Official Euro 2020 thread

[tc27]

Get the fuck in.

[JM2K6]

England continue to disappoint the majority of the board.

Well done England, by far the better team on the day (Pickford aside). Very professional in closing it out from the moment Sterling was fouled in the penalty area.

A final, eh. Italy will be big favourites, especially given how England struggled to make clear chances today. Italians know what they're doing in finals!

[Plim]

Shame about the bogus penalty. But England were the better side by some distance, so not as sour a win as it might have been.

[Gumboot]

Well played, England. Hope you go on and finish the job.

[tc27]

Please god let the final not be on ITV..the commentary is fucking awful.

[sturginho]

Please god let the final not be on ITV..the commentary is fucking awful.

Who was doing commentary?

[tc27]

I dont know who they are.

No tactical insights or awareness just endless pre scripted one liners about the occasion and endless mockers baiting.

[BnM]

Does the Portuguese special one really need money that bad.

[Slick]

Turns out it wasn't a dive, clear contact on the reverse angle (and the other guy hip checks him after anyway).

Crap penalty anyway

Not sure what you're laughing at - none of the replays at the time showed contact, but they showed one right before the break that showed Stirling got clipped. Fair enough decision.

Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gary Neville all disagree. Obviously I’m not suggesting for a second they know more about football than you, but they are worthy of consideration I’d say

[JM2K6]

Not sure what you're laughing at - none of the replays at the time showed contact, but they showed one right before the break that showed Stirling got clipped. Fair enough decision.

Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gary Neville all disagree. Obviously I’m not suggesting for a second they know more about football than you, but they are worthy of consideration I’d say

None of them said it was a dive - they all said it was pretty soft. Which is fair enough -I've seen those given, I've seen them not given. It's indisputable that the defender made contact with his leg, though (and that the other one then got his hip across him). Kind of an "umpire's call" decision.

Certainly on the first angles they showed at the time I thought it was a dive. Was happy to be proven wrong.

[JM2K6]

obviously I disagree with the sentiment, but it's the angle I'm interested in. Defender on the right clips his leg. Defender on the left body checks him. Neither of them are anywhere near the ball.

Wouldn't have argued if it wasn't given. Not a dive, though.

[Hugo]

Get in! That was nerve racking to say the least. As a long suffering England supporter I was certain an equaliser was coming when the Danes got those corners with 5 mins to go.

For the negatives I thought Pickford was poor, not just for the goal which was saveable but his distribution is woeful - he must have given away possession a half a dozen times. In this modern era you really need a keeper who can pass like a midfielder.

Anytime we crossed the ball no-one looked like getting on the end of it - McGuire from set pieces seemed our only aerial threat.

Beating Italy will be a tough task but they do not look invincible by any means so roll on Sunday.

[I like neeps]

I thought it was a penalty, quite surprised everyone is saying it's so soft. Still the game should've been stopped for two balls on the pitch.

In any case England were much better than Denmark. Not sure how the team with the richest league in the world and an unreal squad and indeed bookies pre tournament favourites have reformatted themselves as plucky underdogs though.

[Hugo]

I thought it was a penalty, quite surprised everyone is saying it's so soft. Still the game should've been stopped for two balls on the pitch.

In any case England were much better than Denmark. Not sure how the team with the richest league in the world and an unreal squad and indeed bookies pre tournament favourites have reformatted themselves as plucky underdogs though.

Agreed on the penalty & England were the better side so its not like the Danes have been robbed.

[JM2K6]

I thought it was a penalty, quite surprised everyone is saying it's so soft. Still the game should've been stopped for two balls on the pitch.

In any case England were much better than Denmark. Not sure how the team with the richest league in the world and an unreal squad and indeed bookies pre tournament favourites have reformatted themselves as plucky underdogs though.

I think it was a balloon - it looked an odd shape in the replay.

Bookies set prices to fleece punters but there's no way they were favourites ahead of the world champion French team. England haven't been in a major final for a very, very, very long time. We don't have the richest league in the world (semantics, it's very rich!) and most of the players in that league aren't English. It's a pretty good squad though!

[I like neeps]

I thought it was a penalty, quite surprised everyone is saying it's so soft. Still the game should've been stopped for two balls on the pitch.

In any case England were much better than Denmark. Not sure how the team with the richest league in the world and an unreal squad and indeed bookies pre tournament favourites have reformatted themselves as plucky underdogs though.

I think it was a balloon - it looked an odd shape in the replay.

Bookies set prices to fleece punters but there's no way they were favourites ahead of the world champion French team. England haven't been in a major final for a very, very, very long time. We don't have the richest league in the world (semantics, it's very rich!) and most of the players in that league aren't English. It's a pretty good squad though!

You never see a poor bookie and surely the PL is the richest league in the world. Fair enough fewer English guys play in it than maybe Germans in Germany but the English guys who do play are playing such a high standard weekly it's only good for them.

England are easily one of the best teams in the world and should be expected to do very well in these tournaments. It's a good matchup Vs Italy.

[sorCrer]

Not sure what you're laughing at - none of the replays at the time showed contact, but they showed one right before the break that showed Stirling got clipped. Fair enough decision.

Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gary Neville all disagree. Obviously I’m not suggesting for a second they know more about football than you, but they are worthy of consideration I’d say

Wankers game, played by wankers.

[sorCrer]

Not sure what you're laughing at - none of the replays at the time showed contact, but they showed one right before the break that showed Stirling got clipped. Fair enough decision.

Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gary Neville all disagree. Obviously I’m not suggesting for a second they know more about football than you, but they are worthy of consideration I’d say

Wankers game, played by wankers.

[sorCrer]

Not sure what you're laughing at - none of the replays at the time showed contact, but they showed one right before the break that showed Stirling got clipped. Fair enough decision.

Lee Dixon, Roy Keane and Gary Neville all disagree. Obviously I’m not suggesting for a second they know more about football than you, but they are worthy of consideration I’d say

Wankers game, played by wankers.

[Kawazaki]

I thought it was a penalty, quite surprised everyone is saying it's so soft. Still the game should've been stopped for two balls on the pitch.

In any case England were much better than Denmark. Not sure how the team with the richest league in the world and an unreal squad and indeed bookies pre tournament favourites have reformatted themselves as plucky underdogs though.

I think it was a balloon - it looked an odd shape in the replay.

Bookies set prices to fleece punters but there's no way they were favourites ahead of the world champion French team. England haven't been in a major final for a very, very, very long time. We don't have the richest league in the world (semantics, it's very rich!) and most of the players in that league aren't English. It's a pretty good squad though!

You never see a poor bookie and surely the PL is the richest league in the world. Fair enough fewer English guys play in it than maybe Germans in Germany but the English guys who do play are playing such a high standard weekly it's only good for them.

England are easily one of the best teams in the world and should be expected to do very well in these tournaments. It's a good matchup Vs Italy.

Point of order; bookies make whichever team favourite based on the amount of money being bet on them. If a billionaire was placing huge bets on North Macedonia to win with all the bookies before the tournament started then very quickly their odds would have tumbled until eventually they'd have been favourites.

[I like neeps]

I think it was a balloon - it looked an odd shape in the replay.

Bookies set prices to fleece punters but there's no way they were favourites ahead of the world champion French team. England haven't been in a major final for a very, very, very long time. We don't have the richest league in the world (semantics, it's very rich!) and most of the players in that league aren't English. It's a pretty good squad though!

You never see a poor bookie and surely the PL is the richest league in the world. Fair enough fewer English guys play in it than maybe Germans in Germany but the English guys who do play are playing such a high standard weekly it's only good for them.

England are easily one of the best teams in the world and should be expected to do very well in these tournaments. It's a good matchup Vs Italy.

Point of order; bookies make whichever team favourite based on the amount of money being bet on them. If a billionaire was placing huge bets on North Macedonia to win with all the bookies before the tournament started then very quickly their odds would have tumbled until eventually they'd have been favourites.

Nah you'd need a high volume of big bets and even then on a rank outsider to win outright the odds wouldn't move very much. Maybe a cabal of billionaires looking to spoof the betting markets could've got Denmark or Croatia to be favourites but even that's unlikely.

Granted it's a bit different to England but France were in the group of death so that's probably why England were outright favourites. However England's squad is easily the second best in the tournament so it's fair enough to price them in as favourites or second favourites.

My point being England are a class team. I don't really understand the rush to create some nobody believed in this narrative. Especially as it doesn't seem sincere as soon as Italy went through everyone was thinking it's England Italy. At least Rio Ferdinand and the BBC said it out load during the game.

[Lemoentjie]

England deserved to win. Their penalty probably shouldn't have been a penalty, but Denmark's free kick goal came from a foul that probably wasn't a foul. The referee seemed to be guessing a lot with fouls/penalties.

Other than those, it's 1-0 to England and they dominated possession and chances. I think Italy will win in the final.

[JM2K6]

You never see a poor bookie and surely the PL is the richest league in the world. Fair enough fewer English guys play in it than maybe Germans in Germany but the English guys who do play are playing such a high standard weekly it's only good for them.

England are easily one of the best teams in the world and should be expected to do very well in these tournaments. It's a good matchup Vs Italy.

Point of order; bookies make whichever team favourite based on the amount of money being bet on them. If a billionaire was placing huge bets on North Macedonia to win with all the bookies before the tournament started then very quickly their odds would have tumbled until eventually they'd have been favourites.

Nah you'd need a high volume of big bets and even then on a rank outsider to win outright the odds wouldn't move very much. Maybe a cabal of billionaires looking to spoof the betting markets could've got Denmark or Croatia to be favourites but even that's unlikely.

Granted it's a bit different to England but France were in the group of death so that's probably why England were outright favourites. However England's squad is easily the second best in the tournament so it's fair enough to price them in as favourites or second favourites.

My point being England are a class team. I don't really understand the rush to create some nobody believed in this narrative. Especially as it doesn't seem sincere as soon as Italy went through everyone was thinking it's England Italy. At least Rio Ferdinand and the BBC said it out load during the game.

I really don't think England's squad is better than Belgium's or Spain's or Italy's. Even the German squad was high quality. But it certainly wasn't a weak squad - the point is that England never, ever, ever do this sort of thing, and that's why there was a bit of an underdog feel to it. We've had good squads before. You know the story, we go into tournaments excited about a crop of players and get horribly exposed...

I don't think many people thought we were underdogs against Denmark though. Just that it would not be straightforward and that Denmark had been a very difficult opponent for England recently. And so it proved.

[SaintK]

Have we won the bloody thing yet and can I start reading the papers again?

[Paddington Bear]

I see we've gone from 'England are terrible with an easy draw' to 'obviously England have always been favourites'...

What a night! Going behind was certain we'd lose, extra time was certain we'd lose on pens but got over the line. Southgate breaks another hoodoo. Roll on Italy...

[GogLais]

Does the Portuguese special one really need money that bad.

The betting advert again? Shameful.

[westport]

If they go on to win it they can put 1966 to bed and look forward to 2081 for their next win

[Paddington Bear]

Can't stop watching Barry from Eastenders belting out Sweet Caroline at Box Park. Mesmeric.

[I like neeps]

I see we've gone from 'England are terrible with an easy draw' to 'obviously England have always been favourites'...

What a night! Going behind was certain we'd lose, extra time was certain we'd lose on pens but got over the line. Southgate breaks another hoodoo. Roll on Italy...

I have never said England are anything but a great team and one of the favourites.

[JM2K6]

Have we won the bloody thing yet and can I start reading the papers again?

You know you can skip the bits you don't like, right

[Insane_Homer]

[Paddington Bear]

I see we've gone from 'England are terrible with an easy draw' to 'obviously England have always been favourites'...

What a night! Going behind was certain we'd lose, extra time was certain we'd lose on pens but got over the line. Southgate breaks another hoodoo. Roll on Italy...

I have never said England are anything but a great team and one of the favourites.

I think we've overachieved with a final with this team. Feel a bit for the Scots, we are going to be insufferable for days regardless and years potentially.

[Kawazaki]

Point of order; bookies make whichever team favourite based on the amount of money being bet on them. If a billionaire was placing huge bets on North Macedonia to win with all the bookies before the tournament started then very quickly their odds would have tumbled until eventually they'd have been favourites.

Nah you'd need a high volume of big bets and even then on a rank outsider to win outright the odds wouldn't move very much. Maybe a cabal of billionaires looking to spoof the betting markets could've got Denmark or Croatia to be favourites but even that's unlikely.

Granted it's a bit different to England but France were in the group of death so that's probably why England were outright favourites. However England's squad is easily the second best in the tournament so it's fair enough to price them in as favourites or second favourites.

My point being England are a class team. I don't really understand the rush to create some nobody believed in this narrative. Especially as it doesn't seem sincere as soon as Italy went through everyone was thinking it's England Italy. At least Rio Ferdinand and the BBC said it out load during the game.

I really don't think England's squad is better than Belgium's or Spain's or Italy's. Even the German squad was high quality. But it certainly wasn't a weak squad - the point is that England never, ever, ever do this sort of thing, and that's why there was a bit of an underdog feel to it. We've had good squads before. You know the story, we go into tournaments excited about a crop of players and get horribly exposed...

I don't think many people thought we were underdogs against Denmark though. Just that it would not be straightforward and that Denmark had been a very difficult opponent for England recently. And so it proved.

The Michael Owen/David Beckham/Rio Ferdinand/Paul Scholes et al team was described by the press as the 'Golden Era' team.


Edit:

[I like neeps]

I see we've gone from 'England are terrible with an easy draw' to 'obviously England have always been favourites'...

What a night! Going behind was certain we'd lose, extra time was certain we'd lose on pens but got over the line. Southgate breaks another hoodoo. Roll on Italy...

I have never said England are anything but a great team and one of the favourites.

I think we've overachieved with a final with this team. Feel a bit for the Scots, we are going to be insufferable for days regardless and years potentially.

If you look at the 1-11 head to heads England are definitely stronger than Italy. Should win the final.

And it's no worries England fans are insufferable all the time

[Brazil]

Point of order, but the Norwegians fucking hate the Danes, as well as the Swedes. Also the Normans were probably Norwegian. Otherwise an accurate assessment.

[SaintK]

Have we won the bloody thing yet and can I start reading the papers again?

You know you can skip the bits you don't like, right

That just leaves the cartoons and horoscope!!!

[Paddington Bear]

I have never said England are anything but a great team and one of the favourites.

I think we've overachieved with a final with this team. Feel a bit for the Scots, we are going to be insufferable for days regardless and years potentially.

If you look at the 1-11 head to heads England are definitely stronger than Italy. Should win the final.

And it's no worries England fans are insufferable all the time

Enjoyed that

[OomStruisbaai]

With all the rugby cancelled due to Covid, I am looking forward to the final on sunday. England to take it.

[Thor Sedan]

For the negatives I thought Pickford was poor, not just for the goal which was saveable but his distribution is woeful - he must have given away possession a half a dozen times. In this modern era you really need a keeper who can pass like a midfielder.

Anytime we crossed the ball no-one looked like getting on the end of it - McGuire from set pieces seemed our only aerial threat.

Beating Italy will be a tough task but they do not look invincible by any means so roll on Sunday.

Pickford had a bad night. He has been top quality for the tournament though. His distribution from the back is usually a lot more assured than that. Everyone is allowed a bad night - but he will need to go up a few levels to keep the Italians out.

Wasn't sure what Kane's role was in the game. Usually he gets himself into the Lineker zone - but for some reason was dropping really deep. I counted about 4 or 5 times he wasn't even in the box when a cross was being put in.

Italy will 'out shithouse' England. They will dive, roll and squeal at a level that England cannot match.

[JM2K6]

Kane does that, it's part of what makes him a top class player when he's on form - he's a very good creative player when he drops back like that. But he's just a bit slow at the moment.

Must admit the punditry and commentary over goals and shots always makes me laugh. Any kind of finish is a "great" finish no matter where it goes. Kane whacking one at the keeper and it going in off his chest - a great finish! Kane heading it at the keeper but it going through his legs rather than anywhere not near the keeper - a great finish. Sterling whacking one straight at the keeper - a great save.

Ah well.