UEFA Euro 2024 Thread

[Bris Vegas]

Not only do we have brilliant penalty takers, but the Swiss goalkeeper just didn't look capable of getting anywhere near them. Similar to Hugo Lloris for France. Obviously a great keeper, but too small to look imposing for penalty takers.

Pickford is probably an average keeper for penalties. But that might be enough with our takers. 

I'd take penalties against the Dutch and Spain in the final if offered now. Could be our best chance. 

[Bris Vegas]

1 minute ago, Gritstone Ram said:

It makes you wonder how quick you can change your direction or does he pull out if the keeper goes the way he is taking it.

I'm not sure but with the way Toney takes penalties, he basically stands still with the keeper. And by doing that, the keeper has no momentum in his dive. Toney never actually looked at the ball. Gets it far enough in the corner and he scores every time.

[RadioactiveWaste]

Right then, c'mon Turkey.

[Alph]

I do love where Southgate has brought England. 

This tournament feels like the natural end and it would be nice to all shake hands on a win! I think he's pretty much given all he can and fresh eyes will benefit the players. 

And what a group of players. Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard etc... I just don't think they had the all round qualities these guys have and they're disciplined and mentally strong. Plus they work for their teams. 

Maybe that's why Southgate gets grief even though he's getting results. People are scared we will waste some talent? But surely he has to take credit for the attitude they have when playing for England. 

Future looks bright, anyway. As good as some of the Golden Generation were it's like they all existed to build a team around each individual. As oppose to now where it feels like players such as Bellingham, Saka, Foden, Palmer, Walker etc etc serve the team and not their egos/club reputation.

[Eddie]

Forget the 120 minutes of football - it's tedious tippy-tappy nonsense. Just go straight to the penalties please.

[Chester40]

Foden and Kane had 110mins and did absolutely nothing. 

How the hell are we 5 games into the tournament and still seeing the same issues every time?

Southgate is really p***ing me off now. In the interview he kept banging on about how it's the best we've played and how amazing the Swiss are.

The defence is actually pretty strong.  The bit where we have world class players in abundance is where we look so average.

Hopefully we can s***house our way into winning this thing. If not he's clearly created a much better environment and given youth a chance and the next manager walks into a strong dressing room.

[Anag Ram]

1 minute ago, Chester40 said:

Foden and Kane had 110mins and did absolutely nothing. 

How the hell are we 5 games into the tournament and still seeing the same issues every time?

Southgate is really p***ing me off now. In the interview he kept banging on about how it's the best we've played and how amazing the Swiss are.

The defence is actually pretty strong.  The bit where we have world class players in abundance is where we look so average.

Hopefully we can s***house our way into winning this thing. If not he's clearly created a much better environment and given youth a chance and the next manager walks into a strong dressing room.

I think a good forward line will tear our defence apart.

Having Shaw back is a boost but Stones frightens me. Great footballer but average defender.

Really hope I’m wrong though. The best thing that could happen to England is Harry Kane starting on the bench. He’s a natural goal scorer so could do a job in the last twenty but Toney has to start. 

He’s a much better outlet for our creative players.
 

[Grumpy Git]

Luke Shaw was obviously copied into the same email as Tripper, because he too kept cutting onto his right for some obscure reason? 🤦🏼‍♂️

[Chester40]

Kane did absolutely nothing. Again.

5 games and he's scored from 5 yards out.  Otherwise he's been so poor.

Doesn't hold the ball up,  no pace, doesn't work the channels,  no running in behind, no press...

Watkins and Toney must be so annoyed sitting watching.

 

Edited July 6 by Chester40

[maxjam]

51 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

I'm not sure but with the way Toney takes penalties, he basically stands still with the keeper. And by doing that, the keeper has no momentum in his dive. Toney never actually looked at the ball. Gets it far enough in the corner and he scores every time.

That's mental, if you think of the pressure you're under my first thought would be to get a good connection on the ball.

 

[Alph]

2 minutes ago, maxjam said:

That's mental, if you think of the pressure you're under my first thought would be to get a good connection on the ball.

 

In the semi final I want to see him recording his own penalty on his iPhone 

[maxjam]

Just now, Alph said:

In the semi final I want to see him recording his own penalty on his iPhone 

Facing away from the GK, sticking his tongue out at the camera as he backheels it into the corner

[Srg]

Kane is a an actual problem isn’t he?

[Kernow]

I get the criticism of Southgate, because it isn't fun to watch. But his approach is to try and get us to win the tournament, teams like France who probably have more top-level players are playing boring football with the main aim being to manage the game in a way to get through.

I don't think it's a surprise that his changes are reactive rather than proactive, it won't always work but whilst we are getting through, he will continue that way.

From 1967-2017 we reached 1 semi-final and zero finals. From 2018-present we have reached three semi-finals in four tournaments, including one final and possibly another to come next week.

It's not exciting but it works. And I don't really need the teams we've beaten to get that far listed again, because you can only beat what's in front of you, and whether it's 4-0 or on penalties, what matters most to the players and the manager is that you get through to the next round.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

9 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I get the criticism of Southgate, because it isn't fun to watch. But his approach is to try and get us to win the tournament, teams like France who probably have more top-level players are playing boring football with the main aim being to manage the game in a way to get through.

I don't think it's a surprise that his changes are reactive rather than proactive, it won't always work but whilst we are getting through, he will continue that way.

From 1967-2017 we reached 1 semi-final and zero finals. From 2018-present we have reached three semi-finals in four tournaments, including one final and possibly another to come next week.

It's not exciting but it works. And I don't really need the teams we've beaten to get that far listed again, because you can only beat what's in front of you, and whether it's 4-0 or on penalties, what matters most to the players and the manager is that you get through to the next round.

The approach has largely worked up to this tournament. But we’ve been bailed out by individual brilliance two games in a row. It’s been in spite of the approach rather than because of it.

[Srg]

8 minutes ago, Kernow said:

I get the criticism of Southgate, because it isn't fun to watch. But his approach is to try and get us to win the tournament, teams like France who probably have more top-level players are playing boring football with the main aim being to manage the game in a way to get through..

See, this is where I struggle because in that statement, you’re insinuating it’s deliberate that we are playing so poorly. That’s it’s precisely by design. That the whole plan is to be bad, then rely on a 95th minute equaliser one game, be barely any better and rely on a long range equaliser before penalties. 

I can completely accept we aren’t going to blow teams away, I can accept you have to be difficult to beat and stifle teams. But you can’t be s**** over and over again, bail yourselves out by hook or by crook and that be your entire game plan. 

[maxjam]

Interesting photo of Pickford's water bottle 🙂

 

[Kernow]

5 minutes ago, Srg said:

See, this is where I struggle because in that statement, you’re insinuating it’s deliberate that we are playing so poorly. That’s it’s precisely by design. That the whole plan is to be bad, then rely on a 95th minute equaliser one game, be barely any better and rely on a long range equaliser before penalties. 

I can completely accept we aren’t going to blow teams away, I can accept you have to be difficult to beat and stifle teams. But you can’t be s**** over and over again, bail yourselves out by hook or by crook and that be your entire game plan. 

I never said that we are deliberately playing poorly. I don't even see where that was insinuated.

The approach is to get through, we're trying to keep the ball and slowly grind teams down with the intention of getting a goal and holding the lead. It's not exciting to watch, and we could be playing the style we are trying to play better, but I don't think our game plan is to deliberately play poor football.

I think we are overly conservative and that will naturally lead to football that it tough to watch even if it is executed well, but we aren't the only nation choosing to play that way.

In a way, the argument is similar to what we had with Warne this season, if given the choice between exciting football or success, what's the choice? I don't think Southgate is an exciting manager but I also don't agree with the criticism that he's an awful manager because we are playing the way he wants to play, and that is getting success in tournaments that anybody under the age of 65 would barely have experienced before.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

Just now, Kernow said:

I never said that we are deliberately playing poorly. I don't even see where that was insinuated.

The approach is to get through, we're trying to keep the ball and slowly grind teams down with the intention of getting a goal and holding the lead. It's not exciting to watch, and we could be playing the style we are trying to play better, but I don't think our game plan is to deliberately play poor football.

I think we are overly conservative and that will naturally lead to football that it tough to watch even if it is executed well, but we aren't the only nation choosing to play that way.

In a way, the argument is similar to what we had with Warne this season, if given the choice between exciting football or success, what's the choice? I don't think Southgate is an exciting manager but I also don't agree with the criticism that he's an awful manager because we are playing the way he wants to play, and that is getting success in tournaments that anybody under the age of 65 would barely have experienced before.

It’s more than just how defensively we set up though. It’s stubbornly playing Trippier on the left with absolutely nobody willing to take it down the outside. It’s watching us lose control of games without doing anything to prevent it. 

The conservative approach can work - just look at Deschamps’ success. But it doesn’t mean he’s not getting things badly wrong within that approach.

[Kernow]

12 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

The approach has largely worked up to this tournament. But we’ve been bailed out by individual brilliance two games in a row. It’s been in spite of the approach rather than because of it.

I'm not disputing we've had some luck, I don't think any team wins a tournament by being comfortably better in ever game other than that insane Spain team for about 3 tournaments in a row.

But we've had excellent squads before, better than we have now, and done nothing with them. Southgate has managed to get to the semi-final at least in 3 of his 4 tournaments. In the one we didn't get that far, you could argue we were unlucky and if it wasn't for Kane's missed penalty, we could've gone through then too.

The quality of the football isn't really a dispute, every knows it's slow and boring. I just take issue with the comments that treat Southgate like he's no better than a National League manager. He is trying to set up in a way that we can win a tournament and has been on the verge of doing that.

Portugal won the Euros by only winning 1 of their 7 games. I don't think their fans particularly cared in the end, because they won. If we ultimately win this tournament then I don't really care how negative we are. The issues start when we don't get through, but I think this will be Southgate's last tournament no matter how it ends.