[Archived] Euro 2008

[RibbleValleyRover]

It will be interesting to see how Germany do tonight.

[Mattyblue]

Ive said it before and I'll say it again, JOHN MOTSON RETIRE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoever is co-commentating with him gets him through the game. Constant 'Was that offside Mark?', 'Was that a yellow card he gave there Mark?'

You're the commentator FFS!

[brfcshabba]

Apart from the first 20 minutes Croatia were poor and Bilic didn't seem to know how to stop the waves of Austria attacks.

[philipl]

Croatia defenders looked to be as big a bunch of useless lumps as the Austrian forwards are. However, although they were getting skinned outside the box they were always in the right place when the ball came into the box.

The Croatian midfield went AWOL and Modric didn't show at all. Olic can beat players but his delivery was awful today.

Looked very encouraging from an England standpoint- if Capello can get the England players with some decent tempo, their skill levels should finish the job whereas the Austrians were clueless.

I'd guess Rovers would be in a very good shout for Bilic if they are willing to wait. Buying him out of his Croatian contract to 2010 would cost all of £350K max.

[Mc Love]

the Gerry Polak game is quite good, could be a draw

[philipl]

No arguing with the Germans- easily the best team we have seen so far.

The Poles could still come second in this Group; they'll give the Croats a tough game.

[tcj_jones]

So happy I've got Germany in my sweepstakes at uni. Podolski and Frings looked really, really good tonight, while Ballack put in a competent performance and schweinsteiger made an impact when he came on. I have a good feeling about them winning this competition.

[Presty On Tour]

Germany were their usual efficient, disciplined selves. Won the game by dominating the midfield and deserved the win. I was so disappointed with Poland, they topped their qualifying group and before the match i fancied them to have a real go.

As for Germany's chances on winning the tournament, they are in the easier half of the draw but Lehmann between the pipes will cost them.

[RevidgeBlue]

McClaren was co-commentating on the Austria v Croatia game for Radio 5 and imo merely confirmed the general feeling of the public about him.

Good god, this guy is so boring he could send a glass eye to sleep!

There is no way we want him in the home dressing room doing the pre match pep talks at Ewood this season!

[LeChuck]

I wasn't really fussed about Portugal to be honest. They still lack a cutting edge of any description.

I was hoping they'd play a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Quaresma, Simao, Nani and Ronaldo being the front four and playing a Man Utd-style attack whereby they can all interchange, it could be devastating and beautiful to watch. Instead they seem to be sticking with has-beens like Nuno Gomes and Deco.

Their biggest mistake could be restricting Ronaldo to a wide role, he was pretty poor there for the first half when he wasn't really allowed to move from that right side. He could potentially win the tournament for them, but they need to give him far more freedom if he's to do it.

[philipl]

Agreed- my reaction was Portugal have sexy footballers yet Big Phil is definitely not playing sexy football. Even Ronaldo's step overs and fancy footwork were strictly banned.

[Oklahoma]

I agree with Scolari tactics.

Deco and Nuno Gomes bring experience to the team, something Nani and Quaresma wouldn't do.

We don't have a powerful striker but Nuno Gomes can work well with the other players, creating chances for them to score.

The Man Utd style could work but it has to be worked a lot more.

[RoyRover]

I was hoping they'd play a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Quaresma, Simao, Nani and Ronaldo being the front four and playing a Man Utd-style attack whereby they can all interchange, it could be devastating and beautiful to watch. Instead they seem to be sticking with has-beens like Nuno Gomes and Deco.

Their biggest mistake could be restricting Ronaldo to a wide role, he was pretty poor there for the first half when he wasn't really allowed to move from that right side. He could potentially win the tournament for them, but they need to give him far more freedom if he's to do it.

Deco a has-been? He was arguably the best player on the pitch and is the player that keeps Portugal ticking. Without him they won't do anything. I'm delighted that Nuno Gomes is getting the chance to start up front. I never rated Pauleta at international level and thought that Nuno Gomes had the size, strength and ariel ability to make the 4-3-3 formation really work. I don't know how affective playing four wingers at once would be. I remember Portugal doing something similar in the past, in games where they needed to score and didn't work that well. I thought that Nuno Gomes played really well the other night. He hit the woodwork twice, set up the first goal and got into good positions in the box. I think that they have been the most impressive team so far.

Germany looked solid last night. Clemens Fritz was very impressive, as was Lahm and Podolski. Defensively German look pretty slow and this could be their weakness. Croatia were disappointing, but they have the ability to improve. I'm looking forward to seeing the Romanian's tonight. I think that they could be a dark horse. It will be good to see Christian Chivu having the chance to play on the world stage.

[Eddie]

Croatia are average.

Germany are boring, but effective.

Portugal will go far.

[Rovermatt]

Croatia looked pretty average yesterday but are clearly capable of better. It makes you wonder just how bad England are to be diddled by them so easily. Twice.

[BuckyRover]

How bad McClaren was, not the England players.

England do not have bad players. The Champions league final proves this.

[Rovermatt]

Not a good team either mind.

[Eddie]

Croatia will depress England fans further by showing what an average side they really are...

Croatia looked pretty average yesterday but are clearly capable of better. It makes you wonder just how bad England are to be diddled by them so easily. Twice.

People weren't that happy when I predicted that pre-tournament.

Oh and we were cerrtainly not diddled by them "so easily".

See you at the World Cup...

[alexanders]

How bad McClaren was, not the England players.

England do not have bad players. The Champions league final proves this.

Not many English player starred there.

Terry, Lampard, J. Cole (sub), Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, A.cole ?

This is the main issue to England, to many foreigners in the EPL.

BY the way, Romania will surprise everyone tonight!

[Eddie]

That doesn't really make sense. You say that we have plenty of good players, but then say that we aren't producing enough. We have good individuals, yet to make them into a good team. We'll see if that is possible under the new manager.

Romanai winning wouldn't be a huge surprise. They have some good players and there are really no stinkers in this tournament, but I expect a good French team to turn up.

[alexanders]

That doesn't really make sense.

Reffering to me?

[philipl]

Not many English player starred there.

Terry, Lampard, J. Cole (sub), Ferdinand, Carrick, Rooney, A.cole ?

This is the main issue to England, to many foreigners in the EPL.

BY the way, Romania will surprise everyone tonight!

There were ten English players in the starting 22- Rooney, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Ferdinand, Brown, Cole A, Cole J, Terry, Lampard.

I suspect we will see a very different Euro08 tonight. With a different draw all four in this Group would have been looking to qualify quite easily.

[Eddie]

Reffering to me?

Sorry, thought you had also said what Bucky had said.

[Rovermatt]

Oh and we were cerrtainly not diddled by them "so easily".

Of course not.

In any case the Croatians are clearly capable of better in spite of their tepid performance yesterday. What they really lacked was a cutting edge since Eduardo's injury has clearly hit them hard.

[FourLaneBlue]

Let´s stop mentioning England...if we had qualified we would have been there under Steve MacLaren and would be embarrasing ourselves anyway...

Interesting to see how tough both hosts are finding it. It looks like they could both go out in the group stage which I think has happened to only Belgium in 2000 of all the host nations in the Euros.