Stolen by the Ref

[Manchester Blue]

You're the one saying 'Some would say if you don't try and defend for 87 mins etc' . Clearly we know that and there is no need for that but if it is not patently obvious that a few people will be somewhat touchy and a little bit peed off then i don't know what is.

Quite frankly i'm gutted and some of the nonsense being spouted is to me tantamount to going on another teams messagboard after a defeat and gloating. You ain't going to get a good debate a couple of hours after the match cos it still bloody well hurts.

[LeChuck]

Can someone take 'Well Done Portugal' out of the title?  Well done my ###### arse, we got cheated out of it, the referee had been at it all night and it all came to a head in that improtant decision.

Absolute joke.  FIFA have to look into that because it was the worst display of refeering ive ever seen

It was the worst display of coaching I've ever seen.

To be honest I don't care, say what you want about the coaching, if we had a half decent referee we would have been through after 90 minutes.

[BMan]

You're the one saying 'Some would say if you don't try and defend for 87 mins etc' . Clearly we know that and there is no need for that but if it is not patently obvious that a few people will be somewhat touchy and a little bit peed off then i don't know what is.

Quite frankly i'm gutted and some of the nonsense being spouted is to me tantamount to going on another teams messagboard after a defeat and gloating. You ain't going to get a good debate a couple of hours after the match cos it still bloody well hurts.

Apologies Manchester Blue.

I wasn't having a go. It wasn't my intention.

[Manchester Blue]

You're the one saying 'Some would say if you don't try and defend for 87 mins etc' . Clearly we know that and there is no need for that but if it is not patently obvious that a few people will be somewhat touchy and a little bit peed off then i don't know what is.

Quite frankly i'm gutted and some of the nonsense being spouted is to me tantamount to going on another teams messagboard after a defeat and gloating.  You ain't going to get a good debate a couple of hours after the match cos it still bloody well hurts.

Apologies Manchester Blue.

I wasn't having a go. It wasn't my intention.

Fair enough. I accept and apologise too. And on that note i'll retire to dream about beating Beckham about the head with a large stick.

[tcj_jones]

Can someone take 'Well Done Portugal' out of the title?  Well done my ###### arse, we got cheated out of it, the referee had been at it all night and it all came to a head in that improtant decision.

Absolute joke.  FIFA have to look into that because it was the worst display of refeering ive ever seen

It was the worst display of coaching I've ever seen.

To be honest I don't care, say what you want about the coaching, if we had a half decent referee we would have been through after 90 minutes.

Perhaps, but it would have been the most undeserved victory i have ever seen or even heard of in my life. Erikssons inpetitude left me seathing! i want him gone. He is taking out best team for years backwards with his negative and tactically primitive displays. DISGUSTING coaching! Even without the ref, we would have come undone to a better team. Ashley Cole's heroics will not go un-noted by me, what an amazing career he has ahead of him.

[modes98]

To be honest I don't care, say what you want about the coaching, if we had a half decent referee we would have been through after 90 minutes.

Do you think beating his country 3-0 had something to do with it? or am i just thinking out the box and all refs hate sol campbell and england!

[Moppy]

how you can blame a manager for a teams nervous beveviour, i don't understand. the players are all english and feel the same we all do, so when we scored what would you expect. As soon as we went ahead what happened, we went forward and we scored. I (don't know why) was praying for a goal that allowed us a penatly shoot out (as i thought it was our best chance of winning aftter their goal went inprobally) before our second goal.

But please dont winge, bitch, slag of, or whatever you want to call it, about the team or manager unless you dont think they gave their all. Nobodies perfect, be ###### of, be disappointed, be furious but don't take peoples heads off just yet....

DAMN

[Oklahoma]

what a match 

(Please don't use that word again) OFF!!! CHEATING HOME TOWN REFS!!!!!!!!IM FUMING!!

C'mon Abs, we're all narked off at the moment, but that's no way to talk to a lady. It ain't the Portuguese fault the ref was bent (but if there are any Swiss on the board, be prepared to get an earful)

I think they're hiding at the moment

2ND OPINION WHAT DOES SHE EXPECT COMING ON AN ENGLISH BOARD AND GLOATING.....ROSES????

sorry but you may as well say that no one can have an opinion.

Some respect, please!!!

[tcj_jones]

how you can blame a manager for a teams nervous beveviour, i don't understand. the players are all english and feel the same we all do, so when we scored what would you expect. As soon as we went ahead what happened, we went forward and we scored. I (don't know why) was praying for a goal that allowed us a penatly shoot out (as i thought it was our best chance of winning aftter their goal went inprobally) before our second goal.

But please dont winge, bitch, slag of, or whatever you want to call it, about the team or manager unless you dont think they gave their all. Nobodies perfect, be ###### of, be disappointed, be furious but don't take peoples heads off just yet....

DAMN

I have said very little about the ref, which is a popular aspect of the game for people to be whinging about. I'm just so damned annoyed at our negative tactics that have been employed throughout this tournament and that lies with Eriksson. Do you think it is the work of a good tactician to instruct the team to keep 10 players behind the ball for 65minutes of a match? I could go on with so much more that Erikkson got wrong but i think everyone is aware of that

[Moppy]

yes i do think the tactics were correct. not good for the nerves but correct. with owen as our forward we can counter VERY fast. we have a good defense. and any manager who ignores the extreme stress put on our players by our expectations and our press is just ignorant.

edit: ohh and for our negative attitude we seem to have scored a few goals, who scored more than us in the group stages?

jez, we are so negative, so few goals

Edited June 25, 2004 by Moppy

[Nate]

Good to see you guys knocked out. At least you can gain pleasure in beating us at Rugby this weekend!!

[tcj_jones]

yes i do think the tactics were correct.  not good for the nerves but correct.  with owen as our forward we can counter VERY fast. we have a good defense. and any manager who ignores the extreme stress put on our players by our expectations and our press is just ignorant.

edit: ohh and for our negative attitude we seem to have scored a few goals, who scored more than us in the group stages?

jez, we are so negative, so few goals

Thats where we differ im afraid, i think playing defensively against a team like portugal for 65minutes is naive and inept. When you let them attack us constantly, theyre going to score and were lucky we only conceded once. That much pressure on the defense will be a huge test of nerves and lesser players would certainly have buckeled.

Against France, switzerland, Croatia and Portugal our first goal came from playing normally and attacking the other team. Against Switzerland they got a player sent off and against Croatia we were never really in a position to defend as we went one down and subsequently scored four - WHEN WE WERNT PLAYING NEAGATIVELY and coincidently that was also our best performance by far. Against France we came undone and conceded twice and that happened again to Portugal. Surely that is testiment to incorrect tactics? When we stopped playing so negatively and defensively we were a much better team and scored more goals

EDIT: actually we did play wuite defensively against Croatia but by that stage they were playing poorly themselves and didnt pose the threat that Portugal or France did

Edited June 25, 2004 by tcj_jones

[Sydney Rovers]

Taunting opposing fans is not usually my game, but this is directed at Jim after his display after Australia lose to Uruguay in the last World Cup Qualifiers.

Fear not. England will win Euro 2004.

It is pre-ordained, like the rugby World Cup.

Jim, you might want to stick to pessimism because optimism is not working for you. No team in no sport is pre-ordained to win a tournament and you've probably seen enough sport through the years to know that.

As for the game, what was Sven thinking? You knew the moment he started replacing attacking players for defensive players that the result wasn't going to go the way of England. Didn't he watch Italy during Euro 2004, Spain's game against Portugal or learn from the England V France game? He should know that sitting back and defending waiting for the opposition to attack is not going to win games, especially against a team with a strong midfield. As I said early, England had to lock down Portugal's midfield and this didn't happen with the exception of Ashley Cole who seemed to have Ronaldo under control.

The disallowed goal , it was a classic 50/50 decision. We've all seen this kind of thing before and could probably quote times when goals like this has been given and also quote time when they weren't given. Thinking that this is some Swiss/Portuguese conspiracy is crazy and saying that the home crowd was involved in making the ref decide is even more ludicrous when English fans easily out numbered Portuguese fans.

[pg]

Wow!... what a game !

England once again get knocked out through penalties from a major tournament, but look on the bright side.

1) You actually qualify for major tournaments.

2) Most of the time you make it through the group phases into the knock-out stages.

Points 1) and 2) put you ahead of most footballing nations in the world anyway..

3) When you do lose, its done with grit, passion for the game and shirt and a never-say-die attitude.... unlike the numpty hair-bear-bunch from Italy who start screaming about FIFA conspiracies and match-rigging etc.

Commiserations to all the England fans.

Costa's goal was an absolute cracker (not Figo, cheers Oklahoma)... but for Lampard to equalise was magic.

When Beckham missed the first penalty I thought 'here we go again' ... but once it was 4-4 I thought that maybe... just maybe... you could finally get the monkey off your back.

Sadly.. not tonight.

Once again, I thought the back four played very well (especially Cole who didn't put up with any of fancy-dan Ronaldo's rubbish)... except when for god-knows-whatever-reason Terry decided not to jump.. and just stood his ground and watched the ball land on Postiga's forehead giving him a free-header ?!?

Midfield of Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard did well, although IMO once again Scholes was rubbish. I normally don't rate Hargraves, but thought he did well on the left.. he even managed a cross or two with his left foot !!

Owen's opening goal was hilarious.. at first I thought he hit it with his arse A great poacher's goal and nice to see him back in form.

Whether or not it actually WAS a free-kick, the fact is that Terry jumped into the goalkeeper with both of his arms raised above his head. When you jump around and tangle arms with the keeper, the majority of the time the ref will give a free-kick, and IMO he did the right thing.

PS : How does it feel Jim? This is just for you.. and not for any other of the nice England fans on this board and throughout the world :

EDIT : I was going to taunt you... but then I felt a bit guilty.. guess I'm too nice for my own good

Edited June 25, 2004 by pg

[Oklahoma]

Figo's goal was an absolute cracker... but for Lampard to equalise was magic.

It was Rui Costa who scored that goal.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Taunting opposing fans is not usually my game, but this is directed at Jim after his display after Australia lose to Uruguay in the last World Cup Qualifiers.

Fear not. England will win Euro 2004.

It is pre-ordained, like the rugby World Cup.

Jim, you might want to stick to pessimism because optimism is not working for you. No team in no sport is pre-ordained to win a tournament and you've probably seen enough sport through the years to know that.

As for the game, what was Sven thinking? You knew the moment he started replacing attacking players for defensive players that the result wasn't going to go the way of England. Didn't he watch Italy during Euro 2004, Spain's game against Portugal or learn from the England V France game? He should know that sitting back and defending waiting for the opposition to attack is not going to win games, especially against a team with a strong midfield. As I said early, England had to lock down Portugal's midfield and this didn't happen with the exception of Ashley Cole who seemed to have Ronaldo under control.

The disallowed goal , it was a classic 50/50 decision. We've all seen this kind of thing before and could probably quote times when goals like this has been given and also quote time when they weren't given. Thinking that this is some Swiss/Portuguese conspiracy is crazy and saying that the home crowd was involved in making the ref decide is even more ludicrous when English fans easily out numbered Portuguese fans.

I agree with that. Upsetting as it was; any contact with the keeper in the 6 yard box is liable to be called these days.

Personally, I think there were a few key reasons why we lost:

- after Rooney went off, we neede our 'big' players to step up, and none of them did. Owen, Beckham, Gerrard and Scholes did not perform in what was the biggest game of their lives.

- While the two first elevens were pretty well matched; their subs were vastly superior to ours. Would Phil Neville have got on their bench?

- their equalizer was a training ground goal against dustbins: no challenge for the header, no attempt at a save.

- James is our worst goalkeeper in living memory. Nothing was his fault, but he did no better than any of us would have done.

- our standard of penalty taking is poor. All our penalties on target were saveable, one of theirs was.

- Sven. At the end of the day, he let the players decide the formation, and it didn't work. I'm not saying his diamond would have; but what a pathetic lack of leadership.

[Shaddy]

It has to be said that, if Beckham is in the team on reputation alone, so is Figo... he has been no better than average for quite a while now.

[Crunching Tackler]

The ref was ######.

Beckham was terrible, that penalty was shocking. What the hell was wrong with the penalty spot?

Owen was hardly seen

If your not alllowed to play with your boots, are keepers allowed to save penalties without their gloves???????

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

Sidenote - ABBEY TURN OFF YOUR RUCKING SIGNATURE. IT KEEPS CRASHING MY COMPUTER

[Oklahoma]

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

[greggyk]

Im sorry but there is only 1 reason why we didnt win. The ref. You can say england played badly all you want but we scored more goals than the lucky cheating portugal. but thanks to that ###### arogent, fruity bearded,swiss donkey of a ref, we didn't win!

gutted, more gutted than rovers losing as I care so much more for England than i do for rovers.

[Crunching Tackler]

Im sorry but there is only 1 reason why we didnt win. The ref. You can say england played badly all you want but we scored more goals than the lucky cheating portugal. but thanks to that ###### arogent, fruity bearded,swiss donkey of a ref, we didn't win!

Absoluetly right. The ref needs to be punished by uefa for his shocking performance. He was far too whistle-happy and didn't let the game flow enough.

[Crunching Tackler]

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

and I hate you!!!!!

[Oklahoma]

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

and I hate you!!!!!

I'll put on the list of people that hate me over here.

Maybe portugal should hate you since 1966 world cup.

[greggyk]

Can't beleieve whats happened. I hate portugal

and I hate you!!!!!

I'll put on the list of people that hate me over here.

Maybe portugal should hate you since 1966 world cup.

you aint won anything yet mate. And with your players saying things like this : 'It's gone better than I ever expected and let's hope it's not over for us yet '

That shows you aint got the belief to win the damn thing, plus the fact I just dont think your good enough.

[Oklahoma]

True, we haven't won anything yet. It would be strange to win the championship in the quarter finals

Besides, I wasn't refereing to you winning the 66 title but to the way Portugal was treated in that world cup.

And maybe we just know that it's one step at a time and that there are other teams that have the quality to win it.

Don't know if that is so bad!!!

Edited June 25, 2004 by Oklahoma