Posted June 23, 2021 Now it's Germany who are coming for the English, as long as they can survive another five minutes against Hungary. Plenty of ups and downs with today's matches--it's been great. Matchday three is basically knockout football! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 23, 2021 Amazing that Hungary managed to get two points from that group. Played brilliantly in all three games and can go home with their heads held high. Bring on Germany. Feeling better about our chances after that performance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 23, 2021 @drahkon might have to leave the forum if Germany beat England! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 23, 2021 12 minutes ago, killthenet said: @drahkon might have to leave the forum if Germany beat England! Say what? And why not before? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 23, 2021 Insane couple of matches, though definitely some weird calls in that Portugal v France match (for and against both sides). Feel really bad for Hungary, to think of how close they were to weening a point out against Portugal too, they've done their country proud in this group. Marco Rossi has done a phenomenal job with those lads, really hope they qualify for the World Cup so that we see them again soon! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 23, 2021 Phew! That was a close one. Seems our beef with France isn't quite done yet. Belgium next, then. A'ight, let's kick a favourite out early. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 1 hour ago, drahkon said: I'm hungover... Bring it home like you managed to get yourself home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 And away goals are gone. Will have to see how this changes the feel of matches. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 7 minutes ago, darksnowman said: And away goals are gone. Will have to see how this changes the feel of matches. It's about time! One of the silliest off-pitch rules in club competitions in my opinion, it almost completely negates the home advantage you would have a second leg once you reach the second half and everyone is sitting deep and countering. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with counterattacking football, but this rule went exactly against the lifeblood of what drives success in the sport (scoring goals and winning games), and it's why you see some managers be so conservative and pessimistic in how they set their teams up to play a match of football, in European competitions in particular (I love you Mourinho, but I'm absolutely talking about you). Sincerely hope it has the desired impact and we see more teams just going for it. Obviously you still need to defend and try to keep a clean sheet, but having an out and out winner is much more preferable in my eyes than teams playing conservatively as the clock starts ticking down because they're comfortable with an away goals win. It always felt like a hollow victory to me. Only real concern I have with this off the top of my head is that the fixtures list is already stacked once European competitions return in February for the knockout rounds, so the increased likelihood of facing another 30 minutes and penalties for all draws (rather than just identical reversed results) could definitely feed into seeing more fatigue and consequent complaints by managers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 1 hour ago, Julius said: It's about time! One of the silliest off-pitch rules in club competitions in my opinion, it almost completely negates the home advantage you would have a second leg once you reach the second half and everyone is sitting deep and countering. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with counterattacking football, but this rule went exactly against the lifeblood of what drives success in the sport (scoring goals and winning games), and it's why you see some managers be so conservative and pessimistic in how they set their teams up to play a match of football, in European competitions in particular (I love you Mourinho, but I'm absolutely talking about you). Sincerely hope it has the desired impact and we see more teams just going for it. Obviously you still need to defend and try to keep a clean sheet, but having an out and out winner is much more preferable in my eyes than teams playing conservatively as the clock starts ticking down because they're comfortable with an away goals win. It always felt like a hollow victory to me. Only real concern I have with this off the top of my head is that the fixtures list is already stacked once European competitions return in February for the knockout rounds, so the increased likelihood of facing another 30 minutes and penalties for all draws (rather than just identical reversed results) could definitely feed into seeing more fatigue and consequent complaints by managers. I think they should just scrap extra time and go straight to penalties. That way both teams have 90 minutes home and away, and you won't get anyone saying that it's unfair on the team who play away in the second leg as the other team will have an extra 30 minutes with 'home advantage' (even if 'home advantage' is a bit of a myth these days). It would also help with the issue of additional playing time/fatigue you mentioned Julius. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 46 minutes ago, Eddage said: I think they should just scrap extra time and go straight to penalties. That way both teams have 90 minutes home and away, and you won't get anyone saying that it's unfair on the team who play away in the second leg as the other team will have an extra 30 minutes with 'home advantage' (even if 'home advantage' is a bit of a myth these days). It would also help with the issue of additional playing time/fatigue you mentioned Julius. Yeah, that sounds like it would definitely help. I'm seriously tired of hearing managers complain about having to put their players through hell with the fixture list each year, so anything to help sort it is great (it's absolutely a worthy complaint, especially in the context of fatigue, it's just been one I've heard for as long as I can remember). Totally unrelated to this, but the other thing I've always thought in terms of considering player fatigue was that teams in Europe don't need to be in the League Cup (especially this coming season, seeing as it only secures you a spot in the Europa Conference League). While I understand that silverware is silverware, that prize money is so infinitesimally small to big teams in the Prem that I think it's genuinely embarrassing that they take part, and it's not even considered a major trophy. I know in France the Coupe de la Ligue was placed on hold indefinitely due to fixture congestion, and so maybe we should consider something similar, but the teams that we have in Europe in particular I just don't understand why they need the extra games and reputation, they really have so little to gain from that cup. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 I don't think prize money should factor into whether teams play in the league cup or not, at the moment they give teams playing in Europe a bye into round 3 - giving those in Europa League qualifying room in the fixture list. I think the best idea going forward would be for teams involved in European football are simply ineligible for that years league cup, giving teams further down the pecking order more of a chance of winning silverware and achieving qualification for continental competition. I don't think too many people would object and it would put an end the the absurdity of Man City winning it four years in a row Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 24, 2021 19 minutes ago, killthenet said: I don't think prize money should factor into whether teams play in the league cup or not, at the moment they give teams playing in Europe a bye into round 3 - giving those in Europa League qualifying room in the fixture list. I think the best idea going forward would be for teams involved in European football are simply ineligible for that years league cup, giving teams further down the pecking order more of a chance of winning silverware and achieving qualification for continental competition. I don't think too many people would object and it would put an end the the absurdity of Man City winning it four years in a row Yeah, I wasn't very clear, but that's exactly what I was getting at, and I couldn't agree more. Like you said, it gives smaller teams a greater opportunity to put their names out there, and it would only help boost their own financial standing too, but the main thing being that it takes out a sizeable number of games in the run-in for the bigger teams, which would hopefully My mentioning of the prize money in relation to the bigger teams was more of a secondary thing, but I guess it also allows with smaller things like ticket sales. A deep run into a cup competition can fund a smaller team for years to come, whereas the prize money for winning the thing, from the perspective of one of the Big Six (and to be honest, most teams in the Premier League), would be lucky to be considered even as a footnote in their books. I'm not saying that money is the main thing here, as I understand silverware is silverware and winning is a great part of the sport, but the financial aspect is one of the two main reasons you see a lot of bigger clubs fielding their second or even third teams in these games, and the other is that it's because it's also not a major trophy in any sense of the word. There's no reason for them to want to chase it like a smaller club might, which loops back around to the discussion on fixture congestion and prioritising bigger competitions (from both a financial and reputation perspective). There's simply so little riding on the League Cup for bigger teams that it's barmy that they haven't taken teams in Europe out of it before. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Denmark doing it for Eriksen against "bad guys" Wales. Great goal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Disappointing, Wales were completely outplayed after the first 25 minutes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Ridiculous red card at the end there Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 I stepped away and came back and it was 4-0. I expected Wales to lose, yeah, but I thought they would keep their collective chin up and not fall apart like that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Shame that it ended like that, Wales started quite well but as soon as Denmark made that tactical switch they were completely shut out. Denmark got lucky with the second goal but they absolutely deserved to win the game - Wales never really looked like scoring barring those two early half chances. Austria are holding their own against Italy, could well be an upset on the cards Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Italy let off easy with that offside call, they've looked increasingly shaky at the back, and only seem to be having luck down the left going forwards. Fluidity of their play is still, but Austria have been asking a lot of questions. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out. Shame about the result for Wales, but glad to see Denmark go marching on after what they faced earlier in the tournament. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 Brilliant stuff from Austria, they've really done such a great job of growing into this game. Definitely had their backs to the wall for the last 10 minutes, after Italy (finally) made some changes -- Chiesa should've been brought on at the 60 minute mark, I feel he adds creativity on the wing that Berardi quite simply doesn't. Italy looked nervous just being back in the knockout rounds of a tournament again, feel like they're missing having Chiellini on the pitch. Now we've seen one Austrian player go down to cramp, I do wonder if they're going to become increasingly leggy and tired as extra time goes on. They've been disciplined up to this point, but once tiredness starts setting in, I think they might be up against it -- unless they want penalties, they really need to just go for it in this next 15 and try to blitz through the Italian defence. The gaps are absolutely there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 What a beauty from Chiesa! Excellent job at keeping his composure after that odd first touch glancing back off his forehead, and then calm as you like. Beautiful ball from Spinazzola too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 26, 2021 That might be the most entertaining 30 minutes of football in this tournament so far, definitely the most entertaining period of extra time I've seen in a long time. Austria very unlucky, lovely and unflinching header to get themselves back in it, but the damage was already done at that point. Really stuck it to Italy, just couldn't get a lucky bounce in the last 6 minutes of extra time. What a start to the Round of 16 today. Can't wait for tomorrow! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 27, 2021 4 hours ago, Julius said: What a start to the Round of 16 today. Thank you! Pretty sure I heard them say that's Denmark through to the semi's yesterday which had me scrambling for my wallchart to check. Italy needed extra time to see off Austria. I don't think anyone would have predicted that after the group stage when Italy were creating chances for fun and Austria were all over the shop. Every side that wins these things has a bad match somewhere along the line so maybe this was Italy having their blip, or have they been found out? Hmm. Two good matches in the offing today. You'd think the Netherlands would edge it against the Czechs, but Belgium-Portugal is a tough one to call. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted June 27, 2021 Another good game. Tournament certainly hasn't disappointed as a spectacle. England on the other hand... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
