England vs Belgium

[1884Fox]

" A little bit of blood on Lescot's head " turns around... yeah a little...

[Guest]

Rooney looks proper fat today. Weird.

Another thing that bloody annoys me is that we're only taking 4 strikers. And one (the only decent one) is suspended for two games. We're taking 5 centre halves! So negative.

Seems to be the new philosophy.

[Soar Fox]

ITV'S commentary is terrible.

Also is HAZARD not AZZAR

[1884Fox]

Nooooooo

[Guest]

ITV'S commentary is terrible.

Also is HAZARD not AZZAR

Well it is in French. I guess he's a French Belgain.

[Haydos]

Rooney looks proper fat today. Weird.

Another thing that bloody annoys me is that we're only taking 4 strikers. And one (the only decent one) is suspended for two games. We're taking 5 centre halves! So negative.

How many do you want to play 1 or 2 positions? We've got Young, Walcott and Chamberlain on top of those 4. If you're going to argue Phil Jones is a CB when he's clearly been brought as a back up RB then we can surely count at least Walcott as a 5th striker. And this is to fit in potentially only 1 centre forward position.

[21st Century Fox]

...Can you imagine this running down the right wing?

Yes.

[ScouseFox]

How many do you want to play 1 or 2 positions? We've got Young, Walcott and Chamberlain on top of those 4. If you're going to argue Phil Jones is a CB when he's clearly been brought as a back up RB then we can surely count at least Walcott as a 5th striker. And this is to fit in potentially only 1 centre forward position.

We're probably going to lose to France. That makes Sweden a must win game. So if we go behind/aren't winning and really need a goal we've got Carroll, Welbeck and Defoe. Just think it'd be more beneficial to have more goalscoring options than centre backs. These two friendlies have also suggested that goals aren't exactly coming from all over this squad.

Most nations take 5 strikers.

[Jimothy]

So after insulting me you're now agreeing with me that they will not be a top team just a decent team.

They will never be like spain and if you thought that Greece were a top team (which I'm presuming means in the world and not just in the med) then you didn't see that championships.

Greece were a lucky boring team proven by their inability to do anything ever again.

Belgium top 8 in the next world cup. They might qualify as they have Wales and Scotland in their group but they won't get out of the group stage.

That would make them top 4 in Europe

Maybe I'm downplaying it when I say decent, I should say good.

They won't win anything, but yes they will make the quarter of the next world cup and they will be a top ten team soon. I don't see how being a top ten team would make the them top 4 in Europe. If they reach 10th, they would still be below the Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, and possible Portugal and Denmark. I see no reason why they can't surpass Croatia, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic, the current Italian side, Ireland etc. And being WC quarter finalists wouldn't male them 4th best in Europe either, it's something Bulgaria, Croatia, and Turkey have all managed or bettered in recent years, and they weren't amazing, just good, as good as Belgium are going to be.

And yes Greece were boring and defensive. But guess what, defending is part of football and so good at it were the Greeks that this happened.

[Guest]

Championship team beats League 1 at home

[Tielemans63]

Wow that was boring. I think we'll find it hard to score goals at the Euros, I really do. I've got a feeling we'll draw all three games.

Not sure why the commentators are pinning their hopes on Rooney's comeback - he hasn't bossed an game for England for a few years now.

[vandamman]

Well, bit of boring game but decent result. The main thing I think to take into the tournament, is that finally we have a world class keeper. I think that could be the difference, our defence is looking pretty solid too.

[Guest]

Maybe I'm downplaying it when I say decent, I should say good.

They won't win anything, but yes they will make the quarter of the next world cup and they will be a top ten team soon. I don't see how being a top ten team would make the them top 4 in Europe. If they reach 10th, they would still be below the Netherlands, Germany, England, Spain, and possible Portugal and Denmark. I see no reason why they can't surpass Croatia, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic, the current Italian side, Ireland etc. And being WC quarter finalists wouldn't male them 4th best in Europe either, it's something Bulgaria, Croatia, and Turkey have all managed or bettered in recent years, and they weren't amazing, just good, as good as Belgium are going to be.

And yes Greece were boring and defensive. But guess what, defending is part of football and so good at it were the Greeks that this happened.

The Greeks were never a top ten team.

I don't think the world cup is in Belgium

You seem to have discounted the South American teams and the African teams from your calculations.

Belgium are a small country with a small base of players, they have a very average league system and despite having a few players that are reasonably good they don't have a team of good players let alone a squad of good players.

But if I read what you're saying you really mean if everything clicks and goes well for them they could have one competition where they make the last 8 without being a top 8 team and get eliminated.

I concede that's possible but would love to have a paypal side bet with you for the next world cup.

Facecloth - facepalm.

btw where in Thrummy are you from?

[BlueSi13]

Well it would have been nice to have seen England play WITH the ball for at least 10 minutes during these warm up games. Very concerning.

Before these games i felt we'd lose 1 game and draw 2 at the tournament but im now failing to see how we'll avoid a repeat of Euro 88.

Technically we've been trying to improve during the past decade but i can't help but believe we have actually gotten worse during that time, which you wouldn't have thought was possible to be honest.

[Matt]

Job done, did what we had too.

Winning is the aim, I've always said i'll take any win over a good performance, preferably I want both but a win is the aim, time to do that in the tournament.

I hate friendlies during the season, absoloutly hate them, but time to jump on the tournament bangwagon for me now.

In a strange way I think this year we have one of our best chances - Simply because the hight of expectation and pressure is low, we're expected to do nothing, I think that could be great for the team, i'm not saying we'll go on and win the tournament, I don't think we will, but think we've got as good a chance as we have in the past simply as expectation isn't resting on the players shoulders.

[Guest]

Boring game. Well taken goal. If that's what we have to look forward to at the Euros then I won't be forcing my wife to give up the TV.

I have no problem with winning boring games 1-0 but I don't need to sit through them.

[Webbo]

I've seen enough to think that we won't be disgraced.We're no where near as bad as some people on here believe.

[davieG]

I've seen enough to think that we won't be disgraced.We're no where near ????? as some people on here believe.

Is it fill in your own descriptive word then Webbo?

[Tielemans63]

Rooney looks proper fat today. Weird.

My mrs uttered her only words during the match when WR came on. The commentator was talking about him having a holiday in Vegas and she piped up with "he looks like he's been there for the last 6 months."

[Webbo]

Is it fill in your own descriptive word then Webbo?

I'm sure I don't know what you mean.

[shen]

they've got a few reasonable players. They don't have the depth or the talent pool or the national psyche to ever produce a full team that will make them Top 5 or 10 or whatever you're saying.

The players you mention are not messi, don't buy the hype, watch the game.

Denmark don't have depth, they never had. Yet I'd argue that over the past twenty years, they've been a consistent top 15 side in the world. Much smaller talent pool than Belgium and no stand out talents for years and years with Eriksen possibly being an exception (time will tell). National psyche is bull. Unless what you mean by it is team ethic. I'd agree that Belgium haven't looked a cohesive unit since the Euro's were held there (and even then they looked slightly disjointed), but that isn't an inherent flaw that has to do with national psyche. I'd argue that talent-wise, Belgium have a golden generation that's on it's way. How good they'll be is hard to tell, but I believe they could be as good as for example the Czechs in 96 and 2004, who I think were the best team in both tournaments.

Oh and by the way, having grown up in Belgium, I still follow football there regularly as well as Dutch football. I've seen quite a bit of these players already.

[Daggers]

Reminds me of George Graham's Arsenal.

Only half as good.

[Corky]

Sir Roy with another victory.

And listening to Five Live is great, criticising Capello for going before the tournament when they all wanted him out before the tournament!

[Fox92]

That boring I turned it off at half time. Didn't think we would do anything at the European Championships, and a dull performance against a team that hasn't qualified (although they do have good players) hasn't changed my mind.

[shen]

That boring I turned it off at half time. Didn't think we would do anything at the European Championships, and a dull performance against a team that hasn't qualified (although they do have good players) hasn't changed my mind.

Just to put things into perspective:

Germany lost 5-3 to non-qualified Switzerland;

Netherlands lost 1-2 at home against non-qualified Bulgaria;

Portugal could only draw 0-0 against non-qualified Macedonia at home;

France narrowly escaped embarrassment against non-qualified Iceland;

the Czechs lost 1-2 at home to non-qualified Hungary;

while Italy got trounced 0-3 by Russia.

In light of those results, England's games don't seem too bad