Euro 2008 - TV coverage in the UK.

Yup. My pet hate is when managers/pundits say 'just pick your best 11'. If its that easy why have a manager at all?
In recent years our best partnership/performance upfront wasnt Owen/Rooney it was Owen/heskey. And our best striker has probably been Crouch. Gerrard hasnt played well for England in 7 years.

Sorry mate, but that is utter b*llocks. Try dropping fat-boy.

I know you cockernees have a thing about Fat Frank however he does score goals, deflections or not.

Name a game when Gerrard played well, or Rooney?

Gerrard was one of our better players in the last World Cup. He scored goals in a team which lacked attacking flair. Fat Frank should not be in that team full stop.

Rooney has played well for England without scoring enough. He has however been used in the wrong way. He is used to playing with high quality, pacey players at Man United. England do not have a single player who meets this criteria....Walcott possibly, but only time will tell.

Yes, as a central midfielder he was part of that lack of flair.



Aside from Ronaldo whose pacey at Man Utd? Saha and Giggs hardly play. England has as much pace with players like Owen and Wright-Phillips. Even if England doesnt have these players its no excuse for Heskey performing better and fitting into a system better then you. They're professionals and should adapt or die.
Rooney is clearly a much better player than Heskey and I think Gerrard is a better player than Lampard. However, that aint enough. Neither of them should be playing if they cant stop kicking people up in the air (Rooney) or giving the ball away (Gerrard and his Hollywood long balls). I think Capello sees this and will reign them in or drop them as for him the system is king.

I think it had more to do with the fact we only took one fit striker to the World Cup (Walcott excluded for obvious reasons)



Nani, Evra, Ferdinand as well as Saha and Giggs who you have mentioned. Hargreaves and Tevez aren't exactly slow!!



Please note, I said high-quality pacey players. SWP does not fit in to this category, and Owen lost most of his pace a long time ago.



That is pure frustration (Rooney) but I agree with you regarding Gerrard. He trys those 'Million dollar' balls far too often. In fairness, he completes more than nearly any other player would be able to. Capello has seen this and is encouraging the team to keep the ball.

Capello will not drop either. Aside from Ferdinand, they are the only two guaranteed starters. The man loves Rooney.

But yes, you are right, the system is more important. Why do you think he isn't playing Owen?

Difficult to say but I think its because hes playing for Newcastle who arent playing in the Champions league and because his hamstrings seem to be made of tissue paper. Also, I know Capello likes to play with one striker which Owen isnt really the man for. I dont think Rooney is either though to be honest.

Agreed, but then again, to play one up front you need quality pacey midfielders to play off them. We don't have this. The decision of who to play up front is a very difficult one to make. We simply don't have the options that some other countries do. I would love Drogba, Torres or Berbatov to be English....

England is also perhaps the only country where a naturally central player with World Class skills could be turned in to a functional left winger! This is where Copello will change things imo.

Truth of the matter is, England haven't looked like a force since the retirement of the simply majestic Paul Scholes :(

The closest we've got in that mould is your boy Ashton. Hopefully he cant keep his weight down. :)

Hmmm, not sure about that. He has looked like a conference player for much of the season. He has improved a lot of late but guess what....he's injured again

A shame because he had the potential to be a top player when SWP broke his ankle!!

Fingers crossed though. Watch out for young Freddie Sears, another product of the famous Academy. James Tomkins also......the next Ferdinand (Rio that is).

I think England need variety in attack when they go to tournaments so even if a player isnt that good its probably a good idea to to take him if he offers something different.
I always appreciate the bigger skillful strikers as they often have the ability to take two opposition defenders out of a game and create space which is what counts at tournaments. Its why someone like Rio is so useful even when he doesnt play well as he brings the ball out and commits an opposition player creating space for an English midfielder.

My father has been telling me for years that money has ruined English football. I was always yeh yeh what do you know etc, etc.

However after watching and praying for our team over the past decade im afraid he was right. They dont care about the big stage its all Chelsea, Liverpool, Man utd. A man who has everything wants for nothing, theres no real desire to win at world level and as long as that desire is not there were FUCK_D. Im afraid.

Why do i think Capello can lead us to success?? well two reasons:

Firstly, he is a winner, the club sdes he's managed have always won trophies and not just friendlies, with respect to people like Sven and Kevin Keegan who i believed were good managers but were lacking one thing each that they could have got from one another :) Capello though can do both, he's got the understanding of the game all round, he can also motivate his players, granted he's more autocratic than democratic but thats needed. There is nothing like the injection of a winner into a team that has won nothing.

Secondly the respect he demands, He is massively into his repsect, discipline and organisation. All these over paid, big headed fancy dans will finally be made to listen up and look in. There is no more crying of from friendlies 'or you will not be picked for the big matches'. You can't roll up to press conferences in your chavy trackies anymore, suits are the order of the day. It makes the players realise the importants of what they are doing whic is something i feel they have forgotten over the past five to six years. The players actually look proud to wear their suits and are finally aware that they are representing England and have a responsibility on their shoulders and its not just a jolly away from the club stuff.

Yes we lost to france and yes we beat a poor swiss team but the one thing that i've noticed we have started to do which england teams have never really been able to do. KEEP THE BALL, against both france and the swiss there were periods where england almost looked continental. If we can mix this ith our heart and passion the team can go far. I'm also a big fan of Capello's selectin policy, picking players on form and not on the name. I'm so happy that players like Barry, Young, Brown etc etc are getting their chance. If their on form why the hell not. Capello is a man of principle and this will rub of on the team in my view.

NOw onto the people who think rooney should be dropped, rubbish, utter rubbish, what are you looking at?? purely on goals i imagine, Have you watched Rooney play football or what, he is not just about scoring goals, its about his all round game, looking and finding space, creating chances for others through passing or clever runs that draw other defenders away. This coupled with his passion drives the England team forward. Yes he has done a few silly things in the past but do you remember how old he is??????? He is the most naturally talented footballer we have, forget gerrard, owen, lampard, terry or whoever you care to mention, this guy has got it all!!!!!.

As to the why don't i want germany to win it, well its simple I'm English and their German, enough said!!!!

ALso as i said before i'm afraid espana that Spain won't win, its one of the sure bets of any major football tournament, you have quality players but there 11 individuals not a full team of eleven players.

My England team:

GK: Robert Greene (Everybody seems to ignore him, he saves penalties, makes good decisoins, is one of the best catchers of the ball out of the air and has been in great form for his club

RB: Micha Richards (In todays game the fullback is almost like another attacking player, what Micha Richards lacks in experience he more than makes up for with power strenght, defensive and offensive skills)

CB: John Terry (C): (ONe thing i disagree with Capello about, Terry is for me the best man for the England Captaincy. He's a great leader and one of the best defenders in the world, all he lacks is the pace to keep up with pacey strikers, He's one of the bravest defenders in the world and will put his body on the line to keep his team in the game)

CB: Rio Ferdinand (Had a quality season for Man United, hasn't really put a foot wrong and when he does he's got the speed to make up for his mistakes. Also one of the best defenders in the world and has a partnership with Terry at the back for England)

LB: Wayne Bridge: (When he's played for chelsea he has been solid, which is all we need at left back, we often have a problem filling the left sided positions and bridge like Richards has good qualities going forwards and backwards

LM: Joe Cole: (May be out of position here but he was England's best player in the last world cup playing on the left, he creates so much just from his natural game which is full of flair, which i believe is something that modern day english players lack)

CM: Gareth Barry: (Had one of his best seasons ever for Villa, has proved he can do the business for England even though he's not flash, he dosent' need to be, if he tackles well and continues to win the ball and spread it well then its all we need from our holding midfielder)

CM: Steven Gerrard (Its the old argument Gerrard or Lampard or both, well for me its Gerrard as he at the moment is playing the better football out of the two, he can reate something from nothing for himself or another player, were yet to see the best from Gerrard for England and i'm sure he will produce it soon)

FC: Wayne Rooney (I've said all i have to say about Rooney above, he's an all round player, surely one of our truely world class players)

FC: Jermaine Defoe (I'll get stick for this one but time and time again when Defoe plays, he scores goals!!!!! its what we need for England, somebody who can bang in the goals without getting injured every five minutes, sorry Michael thats why you don't make my team)

Subs:

GK: David James
LB: Ashley Cole
CB: John Woodgate
CB: Joleon Lescott
RB: Glen Johnson
LM: Ashley Young
CM: Frank Lampard
CM: Owen Hargreaves
RM: David Bentley
FC: MIchael Owen
FC: Peter Crouch

some well reasoned points...

For what it's worth, here's mine (as it will also p*ss off our good friend espana):

---------------Green/James-----------------

Richards------Rio------Woodgate/Upson------Cole

-------------Hargreaves/Carrick-----------------

----Gerrard--------Cole---------Rooney---------

------------Owen------Lee Trundle---------------

Ok, Trundle isn't serious...I would replace him with a target man...like Heskey but who can score goals (and no, not Crouch...the man simply isn't good enough in the air for someone who should be!!). Sadly, no such English player currently exists :(

well i think your forgetting a certain Dean Ashton, who when is fit is as good a target man as we've got, i hope he can continue to perform like he did for the Hammers when he was fit :)

No Terry in your team i'm suprised!!!

my polish team: they will be in the eurocup,,,,,,,,,,(not england)

Wojciech Kowalewski
Grzegorz Bronowicki
Pawel Golański
Jacek Bąk
Mariusz Lewandowski
Jakub Błaszczykowski
Euzebiusz Smolarek
Radosław Sobolewski
Arkadiusz Radomski
Maciej Żurawski
Grzegorz Rasiak

obviously you have no hope for your own side then, what about the spanish team then big man :)

obviously we are talking about a polish thing , in a polish forum

I have to disagree with your choice of goalkeeper ..... it has to be Boruc, and second choice should be Tomasz Kuszczak.
Rasiak for me should not be in the starting 11, let alone the squad - I'd play Matusiak up front. Zurawski is getting on a bit , but I believe as captain will be selected.
Leo may play it tight and go with one front man and have 5 in midfield with Smolarek having a role just behind the front man.

Unfortunately we don't have a World Class striker who would guarantee us goals, someone in the shape of Szarmach or Lato; we have largely relied on Smolarek in recent games.
Maybe one or more of our lesser known players will shine at Euro 2008 and make a name for themselves :o))

ask the english if you can borrow rooney (is off this summer)
is the first time that poland is in the euro cup?
Jan Urban best polish player ever (is not a joke)

I wouldn't pin your hopes on him. He has a long way to go before he returns to his old self. Even then, he has a long way to go before being a realistic option at International level.



Good player but very overated...simply not in the same league as Rio despite what some might say. He is also a c*nt of a bloke and plays for the sc*m ;)




The thread is titled Euro 2008 - TV coverage in the UK. HTH



This man is not Premiership quality, let alone International quality. If he plays, I fear the Poles will have little chance. Having said that, I would have thought the same of Greece in 2004 so who knows!!

Sorry to say that this is very true. Seen him play for spurs many times, and he never looked like a premiership player... one off our worse buys, but improved when dropping down to a lower league.

yes I believe it is ...



you must be joking !!!

Ok so its a polish forum yes but i think the point was made that this topic is called 'euro 2008' so lests have yous spanish team then big man :)

I would set about all the teams and there chances but i think that would be boring for everybody, so first i'll talk about Poland as this is a Polish forum :)

Ok firstly i think you need to look at the group, Austria, Germany, Poland & Croatia. Wile this is not the toughest or the best group of the competition i fear for Polands qualification chances.

The first game for Poland will be the key fixture, its important to get of to a good start. I don't see this happening, the record against germany isn't good at all and the last result was in favour of the Germans, they are a team who are very consistant so i expect Poland to lose 1 maybe 2-0.

The second fixture is Austria who apart from anything else will have home advantage which may kick them on beyond their lowely ranking shows. I don't believe Austria to be anything close to a quality side or even as good as Poland. I predict Poland will win this game but i don't think it will be a clean sheet.

THe final game is against Coatia, who i believe will be the dark horses of the competition. They have a strong side as long as they don't pick up to many injurires. I think Croatia will qualify and may even win the group. Unfortunately for the Poles i think Craotia will win this game.

So by my predictions Poland would end up with 3 points from their three games, i guess the rest has to be decided by the Germans and the Croatians. I don't believe AUstria to be a threat but i think both the Germans and the Croatians have way to much for a Polish team in a bit of a panic.

Part of the problem is Leo Beenhakker dosen't know his best team, he constantly seems to change his side no matter what the game. Since the qualification for 2008 Poland really haven't had that many good results being beaten by both Finland, who are they??? and the USA who don't even play proper football.

Secondly i look through your squad and i see so many old players that don't seem to be let go off. by this i mean dudek, bak, Frankowski etc etc. I also believe that your team lacks decent and natural pace. None of your strikers are particularly good and could probably apart from Frankowski, who is one of those aging players, at best Championship level here in England or plying their trade in the Polish league which with respect isn't the greatest in europe.

I'm expecting pelters but hay, thats punditry, right :)

T

That's a fair analysis Torny.

Some people say that england don't have the players to challenge for major honours. If that is the case, Poland most certainly don't.

Leo Been' has a track record of taking average/poor teams and getting the best out of them, but if the quality isn't available, there is little he can do. Getting players like Podolski and Klose to represent Poland instead of Germany would be a start.

As for Spain, their team is littered with quality. Unfortunately, they have a joke defence and are known for being bigger bottlers than the All Black RU team.

I think a combination of Spanish flair and English defence would stand a great chance of winning the competition!

What ya say espana?

couldn't agree more


yeah its a shame that the Poles lose some of their players, however i think thats a message that not even the most talented Polish players think they can win anything with Poland and have to look elsewhere. What you say about Leo Beenhakker is also correct however, well done to him for achieving those things. You know i don't think he would be a bad club manager at all and i'm suprised he ended up with the Polish national job and not a big club one.


for sure if one team is going to bottle it, its spain :) also their a team full of individuals and don't work together as a team, i think this really started when players like Raul and Morientes were playing, great players in their own right but ppppffff so individualistic. There are many other players in the same mold and until they sort it out, they aren't going to win anything :)


i actualy think a combination of English Passion, Italian Defence and German consistancy would just about do the job, maybe you could throw in a bit of Portuguese flair in there too :)

Are you sure? It's been a long time since Pearce and Butcher retired!!



Ok, so we'll have their keeper.



Don't you just hate it :(



I wouldn't say no to the best player that's ever lived (or soon to be)

Gianluigi Buffon is the best keeper in the world and has been for about four to five years. Italy have and always do seem to have quality defenders, i mean look at all the people they've had defedning their penalty box over the years. i won't bore you with the names but believe me we would want their defence too, you think ashley cole and richards are good you want to take a look at zambrotta and grosso!!!


yep


no no no don't be fooled by modern day stars, i'm afraid the guy your talking about has a long way to go until he is as good as the real greats, he needs to sort out his behaviour to start with :)

Zambrotta was top quality but is now past his best. Same goes for Cannavarro and Nesta. Grosso is decent, no more, no less. Cole's form has been inconsistent over the last two years, but he is the only player I have seen who has kept Ronaldo in his pocket every time he's played against him. Richards is a pure athelete and will be a top top player. Rio is the best in the World. We also have more top CB's than any other country...strength and depth.

In short, i'd rather our defence (with Buffon or Cech).



Are we talking about the same player? Ronaldo is already up there with the greats and if he continues with his current form will be the greatest ever. The scary thing is he should only get better!!

I think you shouldn't be fooled by the nostalgic idea that players of the older generation were better. Bobby Moore was a legend but he wouldn't get close to Rio in todays game.

Maybe Beckenbauer, Pele, Cruyff, Best and Maradonna could be considered as the greatest, but if you're highlighting bad behaviour, look no further than the last player on that list who in my opinion is the most talented player to have lived despite his penchant for putting powder up his nose.

my granmum know more about football than you two (tornado and ironman)