Sandboy

and I had a fiver on rooney and 1-0 but I'm not addicted

scrubbedexpat141

I had Rooney first goalscorer too, and Willy Hills bonus odds for Rooney to score and England to win, also had England to win. 120 ish quid up. Happy days.

But I'm not addicted.

Dumbo

I thought that Rooney and Young were poor last night. That was probably our worst performance of the tournament so far.

Defensively we looked fairly strong, although they did open us up once or twice. For me Ukraine wanted the game more.

Rooney should pay massive homage to SG for the goal and he should be ashamed he missed the header in the first half.

The controversial goal was probably over the line, however there was a clear offside in the build-up, round about the halfway line.

Italy is the easier game, but I expect another game like the France game 1-1 and Italy on penalties. I hope I am wrong.

*Note - the above is just the opinions of a flying elephant and should not be taken seriously.

scrubbedexpat141

Why was it the worst performance? Didn't let a goal in, defended well, had a solid midfield and won.

That's better than the France game, marginally better than the Sweden game too.

co durham boy

Your priority is to win the group and play solidly . England are never going to pass any team off the pitch in any competition .

The Italians will want to choke the game up and slow it down , they're not too adventurous either so we've got play the game with pace and move the ball quicker and more decisively .

Getting behind teams is paramount for England because we know we have players that can deliver good crosses and players that can meet them.

Teams are shit scared of balls whipped in at pace on a counter attack , it's something not many of them face on a weekly basis .

England will not fear the Italians

auzdafluff

It'll be tough for England I think. Italy they might scrape a win against, Germany they might again scrape a win due to the national rivalry, but the in the final, I think they're going to struggle.

It'll either be Spain or Portugal. Both have got relatively easier quarters (as does Germany for that matter). Plus Spain have rested many of their best players up until now.

I can see it being a Spain vs Germany final.

I think both England and Italy will be exhausted no matter who wins after this quarter final, whereas Germany has Greece.

Oyibopeppeh

England haven't dominated any of the three games, yet they won two, drew one and came out top of the group.

International football isn't necessarily about playing the beautiful game, it's about winning and that's what England have been doing, albeit with some good luck on their side, finally.

With the possible exception of GJ, they've never looked more disciplined defensively for many years and the sooner that AY starts believing in his ability to run at defenders, then we'll have a cracking on-the-break goal machine along with DW and the Roon.

Boomhauer

Ukraine was robbed of the equaliser, the ball clearly crossed the line before Terry 'cleared' it. Deja-Vu for England , only this time they aren't on the receiving end.

Oyibopeppeh

But there was a clear offside just past the half way line before they "scored" I reckon that evens it out

scrubbedexpat141

Bingo.

Meow

Quite. Perhaps those complaining ought to learn a little about the offside rule? That said, I'm still in favour of goal line technology.

scrubbedexpat141

Agree comepletely.

The Ukrainian coach incidentally is / was a ****ing lunatic. Moaned about it non stop after the game and apparently offered a reporter outside.

God I love the Euros.

Meow

The Ukranian bench looked as if they were off to work a shift at IKEA.

scrubbedexpat141

When IKEA opened in Southampton they had 30,000 applications for something like 500 jobs.

co durham boy

Or just stepped out of the Jumeriah Beach Hotel !