England Euro 2020

[Scotch]

26 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

A 16 Euros would have the following pots based on rankings

POT 1 - Belgium, France, England, Portugal

POT 2 - Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany

POT 3 - Switzerland, Croatia, Netherlands, Wales

POT 4 - Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia 

 

What a tournament that would be. Genuinely think they could beat each other. 

 

 

The ranking system is a joke and to base a tournament on it would be akin to the European super league idea. 

 

That tournament would be good, yes but then for the next four years, those teams just have to play the likes of San Marino and Kazakhstan in friendlies every couple of months to ensure that they are high enough in the rankings that they are in the next Euros. Ofcourse they will have world Cup qualifiers (or do you want that based on rankings too) where they are given favourable groups based on their rankings also...

 

You are essentially wanting a closed shop tournament with the same 16 teams every 4 years.(2 years if your idea extends to the world Cup)

[Leicesterpool]

I think it should drawn at random to make it interesting. The same with the qualifiers.

[Scotch]

12 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

I think it should drawn at random to make it interesting. The same with the qualifiers.

Absolutely. One game knockouts with no seedings. You could up it to like 32 teams picked from a hat at random and they go at it. That would give you fewer games with more excitement.

[davieG]

1 minute ago, Foxy_Bear said:

fewer games

Less TV money for UEFA / FIFA  and FAs generally.

[RowlattsFox]

I am also in the "not quite feeling the buzz" side and I think only a really serious run by England would change that. For me its more about the lack of fans, no sense of occasion. Best part of tournament is travelling fans from all over the world/europe (not hooligans), the colours they bring, the excitement of fan parks, the atmospheres etc. 20,000 crowds are not bad but it won't be the same. Obviously the nature of the tournament anyway was never good, even before Covid. 

[CosbehFox]

23 minutes ago, Foxy_Bear said:

The ranking system is a joke and to base a tournament on it would be akin to the European super league idea. 

 

That tournament would be good, yes but then for the next four years, those teams just have to play the likes of San Marino and Kazakhstan in friendlies every couple of months to ensure that they are high enough in the rankings that they are in the next Euros. Ofcourse they will have world Cup qualifiers (or do you want that based on rankings too) where they are given favourable groups based on their rankings also...

 

You are essentially wanting a closed shop tournament with the same 16 teams every 4 years.(2 years if your idea extends to the world Cup)

I am not advocated rankings as a form of qualification. I was just saying how competitive a top 16 Euros would be. 
 

My post was more about having 16 teams in the Euros as opposed to 24 

[Scotch]

1 minute ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I am not advocated rankings as a form of qualification. I was just saying how competitive a top 16 Euros would be. 
 

My post was more about having 16 teams in the Euros as opposed to 24 

Apologies. I read it as you suggesting the top ranked 16 teams. 

 

If it were only 16 teams but qualification was based on the traditional qualifiers, it could work but you would have to scrap the seeding system or you would effectively still be closing shop due to the facts that most qualifying groups contain at most 2 big names and the likes of Estonia and Latvia making up the rest. 

[Scotch]

6 minutes ago, davieG said:

Less TV money for UEFA / FIFA  and FAs generally.

Absolutely but that's essentially the issue, isn't it? As with most things in life, it's about money. 

[davieG]

Just now, Foxy_Bear said:

Absolutely but that's essentially the issue, isn't it? As with most things in life, it's about money. 

Sure and it's what is messing up the PL and other domestic leagues as UEFA continue to expand European Club Football and all the TV money associated with that.

[purpleronnie]

25 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

I am also in the "not quite feeling the buzz" side and I think only a really serious run by England would change that. For me its more about the lack of fans, no sense of occasion. Best part of tournament is travelling fans from all over the world/europe (not hooligans), the colours they bring, the excitement of fan parks, the atmospheres etc. 20,000 crowds are not bad but it won't be the same. Obviously the nature of the tournament anyway was never good, even before Covid. 

Agreed, imagine Scottish fans at Wembley in full voice, who knows if we'll ever play them in a tournament at Wembley again.  I suppose the evitable failure of England also makes it difficult to get too excited.  

 

[Dan]

1 hour ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Albania waiting three days to find out they couldn't make the Round of 16 said it all. Football's reaching a point where there's simply too much of it. I heard a podcast what made the point that every TV exec thinks that everyone wants to watch every game - in reality all does is expose that at least of half of the games are utter toss and watching a ten minute highlights packages of such games is the ideal. 

 

A 16 Euros would have the following pots based on rankings

POT 1 - Belgium, France, England, Portugal

POT 2 - Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany

POT 3 - Switzerland, Croatia, Netherlands, Wales

POT 4 - Poland, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia 

 

What a tournament that would be. Genuinely think they could beat each other. 

 

 

I dunno. The captain of England team yesterday suffered racist abuse in the aftermath of his last club game of the season. I'd like to think he was making a stand against that more than anything else. 

I never thought I'd reach a point where I thought there was too much football but if even I think we've hit it, then we really have. When the season ended I had it in my head the Euros was a month or so away but realising England had their warm up friendlies only a week later and the tournament staring just two. It's a bit much really - admittedly this season in particular was like no other, but we're firmly prioritising quantity over quality at this point and it's not on.

 

16 teams going through from 24 is awful. You win one game and you're virtually through. Any situation that increases the likelihood of a team having nothing to play for means luck of the fixtures plays a big part. I remember in 2016, didn't Ireland only get through their group basically due to playing Italy's reserves? This is a situation that is encouraged by these group formats.

 

Just go back to 16 for the Euros and 32 for the World Cup. It's always worked fine. The group stages are often more fun than the knockouts as well. Not anymore.

[Dan]

1 hour ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Agreed on that. Genuinely great that North Macedonia get to play at a tournament too. Personally if they want to shake this about - have a play-in tournament for the final two spots, a week before the main stuff starts. Final two spots played for in a mini tournament. 

 

If you have a 24 team tournament, I prefer the 1982 World Cup format but it's still subject to three team groups. 

 

The 48 team World Cup is wank for the point that some teams literally play one game and know they are out. 

Just had a read of that - I like that better than the Euros one, although as you say, still three team groups which just fundamentally don't really work. Suppose it's a bit less farcical if only the winner is going through though.

[Dan]

Good article about the farce of three team groups: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/upshot/why-groups-of-3-will-ruin-the-world-cup-so-enjoy-this-one.html

 

Honestly, the more you look at it the more it baffles you that they agreed to this.

[Guest ttfn]

2 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

Good article about the farce of three team groups: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/upshot/why-groups-of-3-will-ruin-the-world-cup-so-enjoy-this-one.html

 

Honestly, the more you look at it the more it baffles you that they agreed to this.

$$$$$

[walkerleeds]

What do we think then, does Southgate not trust Coady or Tyrone Maldini? Will White play in a three with Stones and Walker? From what i've seen of White he seems the more solid option in a three.

[RowlattsFox]

If he plays a 3 then Mings is the only one who can play left-side from what I can see? Unless he went with Shaw left centre back, but surely can only do that against someone shit?

[CosbehFox]

52 minutes ago, ttfn said:

$$$$$

Which translates to having the shite likes of China in the WC. After those large countries with money who shite at football. 

[st albans fox]

4 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

That's the right decision to call up Ben White. Him to start alongside Stones please.

I wanted JWP but I can accept white - especially as there is a chance he can develop into a first choice England centre half (and boy do we need them !)

 

[AjcW]

The decision is fine.... until Henderson gets injured in the 5th minute of the Croatia game  

[Ric Flair]

16 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I wanted JWP but I can accept white - especially as there is a chance he can develop into a first choice England centre half (and boy do we need them !)

 

If only Henderson can somehow pick up a different injury this week and we can get that swap done too

[Guest Col city fan]

2 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

If only Henderson can somehow pick up a different injury this week and we can get that swap done too

What on earth is Southgate pissing about with Hendo for? He’s not played for three bloody months!

[Koke]

Finland made the Euros. No disrespect to Finland and I wish them well but they shouldn't be anywhere near a major tournament if it wasn't for this expansion. They've never qualified for the Euros or the World Cup ever. 

[Ric Flair]

17 minutes ago, Koke said:

Finland made the Euros. No disrespect to Finland and I wish them well but they shouldn't be anywhere near a major tournament if it wasn't for this expansion. They've never qualified for the Euros or the World Cup ever. 

Justice for Anti Niemi

[Super_horns]

26 minutes ago, Koke said:

Finland made the Euros. No disrespect to Finland and I wish them well but they shouldn't be anywhere near a major tournament if it wasn't for this expansion. They've never qualified for the Euros or the World Cup ever. 

What about North Macedonia?

 

Even less likely.

 

Finland did at least qualify  through the  group .

[HybridFox]

Germany making light work of Latvia. Had this been England, we'd see a shaky 1-0