EURO 2012

[Faustus]

forgot to mention, my bird won £130 for £3 for the group winners

 

how i laughed at her when she picked the czechs!

 

I've had a long standing belief that Tranmere fans know fuck all about football after hearing some God awful shouts whenever I've been to watch them. Fuck, I may have to re-evaluate that view now!

[Mathewbet1]

Fuck me, Gerrards doing a special one here absolute immense on every level. Rooney is a fat heifer. That support actor from coming to america is shite also. Carroll to start next game.

[joeyk]

Get fucking in there ! Hoo-ah !

[Manny]

Mongo'll be dining out off that clearance when he's doing after dinner speaking in 25 years. The cunt.

[Gym Beglin]

A very good result in a very tricky tie.

 

Great to see Gerrard carrying the captain's armband with pride, and playing out of his skin. It augurs well for next season.

 

It fucking better augment that.

I'm going to be fucking livid if he doesn't do this in red next season.

[WaltonRed]

I've had a long standing belief that Tranmere fans know fuck all about football after hearing some God awful shouts whenever I've been to watch them. Fuck, I may have to re-evaluate that view now!

 

Ha ha

 

I laughed la, she comes out with mad shouts for bets all the time but fair do's she's nailed this one, I've only won about £30 so far, she's on about £160 now!

[dirk grout]

A depleted squad full of players with patchy form' date=' credit where credit's due they've topped a group against a French side that's brimming with quality.[/quote']

 

France are shite as the result against sweden showed. I have no idea why anyone thinks they are any good.

[TheHowieLama]

France are shite as the result against sweden showed. I have no idea why anyone thinks they are any good.

 

Its all in the sauces, the food is the same.

[silverlining]

I bet the national media will gloss over that disallowed goal given that it went in England's favour. I've noticed that both Terry and Cole have a habit of dropping back onto the line in certain defensive situations, ready to clear anything goalward bound. Certainly with Chelsea there have been occasions where both have dropped in behind Cech when the Chelsea defensive line is breached.

 

It was another average performance with dogged defending, against a Ukraine that were wasteful in attack and too often hit shots from outside the area. England do need to develop some more coherent attacking play if they really want to progress in the competition. They can't continue to sit so deep and chase because from now on, games will go into extra time and penalties to decide the winner and England will be dead on their feet if they continue in the same vein. If England beat Italy they'll have the shortest rest period of all the semi-finalists.

 

Sporadically flicked over to the other game and each time it showed Nasri limping while his teammates did fuck all, or Sweden trying to break France's offside trap and mostly failing. Great goal from Zlatan though.

 

The quarter finals then, are:

 

Thu 21st June...Czech Rep v Portugal...Warsaw

Fri 22nd June....Germany v Greece.......Gdansk

Sat 23rd June...Spain v France............Donetsk

Sun 24th June...Italy v England...........Kiev

 

Except they obviously won't 'gloss over' the fact the ball was over the line, and every single report will talk about it in some detail, which is what - obviously - has happened in every single media report, including the live ITV coverage

 

But don't mind me. Carry on being hysterical and wrong

[Glen C]

Don't know if its because he's older or if its because he can't run as much anymore, but gerrard seems a lot more disciplined playing in the middle now. He's been awesome this tournament and has practically carried this England team. With him and Lucas in the middle things are looking good for us next season.

[DooooodekNo5]

Its nice seeing him somewhere near his best , hopefully he stays injury free next season as we miss him so much when hes not there.

[bossy]

Its nice seeing him somewhere near his best , hopefully he stays injury free next season as we miss him so much when hes not there.

 

I certainly hope so or Funnee will get all angry.

[dirk grout]

Don't know if its because he's older or if its because he can't run as much anymore, but gerrard seems a lot more disciplined playing in the middle now. He's been awesome this tournament and has practically carried this England team. With him and Lucas in the middle things are looking good for us next season.

 

Ha ha! I knew someone would mention this load of shite. Hes always been class in centre mid, the problem has been the rest of the team being a load of shite. There are hundreds of games in which gerrard has played in the middle and been top drawer, going back as far as when england battered germany and games as recent as everton at anfield this year.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

A very good result in a very tricky tie.

 

Great to see Gerrard carrying the captain's armband with pride, and playing out of his skin. It augurs well for next season.

 

It fucking better augment that.

I'm going to be fucking livid if he doesn't do this in red next season.

 

[silverlining]

Ha ha! I knew someone would mention this load of shite. Hes always been class in centre mid, the problem has been the rest of the team being a load of shite. There are hundreds of games in which gerrard has played in the middle and been top drawer, going back as far as when england battered germany and games as recent as everton at anfield this year.

 

I can never tell when you're being genuine or taking the piss! So apologies for not spotting it last night when you made that sarcastic point about Gerrard

[Torvald Utne]

England v Portugal in the final with England winning. It's all so obvious.

[dirk grout]

I can never tell when you're being genuine or taking the piss! So apologies for not spotting it last night when you made that sarcastic point about Gerrard

 

The clue was when I said he didn't have the disciples! I could start using smileys but then I would have to kill myself. To be fair though, I often struggle myself to know when people are taking the piss. I've seen comments on here which I believe to be serious claiming that Gerrard doesn't give his all when playing for us. The mind boggles.

[FanchesterCity]

Don't know if its because he's older or if its because he can't run as much anymore, but gerrard seems a lot more disciplined playing in the middle now. He's been awesome this tournament and has practically carried this England team. With him and Lucas in the middle things are looking good for us next season.

 

I don't see it quite that way. I think he's got a more 'free' role now, and is able to play without all the bullshit rigid / strict rules imposed on him by former managers. There's less expectation too, and probably less egos in the camp (still a couple though).

 

I don't think he's ever struggled with discipline - just a bit older and wiser now and playing in a less selfish team that actually looks to be embracing his talent rather than seeing him as competition for their place or trying to 'accommodate him' alongside Lampard (who has his own merits, but for me is poor second to Gerrard).

 

England's always been built around some superstar(s) or other, but never Gerrard. Now, he's clearly the best player in the squad and the team's not built around anybody - he just 'naturally' becomes the playmaker.

 

Take the shackles away and a great player will shine.

Put shackles on him and he will always be held back.

[RobC]

Fanchester:

Couldn't agree more, now that he is able to play in the centre with a defensive midfielder he can play his natural game.

He's been creating most of England's goal for years with no mention yet whenever England scored from a corner we all had to hear about Beckham's crossing.

Maybe now the media will drop all this, indiscipline, hollywood ball bullshit.

[Markmywords]

How fucking useless is Milner would you say?

 

I'm going for about 8/10, not totally useless but pretty fucking useless.

[Manny]

How fucking useless is Milner would you say?

 

I'm going for about 8/10, not totally useless but pretty fucking useless.

 

Such is the level of lazy stereotyping on Glen Johnson's ability to defend, I've seen some entirely blame Johnson for the selection of Milner because he needs so much help in front of him. When are people going to accept that Johnson is the best English right back?

[Bjornebye]

Gary Neville has admitted he struggles to keep his emotions in check in his new role as a coach with England. "I was quite passionate on the pitch, but on the bench, I can't control myself," Neville, who won 85 caps for England, told FATV. "It's good to have someone calming next to me, because I'm bobbing up and down like a cork really."

 

he obviously meant "on cock".

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Such is the level of lazy stereotyping on Glen Johnson's ability to defend, I've seen some entirely blame Johnson for the selection of Milner because he needs so much help in front of him. When are people going to accept that Johnson is the best English right back?

 

Probably never. It's one of the few positions England have real competition for. Opinion was split prior to the Euros and a lot of people are desperate to justify their view that it should be either Walker or Richards there.

[Whelan]

Ashley Young has been very, very shit, yet little or no call for him to dropped! Downing will keep the ball, he won't take anyone on, nor will he try and beat a man but he won't give the ball aways as much as Ashley.

[snez1]

Hoping Italy dump the Hodge out on Sunday (especially as my Father is half Italian). Can't stand this media hype over what is essentially awful, depressing football with a sprinkling of good fortune and some class from Gerrard.

 

Think Cassano can really upset England's back line with his movement. He's been excellent so far despite his obvious lack of fitness. I wrote an article on the crazy little bastard here. Ill post it in full below.

 

One Man & His Blog: Cassano's time to shine

 

Cassano's time to shine

The oft ignored number ten of Italian football is belatedly making his mark for the Azzurri

 

Roberto Baggio, Alessandro Del Piero and Francesco Totti. Three 'number tens' whose presence dominated the landscape of the Italian National team from the early 1990s until the late 2000s. Three much celebrated, mercurial talents who were fundamental to their country for the best part of those two decades. Three men who bore the weight of their nation on the shoulders and often carried the teams hopes of success almost single handedly. Three men who scaled the heights for the Azzurri. Baggio dragged Italy through to the 1994 World cup final on his own before his heart breaking penalty miss Pasadena. His was the most glorious failure international football has seen in a major tournament. Del Piero and Totti ultimately went one step further by being involved in the 2006 World cup winning squad and both having significant personal moments of triumph in that tournament on their route to victory. But, over the past decade, one other gifted number ten has always intrigued and promised much over in Italy without ever really convincing or being noticed outside of his homeland. His name is Antonio Cassano.

 

Despite the wonderful technical ability Cassano possesses, he has never truly become a star of the footballing world outside his own island. Sure, he was good at Roma, he got a move to the worlds most famous club Real Madrid (where his penchant for cake and women took precedent over actually, you know, playing football) and his performances were often majestic at little Sampdoria, but none of this has ever reached the levels of media coverage that his predecessors who wore the famous Italian number ten shirt achieved. Baggio, Totti and Del Piero were mega stars of the footballing world but Cassano has never really threatened to break into their stratosphere.

 

One main reason for this relative anonymity is that the peak years of his career have not yielded nearly enough caps for his national team, thus restricting his opportunities to demonstrate his talents to a global audience. Even when Cassano has had his fleeting moments of success for the Azzurri, they have been largely forgotten due to circumstances out of his control. On the night of Italy's final group game at Euro 2004, he was his country's outstanding player and scored what seemed like a dramatic last minute goal that everyone thought had earned his team a place in the quarter finals only for Sweden and Denmark to knock the Italians out with a convenient draw in the other group match that took place at the same time. Cassano's celebrations at his late winner against Bulgaria that night turned into dismay as he realised that his efforts had been in vain. Italy went home and his heroics had been rendered irrelevant to the wider world. Later in his career, after his dismal spell in Madrid, Cassano should have been his country's most important player at the 2010 World cup. He had performed splendidly for Sampdoria and was the best attacking player in Italy. However, the then national team manager Marcello Lippi ignored public opinion and refused to even select him in his squad for the tournament. It was not a decision made for 'footballing reasons' as Roy Hodgson would say. Cassano made no secret of his disdain for Lippi while the World cup unfolded, even saying that he wanted the team to win but 'not for Lippi. I say what I think'. While Italy surrendered their World cup crown in the worst possible manner in South Africa, their best player sat at home and probably ate the pastries that he is so fond of with a wry grin on his face as Lippi's team ended the tournament disgraced and embarrassed without a single victory to their name. Cassano's reputation for volatility and instability is cited as the reason for his exclusion from La Nazionale under Lippi and his reputation as a bad boy has cost him an awful lot.

 

With Cassano it has never been a question of talent. His footballing ability is, and always has, been obvious. His temperament however has always been in question. The bust ups with managers, the media outbursts, the lack of application to his trade and his fluctuating weight have all held him back, but now it seems that he has matured enough to finally let his feet do the talking. Italy's current manager Cesare Prandelli has put his trust in the Bari native. Cassano has fought back to fitness in miraculous fashion following his health problems (he underwent heart surgery after a minor stroke earlier in the season) to get himself fit for the Euros, and his manager's faith is currently being repaid in droves. This tournament has allowed Cassano to showcase his talents on the big stage and now, for the first time, he has the chance to perform in the latter stages of an international tournament. After Lippi ignored the in form striker for years because of his attitude, Prandelli has now not only selected Cassano but made him the focal point of his new Italy and given him the opportunity to indelibly stamp his mark on these Championships. Despite some preposterous cries for him to dropped recently after some frankly, very silly comments at a press conference about homosexuals (he obviously still has some maturing to do), Cassano has taken his place in the starting line up in all three of Italy's group games wearing the blue number ten shirt. His performances have merited it. Perhaps he hasn't stood out as much as other flashy forward players like Mesut Ozil or Andres Iniesta, but he has been one of the top performers thus far in Euro 2012. If you've watched all of Italy's games you will know how indispensable he is to their play. If you haven't paid much attention to Italy yet then you probably weren't even that aware of his presence until he scored against the Republic of Ireland last night. Such is Cassano's lot. The BBC and ITV aren't likely to pick him out as a star name while they have the likes of Ronaldo and Rooney to focus on (and lets face it, Alan Shearer probably doesn't even know he exists, such is his knowledge of the world game).

 

Cassano's performance against the Republic of Ireland was particularly outstanding. For twenty minutes the Italians looked sluggish and startled by the Irish's high pressing game, but it was Cassano who tilted the contest in Italy's favour. He began to retain the ball in the final third for his team and offered a threat to the Irish defenders whenever he got the ball. His eye for a pass was evident as he released Antonio De Natale with a sumptuous through ball moments before he himself gave Italy their crucial lead with a header from a corner that he had won. He again played Di Natale in on goal after a flowing counter attack that he was the key man in during the second half only for Di Natale to be foiled by Shay Given. Despite obviously lacking match fitness and not yet being ready to play a full 90 minutes, Cassano has still been Italy's attacking lynch pin. His clever movement into space off the front man (be it Balotelli or Di Natale) marries up perfectly with his inventiveness. He makes the game look simple and in a lot of ways he is not your typical flamboyant Italian trequartista. He does not quite posses the dribbling skills of Baggio, the goal scoring touch and free kick mastery of Totti or Del Piero but, in Prandelli's side Cassano fits, as Morrissey and Marr once so melodically put it, hand in glove. A through ball here, a flick there, a clever trick to gain a yard of space...none of these things are ever done at break neck speed or with the flair of an Iniesta or the extravagance of a Ronaldo but they are still wonderful to behold due to their effectiveness. Without Cassano knitting their play together in the final third, Italy look slightly ragged and unrefined, but with him they look potent and dangerous.

 

With a crucial goal now behind him in this tournament to add to three impressive performances, it finally feels like Antonio Cassano is catching fire at the right time for La Nazionale. Italy stand a decent chance of progressing beyond the quarter finals in this tournament and Cassano's form at this time is their main hope of doing so. Cassano is on the verge of becoming an icon on a world wide stage. Given his outrageous talent, it's about bloody time.