Well it was Arshavin who really established himself at Euro 2008, judging by how fancied the Russians are by some on here he will have to refind that type of form that deserted him at the end of his Arsenal career. As mentioned, though lets just hope its entertaining, unlike the World Cup which started terribly. The Dutch were fantastic to watch in the group stages of Euro 2008, but were knocked out by a well organised and talented Russia under the guidance of Hiddink.
I would love England to do well but it does look a poor team. I hope John Terry has a stinker and shows the manager and the rest of the world why he should never pull on an England shirt again.
If England go out and play thinking that they are a good team then it will be one defeat and two draws. If Hodgson realises that they are limited and gets them to play like Chelsea v Barca then we have some kind of chance. We have to play on the counter and be solid at the back. Remember, Greece and Denmark both won the Euros with average teams that were tough to beat.
Out in the semi's. Amid all the national panic I think people are forgetting that in the grand scale of things England are actually pretty good. Think we'll edge the group on goal difference, we'll draw with France, Roy won't underestimate Sweden because he practically established Scandinvian football, and Ukraine are in awful form and are due 3 thrashings even if they are hosts. England would then probably meet Ireland, Croatia or a shambolic Italy in the quarters. I would expect England to get through that then lose to whoever they meet in the semi's.
I'm struggling. Really struggling. I don't seem to be able to find the name Scotland (or Wales or Northern Ireland for that matter) in the listings for this Championship. Maybe - instead of harping on about independence - they should really be bigging up the idea of a GB team and then they might even get the chance to play and support
Yeah but we know there won't be any Jocks in the team as they're not good enough so what's the point of a GB team Unless otherwise I imagine though that there be political pressure to pick from all four nations even if they're pony as it'll effectively be England under another name otherwise so what's the point otherwise!
I'm from Norn Iron and I'd rather Eire did better than England (not easy for an Orangeman to say) - nothing against the English, it's the bloody hysteria in the papers and TV that gets on my wick. (Admittedly, so far, it's been calm) As for a GB team it wouldn't be the same. As has been said we'd probably get one player in the squad every 20 years or so.
Its nice there ins't a **** feast of expectation for once in the media Perhaps most people now accept that were **** as its taken long enough!
That's the thing though, we're not ****! We've underperformed while still regularly reaching the later stages of competitions. Expectation needs to fall somewhere between what it has been in the past and what it is now, we have every right to be hopeful of winning every tournament we enter, but we can never expect.
As someone else pointed out, appointing Roy has meant most England fans have lowered their expectations. No doubt about it and agree with his ability or not, if they had appointed Harry the majority of the country would have assumed the cup was Englands to bring home.
I really don't think your right, compare England's team to say Germany's and pretty much every position they are better, even our better positions, they are better. Then look at even say France who are **** and they are still better in pretty much every position other than maybe 2 or 3. Even the ****ty teams look on a par
No they don't look good, they look better than us. There is a huge difference, I really cannot see them putting a dent into anyone else who are serious contenders for the competition
We deserve a place in the world top 10. In this competition I'd say we fall below Spain, Germany and Holland, equal with France (who have a better first choice 11 but no strength in depth) and above Italy and Portugal.
No we don't Simon simply because yes we have the players but we've had the players going into every world cup and euro that I can remember in my lifetime but the simple fact is despite having some of the best players in the world they can never do it consistently enough to win a major championship. The problem is that our players look great in the Prem alongside their foreign world class team mates but lack the basics when it comes to the crunch in the three lions shirt
