Leeds Spur
Banned
Eh? What sports? Dominating?
-
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The Official EURO 2012 thread
- Thread starter southstand1882
- Start date
Eh? What sports? Dominating?
Leeds Spur
Banned
Exactly!! And Djokovic is the king in tennis now on every surface bar Clay. Alonso is leading the championship but dominating? Hamilton would be leading by a mile with a reliable car and team and some luck behind him. Just look at the Olympic medal table in August, we'll smash them
liquid_football
Jamie Redknapp
They are a major force in basketball aswell
TBH I have felt like this since after 2002. It really is a total disconnect with the personalities who consistently get picked for the team regardless of who is manager as well as the manner in which we perform. People who are really into supporting the national team and feel suicidal after every weak and tepid exit seem to be mixed up between a strong league correlating to a strong national team.
Fact is, for a country of our size as well as the lack of real technical players making it through, we are about quarter final standard - No more, No less. It is so difficult to want anything for this group of players when in squads gone by we have had such talent and desire yet recent tournament squads and performances indicate this generation have neither really.
You have players like Terry, Cole, Johnson who are just so dislikeable on a personal level yet you are supposed to laud and support them as if they are your own. You have players like Henderson, Downing and Green who have absolutely no right being anywhere near any national team. Then you have players like Jones, Young and Walcott who are so overrated and overhyped its untrue and yet with all these factors combined, plus others, you are expected to support this squad as you would you club side.
I don't think so.
They have 3 players in the Top 10 ATP rankings including one outstanding talent - more than any other country (Almagro was 10th recently and 9th last year at some point, iirc)
They have 8 players in the Top 50
Major force in basketball - most successful nation in ULEB and one of their teams almost always features in the final
Won Euro U-21 last year
Won Euro 2008
Won World Cup 2010
Won the UEFA Futsal Championship 2010
Their men's volleyball team have won 5 medals in the Euro League since 2005
Thier 2 top La Liga teams are arguably the richest and best in world football
Terrol won Moto GP 125cc last year
Good golfers, etc.
I don't like them one bit
Enter the Pitbull
Luke Young
[h=1]Euro 2012: The telling statistics that damn England[/h]England had on average 39% of the possession in their four games, their lowest figure at a tournament since Euro 1980 – and the figures get worse
England’s most successful passing combination against Italy was the goalkeeper Joe Hart, above, to the substitute striker Andy Carroll. Photograph: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
30 Cristiano Ronaldo has had more shots in his first four games at Euro 2012 than the entire England squad (29) had at the tournament
20 Italy had more shots on target in their quarter-final match than England had in total in their four matches in Ukraine
88 England conceded more than twice as many shots to France, Sweden, Ukraine and Italy than they had against those teams
39 England had on average 39% of the possession in their four games, their lowest figure at a tournament since Euro 1980
29 Ashley Young and James Milner put in 29 crosses in the four games. Only three reached an England team-mate
300 England averaged 300 passes per match. The four semi-finalists have averaged 479
15 England completed only 15 passes in the 15 minutes of the second period of extra-time against Italy
18 England's most successful passing combination against Italy was the goalkeeper Joe Hart to the substitute striker Andy Carroll
115 Andrea Pirlo had more passes against England than England's four starting midfielders had against Italy
18 Mesut Ozil has created 18 chances in Germany's four games. Steven Gerrard, England's most prolific chance creator, has made six
102 England ran on average 102km in their four matches. Italy ran 7.5km further on average per match
86 England have had the most tackles in the tournament, with Steven Gerrard's 18 the most of any player
29 England have blocked the most shots at Euro 2012, 17 more than Italy, 19 more than Germany, 21 more than Portugal and 24 more than Spain
Stats supplied by Opta
Email
- Mike Adamson
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 June 2012 16.48 BST
- Mike Adamson
30 Cristiano Ronaldo has had more shots in his first four games at Euro 2012 than the entire England squad (29) had at the tournament
20 Italy had more shots on target in their quarter-final match than England had in total in their four matches in Ukraine
88 England conceded more than twice as many shots to France, Sweden, Ukraine and Italy than they had against those teams
39 England had on average 39% of the possession in their four games, their lowest figure at a tournament since Euro 1980
29 Ashley Young and James Milner put in 29 crosses in the four games. Only three reached an England team-mate
300 England averaged 300 passes per match. The four semi-finalists have averaged 479
15 England completed only 15 passes in the 15 minutes of the second period of extra-time against Italy
18 England's most successful passing combination against Italy was the goalkeeper Joe Hart to the substitute striker Andy Carroll
115 Andrea Pirlo had more passes against England than England's four starting midfielders had against Italy
18 Mesut Ozil has created 18 chances in Germany's four games. Steven Gerrard, England's most prolific chance creator, has made six
102 England ran on average 102km in their four matches. Italy ran 7.5km further on average per match
86 England have had the most tackles in the tournament, with Steven Gerrard's 18 the most of any player
29 England have blocked the most shots at Euro 2012, 17 more than Italy, 19 more than Germany, 21 more than Portugal and 24 more than Spain
Stats supplied by Opta
Leeds Spur
Banned
Lol. So basically football and basketball? Ok mate. The French have as many in the top 100 tennis. The UK has the top 3 golfers in the world!!
Just admit it was a poor statement and move on eh?
awesome dawson
Mitchell Thomas
Taken their eyes off the economy though haven't they!
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Well Liverpool had 6 players in the squad after their worst season in over half a century. Gerrard and Johnson were the only two from those 6 that sould have gone.
Good technical players like Leon Britton get ignored because he plays for Swansea.
Jurgen the German
Erik Thorstvedt
Barca and Madrid are the two best teams in the World and deserve every bit of praise they get. Barca have got to the semi finals or better in the Champions League every year since 2008 and play phenomal football so you can't say they don't deserve praise.
But I don't want Spain to win the Euros. I'd like to see the winners of the Italy-Germany semi final go on to win it. I don't think Germany will smash them, they have a very poor record against Italy in major tournaments.
When Harry was favourite for the England post, I briefly considered an emotional investment in England. I thought he would pick a good squad and a logical team with a bit of flair. When Hodgson got the job I gave up all hope. To be fair, he did a better job than Capello or McLaren would have done, he actually had some sort of commitment to a system and played a relatively sensible players for that system. But he was setting us up like his West Brom team did at the Lane, England are not actually that brick, and we do have a few class acts, and playing this way was just an annoying waste of another tournament.
I really thought the England squad wasn't difficult to pick. Why on earth is Glen Johnson still considered as a top class full-back? He had a decent tournament but that was primarily because we played so deep for such a large amount of our games that he didn't have enough space to drastically misposition himself against opposition counters as he has so regularly done for every club who has had the misfortune of being represented by him over the years. Richards is a tank and should have at least been in the squad. Milner is a decent utility player for a top team but he is really not the sort of player you want starting if you are going to be a serious threat to decent teams at this level. Walcott got far too many minutes for a player with so little ability, admittedly he did actually appear a bit threatening, but he is a poor player, even his contribution against Sweden reeked of mediocrity, a hit and hope over a sea of players coupled with a look of sheer astonishment at scoring anything other than as one-on-one, and and inaccurate cross that was recovered by a marvellous finish from Welbeck. Lennon plus one of the gooners would have made more sense considering he has ripped it up this year and is a natural winger (which Walcott isn't) and can actually influence big matches (there is little proof of 'The Ox' doing this, how the fudge did he start against France?). Then we have Carroll, and Henderson. Carrick was immense this season, yet he was left out at the expense of Henderson, aka. the white Jenas (a title probably unfair to JJ), any one of an array of strikers from Bobby Zamora to Grant Holt would have been more of an effective target man than that donkey Carroll.
Hopefully in 2014 we will see a team with Big Tom and Lennon in it, Wheelchair will hopefully continue to have injury complications until the end of the 2013/4 season before a magical recovery for the WC. As much as Terry is a ****, hopefully him and Cahill can form an excellent partnership at the back, and Joe Hart is a quality long-term option in goal. At full back, Gibbs, Walker and Richards (maybe even Naughton?) should all become far more established over the next couple of years, all look like decent prospects.
----------Welbeck----------
Young-----Rooney----Lennon
-------Wheelchair--Hudd-------
Gibbs--Terry---Cahill---Walker
-----------Hart--------------
Chamberlain, Sturridge, Richards, Smalling, Jones, etc. in the squad.
I really thought the England squad wasn't difficult to pick. Why on earth is Glen Johnson still considered as a top class full-back? He had a decent tournament but that was primarily because we played so deep for such a large amount of our games that he didn't have enough space to drastically misposition himself against opposition counters as he has so regularly done for every club who has had the misfortune of being represented by him over the years. Richards is a tank and should have at least been in the squad. Milner is a decent utility player for a top team but he is really not the sort of player you want starting if you are going to be a serious threat to decent teams at this level. Walcott got far too many minutes for a player with so little ability, admittedly he did actually appear a bit threatening, but he is a poor player, even his contribution against Sweden reeked of mediocrity, a hit and hope over a sea of players coupled with a look of sheer astonishment at scoring anything other than as one-on-one, and and inaccurate cross that was recovered by a marvellous finish from Welbeck. Lennon plus one of the gooners would have made more sense considering he has ripped it up this year and is a natural winger (which Walcott isn't) and can actually influence big matches (there is little proof of 'The Ox' doing this, how the fudge did he start against France?). Then we have Carroll, and Henderson. Carrick was immense this season, yet he was left out at the expense of Henderson, aka. the white Jenas (a title probably unfair to JJ), any one of an array of strikers from Bobby Zamora to Grant Holt would have been more of an effective target man than that donkey Carroll.
Hopefully in 2014 we will see a team with Big Tom and Lennon in it, Wheelchair will hopefully continue to have injury complications until the end of the 2013/4 season before a magical recovery for the WC. As much as Terry is a ****, hopefully him and Cahill can form an excellent partnership at the back, and Joe Hart is a quality long-term option in goal. At full back, Gibbs, Walker and Richards (maybe even Naughton?) should all become far more established over the next couple of years, all look like decent prospects.
----------Welbeck----------
Young-----Rooney----Lennon
-------Wheelchair--Hudd-------
Gibbs--Terry---Cahill---Walker
-----------Hart--------------
Chamberlain, Sturridge, Richards, Smalling, Jones, etc. in the squad.
elyid
Milija Aleksic
Just browsing through and thought I'd reply with my thoughts as to why they are so good (as I live here).
In my opinion the main thing is that there are so many facilities for every sport here (much more facilities than demand) that it seems engrained in society that sport is a cheap / fun activity. Basically anyone interested in sport can practice it for free / cheap and with great facilities / coaches.
For example, I play football once a week on an amazing quality synthetic grass pitch that we can use for free and is fully maintained every day - the same thing in London would cost a fortune to hire + prob be booked out. The same applies to coaches, who are much more accessible (less difference between amateur setup + pro setup). I went to my local tennis club the other day as I heard they do circuit training - found out it's run by a fairly well known tennis coach and a couple of pro 19 year old russian tennis players go there - crazy as only a handful of people use it and anyone can go along.
The main reason for this is that the government basically dish out free money to any sports projects - as far as I can tell pretty much every project gets money if they ask. As an example, a town near me cannot afford to pay for police cars to be serviced so the police have to walk and take the bus, yet, they are building a brand new kids adventure area with tennis courts and football pitch. Crazy!
The thinking is that the priority of the government is to provide for the people & the relative cost of this projects + benefits they bring is nothing compared to the money wasted on inefficiency and general government guff. They have a point.
Another consequence is that the average joe (or average Juan) prob does more sport as facilities are around you all the time.
See no reason why the same thing wouldn't work in the UK. Could prob organise it better there too, to ensure a better spread of facilities.
elyid
Milija Aleksic
I like that team too - I just worry we will have to wait until however replaces Roy.
Would even be happy to see Carroll instead of Rooney - at least he looked like he was trying his hardest and really wanted to do well.
southstand1882
Mitchell Thomas
Seen it yet?
Classic, nob out!
chancer
Gudni Bergsson
Reminds me of the famous Speedo Man at the basketball game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PEXG0mZKcw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PEXG0mZKcw&feature=related
