EURO 2012

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

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.

Aye I'd appreciate a more pragmatic view that says "England should probably get through every world Cup/Euro group and anything beyond a quarter final is a success."

Not a lot of emotional play in a team that merely meets expectations though.

thats cuz they had a manager in ramsey who had the sangfroid to pick a form player rather than shoving star names into the first xi like that erikson

and boy did we have a singsong

we sang ourselves into the ground.

can we discuss the whole rage about singsongs here? or have we yet? i mean amongst irish people. i feel like irish people saying "our fans are all idiots who only turn up for a singsong" is part of the same deep-seated national identity as our fans getting pissed and having singsongs.

hodgson is obviated from the same predicament by a lack of stars (-1 thanks to terry)

and i guess hodgson is in england's favour, for being a good sort etc

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.

― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:58 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

can i just lament the phrase 'so called' used in this way, it is way commentbox like oooh look at those fancy cunts and where it got them

russia are technically superior to england, by any rational call

they are out cuz they were woefully inferior in every other aspect

it does not follow that the neutral fact of their technical level is itself questionable

can we discuss the whole rage about singsongs here? or have we yet? i mean amongst irish people. i feel like irish people saying "our fans are all idiots who only turn up for a singsong" is part of the same deep-seated national identity as our fans getting pissed and having singsongs.

Similar to Scotland - that is in the period between the biannual drunken pillaging @ Wembley and our current state of wretched obscurity/insignificance

But look at them, and where it got them.

We turned from being rampaging drunken barbarians to cheerful idiots in kilts and Jimmy wigs - angry drunk vs. happy drunk (xp)

now stay-at-home drunks, the demon gets you in the end

haha

Well, there is one constant there

it does not follow that the neutral fact of their technical level is itself questionable

Dunno, great technique isn't great technique unless you can reproduce it under competitive pressure. I'm sure there are players who are amazing on training grounds who can't do it in real games, probably a fair few have played for Spurs. Are Russia technically superior upfront? In defence? I dunno.

England would probably not have finished above a genuinely technically superior team like Croatia who were massively unlucky with their draw.

they did finish over a genuinely technically superior team in france

even scott parker can trap a ball, lord knows his skill was good enough to grace a mcdonalds advert

glen johnson is nifty enough for a fullback

etc

this is like a fraction of the reason england are so dreadful, it's more to do with the lack of any sort of sense of how to play football, it's either heroic rearguard passionate defending or a thudded 40 yard pass to a forward who then has to do something with it, it is the most reactive form of football imaginable and entirely devoid of any schematic logic with no variety, no tempo other than frantic, no ingenuity, no convictions other than criminal

international football's kind of like a school's end of year concert/prizegiving. this is what we've done, and this is what we have to show for it. with spain and germany you can see the result of the changes they've made, the emphasis they've placed on skill and technique, the investment in coaching and training facilities. they mightn't win it, but you can see where those countries are in terms of development, structure, identity etc. what have england learnt at school this year?

Yeah I think England's ineptitude is as much an issue of temperament and composure and basic intelligence than it is of "technique".

I mean England's first touch is generally worse than that of most other teams but passing a ball to yr team mate when the opposing team are standing off you shouldn't be difficult for professional footballers and yet England fuck it up time and time again.