The Official Euro 2004 Thread

Matthew:

What the hell are you doing up at such an ungodly hour?

Davie

A draw would be more justified but the english team lost their head in the last minutes. After Beckham missed the penalty all went downwards for the english. The french pressure made some english players loose their head (Rooney=the new Gascoigne?).Why didn't Alex Gerrard shoot the ball out of the stadium instead of taking such a risk?
Enfin, looking forward for Holland vs. Germany.

Rob.

"What the hell are you doing up at such an ungodly hour?"

I woke up at 4am in need of several gallons of water (must be the hot weather?) and couldn't get back to sleep.

Another quote for you, from Radio 5 this morning:

"If I was an England player waking up this morning I would feel nothing but positive about how well we played", Alan Hansen, a non-gloating Football loving Scotch

Matthew

Good gwief, my teddy stopped breathing when the ref missed that English handball.

Baron Von Tossedofftheruinedpole

England played well in that Dunkirk style - we withstood the seige. We didn't create much.

Rooney was terrific as was the defence.

France played poorly and got out of jail - The really really good teams have a knack of playing poorly and still winning.

When it came to the crunch, our key man Beckham failed, Zidance converted when given the oppurtunity.

It will be interesting to see how England bounce back against the 2 'lesser' teams in the group in the knowledge that winning is now the only option.

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
A moral victory for England tonight I felt.

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quote:

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Originally posted by count.d:
Please leave this thread alone as it appears no one here is interested in your comments.

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Wrong.

quote:

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Originally posted by Matthew Robinson:
Alan Hansen, a non-gloating Football loving Scotch__

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Alan Hansen is an arsehole.

German football commentators can at times be incredibly annoying with their
comments especially where England is involved and last nights game was no
exception. At half and full time though the analysis as on british tv
is generally done by more competent professionals. Günther netzer and Franz
Beckenbauer were both very surprised at Beckham's decision to take the penalty
himself ? and the luck of not conceding a penantly in the first half due to the
indisputable hand ball was put down to German refereeing.
Although 1966 is rarely
mentioned these days, with Sept 1, 2001 in München far outwaying it, I did
notice an exceptional respect for the English team. The only relevance now to
the last game is the points won by Lampard's goal, the rest is history. The
Swiss - Croatia games produced more yeller's than a Chinese Quartemaster's
store, and should be taken as a warning that will test Roonaldo amongst other's
tempers to the limit, as Croatia have nothing to lose.
I was reminded that
England actually qualified by the skin of their teeth anyway, and if they happen
to lose against either of those other two teams, they should fuck off back home
pronto, innit.

Fritz Von Livingintherealworld ?

Disappointing is the only word that I would apply to this result. Disappointing but not disasterous. 1-2 is not a bad result against the best team in the competition.

England now have a good chance of finishing above Switzerland and Croatia - they only have 1 point each and neither team looked like they were up to much.

The only real negative is that England will probably have to play the winners of Group A (Spain?) rather than the second placed team. However, the positive will come if they play France in the final. I don't think they would have beaten France twice but, having lost, they could do better next time round.

I'm looking forward to today's games. I understand that Italy can be a bit useful.

Steve Margolis
defy convention - make music

Please, let a frenchman express his point af view...

England played well. Their defence was outstanding during the first 90 minutes. French had no solutions to shoot (remind Henry's poor shoots). But the final result was really surprising for me.

Honestly, the handkerchieves were already in my hand when...

I am dreaming of a final opposing England to France ! For what I saw, England should beat Croatia and Switzerland easily. Nothing is lost for England, as nothing is won for France.

Regards

Etienne

Pride

I felt England completely outplayed France. Very compact in midfield and defence. Dangerous on the break and Rooney was great. Owen worryingly was a passenger. The way they played was a testament to Sven's tactics but also their downfall. I think they played like an Italy team of the 90s but ended up conceding too much possession and allowed France to get back into it. I would keep King for next game but am worried about Owen. Mad though this will seem I even envisage a role for Heskey, holding up the ball and allowing Rooney more space. If Gerrard can step it up to the level hes capable of over next few matches England can win the thing.

John

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Owen worryingly was a passenger

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I think that was because we didn't give Owen any opportunities, but there again, maybe he should have made them like Rooney.

I'm putting aside 600 years of historical grievance as my football mad daughter gets too upset if I don't support England. She's confused enough that her hero Terry Henry chooses to play for France.

John

HAHA

Alex,

Was it your brother then ?

Rob.

Well a bad result. I don't remember France forcing James to make any saves (i.e. make a dive rather than hit it at him or over/wide) except for the goals. Both goals were given away stupidly, a poor tackle by Heskey on the edge of the box in the dying minutes and then that backpass. Even if there hadn't been a french player waiting for it, it would have been an awkward ball for James with French players not far away. How did James manage to stay on the pitch after that one by the way?

Lets just hope England can pick themselves up from this one (and Gerrard himself). I think the reason he had a quite time by his standards was playing with Lampard he had to shoulder the defensive part of the midfield a lot more than he usually does at Liverpool. In the end I do feel we got what was coming to us by sitting back we were asking for a bit.

Someone asked why Beckham takes the penalties earlier? well Owen is well off at penalties, I'm not sure if Rooney takes them regularly, but he looks confident so maybe him. To be honest I can't remeber a decent penalty by beckham, all of them I've seen have been save-able, i.e. roughly where he put it yesterday or straight down the middle. On the other hand Zidane's looked pretty much untouchable even if the keeper had gone the right way.

This was a totally gutting result.

England played well defensively after matching France before the England goal. Although we then conceeded possesion too easily in the second half we limited France to a couple of half chances. Ledley King was excellent (as was the whole defense).

The result came down to 4 individual mistakes: Beckham missing a penalty; Heskey's rash challenge; Gerrards Backpass; James's ridiculous challenge. Of these the backpass was by far the most inexcusable one.

Worrying things for England:
1. How to get Owen into the Game, he was anonymous as he often is, it's not sufficient (or accurate) to say he didn't get the service, Vassell always seems to see plenty of the ball when he comes on.

2. Penalties - Beckham's never taken club penalties and he's now 50% for England. Owen's lost all confidence in this area after missing 13 out of his last 28?. Don't know what the solution is here (Lampard?)

3. Scholes can play on the left, but it's likely to leave Cole exposed at left back. Scholes ain't a good tackler (In a completely diffent way to someone like Ginola, who just didn't bother). They need to make sure Gerrard (or Cambell) provides additional defensive cover in this area.



I just hope England can pick themselves up for Thursday.

The solution is obvious: Don't select any Liverpool players, past or present.

Or play a third player with West Ham connections?

Even though Scotland beat England yesterday I feel it's time to move on. For the neutral surely Germany Holland is the game of the first round.

Holland Germany

Enjoyed Denmark V Italy

Svengland were really unlucky.

No wonder they're whistling

P

Denmark look well capable of springing some surprises. Nice wing play, crisp passing, solid defence, excellent keeper. They're just slightly shot-shy.

Italy are going to be tough to beat, but they seem to be lumbering. Totti and Vieri surely can't play that badly again.

Davie