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Euro 2021


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6 hours ago, Belfast Owl 2 said:

 

If you look at the exciting games in the Euros then England arent there. In group stages you managed 3 goals in 3 games and didnt have a wealth of chances.

 

Southgates lineups have been defensive given wealth of attacking talent there.

 

I couldnt believe the lineup v a defensively weak German side but you won. Football tournament fine margins and all that

 

 

But thats the approach your manager has taken and he lives and dies by it

 

If it wins its pragmatic, if he loses then the criticism of  being too negative comes out.

 

So far its 5 wins and no goals conceded and there is a wave of euphoria in the country.

 

Kane also seems to be out of his box which is a huge boost.

 

But thats just a honest view looking in and I wouldnt worry what others think.  Enjoy the ride and dream of the prize.

 

Teams who do win, do have a bit of luck and do slog it out at times. France Wc98 and Brazil 2002 for instance

 

 

 

Seems a good honest assessment , to me Southgate has just simply refused to be drawn to playing all his best players . Too often in the past we’ve tried to shoehorn players in . Remember we played Scholes left wing. That’s to his credit , it may not be the best to watch but he’s built a team not individuals. 

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21 hours ago, new zealand owl said:

It's strange isn't it.  Lose to Denmark and Southgate will be roundly criticised for missing a great opportunity.  Everything is on a knife edge heading into Wednesday.  I am concerned about the feeling that Denmark have got our number after a recent win at Wembley but I think that's just my default 'can't get carried away' stance.

 

I have spoken to quite a few neutral fans at work (yes believe it or not there are quite a few kiwi knowledgeable fans plus a multicultural spread of other europeans etc) and most are saying us and Italy look like the strongest teams in the EURO's  by some distance.

 

I believe spirit and organisation will carry us through against Denmark in a tight game then my gut feeling is we will come up just short against Italy. 

 

I hope I'm wrong and we score a carlos alberto type goal to finish off a team move where all 11 players do rabonas and rainbow flicks before pickford finishes with aplomb with the outside of his right boot from 35 yards to complete the scoring in a 5-1 win in the final.

Tbf in that recent win at Wembley we played an hour with 10 men and Maguire’s head was back in that Greek nick. We will be a very different proposition on Wednesday, not that I expect it to be an easy game. 

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I think one of the issues around this game is that Denmark are rightly seen as everybody's 2nd favourite nation - and the awful incident and the totally insensitive UEFA response seems to have galvanised them to a position where they appear to believe winning is their destiny

 

I have been equally dismayed and impressed with us in this tournament and i think the 4-0 against a very poor Ukraine has spun a lot of heads

 

This is now the big test - a definitely winnable game at home - there can be no excuses

 

To not get to the final now will be a below par tournament - and i don't see how anybody can legitimately argue otherwise tbh

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Everyone other than us wants Denmark to win. Hope we break everybody's hearts and smash em obviously. Denmark do have that destiny feel about em though and it won't be as easy as tbe Ukraine game was at all. However, this team seems to be able to achieve things few England sides have done before, such as look comfortable on the ball. We absolutely destroyed Ukraine, if the Germans had done that we would be saying its typical Germany, for some reason our press and some fans are saying its cos Ukraine were crap. OK, they weren't amazing, but it was a quarter final against a team who were there on merit. Does my head in how every team we beat suddenly become crap, especially after the build ups where we're told what a dangerous proposition they are. 

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7 hours ago, scram said:

I think one of the issues around this game is that Denmark are rightly seen as everybody's 2nd favourite nation - and the awful incident and the totally insensitive UEFA response seems to have galvanised them to a position where they appear to believe winning is their destiny

 

I have been equally dismayed and impressed with us in this tournament and i think the 4-0 against a very poor Ukraine has spun a lot of heads

 

This is now the big test - a definitely winnable game at home - there can be no excuses

 

To not get to the final now will be a below par tournament - and i don't see how anybody can legitimately argue otherwise tbh

Agreed. You can’t lose to Denmark on your own ground in a semi final and see it as anything other than a huge opportunity missed. 

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17 minutes ago, latemodelchild said:

Everyone other than us wants Denmark to win. Hope we break everybody's hearts and smash em obviously. Denmark do have that destiny feel about em though and it won't be as easy as tbe Ukraine game was at all. However, this team seems to be able to achieve things few England sides have done before, such as look comfortable on the ball. We absolutely destroyed Ukraine, if the Germans had done that we would be saying its typical Germany, for some reason our press and some fans are saying its cos Ukraine were crap. OK, they weren't amazing, but it was a quarter final against a team who were there on merit. Does my head in how every team we beat suddenly become crap, especially after the build ups where we're told what a dangerous proposition they are. 

It’s usually bitter Scots trying to do us down. Ultimately Denmark will have next to zero support in the stands on Wednesday. That is a huge advantage to us.

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11 hours ago, scram said:

I think one of the issues around this game is that Denmark are rightly seen as everybody's 2nd favourite nation - and the awful incident and the totally insensitive UEFA response seems to have galvanised them to a position where they appear to believe winning is their destiny

 

I have been equally dismayed and impressed with us in this tournament and i think the 4-0 against a very poor Ukraine has spun a lot of heads

 

This is now the big test - a definitely winnable game at home - there can be no excuses

 

To not get to the final now will be a below par tournament - and i don't see how anybody can legitimately argue otherwise tbh


Bit of a harsh assessment. It’ll be disappointing for sure if we lose tomorrow but 5 clean sheets in a row with victories against Germany and Croatia along the way - fairly solid tournament?
 

Football is fine margins and while we’ve got the home advantage - Denmark are a good side.

Edited by SallyCinnamon
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I never said Denmark aren't good - but we're the 4th ranked team in the world and highest ranked left in the tournament

 

Denmark are a decent side - no more than that

 

But let's be serious - to lose to them at home in the semi-final will not just be disappointing it will signify underachieving

 

 

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1 minute ago, Belfast Owl 2 said:

 

England have Croatia, Scotland, Czechia, Germany ( a weak one) and Ukraine.

 

You can only beat whats in front of you but not tough run.

 

How have we not had a tough run with the World Cup finalists, Germany and our arch rivals in there? We have beat a lot more teams than them too they only have beat 3 teams

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3 minutes ago, Ellis Rimmer said:

How have we not had a tough run with the World Cup finalists, Germany and our arch rivals in there? We have beat a lot more teams than them too they only have beat 3 teams

 

Because Croatia are weaker than 2018 and Germany are weak by their normal standards. As for Scotland you are not rivals ability wise.

 

The knockout draw is very one sided and you have avoided Portugal, Spain, Italy , Belgium so far.

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Belfast Owl 2 said:

 

England have Croatia, Scotland, Czechia, Germany ( a weak one) and Ukraine.

 

You can only beat whats in front of you but not tough run.

 

 

I'd say that's about a normal run to a Euros semi. Not an easy one, not the hardest ever.

 

I also think people are underrating Croatia, Czech Republic, and Germany because England beat them.

 

Croatia went life and death with Spain, Germany hammered Portugal, and the Czechs were quarter finalists. 

 

Also before Ukraine there were lots of comments talking about how dangerous that game would be, coming off the high of Germany, and away from Wembley etc, but those comments haven't been maintained after. I said that if you think that beforehand (which I did) you then have to credit England after if they do come through it. But lots of people said 'oh I wouldn't be confident of England beating Ukraine because of x ,y, z' and then England do beat them and they say 'well Ukraine are terrible'. 

 

So its impossible for England to beat a good opponent in some people's eyes, because if England beat them, then they can't have been good. 

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3 minutes ago, Belfast Owl 2 said:

 

Because Croatia are weaker than 2018 and Germany are weak by their normal standards. As for Scotland you are not rivals ability wise.

 

The knockout draw is very one sided and you have avoided Portugal, Spain, Italy , Belgium so far.

 

 

Sorry we haven’t beat Brazil 70, Germany 90 and Barca 2009 already

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Just now, whatevertrevor said:

 

I'd say that's about a normal run to a Euros semi. Not an easy one, not the hardest ever.

 

I also think people are underrating Croatia, Czech Republic, and Germany because England beat them.

 

Croatia went life and death with Spain, Germany hammered Portugal, and the Czechs were quarter finalists. 

 

Also before Ukraine there were lots of comments talking about how dangerous that game would be, coming off the high of Germany, and away from Wembley etc, but those comments haven't been maintained after. I said that if you think that beforehand (which I did) you then have to credit England after if they do come through it. But lots of people said 'oh I wouldn't be confident of England beating Ukraine because of x ,y, z' and then England do beat them and they say 'well Ukraine are terrible'. 

 

So its impossible for England to beat a good opponent in some people's eyes, because if England beat them, then they can't have been good. 

 

Not at all.

 

Im not downplaying England but its been favourable compared to other side of knockout which has France Italy Spain Portugal Belgium in it. 

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6 minutes ago, Belfast Owl 2 said:

 

Not at all.

 

Im not downplaying England but its been favourable compared to other side of knockout which has France Italy Spain Portugal Belgium in it. 

 

Because we won our group. It wasn't handed to us. Having the Czechs and Croatia in our group was not an easy group. They were made to look limited by England I think and certainly looked a lot better in their other matches. 

 

It is the better half of the draw for sure. But would have counted for nothing if we didn't get past Germany, who I think were nowhere near as bad as some have said. Certainly good enough to dominate the Portuguese that you include in the list of teams we've managed to avoid. 

 

 

 

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