All The UEFA EURO 2020 Games Match Threads

I though we looked better with Maguire and Henderson in the team.

Coverage of football is baffling me at the moment..

Scotland are out of the competition having been beaten twice, have a goal difference of -4 and got a single point in a game that was more about local differences than international football. As usual they haven't made the second round. The media is all 'unlucky' and 'brave effort' and all the over used 'Braveheart' cr*p.

England top their group with 7 points, won 2 and a draw. Haven't conceded a goal. Not played like 1970s Brazil but who has? Beaten a Croatia side who embarrassed Scotland. Media coverage is like they've done what Scotland did and limped out of the competition, failing to deliver on their promise. Oh yeah, with a game at Wembley against one of Europe's top teams next week to come...

It's not the coverage of England that's baffling me (England have to win every game 6-0 and play like Brazil) but the failure of the media to say "Scotland? They were a bit sh*t really".

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Coverage of football is baffling me at the moment..

Scotland are out of the competition having been beaten twice, have a goal difference of -4 and got a single point in a game that was more about local differences than international football. As usual they haven't made the second round. The media is all 'unlucky' and 'brave effort' and all the over used 'Braveheart' cr*p.

England top their group with 7 points, won 2 and a draw. Haven't conceded a goal. Not played like 1970s Brazil but who has? Beaten a Croatia side who embarrassed Scotland. Media coverage is like they've done what Scotland did and limped out of the competition, failing to deliver on their promise. Oh yeah, with a game at Wembley against one of Europe's top teams next week to come...

It's not the coverage of England that's baffling me (England have to win every game 6-0 and play like Brazil) but the failure of the media to say "Scotland? They were a bit sh*t really".

It's to be expected when these small nations manage to hold one of the big boys to a draw. It's a bit like Town holding Man Utd to a 0-0 really.  

Quoted from Les Brechin

It's to be expected when these small nations manage to hold one of the big boys to a draw. It's a bit like Town holding Man Utd to a 0-0 really.  

I'll just take a step back here.....

I'm personally not buying into this 'let's 1-0 our way to the Trophy', I see it as us just not playing very well.

Southgate is playing a dangerous game by not making the most of our attacking threats, people have blamed fitness, out-of-form players etc, the fact is, we've played like this for the best part of 2 years now and it's painful to watch. Kane has 2 goals in his past 12 England games, in his previous 11 to that he'd scored 12 and it's directly linked to the sudden switch to stale performances under Southgate. Kanes not 'unfit' or 'out-of-form' he's playing with a dreadfully negative team who are quite clearly instructed not to break lines or stray out of position through fear of conceding. He's also been terrified of playing somebody like Grealish who came on and set up a goal, it's taken months for Southgate to finally cave and take what he see's as a risk and the rest of us see as plain common sense.

It backfired for us against Belgium and Denmark recently (almost did against Poland as well) and I don't think defensively we're good enough to do it. Although the fact we've not conceded a goal is a huge positive, but when we play one of the big boys next round, it's going to get a damn sight harder for us.

We have the worse 'progression with the ball' stats in the entire tournament, meaning we're slower than every team and moving the ball towards the goal, with one of the best attacking options we're had for many many years.

I've watched England at major tournaments since 1998 and this is close to being the most boring set of perfomrances we've put in with arguably some of the most exciting players.

Quoted from pontoonlew

I'm personally not buying into this 'let's 1-0 our way to the Trophy', I see it as us just not playing very well.

Southgate is playing a dangerous game by not making the most of our attacking threats, people have blamed fitness, out-of-form players etc, the fact is, we've played like this for the best part of 2 years now and it's painful to watch. Kane has 2 goals in his past 12 England games, in his previous 11 to that he'd scored 12 and it's directly linked to the sudden switch to stale performances under Southgate. Kanes not 'unfit' or 'out-of-form' he's playing with a dreadfully negative team who are quite clearly instructed not to break lines or stray out of position through fear of conceding. He's also been terrified of playing somebody like Grealish who came on and set up a goal, it's taken months for Southgate to finally cave and take what he see's as a risk and the rest of us see as plain common sense.

It backfired for us against Belgium and Denmark recently (almost did against Poland as well) and I don't think defensively we're good enough to do it. Although the fact we've not conceded a goal is a huge positive, but when we play one of the big boys next round, it's going to get a damn sight harder for us.

We have the worse 'progression with the ball' stats in the entire tournament, meaning we're slower than every team and moving the ball towards the goal, with one of the best attacking options we're had for many many years.

I've watched England at major tournaments since 1998 and this is close to being the most boring set of perfomrances we've put in with arguably some of the most exciting players.

I'm similar to you. My first major England memories are from 1998 and I don't miss a tournament game but I debated watching Scotland instead last night.

I didn't but I spent most of my time doing something else last night because it was so mind numbingly boring. I want to be entertained!

Quoted from pontoonlew

I'm personally not buying into this 'let's 1-0 our way to the Trophy', I see it as us just not playing very well.

Southgate is playing a dangerous game by not making the most of our attacking threats, people have blamed fitness, out-of-form players etc, the fact is, we've played like this for the best part of 2 years now and it's painful to watch. Kane has 2 goals in his past 12 England games, in his previous 11 to that he'd scored 12 and it's directly linked to the sudden switch to stale performances under Southgate. Kanes not 'unfit' or 'out-of-form' he's playing with a dreadfully negative team who are quite clearly instructed not to break lines or stray out of position through fear of conceding. He's also been terrified of playing somebody like Grealish who came on and set up a goal, it's taken months for Southgate to finally cave and take what he see's as a risk and the rest of us see as plain common sense.

It backfired for us against Belgium and Denmark recently (almost did against Poland as well) and I don't think defensively we're good enough to do it. Although the fact we've not conceded a goal is a huge positive, but when we play one of the big boys next round, it's going to get a damn sight harder for us.

We have the worse 'progression with the ball' stats in the entire tournament, meaning we're slower than every team and moving the ball towards the goal, with one of the best attacking options we're had for many many years.

I've watched England at major tournaments since 1998 and this is close to being the most boring set of perfomrances we've put in with arguably some of the most exciting players.

2010 was a shocker. Outplayed by USA, bar the first 20 mins, stifled by Algeria and dull against Slovenia. Thankfully Germany knocked us out before we stunk out the tournament any more.

In fact, there have been very few great England performances in my lifetime.

Euro 96, we were terrible against Switzerland, we only turned up for 20 mins against Scotland, (admittedly) played well against Netherlands, would have lost to Spain if VAR existed and played the gallant loser well in the semi-final.

I don’t think Southgate is the problem. He doesn’t tell players to not move into space to make themselves available for passes. He doesn’t tell them ‘when you have the ball and an opposition player is a 2-3 metres away turn and pass it back’. This is a gaping hole in the competence of English footballers. They can do some amazing things with the ball at their feet or head, but their situational awareness and tactical acumen are very poor. It’s been like this got a very long time. Different players, same old problems.

Quoted from pontoonlew

I'm personally not buying into this 'let's 1-0 our way to the Trophy', I see it as us just not playing very well.

Southgate is playing a dangerous game by not making the most of our attacking threats, people have blamed fitness, out-of-form players etc, the fact is, we've played like this for the best part of 2 years now and it's painful to watch. Kane has 2 goals in his past 12 England games, in his previous 11 to that he'd scored 12 and it's directly linked to the sudden switch to stale performances under Southgate. Kanes not 'unfit' or 'out-of-form' he's playing with a dreadfully negative team who are quite clearly instructed not to break lines or stray out of position through fear of conceding. He's also been terrified of playing somebody like Grealish who came on and set up a goal, it's taken months for Southgate to finally cave and take what he see's as a risk and the rest of us see as plain common sense.

It backfired for us against Belgium and Denmark recently (almost did against Poland as well) and I don't think defensively we're good enough to do it. Although the fact we've not conceded a goal is a huge positive, but when we play one of the big boys next round, it's going to get a damn sight harder for us.

We have the worse 'progression with the ball' stats in the entire tournament, meaning we're slower than every team and moving the ball towards the goal, with one of the best attacking options we're had for many many years.

I've watched England at major tournaments since 1998 and this is close to being the most boring set of perfomrances we've put in with arguably some of the most exciting players.

The commentator made an interesting point last night - apparently the England coaching team have analysed tournaments over the last few years and can see that winning them needs a conservative approach and a tight defence.

I agree with you about playing it out from the back, when you put Maguire under pressure he reverts to being an old fashioned centre half whose second touch is a tackle.

The biggest frustration for me was Walker's reluctance to take the opposing defender on or slide the ball forward to a wide man on his side. He constantly checked and cut inside which led almost every time to the ball going backwards. The bloke can catch pigeons but he's not using his pace (or not being allowed to ).

...........”if we draw 0-0 with Man United”.   They should be so lucky.  In the 1930s or 40s we scored 10 goals against them in 2 consecutive day over Christmas.