Everyone I actually spoke to was like " Oh, no, England again" and then were still crying about Leroy Sane and his totally misguided pass to Kevin Volland in the stoppage time which could've brought us the win and #1 spot in the group and a match against our friends from Switzerland again. On the other hand, we were the most time of the match already out of the tournament, which would've meant an unprecedented 2nd time in a row fail in a tournament. So we should be thankful I think to get at least another game in the knockout stage. Haven't yet read any news about it but I don't think it will be much positives here to say. Too erratic performance again. Bad match against France, Very good one against Portugal followed by a very bad one against Hungary. It's like a "surprise bag" these times, the German Team. You don't know what you get if you open it. Maybe we'll see now again a good performance, who knows?
That's my worry is it Germany who beat Portugal or struggled to get past Hungary. You have scored 6 and conceded 5 so we are going to get chances and we will of course give you some chances. Midfield worries me, we need to be quicker on the ball and gap behind midfielders to defence needs to be smaller. Absolutely no way i can take a penalty shoot out - feel sick thinking about it.
Predictions time! Wales vs Denmark- Despite only finishing on three points i have been impressed with the Danes overall. I believe they had the second most shots out of anyone in the group stage and they will be busting a gut to go deep for Eriksen. This is a close match and a moment of magic from the likes of Bale could swing it in Wales' favour. However i think Denmark edge it.- Wales 1-2 Denmark AET Italy vs Austria- Italy have been the best team in the tournament so far for me. They play like a club side which i can't say for any other nation so far. Austria looked better against the Ukraine when they went for a more positive approach, but here i expect them to go back into a defensive shell and Italy will have too much quality going forward for that to work.- Italy 2-0 Austria Netherlands vs Czech Republic- The Netherlands were quite impressive in the group stages, scoring more than any other team. I still don't know how good they are though and the Czech's seemed solid in their matches. I do think though the individual quality of Holland will come through in the end. Netherlands 1-0 Czech Republic Belgium vs Portugal- Probably the best match in the round. Belgium look formidable with De Bruyne and Lukaku on the pitch but i have my concerns with their defence. Hopefully Portugal do not opt for a too defensive approach in midfield because they look far better on the ball with Sanches in there. With Danilo and William they will be too passive and find themselves lacking in the attacking areas without the link from midfield. It will be tight, but i am going to back De Bruyne and Lukaku to find a way past a stubborn Portuguese side. Belgium 2-1 Portugal Spain vs Croatia- Despite scoring 5 against Slovakia, Spain have struggled when it comes to taking their chances. I think the slower pace of their play will benefit Croatia and the midfield battle will be interesting. However Croatia are at the end of their cycle and whilst it will be a close affair i expect Spain to edge it. Spain 1-0 Croatia France vs Switzerland- I think this is the easiest call of the round. France have not been that impressive so far but Switzerland are just last 16 fodder to me. I don't think it will be a thrashing but i think it will be a comfortable France win. France 2-0 Switzerland England vs Germany- Genuinely don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand i think playing Germany could favour England, but on the other i don't trust Southgate. Germany will boss the midfield and they can offer a great attacking threat, but they seem vulnerable defensively and i think England can get behind them. But i don't trust England to go up the gears, so i think we are heading for the dreaded penalties against the Germans and from there it is a crapshoot. Do i be positive or negative..... I will go positive- England 1-1 Germany- England win on penalties Sweden vs Ukraine- I think the Ukraine can play better than they have shown thus far but Sweden just seem like a steady tournament side. I think they will keep it tight and squeeze a win.- Sweden 1-0 Ukraine
I'm sorry but we've got to beat Germany, we've been through far too much shit as England fans. Jack Grealish to come on with 5 minutes to go, bag a winner and tell Southgate to **** off.
yes, and one of the 5 conceded goals, too. Brings me to another "fun fact": I've heard that in the previous 15 Euros since 1960 there were only 9 own goals and in this Euro 2020 alone there are already 7 (or is it already 8?) OG's. My "favourite" own goal was yesterday in the Spain vs Slovakia match. Slapstick. Their Goalkeeper looked like a (shit) Volleyballer who tried to smash the ball over the net but failed miserably. Same here. Couldn't bear it to lose against you guys in penalty shootout. That would be another massive blow for us. I'd rather prefer to lose it in regular time then Our defence is so vulnerable and Hummels is so slow. I fear the worst against fast attackers like Sterling and this new guy I saw in the last England match. Saka? And you didn't concede a goal in 3 matches. And Gnabry and Leroy Sane out of form actually (still hoping that the "knot bursts", though).
Always interesting to hear from the opposite point of view. Who were most German fans, or the media, wanting to face out of us and Belgium?
I fancy us tbh, we're up against the worst German team for two decades. Would much rather be facing them than Portugal or France
Belgium (edit: OK, I lied a bit here. Out of England and Belgium we'd rather wanting to face Switzerland . And it was possible in the last seconds of the match yesterday if only bloody Sane could play a decent pass to Volland. Would've made us #1 in the group and facing the Swiss boys. Damn you, Leroy!) The worst German team ever was at the Euro 2000 with 40 year old Lothar Matthäus had to come out of retirement, with the worst ever Bundestrainer we had, Erich Ribbeck. We couldn't even come out of the group stages, lost 2 (against England and Portugal. Didn't help England though as they didn't make it out of the group stages, either) and could only draw against Romania. That was the worst but this is now 21 years ago, more than 2 decades. (but I rate our team at the World Cup 2018 still worse than this one. At least we played a very good match this time against Portugal). Anyway, the group stages are over and now its the knockout stages. Everything can happen, even a win at Wembley. It's not that we never won there before
Nerd alert. England and Italy are the only sides to have not conceded so far. Pickford has made 4 saves this tournament while Donarumma has made 2 -- again, the lowest totals of all the GKs so far. Of the teams in the KOs, England are the lowest scorers (2 goals). Only Finland, Scotland and Turkey scored less goals than England in the group stages. The team's strengths are obviously not in defence, so it's an interesting stat. Admittedly, the attacks we've played so far have been pretty blunt.
we do need to improve, but so so they. This is not the German team of old. They’re a good, but certainly not a great team I definitely feel that this is a better match up for us than either Portugal or France. And it’s at home. We should be confident
It's written that he who has not been able to hit a barn door for months - Timo Werner - is going to get the winner isn't it. Reminiscent of when Helder Postiga scored for Portugal in 04 after a dire time at Spurs.
We've only won 2 out of 8 penalty shoot outs in tournament history & 2 of those we lost were to Germany who've only lost once in their penalty shoot out history . We should sit back with 5 at the back & counter attack with pace & thrash em in 90 mins rather than the penalties then again , it's the hope that kills you !
