France - Netherlands final.
Semi-finals | Spain vs France | Netherlands vs England
- Thread starter top1whoisman
- Start date
Englands lucky progress and easy draw wont last on Wednesday. Holland Spain final nailed on with the Spanish taking the final and well deserved.
Strange logic. Gakpo is having a great Euro. Also, English forwards are destroying English teams in the premier league but not so much in Euros.Yes because Gakpo and Depay tore the English teams to shreds in the premier league
Gakpo looks like a different player for Holland, every time he gets the ball something could happen. Confidence is certainly high
Two teams that look largely crap and both were lucky to get through to the semi-final. Whichever team turns up on the day more will win it. England have a much better team on paper but the Southgate factor has to be taken into account. Against a "big" team I imagine he will go full turtle and try to hit the Dutch on the break. Would be classic if we score early and then try to hold it for 80 minutes only to lose again.
Gakpo is also weirdly being used centrally at Liverpool a lot (or at least, the games I watched). He's absolutely cack in the center as he needs space. He's an Ali Express Arjen Robben (emphasis on Ali Express). He scored that exact Austria goal against United as well last season for instance.
Last edited:
Showing down the line would be ideal, but he does things so suddenly and explosively that he can feint to go down the line, but use those split seconds of confusion to play a ball, cross inside - it's such an asset to be able to play the ball in accurately without even having to beat a man, and honestly, if things click (the player receiving doing their bit), it can be unplayable.Ah yes, that is true. He is the best remaining bet but as with the rest of your paragraph I would point to the Euro 21 Final where after the goal in the first 10 mins, I don't recall Shaw or England doing much attacking or putting much pressure on Italy to really 'tire' their players in transition/counters etc. I feel Spain would do the same and suffocate England even more. Don't get me wrong, England certainly have the players to do an Ole (against City) type of job but it doesn't really pertain to what we've seen before.
I agree about Yamal's qualities on the ball i.e his passing and moving/feints, which is why I would ask Shaw to completely cut off the inside lanes and 'gift' or bait him towards the goal line. I don't think Yamal has the first or second step (ala Dembele/Williams etc) to then thunder past Shaw and if he does, at best I would be hoping it would be a deep right (weak) footed cross that our central defenders can see all the way. Well that's I think should happen in theory anyways
But yes, let's see how Shaw and England fare against Netherlands first. Too many steps ahead for now!
Yamal conditions defenders too, so there's a lot of cat and mouse there. Concentration isn't Shaw's greatest strength, but I think respect for such a task would see him be as switched on as he can be. I also think his stint at CB has helped him loads with the cerebral side of the game, and he didn't have that experience in '21, where he was far more reliant on athleticism and physical prowess than he is now.
He's not as quick in his movements now, but he's got a sharper mind doing the anticipatory work now, which is invaluable.
But yeah, Holland... which is hard game to envision.
All my (salty) banter aside this Euro's, I don't think we have much of a chance against England. Our midfield isn't good enough to ever dominate possession and we're not a physical pressing machine like the Swiss (or Austrian and Turkey). So England will have the ball, move it around slowly while most of the stadium falls asleep. Then somewhere around the 85 minute mark we will have a feck up, concede a penalty and lose.
I'll never admit to having said that however and we're smasing you 4-1 as payback for 1996 (which is weirdly the last time we met at a tournament).
I'll never admit to having said that however and we're smasing you 4-1 as payback for 1996 (which is weirdly the last time we met at a tournament).
Yamal's not seeing out games and is rightfully being protected from himself, which is a good thing. He has a 65-75ish minute window to affect the game, and unless Spain become irresponsible, that should remain the case.
Whilst he's on the pitch, the majority of the time, the fullback will be pinned and preoccupied with positioning and containment. The longer the game goes on, the time left to be of that mindset reduces as it gets closer to Yamal's substitution. Once he's off, the game can open up and the fullback can look to a two-way role with the suffocating presence removed.
I do think you'll look to push the pace of the game wherever you can and you are more fluid than England in getting the ball up the pitch.
You're neither a patch on the true Dutch maestros individually or collectively, however so your moments aren't anywhere near as imposing as they used to be with an Overmars or Robben bombing up the pitch looking to score or assist a Kluivert or Van Persie with a heft threat coming through midfield in a Sneijder or Seedorf. You make far more unforced errors and aren't spectacular at anything and I think you can be put off your game quicker now.
Traffic cone Kane isn't going to bother your defence, if what we've seen of him persists, but Saka and Bellingham drawing men out of your defensive line is intriguing for me because I don't think it takes much to panic you back there. I also don't think you have much answer to runners from deep. Mainoo making dribbling runs through the lines or a trademark carry and long shot from Rice, so I'm expecting both teams to be shaky and unspectacular with a moment or two of decisive action deciding the game.
It won't be anything like the quality of the 4-1... heh.
If England actually utilise the left flank with an able player, I reckon you'll be uncomfortably stretched too. I don't think your side handles stress testing well so that is an inlet, if Southgate has the balls to try.... so that's a no then.
Hoping Spain will win this now. England and France are terrible to watch, especially considering all the talent available to them.
Yeah our defensive line is a weird thing. On paper it's absolutaly world class, but in practice, eeeeeh.
Yeah, I feel that. If you are scored on, they don't recover well either - think a 1 can become a 2 in short succession if a team has the nerve to try.
On top of that, we have possibly the worst coaches in the Euros, who rather plays his friends than the actual better player
Southgate will once again sit back and watch his team walk around the pitch in a desperate attempt to keep it 0-0, Holland will score, he'll wait until the 73rd minute to bring on Palmer and Toney, we'll get a jammy equaliser, see out ET and win on pens...
Then in the final we'll get dominated by a vibrant Spain side who'll go 1-0 in the first half with 78% possession, Southgate won't have a clue how to change things so he'll avoid making subs, the players will continue chasing shadows, Palmer and Toney will come on in the 68th minute, England will push forward and Spain will go 2-0 up on the counter. Game over.
Sadly, I don't think Southgate will allow his team to get at Spain. He'll tell them to sit and absorb pressure. But the Spanish are too clever, too patient and too adept at every kind of shithousery that they'll find a way through, no doubt getting a few England players booked in the process. If England someone score first, then Spain will equalise and put pressure on. If it's a draw after ET then I reckon England loses on pens because they'll crumble under the last minute expectancy of having the chance to win a trophy.
Then in the final we'll get dominated by a vibrant Spain side who'll go 1-0 in the first half with 78% possession, Southgate won't have a clue how to change things so he'll avoid making subs, the players will continue chasing shadows, Palmer and Toney will come on in the 68th minute, England will push forward and Spain will go 2-0 up on the counter. Game over.
Sadly, I don't think Southgate will allow his team to get at Spain. He'll tell them to sit and absorb pressure. But the Spanish are too clever, too patient and too adept at every kind of shithousery that they'll find a way through, no doubt getting a few England players booked in the process. If England someone score first, then Spain will equalise and put pressure on. If it's a draw after ET then I reckon England loses on pens because they'll crumble under the last minute expectancy of having the chance to win a trophy.
Oh come on, Kirk. The final is on the 14th! If THAT isn't an omen than what is?
Spain to beat France and Netherlands to outplay England and lose.
An omen that France will win it if anything
I‘d go for this too. You‘d have to start Weghorst seeing as how well he‘s done, over Brobbey.
I actually rate Koeman, he‘s getting results with an underwhelming squad, with attacking football.
I do not see an issue with his line ups. The wildly criticized Depay is important for us for his creativity and hold up play and Frimpong didn‘t look that good when he played. You can argue about Bergwijn, because he was poor against Turkey.
Who do you think should play instead?
Think he's evenly matched with sir Gareth.
For that, you deserve England knocking us out with a lucky goal in injury time.
England beating shithousery Spain would make a brilliant final
The only final worth watching would be Spain-Netherlands.
prepare to be dissapointed
I know
.I’m half Dutch, if Holland get to the the final I’ll be supporting them.I know
Yeah we go full orange. The Dutch know how to support and party.
Felix Zwayer will ref your game.
We got your worst referee, you get ours, fair deal.
We got your worst referee, you get ours, fair deal.
Not really. It’s only the Euros.
He’d deserve some flowers but not those flowers.
You haven't even lost yet guys, calm down.
Why even open yourself up to the conspiracy theories if you're UEFA?
Just had a look at the stats for England and Spain because it doesn't seem like we play Spain all that often. According to Google, since 1950 we've played them in total 6 times, we are W1 D2 L3 and the last time we played them in an actual tournament (not incl the Nations League) was World Cup 1982 (drew 0-0) and prior to that World Cup 1950!
Spain v England final
France-England for the final.
Most spectacular game in the history of football.
Most spectacular game in the history of football.
That's an absolute joke regarding the referee. Id put a formal complaint in if I were the Netherlands or England.