38 minutes ago, Marc505 said:

England v Germany in Dublin fucking hell all police leave cancelled.

Flights fook all atm

17 hours ago, ZicoKelly said:

Group F looks a right cunt to get out of

I do hope Scotland qualify into our group

Said on telly all 3 could get through ! Best 3rd place go through FFS

15 minutes ago, snowball said:

Said on telly all 3 could get through ! Best 3rd place go through FFS

48 matches played to knock out 8 teams. 

 

56 minutes ago, snowball said:

Said on telly all 3 could get through ! Best 3rd place go through FFS

That's how Portugal scraped through last time, 3 draws and came from behind 3 times v Hungary in the last game before going on to win it!

56 minutes ago, jeep said:

48 matches played to knock out 8 teams. 

 

No. it's 36 matches to eliminate 8 teams, or 48 matches to eliminate 20.

4 minutes ago, MalcolmW said:

No. it's 36 matches to eliminate 8 teams, or 48 matches to eliminate 20.

Of course. I was thinking it was 8 groups. 

Danke Malc 👍

Who's doing the trains now virgin aren't doing Manc - London? 

No doubt we'll get shafted 

8 minutes ago, L/H White said:

Who's doing the trains now virgin aren't doing Manc - London? 

No doubt we'll get shafted 

Avanti west coast 

22 hours ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Why did they do the draw before knowing who all the competing teams are going to be?

So if we win the group we could play France or Germany or Portugal?

No easy route to the latter stages for Inglaterra then

Bring it on.

Not "easy" but probably playing the entire tournament at Wembley apart from 1 game on our doorstep in Ireland is a massive advantage.  It feels like we're getting everything in our favour, yes if we win it will be a great achievement but doesn't come close to the achievement of winning a tournament abroad.  And the qualifiers were effectively dress rehearsals rather than competitive games, it all feels a bit handed to us on a plate, relatively.  Southgate is either going to be regarded as the 2nd greatest England manager of all time, or he's going to be a huge failure if we manage to get ourselves out of the tournament before at least the semi final.

1 hour ago, Johnnyrotten said:

Not "easy" but probably playing the entire tournament at Wembley apart from 1 game on our doorstep in Ireland is a massive advantage.  It feels like we're getting everything in our favour, yes if we win it will be a great achievement but doesn't come close to the achievement of winning a tournament abroad.  And the qualifiers were effectively dress rehearsals rather than competitive games, it all feels a bit handed to us on a plate, relatively.  Southgate is either going to be regarded as the 2nd greatest England manager of all time, or he's going to be a huge failure if we manage to get ourselves out of the tournament before at least the semi final.

Being hosts for the semis and final is obviously an advantage (provided the semis are reached)
 but you have overstated the case, or rather mis-stated it. Apart from the last 16 match (in Dublin if we win the group) the QF will be in Rome (or St Petersburg or even Munich or Baku).

Several other teams will play all their group matches in their own country - Italy, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Germany.

If we lose narrowly in the last 16 against France / Germany / Portugal, and that team goes on to win the tournament well, would that be failure?

1 hour ago, MalcolmW said:

Being hosts for the semis and final is obviously an advantage (provided the semis are reached)
 but you have overstated the case, or rather mis-stated it. Apart from the last 16 match (in Dublin if we win the group) the QF will be in Rome (or St Petersburg or even Munich or Baku).

Several other teams will play all their group matches in their own country - Italy, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Germany.

If we lose narrowly in the last 16 against France / Germany / Portugal, and that team goes on to win the tournament well, would that be failure?

Yes.

If you've got the favourites tag, you need to prove it correct.

Can't keep qualifying comfortably, then not achieving much (world cup excepted obviously).

 

5 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Yes.

If you've got the favourites tag, you need to prove it correct.

Can't keep qualifying comfortably, then not achieving much (world cup excepted obviously).

 

Problem was with that world cup when we played decent opposition we lost three times 

1 hour ago, MalcolmW said:

Being hosts for the semis and final is obviously an advantage (provided the semis are reached)
 but you have overstated the case, or rather mis-stated it. Apart from the last 16 match (in Dublin if we win the group) the QF will be in Rome (or St Petersburg or even Munich or Baku).

Several other teams will play all their group matches in their own country - Italy, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Germany.

If we lose narrowly in the last 16 against France / Germany / Portugal, and that team goes on to win the tournament well, would that be failure?

Malc, there's no such country as Holland. It's the Netherlands....

1 hour ago, MalcolmW said:

Being hosts for the semis and final is obviously an advantage (provided the semis are reached)
 but you have overstated the case, or rather mis-stated it. Apart from the last 16 match (in Dublin if we win the group) the QF will be in Rome (or St Petersburg or even Munich or Baku).

Several other teams will play all their group matches in their own country - Italy, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Germany.

If we lose narrowly in the last 16 against France / Germany / Portugal, and that team goes on to win the tournament well, would that be failure?

Thanks for the correction, I'm glad weve got an 'overseas' game, if we progress, to make it feel more like a proper tournament.  And yes 5 other countries play their group games at home, but those countries would probably qualify if they were played away, never mind on neutral territory.  Its the knockout games that really count and we wont be playing away in the semi or final.  I'm looking forward to it as much as anyone, but its odd that you normally have one team that plays at home in every game, and the other 23 play every game on neutral territory.  So unless the hosts win, which is rare, everyone else has won it "away".  This time there will be lots of teams playing many home games, which also means lots of teams playing several away games, eg if you're in Holland's group then end up playing away in Rome or Munich, manage to get through that and its England away potentially.  I  dont like a non-level playing field because I want to see who the best team is.

48 minutes ago, jeep said:

Malc, there's no such country as Holland. It's the Netherlands....

Tell that to the Sunday Times!

1 hour ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Yes.

If you've got the favourites tag, you need to prove it correct.

Can't keep qualifying comfortably, then not achieving much (world cup excepted obviously).

 

When, outside of England, have we ever been favourites to win a tournament?

We'll do what we always do. Come up short as soon as we meet any quality opponents 

3 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

When, outside of England, have we ever been favourites to win a tournament?

We'll do what we always do. Come up short as soon as we meet any quality opponents 

Seem to remember we were either favourites or joint favourites for Euro88. Our qualifying record was superb including a fantastic 4-1 win in Yugoslavia. 

Played 3, lost 3 of course, at the Finals

14 hours ago, Duck Egg said:

When, outside of England, have we ever been favourites to win a tournament?

We'll do what we always do. Come up short as soon as we meet any quality opponents 

We're favourites now apparently.

Don't do gambling, but if the bookies are putting us up there, then there's usually good reason.

jesus, i've only just seen those odds

massive value down the market, and lay the hell out of us

40 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

We're favourites now apparently.

Don't do gambling, but if the bookies are putting us up there, then there's usually good reason.

there is good reason, but it isnt that we are the best team

thats not how bookies set their prices

Patriotic blind faith money drives the prices down.

England never offer good value at the odds quoted.

15 minutes ago, Traf said:

Patriotic blind faith money drives the prices down.

England never offer good value at the odds quoted.

Makes sense, but don't other nations' fans also bet on their team, balancing it out a bit?

Or is that with different companies?

All a bit of a fog to be honest. Never placed a bet in my life!

8 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

We're favourites now apparently.

Don't do gambling, but if the bookies are putting us up there, then there's usually good reason.

As a comparison, if the 4 FA Cup semi finalists were Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Barnsley, and City played Liverpool in semi while Chelsea played Barnsley, the bookies favourites would probably be Chelsea.  Not because they are the best team, but that they are the only 1 of the 4 virtually certain to be in the final.  England are favourites because its hard to see them not getting to the semi, and if they get there they are at home.  But when the semis are known, I'd expect the stronger team in the other match to be favourites given that they will probably have faced some really tough games to get there and of course we always get found out against top sides.

31 minutes ago, Johnnyrotten said:

 England are favourites because its hard to see them not getting to the semi, and if they get there they are at home.  But when the semis are known, I'd expect the stronger team in the other match to be favourites given that they will probably have faced some really tough games to get there and of course we always get found out against top sides.

If England win the group they will then face France / Germany / Portugal / Brazil (Barnsley) in the next round, so it is easy to see them losing before the quarter-finals.

If they are favourites it is because of the amount being placed on them to win, not on their actual merits.

After last night - we cannot win this with Pickford in goal. Simply not good enough in my eyes. Is there anyone better?