UEFA Euro 2024

[Baphomet]

It'll be interesting to see how England set up. Bellingham obviously has been much further forward this year than at Dortmund. Rice likes to go forward rather than sit as a 6. The other options are Mainoo (also not really a 6) and Wharton (1 cap). I doubt Southgate is going to start Trent at RB and invert him into midfield to shore up the numbers there (though they could, and play Gomez at LB and have 3 atb in possession). Kinda surprised Southgate didn't include one of Branthwaite or Quansah (or Tarkowski) just in case. Dunk's inclusion is surprising. Also, any reason why Adarabaiyo doesn't get a look in for England?

Beats me. Heck, I'd take Eric Dier over Dunk. Bellingham as an 8, despite playing higher up for Real, and Palmer or Foden playing in the hole should theoretically work. I would prefer Gomez at LB to Trippier. Tripps is defensively suspect at the best of times, but playing him on the left also takes away his best assets.

Signs in the Iceland game were not promising. Went behind early and showed zero tactical nous, England were undone by a simple low block. I'm ready for disappointment in this tournament.

[Foye]

Every game now with Neuer. Also, Wirtz has to play at the center and Gündogan belongs to the bench. Captain or not. That's going to be another group stage exit and this time at home.

Names over performance has never been a good idea.
Gotta say I have hardly seen ter Stegen this season but difficult to believe he is worse than Neuer.

Obviously this was just a friendly, though.
I think we will see a better German team in the group stages.

[-Luke-]

Every game now with Neuer. Also, Wirtz has to play at the center and Gündogan belongs to the bench. Captain or not. That's going to be another group stage exit and this time at home.

Names over performance has never been a good idea.
Gotta say I have hardly seen ter Stegen this season but difficult to believe he is worse than Neuer.

Obviously this was just a friendly, though.
I think we will see a better German team in the group stages.

Yeah, they are often better at tournaments when they are somewhat struggling in the weeks before. 2014 they were also struggling if I remember correctly (even at the beginning of the World Cup itself). We don't even have to talk about 2006. The team looked like a train wreck leading up to the World Cup and everything turned out fine. The match was way better after they made a few adjustments. In the first half the defense was swimming every time Greece pressured them a little bit.

[magik9113]

Don't really like England's defensive options this year, to the point where I'd rather have Maguire than not. Midfield and attack look excellent on paper, but who knows. Rice, Bellingham and Palmer in midfield, Foden, Kane and Saka up top. That's a balanced group.

I have no expectations. I'll watch the first few games and see how it goes, I guess.

glancing at their list of defenders does have me questioning my choice of them winning it all.


Portugal are looking very strong and are not getting much hype.

[wco81]

Saw an article that German police is worried about 500 Serbian hooligans who want to start something at the England v. Serbia match.

At the same time, apparently some 1600 known English hooligans have been barred from traveling to the tournament.

Meanwhile apparently she English fans are singing songs about the war in an attempt to troll the Germans.

I've only ever watched matches on television so I've missed all this.

[Baphomet]

Don't really like England's defensive options this year, to the point where I'd rather have Maguire than not. Midfield and attack look excellent on paper, but who knows. Rice, Bellingham and Palmer in midfield, Foden, Kane and Saka up top. That's a balanced group.

I have no expectations. I'll watch the first few games and see how it goes, I guess.

glancing at their list of defenders does have me questioning my choice of them winning it all.


Portugal are looking very strong and are not getting much hype.

I agree. I voted for Portugal on the poll. Hopefully it's my usual kiss of death.

[Baphomet]

Saw an article that German police is worried about 500 Serbian hooligans who want to start something at the England v. Serbia match.

At the same time, apparently some 1600 known English hooligans have been barred from traveling to the tournament.

Meanwhile apparently she English fans are singing songs about the war in an attempt to troll the Germans.

I've only ever watched matches on television so I've missed all this.

To be fair, some of those songs are classics. "Two world wars and one world cup, doo-dah" is a banger and the Germans have plenty of great counter songs too. I'm sure not all of them are as harmless as that and personally I think tragedy chanting is a blight on the game, which is unfortunately a common theme in English football.

As for the hooliganism, we (as in England) have some of the worst fans on the planet for those kinds of activities, sadly. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some skirmishes. In Euro 2016 I remember huge fights involving all kinds of fans. I hope this tournament is better policed, but we'll see.

Some reading if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2016_riots

Euro 2016 was such a **** show. Terrible tournament in a footballing sense, too.

[Foye]

Saw an article that German police is worried about 500 Serbian hooligans who want to start something at the England v. Serbia match.

At the same time, apparently some 1600 known English hooligans have been barred from traveling to the tournament.

Meanwhile apparently she English fans are singing songs about the war in an attempt to troll the Germans.

I've only ever watched matches on television so I've missed all this.

To be fair, some of those songs are classics. "Two world wars and one world cup, doo-dah" is a banger and the Germans have plenty of great counter songs too. I'm sure not all of them are as harmless as that and personally I think tragedy chanting is a blight on the game, which is unfortunately a common theme in English football.

As for the hooliganism, we (as in England) have some of the worst fans on the planet for those kinds of activities, sadly. But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some skirmishes. In Euro 2016 I remember huge fights involving all kinds of fans. I hope this tournament is better policed, but we'll see.

Some reading if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2016_riots

Euro 2016 was such a **** show. Terrible tournament in a footballing sense, too.

German police have used Bundesliga fans to train all second leg of the past season.
You can be sure that they are going to be present in numbers in the stadium for the high risk games at least.
Away from the stadiums? We could see some fights for sure.

[Hellcrooner]

one of Portugal/Italy/ Spain, too bad Ireland and Greece are missing.

Is been 20 years of" Pigs" dominance in case you didnt notice

:p

[magik9113]

Koopmeiners is out of the tournament with an injury. After the stellar season he had for Atalanta, being one of the best midfielders in Serie A and winning the Europa League, that is a shame.
Also I'm still baffled by the fact that they didn't bring Zirzkee to the tournament. He was the biggest reason for Bologna's CL qualification

[Foye]

Koopmeiners is out of the tournament with an injury. After the stellar season he had for Atalanta, being one of the best midfielders in Serie A and winning the Europa League, that is a shame.
Also I'm still baffled by the fact that they didn't bring Zirzkee to the tournament. He was the biggest reason for Bologna's CL qualification

And I'm baffled by the fact that they nominated Weghorst as striker.
He didn't have a good season.

[magik9113]

Koopmeiners is out of the tournament with an injury. After the stellar season he had for Atalanta, being one of the best midfielders in Serie A and winning the Europa League, that is a shame.
Also I'm still baffled by the fact that they didn't bring Zirzkee to the tournament. He was the biggest reason for Bologna's CL qualification

And I'm baffled by the fact that they nominated Weghorst as striker.
He didn't have a good season.

They seem like they'll be their usual selves...a very difficult team to beat, but not an actual threat to win the tournament

[-Luke-]

I just hope Ronald Koeman doesn't wipe his a** with a Germany jersey this time. But in all seriousness, I also thought Zirkzee would get a chance.

[magik9113]

predictions to advance:

Group A: Germany, Scotland
Group B: Spain, Croatia
Group C: England, Denmark
Group D: France, Netherlands
Group E: Belgium, Ukraine
Group F: Portugal, Turkey

[Mamba81p]

predictions to advance:

Group A: Germany, Scotland
Group B: Spain, Croatia
Group C: England, Denmark
Group D: France, Netherlands
Group E: Belgium, Ukraine
Group F: Portugal, Turkey

4 best 3rd places advance too

[Mamba81p]

I missed having final tournaments played during the summer. Let's not change that ever again.

[magik9113]

4 best 3rd places advance too

I'm hoping that's how my Italy squeeze on through, but predicting the four 3rd placed teams seems too difficult. It's a toss up.

After all of my complaining, Zirkzee has been added to the Netherlands squad to replace Koopmeiners.

[magik9113]

Semi-automated offside technology to be used this tournament.
Get ready for some of the most ridiculous "correct" offside calls. I saw several goals get taken back this Serie A season due to a centimeter of the top of someones shoulder being offside.

[Birdon]

England insisting on a sub-par managers is nothing new really.
No way Mcguire stays out of the roster.

[Mamba81p]

Semi-automated offside technology to be used this tournament.
Get ready for some of the most ridiculous "correct" offside calls. I saw several goals get taken back this Serie A season due to a centimeter of the top of someones shoulder being offside.

Better than having someone draw lines for several minutes, and in some cases making mistakes.