Euro 2012

[Edley]

I'd put the ox in the attacking midfield role instead of on the wing. when he's been playing in that position, Arsenal beat Milan with
3-0

He was deployed as a holding midfielder in that game.

they were well on their way to defeating Norwich with 3-1 before wenger moved him into the wing and put back Ramsey into the midfield place

They were losing 2-1 when Chamberlain came on and Ramsey was the player he replaced. Under the circumstances, a 3-1 victory to Arsenal would have been extraordinary.

[RickyGerbail]

oops.

[Hobes]

With so little time to prepare I was hoping England would go for broke playing hoofball in a 4-3-3 with Crouch, Holt and Carroll up front. it would be interesting to see how many teams would cope against those brutes.

[holyzombiejesus]

It's been mentioned in another thread but is anyone collecting the Euro 2012 Panini stickers? What the fuck is with the England photos?

[massive bereavement]

It's been mentioned in another thread but is anyone collecting the Euro 2012 Panini stickers? What the fuck is with the England photos?

You mean the photoshopped plain white shirts? The English FA have an exclusive deal with Merlin stickers, so Panini are not allowed to show either the England badge or kit. This is has been the case since the 1998 World Cup collection. A few other nations did similar deals in the early 2000's, but they've all now seemingly recognised that Panini is the only worthwhile collection apart from, sadly, England. It's all rather pathetic and makes us look like twats. It's also another excuse for me to hope that England get knocked out as soon as possible despite this country being my place of birth and that of both of my parents.
COME ON IRELAND!!!!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

With so little time to prepare I was hoping England would go for broke playing hoofball in a 4-3-3 with Crouch, Holt and Carroll up front. it would be interesting to see how many teams would cope against those brutes.

It would be. Throw Tom Huddlestone and Lee Cattermole in the midfield as well.

[holyzombiejesus]

You mean the photoshopped plain white shirts?

And the swirly psychedelic team photo and action shots. They did it a few years ago too but back then they all seemed to have photoshopped in bright blue eyes aswell. Got any swaps?

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Top five kits:

1. Sweden away
2. Portugal away
3. Germany away
4. England away
5. Croatia home

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Should be

Midfielders:

Scott Parker
Steven Gerrard
Frank Lampard
Adam Johnson
Gareth Barry
Ashley Young
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
James Milner

Forwards:

Danny Welbeck
Jermain Defoe
Wayne Rooney
Peter Crouch
Robbie Fowler

And leave Glen Johnson at home.

[ziggy starbucks]

Top five kits:

1. Sweden away
2. Portugal away
3. Germany away
4. England away
5. Croatia home

I'm partial to the Dutch home and away kits, the black-with-a-dash-of-orange look does it for me. The Croatian home kit is always good and I've always rather liked the German green away kit for some reason

England's blue away ensemble is fine, its just a pity the humans wearing it are complete lumps. I'm Ukrainian born and bred but our yellow garb is horrible.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

The worst list is definitely topped by Ukraine:



Adding national symbols or elements of traditional costume to a kit is always a bad idea.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Nah, not always a bad idea, it just needs a bit better design than...that.

[doppelkorn]

I like OO-kraYEE-NA's kits.

My five best kits:

Sweden away
Sweden home
Germany away (but with the home shorts and socks)
Croatia away
Netherlands away

My five worst kits:

France home
England away
Greece home
Greece away
Spain away

[ziggy starbucks]

As a proud Ukrainian, I was saddened when the russian lapdogs in our FA turned down my own design

[Lyndon]

I'm seriously going to support Ukraine now you've given them this thrilling narrative.

[imitationleather]

The clubnight me and my mate run was going to have a month off in June, but the pun on our name was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

It's not spamming because I'm not going to tell you what E.R.O stands for, nor when or where it is. Ha! (I wouldn't even be able to tell you the last two if I wanted to because we've not arranged anything yet...)

[chand]

I think this squad is fine. It probably won't win the tournament, but neither would any of the other permutations.  Funny how the narrative has swung from: "Hodgson should kick out the old guard" to "what is he doing not including Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick?" They've had plenty of chances.

Actually, by 'the old guard', people were usually talking about Gerrard and Lampard, and to a lesser extent  Shaun Wright-Phillips, and the mediocre strikers we've had (Heskey). Also John Terry because he's not always been that good for England and is an enormous cunt. England have not been going out of tournaments because of Rio Ferdinand (who is usually good for England, and wasn't present for the 2010 debacle), or Michael Carrick (who NEVER ACTUALLY FUCKING PLAYS ANY TOURNAMENT OR QUALIFYING FOOTBALL). Indeed, the reason Carrick isn't in is supposedly because he didn't play enough in qualifying, so he's hardly one of the old guard who've been consistently turding it up for England since 2004.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Carrick himself refused to be a 'bit-part' which isn't very teamly of him.

In May 2012, England manager Roy Hodgson said he left Carrick out of the 23-man squad and the standby list for the 2012 UEFA European Championships because he had previously told the Football Association that he did not want to be a squad player

Usually any bit-part players that start dictating terms to the FA get discarded very very quickly.

[the midnight watch baboon]

England need to get back to having DARK blue shorts. These lighter-coloured ones are symbolic of what's wrong with our society today. GERREMOUT

[graffic]

I am happy with Hodgsons choices although I would have left Milner, Barry and particularly Glen Johnson at home. I hope Andy Carrol proves all the skeptics wrong and scores a few goals. I'm not a liverpool fan but its pretty obvious why Hodgson would prefer a young liverpool striker to a stoke city striker who has never proved himself at a big club or performed in a big tournament.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

never proved himself at a big club or performed in a big tournament.

That applies to Andy Carroll too.

[DrGreggles]

Got tickets to a gig on Saturday 23rd June with the gf - 4 year anniversary and that.

Given that Ireland will obviously win Group C, and England might scrape through as Group D runners up, there's every chance that I'll have a difficult choice to make that night!

[graffic]

I'd still prefer Carroll he's younger and has more to offer i think. His performance in FA cup final was sublime.

[RickyGerbail]

some new stuff i hadn't read about the 2010 French debacle:

"Prior to the start of the World Cup, L'Équipe claimed that Gourcuff had lost the faith of France's senior players, who were said to have called on Raymond Domenech to give his place in the starting XI to Abou Diaby. The paper recently reported that, having been made aware of their feelings, Gourcuff convened a meeting with the captain Patrice Evra, the vice-captain Ribéry and the former captain Thierry Henry, in which he asked for their support on the pitch, only for the trio to make a beeline for Domenech's hotel room to tell the coach that there was no place in the squad for une pleureuse (a cry baby)".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/may/18/yoann-gourcuff-france-sport-network

[Dark Poet]

England - France.

We've sold approximately 2000 tickets, the French have sold 27.

This could be dire.

[Beagle 2]

England - France.

We've sold approximately 2000 tickets, the French have sold 27.

This could be dire.

Have you got a source for that?

[Slaaaaabs]

Gareth Barry confirmed out of the tournament. Jagielka replaces him in the squad.

Hodgson choosing a CB to replace a CM? Must have seen enough of Henderson in training.

[Dark Poet]

Have you got a source for that?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2150193/David-Bernstein-wants-stay-FA-chairman--Charles-Sale.html

[thepuffpastryhangman]

So Sol's saying 'if you're black, hold back' and 'if you're brown, turn it down' with regard to non-crackers goin' Ukraine. (I've not seen Panorama yet)

And what are the England team doing? Meeting any victims of the daily racist (not yet a newspaper) attacks? Highlighting ongoing inequality? Fingers on the pulse of a political hot potato?

Apparently they're meeting some survivors from WW2...

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Conveniently ignoring all the anti-semitism shown in the documentary puffy?

I'm shocked. Really shocked.