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.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:08 (eleven years ago) link
it was pretty heroic tbf
― Number None, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:11 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― onimo, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:12 (eleven years ago) link
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
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:14 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― ooooiiiioooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaoooooh un - bi - leevable! (LocalGarda), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:15 (eleven years ago) link
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
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
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
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:17 (eleven years ago) link
Similar to Scotland - that is in the period between the biannual drunken pillaging @ Wembley and our current state of wretched obscurity/insignificance
― Too Busy Thinking About Mr. Abie (Tom D.), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link
But look at them, and where it got them.
― boxall, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:20 (eleven years ago) link
We turned from being rampaging drunken barbarians to cheerful idiots in kilts and Jimmy wigs - angry drunk vs. happy drunk (xp)
― Too Busy Thinking About Mr. Abie (Tom D.), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:21 (eleven years ago) link
now stay-at-home drunks, the demon gets you in the end
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:26 (eleven years ago) link
haha
― pandemic, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Well, there is one constant there
― Too Busy Thinking About Mr. Abie (Tom D.), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 15:29 (eleven years ago) link
they did finish over a genuinely technically superior team in france
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:39 (eleven years ago) link
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
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 15:59 (eleven years ago) link
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?
― Chris, Friday, 22 June 2012 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah I think England's ineptitude is as much an issue of temperament and composure and basic intelligence than it is of "technique".
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 16:01 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 16:02 (eleven years ago) link
it's more to do with the lack of any sort of sense of how to play football
otm. the rubbish football doesn't help, but the lack of leadership, vision and innovation from those at the top is what really pisses me off.
― Chris, Friday, 22 June 2012 16:03 (eleven years ago) link
no tempo other than frantic
Unfair, there's leaden and half-arsed as well.
― Matt DC, Friday, 22 June 2012 16:08 (eleven years ago) link
it's all the fault of the modular curriculum. michael gove will have this team back to former glories soon enough.
xxxxp
― For bodies we are ready to build pyramids (whatever), Friday, 22 June 2012 16:09 (eleven years ago) link
― Chris, Friday, June 22, 2012 5:01 PM (1 minute ago)
totally
even ukraine, the archetypal 'nothing amazing' side, have a neatness, a sense of purposive movement that probably derives from lobanovskyi and that whole school of universal-interopable player/robots, they generally made good use of their few talented players and it clear what they are at least trying to achieve
england just look like a load of violent remedial kids who have been dosed with lucozade and forced to watch the al pacino speech in any given sunday 400 times
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 16:11 (eleven years ago) link
i guess we'll be getting andrey back
Zenit owner Golubev asked reporters: "How can a citizen of Russia treat the honour of his country like that?
"He should be deported."
― Smothered, Covered and Chunked!!! (a hoy hoy), Friday, 22 June 2012 16:24 (eleven years ago) link
I don't think Golubev owns Zenit, he just works for Gazprom - which does. I wouldn't be surprised if he stays there.
― Temporarily Famous In The Czech Republic (ShariVari), Friday, 22 June 2012 16:30 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnnL3_C3UFs
this needs to be here tbh
― HO WBEAUTIFUL IS THE GENTLYFALLINGBLOOD? (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 22 June 2012 17:12 (eleven years ago) link
It was true then. Schurrle, Reus and Klose in
― Number None, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:04 (eleven years ago) link
What are they up to?
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
gott in himmel zuviel kleine hunde wo sind die nationalmannschaftkaiserlichehunde?
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:21 (eleven years ago) link
otm
― DX Dx DX (dan m), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:22 (eleven years ago) link
Achtung Deutschland
― Ismael Klata, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:23 (eleven years ago) link
gutsy selection
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:24 (eleven years ago) link
chiselled out of granite....like a greek....statue
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:28 (eleven years ago) link
http://www10.pic-upload.de/22.06.12/gi6visizlaej.jpg
― reflexing cozen stail (cozen), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
Looking frwd to seeing Reus. Jogi with balls of steel.
― pandemic, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:43 (eleven years ago) link
did they mention reus or schurrle at all in the intro
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:44 (eleven years ago) link
No
― pandemic, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
but they are all 'good' players apparently
bail-out reus political significance justin bieber greece hate germany bath salts schurrle
― reflexing cozen stail (cozen), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:46 (eleven years ago) link
lol
― pandemic, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:47 (eleven years ago) link
http://i.minus.com/ibkhWH0ls3ZEgS.jpg
― reflexing cozen stail (cozen), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:48 (eleven years ago) link
hes just gone and done him early doors there he has
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:49 (eleven years ago) link
Not sure about that.
Just.
― pandemic, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:50 (eleven years ago) link
good call
― Number None, Friday, 22 June 2012 18:50 (eleven years ago) link
A reducer.xp
oh offside
balls of steel is rong, picking fresh v good players instead of maybe less fresh v good players isn't exactly a shocker
― Smothered, Covered and Chunked!!! (a hoy hoy), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:50 (eleven years ago) link
if reus? had got that instead then he was onside
― dis civilization and its contents (nakhchivan), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:50 (eleven years ago) link
still offside if he didn't touch it
― reflexing cozen stail (cozen), Friday, 22 June 2012 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
schurrle active by dint of kicking keeper in gob