Fierce_LiNk

The stealth release update of Hancock's firmware has been the biggest surprise of the week for me. In the previous update, the crying functions just looked completely unrealistic. However, the tech has evolved now into the double-handed arse grab, which is quite a feat. The lip-syncing and voicework for his resignation speech was pretty convincing in places, too. The writing itself still needs a bit of work, so they must have got an intern in for that part. Here's hoping they can sort it all out in Version 3.1, just in time for his return as Education Minister in the Winter.

I thought the ref ruined the game actually. He let too many things go in the first half and that set the tone for the second. There was a moment where Lukaku was making a run towards the Portuguese box in the first half and was clearly tugged back, which the ref just completely ignored. He seemed to let too many things just run on, which inevitably led to the tackle on De Bruyne, which saw him go off early in the second half. Portugal were unlucky in the second half and had all of the ball. But, I thought Belgium did well to just soak up the pressure and ride it out. Sometimes you can't just attack against a team like that, because they'll hit you with Ronaldo or Bruno or Joao Felix. If the Portuguese team that finished the game were the same team that started the first half, I think they would eventually have found a way through. Portugal taking off Renato Sanches was a crazy move, though. He looked really dangerous, I thought. As for Belgium, they've only conceded 1 goal so far. That's really good. You need a defence like that to win games like this. Saying that, Italy look the most exciting team in this tournament, so they're the favourites, imo. One of Belgium, Italy, England, France, or Germany to win it, imo. Tempted to say it'll be a France vs. Germany final, if that's still possible.

Just Googled it. Christ...

Croatia have got another goal. Looks like it's over for Scotland. The Czech's will pile it on for the final few minutes now, I think.

Ehhh.

Croatia just scored a lovely goal. The bastards. Come on, Scotland!

Yes, Jordan Henderson is coming on. He is the player the fans have been crying out for. Why have a sexy curry or delicious pizza, when you can have jacket potato with no filling?

Sterling scores the opener. Wooo! Next week in awful predictions...

Can't predict this one. Tempted to say another 0-0, tbh. I told @Eenuh part way during the first game that I couldn't see Kane scoring many goals at this tournament due to the way that he was playing. He's spending too much time too deep in midfield and not really in the higher, influential positions, or areas where he's most likely to score. There's a possibility that he finishes this tournament with zero goals.

It's based on this legendary Peep Show scene:

Just found this based on yesterday's games: "No Turkey?!"

That's exactly what it feels like! I've given up trying to work out the scenarios. Whatever will be, will be.

The third place situation and who Belgium are playing next is an utter mess. I really dislike the formatting for this year's competition.

Denmark have been brilliant in the second half. Completely destroyed Russia.

This is the only way to watch the Euros.

*totally forgot that we had a football thread here to chat in* This group is pretty interesting, tbf. Finland have gone from second to bottom of the group. One goal chances everything.

Finally looks like Belgium have the goal. Unlucky for the Finland keeper, but Belgium are more than good for that lead.

It's baaaaaack! Missed having it last year. Hope this year makes up for it! Anyone else tuning in?

I thought Germany's song was awful. It deserved to finish where it did, imo. The taste across Europe is really quite varied and I thought that reflected fairly well in the voting. The ones at the top consistently scored well with the juries and public, and the ones at the bottom consistently scored poorly in both, too. The ones in the middle varied from place to place by the looks of it, from about 7th (Malta) to 22nd (San Marino). I would've thought Azerbaijan and Cyprus would've scored a bit higher, maybe even Sweden getting into the top 10, too. But, it mustn't have clicked for those across Europe, hence why it didn't get the numbers. The only ones who should feel truly robbed are Iceland, who were nailed on to win it last year. A top 4 finish for them is still great, but...they deserved the win last year.

Thanks for your impressions! I'm still really looking forward to playing this, but will wait until I get a PS5 before I give it a go. Pretty sure my PS4 will curl into a ball and explode if I play it right now.

I do have to laugh a little bit at all these "it's all political" comments that I'm seeing online everywhere. Funny enough, that only every seems to come from the UK side. I don't think the argument holds any water, personally. Ireland gave the UK fuck all points. Belgium gave NOTHING to either France or the Netherlands, which I found very surprising. (from the jury votes, I mean). If the contest was political, you'd surely end up with the same winners every year. Since the year 2000: 2000: Denmark 2001: Estonia 2002: Latvia 2003: Turkey 2004: Ukraine 2005: Greece 2006: Finland 2007: Serbia 2008: Russia 2009: Norway 2010: Germany 2011: Azerbaijan 2012: Sweden 2013: Denmark 2014: Austria 2015: Sweden 2016: Ukraine 2017: Portugal 2018: Israel 2019: Netherlands 2020: Cancelled due to Covid 2021: Italy The UK entry was decent yesterday and certainly one of the better ones in years. This mainly is about the poor quality of song choices that the UK has sent over in recent years. But, even still...I can't even remember a single thing about the song. Whereas, at least a dozen or close to 15 of the others are so much more memorable. When people vote, they vote for who they want to win and...it's just clear as day that nobody thought the UK entry was better than the entries from Italy, France, Ukraine, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Finland, Malta, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, etc. There's 11 right there off the top of my head who are already miles better and more memorable than the UK's entry. The UK also doesn't promote their song very well abroad. It happens year after year. Many of the other European countries circulate their songs online or on the radio so that it's already in the public psyche before the actual competition takes place. That way, it's not a brand new thing on the night that you haven't listened to before, which may take a while to grow on you. The biggest fail of the night had to be Amanda Holden (I still don't actually know what she's famous for or why she's famous) giving the UK's points total. Her "I don't know which language is which" comment spoke volumes, in my opinion. When you've got other countries speaking 2 or 3 languages when giving their points or just in general, it came across really badly.

Finland? The Limp Bizkit tribute act? Yeah, man. The emo/nu-metal teenager in me loved it.

Standard is quite high this year. Think it's between one of Ukraine, Finland, Italy, and France, possibly.

That Bulgaria tune is a proper John Lewis Christmas Ad song.

Probably our best entry in years, tbf. I think it'll do ok.