European Championships Quarter-Final: England ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ vs Switzerland ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ

I must admit I spent almost the entire match yelling forwards at the screen as England worked out the many variations of contriving to get the ball back to Pickford in as many ways as possible. Quite why nobody recieving the ball in midfield is prepared to turn and look up the field is baffling. Its hard to score when your in your own half. We have a good defence we must start taking risks up the field to open up defences we have an abundance of players who have the talent to do that. Come on Gareth handbrake off!!
 
Easy. I love OUFC. I couldnโ€™t give a s**t about the national team.

OUFC lose, and it ruins my weekend,
England lose, I just laugh and change the channel.
How come you get so annoyed then about Southgate and how poorly this England team have played in this tournament?

I tend to not bother watching any England games unless we are in a tournament as they usually bore me senseless. It has been dull watching us so far but it is still exciting the further we go and Iโ€™d be buzzing if we went on to win the Euros. If not though, I probably wonโ€™t be wasting any energy by getting angry about it.

Like you I am club over country.
 
How come you get so annoyed then about Southgate and how poorly this England team have played in this tournament?

I tend to not bother watching any England games unless we are in a tournament as they usually bore me senseless. It has been dull watching us so far but it is still exciting the further we go and Iโ€™d be buzzing if we went on to win the Euros. If not though, I probably wonโ€™t be wasting any energy by getting angry about it.

Like you I am club over country.
I'm not annoyed in the slightest, just acknowledging how bad England are under Southgate, as is pretty much every other English football fan.

I also only watch tournament games, and always hope we do well, but I genuinely couldn't care less if we don't.
 
How come you get so annoyed then about Southgate and how poorly this England team have played in this tournament?

I tend to not bother watching any England games unless we are in a tournament as they usually bore me senseless. It has been dull watching us so far but it is still exciting the further we go and Iโ€™d be buzzing if we went on to win the Euros. If not though, I probably wonโ€™t be wasting any energy by getting angry about it.

Like you I am club over country.

But that's the thing - because we're all club over country, it is more important that international football is entertaining and interesting, because we don't have quite the same emotional attachment. It doesn't have to bore you senseless; it doesn't have to be dull watching.
We've got the leading scorer in the Bundesliga, the La Liga player of the season who was the 3rd top scorer in the league from midfield, 22 goal Cole Palmer, 19 goal Phil Foden and 16 goal Bukayo Saka. We could play super-entertaining, edge-of-your-seats, total football with this squad. But we don't, because Southgate.

International football doesn't have to be tedious - there's been half a dozen truly cracking matches this tournament alone (Croatia-Albania, Netherlands-Austria, Turkey-Austria, most of the games in Group F). Germany were mostly fun to watch, the Dutch have been mostly fun to watch, Spain have been mostly fun to watch, England have been an absolute chore to sit through.

So he has to win the tournament. If he does - fine, means to an end, he gets to be a hero.
But if we lose.....to anyone, anyhow.....then he's just the prat that ruined Euro 2024 for everyone by wasting potentially the most exciting attacking team we've had in decades.
 
But that's the thing - because we're all club over country, it is more important that international football is entertaining and interesting, because we don't have quite the same emotional attachment. It doesn't have to bore you senseless; it doesn't have to be dull watching.
We've got the leading scorer in the Bundesliga, the La Liga player of the season who was the 3rd top scorer in the league from midfield, 22 goal Cole Palmer, 19 goal Phil Foden and 16 goal Bukayo Saka. We could play super-entertaining, edge-of-your-seats, total football with this squad. But we don't, because Southgate.

International football doesn't have to be tedious - there's been half a dozen truly cracking matches this tournament alone (Croatia-Albania, Netherlands-Austria, Turkey-Austria, most of the games in Group F). Germany were mostly fun to watch, the Dutch have been mostly fun to watch, Spain have been mostly fun to watch, England have been an absolute chore to sit through.

So he has to win the tournament. If he does - fine, means to an end, he gets to be a hero.
But if we lose.....to anyone, anyhow.....then he's just the prat that ruined Euro 2024 for everyone by wasting potentially the most exciting attacking team we've had in decades.
I agree that Southgate hasnโ€™t made the most out of the players he has at his disposal and I think he will be gone regardless whether we win the euros or not as it is clear we need a fresh approach.
If anything I think it was probably one tournament too far for him.

I just canโ€™t get overly angry or upset if we end up not winning it as for years, even before Southgate, England just arenโ€™t that good to watch and Iโ€™m not sure any manager in recent times has had the balls to really take the handbrake off and let the players have the freedom.
 
I just canโ€™t get overly angry or upset if we end up not winning it as for years, even before Southgate, England just arenโ€™t that good to watch and Iโ€™m not sure any manager in recent times has had the balls to really take the handbrake off and let the players have the freedom.

Oh, I agree. Most of the time in the past thirty years we've been dull, with just a couple of hints of excitement (vs. the Dutch under El Tel in 96, Munich and Euro 2004 under Sven).

Honestly, I think I get angrier because I love international football tournaments. I look forward to them every couple of years, and watch as much as work and family permits. But the games I care about the most are the ones that bring the whole thing down. The group stage in these Euros was absolutely great, apart from Group C which was paint-dryingly boring.

I'd probably be happier and less angry every second summer if England didn't qualify (very happy memories of both USA '94 and Euro 2008!)
 
What I have noticed is that hardly any shots from outside the box have actually been goals. Has anyone scored from a free kick from outside the area I canโ€™t remember any though I havenโ€™t watched all the matches.
 
Oh it is. It really is ๐Ÿ˜‚
Iโ€™ve been very underwhelmed with the whole tournament so far. Not a lot of skill anywhere with the exception of Spain. If Iโ€™d have paid thousands to head to wet Germany to follow my country Iโ€™d feel short-changed.

I know players and clubs whine about playing so many games but I wonder if most teams have been affected by fatigue, particularly those with players playing in European club tournaments.
 
Slightly off topic, but I just realised that at the next World Cup in 2 years it will have been as long since Three Lions was released, as it had been since 1966 when Three Lions was released. Jeez. How old am I?

Skinner, Baddiel and Ian Broudie are all in their sixties now as well.
If they get back together for a "Sixty years of hurt" version next time out, it will be a proper old man band........
 
Defending has been brilliant. I cannot recall another tournament where so many shots have been blocked.

Modern football, innit. The top teams have now mastered the art of the low block, meaning that there really isn't much space to fit a shot through (or a cross.....I've lost count of the number of times that a player has burst into the box this tournament, and there's just no passing lanes available).


What I have noticed is that hardly any shots from outside the box have actually been goals. Has anyone scored from a free kick from outside the area I canโ€™t remember any though I havenโ€™t watched all the matches.

I'm pretty sure that there have not been any direct free kicks scored so far in the tournament.
But in the first week, there were a dozen goals scored from outside the box - which was the same number as the entirety of Qatar 2022! They were pinging them in from everywhere (best was either Guler for Turkey, or Romania's first against Ukraine), and there were a ton of articles about how unusual it was (the % of goals from long range has dropped massively in the Premier League over the past decade).
 
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