Euro 2024

[Maradona37]

It is what it is, England doesn't deserve to be in the final but they were better than Holland tonight. Spain should outplay this England side though, if Yamal scores I'm going to run naked around my block

The nightmare scenario is that Spain underperform or England drag them down to their level. Or Spain are brilliant but can't finish and England win with a goal off Stones's bollock.

 

[ZenI]

Fair enough, definitely as you are a good lad.

Looking back on it maybe it was my anti-England goggles. I still don't think it was a penalty but I have seen worse so maybe 'shocking' was the wrong word to use to describe it. I still wouldn't have given it though, and maybe you'll agree that it wasn't a clear and obvious error not to award the penalty so a review shouldn't have been recommended (though I don't like the 'clear and obvious' thing, but that is another story).

And yeah mate, it is just football lol. Just a game.

Yeah they should all be in jail for crimes against humanity up until tonight - they've terrorized us with their Talibanball. But fair enough, they played better tonight. But again, if karma is real and there is some divine justice Spain should kick their ass...

 

[Maradona37]

Yeah they should all be in jail for crimes against humanity up until tonight - they've terrorized us with their Talibanball. But fair enough, they played better tonight. But again, if karma is real and there is some divine justice Spain should kick their ass...

They were definitely better tonight than NED - much more so in the first half. I was impressed by them in the first half I must say.

The worry is they approach that level against ESP and make it a tough game for Spain. Hopefully they play more like against Slovakia and Spain rim them a la Italy in 2012.

 

[ZenI]

The nightmare scenario is that Spain underperform or England drag them down to their level. Or Spain are brilliant but can't finish and England win with a goal off Stones's bollock.

I thought the "nightmare scenario" would be me running naked with my beer belly around my block

 

[Maradona37]

I thought the "nightmare scenario" would be me running naked with my beer belly around my block

Hahahah. Good one.

 

[ajnotkeith]

People are discussing the ref a lot but in reality it was the VAR team responsible for that penalty.
Once again we have seen a decision made in real-time that is quite reasonable, and VAR calling the referee to review contentious incidents to pressure them into making a certain decision.

His on-field decision was fine and didn't need to be reviewed. Them stepping in to call him over was what provoked the penalty call. It is hard for a ref to oppose VAR and most don't do it regardless of how clear or not clear the call is.

VAR dictated that decision to him and to top it off gave him a very poor angle from the side which didn't show the contact clearly. We saw a much better one from behind which for some reason wasn't shown to the referee.

 

[Birdy]

Remarks:

1) England marginally better overall, both teams below par and did not deserve to be even in the semis, let alone final

2) Watkins' goal shows what kind of squad TerrorGate is misusing

3) I hope the Dutch FA also replaces Koeman in the summer. This Dutch squad is excellent and deserves a better coach to get the best out of it.
Picture this: Depay (who shouldn't be starting given the squad in the first place) gets injured early, and Koeman subs in a DM to play triple pivot (?), given that Reijnders and Schouten were already on.
Absolutely BOGUS and INCOMPREHENSIBLE move, given that the natural replacement Zirkzee was available, and would fit like a glove in this false 9 position Depay was playing
That's only an example, there are many

4) That pen should NEVER be a pen. Agree with Maradona there.
The shot is made, the ball has travelled, what happens afterwards is irrelevant. It's not a dribble to argue that Kane's ability to get on the ball is obstructed
It's a disgrace that some refs call this

5) Hope Lamine Nico and Olmo effectively win the WAR on TERROR on Sunday

 

[Maradona37]

People are discussing the ref a lot but in reality it was the VAR team responsible for that penalty.
Once again we have seen a decision made in real-time that is quite reasonable, and VAR calling the referee to review contentious incidents to pressure them into making a certain decision.

His on-field decision was fine and didn't need to be reviewed. Them stepping in to call him over was what provoked the penalty call. It is hard for a ref to oppose VAR and most don't do it regardless of how clear or not clear the call is.

VAR dictated that decision to him and to top it off gave him a very poor angle from the side which didn't show the contact clearly. We saw a much better one from behind which for some reason wasn't shown to the referee.

Yeah by penalty decision I really mean VAR with the clear and obvious thing. They should have stuck with his original decision, which as you say was reasonable. Some of his decisions for free-kicks etc were poor though imo, and that's on him.

Remarks:

1) England marginally better overall, both teams below par and did not deserve to be even in the semis, let alone final

2) Watkins' goal shows what kind of squad TerrorGate is misusing

3) I hope the Dutch FA also replaces Koeman in the summer. This Dutch squad is excellent and deserves a better coach to get the best out of it.
Picture this: Depay (who shouldn't be starting given the squad in the first place) gets injured early, and Koeman subs in a DM to play triple pivot (?), given that Reijnders and Schouten were already on.
Absolutely BOGUS and INCOMPREHENSIBLE move, given that the natural replacement Zirkzee was available, and would fit like a glove in this false 9 position Depay was playing
That's only an example, there are many

4) That pen should NEVER be a pen. Agree with Maradona there.
The shot is made, the ball has travelled, what happens afterwards is irrelevant. It's not a dribble to argue that Kane's ability to get on the ball is obstructed
It's a disgrace that some refs call this

5) Hope Lamine Nico and Olmo effectively win the WAR on TERROR on Sunday

Agree with most of that mate. As for the penalty - maybe the rules say it should be a penalty, they change them so often I can't keep up. But if that is the rule, I believe the rule is wrong.

 

[Birdy]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1811139104765350324

the famous Kasparov with a comment on the pen that is just common sense!

 

[Maradona37]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1811139104765350324

the famous Kasparov with a comment on the pen that is just common sense!

Maybe Kane is playing 4D chess...

 

[Givenchy]

This was always gonna be the problem with England scraping through.. their squad is too good to play this shit for the entire tournament. Tonight they totally deserved the win, retarded penalty or not. Southgate pulled his head from his arse and realized hey! I have a stacked bench. Watkins is the game changer, should start ahead of Kane.

Going to be a disgusting end to the tournament if Spain go through Italy-Croatia group, Germany and France in the K.O's whilst England play nobody of note until a Koeman managed Dutch team but

It's coming home..

also will add that penalty gets even worse, Saka handballed it TWICE before Kane took the shot

 

[Maradona37]

This was always gonna be the problem with England scraping through.. their squad is too good to play this shit for the entire tournament. Tonight they totally deserved the win, retarded penalty or not. Southgate pulled his head from his arse and realized hey! I have a stacked bench. Watkins is the game changer, should start ahead of Kane.

Going to be a disgusting end to the tournament if Spain go through Italy-Croatia group, Germany and France in the K.O's whilst England play nobody of note until a Koeman managed Dutch team but

It's coming home..

I admit, I have been worried since Bellingham's late goal against Slovakia.

Like you say, they have players in the team and on the bench who can pull something out of the hat - the further they go the more likely they will get thieir act together, as they did for the first half. They might even put in a good performance against the Spanish, now.

I talk extensively about teams needing to dominate to give them a platform to win games - but there's no doubt that teams who lack cohesion but have talented players can hang in a game and spawn a win through a moment of magic. England have done that throughout this tournament (and in previous tournaments under Southgate).

That is why i don't buy Southgate deserves a lot of credit for his time as manager - sure, England have some overrated players, but they have plenty who can pull a rabbit out of the hat. It isn't like they outplay their opposition. Southgate relies on fostering a family feeling, and his players coming up with moments. He is tactically clueless and even decisions like Watkins coming on for Kane are things anyone at home can see are sensible. If anything - like you say - they may look more dynamic if he dropped his captain and played Watkins. I am a big fan of Kane but Watkins seems to suit this team more with his running power and energy - though to temper that, maybe he's excelling in this supersub role from the bench against tired legs, and would be less effective from the start.

Either way, I think Southgate is bluffing a lot of this.

 

[Jenks]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1811139104765350324

the famous Kasparov with a comment on the pen that is just common sense!

It's more ambiguous than people are making out.

 

[Maradona37]

It's more ambiguous than people are making out.

I am thinking I reacted a bit too strongly initially (though I still think it wasn't one), but to be fair still images can be deceiving.

But the ball is gone and the contact (in real time) doesn't look that bad to me. If the laws say that is a penalty to me the law needs redefined. But i's subjective so others might disagree.

The main point is rthe referee didn't give it and it's far from an obvious error, so I don't know why they're sending him to the sideline.

 

[Porque]

I am thinking I reacted a bit too strongly initially (though I still think it wasn't one), but to be fair still images can be deceiving.

But the ball is gone and the contact (in real time) doesn't look that bad to me. If the laws say that is a penalty to me the law needs redefined. But i's subjective so others might disagree.

The main point is rthe referee didn't give it and it's far from an obvious error, so I don't know why they're sending him to the sideline.

Problem is that once it gets called to VAR and played in slow mo then it was always going to be called a pen.

And this is always going to be the influence until football ponies up the balls to have speakers on the conversations like in rugby (and even then the tier 1 nations get favoured).