Internationals March (Euro Qualifiers)

KeanoMagicHat

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Rodri is some bitter cnut. He said the same thing when Morocco beat them in the World Cup. Be better then with your million stale passes, get fecked.
 

simonhch

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It's France's to lose realistically. Croatia never do that well in the euros for some reason compared to World cups.
France will be the team to beat. But I think England are comfortably the second best team in Europe right now. A Rashford, Kane, Saka front three will be the best forward line, on paper, at the tournament. The rest of the team is pretty functional, if not spectacular. The full backs in Shaw and James are top class. The CB pairing in Maguire and Stones isn’t the best but it has a lot of familiarity and has functioned very well for England over the last 3 years. Rice is an excellent holding player, if not from the very top drawer. I’d be worried about the rest of the midfield if it weren’t for the emergence of Bellingham, who has elevated it to another level.

Right now, Henderson is the best choice for the other position, but he’s showing his age and come the euros, not sure he’ll still have the legs. Not sure who takes that spot. Mount is a shout, but I think we look much better with a proper 8 in there and let Bellingham play as an attacking box to box. I am not sure who that will be. Getting that right will be key. Phillips doesn’t play enough, but is probably the leading choice. What I wouldn’t give for a reincarnated Scholes, or even a regen Lampard for that role. I’d make England favourites at that point. Especially considering the depth that can be brought to bear with the likes of Foden, Mount, Grealish, Maddison, and even Sancho if he can get it together.

There’s still Elliot, Smith-Rowe, Madueke, Jones, Colwill, Gibbs-White, and Skipp who could all grow a lot between now and summer 2024.
 

FootballHQ

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France will be the team to beat. But I think England are comfortably the second best team in Europe right now. A Rashford, Kane, Saka front three will be the best forward line, on paper, at the tournament. The rest of the team is pretty functional, if not spectacular. The full backs in Shaw and James are top class. The CB pairing in Maguire and Stones isn’t the best but it has a lot of familiarity and has functioned very well for England over the last 3 years. Rice is an excellent holding player, if not from the very top drawer. I’d be worried about the rest of the midfield if it weren’t for the emergence of Bellingham, who has elevated it to another level.

Right now, Henderson is the best choice for the other position, but he’s showing his age and come the euros, not sure he’ll still have the legs. Not sure who takes that spot. Mount is a shout, but I think we look much better with a proper 8 in there and let Bellingham play as an attacking box to box. I am not sure who that will be. Getting that right will be key. Phillips doesn’t play enough, but is probably the leading choice. What I wouldn’t give for a reincarnated Scholes, or even a regen Lampard for that role. I’d make England favourites at that point. Especially considering the depth that can be brought to bear with the likes of Foden, Mount, Grealish, Maddison, and even Sancho if he can get it together.

There’s still Elliot, Smith-Rowe, Madueke, Jones, Colwill, Gibbs-White, and Skipp who could all grow a lot between now and summer 2024.
Yes England need to be making the final whatever the draw and Southgate knows it (it will be his last Tournament regardless). I actually think Portugal in terms of squad profile should be a serious contender but they were looking very good at World cup and then Morocco did a fantastic job nullifying them so always the feeling they might run into a similar opponent in euros.

Quite interesting so many of the heavyweights look so average currently but so much can change in 12 months and of course with home advantage Germany will probably get their act together and make SF.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Was at the Scotland game tonight. Lost my voice but worth it in the end! Absolutely brilliant, pass marks to every single one of them!

Just watched the highlights on the journey back to Edinburgh and Rodri complaining about our gamesmanship & so-called conning the ref by wasting time and rolling around is comical! :lol: The Spaniards are literally the architects of this and do it better than anyone else. It’s the equivalent of Klopp complaining about VAR decisions that go against Liverpool.
 

TheGame

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Was at the Scotland game tonight. Lost my voice but worth it in the end! Absolutely brilliant, pass marks to every single one of them!

Just watched the highlights on the journey back to Edinburgh and Rodri complaining about our gamesmanship & so-called conning the ref by wasting time and rolling around is comical! :lol: The Spaniards are literally the architects of this and do it better than anyone else. It’s the equivalent of Klopp complaining about VAR decisions that go against Liverpool.
Those kind of teams always moan and never like it when it happens to them and then conveniently forget when they do it. Scotland battered them yesterday and they should have scored more.
 

Vault Dweller

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Holy shit. What a result. It would have been nice to play a Norway team without Haaland but 6 points from those two games is absolutely fantastic. We will probably get pumped by Georgia next time out.
Unbelievable mate and gives us a real chance. Unfortunately I too am still scarred by the defeat in Georgia in 2015...still haunts me!

Also, get fecked Rodri you big baby.

"We did many good things to win," he said on Viaplay. "We conceded easy goals - this is football, if you concede easy goals you are penalised.

"It's the way they play, but for me it's rubbish, always wasting time, provoking you, always they fall. For me, this is not football. The referee has to take on this, but he says nothing.

"We will learn for the next time. We want to go for duels, for battles - we always fight, but this is not about fighting. It's about wasting time - four, five players on the floor, but this depends on the referee, not on us.

"Today we did many good things, but what's important is the goal, and we didn't score."
:lol: self awareness is severely lacking! The Spanish were pathetic for it last night, diving about and surrounding the referee.
 

Real Name

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Also, get fecked Rodri you big baby.

"We did many good things to win," he said on Viaplay. "We conceded easy goals - this is football, if you concede easy goals you are penalised.

"It's the way they play, but for me it's rubbish, always wasting time, provoking you, always they fall. For me, this is not football. The referee has to take on this, but he says nothing.

"We will learn for the next time. We want to go for duels, for battles - we always fight, but this is not about fighting. It's about wasting time - four, five players on the floor, but this depends on the referee, not on us.

"Today we did many good things, but what's important is the goal, and we didn't score."
Irony is lost on the guy. :lol:
 

christinaa

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Refereeing in the Scotland vs Spain game was really bad.

For sure Robertson should have been sent off.
 

SilentWitness

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Unbelievable mate and gives us a real chance. Unfortunately I too am still scarred by the defeat in Georgia in 2015...still haunts me!
I notice that it is at home though and Clarke does seem to have brought back the Hampden vibes to the side. Our away record really needs improvement though.
 

Vault Dweller

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I notice that it is at home though and Clarke does seem to have brought back the Hampden vibes to the side. Our away record really needs improvement though.
Yeah I really fancy us against most teams at home these days it's incredible really. Away record slightly better but yeah it needs improvement. Just think if we can get to 10 points after 4 games...
 

Andycoleno9

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What is up with Norway? Good team with 2 world class players. And still i have a feeling that even if 4 of 5 team go through, they would manage to finish 5th.
@Samid . What is the problem with you guys?
 

SilentWitness

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What is up with Norway? Good team with 2 world class players. And still i have a feeling that even if 4 of 5 team go through, they would manage to finish 5th.
Haaland wasn't playing this international break.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Those kind of teams always moan and never like it when it happens to them and then conveniently forget when they do it. Scotland battered them yesterday and they should have scored more.
Agree with everything you said there. The guy played under Simeone who we all know how his Atletico Madrid team love to play. Guy is just a bad, sour loser.

At no point yesterday at all did I feel we were gonna concede and neither did anyone around me, Hampden was just bouncing (although it needs a massive rebuild/redevelopment similar to the one required at OT). Spain had more possession than us as you’d expect but I’ve said in the past when watching Spain play - they really are a very boring team to watch. Passing the ball around but hardly creating any chances to score. I think they created less chances than we did despite them having 68% possession. Sums them up.
 

PSV

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What is up with Norway? Good team with 2 world class players. And still i have a feeling that even if 4 of 5 team go through, they would manage to finish 5th.
It's been ages since we've had a good enough defense. They always manage to choke.

If you look at the team that played against Georgia there's two benchies, an out of season and a starter as well as a backup goalie.