freezing cold form
Kane 2/10 - still on free kicks

I never watched the Slovakia game, apparently we played quite well bar the finishing why did Roy repick these 3 Muppets?
Just what was Hodgson thinking?

Unfortunately Roy missed a trick; Dier and Drinkwater Holding. Baines on free kicks. Wes Morgan at the back with Smalling. Hindsight is a lovely thing - if we all hadn't worried about these issues previously.

Also hugely important; whoevers feeding Joe Hart Red Bull before game can you please stop it, the guys more hyped on the pitch than Sammy is for Shenmue.

@themcnoisy: Well Hodgson has gone... With the players we had and a bit more wisdom in picking players to play in the right areas - the areas they play at club level, I think we really could of beaten Iceland convincingly. Kane and Sterling have been poor all tournament. Our only win came when these two weren't playing - Vardy and Sturridge getting the goals against Wales after being 1-0 down. Playing Sturridge as a winger - a player who is a centre forward goal scorer is ridiculous. Kane is more of a 10 than a 9 when on form - he isn't the payer to get behind a defence but to drop a bit deeper - Vardy or Rashford should have started instead. Sterling can't beat players and with out his pace, he is very average. Even if he gets on the ball in behind, against a physical, strong side, he can't do anything with it - Lallana might not have the pace but he has the ability to pass and beat players.

Hodgson couldn'r even pick players to play in their best and most natural position so you can't expect him to make tactical changes when needed! He didn't last long at LFC and I must admit I was surprised he lasted this long for England - helped I guess by a weak qualifying group that saw us win every match but when it really counted, we scraped through the group stages and go out against Iceland!

I've been right behind England until the second half of tonights game, I was willing Iceland to stick a couple more in by the end, though. We were literally falling over the ball. Madness!

@themcnoisy: Didn't watch the game but I've never been a fan of Sterling. He's good with running with the ball but his decision making and final pass into the box have always been poor. Never understood why he was included in the squad.

Just watched the replay match between Spain and Italy and I've been very impressed with Italy's performance during this competition. Last night, they've showed that can play attacking football as well. Not only were they defending in numbers but they were also attacking in numbers and with purpose. On top of that, they've made it through to the next round with an aging back three and keeper, all top class I might add.

Conte has got it right strategically against Spain and it'll be interesting to see what he does against Germany and how he does at Chelsea.

Roy Hodgson has said "I did not see the defeat coming. Nothing in the first three games we played here gave me any indication we would play as poorly as we did"

Every England fan says "We all saw the defeat happening! Playing people out of position, a formation that hadn't been tried before and selecting players Low on confidence and looking unsure throughout the tournament so far. How could you not see we could play so poorly after 2 lacklustre draws against VERY average teams and about to play a TEAM high on confidence, passion and desire to win and work together, a TEAM that were organised and had a game-plan, a TEAM that that knew their strengths and played to it etc. We all knew (especially us Liverpool fans) that Roy has no clue about tactics, how react and organise a team to overcome the oppositions strengths and attack their weaknesses, respond to the way a match is progressing and make tactical changes where necessary, motivate players low on confidence, give players a 'plan' and some 'direction' - especially when formation and position are not 'natural' or familiar to them...

Oh well glad he has gone!!

Who's next Gareth Southgate? Seems he the Bookies favourite at the moment...

There is something about English players that when they play for ther country they just do not perform when it comes to euros or world cup. At club level they do well but when the pressure is on and there is any kind of expectation they always let the fans down. Rashford should never have gone to the Euros he hardly played him and that meant a winger could not go which left us short. I like Hodgeson as a man I think he is a good guy and its a shame that it ended this way. He has had a great managerial career which now will always be remembered for this result. He did play people out of position but equally none of the players put in a performance.

@WanderingBullet: As a German fan, I'm terrified of Italy. They're our boogey team and they looked rather comfortable against Spain. I wasn't one of those who thought that, coming into this tournament, Italy had one of their worst teams in their history as I've watched a lot of Serie A over the last few years and they have gifted talents (Insigne, Bernadeschi, Florenzi, Romagnoli etc) but they've gotten by without even playing them! Germany have been rather disappointing so far and I can't see us overcoming the Italians. I hope we do, but I think our midfield is all too easily bypassed and with the Italian speed of transition, we'll be in trouble.
@BAMozzy: I don't think formation and player roles were the deciding factor. As I watched the game, I was shocked by the complete lack of movement from any English forward player. When Sterling ran down the flank, nobody made any run to give him an option when knowing full well he wouldn't want to cross. Compare it to the movement of the German forward players. Also Rooney has never been a midfielder, I have always said it and he showed just why. When under pressure, his movement and his touch are distinctly less than world-class. I don't think Hodgson should take all the blame as the players should have performed better. I agree with Alan Shearer that the Premier League may make players look a lot better than they are.

@ShadowofSparta: I thought Germany has been good in this tournament. Having said that, I think they're better off playing Gomez at the top instead of Gotze.
If Italy wins this tournament, I think it'll be one of the best accomplishments ever considering that they had to beat Spain, Germany and possibly France as well if I'm not mistaken before heading to the finals.

@dryrain From what I've heard, Rashford played better during that 5 minutes compared to the others players that played the full match.
The EPL is arguably the best league in the world but that's only because it has the combination of the hardworking English players along with the flair and technically skilled foreign players. Not to mention that currently they just don't have any world class players. In a way, I feel sorry for whoever takes the job as the England manager. They are so pressured to do well due to the EPL being so successful that's its probably tougher than being the PM of Britain.

Plus, I don't get why they so keen on bringing an English manager in for the role but only because I can't think of any that has done great at club level football.:/

@WanderingBullet: There's still a few more gears Germany can go through. I've seen the team play better and I don't think Khedira is fully back to his old self. Kroos can also be shy in a tackle. We're better with Gomez but his lack of technique can be really detrimental to some of our build-up play. He doesn't tend to see quick passes and layoffs very quickly and there were a number of times against Slovakia where he played the ball safely out wide despite having a runner looking for a flick. Don't get me wrong, we look better with him, he gives us a presence and a target, but I completely understand why Jogi has kept trying to play Gotze there. Klose is proving irreplaceable as he gave us everything, a target and the technique (which was grossly underrated) to play in quick transitions. If Max Kruse had been a good boy, we might have had something of an answer. We have some good prospects though, like Davie Selke so I don't think we're doomed to not have one.
You hit the nail on the head with regard to England. I think the Premier League breeds a focus on results that can become overwhelming. It doesn't allow talent to develop because there is too much pressure for positive and immediate results. This ends up affecting youth development, where kids are focused on not doing any wrong rather than trying to find the best way to express their talent

@ShadowofSparta: So what's your prediction for the Germany vs Italy game?

@WanderingBullet: Much like against Spain, I expect Italy to press both Hummels and Boateng if we play with two ball-playing centrebacks. I'm actually starting to ponder whether Jogi will play with 3 centrebacks in a 3-5-2, something he tried in our March friendly against Italy. We won that 4-1 BUT Italy, much like us, are terrible in friendlies so I don't know how much to draw from that. If we play with just two, I expect Giacherrini to take Boateng and Pelle/ Eder to take Hummels, with the spare striker covering Kroos to limit Neuer's passing options. They did the same against Spain and effectively nullified Busquets from starting attacks. The one thing we have going for us is Neuer is calmer than De Gea can be. De Gea didn't know how to deal with Italy's man-marking and instead of aiming for his advanced fullbacks (who could move up as Italy's wingbacks dropped back to cover for the Italian defence squeezing Morata, Nolito and Silva) kept hitting the ball down the middle. I don't think Neuer will make the same mistake. If he finds our fullbacks, we get out. The only problem is that Kroos, our heartbeat, will be severely marked. He not only initiates attacks, but unlike Busquets, gets forward often enough to get involved in combinations around the box. The one thing we have going for us is that both our centrebacks are very, very good passers ( Hummels has been playing killer through-balls for BVB all season) and I don't know if they can keep all three deep-playmakers quiet. They had periods of compact pressing and allowed Pique and Ramos to have the ball (albeit limiting their central passing options) so there is a chance the centrebacks will get some chances to play diagonals. Plus, Spain really focused on using Iniesta as a ball carrier and often had Fabregas and Silva occupying similar areas without much interchange. Our forwards do interchange a lot so if Italy man-mark, they could lose their structure. That's a big IF though. Italy also opened the midfield up to prevent Busquets from being able to cover enough zones and with Eder and Giacherrini pushing up on the centrebacks, Italy could find Pelle in space. We have no real midfielders to counter that. Kroos is a bit shy in a tackle and Khedira doesn't challenge much in the air. Basti is not fit and Weigl hasn't had much gametime.

Basically, unless we try to revert to a 3 man backline as well to give Italy something to think about, I can see the Italians adjusting to whatever we try with the formation we've used so far. Italy has such a fantastic blend of technique and work-rate that their transitions can be killer, either going forward to kill us on a counter or getting back in shape to kill our combinations. We'll need very strong fullback and forward performances (with lots of interchange). I think Italy will win, 2-1. To beat them, we'll need a special performance, better than any we've had so far.

what a result for the Welsh. Well done Wales. Such a game, well deserved win. And this is coming from a Rep. Of Ireland fan lol

Wilmots lost his head. How can you revert to a back 3 with no wingbacks? Having Mertens as a left wb to track the cross before the 3rd Welsh goal was silly. Hungary made Belgium look better than they were by giving them so much space, so much naivety. Regardless, I'm so happy for Wales. Brilliant result and a great performance. Ramsey again having a ball this tourney. Well done Wales

Hear hear. My, that was painful. Those were some terrible tactics right there.

@ShadowofSparta: Ah, I see. Well, this is one of the few matches I'm definitely looking forward to watching but I'll be catching the replay match since the live one starts at 2am here.lol

Position for position apart from one Belguim had a better side. It just goes to show how team spirit and a passionate manager can make all the difference. Bale said it righn when he talked about England we could learn a lot from the welsh. Ramsey will be missed in the next game and will be good to see the battle between two of the great players of Real madrid

What a crazy penalty shoot-out! Who would have thought that Germany would miss 3 penalties (1 saved) out of their 5 - 2-2 after 5 each both with some poor penalties although didn't miss in sudden death. 18 penalties in the end and finishes 6-5 to Germany! Germanys first win against Italy in a major tournament although still haven't beaten them in normal play...

Same goes for Italy, though. This game was quite the disillusion. For tomorrow: Allez les bleus!

@BAMozzy: Haha we came closer than usual though. For what it's worth, I thought, tactically, Germany were outstanding. The best way to play against this Italy was a back 3 that Jogi toyed with in friendlies and it worked beautifully (the Italian forwards were at times unsure whether to press Kroos or the centrebacks before covering angles, the way Basti moved wide to pull the Italian midfield out and give Kroos space and cut off Chiellini-Di Sciglio before running around like a madman second half- brilliant), although I guess it wasn't very fun to watch. Still very proud. I think Italy were excellent but I can't help but feel that if Muller was in goal-scoring form, we might have just (just!) won it in normal time. Penalties were awful. I knew Muller would miss his but he keeps going (good on him). Pens were worse when you consider Germany have been using new tech to help them take penalties. Zaza...well...