Euro 2016

cambsno

cambsno

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I know there is a football thread but thought one specifically about the tournament would be good, especially as at some point the football one will close and next seasons open up.

Now, this is a serious post - not trolling - but I really do think that England can win this! Defence is flaky but we have a great keeper, and our midfield and attack is pretty good. Think Us, Germany, France and Spain will get to the semis.
 
I am well prepared. I have the Germany home shirt, the Germany away shirt and the Spain home shirt. I will be in Spain during some of the tournament and am looking forward to seeing Germany triumph.
 
I think England could win it, but expect to be knocked out in the semi's.
I reckon Croatia have a decent outside chance.
 
OldCarlos said:
I think England could win it, but expect to be knocked out in the semi's.
I reckon Croatia have a decent outside chance.
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Ricardodaforce said:
I am well prepared. I have the Germany home shirt, the Germany away shirt and the Spain home shirt. I will be in Spain during some of the tournament and am looking forward to seeing Germany triumph.
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Although heart says England the head says Germany - I think we will play Spain in the Semis so that will be tough and could be the end of the road. Germans have to be favourites - although disappointed Timo Horn has not gone as 2nd choice keeper, he is excellent.
 
Lots of people were saying England had a chance of winning the last world cup.........

They finished bottom of the group!
 
Swissy said:
Lots of people were saying England had a chance of winning the last world cup.........

They finished bottom of the group!
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We have Kane and Vardy now, very good strikers - Alli looks excellent and Dier is the holding mid we have been craving.
 
cambsno said:
We have Kane and Vardy now, very good strikers - Alli looks excellent and Dier is the holding mid we have been craving.
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Problem is, Kane seems to play best as central in a front 3, whereas Vardy plays best in a traditional 4-4-2 and struggled on the wing against Turkey.
So we may not be able to (effectively) play both together, although having tactical options is no bad thing.

Agree that building a squad around the Spurs players is a good idea. International football gives precious little time to build relationships so being able to carry that understanding from club to country should yield better results.
They key will be if Hodgson can resist the temptation to pick a best 11 and then try to fit them into a formation, rather than choosing his tactics then picking players to suit.
 
Llamaman said:
Problem is, Kane seems to play best as central in a front 3, whereas Vardy plays best in a traditional 4-4-2 and struggled on the wing against Turkey.
So we may not be able to (effectively) play both together, although having tactical options is no bad thing.

Agree that building a squad around the Spurs players is a good idea. International football gives precious little time to build relationships so being able to carry that understanding from club to country should yield better results.
They key will be if Hodgson can resist the temptation to pick a best 11 and then try to fit them into a formation, rather than choosing his tactics then picking players to suit.
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But England managers have a habit that's proving difficult to break. I used to blame the press for this outlook, but I think a strong enough manager does the right thing even if it's not a popular choice.
 
Hodgson should have gone after the world cup debacle, instead he'll just go when England fail again this time.
 
While I would love to see England do well and, as a 'born n bred' Leicester lad I am loving Vardy's 'journey' I feel once we face the better teams we will discover we are not as good as we think we are. Mentally I think we are losers once we face the likes of Germany/Spain/italy in tournament football. I so want to be proved wrong . . . .
 
badlywornroy said:
While I would love to see England do well and, as a 'born n bred' Leicester lad I am loving Vardy's 'journey' I feel once we face the better teams we will discover we are not as good as we think we are. Mentally I think we are losers once we face the likes of Germany/Spain/italy in tournament football. I so want to be proved wrong . . . .
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I make you right there!

Not a football "fan" as such but a casual Spurs supporter. I'll probably watch the England games but won't be too upset by the outcome either way.

Suppose I'm still scarred as a 9 year old watching Maradona cheating us out of World Cup 1986 and then Gazza and his waterworks in Italia 90 :LOL:

It's be great to see England get some international silverware but you've hit the nail on the head with the mental aspect when faceing Germany/Spain/Italy.

As an avid cricket fan England used to be the same when they faced the Aussies, it was like they just turned up to make up the numbers and the fate of the game had been decided without a ball being bowled.

Like you I would love to be proved wrong!
 
I've seen Denmark and Greece win this tournament in my lifetime, so there should always be an expectancy to see england win it; they're no worse than either of those winners.
 
nickEnackEnoo said:
I've seen Denmark and Greece win this tournament in my lifetime, so there should always be an expectancy to see england win it; they're no worse than either of those winners.
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Absolutely.

I saw a tweet earlier quoting Hodgson as saying that Euro 16 may come too soon for Rashford. That would be a shame as I think we need to play in-form players.
 
badlywornroy said:
Of course a 'dark horse' can always win it. I think the difference is Denmark & Greece had no expectations and effectively less pressure. England always have expectations from within & without due in no doubt to our media and the high profile worldwide of the premier league.
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And the fact that we won the World Cup 50 years ago which seems to have given us some chance of winning every WC/Euro since :LOL:

Maybe we were like Greece & Denmark? ;)
 
When is this competition? And, more to the point, when are the British teams playing? Not so I can watch it (I suppose I'd know the answers if that was the reason!) but so we can avoid areas where it'll be shown if it's while we're on holiday (or, again more to the point, avoid the possibility of encountering Brits on the poness on tour 2016...)
 
England won't do any good in the Euro's, they only qualified because they never played any decent sides, Hodgson ain't gotta clue and as already said he should have been sacked long ago and replaced with a new 'English' manager, you only have to look at the players he's picked.... Lallana Henderson Wilshire and old man Rooney, Danny Rose is a ball watcher and will make vital mistakes in the matches, so we got no chance... he needs to play Rashford but he won't. I've put my money on other teams to win it, anyway I'm still looking forward to watching all the matches.
 
Swissy said:
Hodgson should have gone after the world cup debacle, instead he'll just go when England fail again this time.
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But he has now managed to put together, arguably the best looking England starting team in decades. He has of course been helped by the talent available, but other England managers had that chance in the past with players such as Le Tissier, and failed to take them.
 
andy700 said:
But he has now managed to put together, arguably the best looking England starting team in decades. He has of course been helped by the talent available, but other England managers had that chance in the past with players such as Le Tissier, and failed to take them.
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I'll eat a slice of humble pie with lashings of custard if we win it, i won't hold my breath though ;)
 
Swissy said:
I'll eat a slice of humble pie with lashings of custard if we win it, i won't hold my breath though ;)
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That would be offal...
 
Swissy said:
I'll eat a slice of humble pie with lashings of custard if we win it, i won't hold my breath though ;)
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We won't win it, nor should we expect to (look at our FIFA ranking), but the least we should expect is to give it a good go. Unlike the damp squib that was our World Cup debacle.
 
What we need to do (as per Henry Winter) is play without fear.

Only then will we be able to compete with the 'big boys' et al Germany, Spain, France, Italy. Mentally we have far too much baggage against the best teams accrued over the last 50 years of tournament football.
 
Oh dear... Roy has dropped a clanger here.

Drinkwater is on form, and a great replacement shoud Dier find himself at CB or injured/suspended. Maybe playing with Dier in some games.

Townsend is the one player we have with pace on the wing who will run at teams, the perfect impact sub.

Should have dropped Henderson (pointless player when we have Lallana, Milner & Wilshire too) and Sterling (poor form) or possibly Wilshire (fitness) or Sturridge (fitness and maybe attitude).
 
Disappointed to see Drinkwater didn't make the team. I read somewhere that this season he has the highest number of tackles and 2nd highest completed passes of any English midfielder, was MoM on his England debut and has played almost every game of a Premier league title-winning campaign. But apparently that's not good enough. :confused:
 
Llamaman said:
Disappointed to see Drinkwater didn't make the team. I read somewhere that this season he has the highest number of tackles and 2nd highest completed passes of any English midfielder, was MoM on his England debut and has played almost every game of a Premier league title-winning campaign. But apparently that's not good enough. :confused:
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Can someone please explain how Henderson is a better player than Drinkwater (because I cant work it out!)
 
Used to love football as a kid (tomboy and local team managers kids went to my school so had players do PE with us!), but went off the whole thing years ago - but dip in occasionally (went to see the women's team play in Bristol) but I'm going to be watching Iceland as well as England. I might make a bet on Iceland, just cos :)
 
Another disappointing performance from England yesterday. Yes they won, and yes Portugal are ranked higher than us by FIFA (although that ranking would presumably be based on playing with 11 men including Ronaldo). But it's so painfully obvious that Roy Hodgson is continuing to play payers out of position, and thereby nullifying the reasons that got them into the squad in the first place. Vardy didn't score all those goals from the wing. Kane didn't score all those goals by taking corners. Alli didn't put in such a string of great performances by playing out wide. But Hodgson is forcing them into unfamiliar positions in order to accommodate Rooney, and it isn't working.

One obvious solution is to drop Rooney. But I have another idea.

Recently I was re-reading 'All Played Out' by Pete Davies. It's a great book about the Italia 1990 World Cup, and without doubt the best football book I have ever read. Highly recommended if you haven't read it. But anyway in the book Davies describes how England accidentally hit on their best formation. After the 1-1 draw against Ireland, our next opponents were Holland, and manager Bobby Robson was worried about the Dutch attacking threat. So he decided to play an entirely new formation, with 3 centre backs (Terry Butcher, Mark Wright, Des Walker). His idea was that 5 at the back would give us a solid defensive platform, but the surprising effect was that it allowed the two full backs (Stuart Pearce and Paul Parker) to get forward much more easily. 5-4-1 turned into 3-4-3 very fluidly. We had the best of the game and deserved to win it.

Robson's formation:
Shilton / Parker - Butcher - Wright - Walker - Pearce / Barnes - Robson - Gascoigne - Waddle / Lineker

So could something like this work for England? Something like:
Hart / Walker - Stones - Cahill - Smalling - Rose / Alli - Dier - Rooney / Vardy - Kane
Or you could put Dier in the back three and use someone like Milner or Wilshire in midfield. Let's face it, we're not short of midfield options.

My thinking is that it would allow Walker and Rose to get forward without leaving the back too exposed. They would provide the width we need, so Vardy and Kane wouldn't get dragged all over the pitch. And everyone is playing more-or-less in their regular positions.

It might be a crap idea, but at least it's an idea. Roy Hodgson doesn't seem to have any.
 
Probably like every other tournament, big let down from our less than talented lot.

Usually this time of year most of them look like they want to spend their hard earned millions on a holiday and some bling for the orange coloured missus
 
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I only read a couple of lines from one source regarding the Portugal friendly and have come to the conclusion that England will fail and Rooney will get the blame, or hodgson will for playing him.
 
I think England can win it.

Possibly 'could' is a better word but why not ?

Admittedly there are other teams that can also win it but I really do think they have a decent chance.
 
StewartR said:
Another disappointing performance from England yesterday. Yes they won, and yes Portugal are ranked higher than us by FIFA (although that ranking would presumably be based on playing with 11 men including Ronaldo). But it's so painfully obvious that Roy Hodgson is continuing to play payers out of position, and thereby nullifying the reasons that got them into the squad in the first place. Vardy didn't score all those goals from the wing. Kane didn't score all those goals by taking corners. Alli didn't put in such a string of great performances by playing out wide. But Hodgson is forcing them into unfamiliar positions in order to accommodate Rooney, and it isn't working.

One obvious solution is to drop Rooney. But I have another idea.

Recently I was re-reading 'All Played Out' by Pete Davies. It's a great book about the Italia 1990 World Cup, and without doubt the best football book I have ever read. Highly recommended if you haven't read it. But anyway in the book Davies describes how England accidentally hit on their best formation. After the 1-1 draw against Ireland, our next opponents were Holland, and manager Bobby Robson was worried about the Dutch attacking threat. So he decided to play an entirely new formation, with 3 centre backs (Terry Butcher, Mark Wright, Des Walker). His idea was that 5 at the back would give us a solid defensive platform, but the surprising effect was that it allowed the two full backs (Stuart Pearce and Paul Parker) to get forward much more easily. 5-4-1 turned into 3-4-3 very fluidly. We had the best of the game and deserved to win it.

Robson's formation:
Shilton / Parker - Butcher - Wright - Walker - Pearce / Barnes - Robson - Gascoigne - Waddle / Lineker

So could something like this work for England? Something like:
Hart / Walker - Stones - Cahill - Smalling - Rose / Alli - Dier - Rooney / Vardy - Kane
Or you could put Dier in the back three and use someone like Milner or Wilshire in midfield. Let's face it, we're not short of midfield options.

My thinking is that it would allow Walker and Rose to get forward without leaving the back too exposed. They would provide the width we need, so Vardy and Kane wouldn't get dragged all over the pitch. And everyone is playing more-or-less in their regular positions.

It might be a crap idea, but at least it's an idea. Roy Hodgson doesn't seem to have any.
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Could work, although my preference right now would be:

Hart / Walker - Cahill - Smalling - Rose / Dier / Wilshire - Rooney / Alli / Vardy - Kane
 
After years of watching England and the same things happening time and time again, I've completely lost interest with them I sad to say. I used to love international tournaments but now I might watch them if they're on and I'm not busy with anything else. I'm probably more likely to watch Germany or Spain tbh.
 
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