Euro 2020 Group Stage Thread

Bazshuayi

I wonder, after his recent injury (and yes he seems like he is getting to that point where you expect him to get injured periodically with those ankles), whether its affected him since his return. Quality wise there's no doubt he's our best striker and is a great all round player too. Form wise though I'd guess Watkins is the striker (as DCL and Rashford were hardly flying at the end of the season). Perhaps its just a temporary blip for Kane as we could do with him being in half decent form by his own standards

yoyo

Kane IMO is our best striker bar none.
He drops too deep sometimes but thats to get others involved and spread the ball, because no-one else is doing it. To drop him after 1 game is Ridiculous. We don't know, he may not score, but everytime he runs he creates space and takes a defender with him. It can only be an anti Spuds opinion surely? Premier top scorer in a naff team. He got 7 more league goals more than Calvert-Lewin and 12 more than Rashford. If not Kane up front then who else?

alderz

ianbishoplegend said:

yoyo said:

I'd like to see Grealish but Kane must surely be a starter

Based in complete lack of form and Inability to get involved in a game?

If 33 goals and 17 assists in 49 games for a massively underperforming side this season means he's got a complete lack of form then I think he deserves to start, because my word that's some pretty successful lack of form.

OutcastLondoner

He shouldn’t be dropped - unless he has an ineffective game and DCL has an impact - but he might suffer from not having a Son to play off. Someone to go beyond when he drops. An in form Sterling could fit that role but his finishing has been bad this season (unless the last game was the turning point).

What DCL did really well this season was reign himself in and let others do the other work to make sure he was in place to finish. It didn’t look so good when Everton got worked out and he didn’t get any chances any more but it might make him more suited in some games.

ianbishoplegend

alderz said:

ianbishoplegend said:

yoyo said:

I'd like to see Grealish but Kane must surely be a starter

Based in complete lack of form and Inability to get involved in a game?

If 33 goals and 17 assists in 49 games for a massively underperforming side this season means he's got a complete lack of form then I think he deserves to start, because my word that's some pretty successful lack of form.

I’m talking about England form. I haven’t seen him have a decent game for years (including world up). With Mount playing there is absolutely no need for him to play so deep. Kane’s not someone I would rely on in big games like these. He will show up against Panama though

Pearces_Left_Foot

Is it me or is the BBC coverage so one side for all the home nations games . I find all the coverage of these games unbalanced and quite boring as they only talk about one side of the game with rose tinted glassed on

epsom_bubbles

Forza Italia

OldCastleSwift

Pearces_Left_Foot said:

Is it me or is the BBC coverage so one side for all the home nations games . I find all the coverage of these games unbalanced and quite boring as they only talk about one side of the game with rose tinted glassed on

The Scotland game the other day has really put me off. I didn't notice it so much with the England game (maybe a subconscious bias on my part), but the comms on the Scotland game was unbearable. Didn't watch the Wales game, but the post-match reaction has felt a bit over-the-top for a win against a team ranked 12 places lower than them in the FIFA rankings.

alderz

IMO they should have a neutral pundit and an opposition pundit too. Having Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor and Mark Hughes all in the studio, and Robbie Savage on co-comms was a bit of overkill yesterday.

I didn't notice it with the England game because I watched it in a pub and you don't really hear the pundits or comms at all, but I'd be very surprised if it wasn't also very one sided.

epsom_bubbles

I think it is the same in most countries. In Italy, the commentary is all Italy. Italy, Italy.

OldCastleSwift

alderz said:

IMO they should have a neutral pundit and an opposition pundit too. Having Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor and Mark Hughes all in the studio, and Robbie Savage on co-comms was a bit of overkill yesterday.

I didn't notice it with the England game because I watched it in a pub and you don't really hear the pundits or comms at all, but I'd be very surprised if it wasn't also very one sided.

Same with Scotland. McFadden on comms and three Scottish players (and a Scottish anchor) in the studio.

Can't remember who covered the England game, but, yes I expect if was an all ex-England player panel.

Yeoldhammer

It was all England when we played Croatia, i dont think Croatia got mentioned once other than "Modric didn't get on the ball much" and "Croatia didn't really have many clear cut chances"

It was all praise for Phillips / Sterling.

But to be honest i dont know what the expectation is. In club football the presenters (for the most part are neutrals, so discussion is more split, in national football everyone usually falls on one side) unless they draft in a Thierry Henry for a game against France etc.

Fortuneseeker

Yeold, I know it's been drilled into them by SAF but whenever Manchester United are on tv it's rare for Rio or Gary Neville to be impartial. Same for Carra and to some extent Joe C, when he talks about Chelsea, but give him his due he does remember that he started at West Ham unlike Mr Ferdinand!

OldCastleSwift

Yeoldhammer said:

It was all England when we played Croatia, i dont think Croatia got mentioned once other than "Modric didn't get on the ball much" and "Croatia didn't really have many clear cut chances"

It was all praise for Phillips / Sterling.

But to be honest i dont know what the expectation is. In club football the presenters (for the most part are neutrals, so discussion is more split, in national football everyone usually falls on one side) unless they draft in a Thierry Henry for a game against France etc.

BBC could have, for example, Cesc Fabregas, Alex Scott and Darren Fletcher covering a Scotland game. ITV could have Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and Rio covering an England game.

I guess for me neutrality isn't having four Welsh people covering a Wales game or four English people covering an England game. There are enough commentators and pundits out there to make it more neutral than it's been so far for the home nation games.

IronHerb

I rarely bother with the pre and post match waffle. Rarely insightful.

OutcastLondoner

I mean they’re rarely balanced and I think they don’t see it as something they have to do when they’re broadcasting to Britain and not internationally. In that context, I thought it was right to have an all Scottish team leading the show for the Scotland game (though maybe they could’ve thrown someone else in) including as presenter and lead comms. Though I’d never heard of half of them. Can’t always have English guys focused solely on England then not give that to Scotland or Wales.

Obviously ideally you have more balance, or at least a few people in to disrupt the conversation but I don’t know if that’s what everyone wants (until they watch it on Scotland and realise it annoys them with another team).

claretandbluesky

Just get Keane on for each match he is always unbiased, he hates all teams and most players equally.

IronHerb

And so insightful. (My word for the day 🤓)

ScotHammer

I find coverage of internationals generally is now very PC - must have Welsh for Wales games, Scots for Scotland games, etc. I think it partly comes from years of too many (?) “unrecognised” England pundits covering all the games. This is partly due to England qualifying for the majority of tournaments, whereas Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland haven’t, so perhaps understandable.
You will find that the press in ALL countries are very parochial when it comes to football.

OutcastLondoner

I assume it's the same broadcast shown in Scotland or Wales and in England. Bit weird to have a mostly English set up for those audiences, isn't it? You want people who care and know a bit about the team and players as well. Don't think that's anything to do with PC.

PrestonHammer

Word of the day toilet roll Ironherb?

IronHerb

Two words Preston. 😂

IronHerb

Keep going Yarmo. 🤑🤑

ASLEFshrugged

Yarmo scores another

Yeoldhammer

adding more to his sale value atta boy

IronHerb

Well he either comes back on fire or adds some value to his transfer fee. Win-Win.

IronHerb

Perhaps we should sign Yaremchuk to play alongside him.

OldCastleSwift

Goal and an assist. £30m player right there.

whupathman

rubbish pens in the game

ScotHammer

whupathman said:

rubbish pens in the game

……in the whole tournament I’d suggest!