Tonight's Football

[Worthy4England]

My take is, thst they extended the tourney, so teams like NI, Wales, Eire and Scotland might get a road trip. Despite needing to shade San Marino, only one of them made it.

No matter, anything around 3 out of 4 probably gets you through, and that was a step too far. Fvuk 'em. Bitter bastards.

[TANGODANCER]

My view is well done those who raised their games and did their best. We know what it's like to lose. Well done the minnows. I care naught for France, Spain, Italy, Portugal or Germany.

[Worthy4England]

Haggis pizza is a thing of beauty!

[Worthy4England]

Well taken goal to pull it back. Decent finish.

[TANGODANCER]

Thought Croatia a bit naieve for not parking he bus. There were more holes than Kyle Walkers football socks when Italy scored.. But hey, a great result anyway for the Croats. Pity it may be too late. Nine minutes e.t.?

[Worthy4England]

Thought Croatia a bit naieve for not parking he bus. There were more holes than Kyle Walkers football socks when Italy scored.. But hey, a great result anyway for the Croats. Pity it may be too late. Nine minutes e.t.?

Agree with that, with a slight twist mate, it felt like they could've retained posession better up the Italy end on more occasions in ET...

I thought 9 minutes was a bit of a mystery, alongside why wasn't there a minute left after Italy equalised...

[Hoboh]

Good game Italy v Croatia

[TANGODANCER]

I thought 9 minutes was a bit of a mystery, alongside why wasn't there a minute left after Italy equalised...

Possibly because one very relieved referee was glad a mass revolt was avoided by divine right happening. "Skin of ones teeth" er, possibly ?

[Mar]

I thought 9 minutes was a bit of a mystery, alongside why wasn't there a minute left after Italy equalised...

Possibly because one very relieved referee was glad a mass revolt was avoided by divine right happening. "Skin of ones teeth" er, possibly ?

Well, the group of death is wrapped up with Croatia finishing third on 2 points after once again throwing away a late goal.
Which means, that tonights game against Slovenia makes for interesting game management.

Should we end up battering Slovenia by a 4 goal margin (not likely given our current performances), we'd likely bring Croatia back into contention as they would leapfrog Slovenia in the current group rankings.

As it stands it seems a strong possibility that teams will be pursuing the idea of keeping Croatia out of the next round given they pose the most obvious threat to the tournament.



Similarly, calculating our own progression pathway would mean that we're likely to be aiming for 1st or 3rd, rather than facing Germany in the next round.

[Worthy4England]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

I get it, even if I don't agree with it. You want to be in the supposedly easier 'half' of the draw, or to get the supposedly 'easier' opponent in the next round, but it's a high-risk ploy.

Even so, England should be beating Slovenia. To finish third we would have to lose to them (while hoping Denmark beat Serbia). On top of the post-Denmark inquest, losing to Slovenia would do more harm than any good brought by attempting to gerrymander the fixtures; besides, the third-placed team in our group would have to face Portugal or the winners of Group E, which could be Belgium.

[Worthy4England]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

I get it, even if I don't agree with it. You want to be in the supposedly easier 'half' of the draw, or to get the supposedly 'easier' opponent in the next round, but it's a high-risk ploy.

Even so, England should be beating Slovenia. To finish third we would have to lose to them (while hoping Denmark beat Serbia). On top of the post-Denmark inquest, losing to Slovenia would do more harm than any good brought by attempting to gerrymander the fixtures; besides, the third-placed team in our group would have to face Portugal or the winners of Group E, which could be Belgium.

I got it, that far.

Just not what I'd think to be "much of a strategy"

[Mar]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

The nation isn't fussed whether we win playing the big boys or win playing the minnows.

Presumably it would be easier to play the weaker sides in the tournament, but given we said the same when we played Iceland in 2016, it may not play out that way.

As for aiming to finish third, that would be to avoid playing Germany, who are the hosts (historically refereeing decisions tend to favour the hosts) and also the most prolific team so far. Avoiding the best team in the tournament doesn't seem 'pretty fking dumb', it would seem somewhat logical, and while aiming to finish first is obviously our best outcome, it's seemingly an easier prospect to play the Portuguese / Winner of Group E than it is to play the Germans.

That being said, France are on 4 points with O.G. being their goalscorer. They play Poland and could completely rotate their side and lose, and still go through. Meaning there's a good chance that even if we win the group, we'll still likely run into one of the pre-tournament favourites.

[Prufrock]

I'm a cheerier note, Declan Rice absolutely murdering that attention-seeking no-mark McClean with kindness really improved my morning. Won't last very long if they don't do it on the pitch, but he seems a top guy.

[Worthy4England]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

The nation isn't fussed whether we win playing the big boys or win playing the minnows.

Presumably it would be easier to play the weaker sides in the tournament, but given we said the same when we played Iceland in 2016, it may not play out that way.

As for aiming to finish third, that would be to avoid playing Germany, who are the hosts (historically refereeing decisions tend to favour the hosts) and also the most prolific team so far. Avoiding the best team in the tournament doesn't seem 'pretty fking dumb', it would seem somewhat logical, and while aiming to finish first is obviously our best outcome, it's seemingly an easier prospect to play the Portuguese / Winner of Group E than it is to play the Germans.

That being said, France are on 4 points with O.G. being their goalscorer. They play Poland and could completely rotate their side and lose, and still go through. Meaning there's a good chance that even if we win the group, we'll still likely run into one of the pre-tournament favourites.

I agree, trying to avoid Germany in R16 makes sense (If we don't, we don't). Doing it on some sort of basis that would involve us somehow aiming - I think was the word used - to finish 3rd, so losing tonight, was the bit I thought was dumb strategy (imo).

I understand no one would care much about the route should it be successful. That doesn't make it a great strategy, coz they similarly wouldn't care either, if we finished 2nd and KO'd Germany on the way.

[Mar]

Don't get the last bit. As group leaders aiming 3rd would be pretty fcuking dumb, mate. If you have any aspirations you only aim for 1st as at some point you have to beat a really good team or two and the best way to do that is play confident in your own abilities and relish the challenge.

The nation isn't fussed whether we win playing the big boys or win playing the minnows.

Presumably it would be easier to play the weaker sides in the tournament, but given we said the same when we played Iceland in 2016, it may not play out that way.

As for aiming to finish third, that would be to avoid playing Germany, who are the hosts (historically refereeing decisions tend to favour the hosts) and also the most prolific team so far. Avoiding the best team in the tournament doesn't seem 'pretty fking dumb', it would seem somewhat logical, and while aiming to finish first is obviously our best outcome, it's seemingly an easier prospect to play the Portuguese / Winner of Group E than it is to play the Germans.

That being said, France are on 4 points with O.G. being their goalscorer. They play Poland and could completely rotate their side and lose, and still go through. Meaning there's a good chance that even if we win the group, we'll still likely run into one of the pre-tournament favourites.

I agree, trying to avoid Germany in R16 makes sense (If we don't, we don't). Doing it on some sort of basis that would involve us somehow aiming - I think was the word used - to finish 3rd, so losing tonight, was the bit I thought was dumb strategy (imo).

I understand no one would care much about the route should it be successful. That doesn't make it a great strategy, coz they similarly wouldn't care either, if we finished 2nd and KO'd Germany on the way.

I fail to remember which team it was but there was a historic match where the group stages played out in such a way that meant it was more beneficial for a team to lose the game. If I find it i'll post the link.

As it stands it seems like that may be the case for England.

Just like tactically we're better off not scoring too many against Slovenia.

[Worthy4England]

And we wonder what is wrong with football. Get out there and put 7 past 'em.

[Worthy4England]

^^ That helped. Just win.

[Prufrock]

It was the case recently in Germany. Frankfurt maybe need to lose too ensure the team they were against got top 4 so they then got into Europe.

More euros wise, there was the famous Sweden Denmark draw that knocked Italy out of euro 2004 (?)

[Worthy4England]

It was the case recently in Germany. Frankfurt maybe need to lose too ensure the team they were against got top 4 so they then got into Europe.

More euros wise, there was the famous Sweden Denmark draw that knocked Italy out of euro 2004 (?)

I could envisage a very small set of specific circumstances. That wasn't it.