The Official EURO 2012 thread

[linnet_spur]

Really happy for Pavly. He left Spurs to play in Euro and now he has proved his worth again. It was a brilliant individual goal, surely it would be one of the best goals of the tournament. His assist for Russia's third goal was also crucial as they seemed like throwing away the game until then. The donkey Kerzhakov was wasting chance after chance and it was only a matter of time before Czech find the equaliser. Fortunately, Super Pav came and rescued them. I was very confident he would score when he came on and so he proved.

This is what Spurs missed last season, someone who could come on and score goals when needed. For me, Pav is one of the best striker to have played for Spurs in recent times. He just gives you this confidence that he would score whenever he gets near the goal.

He really did not. I rarely believed he would score.

 

[Mumorn]

He really did not. I rarely believed he would score.

He was the best finisher at the club

 

[Superted]

He was a lazy fecker who once too often for me put in sub-abysmal performances, despite the fact that when he could be bothered he was class.

 

[harr1984]

He was the best finisher at the club

Yup. He had his faults, but finishing wasn't one of them.....

 

[Sheikh Ma Nuggets]

Really happy for Pavly. He left Spurs to play in Euro and now he has proved his worth again. It was a brilliant individual goal, surely it would be one of the best goals of the tournament. His assist for Russia's third goal was also crucial as they seemed like throwing away the game until then. The donkey Kerzhakov was wasting chance after chance and it was only a matter of time before Czech find the equaliser. Fortunately, Super Pav came and rescued them. I was very confident he would score when he came on and so he proved.

This is what Spurs missed last season, someone who could come on and score goals when needed. For me, Pav is one of the best striker to have played for Spurs in recent times. He just gives you this confidence that he would score whenever he gets near the goal.

Bloody hell mate, what!? :-s

Look, Pav pulls his finger out of his arse for his country - hardly that surprising? I didn't see anywhere near that level of effort or commitment from him while he was playing for us, so I've absolutely no idea what player you were looking at. Give you confidence? Jesus, all I ever saw was some lazy fudge who would mope around waiting for the ball to come to him and then, when it did, he usually either got muscled out of the way or went down some blind alley. Very occasionally, he'd lash the ball into the net - a bit like Jermain Defoe, in that respect.

He isn't "one of the best striker to have played for Spurs in recent times" - what are you on about? Well, I suppose if you're equating him to Rasiak or Frazer Campbell, he is - but seriously mate, you're blowing so much smoke up him here. He's not exceptional at all - far from it - the English league is a tough and physically demanding one, and Pavlyuchenko just wasn't at home in it.

 

[southstand1882]

As you ask, I have been there; 5 times as it goes, as I did a small piece of work on behalf of one of their partners. And I can assure you, the Executive Offices which adjoin the Bobby Moore Room - are incredibly plush and salubrious. But that's irrelevant...

See, your statement is all good and well - outlining the technicalities of law, something we all fully understand. Except for one small thing: the FA have already prejudged John Terry, in how they've stripped him of his captaincy! They haven't waited for the outcome of anything; a knee-jerk decision, one which Fabio Capello disagreed with so much with, that he resigned his position over.

So, my point still stands here: how the hell can The FA take the moral high ground with anyone, when they've obviously prejudged that John Terry is a racist and unfit to captain his country...yet include him in the England National Team? Okay, go ahead and do that if you want but - for fudge sake - don't make complete idiots of yourself by making out you're some holier-than-thou organisation, falling over yourself to pour criticism on Poland/Ukraine.

As an aside, at most companies I've worked for, if I was arrested - let alone stand fudging trial(!) - for something as potentially reputationally damaging as racial abuse, then - in the first instance - I'd probably expect to be suspended for it; nice bit of gardening leave on full-pay, until the outcome was established. The FA hasn't done that though. The act of stripping John Terry of the captaincy is to demonstrate public humiliation and disgust - yet, if he's "innocent 'till proven guilty, m'lord" - then why the need to do that?

As others have commented, English football still has a racism problem - The FA may wish to deny that, as it's incredibly embarrassing - but the fact still remains, doesn't it? You don't even need to scratch that deep below the surface to uncover it: take the Luis Suarez affair, and the conduct of Liverpool FC all of the way through it - one might reasonably ask why The FA didn't move to censor Liverpool FC for their abysmal behaviour; laughing in the face of what was an incredibly serious incident on the field of play? If ever an incident brought disrepute upon English football, 'the Luis Suarez affair' would very much be challenging for gold medal status. No firm FA sanction though - they just impotently looked on. Yeah, really 'kicking racism out of football' there lads, well done - back slaps all 'round

Personally - and each to their own - but I found the image of John Terry trotting around the grounds of Auschwitz very distasteful; came across - to me - as an empty, hypocritical gesture, and one which I have absolutely no doubt he doesn't feel any sincerity towards. How ridiculous are The FA going to look if - allowing me to hypothesise here - he's found guilty of racial abuse? :| Just how stupid, hypocritical and hollow will the English FA look, for taking the English National Team to the site of the most outrageous display of racial intolerance - only for one of them to be found guilty of racism themselves? If it wasn't so serious, you'd actually find the sheer incompetence rather funny.

I'd say Bernstein's position would be wholly untenable. What you propose is this blind, after-the-event action - the sort of reactive nonsense which is always justified with people bemoaning lack of foresight; that 'hindsight is a wonderful thing' - as if they're completely incapable of pre-empting anything. Well, if John Terry is found guilty, then - never mind the scumbag himself - The FA deserve every single word of criticism which they'll receive from the brickstorm which they'll have created.

Did they not pay your invoice?

:mrgreen:

But seriously, excellent post. A good old fashioned roasting

 

[indianspur]

ahhh luvlyyyy ladeeeee....well done cameraman, keep 'em coming

errrm, Russia looked good, the guy who came on for Kerzakhov and had an assist and a belting goal looked quite tasty.

the heart was for me

i love you Pav

Dzagoev impressive, but Russian players in the Prem???? cant think of many consistent successes.

bring on the weekend games, monster football ahead

 

[El Guepardo]

Tonight, Netherlands will comfortably beat the Danes and the first half will flow with goals.

The Netherlands will know that the group is likely between themselves, Germany & Portugal and with the latter two playing tonight, the game against Denmark provides the Dutch with an excellent opportunity to gain early advantage in their group.

The last time the Netherlands were picked in a 'group of death', they won all three against Italy, France and Romania. 3 points to start with today, a good number of goals and people suddenly clambering over each other, declaring how they were the one who had predicted that Netherlands would win Euro 2012 oh and more footage of beautiful fans please! The Russian lady possesses a hypnotic beauty.

 

[Kingdawson]

England team visited an orphanage in Poland today. "It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with no hope" said Igor, aged 6

 

[linnet_spur]

He was the best finisher at the club

VDV disagrees, and Pav missed some absolute shockers. He could hit a ball, but he's not a great finisher, he's like Defoe, he lacks finesse. The sort of goal Welbeck scored against Belgium, you would never see from Pav. That is a class finish.

 

[Mumorn]

VDV disagrees, and Pav missed some absolute shockers. He could hit a ball, but he's not a great finisher, he's like Defoe, he lacks finesse. The sort of goal Welbeck scored against Belgium, you would never see from Pav. That is a class finish.

But I've never seen van der Vaart score a goal like Welbeck scored against Belgium neither.. Some of Pav's goals are unbelievable finishes whether with his feet or with his head. His goal against Chelsea is still one of my favourite goals of the past 5 years.

 

[Fhtagn]

=P~

Looking forward to the games tonight, will also be getting my underage brother drunk so I think it'll be fun no matter what.

 

[Jordinho]

Being great at shooting does not make him a great finisher. As with Defoe.

 

[linnet_spur]

But I've never seen van der Vaart score a goal like Welbeck scored against Belgium neither.. Some of Pav's goals are unbelievable finishes whether with his feet or with his head. His goal against Chelsea is still one of my favourite goals of the past 5 years.

No, but VDV is a better finisher than Pav, didn't say he was a great finisher :mrgreen:

Pav is the old cliche, a scorer of great goals but not a great scorer of goals. He could hit them, but I certainly didn't believe he would score whenever he got near goal. I do believe more that VDV will, but even then I'm not 100% confident. We don't have great finishers at our club sadly, the best finisher we've had for a long time was Bent. Shame he couldn't do fudge all else.

 

[linnet_spur]

=P~

Looking forward to the games tonight, will also be getting my underage brother drunk so I think it'll be fun no matter what.

That sounds wrong on so many levels

 

[GLENROYID]

VDV disagrees, and Pav missed some absolute shockers. He could hit a ball, but he's not a great finisher, he's like Defoe, he lacks finesse. The sort of goal Welbeck scored against Belgium, you would never see from Pav. That is a class finish.

I agree, pav was a hit and hope merchant...he just scored an unusual amount of them...but its easy to forget how many he has actually fluffed... I.e. Free kick vs man utd in the CC final.

My favourite vdv goal (strangely) was the one against QPR at home, when he controlled bales fluffed shot (beautifully), hopped on the spot, and fudging buried it in the bottom corner...class

 

[Fhtagn]

But I've never seen van der Vaart score a goal like Welbeck scored against Belgium neither.. Some of Pav's goals are unbelievable finishes whether with his feet or with his head. His goal against Chelsea is still one of my favourite goals of the past 5 years.

Yeah, but those wondergoals came 15 games apart, and he could go 10 of those without scoring. I loved Pav and believed he got way to much stick at time even when he was far from the bricktiest player on the field, but a frequent enough goalscorer for us he was not, unfortunately. Good to see him succeed in the Euros.

 

[Mumorn]

Joseph Barton ‏@Joey7Barton
If Henderson got in, any englishman not currently in the squad has to feel aggrieved.

 

[linnet_spur]

I agree, pav was a hit and hope merchant...he just scored an unusual amount of them...but its easy to forget how many he has actually fluffed... I.e. Free kick vs man utd in the CC final.

My favourite vdv goal (strangely) was the one against QPR at home, when he controlled bales fluffed shot (beautifully), hopped on the spot, and fudging buried it in the bottom corner...class

What VDV is good at, is poise. He doesn't just smash it, or rush it, he takes his time, picks his spot and tucks it in. He's very good at that, not great, but the best we have

 

[Mumorn]

Yeah, but those wondergoals came 15 games apart, and he could go 10 of those without scoring. I loved Pav and believed he got way to much stick at time even when he was far from the bricktiest player on the field, but a frequent enough goalscorer for us he was not, unfortunately. Good to see him succeed in the Euros.

We all loved Pav when he was scoring goals for fun in his purple match during the season we finished 4th. At the end of the day when he got given a chance in a run of games he scored goals. He was usually just a bench player though unfortunately.

I agree, pav was a hit and hope merchant...he just scored an unusual amount of them...but its easy to forget how many he has actually fluffed... I.e. Free kick vs man utd in the CC final.

My favourite vdv goal (strangely) was the one against QPR at home, when he controlled bales fluffed shot (beautifully), hopped on the spot, and fudging buried it in the bottom corner...class

Wasn't it King's fluffed shot? Cracking finish though.

No, but VDV is a better finisher than Pav, didn't say he was a great finisher :mrgreen:

Pav is the old cliche, a scorer of great goals but not a great scorer of goals. He could hit them, but I certainly didn't believe he would score whenever he got near goal. I do believe more that VDV will, but even then I'm not 100% confident. We don't have great finishers at our club sadly, the best finisher we've had for a long time was Bent. Shame he couldn't do fudge all else.

For me, Pavlyuchenko was the only striker in our team that I was confident would score when given a chance. His goal against Sunderland last year was nothing short of excellent, the ball from VDV to was brilliant, those two didn't get given enough games together.