Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Jul 3, 2016 21:20:55 GMT 1
I've just got back home to see that France are doing to Iceland what England couldn't...
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Post by Mart!n on Jul 3, 2016 22:06:40 GMT 1
France pretty much mullered them. France vs. Germany in the semis should be pretty good to watch, got a feeling the match will go to penalties though.
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Post by paulgilb on Jul 3, 2016 23:00:58 GMT 1
Great game between France and Iceland. Curiously, the final score (5-2) is the same scoreline by which France beat Switzerland in the last World Cup - before they lost to Germany in their next game...
Shame to see Italy go out on penalties, meaning no possibility of Eder vs Eder in the final.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2016 10:21:55 GMT 1
Turns out all 3 Wales goalscorers last night were born in England. Hal Robson-Kanu even played for England at youth level. I remember when he switched to Wales, 2009 I think it was being a bit like WTF? His link to Wales is a bit tenous, grandmother I think, he could have switched to Nigeria as well and he had more of a link to them. I've never been completely sure why he chose Wales. Pleased to see him doing well though.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2016 10:27:20 GMT 1
The best thing about Wales winning is that the English players and media will have to find some different excuses for England's poor performance. We can't blame 'the long season' as many Welsh players play more league games in the Championship, and we can't blame lack of opportunities in the big teams, coz it is exactly the same for Wales. Good point, someone like Gunter rarely misses a game either. I remember when Reading signed him Maximo Mark (where's he gone btw?) mentioned his injury record and he's been proved right. Apart from a dodgy start when he got injured not long after signing he's hardly been injured in the last 4 years.
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Robbie
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Post by Robbie on Jul 4, 2016 10:57:28 GMT 1
Turns out all 3 Wales goalscorers last night were born in England. Hal Robson-Kanu even played for England at youth level. I remember when he switched to Wales, 2009 I think it was being a bit like WTF? His link to Wales is a bit tenous, grandmother I think, he could have switched to Nigeria as well and he had more of a link to them. I've never been completely sure why he chose Wales. Pleased to see him doing well though. And he's without a club too as he was released by Reading at the end of last season when his contract expired. I have a feeling he may get snapped up pretty soon by another club though...
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Post by Robin on Jul 4, 2016 11:04:54 GMT 1
I should imagine whoever snaps him up will be quickly disappointed based on all the comments I've seen from Reading fans on Facebook. There seems to be significant agreement that he is rather sh*t really! One good game does not make a player great!
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Jul 4, 2016 11:28:24 GMT 1
I have read a lot of comments saying Kanu is lazy, and only plays when there is cameras about the place. I think the only time he had more then 2 consecutive good games was Reading's relegation season towards the end. Maybe he needs a different midfield and structure to fulfil what he really can do?
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jul 4, 2016 12:32:04 GMT 1
the problem with England is complex but can basically be split up into sense of entitlement, poor tactics, fragile mentality mixed with an over critical media and long tough season
1. Sense of entitlement - We had the highest squad value in the Euros, probably earning the highest wages, so they believe their own hype, kids like Sterling commanding a transfer fee of 60m, Rooney scoring 7 goals and building a team round him whilst shunting 50 goal Vardy/Kane out wide, they have all made it and expected to roll over everyone they played playing at 80%
2. Poor tactics and management - Rooney a cm? Vardy a winger? Sterling playing at all? calling up 2 wingers instead of 4? 3 central midfielders against poor teams? that's not progressive, its safety first, Kane on corners? playing a back 4 that's never played together before? calling up unfit players? leaving the best header of a football at home and throwing Cahill upfront
3. Fragile mentality - harder to explain but it seems several generations just bottle it, not surprising considering Spurs bottled the league and we had 5 of them starting against Iceland, Gerrard said the mentality of them players when Iceland scored wouldnt be how can we win from here but how badly will we be slated if we bottle this and it becomes a self fulfilling prophect
4. I know other players are performing at the Euroes from the Premiership but Spurs had a very tough year, 53 games, no break and fast paced league, they lost to Newcastle 5-1 last game of the season. its not just this tournament, you can count on one hand he number of big players from the Premiership that have turned up full force at a majors in the last decade
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2016 13:49:43 GMT 1
Hal Robson-Kanu even played for England at youth level. I remember when he switched to Wales, 2009 I think it was being a bit like WTF? His link to Wales is a bit tenous, grandmother I think, he could have switched to Nigeria as well and he had more of a link to them. I've never been completely sure why he chose Wales. Pleased to see him doing well though. And he's without a club too as he was released by Reading at the end of last season when his contract expired. I have a feeling he may get snapped up pretty soon by another club though... Officially he was released but it was obvious for a while that he'd be moving on. I had feared that it was simply because we couldn't match his wage demands and he'd end up playing against us in the Championship next season. Thankfully that doesn't look likely now! Whilst I'm surprised how well he did against Belgium in particular, i'm not surprised in a way that he's impressed for Wales in the tournament. He's a big match player and he was an important player in the qualifying which i'm not sure many of our fans probably appreciated. He purposely didn't enter into any discussions with another club until the tournament had ended, he's got confidence in his ability, he said recently that he believes he's good enough to play in the PL, so whilst he put his future on the backburner i'm sure he used the fact he was in the shop window as extra motivation. Didn't see him as more than a PL squad player before the tournament, I think he'll be looking for first team football now.
Eamonn Dolan would be looking down with pride at his goal last week.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2016 14:03:36 GMT 1
I should imagine whoever snaps him up will be quickly disappointed based on all the comments I've seen from Reading fans on Facebook. There seems to be significant agreement that he is rather sh*t really! One good game does not make a player great! Certainly in the last few years he's not been the most popular it's fair to say! I would say he's been our scapegoat. Some of us have always thought he's had the ability, he's just very frustrating that he doesn't show it often enough, and watching the Wales games in the last couple of years has only emphasised that. The local radio team have discussed in the last couple of years how he's got all the ability to really stand out in games but he rarely does. He may be one of those players that struggles to make the necessary impact in the Championship but thrives in the Prem with the extra space that teams give you there.
He does divide opinion though, watched games last season and thought I was watching a different player at times. One main issue I do have though is that he does take a while to get back to form after an injury. He isn't consistent either so in that sense fans are going to be disappointed when he has a bad game. I remember the FA cup semi final against Arsenal last year, big match player he may be but I thought he was our worst player on the day.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jul 4, 2016 14:19:12 GMT 1
I have read a lot of comments saying Kanu is lazy, and only plays when there is cameras about the place. I think the only time he had more then 2 consecutive good games was Reading's relegation season towards the end. Maybe he needs a different midfield and structure to fulfil what he really can do? I've thought about that recently. I don't know how but Chris Coleman has got him playing effectively as a striker which he's rarely been good at for Reading, and I remember his first match for Wales as a sub in 2009 when he came on in that position and he just ran into blind alleys with not an idea of how to play the role. I've never seen him as a striker, just someone who can play there if needed, so it will be interesting to see where his new club plays him.
As for midfield, at the end of that season Adkins after he arrived I think put him behind the striker and he seemed to relish that position. Generally though he seems to be better on the right wing, surprisingly for a left footed player who can put in a great cross with his left foot. I always remember his performance, first half especially, in the 3-4 defeat against Man Utd Dec 2012 which I went to, when playing on the right which seemed odd at the time, he gave Evra trouble and scored a cracking goal.
Given the direction, or lack of, the club is going in, I have wondered recently whether that's been a factor. Fans may have criticised him, but there are other players who have underperformed as well. Also when things were going so well at the start of last season he was a key part of that until he got injured.
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Post by o on Jul 4, 2016 16:03:25 GMT 1
At the end of the day, we can say what we like about him, but what you cant take away from him, is what a world class turn that was for that goal, my son was impressed, so it was definitely good! And if that gets him another team to be mediocre at, fair enough. If only the same happened to the failing English players, released from contracts, and being offered lower wages at lower teams for their inept performances.
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 4, 2016 17:19:38 GMT 1
the problem with England is complex but can basically be split up into sense of entitlement, poor tactics, fragile mentality mixed with an over critical media and long tough season 1. Sense of entitlement - 2. Poor tactics and management - 3. Fragile mentality - 4. Tough long season - I agree with most of this. However, plenty of the Portuguese, German and French squads play for Premier division clubs, or PSG/Bayern/Real/Juventus etc, and command huge wages. Maybe their sense of entitlement is more justified ? They too have played long seasons. Cristiano Ronaldo played 48 matches (and scored 51 goals) for Real this season, plus internationals. Paul Pogba played 49 games for Juventus, plus internationals. Mats Hummels played 50 times for Borussia Dortmund, plus internationals. etc. etc. So I don't agree that the tough long season is any worse for England than the other major nations. Which means that fragile mentality and poor tactics, are the two factors which really separate England from the successful nations. And I suspect the Spanish press is saying the same about their team, but at least they went out to a leading nation. Still, we could be Dutch.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jul 4, 2016 17:22:32 GMT 1
England - 5 Spurs players - lose to Iceland. Belgium - 3 Spurs players - lose to Wales. And Spurs finished third in the two horse final run in to the 2015-16 EPL. England won the 1966 World Cup because they dropped their top goalscorer Jimmy Greaves who was the only player in the squad who played for ...... Spurs. France had better drop their goalkeeper then if they plan on winning this.
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cally
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Post by cally on Jul 4, 2016 18:20:41 GMT 1
England - 5 Spurs players - lose to Iceland. Belgium - 3 Spurs players - lose to Wales. And Spurs finished third in the two horse final run in to the 2015-16 EPL. England won the 1966 World Cup because they dropped their top goalscorer Jimmy Greaves who was the only player in the squad who played for ...... Spurs. France had better drop their goalkeeper then if they plan on winning this. As much as I love Hugo lloris, I have to admit that I don't feel safe with him. But he's better than the others goals in the team.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Jul 4, 2016 18:52:55 GMT 1
its definitely a mix of things, bringing in the right coach will solve 80% of our problems, we don't have any stand out players at international level now so I think if someone is doing exceptionally well in the league they should be given a shot for England in qualifying, these include Creswell, Dann, Drinkwater, Noble, Albrighton, Antonio, Townsend, Defoe, Deeney
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Post by o on Jul 4, 2016 19:41:15 GMT 1
But who is the right coach?
And I dont get this moan about a long hard season, diddums, more that their minds are already on the beach!
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Post by Shireblogger on Jul 4, 2016 20:08:07 GMT 1
its definitely a mix of things, bringing in the right coach will solve 80% of our problems, we don't have any stand out players at international level now so I think if someone is doing exceptionally well in the league they should be given a shot for England in qualifying, these include Creswell, Dann, Drinkwater, Noble, Albrighton, Antonio, Townsend, Defoe, Deeney Agree. We also need some international class centre backs.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Jul 4, 2016 20:57:51 GMT 1
We should get a German in.
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