UEFA Euro 2020

[JENNYJET]

An abundance of caution at play here. England are so worried or have access to information not released to media. One assumes the Scotland team have testing procedures that have cleared the squad to continue and that the infected player has engaged in extracurricular activity exposing himself to infection. The bubble has been breached and England or Scotland could theoretically be expelled from participating further.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

An abundance of caution at play here. England are so worried or have access to information not released to media. One assumes the Scotland team have testing procedures that have cleared the squad to continue and that the infected player has engaged in extracurricular activity exposing himself to infection. The bubble has been breached and England or Scotland could theoretically be expelled from participating further.

Chilwell and Mount have tested negative for the virus according to the BBC, as have the English and Scottish squads, Gilmour apart.

PHE guidance states someone could be considered a close contact and might have to self-isolate if they had a face-to-face conversation within one metre, or had been within two metres of someone for more than 15 minutes who tested positive for Covid-19.

Gilmour's Scottish team mates have been living as a group during the competition and so would come into close contact with him in dressing rooms, showers, at team meetings and on the pitch, and probably in 'off-duty' hours too.

So unless the Scottish government's protocol is different to PHE's the question remains: why are Mount and Chilwell self-isolating after one incident of close contact with Gilmour when the Scottish squad have been in close contact with Gilmour and with each other for at least two weeks?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I meant to add that Southgate is far from happy. He told ITV:

"They [Mason Mount & Ben Chilwell] are hugely disappointed to miss the games. We just have to get on with it. It is a bizarre situation, they have spent 120 seconds too long in a fairly open space. It is full of contradictions for me but we will get on with it.

"I don't understand it because there are teams travelling around by planes, coach and by bus in enclosed spaces for hours and our two boys have been pinged. I really don't get it."

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Surely, UEFA should have guidelines on this as they are the governing body of the competition and should ensure that each team follows the same procedures in the case of a player becoming infected. Any guidelines should also cover contacts made by an infected player.

Kevin

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I meant to add that Southgate is far from happy. He told ITV:

"They [Mason Mount & Ben Chilwell] are hugely disappointed to miss the games. We just have to get on with it. It is a bizarre situation, they have spent 120 seconds too long in a fairly open space. It is full of contradictions for me but we will get on with it.

"I don't understand it because there are teams travelling around by planes, coach and by bus in enclosed spaces for hours and our two boys have been pinged. I really don't get it."

Sorry TLY, we must have posted at the same time. Who has ruled that Mount and Chilwell can't play whilst there are no restrictions on Scotland's team (excepting that Gilmour must be self isolating)? Are individual teams being ruled by their home countries regulations? This would seem odd and imply that each team in the competition could be subject to different rules and not necessarily compliant with the country in which they are playing.

Kevin

 

[JENNYJET]

I believe it may be PHE guidelines relating to persons having close contact with infected persons. If any risk exists, self isolation is required. It illustrates the folly of players engaging with others in such a friendly manner, something the crowd seems to ignore at will.

 

[jfy1999]

Another scrappy and underwhelming win but the upside is that the next game will almost certainly be a true test of our quality against one of the attack minded sides from group F. No disrespect to the sides from Group E but all of them have struggled for goals so far and I’m not sure I could take another snooze fest.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Another scrappy and underwhelming win

Yes, another thumping 1-0 victory for England. Whilst their first half performance was good (and Saka was very impressive) the second half failed to deliver. England will really need to up their game if they are going to progress beyond the next round.

Kevin

 

[David_itl]

I spent a fair while laughing at Scotland. For all the talk of how they did against England, it seemed virtually the whole media didn't latch onto the idea that at the end of England-Scotland match, in rhe last round of matches England were pretty much guaranteed to qualify regardless of result whereas Scotland would need to win to gt through. It's no use raising your game against 1 opponent only (and still not win) if you do not get something out of he other games. The reality check is there for Scotland.

As for England, it seems bad to say but we have not done ourselves any favours by winning as we get to play France, Germany or Portugal.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

As someone else wrote in this thread, because of traditional rivalries the game against England was Scotland's cup final. They pulled out all the stops and England didn't really stir themselves (perhaps Scotland didn't let them). Scotland's true level at the moment is shown by their final group position - last with just the one point against England, although two of their matches were at home and the third against the 'Auld Enemy' in its lair.

England did just enough to win last night. In truth the Czech Republic created little and neither did England once they went ahead.

England are yet to concede a goal in this competition: 1-0; 0-0; 1-0, and in the two pre-tournament games they won both 1-0. It's often said that grinding out 1-0 wins is the way that some club teams gain promotion and there is some truth in that. I doubt that can be guaranteed to succeed against teams like France, Germany, Portugal, Italy and others though.

Southgate has made no secret that he bases his tactics on a sound defence. It's not exciting to watch, other than perhaps by those interested mainly in technical nuances rather than entertainment. Even then I suspect that most England supporters would prefer an uninspired route to and winning the final rather than seeing England winning matches 4-0, 5-3 etc before losing in the quarter-finals. The worst of both worlds would be a continued lack of entertainment and still going out relatively quickly in the knock-out stage.

 

[Jerry]

Southgate has made no secret that he bases his tactics on a sound defence.

If I remember correctly as a player he was a centre back? So he'll probably be more defensive minded. In the end his job is to win games and the tournament. If England win win every game 1 nil and win the tournament would people actually care about the style of play or the trophy?

 

[Brummiegem]

Gareth Southgate for most of his Crystal Palace career was actually a midfielder. It was only when he came to Aston Villa somebody saw something in him to realise he could become a decent defender. Defensive midfielders weren't generally a big thing back then.I imagine someone will correct me if i am wrong, but central midfielders tended to be more robust, and tough tacklers, but also had the ability to get forward and score goals.Southgate didn't score many goals for Villa, but was a very good defender, and decent enough passer of the ball.

As for the match, underwhelming is one word i would use. I would like someone to explain to me though, why is it we have some very good attacking players who do things naturally for their clubs? However as soon as they put on an England shirt they become scared of the ball, continually play sideways and backward passes. Something you rarely see them do in the premier league.
Bukayo Sako, Raheem Stirling and Jack Grealish who all started last night spend a lot of time in forward areas for their clubs, as do others in the squad, but we have rarely seen it consistently thus far in this tournament.
I am of course happy to be still in the Euros, but it is going to get much more difficult from hereon in. We are going to need to be more forward thinking against any of the teams we will face. That could mean taking Southgate out of his comfort zone and being more attack minded. However i have doubts that he is actually capable of setting up a team to be less defensive. Perhaps it does actually hark back to his playing days. Nothing fancy, but gets the job done. If it wins us the tournament then i'll take it every day of the week. Sadly i very much doubt it will.

 

[JENNYJET]

Probably not an explanation but a description of becoming an England player. One can be a brilliant performer at Aston Villa or Manchester City as you have a fat salary and everything on a plate. However, as an England player, the weight of expectation becomes all consuming and every indiscretion is magnified by the media. Then there follows the fear of failure hence the defensive nature of each game. Finally, the monkey on the back. 1966 !!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Conversely I've been watching Kalas (Czech Republic) and Nagy (Hungary) who both play for my local club Bristol City and they have looked far more comfortable and at ease playing for their countries than they do when playing in the EFL Championship. Nagy in particular was a revelation in Hungary's 1-1 draw against France. Playing with better players would help but they are also playing against better players.

This evening's matches will determine England's opponent in the last 16 round. I'm not sure that I am confident that England could beat any of them (France, Germany, Portugal, Hungary). However, England sometimes surprises. In the group games they were expected by many people to win each game. Many of these people won't expect them to beat France or Germany (who invariably begin tournaments slowly), and Portugal and Hungary would not be gifts either. Perhaps that might bring a change of mindset in the team and management.

I remember the 1966 World Cup when England looked distinctly unimpressive in the early matches and only really came to life in the knock-out stage. Alf Ramsey was like Gareth Southgate in some ways. His team played functional football that was not exciting to watch, albeit some of the matches in the later stages were exciting occasions. He was a pragmatist and as long as his team was successful providing great entertainment was not a priority.

Clutching at straws perhaps - we shall know early next week.

 

[jfy1999]

Tonight felt like a relegation battle on the the last day of the league season!

I’m still not sure what to make of having Germany as our opponents. Which Germany will turn up? The team that picked apart Portugal or the team that seemed in danger of caving in to the pressure tonight?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Euro 2020 - Last 16 matches, venues and kick-off times (times shown as BST)

Saturday 26 June

Wales v Denmark - Amsterdam, 17:00

Italy v Austria - Wembley, 20:00

Sunday 27 June

Netherlands v Czech Republic - Budapest, 17:00

Belgium v Portugal - Seville, 20:00

Monday 28 June

Croatia v Spain - Copenhagen, 17:00

France v Switzerland - Bucharest, 20:00

Tuesday 29 June

England v Germany - Wembley, 17:00

Sweden v Ukraine - Glasgow, 20:00

If England beat Germany they would have a quarter-final match in Rome against the winners of Sweden v Ukraine. If Wales win their match against Denmark their quarter-final opponents would be the winners of the Netherlands v Czech Republic match.

If both England and Wales progress beyond the quarter-finals they would meet in a semi-final at Wembley on the evening of Wednesday 7 July.

It's all 'ifs' and I'm getting much too far ahead of myself.

To address jfy1999's point, history shows that Germany invariably begin slowly in tournaments before slipping into gear later on. England have to hope that this won't happen in Euro2020. I guess that Germany will be favourites but England are at home.

 

[JENNYJET]

I can see Wales going furthest because they have no baggage or unrealistic expectations upon them. England have Germany to overcome and for that to happen, Mr. Southgate needs to take the shackles off and let the team play with natural enthusiasm. Fewer tactics and more instinctive play to surprise opponents.

 

[rollo]

How unfair that Germany go from the verge of being knocked out only to be given a bye in the next round.

Joking apart I reckon the game at Wembley is fifty/fifty with Englands best chance is to take the game to the German's and if we were able to win the route to the final opens up in theory at least.

If only football was that simple.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I can see Wales going furthest because they have no baggage or unrealistic expectations upon them. England have Germany to overcome and for that to happen, Mr. Southgate needs to take the shackles off and let the team play with natural enthusiasm. Fewer tactics and more instinctive play to surprise opponents.

England should always go into World Cup Finals and European Championship Finals with a realistic expectation of doing very well, given the history of the game in England, its huge popularity in the country, population size and the strength of and following of its major leagues even if many of the players and managers are not English. However, history shows that the pre-tournament optimistic expectations invariably turned out to be unrealistic.

I mentioned Alf Ramsey's pragmatic approach to winning the 1966 World Cup. Despite being at home England weren't pre-tournament favourites although Ramsey averred that England would win the World Cup. He was his own man unworried about press and fan criticism, no more strikingly shown than by his decision to eschew wingers in his formation. Wingers were a traditional part of the English game then.

England began that tournament unimpressively and some believe they were lucky to win a controversial quarter-final against Argentina. If the Internet and social media had been around then the criticism of the England manager would have been immense by the time the knock-out stage was reached. Yet Ramsey stuck to his guns. Will Southgate have the same strength of character if he believes in what he is doing?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Wales's Euro adventure came to an end yesterday when they were soundly beaten by Denmark. Wales were certainly on the wrong end of one or two controversial refereeing decisions though.

Denmark's second goal early in the second half resulted from a quick move down the field following a blatant foul on a Welsh forward (Moore) that the referee ignored. Late in the match a Welsh player (Wilson) was shown a red card after tackling an opponent which on replay seemed a harsh decision with a yellow seemingly more appropriate. By then though Wales were a well-beaten team.

An oddity of the competition is that Denmark are the first ever team to have progressed to the knock-out stage of a Euro tournament having lost their first two matches in the group stage. In fact, they only managed a win in their last match when they beat Russia 4-1, and on that basis qualified in second place in Group B with three points.

Belgium headed Group B winning all three of their matches but the other countries (Denmark, Finland and Russia) all finished with three points each. The vagaries of the competition rules determined that Denmark finished second even though Finland had beaten them in a group match. In fact, Finland did not even progress to the knock-out stage as one of the four best third-placed countries. In three of the groups the third-placed side had four points (more than second-placed Denmark in their group) which left the third-placed side in the other three groups with three points each. Of these countries Finland and Slovakia had an inferior goal difference to Ukraine (all had minus differences) so Ukraine finds itself in the last 16.