Thread: Euro 2008

A good championship, some excellent games - worthy champions and gracious losers.


Brilliant stuff!!!

Makes a nice change from the talentless Germans boring the other team into submission.

If they had continued to fight like they did at the beginning of the second half they had a chance. As tehy didn't I agree, they deserved to lose for lack of effort.

Germany done well to get to the final and played some great football along the way, they didn't threaten Spain enough yesterday and after going one nil down you would have thought they would have been on flat out attack considering it was the final.
Spain's Defence was a massive factor in this championship, they were amazing only conceding 3 goals in the whole championship.
Germany didn't do enough last night and no doubt will have Beckenbauer fuming again.
To quote Franz Beckenbauer from a previous Euro Championship failure.....
Put the entire German team into a sack and kick it, it doesn't matter who you hit, he deserved it!!!!
CLASSIC QUOTE FROM A LEGEND!!!

Originally Posted by Crunchie

I think I will go for Spain, the bottle merchants.

I really must start putting money on these things!

The Euro's just wasn't the same without the English there.

I mean not a single plastic chair was thrown. Just not right.

^
That is very true, I did miss that side of things, it was always good viewing on the news the off pitch battles did make the tournaments seem all the more patriotic

I knew someone would miss us

No head-shaven, tattooed thugs complaining about police brutality and that 'it was them who dunnit, guv' headlines in the Sun . . .

Ah yes, what a peaceful tournament

Originally Posted by panama hat

No head-shaven, tattooed thugs complaining about police brutality and that 'it was them who dunnit, guv' headlines in the Sun . . .

Ah yes, what a peaceful tournament

Ahh good old stereotypes you just have to love them.......

Originally Posted by panama hat

No head-shaven, tattooed thugs complaining about police brutality and that 'it was them who dunnit, guv' headlines in the Sun . . .

Ah yes, what a peaceful tournament

Tory, 'Tim nice but dim' comment.

Any footie tournament without England is devalued even if we were crap: but we weren't! The only reason we weren't there was destined due to Mclaren's inadequacy in deploying a rookie goalkeeper against Croatia; should of been David James. We also slaughtered Russia at home and were the better team away for an hour before capitulation....again Mclaren lacking inspiration and blinded in the foglights.

Anyway, Glad the Spanish beat the krauts.

Originally Posted by CB79

Originally Posted by panama hat

No head-shaven, tattooed thugs complaining about police brutality and that 'it was them who dunnit, guv' headlines in the Sun . . .

Ah yes, what a peaceful tournament

Ahh good old stereotypes you just have to love them.......

Ah, but ever so apt.

As for pompeybloke . . . accept it, England are second tier until they have more local players in the top flight.
Excuses and what-if's just don't cut it

I agree that Carson shouldn not have played in the game against Croatia but if England were the world class team you think they are they would have already qualified before that game and the last game would have just been a formality.
I agree also with Panama Hat that England are currently a second tier side and it is due to the amount of foreigners in the premiership limitting chances for the English players and with alot of foreign managers in the league they don't care what nationalities the players are.
Not many players from the Championship will get a look in for the England squad because they are not in the premiership, they get overlooked which is sad as there is alot of talent in the championship and managers in the premiership tend to look abroad to strengthen their squads

Never said I thought England were world class, who is? Germany? They got to the final, and they're pants, Ballack aside. Russia stuffed Portugal as did Croatia Germany. Croatia out played Englsnd over both games and could do that to anyone in the world. It's the cream of the former Yugoslavia who were always a class act. England's first team are 1st tier despite your negativity, but there is a problem in depth for the reasons stated above regarding the EPL.

Croatia have been around a long time now, the majority of players now were never involved with Yugoslavia so that connection is out of the window.
I wouldn't say England's first team are 1st tier, they have some class players but also alot of over rated players.
John Terry, Gerrard and Lampard are all class players but what about the others??
England's first choice Keeper? James, Robinson, Hart or Carson? no real top quality.
Defenders Terry and Ferdinand a decent pair, then Woodgate, Warnock, Wheater,Cole, Johnson and Bridge - not makings of world class back four.
Midfield - England's strongest positiion although Lampard doesn;t seem to do it on international level, Gerrard is quality but then who else? Downing, Bentley, Beckham?? Beckham was class but how much longer will he play?
Strikers a big problem - Michael Owen looks like he will never be as good as he was and always hamperd by injury, Rooney also not what he used to be. Defoe never gets a chance which I think is a shame as he is a decent striker, Crouch makes me laugh even watching him warm up on the sidelines!! he has a head like a 50p coin and the touch of a rapist!! Time will tell about Theo Walcott although he does look to have the makings of a great player.
Unless there is an influx of young English talent the English team will fail to deliver the success it's supporters crave so much, At the moment the future looks dull.

Negativity? Not at all, no reason to be - I watch the EPL . . . well, there is little else on satellite.
I'd still disagree about England being first tier - no way, and as for Germany, well they are a lot more than Ballack - just look at Podolski, Klose, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and the rest.
Just because they don't play in the EPL doesn't mean they are not top notch as individuals nor as a unit.
Red Dragon has gone down the player's list for England quite nicely, nothing mre to add except maybe that Gerrard is the only player I believe is world class.

Originally Posted by panama hat

Originally Posted by CB79

Originally Posted by panama hat

No head-shaven, tattooed thugs complaining about police brutality and that 'it was them who dunnit, guv' headlines in the Sun . . .

Ah yes, what a peaceful tournament

Ahh good old stereotypes you just have to love them.......

Ah, but ever so apt.

As for pompeybloke . . . accept it, England are second tier until they have more local players in the top flight.
Excuses and what-if's just don't cut it

So I assume from that then you have seen England fans close up and are not just taking your beliefs from the, some might say, biased media?

True, the only time I actually saw these morons in action was when I was working in Amsterdam and it was a club match . . . and I remember well ordinary English fans running for safety from their own lager louts.

By the same token may I assume that you are denying the existence of these 'fans'?

Originally Posted by panama hat

True, the only time I actually saw these morons in action was when I was working in Amsterdam and it was a club match . . . and I remember well ordinary English fans running for safety from their own lager louts.

By the same token may I assume that you are denying the existence of these 'fans'?

Of course not. However the % of said fans of that ilk that now attend England games is pretty minimal.

This is through a variety of reasons but the main being the high amount of banning orders and travel restrictions that are now placed on English (and Welsh) fans.

In fact when was there major disorder at England matches? WC '06? No. Euro '04? No. You will probably have to go back to France '98 when it last kicked off proper and that wasn't just down to the English as the local Arab population in Marseille were more than happy to have a pop when tooled up.

There has been a lot more trouble with German, Polish, Turks and Dutch fans at the last two major tournaments but this is not headline news whereas anything involving us IS.

I am not saying we are Saints but there is an awful lot worse out there at the present time.

We will still more than hold our own though.

Originally Posted by navydoubs1977

RD
i think the back 4 is about our strongest area, terry ferdinand cole and micah richards, is a fantrastic back 4, look at the italian defence and the spanish i wouldnt consider theres any better than that 4,
midfield- huge snags, beckham as much as i love the guy, i could out sprint him, he should spend every mi of everyday doing free kicks and corners, he can get in the team on that ability alone. gerrard - i dont get it i just dont, i must miss something with him, yes hes determined and must have genuine quality but why dont we see it more often. lampard - once again read gerrard, but worse. cole to bloody small not fast enough.
strikers - i watched theo walcott as a kid 16-17 at southampton out of this world, yes it wasnt epl, but he was amazing so confident. now i hear he has confidence issues, how???
rooney- where have you gone young wayne, this is the 18yo who destroyed teams where is he now??
owen - finished
so i think in time the strikers with a confident walcott could be fantastic defence is there but midfield infuriates me!!!

team should be in my opinion.

gk - james
lb- cole
rb - richards
cb - terry
cb- ferdinand
lm - barry (left footer and played there for yrs, can cross a ball and get back when needs too, so cole can overlap)
rm - bentley or lennon if he ever hets back to full fitness.
cm - hargreaves (guy was outstanding at the world cup) had a bad injury but will be back
cm - i would give beckham a run here, he loves playing it and with a lack of pace now wouldnt be left in a mess, he can tackle too, and has hargreaves there to help him
fw - rooney
fw - walcott

So let me get this right you would play a central midfelder on the left, a right midfielder in the middle, a right winger who hardly played for his club side last season and a young inexperienced striker up front whilst leaving out Gerrard, Lampard and Owen?

Each to their own I suppose.

can't do worse, really . . .


As for our discussion vis-a-vis the thugs . . . luckily we didn't get to see the bad side of English football . . . but you are wrong when you say that other country's idiots don't get coverage . . . there just aren't as many as over the manche. having said that, you are quite right about effective policing.

Originally Posted by CB79

So let me get this right you would play a central midfelder on the left,

Barry is a natural left midfielder. He's being played out of position in the middle of the park.

Becks has had his time though.

Something that has bugged me for a while is the state of our hugely talented attacking youngsters like Owen & Rooney. Why do they destroy teams when they are young and then lose it? Is is due to other teams getting cute to them or are they having their natural ability coached out of them?

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by CB79

So let me get this right you would play a central midfelder on the left,

Barry is a natural left midfielder. He's being played out of position in the middle of the park.

Becks has had his time though.

Something that has bugged me for a while is the state of our hugely talented attacking youngsters like Owen & Rooney. Why do they destroy teams when they are young and then lose it? Is is due to other teams getting cute to them or are they having their natural ability coached out of them?

Personally, would say that he is much more of a central midfielder nowadays as his already limited pace is a negative and he is much more comfortable when he is on the ball and can link the midfield with the attack.

Owen unfortunately is too injury prone which has taken the edge off his pace and even when he is fit is too inconsistent. On his day he can still be a world beater but unfortunately that day is too few and far inbetween.

Rooney I still think will come good and it was positive to hear Capello saying that he wants to get the best out of him but outside of that we are struggling.

Have to say that Crouch's record is good for England and if he gets regular football at Pompey this might bring him on leaps and bounds but their is still a question mark. Same for Defoe.

Walcott hopefully will also get some more first team football and break through this year and hopefully Ashton will stay fit and have a good season.

However, we are still a very average side at the moment and Capello has a lot of work to do to meet his promises of a World Cup semi final minimum etc.

Navydoubs Yes I would regard Spain's back four far superior to that of England's, They were one of the major factors as to why Spain won the championships only conceding 3 goals in the whole tournament.
UEFA named Carlos Puyol and Carlos Marchena in their team of the tournament and Sergio Ramos played out of position at right back and was outstanding!!!!
CB79 I did forget about Ashton earlier I do like him actually, very stong both in the air and on the ground, if he stays fit and gets a chance he could prove to be a valuable asset.