Football 2015/16

[TheGayTent]

Well if you judged a full back solely on their attacking ability I think Clyne was an improvement on Walker. 

[kaosmark2]

22 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

Well if you judged a full back solely on their attacking ability I think Clyne was an improvement on Walker. 

I also think he's an improvement if you judge them solely on defensive ability.

(I may have referenced the fact I don't rate Walker before).

[mjsell]

I'm standing by the fact that Andy Carroll would have been a better substitution to bring on in the situation we were in last night than Mr Kane. Slovakia were defending so deep and after slow build up play the end result for the majority of our attacks in the last 10/15 minutes were hopeful balls in to the box, which Skrtel and co. were more than happy to defend against.

 

But last nights result is not the end of the world on the face of things. Although England are fortunate that 2nd place in our group plays 2nd in Group F. No reason why we cant beat anyone in that group.

Then get knocked out in the quarters to France. Everyones happy.

Edited June 21, 2016 by mjsell

[TheGayTent]

Carroll did score against Liverpool this season but he was up against Sakho and Lovren, not Skrtel. 

NB - When the squad was chosen Carroll was out injured (unsurprisingly...?!) so would have been difficult for Hodgson to have chosen him. 

Although he did pick Wilshire and Henderson so...

[WS_Jack_III]

Carroll would have offered a different attacking option but I'm afraid his injury record would have kept him off the plane for me.

 

Obviously injuries aren't an issue for Roy though.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, mjsell said:

But last nights result is not the end of the world on the face of things. Although England are fortunate that 2nd place in our group plays 2nd in Group F. No reason why we cant beat anyone in that group.

Then get knocked out in the quarters to France. Everyones happy.

I didnt watch the England game as I wanted to see some goals! For all the talk about changes to the team, my view is if you pick a first and second 11 from the England squad they are pretty evenly matched, so I dont see multiple changes having much of a weakening effect.  The way England play is not very energy efficient, so I think using the squad makes sense.

Theres no reason why you couldnt beat the runners up in group F, but I suspect they will think theres no reason we cant beat England.  I would rate Englands chances of advancing against Portugal (50%), Austria (66%) Hungary (80%), Iceland (90%)

[ThomThomDrum]

A bit harsh on Iceland I reckon.......minnows yes, walk overs, not thus far.......... 

[TheGayTent]

Spain Italy - juicy game 

[TheGayTent]

Would love to see NI Wales 

[pink_triangle]

6 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

Would love to see NI Wales 

Would need either Sweden or Ireland to win from my calculation. Looking likely we will play Turkey which isn't a terrible draw.

The draw looks very uneven. Only one team from top 6 favourites (Belgium) on one half of the draw .

[lost]

Indeed well done Roy for the tinkering! Italy must be cheesed off though 100% record so far and looking like a reward of facing Spain, Germany and France to get to the final

Edited June 22, 2016 by lost

[mjsell]

3 hours ago, lost said:

Indeed well done Roy for the tinkering! Italy must be cheesed off though 100% record so far and looking like a reward of facing Spain, Germany and France to get to the final

Germany and France would meet in the semi.

Like has been said above the draw is stacked on one side now. Croatia are looking a very good shout now

Edited June 22, 2016 by mjsell

[pink_triangle]

6 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Germany and France would meet in the semi.

Like has been said above the draw is stacked on one side now. Croatia are looking a very good shout now

Looking at the draw I wonder if Poland may be a decent shout for the final.  They look well organized and if Levandowski comes into form are one of the strongest teams in that hald.

[lost]

15 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Germany and France would meet in the semi.

Not so sure on that now. Germany looked laboured against Ireland last night I can see the winner of Spain vs Italy having a great chance there.

[pink_triangle]

14 minutes ago, lost said:

Not so sure on that now. Germany looked laboured against Ireland last night I can see the winner of Spain vs Italy having a great chance there.

Isnt that just what Germany do though?  They generally arent a team bothered about looking great in the group.

[lost]

I've been completely wrong so far and probably will be again but I've got my semis down as Spain vs France and Croatia vs Belgium 

[ThomThomDrum]

25 minutes ago, lost said:

Not so sure on that now. Germany looked laboured against Ireland last night I can see the winner of Spain vs Italy having a great chance there.

Germany could have easily won that 5-0. The Nor Iron keeper was having a worldy of a day! 

[lost]

Iceland! 

Really enjoyed flicking between those two games. Two of the best so far.

Edited June 22, 2016 by lost

[pink_triangle]

5 minutes ago, lost said:

Iceland! 

I think Iceland are the perfect team for England to get. I see them winning comfortably. However I still think northern Ireland or Turkey and being in the other half of the draw is better, so England could live to regret not beating an awful Russia side. Credit to Iceland, they had a nice draw and have taken advantage of that fortune.

[pink_triangle]

Just realized that if Sweden win it would probably mean one of Wales, northern Ireland, Sweden or Hungary in the semi!

Edited June 22, 2016 by pink_triangle

[lost]

4 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

so England could live to regret not beating an awful Russia side. Credit to Iceland, they had a nice draw and have taken advantage of that fortune.

Agreed, if they get that far then beating France is looking hugely unlikely on current form. The only hope is that we play better against teams who may not keep as many men behind the ball.

[Comfy Bean]

4 hours ago, lost said:

Iceland! 

Really enjoyed flicking between those two games. Two of the best so far.

Aye. Really enjoying the tournament . Classy first goal from ronaldo. 

Great scenes at the Ireland game tonight as well.

Couple of days rest. Fridge stocked for the weekend :-)

[ThomThomDrum]

Bring on les bleu!

What a happy hangover today

And if Ireland can somehow pull off a miracle and avenge that Henry handball it could be England next! (Or Iceland  )

[pink_triangle]

4 minutes ago, ThomThomDrum said:

Bring on les bleu!

What a happy hangover today

And if Ireland can somehow pull off a miracle and avenge that Henry handball it could be England next! (Or Iceland  )

The only thing thats going to annoy me about Ireland playing France is having to hear stories about that bloody handball again!! We all know that Ireland would have happily gone through in the same way.

A few people have talked about Ireland having the advantage of playing a team who didn't need to win or draw.  To me thats luck of the draw, sometimes it works in your favour and other times against you.  Tournaments are not designed to be 100% fair, if some luck comes your way then you need to take advantage,

Also heard some bollocks about people blaming the design of the new format for creating a situation where Belgim were effectively given an advantage for losing to Italy.  This is absolute rubbish as the same used to happen in the 16 team format. Again its luck of the draw,

[mjsell]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Also heard some bollocks about people blaming the design of the new format for creating a situation where Belgim were effectively given an advantage for losing to Italy.  This is absolute rubbish as the same used to happen in the 16 team format. Again its luck of the draw,

To be fair a few people on here called this directly after the Belgium Italy game, and arguably it has got even better for Belgium since then with Spain finishing second.

I'm with you though that luck of the draw is huge in tournament football. Ireland were very very fortunate with the way their fixtures fell. but good luck to them - hope they upset france. 

My housemate has tickets to the last 16. He bought them in the hope that England would top the group so now has a game watching Wales v N ireland instead. He was very happy that Ireland scored last night as he wanted Northern Ireland and not Turkey.