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

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

Because Newcastle don't actually have any particularly good English players?

Half of Newcastle's squad is English and they finished way above a team that's making up more than a quarter of the England squad. Is Martin Kelly better than every English defender at Newcastle?

Sure. Sad to see LFC missing out on a full team at the Euros by 2 spots. Suppose I'll have to count Nando, Xabi, and Arbeloa.

Is Martin Kelly better than every English defender at Newcastle?

― a permanent embarrassment and an occasional disgrace (onimo), Wednesday, 6 June 2012 23:20 (19 minutes ago) Bookmark

plainly he is

perch, simpson, williamson, the taylor wot hits it sometimes, and shola ameobi would barely grace a promoted side in fact

shawx otoh should be in really

Better to take a guy who hasn't played a single game in his team's worst league campaign since fuck knows when xp

played 18 and looked p decent, what you on about

Aye my mistake I looked up his appearances and they were listed the wrong way round, with his first season last. Knew I'd seen him more than that in the late part of the season.

Ten league starts (only one between October and March - though he was used in most cup games*). Lost four of them. Four clean sheets. As decent as anyone in a Liverpool shirt this season then (i.e. significantly worse than Newcastle).

*kind of makes sense to pick so many players from this season's Cup Team, I suppose, and to ignore league form as it's mostly foreigners making the difference at the top of the table.

That last bit is great. If Kenny had said that instead of 'kit deal' he'd still be in a job.

Sol Campbell going in heavy

"If it is ever proven true that John Terry was chosen over Rio because of race then I would tell the FA that they can take back my 73 caps and scrub my name out of the record books."

Did laugh that in the same article he claims there was no better defender than himself in the 2009-10 season when he went back to Arsenal. I don't quite remember it that way tbh.

no better defender of himself

no better defneder at arsenal while the 400 others were injured maybe

Last year, rare mistakes [by Hart] gifted Switzerland’s Tranquillo Barnetta two goals at Wembley. “I’d have liked to have saved both but I’m not going to defend what happened and say, ‘It’s so tough’ and ‘bodies are flying in’. It happened. We got the result and I’m grateful.

“Ashley Young scored a late goal and we qualified. I just don’t get too wrapped up in it. I think about it technically and what I could have done better. Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.”

Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.
Was it laziness? Was it whatever? And then I move on.