EURO 2012

fine xinging btw

According to Bild, Germany are going to 'rest' their front 3 (Gomez, Muller, Podolski) against Greece! Top trolling if true but no way do I see it happening.

no way, already think Greece can mess with their game-plan

the worst thing that would likely happen vs greece is getting to 65 mins at 0-0, at which point bringing on the big machers would step things up better than bringing on klose gotze reus

still bild has less credibility than der sturmer

According to Bild, Germany are going to 'rest' their front 3 (Gomez, Muller, Podolski) against Greece! Top trolling if true but no way do I see it happening.

Pretty sure I heard some TV talking heads discussing England resting some of their top players against Sweden, to "rest them for later in the tournament" - who exactly these top players were, I've no idea, Ashley Young maybe?

Jordan Henderson. He's had an extra long rest

Martin Kelly

over the last ten days or w/e it is I think I've seen every single England player who's been on the pitch cited as playing well, and also as playing badly

for real though, there's no way Parker lasts 120 minutes if it comes to that

forgot Henderson was there, kinda makes Milner's ever-presence even weirder

(xxp) You mean someone other than Roy Hodgson thinks Ashley Young has played well?

By the way, I missed the start of Ukraine game, did Rooney sing the national anthem?

He sung Ukraine's.

That would be more acceptable in Croxteth than God Save the Queen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJTnszMPLXQ

rooney did sing it, having not sung it when he was in the stands. i was looking forward to a good 'they should all sing it!' thing but ah well.

rooney did sing it

Traitor

Fair play to Shearer butting in there, Lee Dixon wasn't actually saying anything.

rmde at the sudden lockstep from downplaying england to IN IT TO WIN IT ITALY ARE NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT

Milner completes 9 passes in 69' versus Ukraine

whereas in Italy, for example, Milner might already have been granted a reverential nickname like "the Woodlouse" or "the Marching Gnome" or "Tiny Soldier-Legs".

did Rooney sing the national anthem?

Is this a thing? I noticed he sang it and was disappointed because I'm fairly sure he never used to. I also noticed G Nev singing it for the first match and he definitely never used to sing it. Has there been some kind of pressure from above / tabloid storm?

for real though, there's no way Parker lasts 120 minutes if it comes to that

You ever get smacked by a ball at high speed 500 times a night? Starts to sting after a while.

Jubilee. New team spirit. English manager. We're all in this together. etc etc etc

srs qn

how can u care about probably the best paid squad in the competition (them or spain i guess) p much being outplayed for 80+% of the time so far and being the only side other than greece or ireland who can't play even a rudimentary possession game and being full or srsly despicable players?

Apparently Hodgson wanted his lads to sing the Nat. Anthem, gawd bless you, ma'am.(XP)

rmde at the sudden lockstep from downplaying england to IN IT TO WIN IT ITALY ARE NOTHING TO WRITE HOME ABOUT

You forgot, BALOTELLI IS THE ONLY ONE WHO PLAYS IN ENGLAND THEREFORE HE IS THE DANGER MAN

Which are they: full or seriously despicable? (xp)

It wasn't composed with sport in mind, I'd feel half-defeated by the end of that dirge. And yet you'd think the eastern ones would create armies of ultramotivated supermen.

lampard not there so seriously full ruled out

how can u care about probably the best paid squad in the competition (them or spain i guess) p much being outplayed for 80+% of the time so far and being the only side other than greece or ireland who can't play even a rudimentary possession game and being full or srsly despicable players?

You appear to be confusing football with rational thought.

I'm struggling to care as much as I did in 2004 though. Probably missing the Sweden game has had some impact there.

I'm not missing the Sweden game that much.

Jonathan Wilson ‏@jonawils
Just seen Carlos Bianchi prop up a sleeping man as he slid off chair then gesticulate derisively at him as he wondered whether to wake him

Jonathan Wilson ‏@jonawils
Given how much he looks like Larry Davud, that was pretty much a five-minute live show of Curb.

http://ballsybanter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ibrahimovic1.jpg

Missing this dude already ;_;

at a certain point a team just gets so graceless and vile that rational thought has to kick in

like at the last world cup when a holland side no more thuggish and considerably more skilful and with probably slightly fewer total cunts got to the final, ppl like cruijff were saying that it would be a travesty for that side to win

sweden game was cracking. they didn't play well either though, they can't control a game for the life of them.

i mean england didn't play well in it, and were even worse against ukraine. i sort of agree with nakh in that people seem to overlook what actually happened v ukraine. they had about two chances and scored the shittest goal of the competition, and conceded a goal that wasn't awarded.

welbecks goal was fantastic, p much the only player and moment that might charm neutral viewers abt this england side

like at the last world cup when a holland side no more thuggish and considerably more skilful and with probably slightly fewer total cunts got to the final, ppl like cruijff were saying that it would be a travesty for that side to win

That's because the Dutch national team has a tradition of playing cultured football, we're talking about England here

England aren't particularly thuggish on the pitch, not in that kick-in-the-chest De Jong/Van Bommell way. They were dicks in the final (and hey it nearly worked for them).

There are maybe three out-and-out cunts in the team (Terry-Rooney-Gerrard), the rest of them are either kinda anonymous or slightly overblown pantomime villains like Ashley Cole.

They are useless at controlling a game but, I dunno, they score goals and they're still in the tournament when a lot of so-called technically superior teams aren't.

have hodgson/the fa seriously put pressure on the players to sing it?

don't give a fuck if england win this or not. i don't know what's worse, the "we should be winning every tournament we enter" shite that preceded hodgson, or this new "we're the underdogs and it's a fucking miracle we got out of the group" bollocks.

Hodgson asked them. He's a nice chap.

a big factor in their favour is hodgson hasn't had enough time to have any build up of begrudgery/frustration. they should prob appoint a new boss a few weeks before every major tournament.

that is a fair observation tom but even if successful england sides - 1966, 1990 (kinda) - didnt play tiki taka, they still had awesome players lile charlton or gascoigne, barnes, greaves (as a sub), banks, shilton etc

they also had ppl like bobby moore who is as great a contrast with terry as de jong was from neeskens

Mick McCarthy had all the players (and himself) learn the anthem phonetically when he took over as Ireland manager

greaves (as a sub)

The parentheses speaks volumes. But no use bellyaching over it I suppose, Geoff Hurst did score three goals in a World Cup final!

Mick did pretty well as Ireland boss.

Going out in a second-round penalty shootout to Spain would be considered heroism by the standards of this Ireland team. Especially with Matt Holland taking yr first penalty.

it was pretty heroic tbf

and boy did we have a singsong