Euro 2008 predictions

[loup]

more English whining - the world is out to get them

Becks' red - barely touched him

Rooney's red - what ball stomping???? - it was Renaldo's fault

(oh I know what to do if I'm the new coach, blame our best player in the tournament -Becks- and cut him)

Now Rooney's penalty

If you play with fire you get burnt -

the English will never do well unless they accept the following:

- they aren't due a champioship.

- they can win one if they work as a team, and put out the best team

- they can't win one with garbage in the goal - Nikopolidis is better than anything they've had since the 80's

- they can't win with 1 healthy striker in a major tournament - especially when he is 7 feet tall

I like the English - I really do - but they need to calm down not get so up and then so down - and deal with adversity much better

[DUDE]

I agree that England did play well. However, don't forget tha Gerrard had this massive chance and bottled it. Richards had a good opportunity too.

I don't think should have won but a draw would have been a fair result.

Fairness doesn't exist in sports so that's it.

I can't see Croatia not making though. I get your point but they havee been playing well throughout these qualifiers and have been very consistant.

Russia has a young team and Israel hopefully won't lose.

Anyway, this is a nightmare and a real torture :unsure:

Sorry mate, but I have to disagree with you. I know it's painful to be in such a predicament and maybe that's why you may have seen the game through rose tinted glasses. England were outplayed and definitely didn't deserve a point. 2-1 was a fair result. Pavlychenko has 14 goals in 11 games on that pitch and the minute he came on I knew he'd be a handful. But even before that England couldn't come to terms with Russia's quick and short passing. Yes, Gerrard missed a big chance, but they hit the post as well as missing numerous easy chances all created by the red hot Arshavin.

If England fail to qualify from this group then serious questions have to be asked. Personally I think England's problems are simple:

1) Not good enough defensively. Ashley Cole & Rio are prone to mistakes and the midfield don't provide enough protection.

2) Not enough width. Joe Cole and Beckham aren't natural wingers in the way that players like Robben, Simao, and Joaquin are. This messes up the balance of your team because the only way to deal with that is to (A) have fantastic full backs that get forward and (B) to have the ability to keep possession for long periods in mdfield. You only manage the first part of this equation.

3) That takes us onto why you can't keep possession and it's simply because your midfielders are overrated in terms of their technical ability. Gerrard and Lampard are dynamic players, while Joe Cole and Beckham are great long range passers, but when do you ever see them playing quick 1-2's or slowing the game down by keeping the ball, etc? In other words, when a match becomes a metaphorical game of chess your midfield is incapable of playing.

In other words the arrogance of English football, i.e. the belief that all your stars are the best in the world. I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard British commentators and fans describe Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, Rio and Rooney as the

best in the world in their postions. With the exception of Terry who is in the elite imo and possibly Gerrard, the rest are overrated. And that arrogance/misjudgement leads to an inbalance in the team.

If I was England manager I'd try these formations in friendlies until I found the right balance:

1) 5-3-2

------------------------------------------James----------------------------------------------

-------------------------Rio--------------Terry---------------Campbell---------------------

Richards------------------------------------------------------------------------------A.Cole

-------------------------Gerrard--------Beckham-----------Lampard----------------------

--------------------------------Crouch---------------Rooney-------------------------------

2)

4-3-3

-----------------------------------------James-----------------------------------------------

Richards-------------------Rio---------------------------Terry----------------------A.Cole

-----------------------Gerrard-----------Beckham----------Lampard----------------------

Lennon--------------------------------Crouch/Owen-------------------------------Rooney

These were just examples but they are thing England could try. Why is there an insistance on 4-4-2? When is Beckham never used as a holding midfielder where he's proved he can play (in a kind of Pirlo role)? All I'm saying, is try these things. Whether he's right or not, McClaren has been blod in dropping Lampard for Barry and I think he deserves more of a chance. Whether you qualify or not, at least he's in the process of shaking off the shackles imposed on England managers by the media.

@Loup: Are you really suggesting that Nikopolidis is better than ANY of the England keepers these last 20 years? :blink:

[loup]

better than seaman james or robinson :gr:

[Irlandos]

GK is a problem for England and has been since the days of Peter Shilton. In fact, I doubt if half-a-dozen PL clubs field English GKs on any given matchday!

[DUDE]

better than seaman james or robinson :gr:

:blink: Re Seamen was the best GK in the world at one point (during the 2000) year.

[loup]

I disagree- Seaman was always prone to m*****es - we're talking about a keeper who let a 30 yard goal in the WC quarters (the biggest game of his career)

I'm talking NT stuff here--- many of the English boys have done phenominal things with their clubs but put them together and pafffff they invariably fall apart - and like I said I've always had a weird place in my heart for them

[DUDE]

I disagree-  Seaman was always prone to m*****es - we're talking about a keeper who let a 30 yard goal in the WC quarters (the biggest game of his career)

I'm talking NT stuff here--- many of the English boys have done phenominal things with their clubs but put them together and pafffff they invariably fall apart - and like I said I've always had a weird place in my heart for them

Apart from that one mistake what other major gaff did Seaman do re file?

He single handedly dragged England to the Semi-Finals of Euro 96 & was great throughout the touranment of that WC except that Ronaldinho free kick. Two or three mistakes in a career that spanned 20 years doesn't make a keeper s%$#!. Other than that Ronaldinho goal, the Nayim goal and the goal against Skopja I can't think of any big mistakes he's made as a GK. Seaman is a modern goalkeeping great, hence his nickname "safe hands". Along with Banks he is probably England's greatest ever keeper and along with Schmiecal he is certainly the best GK the Premiership has ever had.

He's a reminder of some big games Seamen had:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw3ejrjwjJQ

Whereas with Nikopolidis we could make a 12 hour DVD of the m*****es he's made. Think of the Turkey game (my yiayia could have kept a clean sheet in that game), the AEK own goal, the goal against Rosenberg, the goals against Man Utd, the disallowed goal against Liverpool which rolled through his legs, the goals against Denmark (home and away). Not to mention the millions of crosses I've seen him go for and miss! He's not even average, he's terrible re file. If I'm not mistaken, you're Greek Cypriot, so I'm assuming you watch Cyprus' NT too. Are you telling me that if Panayiotou was eligable a few years ago, and if Georgalidi was eligable now, they wouldn't be in the Greece's NT? Sorry file, but Nikopolidi is probably the worst top flight goal keeper I have ever seen.

[loup]

My point is that Seaman - like his compatriots - have saved their gaffs and brain cramps for the biggest national team games of their lives

Beck's kick, Rooney's stomp, Seaman's 40 yard goal all were saved for the big stage - if these things didn't happen maybe the Brits would get the trophy they are dying for.

I don't remember any of these players screwing up like this in big time Premiership matches or the Champion's League and I don't remeber any other country which has broken down mentally so many times.

As for Nikopolidis - the guy has been awful at times but if you watch that video Road to Euro and then examine his run in Portugal he was flawless. He played his best when it counted and because of that he will always be associated with the EURO trophy.

Of course the trophy is not Nikopolidis' alone - there were many others who saved their best for Portugal and that why we are champions. :gr:

PS - I'm Greek Canadian with no Cypriot roots.

[Irlandos]

Nobody remembers Naim from the mid-way line? :LOL:

Seaman gave us quite a few laughs in his day.

[Morphi]

Back to England, the debate could go on and on and on.

In terms of goalies, well, I am surprised to see that you haven't noticed the number of English gk that are around in the PL.

Scott Carson would be my number one along with Ben Foster. These two are crackers, everyone has admitted it.

The other one is Joe Hart. He manager to put on the bench Isaksson, the former Swedish international.

There is also Robert Green at West Ham whose has been tracked by Arsenal.

Now, I don't want to start an argument here but Nikopolidis would never ever be number one at Tottenham. Paul Robinson is having a bad spell, that's all.

My England team:

Carson or Foster - Richards - Ferdinand - Terry - As.Cole; Lennon - Hargreaves - Gerrard - Joe Cole; Owen (in two years time Walcott) - Rooney

Now, England are underachievers. Yes we are and so what? Our expectations are to win every bloody game and every tournament.

Eriksson and his antics have wrecked England's chances in the WC 2006. I liked Eriksson but I was disappointment with his attitude at the last tournament.

Possession is major problem for us, true, the emergence of Hargreaves will help. Beckham is not in the fram anymore.

I like the idea of having Stuart Pearce - a proud Englishman - at the U21 level. This team is playing much better football than the Senior team and do seem to care.

SP should be the new English manager if Macca gets the sack.

Oh and just for a bit of banter, my poor team and it's poor excuses did beat Greece 4-0 :not:

[DUDE]

Back to England, the debate could go on and on and on.

In terms of goalies, well, I am surprised to see that you haven't noticed the number of English gk that are around in the PL.

Scott Carson would be my number one along with Ben Foster. These two are crackers, everyone has admitted it.

The other one is Joe Hart. He manager to put on the bench Isaksson, the former Swedish international.

There is also Robert Green at West Ham whose has been tracked by Arsenal.

Now, I don't want to start an argument here but Nikopolidis would never ever be number one at Tottenham. Paul Robinson is having a bad spell, that's all.

My England team:

Carson or Foster - Richards - Ferdinand - Terry - As.Cole; Lennon - Hargreaves - Gerrard - Joe Cole; Owen (in two years time Walcott) - Rooney

Now, England are underachievers. Yes we are and so what? Our expectations are to win every bloody game and every tournament.

Eriksson and his antics have wrecked England's chances in the WC 2006. I liked Eriksson but I was disappointment with his attitude at the last tournament.

Possession is major problem for us, true, the emergence of Hargreaves will help. Beckham is not in the fram anymore.

I like the idea of having Stuart Pearce - a proud Englishman - at the U21 level. This team is playing much better football than the Senior team and do seem to care.

SP should be the new English manager if Macca gets the sack.

Oh and just for a bit of banter, my poor team and it's poor excuses did beat Greece 4-0 :not:

Here I was backing England and you go and bring that up! :P Bear in mind, Greece had no left back, Kyriakos, Seitaridis, Basinas, Gekas, Torosidis, Lybe, etc. In the first half when you scored all your goals. In the 2nd half when 2 of those players came on (Kyriakos and Basinas) the game changed and the half finished 0-0. Greece approached it like a friendly and England went out all guns blazing to impress McClaren. And again we heard all the "We'll win the European Champioships now!". You should start a GB touranment, it might give you more chance of winning something... mind you Scotland would probably be favourites there too! :P

As for the GK's, I know England has a great tradition of goalkeepers and I've mentioned pretty much everyone you've spoken about.

As for Stuart Pearce, he flopped at Man City mate. Taking England would be a step backwards for your national team. Just because he wears his heart on his sleeve doesn't mean he'd be a good manager. If you want a top English manager get Harry Redknapp who I honestly think is one of the most underrate managers in world football.

[loup]

that was a hugely important 4-0 win when both teams were at their best

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

My point once again is that the English (Spanish and for the most part Dutch) players are the best in the world, the best paid, the best performers in the Premiership, Champions League ect. BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT stink it up when their backs are to the wall for their national team

Expectations??????? Same expectations in Italy, Germay, Brazil, France and argentina countries that theEnglish press ompares their national team to. In one way I can't blame them, the talent is there, but one trophy (and a controversial one at that) EVER proves my point

English players are better than Greek players NO DOUBT

The english league is superior BY FAR

That includes the keepers that we have been discussing but somehow they will be watching and not playing in Austria/Swit - that is because the pig Rooney once again pulled a m*****a and your coaches are stuborn morons - Erickson with his strikers and McLaren with his keepers -

Nikoploidisplayed like a pig vs Turkey - that was one of th worst (probably the worst ) display of GK I've ever seen - so what happened he got benched and treated in a professional way by his coach and then came back and won some big games for us- PLUS I bet you he shines once again EURO 2008

All that sais Russia will probably choke (or be bought) and lose to Isreal and the English will trounce us 4-0 again in EURO

:LOL:

[Morphi]

Here I was backing England and you go and bring that up!  :P Bear in mind, Greece had no left back, Kyriakos, Seitaridis, Basinas, Gekas, Torosidis, Lybe, etc. In the first half when you scored all your goals. In the 2nd half when 2 of those players came on (Kyriakos and Basinas) the game changed and the half finished 0-0. Greece approached it like a friendly and England went out all guns blazing to impress McClaren. And again we heard all the "We'll win the European Champioships now!". You should start a GB touranment, it might give you more chance of winning something... mind you Scotland would probably be favourites there too!  :P

As for the GK's, I know England has a great tradition of goalkeepers and I've mentioned pretty much everyone you've spoken about.

As for Stuart Pearce, he flopped at Man City mate. Taking England would be a step backwards for your national team. Just because he wears his heart on his sleeve doesn't mean he'd be a good manager. If you want a top English manager get Harry Redknapp who I honestly think is one of the most underrate managers in world football.

@DUDE:

Haha. ;)

As I said, it was a bit of a banter, nothing mean.

You had a terrible first half which we used pragmatically.

Stuart Pearce flopped at Man City because he didn't have the budget to make something out of this squad. He brought players that did not perform (ie, Hammann, Isaksson) but he highlighted some massive young players like Ireland, Richards and Hart.

The FA should put him and Martin O'Neal in charge of the Senior squad. Mc Claren could be a great manager at U21 as he proved it with a young Middlesbrough squad. It's funny to see how Southgate can not really work it as well as Macca did.

@loup:

England is a country where the expectations are much higher than in France mate. If I've been living in France for a while now and I can tell you that the pressure is different.

The truth about English football is that we are not positive enough. We are often too arrogant or too lazy, we have also been a bit unlucky.

English coach stubborn? I don't come around here that often but you were using this term to describe Otto's choices!

Robinson has nothing to do with this failure, if failure there is.

We were poor against Macedonia in October, putting us on silly pressure in Croatia with silly choices from Macca and Venables.

Rooney did a silly foul but it was outside the box, like it or not.

Yeah, let's hope Russia doesn't make it and we end up in the same group, we will then see if we are that poor :ph34r:

Btw, I can Russia being corrupted with the likes of Abramovich around the NT. :whistle:

[plato-ny]

Wayne Rooney wont play in the England-Croatia match due to injury.

[Morphi]

Wayne Rooney wont play in the England-Croatia match due to injury.

No worries mate, we've got Peter Crouch :hypocrite:

[loup]

exactly re. lampard and Gerard

bring one off the bench as a super-sub - imagine a tired Croat team trying to manage with a fresh Lampard for 30 minutes - unstoppable

so much potential - such s**** results for the English

[DUDE]

It doesn't matter who plays against Croatia. If Russia slip up to Israel (and I think they will) then England will beat Croatia, I GUARANTEE IT!

[loup]

It doesn't matter who plays against Croatia. If Russia slip up to Israel (and I think they will) then England will beat Croatia, I GUARANTEE IT!

Stats agree with you Dude

Isreal at home in EURO 2008 and WC 2006 qualifying

10 matches

5 wins

1 Loss

4 Draws

draws include France Swiss Ireland and England

AND 1-1 at Russia already

[Morphi]

Benayoun is out...

BUT, I don't know why, I still believe we're gonna make it, it's just getting so embarrassing...

[Irlandos]

Russia need the match v. indifferent Israel and, I think, will come away with it.

It doesn't matter what England do.

[Morphi]

If England make it, I'll buy a drink to DUDE.

Mark my words.

[DUDE]

Stats agree with you Dude

Isreal at home in EURO 2008 and WC 2006 qualifying

10 matches

5 wins

1 Loss

4 Draws

draws include France Swiss Ireland and England

AND 1-1 at Russia already

File one of 3 things will happen... either some serious match-fixing goes on where the English FA pays the Russian FA to throw the game. Or, more likely, the English FA offer a big bonus to Israel if they manage to get a result. Or, we'll see some very dodgy refereeing decisions go Israel's way. IF Russia do slip up, then I guarantee England beat Croatia. Sorry to be so cynical, but I can see how the powers that be would let England go out and Russia go through.

[DUDE]

If England make it, I'll buy a drink to DUDE.

Mark my words.

lol, I'll hold you to that! :P

[Morphi]

Pandev is out for Macedonia :whistle:

However, Israel;l have called their new rising star who has been the best scorer at youth level.

My prediction will be a tough game and a 1-1. Croatia will win at Macedonia but sometimes like 1-0.

Then England at home, I think we will get through with something like a 2-0 victory.

[DUDE]

Pandev is out for Macedonia :whistle:

However, Israel;l have called their new rising star who has been the best scorer at youth level.

My prediction will be a tough game and a 1-1. Croatia will win at Macedonia but sometimes like 1-0.

Then England at home, I think we will get through with something like a 2-0 victory.

Macedonia? Do you mean Skopja or FYROM? :P

My predictions are:

Skopja 1-2 Croatia

Israel 0-0 Russia

England 3-0 Croatia

Which will put you through.