League A - Group 1-4 Fixtures - 12-14th June, 2022

[Stan]

all kick-offs 19.45 (BST) unless stated

GROUP 1
Monday 13th June, 2022
Denmark vs Austria
France vs Croatia

GROUP 2
Sunday 12th June, 2022
Spain vs Czech Republic
Switzerland vs Portugal

GROUP 3
Tuesday 14th June, 2022
England vs Hungary
Germany vs Italy

TABLE TBC

GROUP 4
Tuesday 14th June, 2022
Netherlands vs Wales
Poland vs Belgium

TABLE TBC

[Stan]

France fucking up big time. 

Lost to Croatia tonight. Bottom of their group. Can't qualify for finals. 

 

[Guest]

We probably wont get out of the group. But its important to win tomorrow.  Would be abit embarrassing to get relegated 

[Dr. Gonzo]

15 hours ago, Gunnersauraus said:

We probably wont get out of the group. But its important to win tomorrow.  Would be abit embarrassing to get relegated 

It’s already embarrassing, 3 matches and no goals in open play with the attacking players we have.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It’s already embarrassing, 3 matches and no goals in open play with the attacking players we have.

It's horrendous mismanagement to suck all the energy and life out of what should be an exciting crop of players to watch.

[Danny]

I would be hesitant in judging the team and Southgate by these fixtures considering every single one of those players wants to be on holiday and are now just risking injury post-season.

But with that said we’ve not looked good these last 3 games and that needs to improve 

[Stan]

Oh dear. Sallai scores to make it 1-0.

[Danny]

Yeah we’re going defensive in the winter 

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

Yeah we’re going defensive in the winter 

I don't think there was any doubt of that before any of these matches were played 

[Stan]

Pickford would have saved it based on where the ball hit Ramsdale's arm

[Stan]

Quality from James to clear that off the line. 

[Bluebird Hewitt]

Losing 2-1, but Brennan Johnson scoring gives us a potential lifeline.

Should really be starting ahead of James going forward.

[Dr. Gonzo]

4 hours ago, Stan said:

It's horrendous mismanagement to suck all the energy and life out of what should be an exciting crop of players to watch.

It's just so disheartening to see this group of players and then with this series of 4 glorified friendlies they play some of the most dire and negative football I could imagine with this group.

It's a shit situation for us because while I think Southgate is possibly the best England manager we've had in my lifetime and he's had some real success as a manager for England on and off the pitch (getting us to a WC semi or the Euro finals)... I also think the best things he's done as a manager are almost all off the pitch stuff. Improving the dressing room attitude of England so it's less clique-y and more pulling in the same direction for the country... that's something we've needed from a manager for a very long time.

But at the same time, I do wonder how much of his success on the pitch is done in spite of him rather than because of him. Because we play this awful brand of football and managed to scrape by and do well in tournaments, and yeah... who really cares about how we win as long as we win in tournaments. But it's also tough to watch this group of players play such a negative brand of football.

Also sad to see how sloppy the team is after Hungary takes the lead. You'd think these players would still feel fairly confident they can get a result after going down early, given that they're not bad. But they're clearly feeling the pressure after going a goal down. But I wonder how much of it is these are tired players who just want to get through these matches without getting hurt.

[Danny]

10 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

It's just so disheartening to see this group of players and then with this series of 4 glorified friendlies they play some of the most dire and negative football I could imagine with this group.

It's a shit situation for us because while I think Southgate is possibly the best England manager we've had in my lifetime and he's had some real success as a manager for England on and off the pitch (getting us to a WC semi or the Euro finals)... I also think the best things he's done as a manager are almost all off the pitch stuff. Improving the dressing room attitude of England so it's less clique-y and more pulling in the same direction for the country... that's something we've needed from a manager for a very long time.

But at the same time, I do wonder how much of his success on the pitch is done in spite of him rather than because of him. Because we play this awful brand of football and managed to scrape by and do well in tournaments, and yeah... who really cares about how we win as long as we win in tournaments. But it's also tough to watch this group of players play such a negative brand of football.

Also sad to see how sloppy the team is after Hungary takes the lead. You'd think these players would still feel fairly confident they can get a result after going down early, given that they're not bad. But they're clearly feeling the pressure after going a goal down. But I wonder how much of it is these are tired players who just want to get through these matches without getting hurt.

de Bruyne and Van Dijk both said these are essentially glorified friendlies, hence both leaving international duty early. I wonder if we’ll see a more improved side in September when everyone’s a bit fresher mentally 

[Danny]

I think Gallagher is struggling to impact the game, Bellingham too. We need either Rice, Mount or JWP to play centrally and then let Bellingham off the lead a bit.

Bowen should come off too, let Saka play right wing where’s he’s best and bring Grealish on.

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 minute ago, Danny said:

de Bruyne and Van Dijk both said these are essentially glorified friendlies, hence both leaving international duty early. I wonder if we’ll see a more improved side in September when everyone’s a bit fresher mentally 

Cramming in 4 matches in 10 days for all of these players, after many of them have had long and grueling seasons, is definitely going to make more players treat these as glorified friendlies than perhaps UEFA wants them to.

Lots of clubs have their pre-seasons starting earlier this year too (many at the end of the month) so for some players it means they only get a few weeks off to recover from the season before they're meant to go again... in a year where the season's going to be a bit compressed to accommodate for a World Cup.

I'm not sure the September matches will do much in terms of making players feel much mentally fresher. Especially as I anticipate these last 4 matches have probably put Southgate under as much pressure as he's ever felt in his whole career - even though the 4th one isn't even over yet.

[Cicero]

Really doesn't matter if its Player A, B, C, or D playing. England will always look turgid. 

[Stan]

2-0!

[Stan]

Kalvin Phillips muscled off it by their absolute tank of a player. 

[Danny]

Kalvin Phillips mistake there. We just dont look decent let alone good 

[Stan]

Germany battering Italy 4-0

[Stan]

3-0! Deflected strike but powerful one past Ramsdale. 

[Stan]

Stones sent off! 

[Stan]

Sent off for absolutely nothing. Stones had no idea the player is even there! 

[Guest]

I dont know the last time we lost by 3 at home. Terrible