Euros

[phips]

but man oh man, that Mats Hummels was a BEAST. Easily MOTM...

Hummels was brilliant. Would love to see him here!

I've watched Hummels a few times, especially since he's been linked with us, & was more impressed with him last night than on the other occasions. He had more of that that 'get stuck in' factor which you need in the Premier League.

I'm not taking the piss but to my surprise i felt Boateng was the stand out defender for Germany last night.
Hummels played very well also but i really have not seen much of him to know if he performs like that on a regular basis.

I've always thought, rightly or wrongly, that Hummels had a bit of the 'swaggering ponce' about him but he was very alert and dogged yesterday. Of course Portugal had no CF though, so we shall see how he gets on against proper strikers.

I thought Boateng made one good last ditch tackle but was stranded several times personally. Always a better option at fullback than CB though imo.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking..no real CF for Portugal. I wonder how Hummels will do vs. Holland...and at this rate, Mertesacker is gonna have a hard time getting back into the side unless something happens to Badstuber (injury, rest, card suspension).

In regards to Lahm..I don't know why Loew won't put Lahm on the right and put Schmelzer on the left....I guess Boateng was good yesterday.

[phips]

Oh, and glorious pass by Silva.

Spain's tiki-taki shit doesn't work as well anymore...just like Barca this season. And, frankly, it bores me.
No way does Spain retain their Euro title.

[lets all have a disco]

Ireland are shite, was hoping they'd be tough to beat and cause an upset but fuck me this is awful

They are basically a championship team no suprise they are wank.

Good fun to watch them though.

[lets all have a disco]

Oh, and glorious pass by Silva.

Spain's tiki-taki shit doesn't work as well anymore...just like Barca this season. And, frankly, it bores me.
No way does Spain retain their Euro title.

Of course it works with David Villa up front instead of Torres it would have been 3-1.

[Yffi_88]

Anyone see that Irish lass on screen just now?

Tidy.

[Green & Blue]

Ireland are shite, was hoping they'd be tough to beat and cause an upset but fuck me this is awful

Being tough to beat got us here but we are nowhere near the level of the teams in our group.was really hoping we might grab a point to keep then dream alive but we were rubbish.Andrews was our driving force that says its all really.

[Swales4ever]

tad impressed by the italians tactical application into the game. since WC 1982 they seem to step up to the plate every time there's enough turmoil in the Italian FA surroundings: old good seige effect and all that.
I also did not expect to see Pirlo as fit as he looked,frankly. he's absolutely worn but... good stuff never gets old...
puzzled at Prandelli: he's a shrewd manager indeed and set the team properly well with 3-5-2 commanded by de rossi.
then he almost bottled the game with subs:
a) withdrawing mario denied italy the opportunity to be traced back with a physical target, whereas cassano (who's not more than 60' on him) should have been the one to make way to di natale, instead. then, the planned entry of the tricky dwarf could have seen mario making way, but later on. not so soon.
b) non reaction to delbosque changes - particularly to J. Navas - was weird. italy have just been lucky that torres has been destroyed as a top striker, otherwise, with their flank exposed with a non defensive apt winger (Giaccherini) tied with a fast winger as Navas would have costed the whole post.

nice game.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

When I heard the Italians were going to play a back three, the coach in me got all tingly with excitement.

Brilliant tactics let down by not making the most of their chances on the counter. Draw is a good result, but they could have had 3. What impressed me most was the way they stifled Spain constantly.

When Spain tried their tika taka stuff there was always a minimum of 4 Italians surrounding the ball, including strikers tracking back. They even brought a defender forward when they needed to push harder. They got away with this as Spain had no actual forward on the pitch. As much as I love our Dave, I dare say villa would have caused havoc if he'd been the one looking at a tiny defensive group on those occasions when Spain cut through.

For my money Italy proved that every now and again teams can set up to stop any challenge if they're smart and brave. Bravo Italy.

[ecksmc]

Euros so far...... Well the tournament is well under way and with England playing there 1st match today the big question is can they win? Has Roy done all he can to get the team motivated and confident they should be able to win this match and set themselves up for next matches or will it be the same old story with all these top players just not able to do it just missing that special something called team work........
So I guess time will tell and so on personally I think England will do it this time not saying win it but will get threw the group stage at least it's better than before...... So who has caught your eye? Myself I have to stick with my 1st choice ze Germans to win

[Avalon]

Italy were mighty impressive. Maggio charges forward were brilliant and Pirlo definitely showed that he's still a quality midfielder, despite his age. Balotelli fumbled a great chance and Italy really had to win this game. Shocking tactics and they nearly got the win.

Croatia was solid as well and Ireland didn't play too badly. The third goal was unlucky, although a beaut of a header by Mandzukic. The first was shocking defending and... I've got no clue what Ward was doing on the second. Still, Ireland created some good chances, just not converted them.

Germany was solid. Hummels was imposing. I've been saying for a while now that I'd like to see him at City (look up posts if you feel the need). Against the Netherlands it'll be a tougher test and I can see Germany conceding goals with the way the Netherlands created chances.

Spain... that was just boring. Brilliant pass by Silva, but overall, they were just boring.

Looking forward to France v England tonight. I'm still saying France are the dark horse of this competition.

Russia, impressive performance. They should sail through their group, however, I wasn't expecting them to spank Czech Republic like that. Still, Arshavin looked great, so did Pavlyuchenko and I'm pleased to see some more of Dzagoev.

[belgian cityfan]

like many I very much enjoyed Italy's performance, even tho they had a difficult time to hold on after spain equalised
but if you look at the chances Italy should have scored at least 3 in that game
Spain are still able to play some pure quality football but dont have an end product
unlike the last 2 major tournaments they dont have a world class striker and that might really hurt them in the latter stages

I have a soft spot for Germany because I followed the evolution of their football closely since 2005
the Germans will have to play a higher tempo than they did against Portugal but I think they'll improve during this tournaments
a lot of German players have had extremely intense seasons and I think they'll slowly find their freshness again
but defensively they looked very solid for 80 mins of that game, then Portugal finally went for it and created some good chances but it probably wouldnt have been smart to play an entire game against Germany like that

Netherlands had a lot of chances vs the Danes but lacked sharpness and even played a bit arrogant
it was like they were thinking 'no worries we will get the goal eventually'
at least that's my impression
I think beating Germany will be very tough

Russia has a lot of speed in its squad and was impressive on the counter but Czech republic played very naive

I loved watching these first Euros games, much better than the World Cup 2 years ago!

good luck to the English lads on here for tonights game

[Avalon]

Speaking of Belgium, when are your lads finally becoming the most dangerous national team ever? Defour, Hazard, Lukaku, Witsel, etc? I'm surprised they didn't even qualify for the Euros.

[DoomMerchant]

Speaking of Belgium, when are your lads finally becoming the most dangerous national team ever? Defour, Hazard, Lukaku, Witsel, etc? I'm surprised they didn't even qualify for the Euros.

why are you surprised? they are a young generation coming of age. They'll be a force within 24 months imho, so you won't have to wait a long time i don't believe.

Related: England, Country of. See "heading in the opposite direction"

cheers

p.s. come on engerland...i'd love to see a great start today because you know i have a soft spot for you cuntholes. ;)

[mr_nool]

If I were a neutral I'd be bored senseless by this game.

[mac915]

I was bored senseless!

[Nigels Tackle]

If I were a neutral I'd be bored senseless by this game.

both teams are poor.

pace would destroy them both.

[mr_nool]

If I were a neutral I'd be bored senseless by this game.

both teams are poor.

pace would destroy them both.

Both Swedish fullbacks are like deer caught in the headlights when they get the ball.

Damn, Zlatan should've buried that!

[mr_nool]

GET IN! Three Fantasy goals today as well, Lescott, Nasri and Zlatan.

[DoomMerchant]

fucking rock that pony....

Can't believe how easily Dzeko buried that [strike]Talus[/strike] PALUS!!!! fucking awesome shit dude.

cheeeeeeeeers

[zuricity]

GET IN! Three Fantasy goals today as well, Lescott, Nasri and Zlatan.

Game on !