EURO 2012

[Kanakori]

You had your chance, you blew it.

 

Euro 04, Your midfield had players like Figo and Faux Ronaldo and you couldn't manage to beat Greece, fuck off, you don't deserve shit.

 

Errr. Greece won, so by that logic neither spain, the checz republic, france or the dutch deserve to win. Your argument is invalid.

 

Kana, the logic was: in '04 Portugal had a better team, but didn't win so now they wont either. Stop trolling.

 

And thank god for the Euro's. There's definitely a number of teams trying to prove something. Germany, Netherlands, France (!?), England (!?), Italy, ...

Ans Spain, of course.

 

Our team is as good now. Half of it is on real, we're just missing mourinho.

[goDel]

We'll see.

 

 

 

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

• Ukraine
  
• Poland
  
• Spain
  
• Netherlands
  

• Germany
  
• Italy
  
• England
  
• Russia
  

• Croatia
  
• Greece
  
• Portugal
  
• Sweden
  

• Denmark
  
• France
  
• Czech Republic
  
• Republic of Ireland
  

 

Seems like Portugal isn't a difficult group.

 

*cough 1 or 2 cough*

[jhonny]

England squad for Euro 2012:

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Man City), Rob Green (West Ham), John Ruddy (Norwich)

Defenders: Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Man United), John Terry (Chelsea), Joleon Lescott (Man City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Leighton Baines (Everton)

Midfielders: Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (Man City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Scott Parker (Tottenham), Ashley Young (Man United), James Milner (Man City)

Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Man United), Danny Welbeck (Man United), Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)

 

STEWART FUCKING DOWNING

[Guest Gary C]

Well there it is. No surprises. Boring England, as usual.

 

Downing is poor, but Adam Johnson hasn't proven himself to be any better this season. He might have had limited chances to impress at Man City, but he didn't push for a loan-move or get on the bench above Milner so there's probably something wrong with his game/mentality.

 

I'd still rather have Crouch than Carroll, and would have liked Terry to be dropped too, but with Smalling being injured and little time to cement a centre-back pair he's kind of necessary.

 

It's a shame that Walker and Wilshere are injured because they probably would have pushed out Terry/Johnson and Downing.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole.

Walcott. Barry. Lampard. Parker. Young.

Rooney

 

Or.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole.

Lampard. Barry. Gerrard.

Young. Rooney. Welbeck.

 

There are definitely lots of options. Parker and Barry are interchangable. Young can be played left or right, whilst Chamberlain could provide a more direct option a little further in-field.

Welbeck and Defoe could work well as attacking subs.

And Lampard and Gerrard, despite being inconsistent together for England, are captains capable of reading the game and cooling things down or pushing for goals.

 

Downing is obviously the weakest link, but his crossing ability is still good and could be useful should Carroll be brought into play.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Cahill. Cole

Jones. Barry

Walcott. Rooney. Young.

Carroll.

[Guest Gary C]

It's all elementary though, because Hodgson will pick:

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Cahill. Cole.

Walcott. Lampard. Gerrard. Downing.

Rooney. Defoe.

 

And we'll go out in the group stages.

[jhonny]

Downing has a 21% cross success rate, along with no goals and no assists this season. Tim Howard has scored more goals.

 

Well there it is. No surprises. Boring England, as usual.

 

Downing is poor, but Adam Johnson hasn't proven himself to be any better this season. He might have had limited chances to impress at Man City, but he didn't push for a loan-move or get on the bench above Milner so there's probably something wrong with his game/mentality.

 

I'd still rather have Crouch than Carroll, and would have liked Terry to be dropped too, but with Smalling being injured and little time to cement a centre-back pair he's kind of necessary.

 

It's a shame that Walker and Wilshere are injured because they probably would have pushed out Terry/Johnson and Downing.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole.

Walcott. Barry. Lampard. Parker. Young.

Rooney

 

Or.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole.

Lampard. Barry. Gerrard.

Young. Rooney. Welbeck.

 

There are definitely lots of options. Parker and Barry are interchangable. Young can be played left or right, whilst Chamberlain could provide a more direct option a little further in-field.

Welbeck and Defoe could work well as attacking subs.

And Lampard and Gerrard, despite being inconsistent together for England, are captains capable of reading the game and cooling things down or pushing for goals.

 

Downing is obviously the weakest link, but his crossing ability is still good and could be useful should Carroll be brought into play.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Cahill. Cole

Jones. Barry

Walcott. Rooney. Young.

Carroll.

what about your team when Rooney isn't playing for the first 2 games?

[Guest Gary C]

Tony Nolan: "I couldn't agree with you more about Carrick. With that midfield there is not one comfortable passer of the ball, not one. Gerrard can hit some great balls but he is not what I would call a comfortable passer in midfield. Lampard gets forward well but doesn't like to have the ball through him all the time. Parker and Barry are wreckers and Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain are flyers. Friends of mine ridiculed me when I asked if Danny Murphy was available but if it's not him, Carrick or Scholes who's gonna control the tempo, given that Wilshere is injured?"

 

A good point. Whilst trying to pick a team myself it's difficult to find a player capable of sitting between the defence and more attacking players and just calmly playing the ball about. Carrick might not have the magic-factor of Gerrard or Lampard, but he could have done it.

I wouldn't class Barry as a 'wrecker' though, he's slightly more creative than Parker. Which means the team is going to be built around Barry and Rooney... Fuck.

[Guest Gary C]

Downing has a 21% cross success rate, along with no goals and no assists this season. Tim Howard has scored more goals.

Under Dalglish. His goal record is poor, yes, but his crossing isn't as bad as the stats suggest. I think he's crossed more than any other player, distorting his conversion rate a little. Plus, who was he crossing to? Carroll was played as a Heskey and Suarez was more likely to hand-ball it than head it.

 

what about your team when Rooney isn't playing for the first 2 games?

 

Good point.

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole.

Walcott. Barry. Lampard. Downing.

Carroll. Defoe.

 

And that's just pitiful. We're going to lose the first two games, lol.

[Guest Gary C]

Gerrard is captain, so should be made a certainty for a starting place?

 

Hart.

Johnson. Terry. Jones. Cole

Lampard. Barry. Gerrard.

Walcott. Carroll. Young.

 

I'd ultimately go for a blitz, throw caution to the wind and focus on outscoring from midfield.

 

Hart.

Jones. Terry. Cahill. Cole.

Barry.

Walcott. Gerrard. Young.

Rooney. Defoe.

[Guest Rambo]

I'm going to add a little bit of balance to the current anti-Downing bandwagon. Not that i think he's great because i dont - it's just because i disgree with how overboard everyone is going on him. He has scored a couple, just not in the league. Another thing, there was a compilation made a month or so ago of all the times Liverpool had hit the woodwork up until that point in the season and Downing was involved in a surprising amount of them either by being the one who shot or by making the assist. He can only make the assist obviously, he cant put the ball in the net.

 

 

edit. most if not all of his own post hits where from long range. Definitely in the unlucky category.

[goDel]

LOL

 

As if England will make it past the group stages....hmf

 

;p

[Guest Mirezzi]

Can we fucking please start a "Let's all laugh at England @ Euro 2012" thread now? While we're at it, "Let's all laugh at England @ WC 2014" is right around the corner, too!

[YO303]

John Ruddy!!!

 

but yeah the squad is weak, i mean he's probably gonna start Caroll in the first two games.

[YO303]

My starting XI pre-Rooney

 

Heart

 

Jones - Terry - Lescott - Cole

 

Barry -- Parker-

 

Oxlade-Chamberlain - Gerrard - Milner

 

Caroll (lol)

 

With Rooney ..

 

 

Heart

 

Jones - Terry - Lescott - Cole

 

Parker

 

Oxlade-Chamberlain - Milner

 

Gerrard

 

Rooney - Young

[Guest kokeboka]

 

Seems like Portugal isn't a difficult group.

 

*cough 1 or 2 cough*

 

We are going to screw the pooch (again) - it will be embarassing if we can't make it through the group, but I wouldn't be surprised if we go 2nd place to Croatia or Sweden. We will be without Bosingwa and Carvalho because our coach is a beligerant dumb ass, It's not about us being cocky or lazy, it will mostly because we've had 1 good manager in the last 50 years, and because Portugal doesn't produce decent strikers (and fullbacks, to some extent). We do have a good young goalkeeper this year and he'll probably be available for transfer, he'll be someone to watch.

 

Spain pisses me off, they win but their football is incredibly boring to watch. Maybe a good year for Ozil and Germany, their squad looks solid and disciplined.

[chenGOD]

I'd ultimately go for a blitz, throw caution to the wind and focus on outscoring from midfield.

 

Hart.

Jones. Terry. Cahill. Cole.

Barry.

Walcott. Gerrard. Young.

Rooney. Defoe.

 

If you're going for blitz, Kyle Walker over Jones. Smalling over Terry.

Milner as holding

Adam Johnson over Walcott.

Rooney and Defoe/Crouch

[dr lopez]

walker is out :(

[YO303]

Having Kyle Walker as an international right-back is irresponsible, he should play the wings and have someone like Tony Hibbert at right back.

[chenGOD]

Oh. lol. ummmm Jones it is then.

 

YO303 - the lineup was for blitz purposes.

[Guest Blue Peter Cheat]

First game, I'd have:

 

Hart

Jones Lescott Cahill Cole

Parker Barry

Walcott Gerrard Young

Carroll

 

(It wouldn't be my personal XI but going with the squad that's been chosen).

 

I'd like to see Carroll dropping deep to either flck-on balls for Walcott, Gerrard and Young running past him; or given time, getting the ball down and laying it off to feet to those three. Hopefully... the former would create shooting chances for the three midfielders and the latter crossing oppportunities that Gerrard and Carroll, running into the box from his deeper position, can attack. Sounds simple, and is, obviously reality is a lot more complicated. Carroll is key. Fortunately or unfortunately.

 

Johnson is a liability. Terry is a tit (and going on current form shouldn't be anywhere near the pitch), Gerrard should never be played anywhere except behind a striker with less responsiblity than the other mids, while a gifted footballer he seems to mess up systems and tactics. Lampard wouldn't fit in the above system -although could come on for Barry if a slightly more attacking posture was required. Downing wouldn't work either, he's not as versatile as Young and off form.

[Guest Blue Peter Cheat]

Apparently Carrick said he didn't want to be picked if he was going to be a fringe player. Regardless of his merits and whether he should be in the first XI or not, that's a pretty bad attitude.

[Guest Mirezzi]

I'd rather see Carrick get more of an opportunity than these other underperforming, overrated sacks of shit.

[Guest Rambo]

Apparently Carrick said he didn't want to be picked if he was going to be a fringe player. Regardless of his merits and whether he should be in the first XI or not, that's a pretty bad attitude.

 

Doesn't play for Liverpool so i'm sure it will blow over really quickly.

 

edit. in fact, there nothing to blow over, he's mostly receiving sympathy lol

 

Unbelievable,

[dr lopez]

really sad christian poulsen and jovanovic aren't cappable. They'd fit right in!!

[Guest Blue Peter Cheat]

I'd rather see Carrick get more of an opportunity than these other underperforming, overrated sacks of shit.

 

I agree but he obviously doesn't fit into Hodgson's plans. I'd like to think Hodgson knows full well England's limited capabilities and sees Carrick as a luxury he can't afford. I reckon his first teams will be more about defensive hard work and cohesiveness than finesse. I wouldn't be surprised to see Milner starting at left mid. I like Milner but he's hardly had any game time recently and while a committed professional he's not as dangerous as Young. He will offer greater defensive cover and tactical discipline though. It'll probably be seven players of that ilk and Carroll, Gerrard and Walcott. I'd like to see more offensive players but England are shite and it's probably the right thing to do.