Euro2012

Shame isn't it. Platini should have a rethink. Though is there any hope with a man who think games should be played in 12 seperate countries.

Dougie wrote:

Best Championships ever overall? Barely a duff game in 3 weeks

Apart from the simultaneous games, I don't think I missed a match, and yeah you're right, a surprisingly excellent tournament.

Only down side is that England have been exposed as being light years behind the top sides, technically.

At least one Englishman enjoys his Euro 2012 win

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Deserved winners by miles, Italy were awful

John_Lloyd wrote:

That will be a thing of the past when it goes to 24 teams the next time around.

More money, more games, but lower quality, without doubt.

We'll look back fondly on 2012 then.

Shhhh. Even Scotland stand an outside chance of qualifying if they extend it to 24. Well maybe if they make it 48.

Pirlo has been superb all tournament for Italy, and yet once the Spanish midfield played in top gear, he hardly got a look in.

They have been labelled as boring, but when they click they are practically unbeatable and a joy to watch. Frightening as Czarcasm says, they should still all be at their peak in 2014, and who would bet against them making it 4 in a row? The heat certainly won't affect them as much as most.

We can only look at Spain in awe with that performance but with luck it will show the FA just how lacking we are and how important grass root football is.

There could be a myriad of reasons why the national team continue to be the Andy Murray of football. I don't think it is that complex.


When people say that other nations are 'technically' better, I assume they are referring to how they can keep possession ? Going back to the great European years of Liverpool, when all the players were British, they led the world in high tempo possession football. It's really no different to how the best sides today keep the ball, if at a slower pace.

Work rates and the likes of Howard Wilkinson made it more about huff and puff. I attended a FA preliminary coaching badge course at Loughborough in the 70's and Wilkinson was the lead coach. If anyone showed any flair in their coaching techniques ie encouraging silky skills, he bayed at them to lay it off and run.

Wenger has always played possession football with Arsenal and Man City appear to be now doing similar but the demands of the PL, the way other sides try to combat the more 'technically gifted' sides, would appear part of the problem. You can't blame the likes of Pulis and Allardyce for their approach as they don't have the finances to attract the most talented players. Hence we witness high tempo games, with big, bony players hurtling into the box to get on the end of long throw ins. Did anyone see a long throw in at the Euros ? It could have been an effective weapon for England as other nations would not be used to it.
Most major tournament finals are also played in summer, with high temperatures, making the high tempo, English style game, virtually impossible. We end up trying to play a largely alien style of football on an occasional basis, whereas the likes of Spain's players don't change at all.

For decades our youth has had to play on poor pitches with managers yelling at them to 'get stuck in !' Those showing promise may be taken on by a pro club but again size seems to matter. I had a very talented lad in my team and when I recommended him to the U15 coach at Watford, the first question he asked was , 'how big is he ?'

THE PL is now very short of home grown talent but is still popular worldwide because of the pace most games are played at, the roughs and toughs trying to upset the footballing sides. It is a spectacle. It's good to see the likes of Swansea and Wigan trying to play the beautiful game.

I think that we should be happy with our 3rd place, (I was going to claim second place if Italy won on the grounds that Italy easily beat Germany and they couldn't score against us).
Anyway, what Woy should have done is just start with the youngsters, lets try and build a team for the future, Carrol should not have been dropped just because Rooney finished his ban, he should have had to fight his way back in. The FA needs to man up and stop prem clubs signing so many foreigners, did you see that after 2 subs. only players from the 2 top spanish teams remained on the pitch, tells a story doesn,t it?

Spain were magnificent in the final.



I'm really looking forward to next season at HP if that's what Brenty and Fletch mean about us playing more football.

Iggy wrote:

I think that we should be happy with our 3rd place, (I was going to claim second place if Italy won on the grounds that Italy easily beat Germany and they couldn't score against us).
Anyway, what Woy should have done is just start with the youngsters, lets try and build a team for the future, Carrol should not have been dropped just because Rooney finished his ban, he should have had to fight his way back in. The FA needs to man up and stop prem clubs signing so many foreigners, did you see that after 2 subs. only players from the 2 top spanish teams remained on the pitch, tells a story doesn,t it?

England came joint 8th in my book Iggy. Are you Paul Stapleton?

Spain might have been labelled boring but they certainly weren't in the final. It was like they had been messing with us until then. They seemed to be able to play whatever style whenever they wanted. Jordi Alba's goal was a thing of such beauty that I actually applauded from my sofa. No tippy tappy more rather more direct football played with pace grace and skill. BBC might of given goal of the tournament to Ibrahimnocvic (and it was a great indiviual stike) but i preferred Alba's.

Funny as it might sound but passing and receiving a pass (ie not letting it bobble 6 foot off your foot whentrying to control it) have been deeply undervalued as an art form in football. People can wax lyrical about a 30 yard pass to feet from (occassionally) Gerard et al but the simple purposeful pass seems to have gone out of the game.