Euro 2024

[Trollheart]

I think it would probably be fair to say no team has really set the competition alight so far. Some of the smaller teams - Albania, Slovenia, Ukraine, Serbia, Georgia - have done better in some games than they might have been expected to, and rather than just making up the numbers have given some of the bigger teams a decent fight. Some of those teams, on the other hand, have scraped through on nil-nils (Netherlands/France) and dodgy goals (England/Denmark) and the only "big" teams to impress so far, for me, would be Spain, Portugal and possibly Belgium, though they did take their time to get going. Italy have been poor overall and were lucky to get through as they did, robbing Croatia of their place. Thought they went up eventually through the gears, Belgium were for some time an embarrassing bottom of the table, and there was a fear they might not go through. France, of course, are France, though not always it seems. Austria and Poland failed to fire on even one cylinder, with the latter on the way home.

Still, as you say, these games are just the warm-ups and it will be in the next stage, when teams are fighting for their lives every game, that we see what they're made of, or not. My money (as such) remains on Spain, who I think have a great chance. If not them, then maybe Portugal or France. Of course, you never know with football, and we could have a major upset (Romania for European champions, anyone?) so we'll just have to wait and see. That's what's so great about football: you just never know how it will turn out. Guess that's why we love it so much.

[jimmy jazz]

They're calling Bellingham overrated? He seemed to be almost the only one who was trying. Do they expect him to fly the team to victory on his magic wings?

Yes they do.

He's overrated based on one quiet game vs Denmark and the fact he didn't score in the CL knockouts.

Kane gets slated because he hasn't won a trophy.

I'm agreeing with you the group performances don't say much BTW. To win an international tournament you need to be tight defensively and be able to nick a goal. That's it. You don't even need a good manager. But if we don't blow every team away 5-0 the fans just criticise.

If the unlikely happens and England win it this year, I guarantee as soon as the final is done, the fans will belittle it and say it was only because we got an easy draw.

[jimmy jazz]

Regarding Dutch, Villa are signing Ian Maatsen BTW. You know much about him Marie? Meant to be shit hot 

[Marie Monday]

I know nothing I'm afraid

[jimmy jazz]

Just got me costume on, trying to channel the spirit of Lancelot, King Arthur and the rest of the lads from the Round Table.



Let the English lions roar again!



Simple as.

[jimmy jazz]

Total dominance from England. Difficult to score when the opponents park the bus.

Through to the knockouts. England win the Group of Dirge. We get the favourable side of the draw.

Looks like we're playing Netherlands 5pm Sunday @Marie Monday 😲

[Trollheart]

Total dominance me arse! What happened to "we're going to fuck Slovenia hard"?? Yiz were shite, as we say here. Ye were through anyway, so I don't see what you're crowing about to be honest. Slovenia deserve all credit for getting through against all odds. You lads just stumbled through. As someone once said: NO FUTURE! 

[jimmy jazz]

Total dominance me arse! What happened to "we're going to fuck Slovenia hard"?? Yiz were shite, as we say here. Ye were through anyway, so I don't see what you're crowing about to be honest. Slovenia deserve all credit for getting through against all odds. You lads just stumbled through. As someone once said: NO FUTURE! 

See for yourself - https://www.flashscore.com/match/tAQfuwDk/#/match-summary/match-statistics/0

71% possession to 29%
12 attempts to 5

That's dominant.

They stuck everyone behind the ball and played for a draw. England played well.

There was no hard fucking but that's the only bit I was wrong about.

[Marie Monday]

Total dominance from England. Difficult to score when the opponents park the bus.

Through to the knockouts. England win the Group of Dirge. We get the favourable side of the draw.

Looks like we're playing Netherlands 5pm Sunday @Marie Monday 😲

ooh fun

[Trollheart]

@jimmy jazz total dominance is not much use if you don't do anything with it. It's just another version of keep-the-ball, and yiz had almost no shots on goal, other than the one goal ruled out for offside. What you had was total possession, completely different. I'd have to check, but I think Slovenia may have had more shots on goal than you did. See, I'd have no problem agreeing any team was dominant if they did something with that dominance, but just holding onto the ball does not make you a dominant team. As someone once said, it's not what you've got it's where you stick it that counts.    Anyway, moving on...

TODAY'S MATCHES AND RESULTS


GROUP C

Denmark 0 - 0 Serbia
England 0 - Slovenia 0

Group D

France 1 - Poland 1
Netherlands 2 - Austria 3


If you had decided to watch only two matches, the early ones from Group D were the ones to watch. France missed chance after chance, while Poland, with nothing to play for now but pride (and did they do that) scored a penalty, which had to be taken twice (see below for more). Although Mbappe played (mask included) he struggled to put his mark on the game, which ended up being one not of two halves but of two penalties as the French golden boy also scored from the spot. The game between Netherlands and Austria was much better, with end-to-end action, own goals and last-gasp winners, and upsets the table for Group C, placing Austria, against the odds, at the top. By contrast, both Denmark and Serbia and England and Slovenia played out a rather lacklustre nil-all draw, though Denmark did at least have the ball in the net twice, both times ruled offside. As a result of their exertions, Slovenia go through while Serbia are homeward bound.



Tomorrow's matches

The final matches in the group stages take place tomorrow when all four teams from the remaining groups meet.

Group E

Belgium v Ukraine Expected outcome: Ukraine started slowly but surprised everyone by mounting an unlikely comeback against Slovakia, but Belgium have begun to show the fire we expected from them. Prediction: 2-1 Belgium.

Slovakia v Romania Expected outcome: with Romania now building up a head of steam, and at the top of the group, can't see them falling here. Prediction: 3-1 Romania.

Group F

Georgia v Portugal: Expected outcome Georgia have proven themselves worthy of being in the competition, but you couldn't expect Ronaldo and Co. to give them a sniff really. Prediction: 4-0 Portugal.

Czechia v Turkey Expected outcome should see the Turks taking this one. Prediction: 2-0 Turkey


Let's kick off (sorry) with the early matches, and as mentioned they were well worth watching. France, despite the inclusion of their talisman, did little to show the talent that made them world champions, and while Poland are already on the way home they gave them a good fight. Like Croatia's Luka Modrich last night, good to see Poland's Robert Lewandowski place what might be a final mark on the Euros when he took the penalty they were awarded, though he did perform an annoying stuttering run-up which caused the French keeper to come off his line and, despite the penalty being saved, necessitating its having to be taken again. This time he again stuttered his run but scored. France's only goal was also a penalty, taken by Mbappe, so you could say with some certainty that the two big men scored for their country, though obviously the Frenchman will be there long after the Polish legend has retired.

With little to offer in terms of attack, England struggled to a nil-nil draw with Slovenia, whom they had been expected to roll all over. Although Saka scored, the goal was correctly ruled offside. Slovenia did not score, but drawing the game gives them a historic progression to the next round. Despite a poor performance that offered nothing much, England go through at the top of the group. Denmark had a better match against Serbia, scoring twice but both goals ruled offside, whil Serbia battled gamely but the draw is useless to them and they go home.

A curious thing about the first two matches is, given they were being played (and watched by me) at the same time, there was a point where both matches were being VAR-checked at the same moment, one for a possible penalty (awarded) and the other for a handball (not awarded).

[jimmy jazz]

Trolls

I literally just posted the stats above.

England had 12 shots, Slovenia had 5.

So England had more than double.

It's possible to dominate a game and draw or even lose. When people say the team dominated, they mean had the majority of possession and attempts. Slovenia barely got out of their own box.

Although I do agree possession means little if you don't do anything with it. 

[Marie Monday]

I agree that a lot of possession is not necessarily complete dominance or the that it's guaranteed to get you anything. There was a spectacular game in the last women's world cup where Japan thrashed Spain 4-0 on just over 20% possession, I think, through very effective defending and countering (and baiting Spain into defending abysmally). But combined with chances on goal or other stats you can certainly call it dominance and even if they drew, that's the kind of football that may win them the tournament despite not being pretty. Just keeping the games under control (and defending well) can get them very far, if they're able to keep it up

[jimmy jazz]

Good analysis, will start calling you Jose Marienho or Mariena Wiegman, totally agree.

Back when Villa were extremely shit that's how we used to win quite often.

This was a great example, the BBC even use the word 'dominance' to describe Southampton -
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/25115885

Great days.

We could get Belgium or The Netherlands, Belgium I wouldn't worry about. The Dutch are a concern. Who cares anyway, I'll enjoy the games tonight.

[Marie Monday]

I would only worry about Holland if their attack (and midfield) were better but as it is (from the one game I've seen admittedly) you'll be fine. Defending can get you far but if you have nothing else going for you possession or attack wise it's not gonna work

[Trollheart]

I'm just glad we're not in this. Can you imagine the embarrassment? "And Slovenia, a tiny nation of two million, in their first ever Euro tournament, have beaten Republic of Ireland by 5-0!" Not even kidding. Our new chant is "We're shit, and we know we are, we're shit, and we know we are"...