Football 2015/16

[TheGayTent]

9 minutes ago, kaosmark2 said:

In completely different news, I'm sad about Steven Taylor leaving. Did a lot of great work for us and you could see his passion, but his injury record meant he hasn't really improved since he was 22. 

Another, who through no fault of their own , will never get to fulfil their potential 

[TheGayTent]

Vardy to Arsenal? Surprising if the supposed interest is true. 

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, TheGayTent said:

Vardy to Arsenal? Surprising if the supposed interest is true. 

Arsenal need a new forward, but I'm not sure Vardy is the right man. Aged 29 and on the basis of one good season. I don't think he improves the club. Hopefully his mind is distracted for the Wales game!

[luckysalt]

Ibra to Man U, 1 yr deal, with Utd having the option to make it two, no trigger points for it to be extended in terms of games played etc, 17m euros a year.

Done.

[lost]

phrases you never expected to hear associated with Everton.. He's only going there for the money.

[eFestivals]

Good to see Chelsea lose their bottle very very quickly in court.

 

[The Nal]

Heres Koeman using Olaf Thons jersey (after swapping with him) to wipe his arse in front of the Dutch fans after Holland beat Germany at Euro 88.

Dutch can be nasty.

[TheGayTent]

20 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Heres Koeman using Olaf Thons jersey (after swapping with him) to wipe his arse in front of the Dutch fans after Holland beat Germany at Euro 88.

Dutch can be nasty.

I think the Dutch would suggest they had good reasons to dislike the Germans. 

However, it's now 2016 and things have moved on from 28 years ago. 

[pink_triangle]

So the Euros begins today, looking forward to the football returning.  Cant look beyond the big boys of Germany, Spain and France, but it is a tournament that has produced shocks before. Dont think I can ever remember Italy going into a euros at 20-1. They dont have much going forward, but have a pretty strong defence in place. Im not expecting them to win it, but are they really significantly less likely than England or Belgium?

As for Wales V Slovakia the bookies have all 3 results as equally likely and thats probably about right. We are like Sweden a one man team and I hope that one man shines tomorrow.  I dont have much in terms of expectations going into the tournament. Normally Im just about supporting Englands opponents at this stage, although depending on results I may have to support them in their last group game!

[eFestivals]

6 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

So the Euros begins today, looking forward to the football returning.  Cant look beyond the big boys of Germany, Spain and France, but it is a tournament that has produced shocks before. Dont think I can ever remember Italy going into a euros at 20-1. They dont have much going forward, but have a pretty strong defence in place. Im not expecting them to win it, but are they really significantly less likely than England or Belgium?

As for Wales V Slovakia the bookies have all 3 results as equally likely and thats probably about right. We are like Sweden a one man team and I hope that one man shines tomorrow.  I dont have much in terms of expectations going into the tournament. Normally Im just about supporting Englands opponents at this stage, although depending on results I may have to support them in their last group game!

was chatting Euros with my Italian heritage (and so supporting) barber the other day, and he reckons Italy won't get out the groups.

[pink_triangle]

13 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

was chatting Euros with my Italian heritage (and so supporting) barber the other day, and he reckons Italy won't get out the groups.

Well the world champions didnt get out of their group in the last world cup, so its certainly possible and Italy are in a pretty tough group. However they have one of the best defences in the tournament and it is possible to win a euros with 1-0 wins, ask Greece!!.  

[ThomThomDrum]

ISIS chanting and violence in Marseille already..............classy! 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2016 by ThomThomDrum

[kaosmark2]

4 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

So the Euros begins today, looking forward to the football returning.  Cant look beyond the big boys of Germany, Spain and France, but it is a tournament that has produced shocks before. Dont think I can ever remember Italy going into a euros at 20-1. They dont have much going forward, but have a pretty strong defence in place. Im not expecting them to win it, but are they really significantly less likely than England or Belgium?

I would put Belgium as 4th favourites. England are only lowish odds because of stupid supporters. 

[lost]

Conflicting reports Da Gea sent home by Spain? Are Utd going to need a new keeper next season?

Edited June 10, 2016 by lost

[thetime]

40 minutes ago, lost said:

Conflicting reports Da Gea sent home by Spain? Are Utd going to need a new keeper next season?

Let's not get carried away hey.

[zahidf]

39 minutes ago, lost said:

Conflicting reports Da Gea sent home by Spain? Are Utd going to need a new keeper next season?

well all the papers in spain are accusing him of being implicated in a child prostitution case, alongside isco, iker and javi martinez

 

even a charge of that means no place in the spanish team!

[eFestivals]

So anyway... predictions...?

Winners: Germany
Runners up: Spain
glorious semi-final losers: France.
glorious round of 16 losers: England

I can see definitely-satisfactory for all of Wales, NI & Ire, with at least one of them doing well. Which one? Depends how the luck rolls.

 

[The Nal]

21 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

So anyway... predictions...?

Winners: Germany
Runners up: Spain
glorious semi-final losers: France.
glorious round of 16 losers: England

I can see definitely-satisfactory for all of Wales, NI & Ire, with at least one of them doing well. Which one? Depends how the luck rolls.

 

Won't be Ireland. Belgium, Sweden and Italy. 

Norn Iron have a tough group too. I'd go for Wales if I had to pick one. 

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, The Nal said:

Won't be Ireland. Belgium, Sweden and Italy. 

and aren't Ireland Italy's bogey team? That's how my Italian barber put it to me.

[The Nal]

13 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

and aren't Ireland Italy's bogey team? That's how my Italian barber put it to me.

Well they narrowly beat us in the quarters in WC90, we beat them in WC94, drew both games in the qualifiers for WC14 and they beat us in the last Euros. But an under 9s team could've beaten us then. 

But yeah, they've only won 4 out of the last 9 games going back to WC90. I say "only" because I suppose we're a bogey team in that they should be beating us every time. Italy have been in a semi, been a runner up in a final and have won the World Cup in that time. 

They're fairly shit now mind you.

Edited June 10, 2016 by The Nal

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

Won't be Ireland. Belgium, Sweden and Italy. 

Norn Iron have a tough group too. I'd go for Wales if I had to pick one. 

Wales are in bad form and have key players out, it won't be us! We sound like politicians dumbing down expectation!

 

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

 

They're fairly shit now mind you.

In attack yes, in defence there aren't many stronger in world football

[kaosmark2]

Germany best team on paper. Spain/France/Belgium all look fairly strong but have a few problems. Italy could win it off 1-0s, Portugal, Sweden and Wales have the 3 best players in the tournament and could all do something impressive.

England could go out in groups if Russia and Wales are in perfect form, but you'd expect them to get to Ro16 or QFs depending on who they face.

[TheGayTent]

I think Russia are the weakest team in the group 

[GlastoSimon]

France to win, Germany runners up. England to go out in 1/4 finals, Northern Ireland and Iceland to shock a few and do well.

We'll see how wrong I am in a few weeks

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

I think Russia are the weakest team in the group 

Don't know much about Russia, but footbdll weekly podcast said the midfield has been decimated through injuries.