Hexus Euro 2004 Thread.

[Zathras]

Mate has £20 at 75-1 for Baros to be golden boot. Also, GERRARD'S STAYING

[iMc]

75-1 nice odds! looks like he might have 1500 on his way too him if Baros carrys on like this. Where did he get those odds?

[Jimmy Little]

Mate has £20 at 75-1 for Baros to be golden boot

\\\\what a super bet!! he's gonna be laughing! - RVN may give him a run for his money as he's only 1 behind on 4 goals

[Jimmy Little]

I just realised NEDVED has a face like a mad dog! The guy is crazy!

[faisal_uk]

So who's gonna win tonight?
I can wait - I hope both teams play well, I am hoping Holland will win - as I have followed them for years and think they deserve some luck (and I have them in the sweepstakes )
I personally think Portugal have been crap - but they did quite well against England in extra time and against Spain after they scored, so i think if they could be coming into form and might give Holland a good game.

I would love to see a Czech Republic vs Holland final though

[Jimmy Little]

^

Yeah same here mate, i like the dutch always have since i was a kid, they always seem to have those 'cool' players like Davids Portugal have only got as far as they have with home advantage... but Ronaldo has been pretty, i would also like to see a Czech - Holland final also with the dutch winning, but the Czechs look pretty hot!

[Big RICHARD]

I still don't rate fake Ronaldo at all. Yes his level of fitness was superb against England, but did that just show our LACK of fitness?

He gets a few crosses in due to his pace, but other than that his game is just step overs. He doesn't show the awareness of the game like Rooney, for example, does. He doesn't play clever passes (in the sense of awareness) like Rooney.

[Jimmy Little]

hmmm Rooney is a totally different type of player, Ronaldo against Russia and Spain was top class and against England with Ashley Cole playing a blinder he done well, he used many other tricks as he did in the FA Cup final where was fantastic, yeah he has a long way to go but is coming on well... he's is getting 'tougher' and will be superb some day soon, the second halve of the season he was a much better player. Where as Rooney was pretty poor all season only scoring 9 league goals. – Both players will be ‘World Class’ it’s just a matter of time.

[Galant]

I think one of the most significant things Roney brings to the team is his aggression and determination. As we saw against Portugal, England (Sven?) have a tendency to play way too defensively and wait for opposition mistakes, not work on creating openings. Rooney provides a counter to that and balances England as a team. He keeps the offensive pressure up and that helps keep the opposition on the back foot and insipires England to push forward.

Had the boy been on the field for more of the game I have little doubt England would have put another one away. Especially since his presence meant Owen had a little more freedom.

Sven needs to take a few more risks offensively, become more aggressive. Also loved that England started to keep the ball on the ground more instead of playing long-ball.

[Galant]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...04/3844465.stm

That should've been us.


...

...

That ref still alive then?

[Jimmy Little]

not a great game, tonights will be just as poor... can't see the greeks doing much... but who knows!

[GreenPiggy]

Some amazing strikes in that game though. Figo's shot against the post was absolute quality.

[Jimmy Little]

^

yeah i would have liked to see that drop in! i'm still sad about England being out!

[ZeroTheHero]

I think one of the most significant things Roney brings to the team is his aggression and determination...

Had the boy been on the field for more of the game I have little doubt England would have put another one away. Especially since his presence meant Owen had a little more freedom.

Sven needs to take a few more risks offensively, become more aggressive. Also loved that England started to keep the ball on the ground more instead of playing long-ball.

I completely agree with all this, but also I think that it is really sad that a team of supposed top-notch footballers have to rely on one 18 year old to provide any real attacking flair - and it's really only in this tournament that Rooney has really blossomed. What were England expecting to do beforehand? This long-ball, over the top stuff is what we used to call kick and run when I was at school!

Also agree that we need to take more risks offensively - we need to think that if we have scored one goal we can score more, not score one then retreat further and further backwards. We were even doing that against the Swiss at times!!!

The most depressing thing is that we don't seem to learn from our mistakes - the Brazil match last world cup was similarly awful. Then we were relying on the young Owen to score wonder goals. Surely we need a big striker to compliment the little guys - a Shearer/Sherringham type.

Sven also needs the courage to drop people if they aren't performing, no matter who they are. You all know who I am talking about! The Portugese manager had the balls to drop Figo and he was much better last night.

I hope Sven has a good long think about the selection and tactics for the World Cup qualifiers, or I can see more gloom in the two years ahead.

[Jimmy Little]

i would like to see Sven stand down now, but saying that who is there to take over? He has worked the magic out of Ronney i guess, - does anyone reckon he will leave Everton in the next few weeks?

[GreenPiggy]

Greece 1 Czech Republic 0
Is anyone else thinking this is some strange parallel universe football tournament?