Euro 2020

[jd1981]

I’m probably being a bit harsh but certain attitudes make failure acceptable.
Like a “valiant brave effort from Scotland” and “we were always going to struggle” or “we’re a small nation so can’t compete” also England fans looking back at 90,96 & 18 with a sense of achievement I see it more as missed opportunities.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We weren't very good in 1990 or 1996. Won one game in 90 minutes in 1990 against the might of Egypt. Cameroon should definitely have put us away. In 1996 we were shit against Switzerland and were lucky not to lose when they hit the bar from about six yards out, second best against Scotland until we changed the formation and even then it boiled down to a penalty miss, the Netherlands performance was nowhere near as convincing as people remember (they had loads of chances), outplayed by Spain who had two perfectly good goals chalked off for no reason, then an even game against Germany where they had a Golden Goal ruled out for no reason.

We exceeded expectations in 2018 and probably should have beaten Croatia, but we decided to leave Ashley Young on until it was too late despite him getting rinsed continually.

 

[Carrotdude]

We didn’t have a single shot in the second half. Xg of 0.00. 5 shots 3 on target all game. With that group of players. Maybe Southgate’s a genius and setting us up to be effective against better teams but all I see is a missed opportunity to be entertaining and score goals in a weak group when we’re likely to lose in the next round anyway.

 

[Del Woppio]

I'm sure I heard yesterday that Southgate and a coach had basically mapped out the games of previous winners and came to the conclusion that they were nearly all boring as fuck, and so that's the best chance of success

 

[Tony Towner]

The Sven years were the wasted ones.
Neville
Cole
Terry
Ferdinand
Beckham
Scholes
Gerrard
Lampard
Rooney
Owen
All in their prime at various points

 

[Carrotdude]

The problem at that time seemed to be that they all hated each other from club rivalry’s and actively disliked playing for England.

 

[WolfmanOz]

We weren't very good in 1990 or 1996. Won one game in 90 minutes in 1990 against the might of Egypt. Cameroon should definitely have put us away. In 1996 we were shit against Switzerland and were lucky not to lose when they hit the bar from about six yards out, second best against Scotland until we changed the formation and even then it boiled down to a penalty miss, the Netherlands performance was nowhere near as convincing as people remember (they had loads of chances), outplayed by Spain who had two perfectly good goals chalked off for no reason, then an even game against Germany where they had a Golden Goal ruled out for no reason.

We exceeded expectations in 2018 and probably should have beaten Croatia, but we decided to leave Ashley Young on until it was too late despite him getting rinsed continually.

To be honest, IMO, England have really only been a really top international team from 1966 to 1970.

1966 speaks for itself. A 3rd place in the 1968 Euros and arguably their best team was in 1970, but that quarter final against the Germans was just plain unlucky (Bonetti’s howler, Seeler’s freak goal and a Hurst goal incorrectly disallowed). They were the only team that could go toe to toe with the incomparable Brazilians.

Since then it’s been 50+ years of general underachievement - the 70s was a decade of serial under-achievement despite having the best club teams in Europe and who knows in 1986 if it wasn’t for a cheating Argentinian; and yes 2018 they over-achieved.

 

[Tredman]

We didn't really over-achieve in 2018, we just got an easy run. First really good team we played in the knock out stages we got beat.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

We'd won one game in the previous two tournaments, we did better than pretty much everyone expected us to.

We still had the likes of Cahill, Jones and Welbeck in the squad too.

 

[Tredman]

I suppose we over achieved in terms of final position, but mainly we beat those we would expect to beat and then lost as soon as we played a decent team. A different route through we'd have been out in the second round (deservedly probably).

 

[jd1981]

Point being with a SF if you reach it and go out it leaves you with a big what if? Regardless of how good you were during the tournament.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I tell you what if, we'd have lost to France in the final.

 

[jd1981]

I tell you what if, we'd have lost to France in the final.

Probably but it would be nice to at least get there and try

 

[BillyDee]

I'm sure I heard yesterday that Southgate and a coach had basically mapped out the games of previous winners and came to the conclusion that they were nearly all boring as fuck, and so that's the best chance of success

He's a G damn genius I tell you...

 

[1986]

Not easy call a winner at this stage .

Belgium got out of their group with maximum points without ever really having to play at their best . France are just way too laid back for my liking .
Italy are going great guns , but have yet to play a top team . Have conceded nothing though .
Spain are doing nothing only passing the ball to death .
The Dutch will go further than people expect I think , but are not winners .

I seen lots of tournaments over the years where an impressive Group winner simply could not maintain their momentum . The winners usually take off in the knock out stages and don't over do it in the Group .

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

We may not have been great at Euro 96 but we’d have won it if we’d beaten Germany.

We probably would have lost the 1990 final and France would have strolled to victory against us in 2018.

 

[BillyDee]

The thing with Italy though, is it is not just momentum from the group stage of this tournament, they have been on an unbelievable run, and aren't conceding.
It might be my Azzurri tinted glasses, but I think they are the real deal...

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Italy have played a good team…

They won but only because Gareth Bale tried the spectacular when he had time to do the simple and make it an easy scoring opportunity.

Not sure about the Dutch. It could depend on tonight’s games as their last sixteen game is either the Czechs or they get the third team in F. Plus I would fancy us to give them a game if we can get past Denmark.

 

[Donegal Wolf]

The Sven years were the wasted ones.
Neville
Cole
Terry
Ferdinand
Beckham
Scholes
Gerrard
Lampard
Rooney
Owen
All in their prime at various points

2002 was the one that I always thought got away from you. Building a good bit of momentum with a settled side playing well and most of the big guns out and those left no great shakes.

Only issue Beckhsm's fitness,
great what if moment, if Sven had been brave enough to drop a half fit Beckham

 

[BillyDee]

2006 was when I gave up, but 1990 felt like the closest we could have got. But maybe I was young and naive then (I'm old and bitter now...).