I just don't think we're good enough up front, or out wide. The defence played very well, but we did play negatively. Arguably we did this to defeat Spain as if you play football against Spain you are going to get crucified.

 

Jagielka is England's best centre half imo. Him and Lescott played very well together. Terry is far too slow. England can't play a high line or else we get beat. We just lack quality players imo. It was good to see us play without Rooney. We have a good set of players wanting to break through into the side/squad though.

I agree with most of what's been said - we need some more quality up front but swap Wilshere/a rejuvenated Gerrard for Jones and you've the makings of a very solid team with a number of (albeit patchy) attacking options. If we play with that mindset against the big teams in the Poland + Ukraine and manage not to slip up against the smaller ones then we shouldn't have much trouble making it out of the group stages and the semis are very much possible with the right draw.

Hart; Walker Cahill Terry Baines; Jones Rodwell Barry; Walcott Downing; Zamora

Portugal, Croatia, Ireland and Czech Republic get the last Euro 2012 spots.

EURO POTS

 

 

1 - Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Holland

2 - Italy, Germany, England, Russia

3 - Croatia, Greece, Sweden, Portugal

4 - France, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland

 

I wonder if they'll be a group of debt this year instead of the inevitable group of death lol.

 

 

 

EURO POTS

1 - Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Holland

2 - Italy, Germany, England, Russia

3 - Croatia, Greece, Sweden, Portugal

4 - France, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland

 

I wonder if they'll be a group of debt this year instead of the inevitable group of death lol.

 

:lol:

 

Best case scenario (maybe):

 

Poland

England

Greece

Denmark

 

 

Worst case scenario:

 

Spain

England

Portugal

France

 

mmm.

Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and Czech Republic have been into every Euro since the euro has 16 teams (1996).

 

In fact, Netherlands haven been into every Euro since 1988 and (united) Germany and France since 1992.

 

Ukraine is the only Euro debutant and Ireland returns after a 24 year drought.

 

12 nations qualified for 2012 were also in 2008. Austria, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey are replaced by England, Ireland, Denmark and Ukraine.

 

13 nations qualified for 2012 were also in 2004. Switzerland, Bulgaria and Latvia are replaced by Poland, Ukraine and Ireland.

 

 

 

 

:lol:

 

Best case scenario (maybe):

 

Poland

England

Greece

Denmark

Worst case scenario:

 

Spain

England

Portugal

France

 

mmm.

 

I'd pretty much agree with that, although I'd definitely take Czech Republic over Denmark. They're nowhere near as good as they once were, they were seen as the seeded team everyone wanted to get and it's a surprise they qualified with such ease to be honest.

 

I stopped watching England a long time ago... who cares anymore? A bunch of overpaid morons whose ego are bigger than their ability. I for one will be rooting for them to be knocked out as quick as possible.

Would have liked to have seen more of Sturridge last night. I'd rather he was given more of a chance compared to the likes of Zamora, who is 30 and likely to only be around for one tournament at the most

 

Stand outs for me vs. Sweden were Downing, Walker and Rodwell

I stopped watching England a long time ago... who cares anymore? A bunch of overpaid morons whose ego are bigger than their ability. I for one will be rooting for them to be knocked out as quick as possible.

 

Knocked out by a country whose players are foreign stars in the Premier League (and therefore according to the EDL are ruining this country's culture), by any chance?

This looks like the strongest Euro line-up in ages, actually.

I'm not a huge England fan, but for the first time in a long time it looks like players are being picked on performances, not merit. I have to add though, I thought Kyle Walker getting Man of the Match was a bit of a farce. Downing, Jones and Rodwell were better than him. All he did was run faster than the Swedish players. Wilhelmson gave him a few problems when he came on. He's great attacking wise, but very suspect at defending imo.

 

It's going to be very interesting to see who is picked in the squad, cos there's a lot of players in the U21 squad who will believe they have a very good chance of going aswell.

 

I really want England to not get Ireland in their group. Would be a bloody disaster cos the Irish would be so up for it.

I thought Kyle Walker getting Man of the Match was a bit of a farce. Downing, Jones and Rodwell were better than him. All he did was run faster than the Swedish players. Wilhelmson gave him a few problems when he came on. He's great attacking wise, but very suspect at defending imo.

I thought it was funny how the commentators were praising Downing for the majority of the match saying he was the player offering the most attacking threat.. and then they give the Man of the Match to Walker. Probably more down to it being his first start rather than the actual performance

 

Kind of reminded me of Ray Wilkins giving Gerrard the Man of the Match award vs. United because "he was back from injury"

Yeah I want to avoid Ireland more than Spain and Holland to be honest, they're the one team I don't want in a group.

 

The squad is going to be very interesting, there's now so much competition which we've not seen for a very long time. You even look back just 18 months to the world cup and how many of those players have no chance of going now, James, Carragher, King, Upson, Heskey and Wright-Phillips have no chance at all, and I'd be very surprised if we see Warnock or Joe Cole in an England shirt again.

 

I'd say these are the only definites: Hart, Terry, A. Cole, Parker, Gerrard, Young, Walcott

 

It then wouldn't surprise me if the rest of the squad looked something like this: Green, Carson, Walker, G. Johnson, Baines, Jones, Lescott, Jagielka, Lampard, Milner, Downing, Wilshere, Welbeck, Rooney, Bent, Carroll

 

That would mean Cahill, Richards, Dawson, Ferdinand, Smalling, Gibbs, Rodwell, Barry, Carrick, Henderson, Cleverly, Lennon, A. Johnson, Agbonlahor, Zamora, Sturridge, Crouch and Defoe would have no place. That's insane depth.

Looking at the squad that went to the World Cup:

 

GK: Green James Hart

DF: Terry Upson Carragher King Warnock Dawson Johnson Cole

MF: Gerrard Lampard Lennon Cole Barry Milner Wright-Phillips Carrick

FW: Rooney Crouch Heskey Defoe

 

At the most, I think that'll only be 9/23 of the players that'll go the Euro's. Quite a big turnaround

Don't forget there's Martin Kelly aswell. He's not played for the England side, but Capello really rates him. I guess it depends how much he plays for Liverpool, but he's been in fine form the U21s. Could be competition with Walker.

 

I'd imagine the squad will be something like this: Hart, Carson, Stockdale; Terry, A.Cole, G.Johnson, Richards, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Lescott, Jones; Lampard, Gerrard, Parker, Milner, Downing, Rodwell, Walcott; Rooney, Bent, Carroll, Welbeck

 

We do have an insane amount of depth. I'd even be tempted not to take Rooney. Although I'm sure Capello will.

Yeah I want to avoid Ireland more than Spain and Holland to be honest, they're the one team I don't want in a group.

 

The squad is going to be very interesting, there's now so much competition which we've not seen for a very long time. You even look back just 18 months to the world cup and how many of those players have no chance of going now, James, Carragher, King, Upson, Heskey and Wright-Phillips have no chance at all, and I'd be very surprised if we see Warnock or Joe Cole in an England shirt again.

 

I'd say these are the only definites: Hart, Terry, A. Cole, Parker, Gerrard, Young, Walcott

 

It then wouldn't surprise me if the rest of the squad looked something like this: Green, Carson, Walker, G. Johnson, Baines, Jones, Lescott, Jagielka, Lampard, Milner, Downing, Wilshere, Welbeck, Rooney, Bent, Carroll

 

That would mean Cahill, Richards, Dawson, Ferdinand, Smalling, Gibbs, Rodwell, Barry, Carrick, Henderson, Cleverly, Lennon, A. Johnson, Agbonlahor, Zamora, Sturridge, Crouch and Defoe would have no place. That's insane depth.

 

We have a stupid amount of decent players, it's the first tournament where it'd be obvious to someone who knew nothing about the past that we've a large population base and a highly competitive league where our own players are a relative minority compared to other domestic leagues.

I was going to mention Kelly but the only chance he has is if he keeps Johnson out at Liverpool for most of the season, and even then I think Capello is more likely to go with Richards and Walker then, or just one and cover right back with Jones or Smalling.

We have a stupid amount of decent players, it's the first tournament where it'd be obvious to someone who knew nothing about the past that we've a large population base and a highly competitive league where our own players are a relative minority compared to other domestic leagues.

 

England's success at the moment imo is the fact we don't have many superstars. Previously when we had Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, J.Cole, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand, Terry etc. if anyone dropped any of them, regardless of the form they were in, they would have crucified by the media. In 2006 we were expected to go very far in the World Cup because we had one of the best teams on paper. Then there was the uproar when Beckham was dropped from the squad.

 

I think the 2010 World Cup was a real eye opener to not only the media, but also the general public that England weren't very good and things had to change.