Efestivals Euro football thread

[Hugh Jass]

4 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

Very much this. Admit kept expecting us to be knocked out all the way through

Italians clear favourites for me but we are in a fucking final. Can't wait

 

Most often finals are dull affairs , but even if this one is then I will not notice 

Dunno if the Italians are clear favourites, they almost went out to Austria (fag paper offside call) and I maintain that with better forwards Spain would have beaten them. They are beatable and with Kane and Sterling we have the tools to do so.

I’d have them has slight favourites though. Maybe 55-45 in favour of Italy.

[Gromite]

I'm just trying to tell myself that whatever happens, we've had an incredible tournament. Saying that, I know that when the match starts, standing in Wembley, I'll be nervous as hell. 

Being at the Denmark game was one of the best games I've ever been to, and no matter what happens, it can't take that away.

We're going to our second ever major final, that still hasn't quite sunk in. And you know what, we can win, and I'll be devastated if we don't. Whatever happens, at least it's only 18 months till we go for the big one.

[Hugh Jass]

Think there’s a supporter’s club sale going on. Lad I know from West Brom who is a member has just managed to get one.

[Hugh Jass]

Remember the omens - England have never lost a major final.

[gooner1990]

11 minutes ago, fred quimby said:

Very much this. Admit kept expecting us to be knocked out all the way through

Italians clear favourites for me but we are in a fucking final. Can't wait

 

Most often finals are dull affairs , but even if this one is then I will not notice 

I thought we might struggle v Germany....Ukraine I was confident and I didn't expect us to make such hard work of the Denmark game either (own goal and a soft penalty which was saved and luckily rebounded straight back to Kane!)

[st dan]

I’d say there is more pressure playing in a semi final than a final - especially one we were expected to win like vs Denmark. 
On Sunday, I think the fact we have no real expectations on our shoulders plus it being held at a charged up Wembley makes us slight favourites in what is a very even match on paper. I think the Italians are maybe worrying more than us at this moment. 

[Hugh Jass]

5 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

I thought we might struggle v Germany....Ukraine I was confident and I didn't expect us to make such hard work of the Denmark game either (own goal and a soft penalty which was saved and luckily rebounded straight back to Kane!)

Thing is though we battered Denmark. They were playing for penalties from half time onwards. I actually thought Southgate should have been a little more adventurous during the second half with his subs and the maybe we wouldn’t have needed ET.

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, st dan said:

I’d say there is more pressure playing in a semi final than a final - especially one we were expected to win like vs Denmark. 
On Sunday, I think the fact we have no real expectations on our shoulders plus it being held at a charged up Wembley makes us slight favourites in what is a very even match on paper. I think the Italians are maybe worrying more than us at this moment. 

It’s good that the two undisputed best teams in the tournament are contesting the final.

[fred quimby]

16 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Dunno if the Italians are clear favourites, they almost went out to Austria (fag paper offside call) and I maintain that with better forwards Spain would have beaten them. They are beatable and with Kane and Sterling we have the tools to do so.

I’d have them has slight favourites though. Maybe 55-45 in favour of Italy.

I hear you, think it's my coping mechanism though.

 

Spain with a world class striker would have stuffed them, and sadly us. They were glorious to watch in the semis. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by fred quimby

[st dan]

Just now, Hugh Jass said:

It’s good that the two undisputed best teams in the tournament are contesting the final.

Yep absolutely, and the fact that both teams have had to beat strong sides in the knockout stages to get here (albeit Italy’s route has been more difficult than ours). 

[Hugh Jass]

Thing I struggle with the most these days is that England are good now, like genuinely good, like one of the best in the world good…

I lived through the shit show that was the early 90’s (seriously the spell between Italia 90 and Euro 96 was fucking bleak), the awfulness the Golden Generation - WAGs, self interest and most of the players being c**ts and whatever the hell Hodgson was meant to be.

This is uncharted territory now.

[jyoung]

Lots of chat on this thread the last month. Understandably more people are interested in tournament football but I hope some of you will join us over here for the new season in August?! Word of warning, depending on how well they are doing, you might have to interact with Liverpool fans. 

 

[st dan]

3 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Thing I struggle with the most these days is that England are good now, like genuinely good, like one of the best in the world good…

I lived through the shit show that was the early 90’s (seriously the spell between Italia 90 and Euro 96 was fucking bleak), the awfulness the Golden Generation - WAGs, self interest and most of the players being c**ts and whatever the hell Hodgson was meant to be.

This is uncharted territory now.

Yeah - it’s a bit much to compute at times isn’t it!! Plus the fact that our conveyor belt of young talent is showing no signs of stopping, we may have to get used to this for a while! 
In fact to add to this, I think a side made of our subs bench/injured/not selected players could probably expect to get to a semi final too!

Edited July 9, 2021 by st dan

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, jyoung said:

Lots of chat on this thread the last month. Understandably more people are interested in tournament football but I hope some of you will join us over here for the new season in August?! Word of warning, depending on how well they are doing, you might have to interact with Liverpool fans. 

 

Don’t do it!!

It’s just United, Liverpool and City fans bickering!

[jyoung]

Just now, Hugh Jass said:

Don’t do it!!

It’s just United, Liverpool and City fans bickering!

Exactly why I am on the recruitment call out.

[gooner1990]

6 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Thing I struggle with the most these days is that England are good now, like genuinely good, like one of the best in the world good…

I lived through the shit show that was the early 90’s (seriously the spell between Italia 90 and Euro 96 was fucking bleak), the awfulness the Golden Generation - WAGs, self interest and most of the players being c**ts and whatever the hell Hodgson was meant to be.

This is uncharted territory now.

First tournament I watched was Italia90 when I was 8...then from the age of 15 onwards (1996) I went a lot of games at the Old Wembley, when it was being rebuilt...was behind the goal when Beckham scored the free kick v Greece and went out to Germany for the 2006 WC and kept going right up until the Steve McClaren debable and failure to qualify for Euro 2008.  Kinda lost a bit of interest after that, in part to a lot of the nobheads that go and I was more interested in Arsenal...still watched all the games but didn't really bother going much...a lot of the games at the new Wembley tend to be a bit souless.

Russia 2018 reignited my interest as I think like you say they lost a lot of the WAG nonsense from the mid-00s when it just seemed to be a fashion show.

Edited July 9, 2021 by gooner1990

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, jyoung said:

Exactly why I am on the recruitment call out.

I’m purely in it for annoying Easty now.

[waltere]

3 minutes ago, st dan said:

Yeah - it’s a bit much to compute at times isn’t it!! Plus the fact that our conveyor belt of young talent is showing no signs of stopping, we may have to get used to this for a while! 

Its mad to me that 3 years ago in Russia we had the 2nd youngest, and 2nd least experienced, squad; now 3 years later we once again have the 2nd youngest, and one of the least experienced squad, as even some of the 'young' guys from the last squad (e.g. Alli, Lingard, Dier) have been replaced by players younger still (Mount, Foden, Sancho, Rice, etc.)

[Hugh Jass]

1 minute ago, gooner1990 said:

...a lot of the games at the new Wembley tend to be a bit souless.

 

As far as I’m concerned you have no right to be there on Sunday if you have never sat at Wembley and watched England labour to a 3-0 win against an Eastern European outfit whilst the band farts Rule Britannia into your ear for 90 minutes.

[nikkic]

7 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Lots of chat on this thread the last month. Understandably more people are interested in tournament football but I hope some of you will join us over here for the new season in August?! Word of warning, depending on how well they are doing, you might have to interact with Liverpool fans. 

 

On that basis, I’m out 

[Mellotr0n]

32 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

That said, much like most of our games in this tournament, we seemed to grow stronger and more confident from the sixty minute mark. 

Southgate's gameplan approach to this tournament appears to be - stay in the game the first hour, then finish very strongly.

If we are drawing or better at 60mins, I think we have a really good chance. Our bench is very strong, and what really encouraged me on Weds is we finished the game with far, far more energy than Denmark.

Denmark looked like us against Croatia in 2018 - punched out, physically and mentally spent.

[st dan]

1 minute ago, waltere said:

Its mad to me that 3 years ago in Russia we had the 2nd youngest, and 2nd least experienced, squad; now 3 years later we once again have the 2nd youngest, and one of the least experienced squad, as even some of the 'young' guys from the last squad (e.g. Alli, Lingard, Dier) have been replaced by players younger still (Mount, Foden, Sancho, Rice, etc.)

Yep it’s certainly a big shift from what we’ve been used to. I think a lot of credit also needs to go the the newer generation of managers who aren’t phased by throwing the young guys into the first team and letting them cement their place in the side and playing 90 mins most weeks. It’s been a massive benefit to England of late. 

[gooner1990]

5 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

As far as I’m concerned you have no right to be there on Sunday if you have never sat at Wembley and watched England labour to a 3-0 win against an Eastern European outfit whilst the band farts Rule Britannia into your ear for 90 minutes.

Actually the worst game I went to was a 0-0 Euro 2008 qualifier v North Macedonia at Old Trafford in October 2006.

Was near the dug outs and McClaren was getting dogs abuse that day...my mate who had been to a lot of the games with me over the years turned to me and said 'fuck this I'm done'  and he's stuck to it, he's never been to another England game since!

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

6 minutes ago, Mellotr0n said:

what really encouraged me on Weds is we finished the game with far, far more energy than Denmark.

Denmark looked like us against Croatia in 2018 - punched out, physically and mentally spent.

Two great points.

I'd like to see us get the first goal (well, I'd actually like to see us get the first four goals), I think that would change the dynamic of the game. If Italy were to take a 1-0 lead in the second half, we'd be in for a very frustrating remainder of the game.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Supernintendo Chalmers

[mcshed]

21 minutes ago, st dan said:

I’d say there is more pressure playing in a semi final than a final - especially one we were expected to win like vs Denmark. 
On Sunday, I think the fact we have no real expectations on our shoulders plus it being held at a charged up Wembley makes us slight favourites in what is a very even match on paper. I think the Italians are maybe worrying more than us at this moment. 

So you think you'll win because you don't think you'll win?