Easy really. Can or will England beat Italy? Our mate Lawro, i miss his predictions, reckons 0-0 and England to win on pens... I'm not so sure though.
We would have been better off with Spain (no expectations) and maybe done a Chelsea. Now we have the 'easier' draw we are odds on to get beat...
This one's about 50:50 IMO. Our route to the trophy will, however, require us to get past (probably) Italy, Germany and Spain in successive matches and that, I'm afraid, is pretty unlikely.
Winning a large amount of cash from the first round matches mate. After watching everyone play their first matches, (no team actually stood out as possible winners.) so I took England to do the biz and win the whole shebang, at £300 of the bookies own money at 20/1.
Nice good luck with that. Jermain Defoe will link back up with the England squad on Friday after returning home to attend his father's funeral. Defoe's father passed away before the start of Euro 2012 and the 29-year-old said he had been touched by the support he had received. He travelled back to Poland before the opening group game against France, where he was introduced as a late substitute. The Football Association has now confirmed that Defoe has returned to England for his father's funeral, but he will reunite with his England team-mates ahead of the weekend. Defoe will then be able complete preparations for Sunday's quarter-final with Italy in Kiev.
I find this one hard to call if I'm honest but I'll tell you one thing. The mass **** in that the national press had on Tuesday morning over the very overrated Rooney almost had me wretching. They couldn't have fawned over him any more had they gave him a multiple rimming. 1-1, we go out on pens. We've seen it before. Que Sera.
Hopefully Woy will go with Carole up front with Rooney in the hole. If the totally useless official behind the goal actually get their fingers out I think the Italians dragging on Carole in the penna area could reap huge benefits. Just as an aside what the **** is the thinking of putting this extra official on the same side as the linesman? Surely he would be better served on the opposite side! ****ing numpties.
Depends on the team Roy picks. The Italians are slow and speed kills. Walcott and Young wide for me. Cole and Johnson overlapping with Carroll and Rooney up front .......................Hart..................... Johnson...terry....lescott.....Cole Walcott..gerrard..parker..young ..............Carroll...Rooney........... Have a feeling he'll go more defensive tho with Rooney up top alone with Milner on the right
Young has been a huge disappointment for me every game. What is the point of him being our left winger when he is never on the left wing!!!! HE only looks interested in the game when the ball is near him. Against the Italians his blatant diving could be a huge liability and have the ref not giving us legitimate free kicks. Saying that he is still ten times better than Downing.
Probably the most evenly matched teams of the tournament so far. We are very very similar in our style of play and ability. The key thing is just to stop Pirlo. If we can do that we'll stand a good chance. He won't go chasing the game, just not his style. But give him time and he'll murder you. He ran all three of their group games from the centre of the pitch. Like us they are very much underrated and they have a lovely balance to their squad. They have any amount of experience but some good youngsters and guys at their peak. It'll be a tough one but we can beat them if we keep up the good work. The key is sticking to the principles we have built our success at this tournament on. ignore all the calls from numpties to open out our play. Stick to what we're good at, which is keeping our shape and playing intelligent counter attack football. Personally I've thoroughly enjoyed watching us so far, its tactically fascinating. Unfortunately we have a whole load of Sun reading supporters who think attack is the only part of a game that the fans should enjoy.
Everybody has their own ideas on how to play. Leave it to Roy, good fortune, and at least 7 players on top of their game on the night. Portugal outplayed Chezcs tonight, but it took an "old fashion" move of somebody running onto a cross into the danger zone to bring the goal.
