European U21 Championships

[therockbox]

That's not like them, to actually wait until they get the facts.

Expect something tomorrow making an outlandish statement about the English fans/players.

[IAceI]

I thought it was Onouha who was the main subject of the racist remarks? Or was it Hoyte? Or the whole team in general?

Either way obviously our fans or players enticed the Serbian fans to act in such a way, and also to try and 7 on 1 Derbyshire after he scored the goal.

Edited June 17, 2007 by IAceI

[cmb211087]

Just watched the highlights on ssn, well done Milner for jumping in front of them all to protect derbs when they all chased him

As for the racism, yeah it was hoyte in the tunnel, and Onouha on the pitch, and one player spat at derbs in the tunnel as well. Should have smacked one of them, dirty little fucks

Overall, I kinda take back what I said earlier, I want them to do well now, beat holland, serbia beat belguim, then we get them

Oh and Huds was sent off for abusive language

[IAceI]

Yeah, bbc.co.uk confirmed it as dissent, couldn't have been anything else really. Think the referee jumped the gun sending him off perhaps, he probably wasn't meaning to insult the referee - just the decision. Unless of course Huddleston said "what the fuck was that, you fucking Nazi bastard." Then I could understand it.

Other than that, and the handling of the Derbyshire goal aftermath. How Milner got booked - and only one Serbian player did, I'm not sure. Derbyshire didn't eveb realise he'd been spat on though in the tunnel, glad he didn't, had he reacted we'd no doubt be suffering some giant ban already. Otherwise the refereeing was superb. There was the possibly penalty shout for Serbia with Lita, but I've seen them sort of things not given plenty of times so Serbia could claim they should have had a penalty. It was close, but they've been not given plenty of times.

Could clearly tell the referee had been told not to dish out too many yellow cards, since there was the odd occassion players should have had one. I know there should have been one when a Serbian pulled Lita's shirt, before grabbing his arm and just yanking him to the ground. That should have been a yellow card in my opinion, it was worse than I described it if you're thinking it didn't sound very much like a penalty.

Holland will be a tough match, probably the best team in the tournament and they have home advantage. They've looked more impressive as a side to me as each match passes. However I like our attacking line, the defence seems shaky at times but I'd say we have the best goalkeeper in the tournament hands down. I think Milner can terrorise Royston Drenthe during the match, and we'll hopefully be playing Young again. Reo-Coker and Noble in the middle I quite like simply because they have experience together at club level and work well.

Nugent hasn't been as impressive just behind the striker as I'd hoped, but I guess he hasn't been terrible so we should maybe keep him in, not sure how Derbyshire would work as a link striker like that, although I'm positive Vaughan wouldn't. Mind you, even Nugent is an out and out striker so either of them could work in that position. Keep Lita up front, he's been fabulous aside from his penalty miss and open goal (I don't like the count the one where he hit the bar since it was a bit of a clusterfuck). He doesn't let things get to him which I like, and he's fast and can run onto balls, running riot on opposing defence's. He runs at defenders as well which is what I love to see.

I think we can win the tournament, we probably won't be the best team, and we will probably be told we don't deserve it, but I think our attacking style and pace combined with the man between the sticks really gives us the possiblity to score goals without conceding.

[figos]

Reo-Coker won't be playing against Holland

[PDG]

England winning means we and Italy are going to the play-off for the Olympics, right?

[Animal]

If by "we" you mean Portugal then you are correct sir!

[IAceI]

Why isn't Reo-Coker playing against Holland?

Edited June 18, 2007 by IAceI

[Dan]

We can't qualify for the olympics, can we?

[IAceI]

We can't qualify for the olympics, can we?

[therockbox]

According to the commentators during the Serbia game he's got three or four niggling injuries, including a dodgy hamstring.

[figos]

Why isn't Reo-Coker playing against Holland?

[PDG]

If by "we" you mean Portugal then you are correct sir!

[IAceI]

Why isn't Reo-Coker playing against Holland?

Yellow Cards.

[figos]

Shitty portuguese journalists <_

[IAceI]

I was getting really worried there, with Huddlestone out I don't think losing Reo-Coker would be great. He's the captain, the team are used to him and he works well with Noble. So glad we don't have to change that partnership. Having Young back will be good, him and Milner have been fantastic. Richardson's just going to have to wait his turn if you ask me because I want Young back in that sqaud quickly. Richardson has a lot of experience at a lot of different levels, and I've realised he's a lot better than I estimated. He seems a lot older than he is, because he's been playing at a high level for a long time now, which is great experience to have in the team.

Lita's finding the net, Nugent's doing decent as the link striker and I still believe we have the best goalkeeper in the tournament in Scott Carson. Defence looks better with every match I feel, but could still be better. Onouha goes up in my estimation every match he plays, I was really surprised he played ahead of Cahill in the second match, but he's doing well. He's got a good frame that he uses well, he's like a rich mans Darren Moore of Derby if you ask me. Think it was Peter Taylor who said "as a footballer, he doesn't seem brilliant. As a defender, he's fantastic." Which I agree with, other than the odd time he was always in a good position and he understands the position very well.

Looking forward to the Holland match, lot of star power in that match. I think they have the edge with the home advantage and they just seem to link up better, however the U21's for England are a breath of fresh air because they seem to understand themselves and the game so much better than the senior squad does. Lita's pace is troublesome for any defender, he runs at them, around them anything and he's lightning fast.

Some players I feel have done well and would like to see in the Premiership are Drenthe, Vertonghen possibly Mirallas. Fillo of Czech Republic seems good too, possibly for a mid-table/lower Premiership side, but I couldn't see him cutting it at the very top at all. However Drenthe and Vertoghen have performed well, consistantly through the tournament and I would like to see them come to the Premiership. Ryan Babel really hasn't lived up to expectations like I'd hoped, but then again he would have had to set the tournament completely alight to do that which is a high estimation of him, but he surely is capable.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I will surely be watching Holland vs. England

Go holland!

Why can't we get that far at the world cup and the europe championship. but we allways do well at the under 21 tournaments.

O well we (holland) got a nice future

[King Ellis]

We can't qualify for the olympics, can we?

Nope because we'd have to play as Great Britain and we don't do that, or we can't.

And why isn't Reo-Coker playing against Holland?

The story invariably goes that everyone outside England is too worried that if we did Team GB FIFA would turn around and say "Hey, that worked ok. You might as well go into one big league."

Of course in the last couple of years Sepp said this would never be the case and if we really wanted to we could have a team. Scotland, being the friendly bunch they are, stuck to their guns and told the English to piss off anyway.

[Guest Not The Ring]

I have seen very little of this, but I am deeply, deeply impressedby Royson Drenthe based on that one performance against Portugal. If he's always that good, he's one for the future.

[IAceI]

I will surely be watching Holland vs. England

Go holland!

Why can't we get that far at the world cup and the europe championship. but we allways do well at the under 21 tournaments.

O well we (holland) got a nice future