Come anticipate Roy Hodgson's three months in charge og England with me.

Richard Williams in fine form

With a deftly volleyed reverse-angle pass reminiscent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Carroll made the opportunity for Young to score the opening goal with a composed shot across Rune Jarstein.

You can't both be right

It wasn't good, second half.

RIP Gareth Barry, heaven needed a dude to chase hopelessly after Mesut Ozil.

that was two years ago, he must reached him by now

you'd think!

ozil needs to be substituted cuz he runs out of steam after 70 minutes so with reference to hare v tortoise it is submitted that tortoise will on a long enough timescale have reached the exhausted hare

In two minds whether to watch this tourney now

two more minds than england will have on the pitch

apparently the dude from kazabian is now in contention for the plane

In Krakow the team will be located in the centre of the city and Neville believes giving the squad a sense of freedom will provide normality and help improve performance levels.

"That is the big message, to have players doing what they would normally do.

"You can never replicate the home environment but in terms of being free to go for a coffee or to the shops - we should embrace it, even though it has never been done before."

i've got a feeling neville is about to spunk all the good will he's gained this past season up the wall at this tournament.

I think if/when it all goes tits up it's going to be seen as Hodgson's fault and Neville goes back to punditry relatively unscathed.

Still, I look forward to seeing Wazza doing whatever the Polish equivalent of the Dentist's Chair is.

i think when it goes tits up we've probably already got a "only just got the job, lot of injuries, players underperformed" storyline that will see Hodgson come away relatively undamaged

'england are shit, stop frontin' is p. much in the oven rising when any new manager walks into the kitchen

but we mustn't underestimate Woy's PR skills which cd well snatch hatred from the jaws of empathy

I think England getting out of the group will be enough to stop Roy taking too much criticism given how low expectations are (compared with previous tournaments). That should be enough to take him through qualifying from an easy group to being sacked for not reaching the semis of the next World Cup.

from an easy WC group, that is.

England's prospects of getting out the group have got to be pretty low tbh. France seem tasty, Ukraine have home advantage and are rumoured to be alright, and the squad, manager and formation is almost custom-designed not to beat Sweden. Then there's injuries, insane logistics, general knackeredità, ennui and so forth.

Even with historically low expectations they are joint favourites with France to win the group. Ukraine are about as good as Scotland. Sweden game will be tight but I think England will edge it.

Think Eng will draw all 3 games (that's being optimistic re France game but opening games always seem to be draws)

i was impressed with how quickly hodgson got that SHAPE drilled into them for the norway game. i wouldn't be surprised if they did quite well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/31/sports/soccer/31iht-soccer31.html

What will they tell England’s star players? How will Rooney, the best of the English but a player banned from the first two matches of the Euro because of his inability to control his temper, respond to hearing about lessons from the Holocaust?

o_O

england's expectations are never rly that 'high' tbh, and the day before kickoff they won't be that low all of a sudden

cos as a nation of football fans, and you know i got love for you outliers, ye're incredibly fucking stupid, even for football fans.

it's true the guff you hear fans spout is unbelievable but i figured that was just fans everywhere like

I think maybe only Italian fans have a worse sense of entitlement.

And to be fair they've won a few more World Cups than England, but they're worse when they lose.

England fans have entitlement plus a genuine sense that they've never seen a game of football before but the latter may be Carling-related

nah they're about as bad just more competent at violence

i have no hopes or expectations. a few laughs and some hodgson headbanging and i'll be happy.

I don't even know when the tournament is or who we're playing. Things I know: Rooney is suspended for the first two matches, Roy Hodgson is the new manager, England will be somewhere in the Ukraine, Gerrard has been brought back as captain (actually, not 100% sure if the last one is true).

England will be somewhere in the Ukraine

Then why are they training in Krakow?

they've got round trips of 2000 miles for the matches against France and Ukraine

and a round trip of 2000 miles to get to Krakow

though in fairness the second leg of that's not 'til after the final

it was Capello's doing anyway. He had a chance to change the location when the draw was made but refused

his last act of revenge, perhaps

Hodgson on Lampard: "There was no chance I could take a risk again with Frank because there could have been the possibility he could not have played in the first two games and possibly the third.". Just like... Rooney, save for the fact he can't possibly get himself banned from that third game until he actually steps on the pitch.

At least Rooney will be fully fit when he gets on the pitch. Don't see the point in taking an injured and probably off-the-pace Lampard at all.

ts: playing alongside stevie g or
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/01/article-2153112-136310D3000005DC-596_468x308.jpg

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/rio-ferdinand-and-gary-lineker-hit-861423

What's Roy going to do if he runs out of white defenders to stick next to that odious cunt?

otm

eh, is lescott not going to be playing beside him?

Is Rio saying he wouldn't have a problem playing alongside Terry now? Maybe we've all got the wrong end of the stick and it's really Cahill he can't stomach.

Terry shouldn't be anywhere near the England team

But Pleat, a former Spurs boss and now a Radio 5 Live pundit, said: “I think the agent of Ferdinand is really out of order.

“Agents of other players could equally make a case from time to time. Micah Richards [of Manchester City] evidently has had a very good season and he’s been 'shunned', so to speak.

is that meant to help the case?

danny simpson
kyle naughton

oh shit how did none of the newcastle players make it