Bogey Team

The Germans have never beaten the Italians in a major finals and that record continued tonight.
Another quality performance from the Italians putting the highly rated Germans to the sword, a performance which makes England's effort look slightly better because John Terry and Lescott surely wouldn't have made it so easy for Super Mario score his two unchallenged goals.
Balotelli looked very good mainly because the Germans didn't frustrate him like we did, although they did make it slightly harder for Pirlo but forgot that the Italians have other players capable of quality passing.

Joachim Loew must have scoffed more than his usual amount of bogies trying to figure out what he could do, he replaced the frontmen at half time but it didn't really make a difference as one thing the Italians were always good at was defending.

Looking forward to Sunday where hopefully the Italians can turn it on again and beat the dull Spaniards.

Old Codgers

West Ham seem to have been linked with a selection of slightly past it superstars recently, but I do like the current rumour that Alessanro Del Piero might consider a switch to the premier league with us.
I had only just told my missus that her favourite foreign player had recently retired and wouldn't be coming on for Italy tonight, and then I read that he didn't want to retire yet :)
Although she's a Hammers fan like me she owns a Juventus shirt with Del Piero's name on the back, so just maybe it will have a new lease of life :)

Disgrace

He might have a dodgy barnet, some dubious tattoo's and be a bit past it but so what?
David Beckham has done so much for the British Olympic organisation with the bid and publicising it around the world since we were chosen.
All he asked was that he be part of the British football team as one of the 3 overage players, instead Stuart Pearce has gone for the equally old Ryan Giggs, dodgy kneed Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards?
I don't think we have a hope whatever team we choose as most of the other nations are used to this competition and build squads especially for it, so Beckham's inclusion won't really make much difference.

So as far as I'm concerned even if he only performed a ceremonial kick off and was substituted straight after he should have been in the squad, I think he has earned the right :)

Here's Hoping?

Probably the day I made the Italians my second favourite international team.
Still gives me goosebumps :)

Deja Vu

Oh well the dream is over in the usual way as even the Italians manage to beat us on penalties :(
I think after years of us getting knocked out of major championships on penalties I am getting used to this!! the first time in 1990 I was devastated and felt the same way in 96, 98, 2004 but by 2006 it was getting obvious we would blow it and tonight it just seemed inevitable.

 For the first half hour of this game it wasn't looking too bad for us, it was a far more open game than anyone could have guessed, the Italians hit the post early on and Johnson and Wellbeck missed good chances for us.
But for the next 90 minutes it was nearly all Italy and only wasteful shooting from Balotelli and co kept us in it.
John Terry was a wall and Johnson and Lescott also blocked nearly everything thrown at them, Pirlo was controlling everything and even former Hammer Alessandro Diamanti came on and looked good.
Somehow we got to penalties and after Montolivo put it wide there was a hope we could finally win a shoot out, after all the Italians are usually worse than us at penalties but then Ashley Young blasted it against the crossbar and Ashley Cole's tame shot was saved leaving Diamanti to win it.

My Ratings -
Hart 8, Johnson 9, Cole 7, Terry 9, Lescott 8
Parker 8, Gerrard 7, Young 3, Milner 6
Rooney 6, Wellbeck 6
Subs - Walcott 7, Carroll 8, Henderson 6

I didn't change my score for Ashley Young because of the penalty, he was shit all night and for most of the tournament it was just a shame he didn't get a run in the penalty area where he could have used his greatest skill (but we probably would have missed the penalty anyway).

I wish the Italians well against the Germans (as my money has been on them from the start) and reckon they might give the Germans some problems, and as for Spain v Ronaldo it should be the Spanish but you never know?

England showed better as a team this tournament and at times showed they can pass the ball around with the best, but it's obvious we need to find some creative midfielders from somewhere?
Gerrard looked better without Lampard in his way, but sadly his best days are over.
Parker showed he is a better holding midfielder than the overrated Gareth Barry but isn't getting any younger.
Oxlade-Chamberlain looks promising and may be part of a brighter future.
Walcott is hit and miss, six years of inconsistency doesn't look like ending.
Ashley Young seems to have gone back to his Villa days when he could only turn it on against inferior teams and was anonymous against the good sides.
Milner is average, he'll do a job but is never going to win matches single handed.
Henderson who knows? hasn't showed much since his Sunderland days but might get better.
Wilshere was looking good before his injury so hopefully he can come back.

Roll on Brazil 2014!!

Please

Suddenly the expectation levels seem to have risen way above what they should be, I've quite enjoyed it so far putting one over on all the doubters I know and work with.
Now England flags are being flown everywhere and people that were telling me 2 weeks ago we wouldn't make it out of the group are now saying we are going to win the whole thing.

I must admit I am not at all confident today we have played well against Sweden despite the goals we conceded, we were ok against the Ukraine who are an average side but were over defensive against what has turned out to be a piss poor French side, and now we are coming up against the big boys who could find us out?
I will be wearing my lucky England shirt and foregoing the haircut I badly need in the hope it adds some small bit of luck for tonight.

If we get through I actually feel more confident of overcoming the Germans who although looking the best team in the tournament struggled against the Danes who play a bit like England.
So come on England, let's pray for a Balotelli meltdown and some more dodgy decisions in our favour, and keep this dream going :)

Bye Greeny

Bye Robert Green :(
Sad to see him go as he's rarely let us down over the years.
Obviously money was the main reason but after serving us well maybe he did deserve a big pay day and it's a shame the Hammers board couldn't come to an agreement with him.
He has said the right things in his interview so hopefully he will get a decent reception when QPR come to Upton Park and we can commiserate after each goal goes in :)

Job Done

Not much to get excited about in our final group game, the Ukrainians had a lot of the play but rarely looked like scoring, England just about did enough to win with Rooney taking the headlines, he should have given us a half time lead but missed an easy header, but he made up for it by getting to Gerrard's low cross after the goalie fumbled.
Ukraine were unlucky in the second half when John Terry cleared the ball which had just about crossed the line, the goal line official managed to miss it even though he was only about 6 yards away? although ITV claimed that there was an offside in the build up so maybe justice was done?
Now we have Italy on Sunday and if we manage to win that it looks like the Germans in the semi's which obviously brings back bad memories, I still think Spain was the easier game?

My Ratings -
Hart 6, Johnson 7, Cole 7, Terry 7, Lescott 7
Parker 8, Gerrard 9, Young 7, Milner 7
Rooney 7, Wellbeck 6
Subs - Walcott 5, Carroll 5, Oxlade-Chamberlain 4

Euro 2012 Predictions - Part 2

Here's the second part, so new predictions please :)
We'll make it the final score before penalties, so including extra time if needed.
(bonus point for correct penalty score) :)

Biopunk 17 Lee 14 Gobshyte 11 Longy 0

Czech Rep v Portugal
Germany v Greece
Spain v France
England v Italy

*****************
Edit - Semi Finals
Current scores - Biopunk 20 Lee 17 Gobshyte 15 Longy 2

Portugal v Spain
Germany v Italy

UEFArghh!!

I know Bendtner's underpants were a horrible colour and really should have only been worn by Irish players but EUFA have managed to outdo FIFA with their latest decision.
Dodgy underpants = £80k fine and a ban.
Racist chanting and abuse = £64k.
That's really going to deter them isn't it ... just don't wear a sponsored swastika!!

England Expects

That day is here again :)

The expectation level is rising and a few of those doubters I know have said to me that England won't finish bottom (because it can't happen Dumbo's).
A draw will be enough to see us through to a match against Spain (which after seeing them last night looks the best option).
A win might be enough to take us top but only if we win by a goal more than the French, or the French lose or draw.
To complicate things only a win for Ukraine will send them through so there can be no settling for a draw if the French are getting stuffed.

I have pre-booked the semi-final dates off, so you could say I am in my usual state of over optimism :)
Gonna be gutted if I've used valuable holidays to sit at home watching Portugal v Spain :(

So come on England make us proud, let's win something before I'm too old to jump up and down :)

Holland Dozy Holland

For about 15 minutes it looked like Holland would easily beat Portugal and possibly qualify for the next round if the other result went their way, then for some reason it all went wrong?

Ronaldo was certainly in the mood and had one of his best games for Portugal, but the Dutch just seemed to fall apart and were lucky only to lose 2-1, the Germans did their bit in the other match and must be favourites now.

As for the Dutch Huntelaar is supposed to be a top quality striker but I've never seen it when I have seen him play before, and tonight all he did was stop Van Persie playing in his normal position which meant he was innefective as well. Van Der Vaart played pretty well and scored a good goal but a lot of the other big names just didn't play and the defence were being ripped apart by Ronaldo and Nani at will.
So Holland join Russia, Poland and Denmark out of the competition, I feel sorry for Denmark who played well in all 3 games which you can't say about the Dutch.

The first 2 quarter finals will be - Czech Rep v Portugal and Germany v Greece

A Greek Tragedy

Obvious title :)
After the first games what odds would you have got on the Greeks and Czechs qualifying from Group A??
The Greeks amazingly beat the highly fancied Russians which just makes you remember 2004 where they kept scraping through each round all the way to the title.
Poland probably confirmed their FIFA ranking by making the Czechs look good?

Whoever qualifies from Group B must expect a semi-final place as neither the Czechs or Greeks should progress against  those higher quality teams.
Group B itself could go any way with the Germans not certain of qualifying despite 2 wins and Holland still in with a chance despite 2 losses!!
The Germans have looked the best team in the tournament so far but nothing is certain.

* I am impressed that the Excel Euro 2012 spreadsheet I downloaded recently has dealt with "head to head records" meaning I won't have to fiddle with it like in previous tournaments when they have sent the wrong team through :)
But I will reserve judgement until tonight, if Denmark and Portugal win it gets really confusing with all of them on 6 points and they have all won against one of the others so not sure what the next deciding factor is? hopefully it's just goal difference.

For The Irish

Thanks to Biopunk for this, a song for Gobby and all the Irish fans ahead of their final Euro 2012 game against Italy tomorrow.
I reckon they need to start searching those ancestry records like Jack Charlton used to, as this could be a final fling for players like Keane, Given, Duff and Dunne :(

Flash

Lightning at Shakhtar Donestsk stadium.
I'm not sure if this picture is from yesterday's game as the crowd seem to be missing, but it looked like this :)

Enger-land

Still the best :)
John Barnes's greatest performance (apart from that goal against Brazil).

Mashed Swede

Getting better all the time, as I knocked off work early at 6 I told everyone "Andy Carroll hat-trick" while all the doubters could only come up with "we might scrape a draw".
I'm starting to think I'm the only person who thinks England aren't that bad and might even get a few wins?
When the game was about to kick off tosspot Lineker and serial knob Lawrenson keep trotting out the line that England never beat Sweden and all the others are negative about us.

The game starts and we look pretty good and even Milner isn't playing too bad, then Gerrard's cross and a great headed goal from the all new fit Andy Carroll :)
Despite Lawro's constant moaning I thought we looked pretty good for the rest of the half.
The moaners must have been in heaven as we switched off at the start of the second half and somehow conceded two goals to the average Swedes, had to feel for Glen Johnson who was really unlucky with the own goal but overall had probably his best defensive game for England.
I still thought England could come back as surely our pace would tell against the ageing Swedes.
Hodgson didn't hang about and put Walcott on for Milner who had reverted to type, and within minutes he had scored the equaliser with a shot that really shouldn't have gone in, Isaksson who had just made a great save from Terry's header somehow totally misjudged or didn't even see Walcott's shot as it shot past him.
Then about 15 minutes later Walcott burst through and crossed behind Wellbeck who brilliantly back heeled into the net. Altogether now ... You're going home, you're going home ...Sweden's going home :)

Four points but we still need at least a draw against the Ukraine but I reckon we would have to play really bad and get a seriously bribed ref to lose, we shall see on Tuesday.

My Ratings -
Hart 7, Johnson 8, Cole 6, Terry 7, Lescott 6
Parker 7, Gerrard 8, Young 5, Milner 5
Carroll 8,Wellbeck 8
Subs - Walcott 9, Oxlade-Chamberlain 6

Bye Harry

I've heard the rumours over the last few days but didn't really believe them, but it seems he has been shown the door by Tottenham?
Only a few months ago the press were telling us the sun shone out of his arse, and Tottenham were talking about a multi-million pound compensation deal if England called.
They didn't, and now it seems he's been dumped because he asked for a contract extension
I've not been the biggest fan of Harry as a manager and think his inflated reputation is a lot better than his actual achievements, but he is always good for a laugh and maybe he should now stick to punditry, but I expect there will be a queue of clubs waiting to take him on.


I cannot see that anyone will get them higher up the table with their present finances than what has been achieved in the last few years but obviously the chairman thinks differently.
David Moyes is one of the early favourites, and it would be interesting to see what he can do if he actually had some money to spend but I reckon he is still one of the favourites to replace Fergie when he finally quits so he might stay put for now?

Le Bribe

A draw to start and probably deserved, some people rated France as better than us but it didn't show, to be honest both teams cancelled each other out.
Lescott was probably England's best player and deserved the goal, Joe Hart had a mixed night with some great saves and a few errors and you would have expected him to save Nasri's goal.
Great to see Oxlade-Chamberlain in the starting line up although he didn't see too much of the ball but did ok, still not convinced Milner is an England player and he missed a sitter early on after doing the hard bit of taking it round the keeper, Gerrard still seems to lack the confidence he shows for Liverpool but was solid.
England played a bit defensively which meant Young and Wellbeck had limited chances to shine, but we looked more solid than we have in years.
Luckily the French didn't have any opportunities to go down in the box, as I'm sure the ref was dying to give them a penalty.

My Ratings -
Hart 7, Johnson 6, Cole 7, Terry 6, Lescott 8
Parker 7, Gerrard 7, Oxlade-Chamberlain 7, Milner 4
Young 6, Wellbeck 7
Subs - Henderson 5, Defoe 7, Walcott 5

Rio Rant (Bad Language Warning)

I have always lked Rio Ferdinand from his Hammers days through his Leeds days and even now he's at United but I'm getting sick of hearing his name now :(
The parasite scum press and media cannot talk about England without keep bringing up "the Rio question" every time, and I for one have just about had enough of it.

Why bother paying an England manager to pick a team when all that useless bunch of cunts know better?
We all know the real reason he wasn't considered but if he had wanted a divided dressing room he might as well have called up Joey Barton to replace Lampard and if the experience reason is key why wasn't David James called up to replace Ruddy.
Don't forget Capello took Rio to the last World cup and he didn't even make it to the first match before he was injured, Alex Ferguson says he can't play twice a week, he hasn't played for England for over a year and has only made nine England appearances in the four years since the last Euro's.
Is he better than Martin Kelly? probably but I reckon Kelly might be a better right back when injury prone Glen Johnson gets a knock at some stage, when Lampard got injured why wasn't Mark Noble called up or even ageing Paul Scholes? there are probably dozens of players better than Jordan Henderson but there wasn't a story there.
The only way I can see the press giving Hodgson a break is if we win the tournament with substitute defender Martin Kelly hitting the winner .. here's hoping :)