2007/2008 European football thread

[LFC1892]

Well bye-bye McClown.

[LFC1892]

Holy cr@p! Is it true that McClown wont resign, as he'd rather be sacked to get his 2.5 million pound payout?

[Kekkonen]

How many shots did England have in that game? I watched the Portugal - Finland game, but the ENG - CRO game was on an other channel, and it seems like every time I flicked there to check out the score, England was on the offense, applying quite a bit of pressure.

As for the Group A games, Poland did their part for us, but Portugal was just too good. Jääskeläinen was IMO the best player on the pitch, and even though it ended 0-0, it was closer to a 2-0 or 3-0 win for Portugal than a 0-1 Finland win.

[Fallschirmjager]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

How many shots did England have in that game? I watched the Portugal - Finland game, but the ENG - CRO game was on an other channel, and it seems like every time I flicked there to check out the score, England was on the offense, applying quite a bit of pressure.

As for the Group A games, Poland did their part for us, but Portugal was just too good. Jääskeläinen was IMO the best player on the pitch, and even though it ended 0-0, it was closer to a 2-0 or 3-0 win for Portugal than a 0-1 Finland win.

I their is a silver lining, it is that Finland will get a good favourable WC 2010 draw from finishing 3rd

[theasfl]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Best place to be if not at the game is at a pub/bar, although the perfect matchday is wake up to a full English breakfast, watch the experts on TV say your team as no chance in todays game then head of to the pub for a couple pints then to the game to watch your team prove the experts wrong. Although the best time you will ever have watching a football match is when you follow your team away, the longer the journey the better and if its a midweek game and it's raining imo thats paradise.

does that breakfast involve a fried carrot?

[theasfl]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

FINLAND!!!

POLAND!!!

If Finland beats Portugal in their home pitch and Poland returns from Belgrade with points, Finland is in the European Cup final, for the first time ever.

FINLAND!!!

POLAND!!!

In related news, a pig just flew by my window.

Ive been rooting for it and Im sad to see they settled for a 0-0 draw. Three points shy. Maybe you'll get lucky for the next WC?

[theasfl]

has there been any remote rumblings for UEFA to expand the European Championships to 20 or 24?

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

I their is a silver lining, it is that Finland will get a good favourable WC 2010 draw from finishing 3rd

Unfortunately, there's a good chance that we'll be 4th. Serbia was supposed to play Kazakhstan at home last weekend, but the game was postponed due to heavy snowfall. They'll play it on saturday; I don't know whether the Serbs will be able to get their A-team together (their club teams might not be too happy about losing guys to a game where all that is at stake is 3rd place in a qualifying group), but even their B-team should have a pretty good chance of beating Kazakhstan.

It was a pretty tough group, and being within one lucky bounce of qualifying until the very end is more than I expected of the Finnish team. And if I wanted to torture myself with what-ifs, I'd watch the Finland-Portugal game from the fall of 2006 again. It ended 1-1, but believe it or not, Finland was the team with more scoring chances that night; in fact, if my memory serves, Portugal had only one good chance, and they used it (which is what quality teams do). We had several good chances on offensive set pieces as Hyypiä and Tihinen came up and controlled the airspace in front of the Portuguese goal, but they couldn't put the ball in the net. A win in that game would've ultimately meant that a tie would've been enough for us last night. (Of course, had that been the case, Portugal would have gone to an all-out attack mode late in the game, and I'm not sure our team could've handled that; on the other hand, forcing a goal against a team that can afford to defend with all 11 is never easy.)

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by theasfl

Ive been rooting for it and Im sad to see they settled for a 0-0 draw. Three points shy. Maybe you'll get lucky for the next WC?

It wasn't so much settling for a draw as being able to hold on to it under a Portuguese onslaught. Yeah, maybe we'll get lucky one day. Our U-21 team has 5 wins in 5 matches in their EC qualifiers; U-21 stars don't necessarily turn out to be huge in the mens' game, but it is a good sign.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Bye-bye McClaren you muppet

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by theasfl

does that breakfast involve a fried carrot?

Long as it don't come near my plate you can have what you want, matchday it's usually a fry up of bacon, egg, mushrooms, fried bread, sausage all on a sandwich at a greasy spoon just outside Wigan.

[ukhotstove]

Didn’t go through, didn’t deserve to go through. McLaren wasn’t the right man for the job in the first place and nothings happened to change that, we had the players to easily qualify from this group but didn’t so he as to go. The FA need to appoint somebody who isn’t going to be a puppet to the FA and also a puppet to certain players ego’s, imo Beckham shouldn’t be allowed to play for England again, he’s injury prone, skills have diminished to the point that all he is, is a glorified field goal kicker and when he isn’t crossing the ball or taking free kicks he’s a liability and you can’t play with 10 men against decent opposition.

Gerrard and Lampard cannot play in the same side against quality opposition, we need to start picking a team and not 11 individuals just because of who they are. How the hell we can let someone like Jamie Carragher walk away from an England set up and have someone like Wayne Bridge play is beyond me, back four should have been Carragher, Richards, Campbell, Lescott even if it meant going on bended knee to Carragher.

But the main thing is to get McLaren out of the job, the man has no tactical knowledge and no organisational skills. How you play your known injury prone forward just days before the most important game of your international managerial career in a meaningless game is beyond me, Michael Owen should have been wrapped in cotton wool until last night. My team would have been James, Carragher, Richards, Campbell, Lescott, Wright-Phillips, Barry, Gerrard, Cole, Owen (wouldn‘t have been injured as he wouldn‘t have played against Austria), Crouch, may not have won but they wouldn’t have thrown up that long ball rubbish that they did last night.

[magnet]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Long as it don't come near my plate you can have what you want, matchday it's usually a fry up of bacon, egg, mushrooms, fried bread, sausage all on a sandwich at a greasy spoon just outside Wigan.

I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[ukhotstove]

If I was the FA this morning I'd just about be telling McLaren he's fired and i'd be going to Jose Mourinho and saying "you think your the special one then make us World Cup winners".

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by magnet

I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

It's called "FFS will the FA ever learn"

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by magnet

I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Ahhh you meant the sandwich lol, it was invented years ago when a few lads got home from at night out, nobody could decide what they wanted some wanted sausage some bacon so as I was cooking I said f**k it and threw everything we had on a sandwich.

[bababui]

Why isnt there a single Englishman qualified for the job?

What does that say about English football?

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Didn’t go through, didn’t deserve to go through. McLaren wasn’t the right man for the job in the first place and nothings happened to change that, we had the players to easily qualify from this group but didn’t so he as to go. The FA need to appoint somebody who isn’t going to be a puppet to the FA and also a puppet to certain players ego’s, imo Beckham shouldn’t be allowed to play for England again, he’s injury prone, skills have diminished to the point that all he is, is a glorified field goal kicker and when he isn’t crossing the ball or taking free kicks he’s a liability and you can’t play with 10 men against decent opposition.

There is no-one English really, maybe Venables but that might just be a case of how good I remember things in Euro 96, the last time we looked like winners even with fatboy Gazza in the squad. I doubt Terry would change a whole lot though.

O'Neill had a lot of success at Leicester and Celtic and has now turned Villa around into a good team again.

But maybe we should just say "**** it!" and get Mourinho in. He won't take **** from anyone, especially those above him and the players.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Muppetus Galacticus

There is no-one English really, maybe Venables but that might just be a case of how good I remember things in Euro 96, the last time we looked like winners even with fatboy Gazza in the squad. I doubt Terry would change a whole lot though.

O'Neill had a lot of success at Leicester and Celtic and has now turned Villa around into a good team again.

But maybe we should just say "**** it!" and get Mourinho in. He won't take **** from anyone, especially those above him and the players.

Its not the coach..its the players.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by Muppetus Galacticus

There is no-one English really, maybe Venables but that might just be a case of how good I remember things in Euro 96, the last time we looked like winners even with fatboy Gazza in the squad. I doubt Terry would change a whole lot though.

O'Neill had a lot of success at Leicester and Celtic and has now turned Villa around into a good team again.

But maybe we should just say "**** it!" and get Mourinho in. He won't take **** from anyone, especially those above him and the players.

Thats why I think they should get him in, he's probably one of the very few who would drop either Lampard or Gerrard if he knew it wasn't working and tell players like Beckham that he's finished as far as internationals go.