The UEFA European Championship 2020 Thread

[uttoxram75]

2 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Enjoy the moment? If we reach the final, of course I and we all will enjoy it.

But at the moment, we are in the quarter finals. There is a long way to go yet.

Results have been great, don’t get me wrong. But I think better and more authoritative performances would breed more confidence and more belief.

It’s not like we have poor players. We are very capable of playing with style, with intent, with urgency. But it’s not been there.

I'm not convinced we have a team capable of playing with intent.

Our defence is ok, not brilliant at playing out from the back, but ok at defending.

Pickford is a decent keeper, good shot stopper and decent on 1 on 1's.

We have very little midfield artistry, no Gazza, but we have two fairly average lads who do a great job in thwarting the oppositions attacks in Rice and Phillips - personally I wouldn't have picked either of them but it seems to work. Germany only created two good chances today playing through the midfield.

Sterling is a constant menace to any defence, they are scared of his pace and directness, yes he runs into blind alleys occasionally but it usually takes 4 defenders to stop him - he only has to do it right once to create or score a goal as proven this evening.

So, in summary, I don't believe we can go gung ho from the start against well organised, physical teams. 

Southgate believes he can work his way through this competition and it looks like the players are starting to believe him.

What team would you start with to play with style, intent and urgency?

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

At the very least this has cheered me up no end in football terms. I get almost no joy from anything Derby related these days so England stepping up is a welcome distraction.

[Alph]

I thought England played quite well. Especially as for so much of the match Harry Kane gave them nothing to work with. He didn't pull his man out of position or threaten any area of the pitch. Just played his position on paper. 

But if England haven't looked like world beaters... who has?

Italy? Not so impressive vs Austria. They've not exactly had a tough route themselves yet and already look like the one footed Insigne is carrying their attacking threat. Their next best is a LB. They have been good but they got problems of their own to address.

Portugal? France have an incredible side on paper? Germany? These are champions and leading nations. And all have under performed against lesser sides and found themselves put out at their first real test. 

Belgium... again, they've just faded in games like England. Moments of matches they just let pass by. As good as they are on the counter they can look a bit flat themselves when not hitting on the break

Spain have looked very dodgy. Again, still seem to be in love with their passing. As soon as someone has a real go at them they look rattled. They're here to play beautiful football. In moments their opponents haven't shown them too much respect they've looked vulnerable 

I really don't think any team has looked like they can't be stopped. Including England who seem to lack creativity at times. 

But England have what, 6 or 7 very high level creative players to fill 4 positions. So I wouldn't bet against them coming up with solutions if asked to. They're defensive by choice rather than lack of talent.

[Leeds Ram]

13 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

At the very least this has cheered me up no end in football terms. I get almost no joy from anything Derby related these days so England stepping up is a welcome distraction.

Definitely this! Everything at club level is a bit of a mess atm so is nice to watch England and soak in the glory of us doing well 

[MuespachRam]

51 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Yes, we won. But we didn’t cream Germany at all. It wasn’t a dominant performance. The two goals were great moments in an otherwise forgettable performance.

On the balance of play, it probably should have been a draw. But obviously we picked their pockets late on.

As it stands, we are in the quarter finals. Nothing has been won, so what can we enjoy? A final, of course. But we still have two games to get that far.

We totally creamed them from start to finish. The result never looked in doubt at all. 
We have just hammered one of the best teams in the tournament, already beaten one of the other 1/4 finalists and have the 2 weakest team left in the completion to beat to get to the final….. what’s not to enjoy..?

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Jourdan said:

Enjoy the moment? If we reach the final, of course I and we all will enjoy it.

But at the moment, we are in the quarter finals. There is a long way to go yet.

Results have been great, don’t get me wrong. But I think better and more authoritative performances would breed more confidence and more belief.

It’s not like we have poor players. We are very capable of playing with style, with intent, with urgency. But it’s not been there.

The way you were slating them beforehand, surely England have already far exceeded your expectations, so surely you ought to take some pleasure - or at least a little satisfaction - in that?

[1of4]

2 hours ago, David said:

 

(sorry, nothing personal, I just love reading pre match team selection thoughts) ☺️

Still think he's a joke. 

[TigerTedd]

Weirdly enough, the ‘group of death’ with supposedly the strongest teams in the competition, is actually the only group that doesn’t have a single representative in the quarter final. 

Group A (Wales group) = 2 teams

Group B = 2 teams

Group C = 1 team

Group D = 2 teams

Group E = 1 team

Group F (the group of death) = 0 teams 

And all the 3rd placed qualifiers apart from Portugal (the highest scoring of the 3rd placers) are the only ones not too. Interesting as they supposedly played much better opposition. 

And, only us, Belgium and Italy are group winners still in it. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

I’ve seen there are ten pages of discussion about the England game.

To be honest, I don’t care. We’ve just knocked Germany out of a major tournament. I’m 21, in my last summer of freedom, and I’m going to enjoy every single bloody minute.

Greatest country in the world.

Three lions babbbyyy.

[Bob The Badger]

6 hours ago, Leeds Ram said:

Ukraine won't be any pushovers but this is one hell of a chance for us. They'll be knackered after tonight and defensively Ukraine are a soft touch and are looking very ropey the moment any kind of pressure is applied. That is the game to unleash foden, saka, grealish and sterling on them and run them ragged. Plenty of energy and high tempo means they'll be on their knees by 65 minutes. 

Southgate has proven he can beat a 'big team' who took apart Portugal and advanced from the so called 'group of death'. Now let us see him get us to a major final finally and maybe even win something. 

Group of Death should have been called the Group of Meh. 

Not one team even made the quarter finals. 

[Bob The Badger]

4 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Weirdly enough, the ‘group of death’ with supposedly the strongest teams in the competition, is actually the only group that doesn’t have a single representative in the quarter final. 

Group A (Wales group) = 2 teams

Group B = 2 teams

Group C = 1 team

Group D = 2 teams

Group E = 1 team

Group F (the group of death) = 0 teams 

And all the 3rd placed qualifiers apart from Portugal (the highest scoring of the 3rd placers) are the only ones not too. Interesting as they supposedly played much better opposition. 

And, only us, Belgium and Italy are group winners still in it. 

Oh, I didn't see this before posting. 

And yes, it just goes to show the futility of predicting. 

[Rammy03]

8 hours ago, Jourdan said:

I honestly think we’ve looked unconvincing. We’ve got the job done. But it’s been a case of very fine margins - the kind of fine margins that can quickly go against us.

Tonight was a fantastic result but it was a very tight game that could have gone either way.

Like others have said, I’d like to see us play with more authority and more belief. It’s not as if we are winning 1-0 or drawing after a catalogue of missed chances or openings.

The number of quality chances we have created in four games we could count on two hands.

I think the plan is to be that little bit more cautious. You see the way we defend. We get numbers behind the ball. We defend very much as a unit now. If you've seen Chelsea play this season that's basically how they won the champions League.

And I think this is why when we have the ball we've looked sightly unconvincing, we're not trying to overcommit players going forwards. But if we can add a bit more fluency and quicker movement like we did for the two goals, I'm sure you'll look on the performances very differently. 

[kevinhectoring]

9 hours ago, Eddie said:

If Ukraine win the whole thing, how long will it be before Russia claims to have won it?

Putin apparently very angry about the map on the Ukraine kit which shows Crimea. Maybe he’ll do us a favour on Friday night in Rome ... 

[RoyMac5]

9 hours ago, MuespachRam said:

What’s the point in watching It if you don’t enjoy It….???

we absolutely creamed those tonight, easy, we beat one of the most successful football nations in the world all ends up….absolute piece of cake. 
we now have the easiest run to the final you could have ever picked. 

but, for gods sake don’t enjoy It….!!

It wasn't the best game of football I'd ever seen. We've some fab forward players, and even midfielders. But if we win the tournament with a Rice/Phillips pairing then I guess it was meant to be. Winning is what its all about.

[uttoxram75]

38 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

It wasn't the best game of football I'd ever seen. We've some fab forward players, and even midfielders. But if we win the tournament with a Rice/Phillips pairing then I guess it was meant to be. Winning is what its all about.

Its the equivalent of Sir Alf playing without wingers and Jimmy Greaves.

[Curtains]

What a great day yesterday was

 

Edited June 30, 2021 by Curtains

[RoyMac5]

21 minutes ago, Curtains said:

What a great day yesterday was

 

? Glad you had a great day, were you watching at Pride Park?

[Curtains]

1 minute ago, RoyMac5 said:

? Glad you had a great day, were you watching at Pride Park?

No mate not yesterday.

Watched it at home and it was brilliant because it felt like 1966 all over again.

One omen we could take is 4 clean sheets in first 4 games which is same as 66 

[Ghost of Clough]

523 again in the next game.

Ukraine are week defensively down the flanks, so we will set up to get our wide players as far forward as possible.
Trippier look to have pulled a muscle so will be rested as a precaution. One of Rice and Phillips will also be rested to avoid being banned for the semi.

Pickford
James   Walker   Stones   Maguire   Shaw
Henderson   Rice
Sterling   Kane   Grealish

[maxjam]

11 hours ago, MuespachRam said:

What’s the point in watching It if you don’t enjoy It….???

Exactly

How many times in your lifetime do nights come around like last night?

As Derby/England fans we've had enough lows not to enjoy the highs every once in a while - especially given the last 18 months or so.

We may or may not get all the way to the final, we may or may not win it, but lets at least enjoy the good times on the way  There will be time to moan soon enough ?