[Archived] euro12 thread

[RibbleValleyRover]

Rumours abound that Low is going to rest Gomez, Podolski and Muller. Klose, Schuerrle and Reus the ones coming in. If true Low has some serious balls, if he makes the changes and they get knocked out then he will be crucified by the German media.

[roverandout]

whoever they put in are going to be worldclass, they have such an amazing squad

[Ralfinho]

I have just banged £500 on Germany to win in 90 mins!!!! Got that £500 by putting £200 on Ronaldo to score anytime (at half time) last night!!!!

[cn174]

Stuart Hall is God

Stuart Hall reckons that in a previous life he invented the game of calcio in the 1500s in Italy. He's a nutter

[adopted scouser]

Stuart Hall reckons that in a previous life he invented the game of calcio in the 1500s in Italy. He's a nutter

He's fantastic Claire

[Salgado Is A Hero]

italy don't have better players at all, man for man we are slightly better, italian football isnt all sweetness and light, match-fixing?, italian football has been cynical for years, ie shirt-tugging, diving, not knocking the italian game, obviously they are alot more successful than us and deserve respect but their current team is nothing more than mediocre (not saying our's isnt)

Their team is not mediocre at all. And have you ever even watched Italian football? On a game-to-game basis in the Champions League, English teams probably have a better record but I definitely remember AC Milan beating Arsenal 4-0 recently. Yes Arsenal didn't win the league but neither did Milan. The first leg of Chelsea vs Napoli was also pretty similar. Football is not about who has the better team man-for-man. If it was I'm sure a lot less people would watch it.

The Italians are always defensively organised and look a threat in attack. And with Pirlo, they have one of the stand-out players of the tournament. They also conceded 2 goals in qualifying and have decent squad depth as well. Personally, I would rather have Balotelli, Cassano and Di Natale than Rooney, Welbeck and Carroll. Pirlo over Gerrard. Chiellini is a big loss so your defence is slighty better. But all that is largely irrelevant as it is about how the team plays as a whole. And in this tournament and most ones in recent history, Italy have been better than England.

[roverandout]

i remember arsenal beating milan 4-0 or something like that, chamberlain ripped their defence a new one, if you would rather have di natalie, ballotelli and cassano over wellbeck, rooney and carroll, thats your call, but rooney is proven at international level, di natalie is 34, has barely 10 goals in 50 international appearances for italy, cassano is another one who is vastly overrated, ie as totti was, he went to real madrid and failed miserably, ballatelli is still completely unproven at the highest level, as talented as he is. Our strikeforce is certainly as good if not better than theirs and all our strikers are still youngish, their's are in their thirties apart from mario. I would take our squad over their squad every time, as for pirlo being one of the players of the tournament so far, you can say the same about gerrard, just as many assists, im not knocking italy, as i have said, they are a great football nation just not a good team at the moment, i still say it will be 50-50, who ever holds their nerve on the night

[Audax]

Balotelli largely left Italy because of the racist harassment especially by Juventus fans, Buffon is implicated in the latest match-fixing scandal known as Calcioscommese though claims innocence http://www.football.co.uk/italy/buffon_angered_by_match-fixing_suspicions_rss2249540.shtml . Let's make sure we remember all factors at play here, Pirlo seems to kick over the goal 4 times for every one free kick on target. Nothing wrong with considering all factors here. Some great goal Balotelli had, I'm glad the England players will be aware of the kind of threat he is. This Italian team does seem to rely more on attack and does have some weapons.

So Italy has done well, but at times, it is this us against the world and doing this for the citizens of Italy but another wide scale scandal is pretty bad.

I have a poster that is from a Spanish Language newspaper of Maradona, guy defined football of that era, for good or bad, bigger than life and I definitely think he's a good guy but make no mistake about it, footballing genius but the book 'hand of god' on Maradona really indicates he was doped to the gills on Methamphetamine from an early time in his career, he was kicked out of the '94 World Cup. Like I said, consider everything.

[Stuart]

Another one-sided match so far.

But why do ITV insist on removing the clock when it gets towards injury time?

[Stuart]

That'll do nicely!

[cn174]

Excellent finish from Khadira. Least Greece are having a little bit of a go.

[Stuart]

Yuk.

The game is a better spectacle in the second half at least.

[Tom]

Stunning finish

I can't believe Samaras got a goal as well hes awful

[HemelRover]

Cant figure out who I would prefer England meeting in the semi's(on the off chance we beat Italy).

Germany will just Germany us again, like they always do and Greece will do the same as they have done tonight and I don't think we will be able to break them down.

Cant figure out who I would prefer England meeting in the semi's(on the off chance we beat Italy).

Germany will just Germany us again, like they always do and Greece will do the same as they have done tonight and I don't think we will be able to break them down.

Doesn't matter now. 3-1 Germany.

[Stuart]

It's all over bar the krauting.

See what I did there...

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Lose on pens to them in semis, written in the stars!

[thenodrog]

First time I've seen the Germans since South Africa when they impressed me greatly. This year they seem even more of a team, even more efficient; even fitter and even more ruthless..... Typical Germans in fact.

Just as an observation the Germans look fit, England (in the main)look fat.

[Baz]

Lose on pens to them in semis, written in the stars!

If somehow we beat Italy Germany will slaughter us well before penalties.

[K-Hod]

First time I've seen the Germans since South Africa when they impressed me greatly. This year they seem even more of a team, even more efficient; even fitter and even more ruthless..... Typical Germans in fact.

Just as an observation the Germans look fit, England (in the main)look fat.

Probably an accurate, if a little harsh, analysis

[RoyRover]

Germany were very impressive tonight. The players that they have in and around their first 11 is just ridiculous. Özil, Lahm, Neuer, Hummels, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Götze, Müller, Klose, Reus, Gomez, Klose, Podolski! Then they have the likes of Kroos, Bender, Gündoğan, Höwedes and Schürrle who are on the fringes of the team! They are very impressive and I expect them to stuff either Italy or England.

[Ripleys love child]

Germany were very impressive tonight. The players that they have in and around their first 11 is just ridiculous. Özil, Lahm, Neuer, Hummels, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Götze, Müller, Klose, Reus, Gomez, Klose, Podolski! Then they have the likes of Kroos, Bender, Gündoğan, Höwedes and Schürrle who are on the fringes of the team! They are very impressive and I expect them to stuff either Italy or England.

although I'm extremely patriotic towards england I cannot argue with this, absolutely spot on

[roverandout]

dont be ridiculous, we wont get slaughtered by anyone, we are not greece, they played a cowardly defensive game, with little inclination to go forward, at least we commit players, if we get passed italy, it will be a 2-1 or 3-1 to germany.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

i remember arsenal beating milan 4-0 or something like that, chamberlain ripped their defence a new one, if you would rather have di natalie, ballotelli and cassano over wellbeck, rooney and carroll, thats your call, but rooney is proven at international level, di natalie is 34, has barely 10 goals in 50 international appearances for italy, cassano is another one who is vastly overrated, ie as totti was, he went to real madrid and failed miserably, ballatelli is still completely unproven at the highest level, as talented as he is. Our strikeforce is certainly as good if not better than theirs and all our strikers are still youngish, their's are in their thirties apart from mario. I would take our squad over their squad every time, as for pirlo being one of the players of the tournament so far, you can say the same about gerrard, just as many assists, im not knocking italy, as i have said, they are a great football nation just not a good team at the moment, i still say it will be 50-50, who ever holds their nerve on the night

I've said before that your one of the select few who I didn't want to bother arguing with but I guess that makes me a liar. Arsenal beat them 3-0 in the 2nd leg after losing 4-0 in the first. You're right, Oxlade-Chamberlain played in the middle and was unreal in the second leg. Looks the tiniest bit raw at international level as he needs to improve on his decision making imo. Obviously he will over time.

"Rooney is proven at international level" - very debatable indeed. http://en.wikipedia....rnational_goals. Generally he only scores against poor teams. The age old argument of you can only score against who you are up against perhaps applies a little. In tournaments he scored against Croatia and Switzerland in the group stages of Euro 2004. And against Ukraine but he played pretty awful imo. Cassano is a great player and yet not as good as Totti. I hate Totti though I think he is scum, spitting is the worst offence you can do on the footy pitch imo. Sneijder and Robben also went to Madrid and failed miserably. Kaka has not played too well either although injuries have played a part. They also let Mata and Eto'o go. Di Natale I have not seen much of at international level but he is buzzing at club level. Completely different I know but he did take his goal against Spain very well. Welbeck's touch is almost Mame Biram Diouf like and Carroll is good at winning headers. As for Balotelli, at some stage everyone is unproven at the highest level. Age has nothing really to do with it as I'm talking about now. Well actually it does and Italy's strikers are more experienced.

23 best England players versus the Italian equivalent would be fairly equal. However that would include, imo, Ferdinand, Lampard, Adam Johnson, Richards, Sturridge and maybe even Hargreaves. Gerrard has been England's best player that is all. Assists and goals are vital but when considering the stand out players, performances over 90 mins are more important imo. Gerrard has not been one of the best players in this tournament. I think I just heard that England haven't beaten an elite international side in a knockout round since 1966. There is a reason for that. This is not me being biased by the way even though I'm sure it seems that way.

"dont be ridiculous, we wont get slaughtered by anyone" - I take it you missed the Germany game in South Africa then. FYI they embarrassed you. And even Ashley Cole, that's how bad you were. Yes Lampard's "goal" should have been given but so should goals that were wrongly given offside. As well as taking away goals that weren't really a penalty, corner, throw in etc. But you accept it and move on, not moan about it for 2 years. This is why goal line technology shouldn't be used because there are loads of things that can be gotten wrong of equal importance.

[Andy]

1340416725[/url'>' post='1277886']

dont be ridiculous, we wont get slaughtered by anyone, we are not greece, they played a cowardly defensive game, with little inclination to go forward, at least we commit players, if we get passed italy, it will be a 2-1 or 3-1 to germany.

Agree with this.

Greece had half a chance for a period against Germany and refused to do anything other than man the trenches.

England don't play like that and it would be a different game.

At this stage now, anybody left in the competition has a chance of winning it.

[roverandout]

sorry salgado but that england team is completely different to the one which is playing now, in the 2010 world cup, there was an obvious lack of teamspirit and players not knowing exactly what their jobs were, this team has been organised by a good coach and has real togetherness, of course i would expect germany to beat us again, as i have said they are my favourites to win the tournament and have by far and away the best squad in the competetion, as for di natalie having a great season for his club so has rooney, if you dont think rooney is world class then you are clearly misguided, i think even without a number of our regular squad members for this competition, our squad is still as good as theirs. I dont want another arguement with you but you clearly have some anti-english sentiment in you.