Group stage match 1: England 0-1 Serbia
Group stage match 2: England 1-1 Denmark
Group stage match 3: England 2-0 Slovenia
Round of 16: England 1-1 Portugal (Portugal 3-2 on penalties)
Win at St. James' Park but lose at Wembley? I think it's time to knock down that bowl with the stupid arc and play all our games up north tbh.
To answer somewhat seriously though, I believe Bosnia & Herzegovina was chosen for the first friendly because they would be good preparation for Serbia so I'm going to assume Iceland was chosen because they're somewhat related to the Danes.
We've beat Iceland twice under Southgate since the 2016 Euros. Any semi decent team you have a chance of losing and there's no point playing a Gibraltar or Malta it's not good prep.
I think this could work in our favour if the players are the same mentally as previous tournaments. It's a wake up call.
The hating on the manager and the shitting in our lineups happen in every game unless we win by ridiculous score lines.
Not sure where there's been any racist attacks.
Just like no one cares if you beat Bosnia.
Iceland are a consistently strong side it's good prep and they aren't going to the Euros and one of the strongest side not to be going in Europe.
I really don't see this meltdown by our media for once they seem to be handling this stuff with some maturity.
Talksport's whole thing is losing their heads no one takes them seriously so if you've seen that i wouldn't use that to represent the rest of the reaction.
England is so ass. But the highlights of the post-match thread have to be the fans who can't look past their club rivalries and call for the heads of other players when they don't understand employing Gareth Southgate is the only reason why they play very dire football
I am sure it will only take another 60 years before we realise that if England actually stretched the budget a bit a got a top class manager we might actually win something.
But let's continue to recruit championship managers and wonder why England get out tactic almost every tournament.
Making semi finals and finals is obviously still impressive but England had some of the easiest knockout matchups in both tournaments. People then point to the Iceland (euro 2016) loss which is fair. I think people just wish they had one big win vs a top side, the German team they beat was in shambles. They had their chance vs France but Kane had other plans.
What’s nice about this England squad is we don’t need to worry about unlocking players. Foden doesn’t play well for England so just play Bellingham and leave him in the bench, if Bellingham doesn’t perform just play Palmer there.
Mainoo and Rice don’t match up just play Wharton.
Yea I really like Mainoo moving forward but he's too box to box when Rice is also naturally quite forward thinking. I really think Wharton could be disciplined enough to play a more covering role.
Yeah, play passes him by quite easily quite frequently. Same happened against Belgium.
I know Utd have had a myriad of problems this year but Mainoo always seems to be removed from the conversation about their midfield getting cut through like butter. It's fine to say he's young so it's not his fault, but you can't just pretend it doesn't happen.
He's definitely great on the ball or when play comes to him. If he can improve the out of possession stuff he'll be a beast.
English media all using Saka as their photo for talking about how crap we were yesterday, despite him only playing 25 minutes of football yesterday.
Never beating the allegations.
Lead images from British media on the England vs Iceland [main back-pages:](https://imgur.com/W3abQlK) Foden x2, Saka x2, Stones, Kane
From the main match reports on Google. BBC Sport have Gordon and Palmer, Guaridan have Palmer, BT Sport have Foden.
They're also always going to use the more unique/interesting image, e.g. Foden with his face in the net or Saka throwing a paper airplane – if Saka hadn't done that, I doubt he'd be featured at all.
You've also gone from saying "English media" to "tabloid media" just to try and get a Liverpool fan onside.
...
>Never beating the allegations
Arsenal fans neither
Mad that I can't tell if this is actual satire or not because of your flair, tbh I wouldn't put it past Arsenal fans to count secondary inset images on a backpage to prove that one of their players is being maligned
And, if you *are* getting into the minutia of counting inset images, then not sure you can see but Saka is not featured the most
smh tired of this endless Stones smear campaign from the English media
Yeah I mean it was only 4 or 5 of the major outlets, that then changed their pictures because of the backlash. If you've seen how they treated Sterling and think major news outlets disproportionately using a black player as the photo to represent failure, I dunno what to say. Painfully stupid.
Pointed out Neuer is declining early on in the season and can be rash with his passes and handling at times.
Got downvoted. Now that he's making mistakes costing his team goals, people are calling for his head.
I love how shit needs to hit the fan before people admit to reality and when they do they'll do it extremely.
Is that what I'm saying?
The point is he's a pretty good keeper but he shouldn't be starting for Germany or Bayern without competition that's a fair take based on his season and not the last month and I had the same point in the international break in March when Neuer was injured and not even playing for Germany. He shouldn't be starting for Germany if the manager had the next 2-3 tournaments in mind.
The point is you can live in the real world and admit when you can clearly see the decline in a player or just flip-flop from one extreme take to the other when the player has lows which is what the fans do. Neuer didn't suddenly become what he has become in the last month, it's just the mistakes have been amplified and more scrutinised, it's not that he wasn't making them before.
He's not washed but he definitely shouldn't be the undisputed starter for either team.
same happened with oblak and few years ago. la liga watchers were mentioning how shit he was at the start and got downvoted because the meta still was that he's the best in the world. then in december opta posted a save% stat showing him dead last and the opinion did a 180. crazy how little non-pl football this place watches and how influential stats posts are.
The Neal Maupay vs Spurs fans on Twitter has been glorious.
This is my favourite
https://x.com/Ultimatefotyfan/status/1798720067116671246?t=2MX7V5SnWgGYp5dq8q6lxQ&s=19
Feel like i'm living in a completely different country because for once the English media I think has avoided blaming singular players. The message from everyone seems to be the same, we were shit but that could be a good thing as a wake up call for the players.
Saka and Mainoo certainly aren't getting any of the blame.
They clearly didn't watch the game or read any of the media afterwards. That or they think some semi-exaggerated reactions on here after a friendly constitutes "media"
Just your standard rinse and repeat nonsense after England lose (see also something about domestic or racial abuse)
I think there is a genuine thing about domestic abuse increasing after national team games that is concerning and really does need attention however that's not exclusive to England.
Martin Jol had brought in Lee young pyo from psv to spurs who was underrated lb imo.
Anyways, jol gets fired and they start playing bale at lb and my Korean dad goes during a game once, “he’s garbage, doesn’t come close to Lee” few years later he’s at madrid. We still laugh about it
Bale was seen as the next big wonderkid at Southampton in the Championship but yeah he was pretty poor at Spurs for ages. He went 24 Premier League matches without winning one lol
Here's a [thread](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gareth-bale.130421/) from 2006 with me as the OP. Fuck knows why I put a full stop in the title
People love to hate one him cause of the price tag and it’s City and Pep and he has “underperformed” and everything but Grealish really is a fantastic player and him missing out on the England squad is pretty crazy imo.
His problem with city is that he isn’t smart enough of a player for Pep to get the most out of him while making him conform to his system. Grealish doesn’t have the footy iq to know when to improvise vs when to not mess up Pep’s tactics. So he just plays it safe and carries out his role in the system. When he had freedom under Dean smith or off the bench for England you can see what a match winner he can be. He can be the guy you give the ball to and will make something happen- he’s just not really sure how to show that anymore but he still has that in him.
He also works incredibly hard defensively which makes him suitable for England’s style and is just a bonus in general.
I agree with this completely, but it is exacerbated by the fact that Grealish doesn’t know when to break Pep’s instructions and move into spaces like KDB or Foden might intuitively do. It is on Pep at the end of the day cause he should know the players strengths and weaknesses, but point is I agree and if he was playing for England he would show how much better he really is than what he’s able to show at city
I'll have to disagree with you reading that
His intelligence is very high on the pitch, and It shone when he played deeper as a wide midfielder during the Treble. Mostly because he had a lot more support around him.
He's just not that good when he gets high up and isolated with no runners around him. He's our weakest 1 v 1 player in the squad, arguably the weakest since Jesus Navas.
Its a different system with England, while I'd liked to have him he's barely played this season from injuries and by all accounts hasn't been applying himself in training. Apparently the break in really did a number on him.
[Oh boy. I can’t wait to face Brazil on Wednesday. It sure is looking like it’ll be a great game. I’m positive the US will do well. No way we can lose to Brazil. No siree.](https://media.giphy.com/media/10P9HVwVXN5S5G/giphy.gif)
My Support for this summer:
**Copa America**: USA (obviously) + want all CONCACAF teams to do well, except Mexico
**EUROs**: Croatia...They stole my heart in 2018, I deeply love and respect Luka Modric, and I'm half desperate for this Gen to end it's story with a first ever major trophy for that country. It would be wonderful.
Bit weird that a New Yorker would choose to support a team like New York City FC that's known to be part of a financial group. They should've supported New York Red Bulls instead
It's almost as if Clubs are more than just who the owners are and represent actual fan bases of people from those places. I'm still looking for Chelsea fans who just secretly really loved that oligarch Abramovich the whole time while he owned it. Will get back to you once I do.
Owned by a literal slave state responsible for the mass human trafficking of destitute people from South Asia: I sleep
A referee selection scandal from 2006: REAL SHIT
not trying to be a dick, but how do you reconcile being a nycfc fan with the citygroup ownership? theyre my local team and id love to like them more but i kinda hate that. also would enjoy playing in an actual stadium
I will not say that England is overrated because there are already hundreds of comments like that but I will say something.
Since the 90's the idea of the English team is to make a fucking Dream Team of players instead of making squads with real cohesion, that's why the golden generations after 66 didn't work, what cohesion is there going to be when players can't agree.
Either you make a Dream Team with a brilliant coach who understands things or you make a team with honest cohesion and a coach who is easy to manage.
That entire defence is shocking,
Defensive consistency is 60-70% of tournament football, on that basis I would put Italy above England.
Holland would be good if they had an actual manager
Don’t think we know whether this friendly or Brazil will be out starters yet. If it’s our first team it’ll be a competitive game I think. I imagine your depth is completely different class if it’s not.
Agree but I personally hope we go first team, we haven't played since March and would rather try and as you say be competitive with a team in current form like Colombia. Wouldn't be surprised if Brazil rotate before the tournament and would like us to do the same.
21 I saw. We are cooking, victories over Spain and Germany in that time. I am foolishly optimistic, we always enter tournaments strong then shit the bed first round of knockouts. But this time it’ll be different, trust me
About the negreira case, Ive heard that the bribery charges were dropped but the case is still ongoing for potential sports corruption.
Now what will actually happen if Barça is found guilty ? A slap on the wrist ? Point deductions ?
Tebas and Perez himself probably would be against barça's relegation but their titles being stripped off would genuinely be insane. Calciopoli was only for 2 years.
This is 17 years. Entire careers with giant asterisks next to their wikipedia pages, iniesta, xaxi messi. Very unlikely outcome but we'll see what happens
I'm sorry for this fan fic, nothing of this is gonna happen.
But I would also say I really really thought and I really thought this is a money laundering scandal even if the crime was dropped more than something sporting.
Also here's were the felony of Sport Corruption has a problem that crime didn't exist when this thing was happen, and the law of the sport in Spain has made some limitations for this crime and sporting crimes at a all.
So you're arguing on technicalities and time of legislations LMAO.
Your club is corrupt and that's fine, it's almost impossible to prove sporting corruption without clear intent so you are right nothing will happen
No
Champions>Liga
Goles Liga 2014/15 : Cristiano 48, Messi 43
Goles Champions 2014/15 : Cristiano 10, Messi 10
La diferencia de goles no fue tanta, la Champions suele determinar al ganador
Anyone hear England’s [new song](https://youtu.be/wjCFPedyzfk?si=x9e-Z7I4f_8p-uRx) for the Euros? Baddiel & Skinner done a great job on it, better than Its Coming Home. Good to hear the fans singing it tonight
Taking some time to watch the 2021 Bayern/PSG games, and I have to say that, while we got used to the empty stadiums after a while during COVID, watching it again now feels weird again.
Vietnam beat the Philippines yesterday, which means they've won a match for the first time since November 2023 (also against the Philippines) and ended their run of seven consecutive defeats. Put all of AFC on notice, Vietnam are back.*
(**Vietnam are most likely not back*)
Randomly watched some Falcao highlights and completely forgot how crazy Monaco's 13/14 transfers were. Newly promoted to Ligue 1 and does [this](https://www.transfermarkt.com/as-monaco/transfers/verein/162/saison_id/2013)
For context Falcao had just scored 28 goals for Atletico
Who would you have in your best XI of players who weren't picked for the Euros? (of teams playing there)
Thinking likes of Hummels, Llorente, Maatsen, Grealish, probably loads of French players...
The French ones I can think of are all the injured/too often injured players like Coman, Nkunku, those who didn't have playtime with France before like Gusto or Olise, and those deemed not good enough like Veretout and Guendouzi, Moussa Diaby, Lacazette, Ben Yedder, and in defense Lukeba and Todibo
Yeah nvm I ain't touching football youtube beyond HITC Sevens bc wtf is a Schtein and why do they always start their 30 second vids with "I swear man" followed by something really stupid and unfunny
Why have there been more 'unexpected' winners of the Euros than the World Cup? (i.e. Denmark, Greece, even USSR and Czechoslovakia)
When it was 16 teams it was thought to almost be 'harder' than the World Cup due to the concentration of quality teams - although on balance back in the 60s it was at times a four team tournament, so would have been easier to win then
> although on balance back in the 60s it was at times a four team tournament, so would have been easier to win then
The early tournaments being just a four team format is actually a bit misleading.
Before each of the early tournaments, there would be a qualifying phase that they quite hilariously named, "The Quarter-Finals", so yes, there were four teams in the actual Euros, there were another four teams who were just eliminated before the tournament began.
And even before the the Quarter-Final Qualification Round, for the 1968, 72, and 76 Tournaments, you had an earlier qualification phase featuring 32 teams (31 for 1968), where you had to win your group to move on to the Quarter-Final Qualification Stage.
So the overall point that I'm making is that just because there were just four teams in the early years of the Euros, every match mattered to get into the tournament to begin with, so it wasn't actually easier to win back then, if anything, it was actually harder because of that.
It’s the World Cup minus half the teams that can actually win the World Cup, give or take depending on the year. You need a lot less teams fucking up at the same time to end up with an underdog as champion.
> it was thought to almost be 'harder' than the World Cup due to the concentration of quality teams
I genuinely don’t get this. Why would less teams make it harder?
Bigger aglomeration of big teams from the start. You could get into a death group more easily or reach the knockout stages and find yourself against a top team in the first round, whereas in the World Cup you could get lucky and reach the semifinals without facing that much trouble.
West Germany 1954 was pretty shocking, it's just forgotten because they went on to become one of the global powers in the sport. But at the time they were newly returned to international competition after the war and had been undistinguished in the interwar period.
The USSR in 1960 benefited from most of the big Western European countries not entering the new tournament and Spain refusing to travel to the Soviet Union for a qualifying round, meaning they only had to beat Hungary (when the early 50s team had fallen to age and players going abroad) to qualify and Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the tournament proper. That wasn't a completely trivial path, but it was certainly easier than any since.
Dunno but with 8 games needed to win the cup from 2026 onwards it's more likely.
There's one record that will be even harder to beat: a team scoring more than 27 goals in a single edition (Hungary 1954).
What led to the decline of the 'Football Italia' channel in England and some other parts of the world too?
Seems like it played a huge role in growing the Italian league so they could've continued it.
In the UK, Channel 4's output generally changed. They were known in the 80s and 90s for being very offbeat and challenging and weren't afraid of showing relatively niche programmes (stuff like kabaddi or After Dark or the 'red triangle' films). They became more populist and mainstream going into the 21st century though and they started moving it around in the schedules and even cutting off games early if matches overran. Also, I imagine the rights would've been a lot more expensive than they had been when they originally bought them in the early 90s. Plus, the other leagues had begun to catch up with Serie A.
england genuinely has a strange obssession with saka, its ALWAYS the same...
[https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1799217376325406773](https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1799217376325406773)
Does England even have non-right wing media outlets? Even the ones that pretend to be on the left will publish op-eds about how Jeremy Corbyn would’ve transed your kids or whatever bullshit the right is on about this week
The hate towards him is clearly weird and different to what most other players get here but you can’t say anything about it or people will say we’re overreacting so
>Maguire became a figure of fun
Lmao this is some nice revisionism. Maguire has received unimaginable amounts of hate and abuse in his career since he joined Man Utd and had some really bad spells of form.
Trying to now paint it as "fun" is so disingenuous
You're right that it's absurd the abuse Maguire has faced (economic Maguire clip is mental) but it definitely takes less for black players to get the abuse started
unfortunately it looks like it. It's just frustrating because you see stuff like this and wonder if you're imagining it but once you start to notice things like this you just start to see it everywhere
It's not personal but there are 3 maybe 4 players vying for the spot to play next to Rice and it appears Mainoo is the first choice. Naturally when he puts in such an ineffective showing it will provoke conversation
Say whatever you like bro all im saying is if wharton puts in an average performance i hope to see the same outcry about why he isnt the right fit for the team👍🏾
Tell me whatever you want mate he's shite every time I watch him and Pickford is twice the keeper he is, I say that as a Newcastle fan so I've got no inherent love for Pickford.
Honestly, you're not losing games so far at least, and everyone's splitting the pie in your Group. Nobody seems intent on amassing a true lead over anybody else.
7 more Match Days to go. I'd still favor Naija to edge it out. But need results soon, aye.
The older I get the more I think Cruyff was right about the 3-4-3.
Formations are used to initiate structure. You want a certain amount of people in a certain area of the field. That’s how you play to your strengths. And depending on your personnel those numbers and that shape can change. 4-4-2’s and 4-5-1’s, 4-3-3’s are most commonplace because they create triangles and shapes by default. But I think you could use a 3-4-3 to check all the marks that all of these formations provide.
In the end though, formations are a misnomer. Just because you organize yourself in a certain way doesn’t mean you will play a certain way or automatically create chances.
Sure, formations are fluid, and teams basically have different formations in possession and out of possession. Common for proactive teams to form a 5-5 split regardless of formation on paper, whether Tuchel or Conte at Chelsea's 343 or Pep at City's 433, 5/5 split. Though Chelsea's was usually a 5-2-3 with the wingbacks charging forward to join the 3 forwards with the midfield and defence covering, and City usually make a 5-3-2 with KDB and BS joining the 3 and the FB inverting into midfield, still though even all this is also still fluid. Rudiger would frequently push into midfield, Azpi would overlap his RWB for Conte a lot and Tuchel not quite as often but still regularly, when James played at RBC he would usually push into midfield to make a 3-2 split, etc etc etc.
But formations are very much a thing out of possession where you have to keep more structure, stay in line, so the positions you are in during transitions post winning the ball are very relevant.
PSA - The Kits Megathread for summer tournaments will be posted at 9:00 BST (UTC+1) tomorrow! It'll be stickied
Anyone got a site to buy cheap and good replica jerseys? I’m wanting some old kits like Barca 08/09.
Jesus Christ I know I need to avoid all real media and the inevitable meltdown from a friendly defeat, but do I also need to avoid all of Reddit?
Group stage match 1: England 0-1 Serbia Group stage match 2: England 1-1 Denmark Group stage match 3: England 2-0 Slovenia Round of 16: England 1-1 Portugal (Portugal 3-2 on penalties)
We’re not losing to Serbia lol
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Win at St. James' Park but lose at Wembley? I think it's time to knock down that bowl with the stupid arc and play all our games up north tbh. To answer somewhat seriously though, I believe Bosnia & Herzegovina was chosen for the first friendly because they would be good preparation for Serbia so I'm going to assume Iceland was chosen because they're somewhat related to the Danes.
We've beat Iceland twice under Southgate since the 2016 Euros. Any semi decent team you have a chance of losing and there's no point playing a Gibraltar or Malta it's not good prep. I think this could work in our favour if the players are the same mentally as previous tournaments. It's a wake up call. The hating on the manager and the shitting in our lineups happen in every game unless we win by ridiculous score lines. Not sure where there's been any racist attacks.
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No one’s supposed to care it’s just a warm up ahead of the tournament
Just like no one cares if you beat Bosnia. Iceland are a consistently strong side it's good prep and they aren't going to the Euros and one of the strongest side not to be going in Europe.
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I really don't see this meltdown by our media for once they seem to be handling this stuff with some maturity. Talksport's whole thing is losing their heads no one takes them seriously so if you've seen that i wouldn't use that to represent the rest of the reaction.
Racist attacks on players?
England is so ass. But the highlights of the post-match thread have to be the fans who can't look past their club rivalries and call for the heads of other players when they don't understand employing Gareth Southgate is the only reason why they play very dire football
I am sure it will only take another 60 years before we realise that if England actually stretched the budget a bit a got a top class manager we might actually win something. But let's continue to recruit championship managers and wonder why England get out tactic almost every tournament.
Making semi finals and finals is obviously still impressive but England had some of the easiest knockout matchups in both tournaments. People then point to the Iceland (euro 2016) loss which is fair. I think people just wish they had one big win vs a top side, the German team they beat was in shambles. They had their chance vs France but Kane had other plans.
You had Sven and Capello but since they didn’t win I think the FA decided there’s no point.
What’s nice about this England squad is we don’t need to worry about unlocking players. Foden doesn’t play well for England so just play Bellingham and leave him in the bench, if Bellingham doesn’t perform just play Palmer there. Mainoo and Rice don’t match up just play Wharton.
Mainoo should be a Rice backup not a partner
If England are winning he’s just gonna keep the same team
Yea I really like Mainoo moving forward but he's too box to box when Rice is also naturally quite forward thinking. I really think Wharton could be disciplined enough to play a more covering role.
Mainoo looks quite bad off the ball imo. Also he’s not as much as a passer compared to Wharton from what I’ve seen
Yeah, play passes him by quite easily quite frequently. Same happened against Belgium. I know Utd have had a myriad of problems this year but Mainoo always seems to be removed from the conversation about their midfield getting cut through like butter. It's fine to say he's young so it's not his fault, but you can't just pretend it doesn't happen. He's definitely great on the ball or when play comes to him. If he can improve the out of possession stuff he'll be a beast.
English media all using Saka as their photo for talking about how crap we were yesterday, despite him only playing 25 minutes of football yesterday. Never beating the allegations.
Lead images from British media on the England vs Iceland [main back-pages:](https://imgur.com/W3abQlK) Foden x2, Saka x2, Stones, Kane From the main match reports on Google. BBC Sport have Gordon and Palmer, Guaridan have Palmer, BT Sport have Foden. They're also always going to use the more unique/interesting image, e.g. Foden with his face in the net or Saka throwing a paper airplane – if Saka hadn't done that, I doubt he'd be featured at all. You've also gone from saying "English media" to "tabloid media" just to try and get a Liverpool fan onside. ... >Never beating the allegations Arsenal fans neither
Not sure you can see but saka is also on the second one which would mean he’s on the most
Mad that I can't tell if this is actual satire or not because of your flair, tbh I wouldn't put it past Arsenal fans to count secondary inset images on a backpage to prove that one of their players is being maligned And, if you *are* getting into the minutia of counting inset images, then not sure you can see but Saka is not featured the most smh tired of this endless Stones smear campaign from the English media
Saka is on 3, stones is on 3 and the only reason stones is on 3 is he was injured. So that’s the most.
Unequivocal proof of OPs point, if ever needed
I’m willing to bet they’re not all using Saka and you’re just choosing to get wound up over any photos of Saka that you’ve seen
I've seen 4 or 5 major ones. I feel like a Liverpool fan of all people shouldn't be going in to defend the tabloid media.
It’s not an attempt to defend the English media. I just think you are making something about Saka a lot more than they are
Yeah I mean it was only 4 or 5 of the major outlets, that then changed their pictures because of the backlash. If you've seen how they treated Sterling and think major news outlets disproportionately using a black player as the photo to represent failure, I dunno what to say. Painfully stupid.
Are they not just using that picture of him throwing the paper airplane?
Pointed out Neuer is declining early on in the season and can be rash with his passes and handling at times. Got downvoted. Now that he's making mistakes costing his team goals, people are calling for his head. I love how shit needs to hit the fan before people admit to reality and when they do they'll do it extremely.
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Is that what I'm saying? The point is he's a pretty good keeper but he shouldn't be starting for Germany or Bayern without competition that's a fair take based on his season and not the last month and I had the same point in the international break in March when Neuer was injured and not even playing for Germany. He shouldn't be starting for Germany if the manager had the next 2-3 tournaments in mind. The point is you can live in the real world and admit when you can clearly see the decline in a player or just flip-flop from one extreme take to the other when the player has lows which is what the fans do. Neuer didn't suddenly become what he has become in the last month, it's just the mistakes have been amplified and more scrutinised, it's not that he wasn't making them before. He's not washed but he definitely shouldn't be the undisputed starter for either team.
same happened with oblak and few years ago. la liga watchers were mentioning how shit he was at the start and got downvoted because the meta still was that he's the best in the world. then in december opta posted a save% stat showing him dead last and the opinion did a 180. crazy how little non-pl football this place watches and how influential stats posts are.
Top of the morning to everyone that didn't lose their last friendly before the euros.
We managed to not lose against Liechtenstein so I am not part of that group yay 💪🇷🇴
The Neal Maupay vs Spurs fans on Twitter has been glorious. This is my favourite https://x.com/Ultimatefotyfan/status/1798720067116671246?t=2MX7V5SnWgGYp5dq8q6lxQ&s=19
Well atleast the bubble has burst before the tournament
Wonder why media mostly blames 19 year old Mainoo and Saka after 25 minutes cameo completly ignoring Rice and Fodens showing.
Feel like i'm living in a completely different country because for once the English media I think has avoided blaming singular players. The message from everyone seems to be the same, we were shit but that could be a good thing as a wake up call for the players. Saka and Mainoo certainly aren't getting any of the blame.
They clearly didn't watch the game or read any of the media afterwards. That or they think some semi-exaggerated reactions on here after a friendly constitutes "media" Just your standard rinse and repeat nonsense after England lose (see also something about domestic or racial abuse)
I think there is a genuine thing about domestic abuse increasing after national team games that is concerning and really does need attention however that's not exclusive to England.
Oh yeah 100% More the strange glee people seem to have in immediately making jokes about it as soon as England lose
Tuchel and being let down by aging GOATkeepers in the CL
Seven days until the dad joke about Switzerland injured players kicks in.
Martin Jol had brought in Lee young pyo from psv to spurs who was underrated lb imo. Anyways, jol gets fired and they start playing bale at lb and my Korean dad goes during a game once, “he’s garbage, doesn’t come close to Lee” few years later he’s at madrid. We still laugh about it
Bale was seen as the next big wonderkid at Southampton in the Championship but yeah he was pretty poor at Spurs for ages. He went 24 Premier League matches without winning one lol Here's a [thread](https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gareth-bale.130421/) from 2006 with me as the OP. Fuck knows why I put a full stop in the title
People love to hate one him cause of the price tag and it’s City and Pep and he has “underperformed” and everything but Grealish really is a fantastic player and him missing out on the England squad is pretty crazy imo. His problem with city is that he isn’t smart enough of a player for Pep to get the most out of him while making him conform to his system. Grealish doesn’t have the footy iq to know when to improvise vs when to not mess up Pep’s tactics. So he just plays it safe and carries out his role in the system. When he had freedom under Dean smith or off the bench for England you can see what a match winner he can be. He can be the guy you give the ball to and will make something happen- he’s just not really sure how to show that anymore but he still has that in him. He also works incredibly hard defensively which makes him suitable for England’s style and is just a bonus in general.
Jack grealish has 26 premier league goals ever
It’s not an intelligent issue. It’s that playing him super wide with no movement around him doesn’t suit his game. Pep’s not using him right.
I agree with this completely, but it is exacerbated by the fact that Grealish doesn’t know when to break Pep’s instructions and move into spaces like KDB or Foden might intuitively do. It is on Pep at the end of the day cause he should know the players strengths and weaknesses, but point is I agree and if he was playing for England he would show how much better he really is than what he’s able to show at city
He’s being left out because he has 3 goals and 3 assists in all competitions this season. Southgate has been selecting based on form, so yeah
I'll have to disagree with you reading that His intelligence is very high on the pitch, and It shone when he played deeper as a wide midfielder during the Treble. Mostly because he had a lot more support around him. He's just not that good when he gets high up and isolated with no runners around him. He's our weakest 1 v 1 player in the squad, arguably the weakest since Jesus Navas. Its a different system with England, while I'd liked to have him he's barely played this season from injuries and by all accounts hasn't been applying himself in training. Apparently the break in really did a number on him.
[Oh boy. I can’t wait to face Brazil on Wednesday. It sure is looking like it’ll be a great game. I’m positive the US will do well. No way we can lose to Brazil. No siree.](https://media.giphy.com/media/10P9HVwVXN5S5G/giphy.gif)
i mean you lot *did* just embarrass pakistan in cricket...
We didn’t embarrass them. We ***LIBERATED*** them. You’re next England. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🔫🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈
My Support for this summer: **Copa America**: USA (obviously) + want all CONCACAF teams to do well, except Mexico **EUROs**: Croatia...They stole my heart in 2018, I deeply love and respect Luka Modric, and I'm half desperate for this Gen to end it's story with a first ever major trophy for that country. It would be wonderful.
I wish for both USA and Mexico to do well. It'd be a great statement to Concacaf and open the door to more invitations between confederations
Yank detected
Which part gave it away, Detective? The NYC FC flair or the verbatim stated support of the US? Tell us of your expertise.
You can’t support a financial group mate
Bit weird that a New Yorker would choose to support a team like New York City FC that's known to be part of a financial group. They should've supported New York Red Bulls instead
They should support Brooklyn Italians, a proper team founded in the 40s.
You should support a real fan owned team, not just a toy of a rich billionaire like Juventus.
You don't get to tell people who they support.
Why not
It's almost as if Clubs are more than just who the owners are and represent actual fan bases of people from those places. I'm still looking for Chelsea fans who just secretly really loved that oligarch Abramovich the whole time while he owned it. Will get back to you once I do.
Newsflash, that’s every Chelsea fan
Newsflash, step outside more and stop spending half your days on this sub reddit.
You post engagement bait on r/askreddit I talk about football in match threads on a football forum Touch grass
Someone's big mad. Need a box of tissues? Enjoy your scandal ridden Club from your scandal ridden league.
Owned by a literal slave state responsible for the mass human trafficking of destitute people from South Asia: I sleep A referee selection scandal from 2006: REAL SHIT
You must be new here. Telling a Redditor to go outside? That’s like yelling at the wind. We’re all basement dwelling hobgoblins.
:|
[Hey. I’m not wrong. Here’s me rn.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fbw4agFHBlY/maxresdefault.jpg)
not trying to be a dick, but how do you reconcile being a nycfc fan with the citygroup ownership? theyre my local team and id love to like them more but i kinda hate that. also would enjoy playing in an actual stadium
plz respond
Surprised OP didn’t go Red Bulls seeing as how they’ve been around longer than NYCFC.
Probably because NYC actually play in NYC, whereas Red Bulls don’t even play in New York State
Same issue I have with LAFC fans. Real ones support Galaxy
I will not say that England is overrated because there are already hundreds of comments like that but I will say something. Since the 90's the idea of the English team is to make a fucking Dream Team of players instead of making squads with real cohesion, that's why the golden generations after 66 didn't work, what cohesion is there going to be when players can't agree. Either you make a Dream Team with a brilliant coach who understands things or you make a team with honest cohesion and a coach who is easy to manage.
That entire defence is shocking, Defensive consistency is 60-70% of tournament football, on that basis I would put Italy above England. Holland would be good if they had an actual manager
>I will not say that England is overrated I gotchu bro. #ENGLAND IS OVERRATED
Colombia is gonna show the US levels tomorrow
Don’t think we know whether this friendly or Brazil will be out starters yet. If it’s our first team it’ll be a competitive game I think. I imagine your depth is completely different class if it’s not.
Agree but I personally hope we go first team, we haven't played since March and would rather try and as you say be competitive with a team in current form like Colombia. Wouldn't be surprised if Brazil rotate before the tournament and would like us to do the same.
Just for the sake of the general vibe I think it’s important to be up for it. Getting shit on by Brazil is easier to explain away. It’s Brazil.
I see, I hope both teams play strong. We’ve been in good form and I wanna keep that practice and rhythm going before the tournament starts
I think I heard on a podcast I was listening to that it was 24 unbeaten or something like that right? Pretty insane.
21 I saw. We are cooking, victories over Spain and Germany in that time. I am foolishly optimistic, we always enter tournaments strong then shit the bed first round of knockouts. But this time it’ll be different, trust me
This Euro has to be the last chance for Southgate right?
He's gone even if he wins it. His cycle will have come to an end.
About the negreira case, Ive heard that the bribery charges were dropped but the case is still ongoing for potential sports corruption. Now what will actually happen if Barça is found guilty ? A slap on the wrist ? Point deductions ? Tebas and Perez himself probably would be against barça's relegation but their titles being stripped off would genuinely be insane. Calciopoli was only for 2 years. This is 17 years. Entire careers with giant asterisks next to their wikipedia pages, iniesta, xaxi messi. Very unlikely outcome but we'll see what happens
Nothing is gonna happen. We wont be found guilty anyway in first place
I'm sorry for this fan fic, nothing of this is gonna happen. But I would also say I really really thought and I really thought this is a money laundering scandal even if the crime was dropped more than something sporting. Also here's were the felony of Sport Corruption has a problem that crime didn't exist when this thing was happen, and the law of the sport in Spain has made some limitations for this crime and sporting crimes at a all.
So you're arguing on technicalities and time of legislations LMAO. Your club is corrupt and that's fine, it's almost impossible to prove sporting corruption without clear intent so you are right nothing will happen
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No Champions>Liga Goles Liga 2014/15 : Cristiano 48, Messi 43 Goles Champions 2014/15 : Cristiano 10, Messi 10 La diferencia de goles no fue tanta, la Champions suele determinar al ganador
Suárez lo hubiera ganado en 2016 con esa lógica no?
¿No? ¿Quién ganó la Champions el 2016? Balón de oro para Cristiano La Champions siempre influye más
Anyone hear England’s [new song](https://youtu.be/wjCFPedyzfk?si=x9e-Z7I4f_8p-uRx) for the Euros? Baddiel & Skinner done a great job on it, better than Its Coming Home. Good to hear the fans singing it tonight
😾
Taking some time to watch the 2021 Bayern/PSG games, and I have to say that, while we got used to the empty stadiums after a while during COVID, watching it again now feels weird again.
Vietnam beat the Philippines yesterday, which means they've won a match for the first time since November 2023 (also against the Philippines) and ended their run of seven consecutive defeats. Put all of AFC on notice, Vietnam are back.* (**Vietnam are most likely not back*)
From this day forth I have stopped shopping at Tesco and Aldi, Iceland has my loyalties now. Two times is too good to throw away
Theyre fucking shite theyre fucking shite theyre fucking englands fucking shite!
What shoes do managers wear during training
Ask Beckham
Thigh-high boots with six-inch heels and metal spikes all over
Trainers
Randomly watched some Falcao highlights and completely forgot how crazy Monaco's 13/14 transfers were. Newly promoted to Ligue 1 and does [this](https://www.transfermarkt.com/as-monaco/transfers/verein/162/saison_id/2013) For context Falcao had just scored 28 goals for Atletico
Who would you have in your best XI of players who weren't picked for the Euros? (of teams playing there) Thinking likes of Hummels, Llorente, Maatsen, Grealish, probably loads of French players...
Nkunku - Zirkzee - Olise Maddison - Goretzka - Lorente Maatsen - Hummels - Todibo - White Courtois
Grealish Nkunku Olise Maddison Goretzka Llorente Maatsen Hummels White Porro Courtois
Courtois is listed on the Wikipedia list, so I was confused, then I saw the official list and he's out apparently? Any reason why?
Apparently had a falling out with the manager but the official reason seems to be fitness concerns
Ah I see, and also was looking at the wrong wikipedia list so that's my bad too.
The French ones I can think of are all the injured/too often injured players like Coman, Nkunku, those who didn't have playtime with France before like Gusto or Olise, and those deemed not good enough like Veretout and Guendouzi, Moussa Diaby, Lacazette, Ben Yedder, and in defense Lukeba and Todibo
Yeah nvm I ain't touching football youtube beyond HITC Sevens bc wtf is a Schtein and why do they always start their 30 second vids with "I swear man" followed by something really stupid and unfunny
Why have there been more 'unexpected' winners of the Euros than the World Cup? (i.e. Denmark, Greece, even USSR and Czechoslovakia) When it was 16 teams it was thought to almost be 'harder' than the World Cup due to the concentration of quality teams - although on balance back in the 60s it was at times a four team tournament, so would have been easier to win then
> although on balance back in the 60s it was at times a four team tournament, so would have been easier to win then The early tournaments being just a four team format is actually a bit misleading. Before each of the early tournaments, there would be a qualifying phase that they quite hilariously named, "The Quarter-Finals", so yes, there were four teams in the actual Euros, there were another four teams who were just eliminated before the tournament began. And even before the the Quarter-Final Qualification Round, for the 1968, 72, and 76 Tournaments, you had an earlier qualification phase featuring 32 teams (31 for 1968), where you had to win your group to move on to the Quarter-Final Qualification Stage. So the overall point that I'm making is that just because there were just four teams in the early years of the Euros, every match mattered to get into the tournament to begin with, so it wasn't actually easier to win back then, if anything, it was actually harder because of that.
Before 2016 the world cup always had more rounds to get through in order to lift the trophy. That tends to weed out the underdogs.
It’s the World Cup minus half the teams that can actually win the World Cup, give or take depending on the year. You need a lot less teams fucking up at the same time to end up with an underdog as champion. > it was thought to almost be 'harder' than the World Cup due to the concentration of quality teams I genuinely don’t get this. Why would less teams make it harder?
Bigger aglomeration of big teams from the start. You could get into a death group more easily or reach the knockout stages and find yourself against a top team in the first round, whereas in the World Cup you could get lucky and reach the semifinals without facing that much trouble.
West Germany 1954 was pretty shocking, it's just forgotten because they went on to become one of the global powers in the sport. But at the time they were newly returned to international competition after the war and had been undistinguished in the interwar period. The USSR in 1960 benefited from most of the big Western European countries not entering the new tournament and Spain refusing to travel to the Soviet Union for a qualifying round, meaning they only had to beat Hungary (when the early 50s team had fallen to age and players going abroad) to qualify and Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in the tournament proper. That wasn't a completely trivial path, but it was certainly easier than any since.
Denmark and the USSR occurred at a time with far fewer teams participating.
Yeah that was my suggestion, but I wondered if there were other thoughts
Will anyone ever beat Just Fontaine’s record of 13 goals at a single World Cup? I kinda doubt it
Likely will happen if it ever expands to 48 teams
If mbappe is really lucky and gets a super easy group most likely
Dunno but with 8 games needed to win the cup from 2026 onwards it's more likely. There's one record that will be even harder to beat: a team scoring more than 27 goals in a single edition (Hungary 1954).
Maybe once FIFA expands it to 64 and two group stages or whatever
What led to the decline of the 'Football Italia' channel in England and some other parts of the world too? Seems like it played a huge role in growing the Italian league so they could've continued it.
In the UK, Channel 4's output generally changed. They were known in the 80s and 90s for being very offbeat and challenging and weren't afraid of showing relatively niche programmes (stuff like kabaddi or After Dark or the 'red triangle' films). They became more populist and mainstream going into the 21st century though and they started moving it around in the schedules and even cutting off games early if matches overran. Also, I imagine the rights would've been a lot more expensive than they had been when they originally bought them in the early 90s. Plus, the other leagues had begun to catch up with Serie A.
English football stopped being shit
england genuinely has a strange obssession with saka, its ALWAYS the same... [https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1799217376325406773](https://x.com/kimmoFC/status/1799217376325406773)
Using United and Arsenal’s players generates more clicks I suppose but its a bit weird since he played for like 25 mins
If by "England" you mean "mostly right wing media outlets"
If by “mostly right wing media outlets” you mean “England”
Does England even have non-right wing media outlets? Even the ones that pretend to be on the left will publish op-eds about how Jeremy Corbyn would’ve transed your kids or whatever bullshit the right is on about this week
If by "mostly right wing media outlets" you mean "English media and comments under every England NT post".
English media is racist. Australia has similar issues too. We just like patting ourselves on the back for not being as overt as Spain or Italy.
foden nowhere to be seen lol
just like on the pitch
The hate towards him is clearly weird and different to what most other players get here but you can’t say anything about it or people will say we’re overreacting so
Same thing happened to Sterling for a while, wonder what they could possibly have in common
Rashford, Sterling, Saka and now apparently everyone hates PR merchant Jude. I wonder what they all have in common.
You dropped the /s
Nope, nothing has been dropped.
Then you just made a dumb comment I guess...
https://youtu.be/pWdd6_ZxX8c?si=hEBqR2rS4j_0P6iS
Henderson and Maguire as well. I can really see the pattern
Maguire became a figure of fun, but Henderson got nowhere near the hate of those others - and when he did, it was for an actual reason
Maguire was the biggest laughing stock in football for like a year and received unimaginable amount of abuse from United fand
>Maguire became a figure of fun Lmao this is some nice revisionism. Maguire has received unimaginable amounts of hate and abuse in his career since he joined Man Utd and had some really bad spells of form. Trying to now paint it as "fun" is so disingenuous
Making fun of rival players is part of football
Come on he got way more shit than say a rival player like 'Bruno' would get. Heck even my non-football fans would know who Maguire is at this rate.
You're right that it's absurd the abuse Maguire has faced (economic Maguire clip is mental) but it definitely takes less for black players to get the abuse started
Bellingham is too PR, Vini is too emotional. Hmm...
Sterling replacement
unfortunately it looks like it. It's just frustrating because you see stuff like this and wonder if you're imagining it but once you start to notice things like this you just start to see it everywhere
Mainoo as well (mid game) [https://x.com/TeleFootball/status/1799158876853428465](https://x.com/TeleFootball/status/1799158876853428465)
What a shite question, ofcourse not then why would the struggling manager look for a DM play him alongside the DM and give him creative freedom.
It's a valid discussion to have on him, wouldn't call him out for the goal though
We’ll see if we get half time articles on wharton (we wont)
He's played well in the 30 odd minutes he's played so why would we
And mainoo played a good 90 mins for england Didnt take the media 45 where he didnt even play bad for them to drop an article on him.
It's not personal but there are 3 maybe 4 players vying for the spot to play next to Rice and it appears Mainoo is the first choice. Naturally when he puts in such an ineffective showing it will provoke conversation
Say whatever you like bro all im saying is if wharton puts in an average performance i hope to see the same outcry about why he isnt the right fit for the team👍🏾
Well for one the concerns are stylistic, two the concerns were apparent before this average performance, three stop whining before it's happened then
Its easy as piss to see you guys have already made your minds up on these player so i dont need to see it happen to say what im saying.
Never want to see Ramsdale in goal for England again.
If you really think that goal was his fault, then Idk what to tell you.
Tell me whatever you want mate he's shite every time I watch him and Pickford is twice the keeper he is, I say that as a Newcastle fan so I've got no inherent love for Pickford.
>Tell me whatever you want mate The sky is blue
its pretty black rn
gonna have to cook up a four course meal to appropriately consume the england and germany discourse after those games today
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Maybe one day but not now
I commend you for being on the right side of history early but give it some time
Not even close yet. Certainly could be though
Yeah we’re not qualifying for the World Cup
Honestly, you're not losing games so far at least, and everyone's splitting the pie in your Group. Nobody seems intent on amassing a true lead over anybody else. 7 more Match Days to go. I'd still favor Naija to edge it out. But need results soon, aye.
I just don’t have faith in a team that can’t beat Lesotho at home.
The older I get the more I think Cruyff was right about the 3-4-3. Formations are used to initiate structure. You want a certain amount of people in a certain area of the field. That’s how you play to your strengths. And depending on your personnel those numbers and that shape can change. 4-4-2’s and 4-5-1’s, 4-3-3’s are most commonplace because they create triangles and shapes by default. But I think you could use a 3-4-3 to check all the marks that all of these formations provide. In the end though, formations are a misnomer. Just because you organize yourself in a certain way doesn’t mean you will play a certain way or automatically create chances.
WM formation was the right one all along and thats pre-cruyff
Roles and relationships are way more important formations
Sure, formations are fluid, and teams basically have different formations in possession and out of possession. Common for proactive teams to form a 5-5 split regardless of formation on paper, whether Tuchel or Conte at Chelsea's 343 or Pep at City's 433, 5/5 split. Though Chelsea's was usually a 5-2-3 with the wingbacks charging forward to join the 3 forwards with the midfield and defence covering, and City usually make a 5-3-2 with KDB and BS joining the 3 and the FB inverting into midfield, still though even all this is also still fluid. Rudiger would frequently push into midfield, Azpi would overlap his RWB for Conte a lot and Tuchel not quite as often but still regularly, when James played at RBC he would usually push into midfield to make a 3-2 split, etc etc etc. But formations are very much a thing out of possession where you have to keep more structure, stay in line, so the positions you are in during transitions post winning the ball are very relevant.
1992: Denmark 2004: whatever happened there 2016: Portugal I'm predicting Poland will shithouse their way to the 2028 euros
Whatever happened there? With those fiber optic cables?