The ONLY Euro 2016 thread

[Swifty]

Not the size of the dog in the fight as they say - well done indeed Iceland. They're an old fashioned Nordic raiding party, their only interest in reputations is destroying them. Quality.

300,000 population - outstanding!! Their run to get into the finals let alone final 8 dwarfs Leicester's effort in my view.

[Yankee_Gooner_Dandee]

I heard a stat that said Iceland only have a player pool of about 10,000. Being men, in the right age range, and play football. That's an incredible achievement what they've done.

[goonersid]

Oh holy Jesus I literally haven't stopped laughing since last night as I said in an earlier post I love ingerland qualifying for major tournaments as it invariably ends in utter fucking humiliation
Thank you woy and the lads for once again not letting me down

[GranadaJoe]

Roy is an intelligent, honorable man, but he made some very strange decisions and deserves to go.

One of his two formations required two wide players, yet there was only one on the plane.

Kane taking corners. Maybe he was the best at it, but it looks ridiculous.

However, the players need to take the bulk of the flak.

Players were taken who had been injured for most of the season, players out of form, but the acid test is who should have gone instead; Townsend, Walcott, ... ?

[Bradywasking]

Media cannot get enough Spurs players in the England squad, well now they have got their answer..Danny Rose and Kyle Walker international full backs..?? Dier, Kane and Deli Ali...a deli assistant would be more useful.. Harry Kane tried a free kick from 41 meters that would have embarrassed a Sunday league player, how unintelligent for a player having a nightmare to try that and how unintelligent of him being allowed to..
I thought Rashford was a media inclusion also but in a short few minutes he done more than the other 13 for the team..
But look at the players, millionaires in their early 20s, no appetite no passion..No management and no structure.. They need a George Graham regime, understand what wearing your national shirt should mean.Dont be afraid when you go behind, be brave and fight. .Media need perspective, don't praise or damn the players excessively.
Successors for Woy..Shearer threw his hat in the ring with his selling point being "I couldn't be any worse than the previous lot" Seriously that is the way forward Alan.FFS..Hoddle , Southgate usual suspects.. If It were my decision I would be making my way to Manchester and asking a retired Scot to take a over for one year and put a structure and programme in place that left anyone who gets a call up in no doubt about what is expected..

[Bradywasking]

On the subject of the media, will they , next season, constantly refer to Deli Ali's two blatant dives in the tournament when Spurs are playing?

[DB10GOONER]

First of all, commiserations to our English viewers. I'm a bit torn on this as I'm not English and the team was chock full of vermin players I have no great love for them, but then they do represent the league I've been a viewer and supporter of all my life so it's disappointing to see that league humiliated.

The usually moronic Eamon Dunphy and Didi Hamann nailed it last night on RTE when they said that the problem is the PL is not as elite as most people think it is, the technical level has dropped and the likes of Rooney, Sturridge, Rose, Alli, Diar, Vardy, Walker, Smalling and Hart are not international quality players. Wilshere??!! A talented player but he had 2 games before the tourny - ludicrous to bring him. The media picked Roy and the media picked his "populist" team. They also said that too many of these players are millionaire's before they hit their mid-20's and have achieved very little to nothing in the game.

The money paid to players has to be reigned in. There is no motivation for these kids to excel. They are handed ludicrous sums for delivering next to nothing. Players should be motivated by success, not money. Yeah I know it's a short career and they should earn enough to live their life after the game as they do sacrifice a lot in their early years (or should do!) but the pendulum has swung way the fuck too far in the other direction now; a player only needs to get 2 - 3 years in the PL under his belt and he is a multi-millionaire at 19 or 21 years old. Ludicrous.

[northbank123]

Players take huge responsibility but Hodgsons decisions were baffling. When the bloke came in before euro 2012 he was a pragmatist - he would pick the side most likely to win games even if that meant picking struggling club players like Welbeck or Young. Wasn't pretty but a poor side with no confidence was a penalty shootout away from the semifinals despite not playing well.

Fast forward 4 years and he is playing Rooney as the midfield lynchpin, ensuring that the attacking play is at a snails pace. There is no possible basis on which to pick Sterling yet he has. Kane was diabolical first two games yet gets a start again (on set pieces). England have limited options defensively but they have plenty of options up front.

[DB10GOONER]

On the subject of the media, will they , next season, constantly refer to Deli Ali's two blatant dives in the tournament when Spurs are playing?

He does like a dive doesn't he?

Thought Kane was appalling. How can he be allowed to keep taking free kicks after he has continuously plonked them into row z?

The manager should be all over that after the first 2 attempts. His attempt at the Ladyboy style "knuckleball" (what a shit name for a technique ) was embarrassing. Pundit dullard Jim Beglin made me laugh though when he said "Kane just tried the knuckleball. That was appalling."

[amazonas]

Give me a break with that Walcott crap. Absolute shite of a player who would have blended in perfectly in the Invisible 11 last night.

Absolutely thrilled for Iceland. The difference in attitude was there in the faces: Players who actually enjoyed playing football! Rarely see that in Arsenal or England these days.

And I do think this is also a humiliation of a league that also on a regular basis faces this humiliation in European club tournaments. To claim the other leagues only have one or two sides that would compete here is ludicrous. They all have teams that would surely win our league and a sub-top more than capable of out-performing our sub-top.

[DB10GOONER]

Loved the bit at the end when the Iceland players faced their fans and did that grunted chant and clap thing. Stirring stuff.

[GoonerMuzz]

Another point i'm not sure anyone has picked up on that i should have mentioned last night - Iceland is a country with NO!! professional football teams...

Just let that sink in for a minute

[DB10GOONER]

Another point i'm not sure anyone has picked up on that i should have mentioned last night - Iceland is a country with NO!! professional football teams...

Just let that sink in for a minute

Wow. Did not know that. Been all over the media but I'm still astonished that their manager is a part-time dentist! You have to say, in spite of England's terrible performance, fair play to the Iceland team - they gave everything.

[augie]

First of all, commiserations to our English viewers. I'm a bit torn on this as I'm not English and the team was chock full of vermin players I have no great love for them, but then they do represent the league I've been a viewer and supporter of all my life so it's disappointing to see that league humiliated.

The usually moronic Eamon Dunphy and Didi Hamann nailed it last night on RTE when they said that the problem is the PL is not as elite as most people think it is, the technical level has dropped and the likes of Rooney, Sturridge, Rose, Alli, Diar, Vardy, Walker, Smalling and Hart are not international quality players. Wilshere??!! A talented player but he had 2 games before the tourny - ludicrous to bring him. The media picked Roy and the media picked his "populist" team. They also said that too many of these players are millionaire's before they hit their mid-20's and have achieved very little to nothing in the game.

The money paid to players has to be reigned in. There is no motivation for these kids to excel. They are handed ludicrous sums for delivering next to nothing. Players should be motivated by success, not money. Yeah I know it's a short career and they should earn enough to live their life after the game as they do sacrifice a lot in their early years (or should do!) but the pendulum has swung way the fuck too far in the other direction now; a player only needs to get 2 - 3 years in the PL under his belt and he is a multi-millionaire at 19 or 21 years old. Ludicrous.

Have to say that hamann was bang on the button last night and he absolutely tore into English football - he almost got angry when talking about the English public and media hyping up the premier league as the best league in the world when it is actually country miles behind the Spanish and german leagues. He criticised the policy of giving young unproven players too much money too early - us Gooners all have a moan about players like wally, ramsey and bendter crazy contracts in their early 20s, but for me the problem starts much earlier than that. In my opinion there should be a salary cap on all players under the age of 18 - if under 18s are deemed as kids and unable to drink legally or vote, then how in gods name are they allowed to get contracts giving them north of £10k or £20k per week and be expected to handle it ? How does a manager or coach earning less than his players, try and tell them where they are going wrong and what they need to improve on ? More likely than not most young players would be thinking "why the fcuk would I take advice from some numpty on £500 a week" ? Call me old fashioned but I like the old system where kids would have to clean the boots of the senior players and do chores like that - it isn't a power issue but it is a way of keeping them grounded and letting them know that they have a long way to go before they can make it

I also have to say that the attitude towards the game is all wrong over this side of Europe and it starts with parents - we prioritise endeavour over skill and always demand that kids put in a shift. Parents place a huge emphasis on winning games now and that transfers to the kids - this is a very short term view and does nothing to develop players for the future. In my own local club we had a manager of our u-13s a few years ago who on one week trained them without using a football even once - when I pulled him on it I was told that the only way that they could compete with the bigger clubs was if there were fitter than them and my point about coaching kids for the future fell on deaf ears........he got his p45 at the end of the season

[Herd]

Well that was funny , Pick a team, full of spurs players and what do you get ?
Yup Shit !