The Euro 2020 (football) thread.

Sweden could and should have scored from their two significant counter attacks.

 

Obviously.
They have as much chance of staying in as Spain.

 

Decent effort from Scotland, could easily have won the match. Wonder goal of the tournament so far from the CR. Not sure why the goalie was in hanging out in Derby though. Think the Scots will give England a good test.

Spanish possession football is not what it once was. Still a technically gifted side but now lacking in the final third. Not sure what the manager sees in Morata. Good performance from Lindelof. Looking forward to seeing some more of Isak.

 

What is it about this absurd obsession with possession? Spain, 85% possession - no goals. Playing out from the back - ridiculous! It just puts you under pressure in your own penalty area. It only takes a second to score a goal (Clough) so the rest of the time in possession is wasted. The premier league have it about right - blood and thunder. Spain don't.

 

I think you'll find all the best teams in the PL do it and some extremely well.

 

Absolutely, that 1978 team was a very good team mismanaged by a clown of a manager. The game against Holland was the best I've seen them play and the Dutch side were playing their total football at the time and they went on to contest the final. Best Jock squad ever and should have made the quarters at least.

 

I've just googled the squad to remind myself - my goodness there were some top players and they were very entertaining to watch.
The current crop don't even come near imo.

 

Looking forward for a Pre-final tonight

 

You must have watched a different game if you thought Scotland could easily have won that! They were nowhere near and will have to improve significantly to avoid a bigger loss against England.

 

The idea is by playing the ball out you are retaining possession and using the ball rather than hoofing it up to some 'big lad' on the half way line and having a very good chance of giving the ball away without having a chance to use it. All the best teams - both league and international - play this way for this reason. One of the best reads on this is 'Pep Confidential' - the story of Guardiola's first season at Bayern - he explains why and how his teams play the way they do. Spain lacked width and a cutting edge yesterday.

 

"Christ, I haven't felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978…” Mark "Rent-Boy" Renton. David Coleman's commentary has always stayed with me:

Scotland's progress through the tournament are amongst my first World Cup memories...a certain England not being there in 74 or 78!

 

Willie Johnston made it moot though. The problem was the policy of picking the players who played in Scotland in the early games whereas a lot of the better players had moved 'down south'. I wonder how much of that was the SFA rather than Ally MacCleod himself...

 

I watched the same game as kensalriser. That Scottish team wouldn't have been able to beat any Championship side playing like that. Uefa have increased the size of the competition to make more money for themselves so we end up with a number of teams who are not competitive at this level - Wales and North Macedonia being two others. Finland won only because the injury to Christian Eriksen knocked the stuffing out of Denmark. England should comfortably beat Scotland and if they don't I would not expect them to progress much further in the competition.

 

I thought Neanderthals were extinct…

You’d like Sam Allardyce teams.

and Clough of all people loathed hoof ball. He said grass was designed to play football on.

 

Their genes live on in homo sapiens.

 

Back then there were quite a few Scottish players playing at the best English teams, now hardly any. I know there are fewer English players playing at the top level in England now too, but the disappearance of Scottish players seems more pronounced. What happened?

 

The huge number of foreign players in the PL is definitely a factor although I'm a great believer that if you're good enough you'll still make it through.
Kane is a perfect example of that and more recently Foden & Mount.
I'd like to think that Billy Gilmour will make it at Chelsea but I have my doubts.

 

They were close to scoring on a number of occasions. Fine margins.

 

The lack of foreign players there meant diet, training and coaching never developed.

 

It's true they did have some good chances but at that level they have to be converted as invariably the wasteful team will be punished.
I wonder which England player will be first to try a strike from the halfway line on Friday? - my money's on Kane.