The Official Euro 2016 Megathread

[Tredman]

Just realised that is a fabulous result for me. I'm away with work in France from 29th to the afternoon of the 3rd. Now I won't miss any potential England games at all. Might have to get a bit of preemptive abuse of the French on the 3rd though.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

You had thirty odd shots didn't you?

I don't think anybody took Slovakia lightly at all. Just the ball wouldn't go in.

 

[Tony Towner]

I said before the game that we should not have took it for granted that we would win. We did that and paid the price. To finish second in that group is rather disappointing.

The changes weren't the problem Frank. The final ball/finish was. Of the 6 changes I'd argue 3 were form related, the other 3 about resting. Rooney ran down blind alleys and continually lost the ball when he came on, Clyne was arguably our best player and although Bertrand didn't play well, he's not the reason we didn't win.

 

[Bit on the shaggies]

I said before the game that we should not have took it for granted that we would win. We did that and paid the price. To finish second in that group is rather disappointing.

Where have we taken it for granted that we'd win? If you're talking about the changes Roy has made, he's stuck with the players that scored against Wales and dropped those that fired blanks against Russia.

 

[Johnny75]

You had thirty odd shots didn't you?

I don't think anybody took Slovakia lightly at all. Just the ball wouldn't go in.

Not sure that was the issue. Slovakia knew where our threat was and they nullified it well. We couldn't change it as we didn't have the payers to do it.

 

[Kenny]

You had thirty odd shots didn't you?

I don't think anybody took Slovakia lightly at all. Just the ball wouldn't go in.

Only a few gave the keeper something to do and one off the line. A lot of 25 yarders hit in hope as we struggled to get behind an uber defensive wall. Slovakia basically rolled out the San Marino formation but with better players. They took their lone forward off with 25 to go and put a left back on.

 

[Parkins left foot]

You had thirty odd shots didn't you?

29 but only 5 on target & none that unduly troubled their keeper

If he had had to extend himself & make more than average saves then you could shrug your shoulders and accept that it wasn't to be.

It wasn't like that & we didn't test him sufficiently

 

[jd1981]

I said before the game that we should not have took it for granted that we would win. We did that and paid the price. To finish second in that group is rather disappointing.

Who took it for granted? I just think weren't good enough to break them down.
Slovakia defended well but nothing wow reality is any side that's well organised would have kept us at bay tonight.
Central midfield was poor tonight final ball was nowhere near good enough it's ok having good interlinking play in the middle of the park but pointless if it goes nowhere.

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Shit game!
Not helped by Slovakia arriving with shovels and digging in, but england were one paced and poor.

 

[nimrod]

I could accept that if we hadn't given them all the time in the world to park up again and again.

Agreed. quicker and riskier balls, more width and deliveries in and Id have felt we'd had a proper go. Trying to run, shoot or intricate pass through 8 central players time and time again only does it for me f it works at least once.

 

[Carrotdude]

England way too slow and ponderous again, Henderson the worst culprit for that imo, he sat alongside Dier half the time which was completely unnecessary against a ten man defence. We missed walker and rose at full back and Alli to make something happen. Sturridge was shit, uninterested and too slow apart from a couple of touches. Had to score his chance, as did Vardy really. On another day we'd have nicked a goal and gone away relatively happy but it's not good enough really imo. Still should be a winnable second round game but I'm not getting my hopes up

 

[Parkins left foot]

Reality is that the last minute equaliser by Russia has cost us (though you could also say that the last minute winner v Wales has saved us from a worse fate as well)

We have no worse a chance by finishing 2nd rather than 1st in the group from here on in, but unless we can finish better then we won't be winning this

 

[jd1981]

Whilst teams opening up against us will give us a chance in an attacking sense it'll expose our defensive weaknesses, Smalling is walking disaster at times.

 

[PuntsWolf]

We had chances to win the game but we didn't. Bertrand was rubbish, Wilshere woeful.

Changes didn't make a difference. But think subs were wrong. Lallana should have stayed on and maybe Sturridge. Barkley or Rashford on instead of Kane

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Not too concerned, as I said previously I have a strong suspicion Croatia are going to finish third and play the winners of our group which may turn out to be a bullet dodged. Should have enough to beat whoever comes second in Group F (I don't think it'll be Portugal, the way the group is set up they're either going to win it or come 3rd/4th).

Played ok without having enough cutting edge. Clyne, Dier and Lallana were all good, Henderson is a joke of an international footballer, so poor in possession it's untrue.

 

[jd1981]

In the unlikely case that England reach the semi final it would mean another game in Marseille, deep joy.

 

[Tony Towner]

A lot of the 'how dare they put 10 men behind the ball' crap (not aimed on here) is positively Wengeresque

 

[Bit on the shaggies]

In the unlikely case that England reach the semi final it would mean another game in Marseille, deep joy.

The worst thing about tonight's result is that I might be able to get my hands on a VIP ticket to the other fucking semi.

I doubt we'd have got there anyway, but you never know.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

A lot of the 'how dare they put 10 men behind the ball' crap (not aimed on here) is positively Wengeresque

Cannot blame Slovakia at all. Shows up the weakness of a 24 team format though (as predicted pre-tournament), under normal circumstances they'd have had to try to win the game. UEFA's fault rather than Slovakia's.

 

[Tony Towner]

Agreed, although at half time with Russia out of the equation I thought they may fight for second, but chose not to. Completely their prerogative though and our challenge was to break them down which in the second half we didn't have the guile to do so and frankly didn't look like doing so either. As Kenny posted previously, I can't see our last 16 opponents being any more adventurous. The team that on paper would be are Portugal, but as they've done us on penalties twice in the last dozen years I'd suggest they won't be.