Euro 2012 Thread

[EJG1980]

Today's "glamour" fixtures certainly haven't lived up to the excitement of the opening matches.

[prinnysquad]

All his talk about highly rated players and great league records ... it's all been a load of old fanny today. Most players have been inadequate/ unadventurous/ error-prone/ invisible. It's been a painful pair of matches to watch, with very little memorable quality.

Edit: At last! Something un-****.

[EJG1980]

Finally. It was in keeping with the general low quality that the cross only reached Gomez thanks to a deflection! Brilliant header though.

[MisterBubbles]

Yes cause Portugal wanted to do a Chelsea and park the bus, they got what they deserved , Nothing.

[prinnysquad]

After that great Russian game, today's efforts were pisspoor.

Well, onto tomorrow's games. Predictions.

Spain will keep the ball for 85% of the time, but Italian defensive discipline and playacting will disrupt it. A bore draw.

The Irish will play with spunk, but the Croatians will have the edge of quality up front and take the game by a goal.

[Stoppy2000]

Yes cause Portugal wanted to do a Chelsea and park the bus, they got what they deserved , Nothing.

Don't let shadowdancer hear you say that...

[saturn-gamer]

Most Russia did was counter attacking and punishing Czech suicide tactics though. If the games of the higher rated teams are ****, its because the opponents parking the bus.

Not sure what the Dutch are playing at, they seem more interested in appealing for free kicks then playing with any sort of pace.

Thats because our coach refuses to stop playing with 2 defensive midfielders, even against the likes of Denmark.

And our defense, well its just crap. If you have a ****ty defense like this you should focus mainly on ball possession on the opponents midfield, and not your own.

But as much as we are ****, Denmark absolutely stole this game, there is no doubt about that. We hit the bar, didn't get a penalty for multiple hand balls etc. Its not like there wasn't anything being created. We've had the most shots on goal out of all teams so far.

This will probably be the first time that we won't make it out of the group phase. I wouldn't even rule out a 0 point exit. But there is also something like a ridiculously difficult group. Last EC we were paired with Italy, France, Romania. We never get a ****ty group here.

[rmoxon]

I've actually had a bet on the Netherlands to win the tournament....The fact that they couldn't even beat Denmark is a bit worrying really .

[Mayhem]

Quite a few teams have lost the first game and gone on to be in the final (Spain at the last WC, anyone?) but I will say Netherlands will have to up their game quite a bit in the next match.

[saturn-gamer]

We also won the cup after losing our first game. But those teams didn't face a top favourite like this German squad in their second game.

Early last year I would rate us as faves, but ever since our shocking displays against Sweden. Hungary, Bulgaria etc not anymore. They figured us out. So far any team that pressures our build up and defense scores against us or even wins. In 2010 no team dared it, except for Brazil for one half and Spain.

Van Basten, Gullit weren't ruling out an immediate exit for these particular reasons as well, they outright say they we like **** and the lineup and tactics are too static. And they are right.

[EJG1980]

Gone for a Spain vs Italy draw and Croatia to beat Ireland today, and thrown in a win for Djokovic in the tennis to bump up the odds.

Funny to see all the mentions of Italian diving. Clearly they're very good at it but for my money nobody beats the Spanish in the diving stakes. Shame we can't bet on who will perform the most dives

[Adrock]

I think Spain nick a win against Italy and Ireland's endeavour means they snatch a draw. The reason is Trappatoni has intimated they're gonna have to get more people behind the ball. Robbie Keane has said himself he'll have to drop deeper.

[Kit]

I can see Spain against Italy being a dull draw.

[Adrock]

It'll definitely be dull but I think Spain will squeeze a goal out of somewhere.

[EJG1980]

Interesting team news from the Spain vs Italy match, the Spanish haven't picked any out and out striker in their first eleven. Looks like Italy are going for a Juventus like 3-5-2 formation with De Rossi switching from his usual midfield role to centre back (which he did for Roma quite a lot this season in Serie A).

Should be interesting! Hopefully