⚽ Euro 2024: England 0-0 Slovenia - Best 45 Minutes So Far
Dear, oh dear. I have a few mottos / pillars that I try to live my life by. One of which is...
Never make the same mistake twice
Fall down the stairs wearing novelty slippers... I won't do that again. Using an axe to chop wood after a few too many beers... that was a close one.
Gareth Southgate on the other hand... learns NOTHING.
So rather than dissect England's performance, I'll direct you towards our last match. Some pundits suggest that we were better against Slovenia - a team ranked 30 places LOWER than Denmark in 57th. That's lower than distinguished footballing nations like Iraq and Saudi Arabia and from what I saw, we never looked like scoring.
Highlights
For me, there were 3 "highlights", the 3rd being a demonstration of me not making the same mistake as last time.
1. Our disallowed goal
For the only time that I saw, we moved the ball quickly and not just the ball - the players too. Cutting a hole in the Slovenian defence for Saka to tap in. It was quick, it was beautiful, it was... offside.
2. Kobbie Mainoo
I think Mainoo's overrated but there was no doubt that when he came on, there was a different level of energy. I don't think Southgate's made a substitution that early (barring injury) in his managerial career so this in itself was positive. At the beginning of the 2nd half, he looked extremely lively.
3. I fell asleep 😴
This was the highlight for me. I've made the mistake of trying to stay awake during England games before but not this time. This time, I happily let my eyes close and that was that. Only to be woken up by Slovenia's celebrations at the final whistle.
I could also hear boos and if Southgate was continuing to delude himself over how England fans feel, I think the travelling support made their feelings clear.
Oh...
Asked what had changed about the environment around the team, Southgate replied: "I think probably expectation. We've made England over the last six or seven years fun again. I think it has been enjoyable for the players. We've got to be very, very careful that it stays that way." Source
Fun? He thinks watching England is fun.
It's not fun Gareth. It's never been fun. Even when we were winning with your Dog Shit defensive football, it wasn't fun. Getting my disobedient 6 year old ready for school is more fun than watching this shit.
The only fun thing about it, is that you know it's going to be shit. So you can turn it off and enjoy the empty roads and quieter shops.
Tomorrow night, it's Slovakia. A team ranked 45th in the world. I'll make sure I'm ready by putting my pyjamas on and getting my teeth brushed. Brushing teeth is very important.
It might be the earlier 5pm kick off. But I'm confident that Gareth and the boys will do the business and I'll be asleep by 7.
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I'm struggling to be enthusiastic about Euro 2024. I really wish I could find something to be excited about... but I'm with you that it feels like a bit of a snore. And I'm not talking about England here.
Denmark made it through without winning a match and scoring just two goals in three matches? What IS that?
I'm not seeing any side looking particularly brilliant. Spain looks mildly OK. Germany looks mildly OK. Italy and France look shaky. Portugal... I know they were already through, but losing to Georgia? They need to be more than just "the Ronaldo show."
Maybe the knockout stage will be more lively... I just hope we don't end up with an ocean of scoreless draws decided by penalties...
Also making you the joint top scorers in the group!
I think anybody would find it very difficult to disagree with you - The quality of matches has been very disappointing.
Austria have perhaps been the most entertaining team so far and as you say, Spain and Germany have had their moments. The rest has been rather lacklustre.
I thought Denmark looked good against us and deserved to win.
I very much hope that things improve. If it weren't for the Fantasy Euro Game, I'd probably have lost (nearly) all interest by now.
Well, the Denmark-Germany game went pretty much as expected (except the thunderstorm game stoppage!), hope England does better tomorrow!
Switzerland is starting to show as a bit of a "dark horse" in this event...
I felt Denmark were rather unlucky. Those same officials won’t give that exact same decision in the Premier League and it changed the game.
If only Joachim Anderson had slightly smaller feet.
On current form, they could comfortably beat us.
I'd rather torture myself than watch another England's game again. I promised myself not to be interested in any of England's games anymore back in 22. Why is Southgate still here? Is there a genuine reason behind it?
Also, I'm still having a hard time to believe that Italy is out. They're OUT.
Your first two tags though
It’s the same urge that drivers experience when driving past a car crash. You don’t want to look but it’s very hard not to.
Corrected. I tried to distract you with the last one.
I think that could help. That's Southgate's secret weapon. He will surprise everyone if the goals against the multiple world champions and top favorites Slovakia come in overtime, when everyone has already fallen asleep in front of the TV.
toothbrushing bonus - 100% vote
Haha! I've also fallen due to novelty slippers lol.
I've seen soooo many things flying around that people have made about Gareth, I haven't followed it so I'm a bit clueless but still makes me laugh! Can't say I enjoy watching football much, I used to go to Upton Park with my ex a lot, but it was the atmosphere that I found the most exciting lol. I much prefer watching rugby though.
But YES! Empty roads and shops is definitely the highlight haha! :)
Ah yes, the away end is normally very vocal 😆
Can someone pls check on @the-gorilla, is he alive? 🤣🤣🤣
🎶 Hey Jude… 🎶
We want Southgate out, say we want Southgate out…
Told you so 🤣
Ha ha! Yes! Excellent prediction.
England were so bad again.
After all, it's the result that counts. It's better to play shit and go through to the next round than to play brilliantly and be eliminated. That's how the rainbow team will fare against Spain on Friday. Without the VAR, they would have already been knocked out against the Danes.
We'll most likely get neither against the Swiss.
I think I'd rather see us play well and lose - like in the World Cup against France. There was no shame in that defeat.
Losing to Croatia and Italy by trying to defend and failing is far more annoying.
Our current approach is:
Part 1: Play Shit
Part 2: 🤷♂️
I'd prefer:
Part 1: Play Well
Part 2: 🤷♂️
I'm looking forward to your game tomorrow night. Spain have been very impressive so far and I think that "home advantage" has been overhyped (although Turkey did prove how important it can be against Austria).
You did get rather lucky against Denmark - very lucky that you have the shittest officials at the Euros on VAR!
Which do I hate more... Gareth Southgate's England or English referees?
🤔
That is true. If the Danes' goal hadn't been whistled back for 0.4 mm, the game would have been different. I hated this VAR shit from the start.
Especially when they make these completely idiotic decisions like: Ok, the goal doesn't count because 10 minutes earlier there was supposedly a foul somewhere at a completely different corner. Or these millimeter decisions. Sorry, with shoe size 43 it would have fit. Unfortunately, you're a size 44 and the tip of your shoe was half an inch offside. WTF!?
Or this bullshit offside only being whistled when the striker sprints through and still reaches and touches the ball. Sorry dude, running halfway across the pitch for nothing. What was wrong with the linesman claiming offside when the ball was passed? I often have the feeling that more games are manipulated and postponed since the VAR than before.
We've had these idiots on VAR for too long. I understand and can appreciate the technology but it doesn't matter how good the technology is if the people using it are total morons.
Having been awarded the penalty against Denmark for the ball having been hammered at Anderson from point blank range, I was surprised that a penalty wasn't given against Spain for Cucarella's hand waving - that seemed a far more obvious penalty to me.
We had a Premier League game last season where the guy on VAR was a Luton fan, and he made some shocking decisions to deny Nottingham Forest (their relegation rivals) some very obvious decisions. There were obvious cries of the guy cheating.
But they've spent too much money to scrap it now. All that it's done in England is confirm that the bad decision making isn't because the referees didn't see it... it's because they don't have a fucking clue what they're doing!
I'm tempted to agree with you about the hype around Mainoo, but like you said, he brings a different kind aura to that space. No surprise Gareth's starting him today.
It's forcing to play Foden off that left that still baffles me.
I think Southgate’s run out of ideas. Lucky Marino had a decent game otherwise he’d be starting Wharton against the Swiss.
Whilst the only player (Antony Gordon) who plays there can’t even get off the bench!!
They got "lucky" again. I hope the luck remains against Switzerland.
I hope so too but we must improve. We can't ride our luck much longer.
Well, what do we say now? Still riding on luck? 😅
We're lucky that we've produced some very technical players who are excellent from 12 yards. I wouldn't be surprised if we go on and win the tournament now. It'll be embarrassing but when your luck's in...
One last shot...
First of all your tag #southgateout was very funny after noticing it…😂😂 the coach is still there because of his performance in the World Cup but unfortunately, he’s finding it hard to pull it off in the euro cup.
Hahaha…. Please don’t let South Gate read your post, he will be force to resign 😂😂
I was expecting more from this slovenia central defender “jaka” but unfortunately England did all the playing but didn’t score
We reached the final 3 years ago and should’ve won. Our style of play is just so depressing!
I had Jaka in my fantasy euros team when they played Serbia. I can’t remember how well he did for me.
Aku suka dengan tim tersebut bahkan aku menonton ketika tim tersebut bermain. Semoga tim ini beruntung saat pertandingan nanti
What do you like about the team??
Aku suka taktik mereka pada saat bertanding dan mencetak gol. Sungguh luar biasa
You like our tactics? What is it you like about them?
Which goal did you enjoy?
Saya tidak menyangka kami akan lolos. Kami menunjukkan dengan permainan kami bahwa kami pantas lolos. Kami bermain sebagai salah satu favorit untuk turnamen hari ini. Terima kasih kepada semua penggemar dan mungkin ada sedikit keberuntungan terlibat tetapi fans kami mendukung kami.
You're annoying me now.