Euro 2012

[H. Pedersen]

It's a Catch-22. England don't have the players to play like Spain so they revert to kick and rush. This filters down to the youth teams, making it harder to produce a Xavi.

Hodgson's job isn't to make high-minded changes to the system right now; his job is to get results at this tournament. When you try to play Barcelona football with mediocre players, you get Sammy Lee or Owen Coyle results.

[bristolwanderer]

Greece looking fired up for this one

[Annoyed Grunt]

All Poland in this one....means they'll probably lose.

[TANGODANCER]

Kinell. When it rains over there...

[bristolwanderer]

1-0 Greece

[CrazyHorse]

Was expecting that the Czech-Poland game would really heat up with them both needing a win. But alas no.

[Annoyed Grunt]

Poland go out.

[Annoyed Grunt]

As do Russia.

[CrazyHorse]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be. How did Russia not qualify after that start? Greece bottom this morning and they're through.
Brilliant.

[seanworth]

Pretty surprised to see Russia bow out. The next three days might get interesting.

[BL3]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

[jaffka]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

I quite enjoy a spectacle that takes four years to come round to be extended

[TANGODANCER]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

Aye, it'll be grand to be going up against Sicily, Andorra and Outer Mongolia.

[jaffka]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

Aye, it'll be grand to be going up against Sicily, Andorra and Outer Mongolia.

Geography not your stong point tango

[TANGODANCER]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

Aye, it'll be grand to be going up against Sicily, Andorra and Outer Mongolia.

Geography not your stong point tango

Well, it was just a random joke, but Russia have been trying for long enough to get Mongolia away from China..You never know..although the Mongols want neither.

[jaffka]

What a thrilling group this has turned out to be.

Fear not. UEFA will put a stop to all that 'thrilling group' nonsense when they expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams next time.

Aye, it'll be grand to be going up against Sicily, Andorra and Outer Mongolia.

Geography not your stong point tango

Well, it was just a random joke, but Russia have been trying for long enough to get Mongolia away from China..You never know..although the Mongols want neither.

...and Sicily get independence from Italy and Andorra get aload of Spanish and French players ala Jack Charlton...

[BWFC_Insane]

No doubt Spain will win it, unless Germany can stop them.

But personally I don't want England trying to emulate Spain. It's pointless. Im willing to bet that Spain will never be able to emulate this side they've got now.

Do you ever think before posting?

So we just try and copy the style of whichever side happens to be winning stuff at the time?

No we try and win it, but with a style that suits our players and where they play.

More than one way to skin a cat. You have to play with the cards you are dealt.

Good thinking. It's been really successful over the last 46 years. Style? Style? what is this style, and when is it going to make English football even competitive?

Remind me how Greece won the Euros? Was that by playing like Spain do now? Or what about the successful Italian teams who prioritised defence and structure over free flowing football. And then there is the Germans of the past who have won tournaments.....

We haven't produced the quality of players required to win tournaments. But when or if we ever do, it doesn't need to be Spain's style, just good enough to win games in whatever way.

The premiership is unlikely to suddenly morph into La Liga and henceforth it's unlikely we are going to change the tempo or nature of our game, and thus the style at national level will be dictated by what the players do every week at their clubs. Clubs that win champions leagues I will add.

What we need is better players, irrespective of style.

If we had better players and were effective with a big lump of a target on up front then great. That's more likely than a sudden change to emulate something that Spain have achieved, in one spell, when they failed consistently for the previous 30 years......

I don't think it's how you play, but how good you are at what you do.

English football needs its own identity with the best players possible. Not trying a fruitless mission to try the impossible and change the whole nature of English club football.

[William the White]

No doubt Spain will win it, unless Germany can stop them.

But personally I don't want England trying to emulate Spain. It's pointless. Im willing to bet that Spain will never be able to emulate this side they've got now.

Do you ever think before posting?

So we just try and copy the style of whichever side happens to be winning stuff at the time?

No we try and win it, but with a style that suits our players and where they play.

More than one way to skin a cat. You have to play with the cards you are dealt.

Good thinking. It's been really successful over the last 46 years. Style? Style? what is this style, and when is it going to make English football even competitive?

Remind me how Greece won the Euros? Was that by playing like Spain do now? Or what about the successful Italian teams who prioritised defence and structure over free flowing football. And then there is the Germans of the past who have won tournaments.....

We haven't produced the quality of players required to win tournaments. But when or if we ever do, it doesn't need to be Spain's style, just good enough to win games in whatever way.

The premiership is unlikely to suddenly morph into La Liga and henceforth it's unlikely we are going to change the tempo or nature of our game, and thus the style at national level will be dictated by what the players do every week at their clubs. Clubs that win champions leagues I will add.

What we need is better players, irrespective of style.

If we had better players and were effective with a big lump of a target on up front then great. That's more likely than a sudden change to emulate something that Spain have achieved, in one spell, when they failed consistently for the previous 30 years......

I don't think it's how you play, but how good you are at what you do.

English football needs its own identity with the best players possible. Not trying a fruitless mission to try the impossible and change the whole nature of English club football.

Good, one-word, summary of the English experience of almost 50 years... How is it to be changed? By the miracle of a new 'golden generation' - oh, yeah, there was the last one that contributed more to our collective self-delusion than the trophy cabinet...

If the answer is Greece of 2002. I'm sorry I asked the question...

[BWFC_Insane]

Do you ever think before posting?

So we just try and copy the style of whichever side happens to be winning stuff at the time?

No we try and win it, but with a style that suits our players and where they play.

More than one way to skin a cat. You have to play with the cards you are dealt.

Good thinking. It's been really successful over the last 46 years. Style? Style? what is this style, and when is it going to make English football even competitive?

Remind me how Greece won the Euros? Was that by playing like Spain do now? Or what about the successful Italian teams who prioritised defence and structure over free flowing football. And then there is the Germans of the past who have won tournaments.....

We haven't produced the quality of players required to win tournaments. But when or if we ever do, it doesn't need to be Spain's style, just good enough to win games in whatever way.

The premiership is unlikely to suddenly morph into La Liga and henceforth it's unlikely we are going to change the tempo or nature of our game, and thus the style at national level will be dictated by what the players do every week at their clubs. Clubs that win champions leagues I will add.

What we need is better players, irrespective of style.

If we had better players and were effective with a big lump of a target on up front then great. That's more likely than a sudden change to emulate something that Spain have achieved, in one spell, when they failed consistently for the previous 30 years......

I don't think it's how you play, but how good you are at what you do.

English football needs its own identity with the best players possible. Not trying a fruitless mission to try the impossible and change the whole nature of English club football.

Good, one-word, summary of the English experience of almost 50 years... How is it to be changed? By the miracle of a new 'golden generation' - oh, yeah, there was the last one that contributed more to our collective self-delusion than the trophy cabinet...

If the answer is Greece of 2002. I'm sorry I asked the question...

Surely every single countries success is down to producing a 'golden generation' at one point or another? Either that or Spain will continue to win every tournament to infinity and beyond.

What grand plan have Spain put into place? Cos perhaps someone should tell Hodgson the magic formula to create Xavi and Iniesta.

[Lord Kangana]

Any student of football history will tell you that its no coincidence that a possession/positional rotation system predominates at Barcelona, which Spain have grafted onto their national side.

Perhaps if you spend a few minutes thinking about that, and what other parallels there are between Barcelona and say, for example, a Dutch side winning three European Cups in a row whilst forming the predominant core of an equally powerful national side, you might start to reach some enlightement.

Who knows, you might even start to think theres a correlation between the number and quality of coaches a nation has and the quality of players it produces.

Of course, you'll probably just think its a complete coincidence that we're the International basket case of Europe and have been for decades.