The Official EURO 2012 thread

[funster]

The bottom line is team's play badly sometimes. And sometimes good teams are outplayed by poorer teams. In terms of England/Italy? Italy are better than us. We were the underdogs in that game and a 0-0 result on neutral ground isn't a bad result. The performance wasn't great, but many praise a team being able to play poorly and still come away without a defeat.

But like the whole Spurs 3rd, 4th or 5th nonsense from last year, people go from one extreme to another when in reality we are talking fine margins. QF was the expectations that most people felt we could achieve. We won our group, and made the QF and then weren't actually beat in that QF during 90 mins (or indeed 120 mins) and were dumped out on penalties. Objective met IMO so not sure why so many people seem to be so upset. It's not as if we were ever had a realistic chance to win the bloody thing!

Oh I agree wholeheartedly. I expected very little, got more than I thought, so on that count, job done. Just a shame England play such awful football! Mind you, why I build my own expectations up on that front - or have done for the last decade or more - is beyond me, so I have only myself to blame on that front.

 

[indianspur]

The inevitable conclusion to the baffling decision of appointing a mediocre yes-man who sets his team out not to concede as opposed to outscoring the opponent

Arry wouldn't have taken half of those painfully average overpaid cloggers, and would have inspired the rest into some kind of dynamic unit - much like an Energy drink - short term boost to extract the optimum output - perfect man for the job. And he would have most certainly set out to attack what is the weakest Italian team on paper in nearly 2 decades instead of playing for a fudging draw. Hart was already time wasting at the beginning of the second half! Dear, oh dear. I also doubt the would have caved in to media toss-off pressure of playing the 'world-class' Mooney who awlays delivered on the big stage for England, right? In addition to looking utterly out of form. Won't even go into Welbeck and Carrol, Milner, Downing or Henderson.

give it a rest with the Redknapp would have done better onslaught

he would have taken Milner, he would have picked Rooney, he loves Glen Johnson, Lampard is his nephew and had he been fit would have been there, Terry is Lampards best mate, Gerrard is one of the golden generation, all these players would have been in there and England would have performed exactly as they have done

Yes, just like last night, under Redknapp England would have attacked from the first minute, done the same for the first 30 mins or so, and then slowly but surely would have run out of steam just as England did last night and Italy's class would have come thru

Redknapp teams also all of a sudden cant keep the ball.....did you not watch us last season against Fulham away for example, against Wigan away, both games in the second half our team could barely string 3 passes together and we are talking about a club side that spends day in day out working together.....look at Spurs under Redknapp when Modric isnt playing, i cannot believe how poor we were at keeping possession, how sad is it to be a one man team.

Fact is that Redknapp, Hodgson, Pardew, the only 3 English candidates for this job, are all much of a muchness. Their teams play well if they are allowed to play well, as soon as the opposition put any exerted pressure on, each team of theirs finds it harder and harder to get a grip of the game and the passing goes to pots. Its the way they train the players, its the way they are schooled on how to coach and play. Its not good enough for the top level where possession is the be all and end all.

 

[Spurs7891]

Always felt Italy will beat England. They have an excellent record against England. I think England would have had more chance to beat Spain instead. Italy deserved to progress as they fully dominated the match. England only have themselves to blame for being too defensive. Italy could have won by a bigger scoreline in normal time if they had a clinical goal scorer. Instead they wasted chance after chance. Even in penalties, they didn't panic after missing the penalty.

I think the way Pirlo took the penalty with a delighfull chip was the turning point as it gave the other Italian players confidence. Italy didn't miss after that while England missed both. You need a true leader like Pirlo in your team to give others confidence when needed.

 

[indianspur]

and who was one of the biggest poor passing culprits for England in the tournament, hmmmmmm let me think, ah yes Scott parker. Scott parker who a certain Harry Redknapp spent 2 years chasing whilst manager of Spurs

im waiting for someone to tell me had Redknapp been manager of England that Parker would have been left at home

 

[ArcspacE]

give it a rest with the Redknapp would have done better onslaught

he would have taken Milner, he would have picked Rooney, he loves Glen Johnson, Lampard is his nephew and had he been fit would have been there, Terry is Lampards best mate, Gerrard is one of the golden generation, all these players would have been in there and England would have performed exactly as they have done

Yes, just like last night, under Redknapp England would have attacked from the first minute, done the same for the first 30 mins or so, and then slowly but surely would have run out of steam just as England did last night and Italy's class would have come thru

Redknapp teams also all of a sudden cant keep the ball.....did you not watch us last season against Fulham away for example, against Wigan away, both games in the second half our team could barely string 3 passes together and we are talking about a club side that spends day in day out working together.....look at Spurs under Redknapp when Modric isnt playing, i cannot believe how poor we were at keeping possession, how sad is it to be a one man team.

Fact is that Redknapp, Hodgson, Pardew, the only 3 English candidates for this job, are all much of a muchness. Their teams play well if they are allowed to play well, as soon as the opposition put any exerted pressure on, each team of theirs finds it harder and harder to get a grip of the game and the passing goes to pots. Its the way they train the players, its the way they are schooled on how to coach and play. Its not good enough for the top level where possession is the be all and end all.

I've highlighted the parts which are completely off the mark, imv

To my mind - we dominated teams more than anything and failed to capitalise more often than not. Fulham and Wigan away (debatable) weer 2 games out of 38 and we actually got the 3 points mind you. How about Villa away, Fulham home, Bolton away, Saudi Sportswashing Machine away, Chelsea away, Wolves away, etc. - these are just some that spring to mind. We played for most part of the season some of the best football in the league - did you see any hint of that last night?

To equate Arry on the same footballing level as Hodgson is grossly unfair, imv.

He wouldn't have taken one of Milner or Ox - in place of Lennon. Would have guaranteed (and rightly so) Carrick a place or whatever the fudge he wants and played him instead of any of those little cloggers. Would have played Defoe ahead of Welbeck or even Carrol when we needed a goal instead of bringing on Jordan Henderson!.He wouldn't have taken Downing either. The list is endless.

 

[Spurs7891]

So, it looks like it will be a Spain-Italy final. Italy is Germany's bogey team and have never lost to them in any competitive match, either in Euro or World Cup. But I guess Spain will be too strong for them in the Final. Unlike World Cup, Italy have a shyte record in Euro. Still find it amazing the way they lost the Euro 2000 Final to France. They were just about 10 seconds away from winning it but conceded a late goal and went on to lose it with a silver goal.

 

[ArcspacE]

I think Germany will smash Italy and finally sneak one over Spain in the final

The pro-Spanish sporting reach-around would be unberable if they win a third major European tournament in row, in addition to dominating nearly every other major sport at the moment.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

and who was one of the biggest poor passing culprits for England in the tournament, hmmmmmm let me think, ah yes Scott parker. Scott parker who a certain Harry Redknapp spent 2 years chasing whilst manager of Spurs

im waiting for someone to tell me had Redknapp been manager of England that Parker would have been left at home

Do you have stats to back that up?

 

[indianspur]

I've highlighted the parts which are completely off the mark imv

If anything - we dominated teams more than anything and failed to capitalise more often than not. Fulham and Wigan away (debatable) weer 2 games out of 38 and we actually got the 3 points mind you. How about Villa away, Fulham home, Bolton away, Saudi Sportswashing Machine away, Chelsea away, Wolves away, etc. - these are just some that spring to mind. We played for most part of the season some of the best football in the league - did you see any hint of that last night?

To equate Arry on the same footballing level as Hodgson is grossly unfair, imv.

He wouldn't have taken one of Milner or Ox - in place of Lennon. Would have guaranteed (and rightly so) Carrick a place or whatever the fudge he wants and played him instead of any of those little cloggers. Would have played Defoe ahead of Welbeck or even Carrol when we needed a goal instead of bringing on Jordan Henderson!.He wouldn't have taken Downing either. The list is endless.

defoe ahead of Welbeck.....oh dear, jermaine defoe who could barely get off the bench last season. Redknapp no longer rates him if you didnt notice

didnt Spurs need a goal against Villa at the end of last season, i didnt see him throwing on Defoe to save the day. Like you say, despite being down to 10 men against a very poor Villa side, we were on top of them but we needed more firepower on the pitch. Didnt happen though

you do know that Redknapp tried to sign both Downing and Milner whilst at Spurs....face it, he rates these players

he rates Glen Johnson for gods sake, the player that has taken more stick than i can remember. You think Johnson is brick, you criticised him last night,, but just read this, read what Saint Redknapp has to say about Johnson

Q WHO performed well in this match?

A: Glen Johnson. He performed miracles in my opinion.

He made last-ditch saves, superbly-timed blocks and looked good going forward. Glen doesn’t always get the recognition he deserves. But I had him at Portsmouth after he came through at West Ham.

England are blessed in the right-back position. We have Glen and Kyle Walker coming through. So that is a position in which we have a lot of strength in depth



......



face up to it man, England would be just the same under Redknapp

 

[ArcspacE]

Whether he rates those players is another story - I still think he wouldn't have taken some of them along in place of Lennon or Carrick - fudging hell, it's glaringly obvious when you look at the team.

Apart from Villa away - Defoe was the choice in 90% of the times he came on

The Johnson comments are baffling, granted

 

[indianspur]

and the big call to throw out the old guard and bring through the new generation, again another stick to beat Hodgson with but apparently things would be the same under Redknapp

Q: IS this the end for the so-called Golden Generation?

A: Gerrard was still our best player at Euro 2012. John Terry was magnificent. We still need those players because now there is World Cup qualification for Brazil in 2014 to think about.

We need to bring through a few youngsters, the likes of Wheelchair I have already mentioned.

But while we are doing so, players like Gerrard, Terry and others will be of vital importance.

.......

and others, yeah im sure he means Lampard, Cole, Parker, the usual suspects.

when will people just wake up

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Group games only.

http://www.eplindex.com/15792/england-player-stats-accumulated-euro-2012-opta-stats.html

 

[Mumorn]

I can't believe Pirlo is still trending

 

[Wriggly]

lol at 4-5-4, he's fudging never ending.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

The bottom line is team's play badly sometimes. And sometimes good teams are outplayed by poorer teams. In terms of England/Italy? Italy are better than us. We were the underdogs in that game and a 0-0 result on neutral ground isn't a bad result. The performance wasn't great, but many praise a team being able to play poorly and still come away without a defeat.

But like the whole Spurs 3rd, 4th or 5th nonsense from last year, people go from one extreme to another when in reality we are talking fine margins. QF was the expectations that most people felt we could achieve. We won our group, and made the QF and then weren't actually beat in that QF during 90 mins (or indeed 120 mins) and were dumped out on penalties. Objective met IMO so not sure why so many people seem to be so upset. It's not as if we were ever had a realistic chance to win the bloody thing!

Exactly. Most could see our squad looked thin/poor. Roy played a tactic that maybe got us as far as possible. With a run in of italy,germany,spain to be able to lift the trophy, im sorry but sh*t like that aint gonna happen (unless you're chelsea or greece04)

I think roys done good in the short time he has had, and his best quality is the way he deals with the media, he knows their games inside out but will still give them something worthwhile to print.

You've got to give him a full run at another tournament, just a shame its brazil 14, as thats a tough one.

 

[Spur of the moment]

Tournament squad ratings

Hart 8 - never severely tested but looked more than comfortable throughout. Big relief to have an England goalie who looks safe and doesn't drop clangers. Needs to improve his distribution though

Johnson 7 - surprisingly effective at the back with some vital last-ditch clearances; one or two excellent moments going forward, otherwise less impressive, too often giving possession away cheaply

Terry 7 - less dominant nowadays but still pulled out all the stops when required

Lescott 8 - exceeded expectations throughout looking strong and composed at the back and carrying some threat in the opposition box

Cole 7 - most commentators seem to think he's had a great tournament but I just couldn't see that. Competent most of the time yes, but for a supposedly world-class player he seldom dominated at the back, and where was the drive and invention going forward?

Milner 5 - always worked hard but frankly inadequate going forward. A shame because I believe he is capable of much better

Gerrard 8 - well short of what he once was but still stood out; his dead ball play was the dog's gonads. England's Man of the Tournament

Parker 6 - maybe it's because he was carrying an injury but his prodigious midfield energy just wasn't there, and we always new he's absolute gobbrick going forward

Young 5 - started brightly enough and but faded progressively as the tournament went on

Welbeck 7 - still a long way from being world class but showed some excellent touches, especially with that deft winner against Sweden

Rooney 5 - scored against Ukraine but once again massively disappointing: we got the jaded tournament Rooney not the fired-up Man U one

Carroll 7 - frankly never going to be much more than a cart-horse; that said he won the ball in the air consistently, scored an excellent goal against France and was probably our best forward all-round. Which is not saying much tbh.

Bit-part players:

Walcott 7 - almost invisible in two of the games he took part in but turned things round for us with a goal and an assist against Sweden

Oxlade-Chamberlain 6 - showed potential but nothing more. Kept running into brick walls, needs to learn when to pass

Henderson 4 - how he even got into the squad is bewildering

Defoe - hardly got a touch in his 15 mins against France

Not used:
Green, Butland, Kelly, Jagielka, Baines, Jones, Downing

 

[southstand1882]

Milner

 

[indianspur]

 

[Mumorn]

 

[southstand1882]