Thetownend.com

 Hope you don't mind me posting this here, I'm a student and massive Rotherham fan.
 
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As the thread title was already here;

See the England squad has been announced and once again its the name that gets you in, not form adaptability to the system of in fact fitness......

So we have a midfield that is essentially fantastic at not passing and giving the ball away and not fit... marvellous!

I assume you are talking about Drinkwater who has played all season in a very defensive 4-4-2 and not performed any better than the injured players you mention in the friendlies. Where exactly would you play him

Would probably be better in this thread.... :hmmm:

http://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=56472.0

Wasn't talking about anyone in particular but taking Drinkwater would seem more sensible to taking Barkley (who is incapable of keeping the ball or passing to another player at the moment) Henderson who is possibly injured, Wilshire who is about as fit as I am - at least he may last 90 minutes.

Our history of taking broken players would, one would think, encourage managers not to risk it, but got to take the names haven't we!

BTW if someone ITK could move these to the relevant thread that Reginald suggests that would be great.

Well that wasn't your average Thursday morning. The boys were mascots at the Hublot "Match of Friendship" in the garden of the Palais Royal this morning, my small boy's eighth birthday. Here they are walking out with Rio Ferdinand and Bebeto.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l4_YdQG8sA

Selfies and autographs with Maradona, Materazzi, Seedorf, Hierro, Dida, Howard Webb... and Pelé signed a Brazil shirt for the older boy.

Decent sort of birthday celebration I reckon!

Wow. That's a right result. #legends including the best two players ever. Doesn't get better than that.

Exactly. Unless you count getting your photo on the Daily Mail sports page.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3633565/Maradona-Pele-long-running-feud-two-game-s-greats-come-Match-Friendship-eve-Euro-2016.html

awesome!

Why whenever England fans get into bother overseas does it seem to happen outside a McDonalds?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36496745

Because they are too embarrassed to utilise their French language skills and order food from an authentic local eatery.
Much easier to point at a picture of a burger.

Thats awesome. How did they become mascots?

David De Gea apparently sent home from the tournament after being implicated in a rape case

http://www.90min.com/posts/3315798-david-de-gea-implicated-in-spanish-rape-case-on-eve-of-euro-2016-kickoff?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=share

Lummy.

Doesn't seem to be confirmed in any of the mainstream media outlets, although would possibly explain why Real Madrid have dropped their interest so suddenly!

My wife works at the Ministry where the game was held. I think I might still be more excited than they were. The announcer said it was the first time Pelé and Maradona had appeared together. I hope one day they'll understand the enormity of owning a signed Pelé shirt or of meeting Maradona. Diego even stumbled around on the pitch for 15 minutes, really milking the occasion.

*I'm not usually this star-struck.

Not sure what he means appeared together but I know I have seen them on TV together a fair bit.

Still a very humbling moment for any football fan though to be there.

(http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Pele-Maradona.jpg)
(http://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/02/pele-maradona.jpg)
(http://static.sportskeeda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/diego-maradona-pele-argentina-brazil-1440564910-800.jpg)

Cannot wait for Andy fucking Townsend co commentating. Why is ITV so shit?

Is Townsend back for this?

I thought they sacked clueless cunt

Hoddle now usually isn't it?

Contrast and compare.

UK Olympics opening ceremony v France Euro 2016

And we're supposed to have no class!

Did they? I missed that.

I'm not feeling the buzz, for whatever reason. I've not even made any arrangements to go out and watch it with friends as I normally would. I'll find a stream to watch it on though.

Which means we'll go on to win it. FACT!

Is this Hoddle on now!?

Total shit.....what game is he watching?!

Scorcher from Payet there, I've got a couple of quid on him top scoring at fairly long odds...

That 'buzz' thing I mentioned earlier.

I think that 'that' goal might have given me some.

Did you give Maradona a slap and call him a cheating cunt ?
Or did you feel sorry for him cos he was shot to bits on Coke ?

Missed opportunity to apply The Hand of Frog.

This is exceptional work

How's the "girls with big tits" competition coming along - "sister"

If you, as a male, have a problem with women expressing sexual agency you're entitled to that opinion (you're entitled to a lot, as it happens), but you won't get very far speaking to me like that.

 :) I can't pass this by

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLUxMRYJAso

Strangely the BBC, employ this cheat, wouldn't have happened in Lord Reith's day.

I'd like to hear Flasher's take on why Thailand has allegedly won the world petanque chapionship 10 times  :hmmm:

No I'm not that nice if I'm honest.


 ;D But I did instruct the boys not to shake his hand.

Have to say I think tonights game is going to be a bit shit.

England have a habit of not being very good in the first games of tournaments, particularly the Euros where we have never won the first group game.

Although one of the few times we have won our opening group game (in a world cup) was in Marseille in 1998

4-1 to the Ingerlund

Am I the only sheep-shagger Wales supporter on here?

Come on you taffs.

No ive always supported wales since rod thomas

I would bet those fuckwit england fans had france flag backdrops on facebook,cunts

To be fair the English seem to be getting targeted. Not saying England fans haven't started any of it or that we haven't got our fair share of fucktards out there, but there's a few videos doing the rounds of England fans being ambushed by groups of French whilst just sat in pubs/cafes minding their own business.

Great little move from the Slovaks.

Robbie Savage is commentating so I've put the Welsh language one on instead, far more entertaining.

Hopefully not a jinx for tonight but there's been some shocking goalkeeping in this tournament so far :/

Very ugly scenes in Marseilles. One England fan fighting for his life after Russian fans attack England fans.

Glad I decided not to go.

I think Robbie Savage just ejaculated on live TV..... Slovakia are niggly fuckers aren't they.

I know I'm not there to witness it, and I know England fans generally deserve their reputation, but the more I read the more it seems that England fans are being targeted.

Unconfirmed reports one England fan dead.

There has been loads in the media in the run up about the English and Russian 'fans' planning a confrontation in Marseilles?

 :beers:

Unfortunately FIFA have rewarded Russia and their 'fans' with the next WC. I would think many England fans will not be going to Russia if they believe they are going to be targeted.

so its the fault of the locals, the French Riot police, the Russians - dashed unfair how England fans are always the ones "targeted"

You could always flip your argument and say if they are being target are the responses that hard to understand. We are our fair share of knob heads but if they are being targeted you aren't going to stand there and accept it especially if you believe the perceived lack of police protection until retaliation

Just hold your horses there, nobody has tried to make out that our fans are angels.

Has there been any other trouble with other countries fans, or are English fans more publicised and in the media more?

"ISIS where are you?"

How could anyone fail to amused by the great sense of humour of the Ingerland lads having a few beers before the match?  

They wuz provoked into fighting.  Aw, schuks.

Put it this way, when it comes to mass pitched battles with police and other fans and smashing up and setting fire to bars and cafes, what are the predictions for trouble when England are not involved?

That's right PSG v Marseille at a pinch but basically none.

Basically it is a minority of England fans spoiling it for everyone including the rest of the England fans there to enjoy a tournament.

Nothing else has been reported.

The fiancée has just come up with 'it's a very big goal, I don't know how they miss it so often'

Didn't know you were engaged to Rio Ferdinand ;)

England have actually been decent to watch. Should be winning this game comfortably, hope it doesnt come back to bite us

 ;D

So is it English fans or English media...

Perhaps not in France but there's been reports throughtout the afternoon/evening on BBC website and guardian of organised groups of Russian Ultras attacking English fans, well before they did their CSKA Millwall act inside the ground

It's kicking off against the Irish and Polish now apparently.

As for the Russian fans charging the English fans after the final whistle (which could easily have been the other way around), there was supposedly little to no segregation. Even after the clashes over the last couple of days or so...

The "ISIS where are you" read totally different to me when I first heard it was being chanted. It sounded to me a bit of a defiant "fuck you - we're doing this despite your attempts to stop us." Interesting how things can be interpreted differently..

Regardless of the interpretation, I struggle to see how it is relevant to the clashes that have been occurring. Was it somehow a taunt to French/Russian fans?

I know you didn't bring it up Ells, another person did earlier.

Hang on, I think I've missed something.

Is it being suggested that the "ISIS" chants are somehow goading the French because of what happened last year? I find that hard to believe even from the knuckle-dragging sect of our society.

Exactly. I can see it from one or two twats on Twitter who later claim to have been hacked once their mums find out, but not from a whole group of supporters trying to start a fight.

Of all nations competing, Brits are perhaps THE biggest target for ISIS, for obvious reasons. Even your stereo-typical Millwall fan will know that. I struggle to see it as anything more as a statement of defiance against terrorism.

Also this


Fucks me right off (not you personally Audrey) but that anytime there is ANY violence anywhere some under loved person on social media starts a rumour that someone's been stabbed etc and it gains popularity. Happens every time, from this to Arsenal/Spurs in the cup. Its grim that people get so excited by being the first to "break the news" that these things spread.

Unconfirmed rumours that an England fan has been pushed under a train on the Marseille metro...

Worth a read

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/disgraceful-scenes-at-the-final-whistle-as-russians-charge-at-fleeing-england-fans/66250

Anyone fancy going to the WC in Russia?

A lot of the trouble seems to include 'locals'. In Nice they attacked both NI and Polish fans.

What a jolly tournament this is turning out to be.

Watched a lot of videos on twitter and speaking to mates out there, local french and Russians are clearly organised and targeting england fans. Also, id suggest french policing methods were partly to blame for the issues with England fans on Friday.

Obviously there are some knuckle dragging England fans there and can be partially to blame but from what I have seen/heard its Russians instigating problems.

Anyone even remotely thinking of going to Russia needs their head looked at, it will be absolute carnage.

None of it is surprising really. The "local" youths did exactly the same in France 98.

Remember the world cup in France in 1998, when German fans kicked off and a french policeman twas killed, that drew hardly any interest from our media in comparison

Not sure about the carnage. The authorities/police here deal very effectively with such violence. It might be better to say anyone even remotely thinking of going to Russia for a fight needs their head looked at, they could be very sore.

What are all these inverted commas intended to communicate?

When it suits them:
https://news.vice.com/article/photos-show-activists-being-attacked-and-arrested-at-gay-pride-parade-in-moscow

Germany v Ukraine   :zzz: :zzz:

Be 'interesting' if Russia met Ukraine somehow.

Is it me, or do the majority of the football fans intent on violence, regardless of their nationality, appear to be ultra-nationalists, anti-liberal, anti-gay, anti-jew, anti-muslim, anti-leftie, anti-pacifist, anti-immigrant/refugee, in fact anti-anything that they are not and so immature as to not comprehend or accept 'otherness', and therefore making them pretty much all exactly the same? I wish they would just get on with it amongst themselves.

Yes.

Much of the old Eastern block have a view that English fans are hooligans and want to outdo them, so they probably thought they were keeping in house.

About 20 years behind the "fashion"

It's how the press interpret it "the local youths". How come they don't say French fans/youths?

Local youths sounds a pretty neutral expression to me, without any inverted commas. If what you're trying to avoid saying is Arab kids, then yes, I'm sure plenty of the poor local maghrébin boys were involved, along with the working-class Brits and Russkies. Street-fighting's a largely proletarian hobby.

See, no inverted commas there.

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So 150 Russians were behind the violence, yet only 10 arrested and 6 of them are British - the story makes no sense....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36515213

It does unfortunatly. It says exactly what people out there have been saying that the police really are not doing much.

We should get together with the Russians, they could be our closest allies in Europe come July?

Why bother identifying and arresting the ringleaders when you can just indiscriminately lob tear gas at everyone?

Words i never thought i would say but Stan Collymores live periscope videos were interesting on saturday night.

Was he dogging again?

Other nations have taken hooliganism to a level our pissed up fatties can't compete with over there. These mobs are not drunk singing all day. They are organised and teaching our lot a lesson. All ours do is throw bottles and chairs at coppers when almost paralytic from booze. No wonder they're getting battered left right and centre. Shame innocents are getting caught up in it but this is reaping what has been sown historically.

Given their history, one of the more organised hooligan groups involved in the disturbances are the French CRS.

Also given that modern English hooliganism consists almost entirely of gesticulating and generally looking 'hard' in designer gear safely behind a row of police, I'd imagine the new breed of English "lads" have become rather unaccustomed to actual fighting.

Russian football official (and MP) praises the fighting "Well done lads keep it up ... the lads defended the honour of their country and did not let English fans desecrate our motherland. We should forgive and understand our fans". With goons like this running Russian football, no wonder they have a problem with racist hooligans. Anyone still fancy going to the next World Cup?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/13/moscow-football-official-to-violent-fans-well-done-lads-keep-it-up

There is a definite need for the good old British hooligan to up their game a little, work on their fitness and organisation, much like football we are being left behind my the continental game, at least if we stay in the EU we could possibly bring some of these European hooligans in to bolster ours and bring some much needed experience acting as an inspiration to those coming through the ranks!

Something like 2000 of our top boys are banned from travel....weird isn't it, that all sorts of criminal riff raff and dodgy hate preachers can wander in and out, but a hoolie who just wants to get pissed up and lob a few plastic chairs...sorry no.

The ECHR would probably not touch it either.

What sort of idiot would want to spend all that money to travel abroad just to have a scrap, and not even have a beer and a sing song? Wierd.

I think they might be having to learn quickly.

The sort that wear gum shields, matching clothes( no not stone island) and gloves for fighting. These guys are proper loons.

Don't forget the bum bags! Never mess with anyone wearing a bum bag.

Was reading Le Monde today - as you do - and one of their articles http://www.lemonde.fr/euro-2016/article/2016/06/13/les-affrontements-de-marseille-racontes-par-alexei-le-hooligan_4949581_4524739.html includes a link in the opening paragraph to a Russian 'news' site containing some fairly horrendous NSFW footage.

They really can't let the Russians keep the 2018 World Cup, can they?

Or speedos

http://news.sky.com/story/1711367/russian-mp-to-euro-hooligans-well-done-lads

As deplorable as they can be, one can't help but admire the Ruskies 'fuck you' attitude. In an odd sort of way.

Italy very good tonight. Belgium not so. Lukaku very poor. Missed a very good chance. Should have scored.

I thought Italy were not as good as many are making out. Think i am in the minority though

It was difficult to tell as Belgium were absolutely woeful (I am not convinced if the players had actually ever met each other, let alone trained together) as they just were 11 players playing on their own, probably not helped by the fact that Hazard seems to have reverted back to early season Hazard and not the one who got a little form at season end!)

Italy were very organised and strong defensively (so typical Italy).....

And quite cheaty / cynical.  In a tournament where the refs seem to have been told to not bother with yellow cards, to get 4 four of them is quite an achievement.

The refereeing has been a little odd, seems very lenient in many cases (which is not necessarily a bad thing) - has anyone been sent off yet?

That's what i am strugglng with. Everyone saying how well they were defensively yet Belgium still managed 6 shots on target not including the 3 sitters mssed by Origi & Lukaku. There were a few times De Bryne got in behind as well but could get the right ball across.

An Albanian I think.

Russia receive a suspended disqualification and a 150k Euro fine for what happened in the stadium against England (flare, racism and fighting). Apparently UEFA can't do anything about what happens away from the ground.

I had realised that England were playing in Lille and then Saint-Étienne. So that's a game in the extreme south, a game in the north and then one in the centre all within roughly a week, they aren't making it easy for supporters are they?

Why would they?

Apparently there could be a bottleneck for the next games as the Russian and English fans could potentially clash again in Lens/Lille according to the news. Dunno about the geography of either of those places but seemingly England fans have been instructed to stay in Lens which is where Russia are playing Slovakia.

Will be interesting to see how this develops as more trouble is inevitable. Think the Russians are a cert to have another pop at the English and there's bound to be fights with the Welsh too. Could England get thrown out of the tournament ?

Not if outside the stadiums. I think it may be a different ball game when the whole town is full of brits this tme. The whole organized bit is ott as well. Look at the end of that russians GoPro video they didn't seem to fucking keen on going down those steps once England fans had grouped together were they.

3,000 England fans were banned from even attending the tournament. Whilst Russia banned.. 30.

You've got to love that on it's own.

It just seems odd to have the fans traipsing across an enormous country for the sake of it (and it is huge, when my old man moved from Witney down to near Carcassonne people used to ask if they went to Paris much until he pointed out that Witney is actually nearer Paris than Carcassonne!)

I think its the other way round, we play in Lens but have been suggested the fans stay in Lille as it has greater infrastructure, where handily Russia are playing, what could go wrong.

The UEFA thing is a bit of a red herring as it only relates to trouble in the grounds and that's unlikely as we will not be meeting Russia again in a match situation?

We won't. Turkey, Poland or Ukraine in the knockouts against Russia would however be both feasible and terrifying.

UEFA are not going to throw Russia out as it would make the World Cup awkward and UEFA and FIFA already have too much tied up in that commercially.

They could throw us out, at least that would not mean losing on penalties so might be a satisfactory result?

Throwing us out but no Russia won't 'alf open a can of worms.

Why would the Russians ban hooligans? The Deputy Chair of the Russian Parliament and a member of the board of the Russsian FA endorsed the attacks, the Sports Minister applauded the hooligans in the ground after the attacks, the head of their "Supporters' Union" (also employed by the aforementioned Deputy Chair of the Russsian parliament), a known Neo-Nazi hooligan, is part of their official delegation to the tournament.  

Especially as post referendum Russia could end up being our closest allies in Europe....

Which makes you wonder what the hell those 30 did..
Maybe they were rubbish hooligans. Didn't cause enough trouble.

That's Ells point i think

If its Turkey v Russia, there could very well be deaths.

We don't know what the UK sports minister may have said in private, John Whittingdale likes a bit of whipping and such like (allegedly!) so he may have also applauded secretly!

I guess the French FA want the rivals to have a tricky as possible task. Didn't we do something similar in Euro 96? (although you can't compare the size of coutries really!)

I know, I was just laying it on a bit thick :) Seems there's a lot of people who are genuinely surprised by all this, including the media, but it's been a known issue for 20-odd years. It's why awarding the Russians the 2018 WC was in many ways more jaw-dropping than the Qatar decision

The fact that Russians were trawling the streets with gum shields and MMA style gloves is pretty staggering. They weren't afraid to kick men when they were down either, scary times.

Our 'nawty boys' have been entirely happy to kick men when they were down, seen it enough times...

That argument is pissing me off abit. If it was our 'nawty' boys who were being kicked i could understand your point but it wasn't. England fans over the years have been a disgrace but 9 times out of 10 you can guarantee it is rival hooligans they fight.

It did look like random people were being picked on which left them in no situation but to fight back . Almost like anyone with an England flag which they would steal and take as a trophy and then give him a leathering.

The original poster didn't specify who was being kicked or are we now claiming that every British fan who was injured in Marseille was not looking for a fight, some were, some weren't. The point I am making is that I have seen plenty of examples of British fans kicking people laid on the ground in the 80's, 90's and 00's and having been caught up in a stampede by Chelsea fans when I was 4 and various times with various clubs subsequently if 'fans' are looking for trouble they didn't give a shit who was hurt in the minute, although the police horses were more dangerous.

This idea of our hooligans having some sort of unwritten code to only injure other hooligans is just getting peculiar although it is now being grasped by the media who have changed their emphasis.

Without being there its nigh impossible to know whether those being attacked were bystanders or not though its it? I think there was some memento gathering going on by the Russians (its been suggested that flags etc are coming up for sale on the Russian eqivilent of Gum Tree) and thus flags etc made fans a target.

It had been all over the media for months that something was going to kick off between the Russians and our lot and also if you know Marseille its a bit of a hole and the Port area was where it was always going to happen, not sure how so many casual fans ended up there but it happens and events escalated!

Have a ticket for the Russia v Slovakia game, so off to Lille tomorrow for the day.

Not looking forward to it.
Should have a couple of hours to have a wander in the city centre before the match, avoid the main square and the
main drag where the majority of bars are.
Hopefully find somewhere quiet for a couple of beers, get to the stadium, watch the game, then get the fuck out of there after the match and back to the station.

That's the plan anyway. :unsure:

Whether or not fans of any nation attacked innocents in the past is irrelevant, it does not justify innocents being attacked now. Regardless of which nation is being attacked and which is doing the attacking. Anybody that starts with "Well they deserve it because in the 70s...." is full of shite.

It is though that is the point i am saying. You can get the snippets and come to the conclusion you have or you can watch the videos where English fans are just stood drinking and being ambushed by groups of locals and Russian gangs.

In your previous post you go back to the 80s and that's half the problem as everyone keeps going back to. There may have been scuffles but how comes Poland/Ukraine we didn't have this issue fuck me even in Germany 2000 our fans were praised for once,how about the last 2 world cups? We have French prosecutors stating that the trouble has been instigated by everyone but England fans on this occasion yet our own fans and media are intent on harping on about what happened over 30 fucking years ago.

Those are exactly the excuses we used 30 years ago Dean.


 :wink:

Haha just winds me up. Every now and then it might not be the fault of England fans

I wasn't fucking saying it was the fault of the England fans, however unless you or I were there I suspect we will never know how it started or the intentions of those involved, equally how we can state as fact that those injured were innocent bystanders.

Whatever the outcome the Russians are considerably better at it than we are now and not a hint of Stone Island in sight....

I don't think you are getting it are you. We do know it as a fact based on the evidence that is widely available

1)There is a GoPro video(6 mins long) of Russians doing exactly what you say we will never know the answer to,they are hitting innocent bystanders.

2)There is video footage of local youths throwing flares and bottling pubs with England fans inside,granted the England fans ran out and retaliated which funnily enough is the image most papers decided to use at first.

3)The most imprtant point in my opinion is the French police have openly said that innocent England fans have been targeted all weekend

A statement from the Football Supporters Federation.

http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/fsf-statement-attacks-on-english-fans-in-marseille-euro2016

Excellent article here by an Irish journo who was in Marseille on Friday: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/ken-early-russians-go-to-war-with-an-english-myth-1.2682005

Lays out the nuances of the events, well worth a read.

An interesting read

Used to live there and loved the place. Go into the Vieux Lille, a lovely area of little old restored brick and stone buildings and windy streets, and loads of good little bars. Jenlain is the local brew, but watch out for its potency! It's a short walk from the station, on the far side of the Grand' Place.

Haven't they banned booze now, which will go down a treat with the French bar owners no doubt!

Cheers.
Will give it a go. Been to Lille once before, it's much underrated I think.

Sounds more like restrictions than an outright ban.

"Alcohol will not be allowed to be sold in off-licences or supermarkets, and drinking in public areas will be barred. It will be served in bars, but all venues must shut at midnight and drinks must be sold in plastic containers." (From Sky Sports News).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36457219

Does Gerard Pique have the longest fingers in football

Is this guy serious or it is a poor attempt at fishing by Bale?

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/14/gareth-bale-england-wales-euro-2016

The man needs to keep his mouth shut as I have a feeling this will come back and haunt him....hopefully quite badly.

He's been saying stuff like that ever since they qualified. You can't blame him, I bet he's very proud. He's actually a nice lad is Garuff.

Ask Shakira. Hips don't lie.

It is. It's cleaned up very nicely in recent times, and the locals are very friendly.

Sadly, looking at Dan Roan´s Twitter feed from  few minutes ago, it may not stay that way.  >:(

More here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/england-fans-under-attack-russian-8191573

Imagine being in a firm that makes commemorative t-shirts. Or in a firm at all for that matter.

English and Welsh fans uniting against the Ruskie attacks now. Isn't it wonderful how football can bring nations together in harmony?

UEFA are bound to use this as evidence that we're all basically the same country anyway and should be fielding a British team.  They've been wanting to do it for years.  ;)

Yes, but we've outflanked them by engineering the disintegration of our nation.  ;)

The Russkies have taken the Town End. The shame, the shame...

(http://i1268.photobucket.com/albums/jj571/frenchreds/photo.jpg) (http://s1268.photobucket.com/user/frenchreds/media/photo.jpg.html)

I think it should be incumbent on Wtrra to get that back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAYhNHhxN0A

Wouldn't have happened if it were a Pox flag, Eric wouldn't stand for it.

We've pretty much had all of the National Anthems now and ours is far and away the worst!

Here we go then.  Final game of the first round and we have another unlikeable bunch of tossers featuring cheaty divey genius Ronaldo and cheaty divey shitebag Pepe.

Northern Ireland one is a bit shit too

Eric will probably buy it on e-bay to go with all his other trophies.

Haha. I forgot about theirs. Dirge fest!

I think it should be incumbent on Wtrra to get that back ...

I'll have a word, Reg.

Good man...  :)

Russia losing to Slovakia.  Brilliant result for several reasons.

It must mean we'll go top of the group if we beat Wales tomorrow.  And if we draw, 2nd place would still be guaranteed with a win vs Slovakia in the final game.  The key is to avoid defeat to Wales tomorrow.

Russian fans let a flare off just after they scored. Chuck them out!

Lille - very nice stadium, great atmosphere with the roof closed.
The Slovak Massive seem like a decent bunch.
Good win over the imperialist aggressors, hopefully Wales will put them out of everyone's misery in the last game.

England must at least avoid defeat tomorrow, otherwise it's squeaky bum time.

Just spotted Gordon Strachan in the Eurostar departure lounge.
I guess the Scottish FA's expense account doesn't stretch to an overnight stay to catch the England game as well.

If Russia look out of it by the Wales game, it could get very messy, with their ultras thinking there's nothing to lose.

Except a World Cup, hopefully.

I read somewhere that the Rooskies want to have a pop at their Polish and Swedish counterparts before they head home.

Anyone see that thing Collymore put up on Periscope?

I'm developing a definite soft spot for Albania.

The Russians are seemingly trying to be the pariahs of international sport. Their athletes surely will not be in Rio after this :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36542577

Rightly so. I'm enjoying this. And, I'll stick my neck out here, if Albania get a draw the French will be a lot more gracious than a certain Portuguese gentleman.

It'll certainly make my day more enjoyable tomorrow if France don't beat them...... ;)

My enjoyment of tomorrow has very little to do with the French result.

Bugger!

Cruel. I hope Power's making enquiries about a couple of Albanians.

Shame for Albania but glad Payet grabbed a second on the counter attack, I've got a few quid on him getting the golden boot

shame they won that. we all know how quickly the French players give up & sulk when things don't go their own way, so a draw would have been nice

Poor old west ham fans.bet they were praying payet had a shit tournament

Well Bilic didn't mind... Up on the pundits' table! Great pundit as well actually

Found it quite interesting!

Journalisté!

Wnkr

(http://indy100.independent.co.uk/image/23649-8a1xo3.jpg)

From The Guardian:

he probably gets a percentage of the sell on.

'No one will pay £50m for a 29 year old...'

Ian Abrahams (Moose) on Dimitri Payet..

That bloke is a complete cunt.

 Congrats to the Ulstermen....next up the Hun  :)

Nice to see ronaldo and ibrahimovic taking the euros by storm so far

The Italian manager has an impressive hair transplant.

Prem watchers will be able analysis this next season...I wonder about the Hun ball scratcher's barnet  :hmmm:

I can see Croatia getting the bullet here, let's uefa look like doing something whilst avoiding upsetting Russia.

Is it just for the Euros or have the rules around kick offs changed?

Most of the teams are just passing the ball directly back now

I think it's in for all comps.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/08/kickoffs-backwards-rule-changes

 :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

That's the best thing that's ever happened in football bar none. Small mentality indeed :)

 :clap:

Shockingly atrocious performances from both sides so far,absolutely zero quality

What I think you're cheering about, right? If so,  :banana:

Have another one  :D Offside!

Ronaldo doesn't look real? He looks like he's made of wax or something?

Really enjoyed Portugal failing last night

The only thing that could make me dislike a team that contains Ronaldo,Pepe and Carvalho more would be if Cotterill was the manager. Diving, cheating, wingeing babies😡

I wonder if our new shirts are a similar design to Switzerland's. Not Nike's finest moment...

Not Nike's moment at all :) Tissue paper is the new black.

Also like the Adidas bursty ball. Must be a rebadged "shoot" from Woolworth's closing down sale.

 So Woy is making 6 changes for tonight. It's bold as one of the things England often do is to scrape through the group and therefore land a tough draw in the knockouts when a seemingly easier route is available.

 It's what the squad is for, so let's hoppe it works well.

Tonight?

Yes, there's a game tonight. Do keep up.

I've been fully expecting all those who said Woy shouldn't have taken Rooney to now be up in arms, because he's being rested.

Its been a bit dull so far hasn't it?

Any idea of the 6 changes? I presume Rooney, Kane and perhaps Walker may be rested, oh and I had forgot about Raheem who has been about as useful as a polystyrene hammer.

Clyne and Bertrand in at FB....Wilshere and Henderson into midfield, Vardy and Sturridge in up front.

Supposedly Wilshire for Ali and Henderson for Rooney. Or Vice Versa. Can understand one, both seems a bit excessive.

Also both full backs being rested, which I suppose makes sense, but Kyle Walker has been one of our best players so far.

My google is up to some sort of fuckwittery, it's telling me that we play tomorrow although on further investigation it is indeed tonight.

Odd.

It is technically a Tuesday kick-off in Thailand though, right?

Isn't it about 1am or 2am over there at kick off time mate?

Especially if we don't win the group & end up playing Portugal or another top seed.

Oh my, it seems I've had a full on blonde moment.

As you were, nothing to see here folks. Move along now.

I think Walker has earned a break. He was still sprinting up and down the right against Wales and surely must have covered more ground than anyone else in the side in both games.

Thankgod they dont make condoms!

Hungary piling on the misery for portugal

We've got it on at work where the Portuguese guy next to me is fuming. Most amusing  :D

Can see the Magyars going down to 10 men sometime.

Come on the Mighty Magyars.

That fucking wagging of the finger to a linesman that has just flagged for offside should be a bookable offence in my eyes.

Titsed me off too that.  Such ungracious twats.  The geezer was well offside.

So do England get Hungary in the last 16 if it stays like this?

Nope. Iceland. Whoever finishes second in the group.

Surely just being Cristiano Ronaldo should be a bookable offence

Afuckingmen to that!

You are too lenient IMO...

Portugal are fucking about, they've been told not to score so they can play us..

Cracking game that
Iceland it is then

Fuck it i wanted portugal

Ha ha that stuffed portugal

Iceland! well done to such a tiny country, fuck off Ronaldo!

Who do Portugal play then?

Rio ferdinand is some kind of thick twat."its much better for us to play a team that sits back"

Croatia

....and 2  minutes later says "we struggle against teams that sit back". Why do they pay these people

Tee hee

Don't forget the Cod War.  I'm not sure we've enough to beat these, in many ways I'd have preferred the Portugeezers, just on the off chance we might have got revenge for Ronaldo's wink.

Got a feeling portugal wont know their opponents til later.maybe wrong

Apparently it is croatia but dont know why when 3rd place in group e is not known yet

Totally agree reg,we know we have struggled against defensive minded teams

Gonna play like the first 3 for sure. What are the Icelanders like at Pens?

In competitive tournaments its shit, they have never won a shootout ;)

Don't suppose they've ever been involved in a shoot out...so no mental scarring.  I wouldn't fancy some of our lot having the required bottle.

UK and Ireland all through (poor ol' Scotland).

Belgium and Portugal will be rubbing their hands together as their path is full of pluck and endeavour but it looks like we could well have a 'dark horse' in the Final. Then there's the side England are on...

Ireland were fantastic tonight. Fight, desire and passion.

The two sides of the last 16 are chalk and cheese and we're in the chalk side which has been inserted inside a shitty bottom of a dog. We're going to need some luck to get much further!

Or skill, oh yeah bollocks, we need luck o lord.

Wonder if there has been a comment from Zlatan yet, that the tournament is no longer worth watching.

Skill would of course be handy huh, but this is England we're talking about.

Lets hope Roy has been doing double training sessions on crossing and finishing, and set piece training would be handy as well.

Fucking hell what a goal by Shaqiri!

One of those neutral cuckoo clock yodelling freaks has just scored a, and I hate to say this as it is to me as much of a word as fucking 'brexit', 'Wordlie' against those bloody never work hard just here for the benefit plumbers and cleaners.

Sorry Im just trying to work out the new world order.  Did I it right?

Not quite. You forgot to include "cheese melting"  and "tax dodging" but it was a cracking goal though.

Ooh, Toblerone eating..

Amirite?

The Swiss GK also reminds me of Ian Walker.

Purely for the hair.

Switzerland isn't in the EU, but seems to have a team full of immigrants....they've even got Lee Power. Poland is in the EU but seems to have a team full of Poles.

The new rump state of England/Wales....to be renamed Poundland....has thrashed Sri Lanka at cricket and Australia at egg chasing (- the Wales bit)

Coming up the Wales Principality of Poundland...will play an EU province which lines up to God Save the Queen.

Shaquiri being Albanian of course

More accurately he's Kosovar... I believe Kosovo have been accepted by UEFA as a member for future tournaments.

Kosovo could put together a decent team:

Januzaj (Man Utd/Belgium)
Valon Berisha (Salzburg/Norway)
Valon Behrami (Watford/Switzerland)
Granit Xhaka (Arsenal/Switzerland)
Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke/Switzerland)
Lorik Cana (Nantes/Albania)
Etrit Berisha (Lazio/Albania)
Admir Mehmedi (Leverkusen/Switzerland)

and Shefki Kuqi.

Didn't they also accept Gibraltar......or might they do a u-turn on that one now?

Come on Norn Iron.

+1

(http://welshflag.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/880.png)

They're not really Dragons. 

No matter what the BBC try to convince you it's not game of sodding thrones.

 This is like watching a Home International from the late 70's early 80's, although then there was excitement of a rare televised live game.  Football quality is about the same also.

Aaron Ramsey needs to sort out that barnet  :gay:

Its not the most exciting game I have ever seen thats for sure.

Robbie Savage said the game is "Tactically intriguing", is that code for fucking shite

The main difference is that the Parc des Princes has more grass than Windsor Park or the Racecourse, Wrexham. Oh and it was where Mike Summerbee and Ossie Ardiles escaped to victory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKrynV6plQ

I used to love the Home Internationals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PtQKVsHB70

Possibly the dullest game I have seen in several years, certainly at international level.

I went to 2.

 England v Wales at Ninian Park - Franny Lee got the winner

England v N. Ireland @ Wembley - got beat by the boys in green

Dreadful old shit, both of them.

At least this half has started a bit better, Kanu coming on might liven it up a bit.

Shame Hart didn't do what McGovern just did :D

You mean save Wales' only shot in the game

Exactly!

Still a fair bit of time left but for me this game has penalties written all over it.

Ha, me and my shit timing!

thank fuck for that, might liven this game up a bit now

Robbie savage has just come.

He is doing my head in.

Ashley Williams is shit.
Posting this here as I daren't say it out loud..

Booo!!

Norn Iron did well just the one mistake for the cross cost them dearly, but its a great achievement considering they don't have one player who could be called "good" let alone a Bale.

A shit win. But a win is a win. The game was like watching England. Boring and dull.

Because England games have been thrilling so far...

Touchy!

Just fed up of people criticising Wales. Such an achievement to get where we are. Yes, I may harp on about it, but only cos England under achieve, there is no need to mock the Welsh.

The Welsh just seem to love mentioning England at any opportunity. I wasn't comparing them to us. I just watched the game cos I like football and it'll have an impact on my friends and community. They can't register that we don't care about them as much as they care about us.

It's football for fuck's sake. Of course fans will mock other teams, it's what football fans do.

You taffy cunt!

Where in the posts covering today's game was anyone criticising or mocking Wales?  There are several mentions of it being a largely dull game (which it was), a couple of references to players' hairstyles (nothing to do with nationality) and a couple of comments about the questionable value added to the procedings by Robbie Savage (let's face it, fully deserved).  

If it's any consolation, tonight's game is just as dull.......and there's not a Welsh player in sight.   :)

Hook, line and sinker.

Bow to the mighty Welsh.

Dw i'n siarad Cymraeg?

You have been full of praise for England...

I have wanted all home nations to do well throughout many tournaments across many sports over many years and will continue to do so but in my opinion the Welsh fanbase haven't been what they might have been.  It's the same in the 6 Nations, too many Welsh have such a huge chip on their shoulder re. the English and for me that is a real shame.

Bit of an aside here:

One of the biggest losses the ECB has had in my time was Simon Jones, I think he could have been one of the best bowlers in the world had injury not curtailed his career, he was unplayable in 2005. 

Good to see that even at international level the 'wanky Swindon short pass out from the keeper' is alive and well.

God, it's dull.

Nooooo! You can't say that.  Don't you know there may be an over-sensitive Croat or Portugeezer reading this forum who might misinterpret your comment as a racist attack?   :girlgiggle:

I'm deeply offended  8)

that's because they have an inferiority.

Indeed. It's either "they're always talking about us and not giving us enough credit" or "THEY'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT US AT ALL! WHY! they're not giving us enough credit."

I remember his old man Jeff. He was that rarity in English (and Welsh) cricket a left arm quick..a long run, very upright front on action with a lot of shoulder...he got it through.

Jeff was our leading wicket taker in the drawn 65/66 Ashes series down under....a lot of hard yakka. He'd have enjoyed Perth, but back then Perth wasn't used, as its economic boom just  happening, but 6-118 at Adelaide gives you an idea.

Jeff had even less of a career than Simon, because his action fucked his elbow, done at 26. They must have some interesting conversations as Welsh fast bowlers fucked by injury playing for England.

Oo potential england ireland semi final

Quarter final

You should know better than to take any notice of what that idiot has to say.

Sent from my SM-G935F

TBF it was a shit match and the better team lost (not taking a pop, just saying it as it is)

Sent from my SM-G935F

Ha ha

Sent from my SM-G935F

Yea thats what i meant.

What a shame ITV has got the France v Ireland game.  I was looking forward to seeing Thierry Henry getting some stick for his 'hand of a cheat' goal in 2009.

Instead of that, no doubt, we'll have to endure more of that 'thoroughbred' Irishman Andy O'Townsend (whose father was born in Swindon).  :suicide:

cheerio France

COYBIG!!

+1

Bad time for the missus to be off the booze!

Shes Irish...is there ever a good time? :D

Ah well. I have France to win the tournament and Griezmann to be top scorer at 20/1 still alive.

it's only Slovakia, but we are playing some sexy stuff thus far. Need to make it count though

England huffed & puffed for 90 mins & couldn't score against them & Germany take 8 mins :(

Wouldn't fancy our chances against Germany if they play this way again, very German!  France looked  good in the 2nd half but there are enough weaknesses to bring a one off game down to a 50/50.  Of course, we still need to score against a 10 man defence rather than have a team happy to just ahve the ball.

Realistically, England have one remaining winnable game. Anything positive after Iceland would be unusually amazing for England at a tournament.

Jeez Belgium look scarily good, Wales might be on the end of a real hiding.

I was speaking with a mate about Belgium.. we were saying that their squad is stupidly good, they just need to click as a team.

Reading that Sterling likely to start tonight.    :(

Finaly some decent footy being played.

Germany and Belguim both seemed average in their group games but yesterday they both looked like either could go on and win.

If ever a team deserved a goal it was hungary.

Based on last night, looks like a case of stop Hazard and stop Belgium.
De Bruyne looks like their version of Sterling but marginally better.
On the evidence of the games so far, Lukaku has done nothing to justify a potential big money fee.

As for England, 6 knockout stage wins in major tournaments since 1966 is piss poor.
Expect them to overcome Iceland tonight, but will be a struggle against a team that is likely to park the bus.

I'm not one to judge but should you really be drinking at this time of the day?

Agreed

Their willingness to play the game and their naive defending reminded me of the greatest team to grace the Premiership (albeit briefly)

Ha, I wish.
KdB has improved since their first match against Italy.

If Sterling plays tonight then good luck to him in proving the doubters wrong.

 I suspect Woy may well be going the way of Cameron/Corbyn and Lord Hill of Oareford tonight.  Picking Sterling should seal the deal.

Sterling not doing so well today...

It'll be fine Osborne is on the case....he knows what he's doing. Get the £30bn emergency budget of cuts and tax increases show on the road and things will be fine.

For the 4th or 5th time I've just seen a kick off go backwards without going forwards first. Have the rules on that changed?

Yes, they have. The ball can go straight back now. Andy King's long ball into the corner from kick offs will finally become a mainstream strategy... probably.

Here they are:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36256441

Cheers missed that.

This Spain team look... old. They've got the likes of Bellerin and Thiago Alcantara sat on the bench whilst the team cries out for pace.

So they'll probably score twice in the last few minites now.

Oh so nearly

Game over. Annoying though as I had Italy 1-0 and was feeling fairly positive about that.

Loving Spain going out!

Italy looking good against an ageing and found out Spain side. Italy could be a danger against Germany.

Hope so, Italy are my sweepstake team.

Well that was an interesting start. Actually laughed aloud at the equaliser. Silly gits.

And Joe Hart's soft wrist strikes again

How many more fuckups does he get before he gets binned off?

England aren't very good.

......another reason why Forster should be no1, for me.

England's long history of keeping gaffs continues

I think you're meant to say 'For me, Clive'

 2 shots, 2 goals.  :doh:

I really do want England to win but I can't find this anything other than very funny

Haha, yeah my bad.

None, that should be it for him

Paolo would sub him now...

Fixed that for you.

Hooray, he's made a save :)

Such exciting football  :zzz:

Quick! We're losing, let's all shoot from no closer than 35 yards!  :suicide:

Do we have a plan b?

Would be ok if they had Joe Hart in goal :)

I'm the same. I think i'll be more disappointed than happy if we fluke this.

No disrespect, but England simply aren't good enough. They haven't been all tournament.

Yes it is stating the obvious, but some need a reality check. Sterling, Rooney and Kane have done naff all in the 4 games.

Joe hart in "not dropping the shampoo bottle" shocker

I don't think many here would disagree with you.  It's not only that we simply aren't good enough, though (no one had any real expectations going into this tournament).  It's that we're not smart enough to make up for our deficiencies, too.

No doubt England have been poor, but they've still had more shots on target than Wales did in their game ;)

Vardy for studridge please

Anyone for Sturridge please.

Kane not been practising his set pieces in training then

Don't let them shoot
Please don't let them shoot
Cause Joe Hart's gonna let it in :)

One Joe Hart

As we are reverting to type and being reduced to lumping it in the box - where's Andy Carroll?

Kane on free kicks might be the best performance comedy of all time

They are truly awful

I'm almost expecting Kane to reveal that he's been Lee Nelson all along in this tournament and the real Harry Kane is tied up in a basement somewhere

Our very own Brexit

Expecting an ice and lemons headline tomorrow

So many poor passes being played.

We deserve this

This is so bad it's funny. One shot on target in this second half. 

At least we've upped our game

I think the thing I'm least looking forward to is seeing how every paper decides this is all Roy Hodgson's fault.

Surely, it's the Tories who are to blame?

Out of Europe on both sides of the papers tomorrow

Thank fuck we aren't playing somebody good, this is bad enough.

We just don't have any creativity in midfield, but in fairness is there anyone else who could provide that?

(http://i1372.photobucket.com/albums/ag351/rickrose1204/Mobile%20Uploads/fucking-panic-and-run-like-a-headless-chicken_zps3ludlnhl.png) (http://s1372.photobucket.com/user/rickrose1204/media/Mobile%20Uploads/fucking-panic-and-run-like-a-headless-chicken_zps3ludlnhl.png.html)

 :bye:

Shitizen kane

Why on earth is Kane taking the corners and free kicks still, he is fucking useless at them.

The comment that he is the best at them, just shows how shit the rest of them must be at them

I'd almost be annoyed if we scored now

That was without doubt one of the worst performances I've ever seen, along with our three previous games at Wembley

Well done Iceland. Fully deserved.

How do you think holland felt?they lost to them twice!

This is up there alongside when I was at Wembley to witness England 0-0 Saudi Arabia.

What a disgusting abject performance, bad enough watching at home, how must those supporters feel who have travelled over?  

Wouldn't even beat Bejam.

Tbf to Woy he has done some good things....we now need an Allardyce/Pulis type, who can at least get players able to take a free kick and corner etc.

Do you want me to reply to that?

England need a young manager, not some old useless man. That what Roy is. A man, not a manager.

Really thought this bunch had something about them.turns out they are no better than the losers we've endured over the last 20 years.

Hook, line and sinker!   :)

Ah well, may as well cheer Poland on for the remainder  :)

I missed it. When are the highlights on?

I think individually those players are very capable of putting in performances to win a major tournament.

But collectively, they lack belief, determination, purpose and leadership. That has to sit on Hodgson's shoulders.

The tactics were appalling. We couldn't even defend a long throw FFS.

The Harlem Globetrotters of football

Been the same for 40 years and still seems to be surprise. We're a smallish island with an average team. Anyway well done Iceland, you knew how to play us, and did it perfectly.

Yes, well done Iceland. 

Joe Hart is dire, HIS defence is terrified!

Well, at least Woy hasn't kept people guessing.  He's a decent man but there was nothing else he could do but to leave with some dignity.

I disagree with the thoughts this team is capable.  I think it was two years ago that I posted that not one player in pro football that would change our fortunes as a national team.  I stand by that.  We just don't produce the right sort of players.  This Premier League shit is getting right up my nose as well - so what if someone scored 20+ goals in our league, it's a fucking unique league.  Football isn't played that way in any other country or any tournament so it's all irrelevant to a degree.  The players who do well in our league from abroad have the right upbringing before they play here.

Our players have zero individuality, zero brain cells (they are simply not educated alongside being footballers) and cannot think for themselves and confidence in their technique as a result.  You could probably put someone like Allardyce in charge and get them to perform a little better with a defined systems (he works well because having a defined system removes some of the need for footballing intelligence) but we'd still be average.

I'm sure they should at least be able to manage to pass the ball to each other though.

They can, when not under pressure, but they have zero ability to think for themselves and work it out, the pressure comes on and they react as any thick cunt would by going to pieces.

Well that's the referendum, our economy, the future of the UK and the Euros all fucked up within the space of a few days.  What's next on the list?

I get a sense that even Sterling is being coached out of being a good footballer.  The closest we probably have to something unique (but I still don't rate him as being good enough).

If I thought he was in it for the long haul Guardiola could be a spark to change things at youth levell, but I doubt he'll stick around long enough to affect the conveyor belt.

Team with a strong heart beats team with a weak hart

I think an Allardyce or Pulis is the way to go....probably Sam as he's Engilsh.  Play it like a relegation battle....maybe pick some from the Championship, like a Wes Morgan who kicked around there for years.

Pick a man with 28 caps for Jamaica, that'll sort everything out

Planet X and the pole shifts

the indefinite article is the clue....Morgan is English, could have been picked before he opted for Jamaica, but because he was Championship wouldn't happen.  Who's to say there aren't others who could do a job, if the manager wants to try and create a sort of difficult to beat ugly side.

Certainly a few of the Icelanders are Championship type players.

Flint for England

Last year at the end of season bash. MC said the last thing he did with one player before kick off was show him a photo of the player he should mark at set pieces, anything else was wasted and wouldn't be understood. Probably a little indiscreet, but very interesting, as it's a common theme bought up about a lack of intelligence/thought within football.

Graham Taylor tried putting a load of shit players into a team to see if that would work, it didn't.

Because in our country getting to be a pro is often seen as being the end all.  In my time at school, everyone of any talent was a bit towards the bottom of classes, because they thought they were going to make it in football and didn't worry about education so much.  The when you get players who do make it into the pro game, they really think they are gods.  Many of the leagues we look down on create some of the best footballing nations.

It's not the be all and end all, you still need to nurture a variety of talent, something we've really been bad in more recent times because we try to produce identikit players these days.  Our footballers are just plain "soft in the head" and don't have enough variety in the feet to outweigh that.

That game has made no impact on me at all. I've lost all passion for the national side, and its highly unlikely to return any time soon. Get a di Canio type in that would make it interesting and ignite the passion.

Maybe the time has come again....btw, I'm not thinking about winning much here, but rather accepting our limitations and trying to at least retain a bit of dignity.

That Iceland chant is class.

Hodgson is no great shakes but our problem is not the manager.  We have had a stream of managers of all types, all of whom have run into the same problem.  The style of play expected in England doesn't translate into successful international football.  Now compounded by the PL wealth which makes mediocre 21 year-olds on absurd contracts think that they know it all.

Didn't watch the game but don't suppose it was any different to the litany of abject England performances that a succession of self-satisfied squads have produced over the years.  

Yes mate,very intimidating and effective

Typical town performance. Plenty of possession. Lots of fucking around. Very little action in their box and defensively fucking shit.
Fantastic for Iceland. They showed us up. We knew what to expect and still fucked it up. Rooney was total fucking wank as a player and captain. Joe hsrt has been coached by John Granville.

Who could play Carlton Palmer in this remake?

A hint of the Berserker....

Got on my tits after the 5th time. Better than our bunch of northern "symphonia" though, granted.

The Iceland booing was nauseating. At least our fans joined in the last 5 minutes  :)

ITV commentary team sneering at Iceland's long throws and 4-4-2 formation in the first half "They're 20 years out of date, their style of football". Out of date it may be, but it was way more effective than our bang up to date farting about.  A bit like the way the pundits all looked down on Leicester - couldn't possibly win, because they didn't have the money, didn't have the superstars, old fashioned system. Maybe there's more to being successful than throwing loads of cash at the latest fads in systems, players and managers?

That was grim and for any other country that would be rock bottom. But for England? We shall see.

Kyle Walker, does a passable impression of someone who runs up and down a lot without doing much. 

He'd be no replcement for Carlton in that Paddy Power ad mind....you know the one where he appears in someone's bath.

Who's our new Andy Sinton?

Not sure why they kept saying they were part timers, all of their squad play outside of Iceland for full time clubs.

However, Iceland's keeper plays for Bodø/Glimt above the Arctic fucking circle and Joe Hart plays for Man City - you wouldn't have thought it

At least this will give the England team chance to concentrate on what's really important in their main careers - selling shampoo and making fucking cosmetics adverts

Just seeing Del Bosque's post match conference - he really should have waited until after our game-  "you think we were shit, did you just watch that?"

Look, the only reason I use Nivea Men is because I want to be like Adam Lallana

A lot of promise but no delivery?

Nah a complexion like a baby's bum.....

Roy Hodgson = Paul Hart

He als had to keep saying to flint what his name was

Flint didn't know his own name?

A new low...

What a fucking shit season and close season this has been...

I think James milner should have played.

Things can only get . . . worse?

At least England can concentrate on the world cup now...

We should say we're painting our Aunt Edna's flat that week, and not turn up. Will save a lot of pain in the long run.

That was a shower of ineptitude from minute 4-94.

Too many things just didn't work. Set pieces and general delivery into the box consistently appalling. I think Kane, Rooney and Rashford had a go at corners and all deliveries were terrible. The Iceland keeper must have expected a much busier evening than having to tip shots from 35 yards over the bar. Did we actually create anything last night?

I was trying to cheer myself up by finding the gem of a post after the Russia game saying how amazing we were and that we would go far in the tournament but i can't, mores the pity.

Fucking abysmal. We don't seem to have a way/system of what they wanted to do which just pissed about with it. We would have looked a lot more threatening with townsend out wide crossing into Carroll. Why on earth Barkley didn't make it onto the pitch once ahead of Wilshere I don't know.

The cries of we're not technically good enough. We need to mimic other top nations etc have been shown up to be the bollocks they are at this tournament. Every side we've played have been technically inferior to us, hasn't made a blind bit of difference.
Trying to play the way other nations do has failed and we now have the worst England team in living memory. My memory at least.

The only thing we should "copy" is the process of concentrating on how to develop talent and a system that will work for us.  Technique is one thing, being able to trust that under pressure is another.  Having a variety of players coming through that provide the right mix on the pitch so you can play systems that players trust is another requirement.

Iceland are clearly not as good when you compare one player to another, and they probably never will be, but they all trust in what they are doing.  It won't win them anything, but for now it means they perform better than the sum of their parts.  We manage to be worse than the sum, but also even at the individual level we are just not good enough either.  Not one single player is in the top two or three for their position.

We should have learnt from our own domestic league.
Leicester showed us the way forward.

We should have gone in with a CM including Drinkwater and Noble.
Defoe would have scored more than all our strikers combined did.

One thing we can copy (and have started to do) is taking the U17, U21 etc tournaments seriously. The next step is to take them sufficiently seriously that we stop fast-tracking young talents into the 1st team and instead give them serious international tournament experience at youth level. They develop and come through as a group, all with international tournament experience, that then goes on to form the core of your senior side for years to come. Or we can keep throwing in the Walcotts, Oxlade-Chamberlains and Rashfords into the senior squad for bench-warming duty and 5 minute cameos. Because that's worked really well

I made that bit up, he said Flint was thick as shit though

That must have come as a shock.

Bird charity the RSPB said puffins are 'protected at all times' – and safeguarded by law. However Iceland has the world's largest puffin breeding colony. Around 10 million of the 15 million population live there and the fresh heart of the seabird is eaten raw as a traditional delicacy. The meat is also smoked and made into burgers

Boo Hiss - death to the Puffin slaughterers  :cry:

It's not saying much but i think the team in last WC was quite a bit worse.

Clutching at straws now probably but at least we have a few exciting young players who may have potential at international level.

Certainly, in the second half these lads went into a collective mental disintegration....it will either finish them or they'll come back stronger..... :hmmm:

And they all cried at the end ............ so that's alright then.    :cry:

So, we were beaten by the better team.

All those pundits and commentators with their patronising bollocks about England being a superior team and Iceland being the minnows? Hers a bit of a clue you cunts- the rest of the world is catching up with the top teams and England have never been better than a division 2 side occasionally punching above its weight (1966, 1996). You only have to look at the percentage of foreign players and coaching staff in the Premier League to realise that we ain't all that.

The Premier league being the best in the world? Fuck off. Most entertaining maybe but technically not the best.

Some decent piss takes here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/36648624/social-media-laughs-at-england-being-knocked-out-of-euro-2016-by-iceland

Agreed .yes its pretty disastrous but christ,to listen to some people its as if we lost in a qualifying match to azerbloodybaijan.its the last 16,iceland came through a far more taxing qualifying group than us and then arguably a much stronger first round group also.its not THAT humiliating

The performance was

Performance was more funny than humiliating. Felt sorry for my 11 year old kiwi nephew, he lands here next week and was hoping to watch England in the final in a pub with me and his dad. I did tell him before it started that was as likely as herthab winning miss world, poor sod.

I find it quite amusing that a group of footballers that failed at international level are slagging off another group of footballers that have also failed

All six of them from ITV & BBC have won fuck all at that level, I guess that's why they are qualified to say how shit the current bunch are. After all the bunch before them almost certainly slated them for their failures

As opposed to us doing it on a forum eh.

I just listened to Hodgson's press conference.  Unbelievable stuff.

He started by saying "I don't know what I'm doing here" because he'd made a statement yesterday and was now not the England manager.  Clearly there under duress.  Total arrogance, no understanding that the public might want an explanation for last night's shambles when he's pocketed £15 mill over 4 years.

He was asked a handful of pretty gentle questions and just waffled on until they ran out of time.  None of the questions the journos asked were ones that anyone on this forum would've asked.  Smacks of an old boys' club protecting their cushy numbers.

Hodgson ended by saying "I hope you're happy with the job I've done.  If you're not, I make no apologies".

Like I said last night, Hodgson = Paul Hart

Some of them gave it a good go though at least.

And just what are the Iceland fans chanting with the one that sounds like 'Come on you Spurs'?

The Icelandic pronunciation of Iceland (Island) sounds a lot like England when sung at that level, it was odd.

I quite enjoyed the punditry last night (in as much as I was in the mood to enjoy anything.) I love Crouch, Lee Dixon sounded actually livid and Ian Wright compared it to Space Jam. It's been worse.

They might not achieved much at international level themselves but you could see they bloody cared last night.

What else were they supposed to do apart from deservably slag off the shit we saw served up?

There's this idea that if we play shit, the players don't care.

Remember Shearer & Wright were members of the England team that didn't even qualify for the World Cup in 1994, I'm sure they both cared then but they were pretty abject in that qualification group.

Also Euro 2000, where we managed to qualify (on goal difference) in second place, 9 points behind Sweden who won the group. We then got to the finals & lost two of our three group games and went home without getting out of the group. Again the players that allegedly cared were part of a shit team.

The team last night played crap, but to somehow suggest they are the worst of all time is conveniently forgetting years & years of abject performances and failure by the majority of England teams including those that they played in.


It was blatantly obvious that England do not possess anyone creative in that central midfield role, just look through the squads of the premier league & pretty much all the best players in those positions are foreign.

I'd just like to say as a proud Welshman it's been an utter treat reading through this thread!! Keep it coming lads  :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: :pint:

Did you have your photo taken with your face next to Bale in one of those things they've had in pubs?

I don't think you can really call yourself a Wales fan otherwise :D

No, I haven't thankfully. Went to Toulouse for 8 nights & my flight home got cancelled so winged it to Paris for the NI game. Terrific experience!!!

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but Ross Barkley I believe was our highest goalscoring midfielder last season, and didn't get a look in all tournament in a team struggling for goals.

We're shit and we know we are........

No, lets be realistic. We aren't shit. We just aren't as good as some of us like to think we are.

On our day we can play some nice football and get a result. Our day doesn't come along very often.

The problem is deep down and at the heart of the system. The pool of players from which our squad is picked is based around the Premier League. This is a league that is probably 75% foreign at kick off on any given Saturday/ Sunday/ Monday evening. The foreign influence on the Premier League is a good thing for the Premier League as it promotes worldwide interest and swells the coffers of the Premier League. It is disastrous for the England FC set up however as it stifles development of home grown world class players.

The F.A. should look at this and drastically improve it's talent development programme.

Clearly Brexit will help this situation, top top players will be able to get a work permit, but journeymen won't. Make little differnce going the other way as next to no Brits go and play abroad even though they should. The odd Bale type will be fine still....in much the same way as John Charles, Gerry Hitchens and Jimmy Greaves were.

Tottenham faded dismally when it came to the crunch last season. After taking all the plaudits Kane and Ali have both been really poor. Walker was probably our best player in first 2 games but Iceland's first goal down to him switching off from bog standard long throw being flicked on and neither him or Rose were anything like the threat going forward they had been earlier. Dier seemed vital in group matches but again wasn't really with it in first half v Iceland. Got to be a worry for Spurs fans how they are all going to react to reception they will get next season - plus the fact that they will be knackered. Lot players back for pre season just as they finally end their previous one.

We were shit before the Premier League, so that's not the reason, although it might now be the reason for such apathy to fix the problems.  The issue therefore has to be both systematic and cultural.

If you compare to our Rugby team.  There you could say that the past few years has been a massive underperformance because the systems and processes were put in place when the money flowed in as witnessed by England now being the dominant force at under 20 level.  Eddie Jones has therefore released the potential where others failed to do so.  England in football do not have this pedigree (until the past few months we haven't really been that good at any level).  That's why unless we have found the trick and our youth levels are improving, we are still in for years of being average.

Is it also time to take the captaincy away from Rooney? I'm pretty sure he doesn't inspire leadership on or off the field of play, that said, in this squad, who would?

Cue the resurrection of the league 3 idea, for the good of the national team blah blah blah.
The prem was supposed to do that but has failed.
Typically

Nope think your correct and also got a fair few assists as well. Makes sense not playing him at all doesn't it....

I think this would have been like moving the deckchairs on the Titanic.

The mental disintegration of our lot, just showed it was very much little boys against men....I thought Rooney did OK as captain, I'm not sure anyone could easily have prevented the disintegration in a captaincy role.

How do you get that mental toughness? 

Obviously in some cases moving abroad helps....but the mindset of our perceived superiorlty to Johnny Foreigner, just won't go away.

In tournaments it manifests itself at the beginning  in places like Marseille...here we are, come and have a go if you think you're hard enough. 

Brexit is the logical conclusion.

I always find the comparison to the Rugby team interesting.

It's hard to compare as there are very few countries that play, let alone that are any good at Rugby.

In fairness the current crop have done well, grand slam & a series whitewash in Australia, but in recent times England have a reputation of bottling the Grand slam decider.

Generally not a lack of ability, but lacking the mental toughness which is what the football team are being accused of (probably rightly so).

Although it does make me smile when Lineker makes those comments as his record in Euro finals is impeccable played 6, won none. I guess he had no mental strength either :)

True...for example in Australia, union, isn't even the biggest rugby game...that's league.

England has by for the most players, money, professional clubs etc, so should be at the top.

I've always been surprised that the Hun never took to rugby...cricket more understandable, but I read recently that due to its changing demographic, cricket is growing in Germany.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36461853

Had the Germans the benefit of the civilising effects of cricket, history may have been so different

First QF today Poland V Portugal

Althought being the underdogs i fancy Poland to pinch this one 1-0.

Let's hope so.

Nobody wants the Poles to go home do they. Oh, hang on......
 :headhurts:

Anything that pisses off Ronaldo is a right result in my book.

....and nani...and pepe....and carvalho.all pricks

Fucking Portugal through. They haven't won a game in 90 mins so far in this tournament.

Looking forward to tonight. If we can keep Hazard quiet we will have a chance. My heart is saying we can win, head is thinking Belgium are too good.

Who knows.

4-1 Belgium, they are the best team I've seen so far, admittedly pretty much a one man team, but that seems to be the case all over. Bar England a 0 man team..

I hope Wales get stuffed and someone chops off Bale's stupid man-bun.

I agree with the second part of your statement Samdy.

Here's probably some of the best highlights from Euro 2016...

http://www.ultras-tifo.net/galleries/41-pics/4376-gallery-sexy-girls-from-euro-2016.html

Belgium seem to be improving with each game. Obviously with Hungary going toe to toe with them helped as Belgium ran riot at times. Hazard was unplayable. De Bruyne and Lukaku haven't hit top form yet and they need to get shot of Mertens as well, he is well below the standard of the rest of the side.

Good luck to Wales but for monetary reasons I need Belgium to win handsomely this evening.

Seems to be a lack of English Roses in the gallery.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/01/euro-2016-iceland-shirt-makers-struggle-to-meet-scotland-demand/

Fair.

A whole lot better than the airbrushed Barbies in stunners.

On top in this game.

Wales playing very very well indeed

Only half time, but Wales have been brilliant, pity Belgium dont have an english born keeper!

yes, unfortunately Wales have been good since the goal/dodgy opening 10

Should be winning in fairness. Deserve to be winning.

Belgium could have scored  3 early on with the scramble and lukaku in the corner. after that Wales controlled it better and could have scored 3, so honours even  about right for me.

Undecided on to cash out on my Belgium outright winners bet. It was only a free bet but could get £8. I feel Wales could win this. Not being biased but we have made Belgium look very very ordinary.

Waaaaaalllleeeeessss

Be Nice to see an ex towner in the semis

great goal that, from that cunt. yes I'm bitter he missed the sitter v Leicester that would have won me £150

Fuck me sideways

Belgium are vastly over-rated

Hart would have let that in

That goal was made in Swindon:)

the Sweatys are a bunch of fucking idiots, imagine if us English purchased shirts of the dross they get beat in every qualifacation  they fail in :smugfu:

Dont think wales are gonna hang on here somehow

Think they might, the ref has a few quid on Wales ;)

Christ alive!

Savage is gonna have a heart attack

hate to say it, well played Wales.

now down to Ronaldo to cheat his way past them. think Wales have a great chance of the final now :(

hope the fucking England players are watching :-[

I am on cloud nine.

Too busy doing cosmetics adverts and admiring their new cars/blingy watches/orange girlfriends

Fantastic, deserved win.

:)

I've got 6 welsh nephews and nieces, uncle Sutton is going to get some stick. Well done you boys with funny accents, beat them easy really.

Would be nice if someone says "that's for gary speed"

Fair play, go on and fucking win it.

Era defining moment for Wales.

Also....

...TWO SWINDON LINKS! TWO SWINDON LINKS! TWO SWINDON LINKS!

You're welcome, Wales.

We were superb tonight.

No cunt can deny that.

That's one of the reasons I'm pleased to see Wales doing well tbh

Wales played well tonight. Could have swung either way and Belgium could have had a penalty but Wales took their chances, 3 great goals (from 3 Englishmen.. ahem).

Portugal are beatable too.

Tintin, Hercule Poirot, erm some bloke that makes Chocolate, Mr Artois, your boys took one hell of a beating ....

I know i'm going to kick myself, but Robson-Kanu, who's the other?

Paul Trollope, obv.

Haha, fair point!

Ah OK, had no idea he was part of the Wales set up.

Theres a good old welsh/Birmingham accent on now ;)

Why do so many of the English support Wales? I don't get it. They fucking loved us losing to Iceland - the Welsh team and the general public.

I wanted them to be humiliated 7-0. The vast majority of the pub were cheering them on as if England were playing.

Because we are more civilised than them?

Home nations, innit? Plus it's always nice to support them in a patronising kind of way even if they are doing better than us. Bit like if Supermarine got into the 2nd round of the FA Cup after our traditional 1st round exit

Superb game which Wales deservedly won and sets up Bale v Ronaldo in the semi, people thought Bale was tongue in cheek when he said no England players would get in their team. He seems to have a point

Why not? Same island same people bar minor differences. Its good to take the piss, but also good to see them do well. that goes for the Irish and the Scottish also. Plus I doubt there are many of us who don't have Welsh, Irish, Scottish connections or family? I've got family in all 4 camps, + Aussies and Kiwis, So I like them to do well when not against us also.

This is all well and good but I have to do a presentation to 20 pub managers in Swansea on Monday. Please feel my pain

We were expected to do reasonably well but played like a bunch of amateurs, Wales are just happy to be involved but have done rather well.
If I was Welsh i'd have probably laughed at England's exit too to be fair, it was laughably bad.

Good luck to the England B team, hope they go on and win it.

Yes but none of them seem to feel the same. In my experience all of those countries love seeing England lose to anyone at anything

Could be worse - I LIVE by a pub near Swansea. It's awful at the moment and it's nowhere near chuck out time yet.

I'm not supporting Wales in the same way as I'm not supporting any of the remaining teams because, sadly, I'm lumped with supporting England but you can't knock Wales for this achievement.

Personally, I wouldn't spend that moment chanting 'are you watching England' but that's just me. We English are the evil overlords afterall.

I don't, I want them to get smashed in every sorry they play. Scotland too.

they played well today though

[stalker] which area of Swansea do you live in [/stalker]

small country syndrome.

Tonight, I have thanked my mum for being born in Cardiff, and giving birth to me in Haverfordwest .

I am proud as fuck.

I live in Swindon but doing some work in Pontardawe near Swansea.  Oh...you didn't mean me did you?

All three of Wales goalscorers tonight were English raised who qualified via the grandparent rule. Perhaps England should look towards the Championship and the lower echelons of the Premier League instead?

No, but thanks all the same!

Possibly best game of the tournament so far.

Deserved win for Wales. Good luck to them.
Will be tricky without Ramsey though, but Portugal are nothing special.

Referee had a shocker, blatant penalty and second yellow in the 85th min when 2-1 and another shout just before that. Even savage confirmed it, the only highlight of that match was savage losing his voice. Hopefully it hasn't come back for the semis

Fingers crossed for a Wales Vs Iceland final.

You mean like Sippo?

:fishing:

I'm a modern day hipster who likes fashion.

Ramsey has been the player of the tournament for me. Goals, assists, dead balls and a phenomenal workrate. He will be a huge loss next match.

I have no interest in Wales whatsoever.

Proud as fuck to be Welsh after last night. Get the fuck in. Small country, MASSIVE heart. If England's players had half the passion & desire our boys have shown you'd be in the semis yourselves.

You dicksplashes still voted 'out' though didn't you.

 ;)

The tempo the Welsh played with I think helped them. It was in stark contrast to our really slow tempo that eventually peters out limply, like a viagra'd up man about to have sex,
Realising its with Katy Hopkins.

I didn't vote! Too busy in Toulouse/Paris watching my boys run riot  :girlgiggle:

Fuck off freddy. I'm the only Welsh wannabe on here.

 :D Have fun fellas.

Wales are shit, they must be they lost to England and they are shit :D


They remind me of Greece when they won it, every game they were going to lose and yet they kept going & kept winning.

The Euros do have a habit of throwing up unexpected winners every now and then, could it really happen.

Alternatively it would be funny if they beat Portugal & then lost to Iceland in the Final

Bloody hope so.had a pound on iceland 200/1!

I still reckon Italy will win the euros, very boring but effective football

Zaza's penalty was amazing

I love it when players do shit run ups and miss, it seems to happen a lot.

I believe that shoot out just tripled the amount of Germans who have ever missed in a shoot out and they still won.

It was magical.

I encourage most penalty shoot-outs to be as farcical as some of those efforts.

goodbye to anti-football, goodbye Italy !

#runningmanchallenge

It's called the Tijane school of penalty taking.
You just know that they are going to miss every time.

Haha. I'm not a wanabee butt, I'm am as Welsh as they come, Valleys boy me, born & bred!!

Premier League represented well with four misses.

The daddy of penalty shoot out failure is rightly ours....

B.Paynter shot top left; missed - hit bar
C.Roberts shot mid-left; missed - wide
H.Aljofree shot top centre; missed - over
M.Comminges shot mid-left; missed - saved

v Barnet in the FA cup, to go down 2-0

Having said it's ours, I'm only joking, we share it with Barcelona.

Hector and Kiki would have buried it.

 :clap:......but it will 'whoosh' most on here. 

Im a great big decisive old hector

Prompted me to look him up.  Only played one professional game since leaving Town.

Incidently, not West Ham or Benfica!

Looks like the United Nations will be in last semi-finalists

France showing England how to do it

Indeed, that's because there isn't the pressure on France to perform like there is with England ;)

Just goes to show what a creative midfield can do

Nice to see them turn up!

They hadn't been very convincing up until now..

Iceland dont deliver on sundays

My 20/1 bet on France to win the tournament and Griezmann to be leading scorer is looking handy now. Allez les bleus!!

I put that on as well. Undecided on to cash out or not. It was a free £10 bet.

Germany are strong.

Unfortunately I did it with Ladbrokes as Bet 365 were only offering 16/1 and Ladbrokes have no cashout facility so its all or nowt! I think the semi against Germany is 50/50, tough to call.

I had 80/1 France and Payet... Could do with Griezmann getting a knock!

What, like the pressure of winning as the host nation?

Sent from my SM-G935F

I think that was his point...

Indeed, I thought the smiley would have confirmed that.

We always hear about the fact that England are under pressure due to the expectations of these tournaments, as if it's only England.

I would suggest France, Germany, Spain & Italy all have as much pressure as England (if not more) and have all managed to cope in recent years

Aparently Renato is 24, not 18....
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/legendary-coach-casts-doubts-over-age-of-bayern-buy-renato-sanches

Am I the only curmudgeon who wants to see Wales get smashed tonight?

No

I would just find it ironic if Wales got to the final (and even won it) with a team half full of English born players who would never get picked for England.

Would be another kick in the teeth for the overpaid proms donnas that represent England, and may (albeit unlikely) persuade the future England manager/coach that there are players worth picking outside of the top 6 teams

Definitely not. As I said before, the Welsh team and the country as a whole celebrated England losing like they'd won the tournament themselves. To me, Wales are to England what Oxford are to Swindon. If Oxford were in the Champions League final against Porto, would I be cheering them on because they are a fellow English team? Of course not. Why is this different?

I also quite like to see Ronaldo struggling too though. If both teams could lose humiliatingly, that would be ideal.

Of the 4 teams left, would like to see Wales win it, might act as a kick up the backside for the FA and the whole national team setup.

Equally won't lose any sleep if Wales go out tonight.

I'd love Wales to go all the way. Think Ramsey is a huge loss for them tonight though.
They'll be bang up for it so who knows.

I remember getting a lot of racist abuse from quite a selection of Welsh people over the years, for that reason the sooner they are out the better. Then they can go bck to forgetting they have a football team as per usual

Piss off you kraut

Best outcome tonight? A natural disaster causes the pitch to collapse into a massive chasm swallowing both teams whole.

http://www.freebudforeveryoneinwales.com/

For me, a Portugal win with lots of goals (not scored by Bale)

Picked up my free beer.

Cannot wait for this. Portugal are certainly beatable.

For me it's not a matter of wanting Wales to win, more a matter of wanting Ronaldo to lose.

Portugal Allez!

Won't knock the free beer though  :pint:

Therein lies the rub.

You're not even Welsh.

Exactly, it says everyone who is IN Wales, not those who have a tenuous connection to it. I've more than earned it by being domicile in this shithole ;)

you've seen my ID. my great great grandmothers dog came from wales.

Wales is a nice country

Ronaldo

What other opinions do you have that are wrong?

Cristiano <3

Eurghhh Nani, I hate that twat

So pleased for 2 of the nicest guys in football!

Poor against Slovakia, England and NI, was a matter of time before their luck ran out. Obviously they will lose with passion though and that's the main thing  :wink:

hehehe,

can we repatriate Sippo now?

Still proud...

Bale is the old ronaldo

hey ho. last 4. Great achievement.

don't think we were outplayed tonight.

Hard luck Wales.

Hell of an achievement for them though, made our lot look like right muppets.

No disgrace for Wales to be outclassed by the bigger, better footballing nation.




Which, of course, is what happened against England. Portugal, on the other hand, are dogshit and were there for the taking #chokechokechoke

Dont want to appear disrespectful but i dont think we will see wales as an international force in the near future.

for a semi final that was poor

Piss poor game, Wales missed Ramsey though for sure.

Worst team ever to reach a final? Some might say greece but at least they could defend

i'm sure we can find some England rejects to have.

Aren't you one of those?  ;)

A very poor semi final devoid of quality. If that was England we would be rightly slating that performance. Yes wales  did well to reach the semis but very much off the back of only  2 good  performances vs russia and belgium. They were found wanting without Ramsey and an extremely average Portugal team are in the final where hopefully they will get well beaten by France or Germany - please not the latter! A big chance missed by wales - I don't think they will get another.

That's 2 more than we managed then. People in glass houses and all that ...

Wales can't hide behind the small nation concept.. After all a fair proportion of their players are English who chose wales because they didn't fancy their chances of getting in the england team. Both Portugal and Wales had one world class player and the rest are fairly average and Portugal showed slightly more creativity on the night. A missed opportunity.

We played very well against both Russia and Wales? The last 2 games were shite however

We played quite well in 2/3 of the pitch in each game. We never managed to put together an end-to-end solid, never mind good, performance.

Agree not much difference between wales and englands performances overall. Just that we had our shit performance against a modest iceland team in the last 16 whilst wales had theirs against a modest portugal team in the last 4. All about expectations and ours are much higher. That may change in the future however as ours will be zero and Wales may be higher.

Wales outperformed England overall.

Did you not see the Belgium game? We thoroughly deserved that win.

Agree Wales were excellent against Belgium - with a helping hand from the ref - and overall exceeded their fans expectations and we didn't meet ours. Wales were however very poor against England and Portugal and in the end missed a  great chance to get to the final. Not saying they should be dissapointed overall but I don't personally think they are the all conquering heroes and we were utter rubbish for the whole tournament. Perspective is required, where media and fan pressure leading to fear of failure do play a part as does seemingly uninspiring leadership - Coleman v Hodgson being extremes at different ends. Being on Howe and Shearer!

Thats how I see it too pretty much.

I don't think the media was the reason why Kane, Rooney et al were shit.

That Iceland performance was poor. No-one can be blamed apart from the players and management.

England had no passion or commitment. Wales out performed expectations, and it was frustrating especially when Portugal were there. It makes me angry that Portugal got to the final - lucky lucky bastards. I suppose when you have players like Ronaldo you will always have a chance.

The same for wales, we have Bale and Ramsey. England have too many 'superstars'. Are they paid too much? Do they care about playing for their country? There certainly needs to be an inquest somewhere.

Well done to Portugal....getting into a final after winning their first match in 90 minutes.

This third place qualifying place is shite.

I hope they get humped by the Frogs or the Hun. Please let the best team win.

Wales didn't do enough last night.

This paid too much stuff is bollocks.... Bale is not on 10 pence a week, The French and Germans are earning big money....it's a cheap shot (no pun intended).

Wrong tactics, reselecting shit performing players and no leadership was England's downfall.

It was always going to happen.

If you think that, then you're certainly not agreeing with me. Wales were far better overall, we occasionally touched the heights of mediocrity

 :doh: here we go again with the classic Welsh quote of the tournament. Yes England lost because they had no passion? Not that they just bottled it and couldn't handle the pressure. Wales were shit last night, does that mean they had no passion? I'd love to know the criteria and the effects on results.

It's not just a Welsh quote, it seems to be the catchall explanation for any perceived failure in the media and among fans when people can't work out what actually went wrong. Seen it plenty of times on here applied to players and managers.

Passion does not win football matches. Ever. It's a bollocks cliche formed by lazy pundits and fans.

Portugal did what they do very very well - they stopped Wales playing and relied on CR to nick a goal. I think even Germany/France will struggle to beat them right now.

Plus I've got them in the office sweepstake.

How embarrassing is it that Wales have won more knockout games at European Championship Finals than England have ever.

And with a team that contains hardly any players supposedly good enough to get in an England team.

Until England work out that it's about picking the best team & not the best 11 players & fitting them in they won't be successful.

Also, Look at our team with the Leeds contingent, on paper possibly the best we had for some time, the fact that one half hated the other half meant team spirit was at an all time low. Same thing applies at international level, you need a group that trust and play for each other.

Bang on. This group of Wales players have largely been together for years. The Germans the same. I keep saying this but one of the easiest things to fix in our national side is to actually value the U17, U20 and U21 tournaments - make the players who are eligible for those age groups play in their age groups, so that by the time they come into the senior side, they've already got 3 or 4 years of experience playing international tournaments and of playing together as a team. But instead we constantly fast-track young players into the senior side so they can get 5 or 10 minute cameos, then get savaged by the media when their inexperience lets them down. Fucking stupid.

Effort does win games though and I saw far more of that from Wales than England.

It is genuinely getting a bit nauseating now though. You'd think they'd sacrificed their lives for the greater good or something.

Of course you can't say that here cos you just get called bitter. But it would have annoyed me with England too.

Stuff like this:



Bollocks.

If it was England our press would have drowned in their own spunk wanking themselves silly.

I don't begrudge Wales at all, its some achievement.

Yeah, this is my thought process too..

Fair play to them.

a French person just complained to me about the number of 'foreigners' in Germanys' team.
Oh the irony

Would've made a good final this game.

Germany to win 3-1.

The French national anthem is ace.

How do you measure effort? Distance covered stats? I'd like to see evidence that England players didn't put a shift in compared to any other team. Miss placed passes, rubbish set pieces, sloppy goalkeeping. Let's be clear on why we are out, passion and effort are an easy excuse from pissed off fans and media and it's shit really.

Hopefully it effectively is, want whoever wins to give Portugal a good humping on Sunday

Been a good game, France undeservedly in front from a dubious penalty.

Kimmich on Germany's right wing (Perhaps not the best flank to be on) reminds me so much of Matt Ritchie.

Game on.

The Italian ref hasn't gotten over the Germans knocking his team out in the last round, then.   ;D

Stick you arm out like that and it's asking for trouble

Get in! Will take this!

I think that is it for us, the French are happy to just defend and we don't look much of a threat in the key area

Are you like proper German or as German as Sippo is Welsh?

"H is for handball which has to be intentional and very rarely is" (hmhb)

this 2nd half is crap thus far

exactly. the ref cheated.

come on Germany

oh ffs. comedy timing

nah it was a 100% a penalty. Germany have been poor, the overall quality of the tournament has been pretty shite as well

I'm French now.

one thing ive noticed in these euro's is hardly any supporters wearing the current replica shirts, lots wearing retro ones, probably down to the fact that footie tops these days are pretty bland and fucking over priced :hmmm:

Great result and another 2 goals for Griezmann.

and his little dance is not at all annoying

That's one crap final. Actually hope Portugal win it now

I said "it would have annoyed me if it was England" ..

He can do whatever he likes after scoring as far as I'm concerned.

I know you did.

Sorry, I'm just a bit sensitive to people assuming I'm just begrudging Wales something because round here it's all I hear - "oh you're just jealous" etc. As if it's not possible to find it generally loathsome.

Mark Cooper has just come on the radio.

'Well, Germany dominated, had all the play, were the better team and can consider themselves unlucky!'.

They were young and inexperienced. And certain staff members weren't pulling in the same direction.

Dirty cunt.

Been offered £100 cash out on my free bet for France Win and Greizemann top scorer. Would you take it? If it comes in it's £180.

still, world cup qualification is coming up and they go again..

If you accept that Griezmann will golden boot it (1/500), then if you bet £100 on France to win today you'd take about £145 back at 4/9.  £180 looks better.

I reckon home crowd, homer ref  ;) and past performance indicate Fra. are the likelier winners

You could hedge by putting £2 on Ronaldo (50/1) and £1 on Giroud (100/1)

Caveat:  A classy Portugal lost their home Euro Final to a limited Greece some years back!

Who do I dislike the most in the final :hmmm:

Fuck it, Allez Francais :beers:

Clattenberg has got the gig.....France have a lot of Prem players, so he'll probably be looking after them.

Low and Hummels are moaning that the extended tournament induces mediocrity.

I'm a bit ambivalent on this, it was my thought at the outset, and Portugal getting to the final, kind of confirms it, however the relative success of the likes of Wales, Iceland has to be a good thing.

As always, a few players have enhanced their reputations or at least maintained them, and in England's case, taken several steps backwards.

My biggest disappointment was seeing Italy go out, I loved watching the Azurri rearguard of Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, in front of Buffon. Watching the shootout after a few beers in a busy pub with the sound down, I lost count and thought Italy had won, due to the giddy excitement of seeing Huns miss pens.

FGR lost 4-0 to Evesham in a friendly!

I totally get it Ells, I used to live in Scotland and they also suffer from small country syndrome.

I remember during the World Cup in 2002 (I think it was) when we were playing Argentina, I was the only English person in a packed pub full of Scots wearing their Argentina shirts, you could have heard a pin drop when Beckham slammed home his penalty :)

Another time in 2001 Scotland had drawn or lost a qualifying game and I was taking a piss and some drunken jock says to me, 'ah well, at least we get to see England getting thrashed now'. I mumble yeah and fake a laugh etc. 2 hours later Germany 1 England 5! haha! :)

France have looked half-decent wouldn't you say Reg? Not a hat any of them would cut it in Wiltshire, mind.

I would let Chiellini wear a Town shirt.
Overall the quality in this tournament has been poor. In fact I can't remember a worse quality Euros.