Euro 2024 - Your favourites to win?

[6666]

21 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

England supporters in a fugue state. Your squad isn't that good, positionally riddled with weak points, and you don't have a coach who can cover them. You're going home in the 1st or 2nd knock out round.

It's a better squad than in the last Euros and we got to the final back then. Not crazy to say we could go one better.

[Devil-Dick Willie]

You're right. Why can't you face 3 awful teams in a row in the knock outs (beating one without their star player only from a dodgy AF penalty in extra time) to be then comfortably beaten pillar to post by the other finalist until the guy who's rocking your shit gets injured and goes off, so you lose on pens. It'll definitely happen again. 

[Devil]

23 minutes ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

You're right. Why can't you face 3 awful teams in a row in the knock outs (beating one without their star player only from a dodgy AF penalty in extra time) to be then comfortably beaten pillar to post by the other finalist until the guy who's rocking your shit gets injured and goes off, so you lose on pens. It'll definitely happen again. 

Sadly this is true. Germany were in an awful state, Ukraine are just bang average and we then played Denmark after they had to play their quarter final in Azerbaijan. 

That said, we are one or the stronger nations and I'd expect us to go close this summer.

[Danny]

3 hours ago, 6666 said:

It's a better squad than in the last Euros and we got to the final back then. Not crazy to say we could go one better.

We will likely have to play Croatia or Spain in the QFs, and France in the SFs. Not to mention the other side of the comp will have Portugal, Netherlands and the home nation Germany. Making the final will be nothing short of a miracle tbh.

[Devil]

7 hours ago, Danny said:

We will likely have to play Croatia or Spain in the QFs, and France in the SFs. Not to mention the other side of the comp will have Portugal, Netherlands and the home nation Germany. Making the final will be nothing short of a miracle tbh.

Who knows how the tournament might pan out, France have had strong sides and gone out in the groups in the past. 

I'd back us against the current Croatia and Spain sides though. France on their day is a scary thought but so are we in fairness.

[Danny]

4 hours ago, Devil said:

Who knows how the tournament might pan out, France have had strong sides and gone out in the groups in the past. 

I'd back us against the current Croatia and Spain sides though. France on their day is a scary thought but so are we in fairness.

I think the thing that gets me against Spain is their midfield. We have two great match winners in Jude and Foden but we don’t have the control of passing that Spain have, and tbh it’s similar with France too.

A miracle is a bit too dramatic, but beating France who on paper are stronger than us would be a massive achievement we are yet to achieve in tournaments, not only is their midfield more balanced and better than ours imo, but Mbappe is levels above anyone we can play up front. I think Croatia, Spain (or Italy) could be a great opportunity to lay down a marker. Croatia you don’t know what you will get, World Cup Croatia are a different beast who I think would chew us up, but they weren’t great at the last Euros and they’re ageing now, but still could have one more left in them. I think Spain and especially Italy will be tougher than people think. Spain have arguably the strongest and well balanced midfield in the competition whilst Italy could try and successfully replicate Inter’s back 5. But like us they both have weak spots. Italy’s attack doesn’t look amazing, Spain’s defence can be got at, plus their forward line is still quite young in places (and those places seem to be their best forwards).

If we get to the semi’s having beaten one of those three I’ll be pretty happy, if we beat France it would then arguably be the best tournament we’ve had in my lifetime. I think for France though, if they play us in the Semis and win, it’ll be another day in the office. Same for Croatia.

[Devil]

24 minutes ago, Danny said:

I think the thing that gets me against Spain is their midfield. We have two great match winners in Jude and Foden but we don’t have the control of passing that Spain have, and tbh it’s similar with France too.

A miracle is a bit too dramatic, but beating France who on paper are stronger than us would be a massive achievement we are yet to achieve in tournaments, not only is their midfield more balanced and better than ours imo, but Mbappe is levels above anyone we can play up front. I think Croatia, Spain (or Italy) could be a great opportunity to lay down a marker. Croatia you don’t know what you will get, World Cup Croatia are a different beast who I think would chew us up, but they weren’t great at the last Euros and they’re ageing now, but still could have one more left in them. I think Spain and especially Italy will be tougher than people think. Spain have arguably the strongest and well balanced midfield in the competition whilst Italy could try and successfully replicate Inter’s back 5. But like us they both have weak spots. Italy’s attack doesn’t look amazing, Spain’s defence can be got at, plus their forward line is still quite young in places (and those places seem to be their best forwards).

If we get to the semi’s having beaten one of those three I’ll be pretty happy, if we beat France it would then arguably be the best tournament we’ve had in my lifetime. I think for France though, if they play us in the Semis and win, it’ll be another day in the office. Same for Croatia.

I agree with all that, technically these sides seem to be on a different page to us so for some reason or another. That's even with the fact that we have a much better squad depth than pretty much anyone bar France. 

We just seem to get outsmarted by sides that are happy to keep possession and keep tight. Pick and choose your moments to attack whilst not leaving yourself over exposed at the back. We struggle with that balance for some reason or another. Croatia is a classic example, you'd say only four or five of their players were incredibly talented but as a unit they are so hard to break down and always seem to find that all important goal.

[Danny]

23 minutes ago, Devil said:

I agree with all that, technically these sides seem to be on a different page to us so for some reason or another. That's even with the fact that we have a much better squad depth than pretty much anyone bar France. 

We just seem to get outsmarted by sides that are happy to keep possession and keep tight. Pick and choose your moments to attack whilst not leaving yourself over exposed at the back. We struggle with that balance for some reason or another. Croatia is a classic example, you'd say only four or five of their players were incredibly talented but as a unit they are so hard to break down and always seem to find that all important goal.

I think that’s why integrating Trent and Mainoo into the midfield is so important, think it‘s also why Wharton has made the wider squad. If you watch all the goals we score under Southgate, in open play, they are pretty much all either an overlapping wing-back creating or a winger getting to the byline and sticking it to the back post. We rarely ever score through the middle, and when we did it was because we had someone (Phillips in Euro 2020) who was somewhat capable of passing to that standard.

I think it’s too soon for Mainoo and he should be managed as a sub, so much pressure to put on an 18 year old who has had his inconsistencies (completely fair to have) at club level. Trent I think needs to be given the chance to integrate as a centre mid, really we have no one who can play passes from a deeper position outside of him. I think Mainoo’s running at defenders is what opens passes up for him and it’s probably better he does that in the later stages of a game, especially if it’s in a knock-out round.

[Devil]

24 minutes ago, Danny said:

I think that’s why integrating Trent and Mainoo into the midfield is so important, think it‘s also why Wharton has made the wider squad. If you watch all the goals we score under Southgate, in open play, they are pretty much all either an overlapping wing-back creating or a winger getting to the byline and sticking it to the back post. We rarely ever score through the middle, and when we did it was because we had someone (Phillips in Euro 2020) who was somewhat capable of passing to that standard.

I think it’s too soon for Mainoo and he should be managed as a sub, so much pressure to put on an 18 year old who has had his inconsistencies (completely fair to have) at club level. Trent I think needs to be given the chance to integrate as a centre mid, really we have no one who can play passes from a deeper position outside of him. I think Mainoo’s running at defenders is what opens passes up for him and it’s probably better he does that in the later stages of a game, especially if it’s in a knock-out round.

Surely playing with both Foden and Bellingham in more central positions will improve our ability to open teams up. Sticking Foden out wide to accommodate Bellingham in the 10 role will be Southgates biggest mistake in my opinion. I'd rather see Saka and a more direct player on the left. It's great having possession based players but you need at least a couple of players in your team that are willing to commit the full backs. Antony Gordon could be this tournaments wild card for me. That's if he's picked of course.

[Danny]

1 hour ago, Devil said:

Surely playing with both Foden and Bellingham in more central positions will improve our ability to open teams up. Sticking Foden out wide to accommodate Bellingham in the 10 role will be Southgates biggest mistake in my opinion. I'd rather see Saka and a more direct player on the left. It's great having possession based players but you need at least a couple of players in your team that are willing to commit the full backs. Antony Gordon could be this tournaments wild card for me. That's if he's picked of course.

Bellingham and Foden have played in the same position to the same standards this season though? Difficult one to split.

I just think that you need a creative player at defensive mid, and because Rice just isn’t that sort of player, you need someone next to him that can spray the ball around and help dictate play from deep. I don’t think either of Jude or Foden are those types of players, and at club level Foden plays in front of Rodri and Kovacic and Jude plays in front of Tchouameni and then Kroos or Modric.

[Devil]

22 minutes ago, Danny said:

Bellingham and Foden have played in the same position to the same standards this season though? Difficult one to split.

I just think that you need a creative player at defensive mid, and because Rice just isn’t that sort of player, you need someone next to him that can spray the ball around and help dictate play from deep. I don’t think either of Jude or Foden are those types of players, and at club level Foden plays in front of Rodri and Kovacic and Jude plays in front of Tchouameni and then Kroos or Modric.

No I meant Bellingham in deeper role with a licence to push forward alongside Foden when we have the ball but drop back in alongside Rice when we lose the ball.

Technically both fantastic players but I'd like to see Jude using his physical size and athletic ability to greater effect bursting forward from a deeper role. 

Then we can attacking pace either side in Saka or whoever he choses for the LW role. 

I know he's had a shocker of a season but Rashfords pace in behind should really have been an asset to England at this tournament. He's completely messed up this season and rightly lost his spot.

[Danny]

1 hour ago, Devil said:

No I meant Bellingham in deeper role with a licence to push forward alongside Foden when we have the ball but drop back in alongside Rice when we lose the ball.

Technically both fantastic players but I'd like to see Jude using his physical size and athletic ability to greater effect bursting forward from a deeper role. 

Then we can attacking pace either side in Saka or whoever he choses for the LW role. 

I know he's had a shocker of a season but Rashfords pace in behind should really have been an asset to England at this tournament. He's completely messed up this season and rightly lost his spot.

Yeah I get what you’re saying about Bellingham and it wouldn’t surprise me to see us do that. But I just feel that countries like France, Spain or even the Netherlands have a Tchouameni, Rodri and De Jong, players who can sit infront of a back line, protect it and help dictate possession and play balls through defensive lines, we don’t have that in Rice,m. He’s a great defender, also a great dribbler, but not a playmaker. For me we have to sacrifice Foden to the wing, where he has previously done well for England in fairness, to get a playmaker in Trent involved.

With that said if we start with Rice, Bellingham and Foden I won’t be unhappy lol. Think you’re right about Rashford, had it all to play for and has given it away to Anthony Gorden.

[Gunnersaurus]

On 25/03/2024 at 18:27, OrangeKhrush said:

I think France are favourites,  but I feel we will get a surprise winner. 

England would be a surprise winner haha 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

On 27/05/2024 at 08:24, Devil-Dick Willie said:

You're right. Why can't you face 3 awful teams in a row in the knock outs (beating one without their star player only from a dodgy AF penalty in extra time) to be then comfortably beaten pillar to post by the other finalist until the guy who's rocking your shit gets injured and goes off, so you lose on pens. It'll definitely happen again. 

I genuinely can't believe it actually happened again. Fair play England. 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

On 27/05/2024 at 10:06, Danny said:

We will likely have to play Croatia or Spain in the QFs, and France in the SFs. Not to mention the other side of the comp will have Portugal, Netherlands and the home nation Germany. Making the final will be nothing short of a miracle tbh.

God said 'Nah bro have another free ride'