Football - Euro 2020 Championship

guitars4you

So which country do you think will win

I think it will be hard to ignore France + Belgium - Man U fans can watch France and see how good Pogba can be, again, when he wears a different shirt 

Not sure how good some of the old favourites are today like Holland, Germany, Spain and Italy 

There is often a dark horse who comes out of the box and exceeds all expectation

Hard to see England doing anything other than flattering to deceive - Yet with exciting talent like Foden, Mount and Grealish we could offer more, but somehow feel they won't be let off the leash - Not sure why an un-fit/not played for months Henderson is there and probably add Maguire to that - How many times do we take injured players to such tournaments with a passion to play them and get let down 

Silly question - So Southgate left Lingard out of the final squad selection, but will start in a build up friendly against Austria tonight - WHY - WHAT LOGIC IS THAT - Lingard can either think why the f*ck should I even bother - Or indeed play a blinder and for what 

France/Germany and Portugal are certainly in the kiss of death group 

Back to the original question - Who will win - Belgium 

Legionreturns

Brazil

guitars4you

Legionreturns said:

Brazil

I was expecting the first reply to be something along the lines of either, I don't give a damn, or indeed Wales or Scotland 

Hattigol

guitars4you said:

Silly question - So Southgate left Lingard out of the final squad selection, but will start in a build up friendly against Austria tonight - WHY - WHAT LOGIC IS THAT - Lingard can either think why the f*ck should I even bother - Or indeed play a blinder and for what 

I was just thinking exactly the same thing. What does he do if he bags a hatrick?

If I was Lingard, I'd tell him to stick it.

He said he was going to pick players on form - and doesn't pick him? Crackers...

And as for picking injured players, do we never learn?

That all said.....I think we will win it.

MagicPigDetective

Wales. Bale to go on the rampage, win the final in Roy of the Rovers style, then retire and spend the rest of his life worshipped as a demi-god........(wakes up from a dream). Seriously, if we can have a tournament anywhere near as memorable as 2016 I’ll be happy.

Can’t see past France and Portugal myself. They’re in the same group, will knock out Germany. Could they meet again in the final? 

guitars4you

Hattigol said:

guitars4you said:

Silly question - So Southgate left Lingard out of the final squad selection, but will start in a build up friendly against Austria tonight - WHY - WHAT LOGIC IS THAT - Lingard can either think why the f*ck should I even bother - Or indeed play a blinder and for what 

I was just thinking exactly the same thing. What does he do if he bags a hatrick?

If I was Lingard, I'd tell him to stick it.

He said he was going to pick players on form - and doesn't pick him? Crackers...

And as for picking injured players, do we never learn?

That all said.....I think we will win it.

Is that a serious answer or your cheeky answer ?

We aren't crap - But to many times we flatter to deceive for many different reasons - Keep Sterling away from the starting line up - ditto the walking wounded - Don't need Rice and Phillips so 1 only 

back 3 - Walker - Stone - Coady - assume H not available
2 wing backs - probably Chilwell and James
Holding - Rice 
Midfield/creative - Mount  Foden  Grealish
Forward - Kane and Rashford (don't play him wide)

earwighoney

guitars4you said:

So which country do you think will win

I think it will be hard to ignore France + Belgium - Man U fans can watch France and see how good Pogba can be, again, when he wears a different shirt 

Not sure how good some of the old favourites are today like Holland, Germany, Spain and Italy 

There is often a dark horse who comes out of the box and exceeds all expectation

Hard to see England doing anything other than flattering to deceive - Yet with exciting talent like Foden, Mount and Grealish we could offer more, but somehow feel they won't be let off the leash - Not sure why an un-fit/not played for months Henderson is there and probably add Maguire to that - How many times do we take injured players to such tournaments with a passion to play them and get let down 

Silly question - So Southgate left Lingard out of the final squad selection, but will start in a build up friendly against Austria tonight - WHY - WHAT LOGIC IS THAT - Lingard can either think why the f*ck should I even bother - Or indeed play a blinder and for what 

France/Germany and Portugal are certainly in the kiss of death group 

Back to the original question - Who will win - Belgium 

I can't see Belgium winning unless KDB is firing on all cylinders, will he recover in time? IMO, it seems unlikely.

Pogba has been excellent this year, but for France he's in a whole different category.  Like from the Sack OGS discussion, it's what happens when he plays along a proper defensive midfielder, and I've been saying for a long time Kante is as good as it gets.

The England squad is a good one, but I'm a little perplexed for why Southgate would choose to so many right backs and off set the balance of the squad.

I'm not massively bothered about who will win the tournament, but I'm really looking forward to seeing a few teams play who haven't qualified for a major tournament in a long time.

With Covid things being in the balance, more importantly I hope there can be fans at as many games as is possible.

axisus

For once I'm quite excited about our squad, I've only felt this positive a couple of times before in my life. 

Maguire/Henderson - pointless inclusions for me. We have proved in the past that sort of thing doesn't work.

Lingard - you can't really comment without knowing the conversations. I'd have had him in the squad I think.

Who will win? No idea, I don't follow other teams outside of tournaments so I have no clue as to who is good right now. I'd love Scotland to have a surprise good tournament, lose to us of course but hang in there and get a good run.

Legionreturns

Iro England; we've had a problem for years now, with mega money players that can't or won't put the same level of commitment/ effort into internationals that they do for their clubs. 

I therefore expect a slightly above average squad that thinks they're all world class to look thoroughly mediocre against fairly average squads, and be played off the park by good teams. 

It's not all bad though. I tend to enjoy tournaments much more once England are knocked out ("were cheated / unlucky") 

It's ESL syndrome. 

Hattigol

It was genuine. I think England will win it.

guitars4you

Just looked at our squad again - Looks a bit short in the midfield option

Take out a not match fit Henderson - Not even sure if KP's shoulder injury has fully recovered - Rice as the holding player, then no back up for Grealish, Mount and Foden - Unless Southgate is planning on James or AA in a right midfield format - Looked so easy for Lingard to be part of the attacking midfield who can play on the right

TBH I don't know/see what his opening line up is - based on the squad and previous matches

russpm

I never know why England persist in taking crocked players to a major tournament. It never works out. Play your fit and best-in form players. If a top player is only 90% fit and also isn’t match sharp then that results in a massive gulf in this level of football. The end result is one inevitable.
Despite that I believe England have an outside chance of making the final if everything lands ‘jam side up’. 

EricTheWeary

Italy, buoyed on by their success in Eurovision. 
(they should really dominate their group at least)

England should do well in their group and give us some false hope for a while.

Coming from Wolverhampton we have effectively been part Portugese for the last few years so I'd like to see them do well. 

France are the bookies favourites at the moment, tough group for them so if they win that they've got to look good to win. Happy memories of being in Bayeux the day they won the world cup, watching it on a big TV with other tourists then the whole town went mental for hours and hours and hours. They may have started work on another tapestry depicting the victory.   

     

Jackobean

guitars4you said:

Silly question - So Southgate left Lingard out of the final squad selection, but will start in a build up friendly against Austria tonight - WHY - WHAT LOGIC IS THAT - Lingard can either think why the f*ck should I even bother - Or indeed play a blinder and for what 

Not sure if this has been addressed yet, but further changes to the squad can be made until just before our first match (due to injury or illness). You'd hope Southgate would consider using this allowance, given that many of our players are just returning from long term injury/fitness issues, but I doubt it.

Nitefly

axisus said:

For once I'm quite excited about our squad, I've only felt this positive a couple of times before in my life. 

Maguire/Henderson - pointless inclusions for me. We have proved in the past that sort of thing doesn't work.

Lingard - you can't really comment without knowing the conversations. I'd have had him in the squad I think.

Who will win? No idea, I don't follow other teams outside of tournaments so I have no clue as to who is good right now. I'd love Scotland to have a surprise good tournament, lose to us of course but hang in there and get a good run.

Agreed on all counts.

RaymondLin

He is going to play 3 center backs, one of them being James or Walker, with McGuire being not match fit.

Meaning there will be technically 2 right backs on the pitch, one of them will not be playing their natural role for their club, meaning out of position.

I think we are going to be disappointed, Half the team is out of form at the moment.  Rashford hasn't been on his game for a couple of months, nor has Henderson or Calvin-Lewin.  Only Kane has scored consistently and i am unsure of his headspace with all the transfer stuff going on.

McSwaggerty

Hattigol said:

It was genuine. I think England will win it.

Many English Fans, TV pundits, Ex Footballing Celebs etc expect England to win every single tounament that they take part in   
The further they progress, the more the hype - until they eventually crash out and the whole country goes into mourning and demanding the manager be sacked.

Hattigol

McSwaggerty said:

Hattigol said:

It was genuine. I think England will win it.

Many English Fans, TV pundits, Ex Footballing Celebs etc expect England to win every single tounament that they take part in   
The further they progress, the more the hype - until they eventually crash out and the whole country goes into mourning and demanding the manager be sacked.

Yeah, I know how it works.
But I can express an opinion without joining the boneheads calling for sackings when it all goes pear-shaped....can't I?

RaymondLin

Kane needs to score lots.
Foden needs to create and score lots.

Our defence needs to hold up and i don't think it does, all this talk of having too many world class right backs is pointless when our center backs are not on the top of their game.

I think our midfield is weak.  Sterling is not the player he was last season, Henderson is off his game too.  Rice is not world-class. Phillips, I like Phillips but he is also not tested enough at the highest level having played just 1 season in the PL and never in Europe.

I think our goalie is also a bit suspect, Pickford in goal doesn't give me confidence.  He looks like he is going to make a mistake everytime the ball goes near him.

axisus

McSwaggerty said:

Many English Fans, TV pundits, Ex Footballing Celebs etc expect England to win every single tounament that they take part in   

Not at all.
For a negative, self-depreciating nation we are incessantly optimistic about football. Nobody ever actually thinks we are going to win, that is just a lazy comment that gets perpetually trotted out. Hope springs eternal!

munckee

RaymondLin said:

Kane needs to score lots.
Foden needs to create and score lots.

Our defence needs to hold up and i don't think it does, all this talk of having too many world class right backs is pointless when our center backs are not on the top of their game.

I think our midfield is weak.  Sterling is not the player he was last season, Henderson is off his game too.  Rice is not world-class. Phillips, I like Phillips but he is also not tested enough at the highest level having played just 1 season in the PL and never in Europe.

I think our goalie is also a bit suspect, Pickford in goal doesn't give me confidence.  He looks like he is going to make a mistake everytime the ball goes near him.

This is the issue, we don't have a good enough defence against the better teams.

Realistically I thin kwe have a tough group, we could easily lose to Croatia and Czech Republic and Scotland will play their best game against us for sure.  If we win our group we might make the semi otherwise early cabs for the squad.