Euro 2016 Thread

[fan_of_mulligan]

I thought I would create a thread where we can talk about all things Euro 2016.

How many games is everyone on here planning to watch ??? How do you rate England's Chances and what would you consider to be a good tournament for England ??? How do you rate Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic Of Ireland's chances in Euro 2016 ???

Has anyone done a bet or sweapstake on Euro 2016 ??? and who do you think is going to be the dark horse / under-dog team we need to look out for ???

[gillsfan1066]

All of Englands games until were gone, then after that I don't give to hoots unless say Wales, Nth Ireland or Ireland keep going.
Englands chances of what..........you mean winning the whole thing........... hahahahahahaha, after that performance against a very below average Russian side, all I saw Saturday was A TOTALLY CLUELESS MANAGER in Hodgson, just a waste of space on the side lines, and a very short stay in France for England.
How at the half weren't Sterling, Kane, even Lallana taken off and replaced at least by Vardy and Sturridge,who would have been fresh and chased every ball, we had no ball control in midfield, and I hate to say it but I guess Rooney has a place for life in the England side ??
If we put this side out against Wales they will beat us, Wales will beat England, WALES , NOT GERMANY, NOT FRANCE, NOT SPAIN, BUT WALES would beat us.
I think Wales will get into the next round, Nth. Ireland won't and Ireland maybe ??
Wales could easily be the dark horse, a draw against England will put them in the cat bird seat and I like Belgium and Portugal to be the only real teams " outside the big three or four " that could go deep into the tourney.

[fan_of_mulligan]

I watched both matches in Group B On Saturday......

ENGLAND V RUSSIA

Excellent performance from England against Russia On Saturday, Chris Smalling saw his header routinely saved by Igor Akinfeev, who also done exceptionally well to tip Wayne Rooney's shot on to the post and Adam Lallana and Wayne Rooney also saw attempts on goal saved by The Russia Goalkeeper, Kyle Walker was exceptional going forward and he was one of England's best players, but Raheem Sterling was disappointing, he has the pace and ability to cause defenders problems, but Sterling's awareness and decision making in the final third leaves a lot to be desired, I would have liked to have seen Jamie Vardy come on for Sterling, I had no problem with James Milner coming on as it looked liked England were going to held on to the win, but with Russia scoring late on, Roy Hodgson is having questions being asked on why he substituted Wayne Rooney and why James Milner came on when England should have gone for the important second goal - questions that wouldn't have been asked if England just held out for another minute.

Fantastic free kick from Eric Dier to open the scoring, not a player you expect to see on the score-sheet, but Igor Akinfeev was perhaps not expecting Eric Dier to hit it, and finally we were able to beat The Russia Goalkeeper, who had made several saves to keep Russia in the game, saves that have eventually earned Russia a very important point, and that header from Vasili Berezutski was superb, could Joe Hart had done more to prevent Russia from equalising ??? possibly, but having defended the initial corner, I think if England stopped the cross, then Vasili Berezutski isn't in a position to win the aerial challenge up against Danny Rose.

There are plenty of positives to take from our 1-1 draw against Russia, even though we didn't get the result we wanted, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane give England a lot of running power and athleticism in our starting line up, I thought Adam Lallana showed his technical ability and was unlucky not to get himself on the score-sheet, and Wayne Rooney was knocking cross-field passes for fun, and with Harry Kane and Dele Alli likely to play as the Number Nine and Ten in this England Side, then dropping Wayne Rooney back into midfield isn't a bad idea, Wayne Rooney isn't the first and he won't be the last player to drop further back as he enter's the final stages of his playing career.

I don't know why Harry Kane was taking corner kicks, and our best corner kick was a short corner kick routine, You don't want your strikers to be taking corner kicks, you want to see Harry Kane in the penalty area hoping to get to the first or second ball, had England won last night then we would have been in a fantastic position to qualify.

WALES V SLOVAKIA

This match could have been very different had Marek Hamsik opened the scoring after making a sensational run and it took a remarkable goal-line clearance from Ben Davies to preserve parity, that goal-line clearance set the stage up for Gareth Bale to open the scoring with a accurate free kick, but Slovakia Goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik dived too early and if he stayed on his feat then he would have saved that effort on target from Gareth Bale.

Wales play with three centre backs, James Chester, Ashley Williams and Ben Davies, with Chris Gunter and Neil Taylor as wing backs, both full backs really do press high up the pitch and the three centre backs really do know how to defend, and James Chester, Ashley Williams and Ben Davies were helped out by David Edwards, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey, with three centre backs and three central midfielders, then you can see why Wales only conceded four goals in qualification, Chris Coleman has set Wales up to stay in the game and remain compact and difficult to break down, and you just know that down the other end of the pitch that Gareth Bale will take his chance, because Bale scored seven of Wales eleven goals in qualification, and he delivered for Wales against Slovakia as well.

When Slovakia equalised, it was moments after Gareth Bale saw his header saved by Matúš Kozáčik, Ondrej Duda and Adam Nemec come on for Michal Duris and Patrik Hrosovsky, Slovakia gave Michal Duris no service or support and he was up against three centre back's all game, but Robert Mak goes on a fantastic run forward, cuts the ball inside to Ondrej Duda who opens up space for himself to shoot and there was nothing that Danny Ward can do about that, after that goal, Slovakia were on top and Juraj Kucka saw his effort from distance parried by Danny Ward and James Chester has to header the ball behind for A Corner Kick.

Chris Coleman makes a double substitution that changes the game in Wales favour as Hal Robson-Kanu replaces Jonathan Williams and Joe Ledley comes on for David Edwards, Hal Robson-Kanu manages to get in behind Slovakia's defence, whip in a cross and Aaron Ramsey headers the ball over the crossbar, but the striker eventually becomes Wales's hero as Ashley Williams plays the ball forward to Aaron Ramsey, who threads the ball through to Hal Robson-Kanu, and the substitute gets the faintest of touches to pass the ball past Matúš Kozáčik and Wales re-take the lead and Hal Robson-Kanu had scored that goal right in-front of The Wales Supporters.

But Slovakia came very close to equalising as Adam Nemec's header hits the post and Wales held on for the win and really Wales should have had a penalty in the first half as Martin Škrtel had elbowed Jonny Williams right in-front of the additional official behind the goal, he did nothing and you have to wonder why have the extra officials if there not going to make decisions, Slovakia picked up five yellow cards in yesterday's match, Weiss, Mak, Hrosovsky (he was unlucky to be booked as Hrosovsky won the ball first), Kucka and Skrtel, Slovakia are a combative physical side, but they have players that England need to pay a lot of attention too, like Marek Hamšík and Vladimír Weiss.

Why England can never win the opening group game of a tournament I never know, a win for England yesterday and we almost would have qualified now, the result is disappointing, but the performance was very encouraging, Wales will not be easy, and had England won against Russia, we go into The Wales Game knowing that a win would secure qualification, now a win can still do that, as Wales play Russia in the final fixture, but we have given ourselves some work to do, to secure passage into the knock-out stages.

[fan_of_mulligan]

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 - 1 SWEDEN

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36457309 - Highlights are here....

I thought Republic Of Ireland were superb - especially in The First Half - and Jeff Hendrick can consider himself very unlucky not to have opened the scoring as his curling effort crashes off the top of the crossbar, much of the talk pre-match was about Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and although his cross was diverted into the back of his own net by Ciaran Clark, I thought Zlatan Ibrahimovic was very poor and this is defiantly one of the weaker Sweden Squad's I have seen in recent year's, previous Sweden Squad's had players like Olof Mellberg, Johan Mjällby, Anders Svensson, Fredrik Ljungberg and Henrik Larsson, and the current squad in Euro 2016 mostly focuses on Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and for good reason, he was by far Sweden's top goal-scorer in qualification.

The Republic Of Ireland deserved to open the scoring through Wes Hoolahan, but once Sweden equalised, they were the team on top, especially when The Republic Of Ireland's four man diamond midfield was starting to tire, and Martin Olsson whipped in several crosses for Sweden which could and perhaps should have resulted in a winner, but neither team could find the breakthrough, Ireland dominated the first half, Sweden had excellent spells in The Second Half, so a draw is a fair result, but with Belgium and Italy in Group E, then one of these two nations could have done with the three points to give themselves every possible chance of securing qualification into the knockout stages.

Who else has been watching other matches in The European Championships, and how many matches has everyone watched in total so far ???

[gillsfan1066]

How can you possibly say that it was an excellent performance by England against Russia, get real, what #*&%@)(*^%# game were you watching ? Russia would have struggled to avoid the drop from the Championship to the First Division this past season, Hull would have whipped them 3-0, home and away, and our Mighty England side managed a draw because the manager can't think on his feet, or in his case sitting in that nice big fat padded chair on the sidelines, and change things during the game .
Everyone looked good, wow what a game Rooney had, of course he did because the Russians were so poor everyone looked good, the bloody ref and the linesman looked good, the time keeper looked good, and Rooney had so much time to spray the ball around HE LOOKED GOOD , look at that , we had 66% of the possession and our passing accuracy was 85% jjjeezzz how fantastic is that, not difficult to get those figures when your Gillingham playing Needham Market from the Isthmian Leauge, or England playing Russia who would struggle in the *$&@#%$(*@#& Isthmian League.
Excellent performance by England, yeah right and I thought you were this great student of the game,your just a homer, cant see the game for the scarves and hats you wear, lol,lol. Just funing with you.

[fan_of_mulligan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36534281 - Portugal V Iceland Highlights Here.....

Portugal V Iceland is the fourth match I have watched in The European Champions and the first not involving A Home Nation - as I have watched England, Wales and The Republic Of Ireland play against Russia, Slovakia and Sweden respectively, this could have been a very different match had Gylfi Sigurdsson, but after that early chance from The Swansea City Midfielder, Portugal dominated possession and created chances, and Hannes Halldorsson denied Nani from opening the scoring from Ronaldo's cross with a brilliant save, but Nani did open the scoring for Portugal in The Thirty First Minute, and after that goal went in, I thought the flood-gates might have opened, but you have to give Iceland a lot of credit for staying in the game by keeping the score-line at 1-0.

Because keeping the score-line at 1-0 meant that Birkir Bjarnason was able to score Iceland's equaliser from Johann Gudmundsson's cross to the far post and that equaliser has to be one of the starring moments of Euro 2016 as Iceland have a population of just 330,000, and every male between the ages of 16 and 30 has a one in two thousand chance of playing for Iceland's Senior National Team, we also saw the battle of the veterans, as Pepe 33 and Ricardo Carvalho 38 in Portugal's defence are up against Eiður Guðjohnsen 37 in Iceland's attack, surely this is the oldest attack verses defence we have seen in the tournament.

And Iceland could have won this match late on had Alfred Finnbogason hit his shot on target either side of Rui Patrício, but Ronaldo had two free kick's in stoppage time which failed to test Hannes Halldorsson between the sticks, Ronaldo also saw his header saved by The Iceland Number One Goalkeeper and it just wasn't his day, but you also have to say that Ronaldo was poor after the full time whistle, he didn't shake the opposition players hands, he complained about the way Iceland played with a negative formation and Iceland dealt with Ronaldo collectively, both Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović have been disappointing in this tournament, you cannot complain about team's defending, after all, Iceland only conceded six goals in qualification in a group which had The Czech Republic, Turkey and The Netherlands - Iceland have qualified for Euro 2016 on merit, and the expanded format of The Euro's from sixteen teams to twenty four, has given more nations the chance to qualify and experience a major tournament.

I thought Kári Árnason for Iceland was out-standing, well positioned defensively and he made sure that Ronaldo couldn't turn and run at Iceland's defence, it may well have been a backs to the wall defensive performance from Iceland, but that backs to the wall approach earned Iceland there first point, in there first match in the major finals of a tournament, with Hungary also winning against Austria then Group F is wide open.

[gillsfan1066]

Cost me and the guys in the office a bloody fortune in bets, lol,lol, anyone looking for a part time gardener or window washer, lol ?

[Garawa]

Yes but you can pay your own airfare!

[gillsfan1066]

For Gods sake Hodgson resign NOW before the second half starts, pull some drunk English guy out of the crowd to manage in the second half.
Come on England LET''S GO, get old man Rooney off,he looks tired out, bring on Vardy and find a new keeper, any one in the crowd with a stupid white and blue shirt will do.

[lidbid46]

Never in doubt; we were just trying to make it interesting. Bale who? One flukey free kick and then anonymous. We must be odds on favourites now, may as well give us the trophy and finish the tournament today. England!!!!

[fan_of_mulligan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36553520- Highlights of Ukraine 0 - 2 Northern Ireland Here..........

Northern Ireland have to play Germany in the final group game so it was essential that Northern Ireland got at least a point from this game, but picking up all three points will mean that whatever happens throughout the rest of this tournament, Northern Ireland will have this win to hang on to as one of there memorable moments from this competition, and with four of the best third placed teams progressing into the knockout stages, then Northern Ireland could still reach the last sixteen, which would be an unbelievable achievement for them considering that Poland, Ukraine and Germany are in Group C - Although Germany will need to win against Poland to give Northern Ireland the best possible chance of reaching the knockout stages.

https://twitter.com/Gersfan_78/status/743502167273775104

Iain Dowie has also just provided us with the best commentator moment of Euro 2016, the above link on Twitter is worth watching a few times.

Northern Ireland went into this tournament with the highest amount of goals scored from set plays, so when Gareth McAuley headed home Oliver Norwood's cross, you cannot say you were surprised with how Northern Ireland scored the opening goal, but I still celebrated when Gareth McAuley opened the scoring because the possibility of Northern Ireland winning this match was becoming more and more possible, and Northern Ireland could have scored from Jamie Ward's in-swinging corner kick which was headed just wide by Craig Cathcart, so the lead was warranted, Ukraine almost equalised as Yevhen Seleznyov was saved and gathered at the second attempt by Michael McGovern.

I also thought that Northern Ireland did extremely well to contain Yevhen Konoplyanka and Andriy Yarmolenko these two played on opposite flanks so they could cut inside and shoot and Northern Ireland made sure that they had bodies in-front of Michael McGovern's goal, especially with the wet conditions as the ball only had to zip off the turf and force a goalkeeping error which would have led to Ukraine's equaliser, and Ukraine had there chances to equalise as Seleznyov's header picks out Kovalenko, and his effort on goal from the edge of Northern Ireland's Penalty Area fails to hit the target, Yarmolenko cuts inside and see's his driven effort on goal parried away from goal by Michael McGovern, and The Northern Ireland Goalkeeper was also quick off his line to get a strong arms on to the ball to punch the ball away from goal.

And deep into stoppage time Northern Ireland make the three points safe, Josh Magennis could of ran to the corner flag, but The Northern Ireland Striker gets to the byline and pulls the ball back to Niall McGinn, who dummies the ball and this allows a free shot on the edge of the penalty area which can only be parried by Andriy Pyatov, and there was Niall McGinn to convert the re-bound to secure all three points for Northern Ireland, and that goal could be important after the final games are played in Group C, as Northern Ireland have a +1 goal difference, and I do think head to head is applied if teams are level on points, so Ukraine winning against Poland might not be enough for Ukraine to go into third place, but if goal difference is applied first, then Northern Ireland will need to avoid a heavy defeat against Germany in the final group game.

This was an incredible result for Northern Ireland, Iain Dowie's goal celebration was brilliant and has made for the best commentator moment of Euro 2016, and there is the possibility of England, Wales, Republic Of Ireland and Northern Ireland reaching the knockout stages of The European Championships, which would be incredible.

[fan_of_mulligan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36551488 - England V Wales Highlights Here

You have got to give Roy Hodgson a lot of credit, because all three substitutions were attack minded as Marcus Rashford, Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy came on for Adam Lallana, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling, and two of those substitutions got themselves on the score-sheet as Jamie Vardy scored England's equaliser on fifty six minutes and Daniel Sturridge scored England's winning goal in stoppage time, Euro 2016 has been about late goals and in the two matches England have played so far, there has been a late equaliser from Russia and a late winner from Daniel Sturridge, that late winner puts England top of Group B, and all England have to do is avoid defeat against Slovakia to qualify automatically for the knockout stages - in truth we probably have qualified already with four points, but it would be nice to get the result we need against Slovakia and top the group, and go into the knockout stages fully of confidence.

Before the match kicked off I mentioned on Twitter that England needed to pick up three points regardless of how well we played and that is precisely what England have done, but boy don't we make hard work of it, England are giving us a reminder of what we're missing when The Football Season is over, as we have had plenty of these moments supporting Gillingham, and I have got to say that Joe Hart has to do better with that Gareth Bale Free Kick, his positioning was wrong, he didn't do enough to turn the ball around the post and there have been a lot of goalkeeping error's from free kick's in this tournament, but Joe Hart could have cost England the victory here and the only positive is that Joe Hart admitted to the media post match that his team mates have bailed him out of trouble here.

England's 4.3.3 formation meant that Neill Taylor and Chris Gunter were pushed back by both Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, Kyle Walker was out-standing against Wales and fifty seven touches of the ball in the oppositions half is unbelievable, Wales rely on there wing backs to push forward to create the width, and Chris Gunter and Neil Taylor couldn't provide Wales with the width they needed to get further forward, but you have to say that defensively, Ashley Williams, James Chester and Ben Davies were superb, blocking shots on the edge of the penalty area, there positioning was superb as Ashley Williams was always giving his team mates instructions and I cannot believe that A Top Premier League Side hasn't signed Ashley Williams, as you want a defender who can defend first and foremost, and that is precisely what Ashley Williams can do, also he has the highest minutes played of any Premier League Player over the past five year's, which is an unbelievable stat.

Roy Hodgson has the right kind of selection dilemma you want, Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy have both come on and made an impact, Adam Lallana has played well, Harry Kane deserves the benefit of the doubt, as this hasn't been a free scoring tournament so far, but Raheem Sterling just isn't clinical enough to play as a wide striker in this 4.3.3 formation and his decision making in the final third is poor for a player who Manchester City spent fifty million on, you want strikers to be in the front three, so there is the possibility of playing Sturridge, Kane and Vardy up-front and really go for it against Slovakia, and England have to go for it and attack because there is still a lot of question marks about England defensively.

In the build up to this tournament, there was a documentary about Euro 1996 and the similarities between the two tournaments have already shown up in the first two games, England took the lead against Switzerland and were pegged back to a 1-1 draw, the same-thing happened against Russia in our opening group game, England played there second group match against a home nation and win, in Euro 1996 England won 2 - 0 against Scotland, yesterday it was a 2-1 win against Wales, both matches saw inspired substitutions at half time, now if England can win the final group game 4 - 1 against Slovakia then that would be great, that 4 - 1 win against The Netherlands is still the best England Match I have watched, because England tore apart a world class team in a match that really mattered, winning 5 - 1 against Germany was nice, but that match was a friendly, you want to win the matches that matter and have something on the line, it is nice to win against a top nation in a friendly, but it is always better to beat a top team when you really need to win, and England have not done that often enough.

Wales defended resolutely and there effort and endeavour almost earned them a very important point, but when you compare Wales performance against Slovakia to the performance against England, the performance against Slovakia was much better, but the one thing Wales have done is given themselves an fantastic opportunity to reach the knockout stages, because that win against Slovakia gives Wales the chance to either get second spot, or one of the best four third placed side positions in the group, but Russia will not be easy and they still have the chance to reach the knock-out stages themselves, but I just think that Wales have a player in Gareth Bale who is capable of producing something out of nothing, and the rest of the team know how to defend, as four goals conceded in qualification is an impressive defensive record, and it is that defensive record which will see Wales get one of the top two positions in the group.

I just hope that Roy Hodgson goes for it in the final group game, go out with every intention of winning the match and topping Group B, his substitutions yesterday earned England a win from a losing position, it would be nice to name a team close to the team that ended the game against Wales for the team that started against Slovakia, although I cannot see Marcus Rashford starting and he will probably be used as an impact substitute.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

A very nervy England game,with a brilliant ending.I felt we controlled the game,and had more chances and possession than Wales.Their only chance was their goal from Bale which was about 35 yards out.It was a decent strike,but Hart should be saving that.I felt we started with the wrong Team.Sterling looked off it,and Kane looked tired today.The half-time changes of bringing on Vardy & Sturridge seem to lift us more,and we had Wales camped in their own half for a lot of the second half.Vardy used great instinct to equalise for us,which must have been his first few touches.After that we just kept coming at Wales,they defended really well.I thought a winner would not come,but Sturridge stepped up in the 90th minute to fire past Hennessy.Massive relief,and fan passion from every England fan! Seen some great vines of England fans going mental as that went in.I think we deserved the win,and got our rewards unlike the Russia game.We sit top of the group knowing it`s in our hands now on Monday.

[gillsfan1066]

Told you there was a worst team than England in the Euros didn't I, it's called Portugal, now where is my Iceland shirt, Come on " Stukamir Okkar " you can do it.

[Kent_UckyFriedGills]

Roy made 6 changes which I felt at this stage is too much.We certainly did all the attacking as Slovakia parked the bus,but we lacked that killer ball or bit of skill to win the game.Wales did what we couldn`t do by beating Russia 3-0,and that late goal we conceded v Russia has cost us top spot.We should have won this group,but we have to get over finishing 2nd and be ready for Monday.We will play Austria,Hungary,Iceland,or Portugal on Monday,got to hope Ronaldo doesn`t turn it on and they play us.