2020 European Football Championship thats actually being held in 2021 but never mind.

[CrazyMatt]

I know its already started, but by the looks of it we dont have any supporters from any other teams apart from England and Scotland. England kick off tonight against Croatia. Here are the squads and schedules:



Squad:

GK’s: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Manchester United) & Sam Johnstone (West Bromwich Albion).
Def’s: Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Ben White (Brighton), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), Reece James (Chelsea), John Stones (Manchester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Athletico Madrid), Ben Chillwell (Chelsea), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa) & Conor Coady (Wolverhampton Wanderers).
Mid’s: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds United), Declan Rice (West Ham United) & Jack Grealish (Aston Villa).
FW's: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Phil Foden (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund) & Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

Manager: Gareth Southgate
Captain: Harry Kane

Group schedule:

vs Croatia 11pm Sunday June 13
vs Scotland 5am Saturday June 19
vs Czech Republic 5am Wednesday June 23

Strengths:

• Pace in attack.
• Quick passing.
• Jack Grealish behind that front three could dominate.

Weaknesses:

• Expectation, they’re second favourites. The pressure from their success starved fans and absolutely relentless and unforgiving media at home will be limitless.
• Group of death, they’ve got Croatia who have had success against England in the recent past, the Czechs can beat most teams on their day and the Scots will have highlighted this game on calendar, expect the Scots to play the game of their lives against England. Even if they top the group, they can look forward to a likely round of 16 clash with France, Germany or Portugal.
• Defence, Harry Maguire is set to miss maybe two group games. Stones is prone to lapse in concentration and Mings has had some recent howlers in him (Austria comes to mind).

Likely out in the round of 16, but if they sort out the defence, they’re capable of being finalists.




Squad:

GK’s: Craig Gordon (Hearts of Midlothian), David Marshall (Derby County) & Jon McLaughlin (Glasgow Rangers)
Def’s: Liam Cooper (Leeds United), Declan Gallagher (Motherwell), Grant Hanley (Norwich City), Jack Hendry (Glasgow Celtic, currently loaned to KV Oostende), Scott McKenna (Nottingham Forest), Stephen O’Donnell (Motherwell), Nathan Patterson (Glasgow Rangers), Andy Robertson (Liverpool), Greg Taylor (Glasgow Celtic) & Kieran Tierney (Arsenal)
Mid’s: Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Christie (Glasgow Celtic), John Fleck (Sheffield United), Billy Gilmour (Chelsea), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), David Turnbull (Glasgow Celtic)
FW’s: Che Adams (Southampton), Lyndon Dykes (Queens Park Rangers), James Forrest (Glasgow Celtic), Ryan Fraser (Newcastle United) & Kevin Nisbet (Hibernian)

Manager: Steve Clarke
Captain: Andy Robertson

Group Schedule:

vs Czech Republic 11pm Monday June 14
vs England 5am Saturday June 19
vs Croatia 5am Wednesday June 23

Strengths:

• Midfield. Looks like they’ll play a 5 man midfield with wing backs. McTominay and McGinn can provide a solid base, with McTominay being given licence to go forward. Billy Gilmour has massive potential.
• No Expectation. No ones expecting them to get out of the group, so thats going to lower the pressure valve on the team a bit.
• Andy Robertson. Will be given licence to go forward in a wing back role as opposed to a traditional left back role. Could case havoc against unsuspecting right backs.

Weaknesses:

• Forwards. Not enough quality up front. They need Aussie born Lyndon Dykes to lift another level.
• Group of death.
• May go too aggressive against England. Yes they’ll be up for the game more then any other game in recent Scottish football history, but they need to be careful not to lose their heads. That England attack is quality and lightning quick. If the Scots go down a man, look out.

Hard seeing them get out of the group stage, but could snag a win over the Czechs and earn a draw against one of the other two which could see them go through as a high ranked 3rd place. They’re only hope really.



My pick: It comes down to either France or Portugal for me. I went with France, that team is just stacked, i mean look at that attack. If they play 4-2-3-1 then that Kante/Pogba pivot could cause absolute chaos. France just seem the safest bet at the moment.
Smokey’s: Belguim. If they’re attack fires which it should, then they’re going to be bloody hard to beat. A friendly group draw helps them too.

There ya go guys. I did my best LOL.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Best wishes to Christian Eriksen as well. There was an absolutely terrifying moment on the pitch where he had a heart attack or something similar during the Denmark/Finland game. By all reports, he is awake and speaking now. I wish him a speedy recovery.

 

[CrazyMatt]

England lineup vs Croatia: (Im taking a guess with the formation)

GK: Pickford
RB: Walker
LB: Trippier (yeah i know but this has been confirmed. Why the **** is he using Trippier a RB there when he’s got Shaw and Chillwell? Weird move)
CB: Mings
CB: Stones
CDM: Rice
CDM: Phillips
CAM: Mount
RW: Foden
LW: Sterling
CF: Kane

 

[CrazyMatt]

England lineup vs Croatia: (Im taking a guess with the formation)

GK: Pickford
RB: Walker
LB: Trippier (yeah i know but this has been confirmed. Why the **** is he using Trippier a RB there when he’s got Shaw and Chillwell? Weird move)
CB: Mings
CB: Stones
CDM: Rice
CDM: Phillips
CAM: Mount
RW: Foden
LW: Sterling
CF: Kane

I should clarify what I mean by this. The lineup is announced but i didnt see the formation, so im taking a guess at it.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Croatia Lineup vs England:

GK: Livakovic
RB: Vrsaljko
LB: Gvardiol
CB: Vida
CB: Caleta-Car
CM: Brozovic
CM: Kovacic
CM: Modric (c)
RW: Kramaric
LW: Perisic
CF: Rebic

 

[Flanno]

Thanks for this mate! Christian Eriksen, my word that was scary.. glad to hear he’s ok, some great leadership by the captain Simon Kjaer.

As for England, I don’t give them much of a chance. Plenty of talent in the squad but I don’t believe Southgate knows how to get the best out of them. France or Germany for me

 

[CrazyMatt]

England 1 (Sterling 57th) Croatia 0.

Pretty close game on the scoreboard but England were definitely a bit better throughout. Croatia a bit underpar and they paid for it with Sterling’s 57th goal the difference. Now with their toughest game of the group done and dusted, they’re now in the box seat to top the group providing they don’t **** the bed against a very good Czech team and a Scottish team that wants their blood.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Thanks for this mate! Christian Eriksen, my word that was scary.. glad to hear he’s ok, some great leadership by the captain Simon Kjaer.

As for England, I don’t give them much of a chance. Plenty of talent in the squad but I don’t believe Southgate knows how to get the best out of them. France or Germany for me

Sure thing fella. I actually like doing these write ups every now and then, I was going to do one for the Copa America, but with Australia withdrawing from the tournament, I don’t think anyone would be interested.

 

[snowman]

England lineup vs Croatia: (Im taking a guess with the formation)

GK: Pickford
RB: Walker
LB: Trippier (yeah i know but this has been confirmed. Why the **** is he using Trippier a RB there when he’s got Shaw and Chillwell? Weird move)
CB: Mings
CB: Stones
CDM: Rice
CDM: Phillips
CAM: Mount
RW: Foden
LW: Sterling
CF: Kane

To answer your trippier question - he is a better footballer than both shaw and chilwell - combined

You play your best players and thats that. Trippier also played some left back for Athletico this year

 

[CrazyMatt]

To answer your trippier question - he is a better footballer than both shaw and chilwell - combined

You play your best players and thats that. Trippier also played some left back for Athletico this year

I think your underrating Shaw, he’s had an incredible season. I felt a more natural LB would of suited better. They won regardless so I guess it’s all moot at this point.

 

[CrazyMatt]

A bit late but here are the lineups for tonights game:

Scotland:

GK: Marshall
CB: Cooper
CB: Hanley
CB: Hendry
LWB: Robertson (c)
RWB: O’Donnell
CM: Armstrong
CM: McTominay
CM: McGinn
FW: Christie
FW: Dykes

Czech Republic:

GK: Vaclik
RB: Coufal
LB: Boril
CB: Kalas
CB: Celustka
CM: Soucek
CM: Kral
CAM: Jankto
CAM: Darida
CAM: Masopust
FW: Schick


Its 1-0 to the Czechs at half time. Schick has the goal.

 

[CrazyMatt]

OH MY ****ING GOD, SCHICK JUST SCORED AN ABSOLUTE BELTER FROM HALFWAY. HOLY ****BALLS.

Im not happy its put the Scots two down but holy **** what a hit!

 

[CrazyMatt]

Scotland 0 Czech Republic 2 (Schlick 42nd & 52nd)

Scotland’s lack of quality up front was horribly exposed. Lyndon Dykes put in a ‘mid season, pre LeFondre Kosta Barbarouses performance’. Sooooo wasteful, missed sitter after sitter, just couldn’t beat the keeper. Scotland paid for it with a late first half goal then what will likely end up being the goal of the tournament with an incredible strike from halfway by Schick, Marshall couldn’t do anything about it as it curled nicely into the corner. Scotland at very long odds to snag at least third now as this game was a must win.

 

[snowman]

I think your underrating Shaw, he’s had an incredible season. I felt a more natural LB would of suited better. They won regardless so I guess it’s all moot at this point.

dont care what kind of season he had, trippier is better

 

[CrazyMatt]

dont care what kind of season he had, trippier is better

I haven’t seen enough of Trippier to go ten rounds with you over that, and it wouldn’t be worth the hassle anyway. So, um fine.

 

[CrazyMatt]

Dean Henderson has withdrawn from the England squad with a hip issue. Sheffield United’s Aaron Ramsdale takes his place.

 

[CrazyMatt]

England 0 Scotland 0.
Lineups

England:
GK: Pickford
RB: James
LB: Shaw
CB: Mings
CB: Stones
CM: Rice
CM: Phillips
CAM: Mount
LW: Sterling
RW: Foden
CF: Kane (c)

Scotland:
GK: Marshall
CB: Tierney
CB: Hanley
CB: McTominay
LWB: Robertson (c)
RWB: O’Donnell
CM: McGregor
CM: McGinn
CM: Gilmour
ST: Dykes
ST: Adams

Monster effort from the Scots to keep England at bay in front of a very loud crowd from both sets of supporters in Wembley. I know its only a draw but my late Grandfather would of been proud of that defence.

The Scots proved too hard for England to break down. England were clearly controlling the ball much better but the Scots still ended up with more shots on target and in general. Early chances to Adams (shot was blocked) and Stones (header hit the bar) threatened to break the deadlock early, but the game descended into a bit of a scrap as misplaced passes from both teams plagued the game, both teams just couldn’t find their rhythm in the north London rain. The Scots came closest to scoring before half time after O’Donnell forced a great save from Pickford on his right.

England took full control in the second half with some good passing keeping the Scots on the run but they just couldn’t find their way through some resolute Scottish defence. James almost broke the dead lock with a very good chance but unfortunately couldn’t keep it on target. James redeemed himself up the other end though as Dykes almost stole it for the Scots. His shot had beaten Pickford but James with a heroic header off the line saved the game.

So overall, the Scots pick up a lot of belief going into the final group game against Croatia. England will learn a lot from that game going into their last game against the Czechs and i think you’ll see a much more clinical performance from them. England sit second in the group with 4 points, Scotland last with 1 point but still a big chance to sneak into the next round. All to play for in the last group games.

There you go guys, I did my best to keep it balanced. I admit I am clearly pulling for the Scots, my parents are Scottish and my Grandfather is a Scottish B International. So I’ve got my colours nailed to the mast, but again, I tried to give my thoughts on what happened in an unbiased matter.

 

[Flanno]

I hope Scotland go through, love Andy Robertson! Like I said earlier in the thread I really don’t see England going far under Southgate.

 

[Flanno]

Pretty cool to see Denmark go through to the last 16

 

[Flanno]

Last 8 I should say!