Euro 2012 Match Discussion Thread

[Irish Scouse]

Watching 9 men behind the ball was pretty boring, think France deserved to win.

Nasri was pretty good.

 

[Jak]

Oh yeah ref was *****

 

[Shiraz]

They basicly can't play the ball out of their defence, and are to deep and to slow to counter attack effectively. France has complete control over midfield.

France dominated the game and the possession but had 4 shots from inside the box compared to England's 4 from inside the box as well. For all their possession and midfield dominance, France did not create any clear-cut chances and had no one central in the box to receive the ball and score or at least push the England CB's back.

 

[craig curtis]

Was good result imo solid at the back thought welbeck did well up front by himself, the ox will only get better with games thought ref was poor! I would go with same team in next match as someone said on another post.

 

[puckinfissed]

Ref had a poor game, kept ignoring fouls on England and then giving the same type of fouls to France.. The 2 bookings England got was right but France and in particular Cabaye should have had a yellow during the first half.

Anyway a decent performance, France didn't have one clear chance and we're restricted to shots from range.. Same for England, other than the Milner open goal chance we didn't have any after that (except the goal)..

Solid performance at the back, poor in the final third, had too many men behind the ball, can't wait till Rooney is back, our best player by far.. Would like to see Walcott and Chamberlain on the wings, even though Walcott has gotten a lot of stick this season, his stats speak for itself, and his pace will always cause any team problems.

1-1 draw is a fair result, and I would have taken this beforehand.

 

[Tyton]

Decent performance by England vs. superior side. Better then i expected really. Particularily very focused on the defense with good positioning and coordination between back 4 and midfield. Ribbery was mostly neutralised, for all the fuss he made with his dribbling, most of it was unproductive and basically farting in the wind.

Had some chances as well, if Rooney could play it might have been different.

Good game by Ox. 4 years and he will be freaking scary.

Lloris kind of blew it with Lescott's goal. World class GK should gather 40 meter cross like that. I guess he's not as flawless as in FM 2012!

 

[puckinfissed]

They basicly can't play the ball out of their defence, and are to deep and to slow to counter attack effectively. France has complete control over midfield.

As you would expect, their midfield is a lot better than ours, especially going forward, and then they have players on the bench like Martin Marvin, Ben Arfa and Menez.. Without Forgetting Diarra who I would say was man of the match. Plus they have M'Villa coming back next game.

England play their game, we don't have the technical ability that France process, they dominated the midfield but didnt create one chance.. England is a more defensive counter attacking side and that's exactly how we played

 

[dasty]

Absolutely terrible to watch. Can't believe there are people here that are actually praising England's approach. No incentive to attack at all, and doesn't even look to keep the ball. Defensively sound but contributed close to nothing in the attacking department. Maybe you guys are watching the game as an England fan that's why you thought the performance was good. As a neutral, that was atrocious.

The same goes to France. They might have a lot more possession but they are poor with it. Moves the ball around so slowly and had all their attacks nullified by England. All their chances came from long shots. Very disappointing game to watch after a few good ones in the past few days.

 

[Shiraz]

I thought that England played well but I must admit that if they face Italy or Croatia in the quarters, the same approach will not work, I do not think. France had no central static player in the box to get on the end of crosses or through balls but other teams will.

 

[Quasit]

Absolutely terrible to watch. Can't believe there are people here that are actually praising England's approach. No incentive to attack at all, and doesn't even look to keep the ball. Defensively sound but contributed close to nothing in the attacking department. Maybe you guys are watching the game as an England fan that's why you thought the performance was good. As a neutral, that was atrocious.

The same goes to France. They might have a lot more possession but they are poor with it. Moves the ball around so slowly and had all their attacks nullified by England. All their chances came from long shots. Very disappointing game to watch after a few good ones in the past few days.

Yeap. Cant fault the french fan I saw sleeping in stands. Most boring game so far.

 

[sunilvk7]

Benzema should have stayed in the box rather than drop deep as French players had noone to pass the ball in the box. Poor performance from him.

 

[Little_Alexander]

I think France were clever, fouling us every time we were on the counter which meant we struggled countering but then again if the ref is letting you make those cynical challenges why not? The french were also pressuring into decisions like the Bayern Munich side when Alex Ferguson complained about the ref. I think he was very poor.

 

[Tyton]

Absolutely terrible to watch. Can't believe there are people here that are actually praising England's approach. No incentive to attack at all, and doesn't even look to keep the ball. Defensively sound but contributed close to nothing in the attacking department. Maybe you guys are watching the game as an England fan that's why you thought the performance was good. As a neutral, that was atrocious.

The same goes to France. They might have a lot more possession but they are poor with it. Moves the ball around so slowly and had all their attacks nullified by England. All their chances came from long shots. Very disappointing game to watch after a few good ones in the past few days.

I see what you mean, its wasn't the best game to watch. But to be fair, cautious football of this sort is not so unusual for first round of group stages. Its rest of the tournament that has been exceptionally entertaining so far. For last 20 years i don't recall watching national tournament with so many great games from the very beginning.

 

[insanity]

Over rated France vs poor England... I guess this is why I fell asleep 10 mins in the 2nd half.

 

[Jak]

Over rated France vs poor England... I guess this is why I fell asleep 10 mins in the 2nd half.

...
that was you on the big screen?!

 

[Aannddyy]

Happy with a point, more than I expected, and it keeps me top of the predictions league.... For now. ) :

Over rated France vs poor England... I guess this is why I fell asleep 10 mins in the 2nd half.

I agree that France are over-rated, they have an incredible front-three, no doubt about it, but the rest of their team are just not good enough. Weakest France team I've ever seen, tbh. Better than England, though.

England weren't poor, they did exactly what they were told to do, you could say they were boring, which, at times they were, but to call them poor is harsh. We got a point from a superior side, you should be happy (assuming you are English).

 

[slbenficacoach]

I think Frenchies vs Britos was not a very good game, in terms of quality, France had the edge and England sought some good counters, Frenchies controlled most of the game but didn't create chances in number enough to claim they could be winners so I think all in all it's really a fair result.

 

[Mike.]

Happy with a point, more than I expected, and it keeps me top of the predictions league.... For now. ) :



I agree that France are over-rated, they have an incredible front-three, no doubt about it, but the rest of their team are just not good enough. Weakest France team I've ever seen, tbh. Better than England, though.

England weren't poor, they did exactly what they were told to do, you could say they were boring, which, at times they were, but to call them poor is harsh. We got a point from a superior side, you should be happy (assuming you are English).

He isnt English, he is Italian but with remarkably big chip on his shoulder about England, whether its the national side or club teams from England, judging by his posts.

England played to game plan against a better side. Both sides were still below what they are capable of, in terms of how they went about their game plans. Surprised that France didnt go with Martin over Malouda.

 

[Mike.]

Having now watched the full highlights of the Spain Italy game, Spain shot themselves in the foot and fell right into Italy's tactical game plan. Too much horizontal passing, and no focal point, even without an actual striker you still need a focal point.

 

[insanity]

He isnt English, he is Italian but with remarkably big chip on his shoulder about England, whether its the national side or club teams from England, judging by his posts.

England played to game plan against a better side. Both sides were still below what they are capable of, in terms of how they went about their game plans. Surprised that France didnt go with Martin over Malouda.

О.о I am Bulgarian with Turkish roots, but I often live in Spain as my parents live there. It's just I grow up with Italian football and I dislike how the over rated Premiership shifted the Calcio over the top league, just because of the modern marketing, but not football tools. I got nothing against England, just saying that the team is poor, actually very poor and can finish at the bottom of the group (depends how much Ibra will be involved in the game between Sweden and England).

About the game I think England were lucky to score which made France and particularly Benzema nervous. And now lets be honest the game, as long as I watched it, was boring. Spain and Italy's game went on similar scenario but was not boring at all.