Euro 2024

[Pilch]

Well done England , the so called dodgy defence came out on top with a well earned clean sheet , a guess the critics will be delighted that we only won 1-0
😝😝

[chirkshrew]

p**s poor 2nd half....no energy, I'm sure Kane had concrete in his boots,along with a few others...foden poor too.cant understand why we dropped off after the first 25 mins🤷🤷

[salop18]

Looked a bit nervy second half but we’ll take the 1-0. As Neil Warnock says, 1-0 or 5-0 three points is three points. Move onto the next where a win will see us qualified.

[Pilch]

Jun 16, 2024 21:59:32 GMT 1 chirkshrew said:

p**s poor 2nd half....no energy, I'm sure Kane had concrete in his boots,along with a few others...foden poor too.cant understand why we dropped off after the first 25 mins🤷🤷

Literally one chance for Kane and the keeper pulled off a fantastic save to keep it out

[Exkeeper]

Jun 16, 2024 21:59:32 GMT 1 chirkshrew said:

p**s poor 2nd half....no energy, I'm sure Kane had concrete in his boots,along with a few others...foden poor too.cant understand why we dropped off after the first 25 mins🤷🤷

That’s the Southgate way. Chess played with a ball.

[harboroughshrew]

A very satisfactory start in a match with few clear-cut chances. Plenty to work on, especially in the midfield and creating more chances for Kane (who did not look very fit to me in the second half). I must say it was some of the worst commentary I have ever heard - you would think we were under the cosh with Pickford making a string of brilliant saves whereas he only had to make one. We need to grow into this tournament to go deep into it but three points in the first game against a very physical side will do for me.

[belfastshrew]

Im a neutral obviously.

9 - Bellingham
8 - Saka
7 - Kane, Rice, TAA
6 - everyone else

Thought it was fairly comfortable for you guys.

[chirkshrew]

We'll need to do better against Denmark...that's for sure

[Pilch]

Jun 16, 2024 22:25:56 GMT 1 chirkshrew said:

We'll need to do better against Denmark...that's for sure

How can we do better than a win ?

1-0 and we qualify

[suttonshrew]

Think Serbia may make it out of the group, looked dangerous at times

[chirkshrew]

I'll make a proper assessment when and if we play the big big teams later on

[MartinB]

Jun 16, 2024 18:23:10 GMT 1 stuttgartershrew said:

Jun 16, 2024 17:52:09 GMT 1 MartinB said:

spoke to a number of Albanians yesterday, they hate the Serbs more than Celtic and Rangers hate each other

Guess we'll know in time but it does look up in the air at the moment as to who was involved...

How you getting on there anyhow? All OK?

Good apart from you would think Schalke's ground had never hosted a game before. Nearly an hour after final whistle and nowhere near getting on tram or shuttle bus.

[Valerioch]

Last World Cup we won the opening game 6-0 and came a cropper in the quarter final yet again

It really doesn’t matter how we got the result, it’s 3 points in the board, all but qualified already, some folk need to relax a bit more and enjoy the journey

Well done England - good start

[pughywasfree]

I think the fact we know how good the individual players in the team can be made the performance seem worse. The fact is we were never worried at the back and decided to control the game instead of taking unnecessary risks. Serbia were a lot more effective going forward than I expected them to be so credit to them and every team will have good spells.

Certainly not perfect but its job done for tonight.

[GrizzlyShrew]

Not a great performance but good enough.

Cant do better than a clean sheet and score a great goal.

No need to be brilliant in the group games just get through then start to improve.

PS Notice Noto has gone to bed early after his prediction ......

[GrizzlyShrew]

Jun 16, 2024 23:00:34 GMT 1 pughywasfree said:

I think the fact we know how good the individual players in the team can be made the performance seem worse. The fact is we were never worried at the back and decided to control the game instead of taking unnecessary risks. Albania were a lot more effective going forward than I expected them to be so credit to them and every team will have good spells.

Certainly not perfect but its job done for tonight.

Albania

[stuttgartershrew]

Jun 16, 2024 22:46:57 GMT 1 MartinB said:

Jun 16, 2024 18:23:10 GMT 1 stuttgartershrew said:

Guess we'll know in time but it does look up in the air at the moment as to who was involved...

How you getting on there anyhow? All OK?

Good apart from you would think Schalke's ground had never hosted a game before. Nearly an hour after final whistle and nowhere near getting on tram or shuttle bus.

Good stuff. About the tram, to be fair it was the same after we saw that Nations League game in Munich. Really nice stadium but right on the edge of town with just the one u-bahn serving it. There was a gate and traffic light setup there, took us an absolute age to get though to an u-bahn and back to town. If I recall we faced the same in Gelsenkirchen in 2006 and decided to walk back.

[stuttgartershrew]

Thought it was a good start from England, took control of the game early on and got the goal (granted with a bit of luck with the deflected cross) but then it was same old, same old and we started to drift as the game wore on (which happens time and time again). 

Thought Bellingham was immense. Saka did well down that right side. Foden was pretty anonymous throughout which was disappointing and whilst Kane was very good at drawing fouls, didn't do a great deal otherwise.

But a win is a win, hopefully we can improve as the tournament progresses.

[pughywasfree]

Jun 16, 2024 23:02:14 GMT 1 GrizzlyShrew said:

Jun 16, 2024 23:00:34 GMT 1 pughywasfree said:

I think the fact we know how good the individual players in the team can be made the performance seem worse. The fact is we were never worried at the back and decided to control the game instead of taking unnecessary risks. Albania were a lot more effective going forward than I expected them to be so credit to them and every team will have good spells.

Certainly not perfect but its job done for tonight.

Albania

That'll teach me to watch that sky sports news clip before posting, corrected.

[thesensationaljt]

Saka made a fool of the full back, Cross Stitch wasn't it? Any road up, Saka made him look a right knit.

Why did the Serbs allow Bellingham so much room? I've seen Bellingham's mummy, but I know nowt about his dad. Was he a footballer? he's certainly got his ability from somewhere.

[harboroughshrew]

Jun 17, 2024 6:40:03 GMT 1 thesensationaljt said:

Saka made a fool of the full back, Cross Stitch wasn't it? Any road up, Saka made him look a right knit.

Why did the Serbs allow Bellingham so much room? I've seen Bellingham's mummy, but I know nowt about his dad. Was he a footballer? he's certainly got his ability from somewhere.

His dad is Mark Bellingham who scored over 700 goals in non-league football. His younger brother Jobe who plays for Sunderland also looks to be a very decent player.

[harboroughshrew]

Jun 16, 2024 22:47:39 GMT 1 Valerioch said:

Last World Cup we won the opening game 6-0 and came a cropper in the quarter final yet again

It really doesn’t matter how we got the result, it’s 3 points in the board, all but qualified already, some folk need to relax a bit more and enjoy the journey

Well done England - good start

Agree it was a good start, but for the sake of accuracy, we beat Iran 6-2 in the first game of the last World Cup.

[Deleted]

Jun 16, 2024 22:18:25 GMT 1 belfastshrew said:

Im a neutral obviously.

9 - Bellingham
8 - Saka
7 - Kane, Rice, TAA
6 - everyone else

Thought it was fairly comfortable for you guys.

Personally I'd give most of them 6.5 or 7. Kane gets a 6 for his second half performance and his very well saved chance, but first half he was anonymous at best, more fouls than meaningful touches. Foden gets a 5, Saka and Rice 8 and Bellingham 9.

Job done, but it wasn't exactly free flowing football and if not for a very good save late on from Pickford it could easily have been a missed opportunity.

I don't understand why we have the best league in Europe, the best players playing in that league and we yet never see the England team play with the same intensity.

I don't see any reason to not top the group with 9 points and hopefully kick on once the knockout phase begins.

[MartinB]

Jun 17, 2024 5:19:35 GMT 1 stuttgartershrew said:

Jun 16, 2024 22:46:57 GMT 1 MartinB said:

Good apart from you would think Schalke's ground had never hosted a game before. Nearly an hour after final whistle and nowhere near getting on tram or shuttle bus.

Good stuff. About the tram, to be fair it was the same after we saw that Nations League game in Munich. Really nice stadium but right on the edge of town with just the one u-bahn serving it. There was a gate and traffic light setup there, took us an absolute age to get though to an u-bahn and back to town. If I recall we faced the same in Gelsenkirchen in 2006 and decided to walk back.

Finally got on a shuttle bus at 00.45. By the time it moved it was longer than from final whistle to bus moving than between Referees 1st and last whistle for the game including half time

[Deleted]

Mixed feelings. It's a win and ultimately that's what matters, plus of course some of our most fondest tournaments (such as Italia 90 and Euro 96) we have produced some mindnumbing & unconvincing displays early on. But there's no denying that as an attacking force we looked largely toothless which is bizarre when you think of the talent we have. The thing for me is we look so static, we can play short passes backwards/sideways but there's such little movement ahead and everything seems so slow, it's relatively easy to defend against. When we move things quickly then things can open up but it doesn't happen enough.

If we go onto have a successful tournament then no one will care about the performance from last night, however if we are going to do that then we really need to up our levels

[Deleted]

One good thing from last night is a win sets us up nicely but an unconvincing win means people/media are doing the 'can't see us doing much based on that', as opposed to the 'it's coming home' hype after an emphatic win.

[wakemanender]

Really thought Foden may have been one of the best players in the competition after the season he has had. On last night's performance however he will be lucky to get another start.

[MartinB]

Jun 17, 2024 6:59:38 GMT 1 harboroughshrew said:

Jun 17, 2024 6:40:03 GMT 1 thesensationaljt said:

Saka made a fool of the full back, Cross Stitch wasn't it? Any road up, Saka made him look a right knit.

Why did the Serbs allow Bellingham so much room? I've seen Bellingham's mummy, but I know nowt about his dad. Was he a footballer? he's certainly got his ability from somewhere.

His dad is Mark Bellingham who scored over 700 goals in non-league football. His younger brother Jobe who plays for Sunderland also looks to be a very decent player.

His dad still plays Vets Football in Essex, despite living in Birmingham

[harboroughshrew]

Jun 17, 2024 9:06:39 GMT 1 wakemanender said:

Really thought Foden may have been one of the best players in the competition after the season he has had. On last night's performance however he will be lucky to get another start.

Foden is being played out of position. He is best as a number 10 behind the main striker or wide right cutting inside. Southgate needs somehow to solve the riddle of getting Bellingham and Foden into the same team. If he brought in another holding midfielder like Gallagher alongside Rice he could push Bellingham further up the pitch (where he plays for Real Madrid) alongside Kane and play Foden in the middle behind them. That might mean dropping Alexander-Arnold but I would play him at right back in place of Walker who has not had the best season for his club.

[sheltonsalopian]

Appreciate this is a grumpy opinion but it's something Southgate has proven me right on during every international tournament so far. We should be doing better with the quality of players available to us - Sitting back with a 1-0 lead with Saka, Kane, Foden, Bellingham on the pitch is bordering on criminal.

Yes we won, yes apparently that's all that matters - until we play a big team and we try the same tactics and come unstuck again.

Croatia 2018, Italy 2021, France 2022.

I will gladly admit I'm wrong if we win the Euros, but unfortunately I don't think Southgate is the right man for the amount of attacking talent England possess.