Euros Opponents Watch

SByrne24 wrote: I wouldn't get carried away with Chester either, he barely played this season there's talk of him going back to Hull.                     Westwood Coleman Clark/Duffy/O'Shea Williams Brady           McCarthy Arter/Whelan Ramsey                                                     Bale            Long               Walters An argument could be made to put Davies into LB and push up Brady Bench wise: Would Gunter get on our bench, or Vaughan or Johnny Williams all these guys start. I don't think they would, other then James Collins I don't believe a lot of the Welsh lads on their bench this evening would get in our extended squads guys playing for Fleetwood etc. I read their message board, pretty dismissive of ourselves yet they rely so heavily on Bale did Wales get into Swedens box tonight?. They've no talent coming through think two years ahead will Wales have any major changes? I don't think they wil it'll be the same, Lawrence there next big hope didn't get a chance at Leicester I can't see that changing in 35 games of football in the championship he's scored 2 goals, scored 0 for Cardiff when he returned 'home' the once young hopeful is touching 23. Guys like Toner, O'Dowda, Byrne, Scott Hogan won't be far of starting for us in two years adding to the young talent already in the squad Arter etc. I get ridiculed for blowing Scotland out of the water too easily, but when it came to big nights and big games v Germany etc we rose to the occasion, I expect the same in this campaign Martin O'Neill has done wonderful things holding Holland who beat anyone put in front of them recently bar ourselves, beating Switzerland beating Germany, beating Bosnia having Poland by there balls in Dublin. Good times ahead.

Are you on drugs?

Arters 27 with a terrible injury record for us. Hardly young talent.

All the other player you mentioned are lower league players with everything to do.
It's pretty much a given Byrne needs to get out of City as quickly as possible. He has no chance when they just buy £30m+ midfielders every summer.

It's not Holland BTW it's the Netherlands... Holland is a province in the.... What am I doing explaining that kind of thing to someone who uses geography every day at work!

The Netherlands beat anyone put in front of them recently? Who? Who did they beat? I seem to remember them having a disastrous qualifying campaign up there with the worst they've ever had. Some of their notable results in the group:
Czech Republic 2- 1 Netherlands
Iceland 2-0 Netherlands
Iceland 1-0 "
Turkey 3-0
Czech Republic 3-2
Turkey 1-1

FFS they only managed a point against the 3 top sides in their group!    
Friendlies are meaningless. All the tournament sides use them for is to stretch the squad and break the monotony of training.
Players who know the are in the squad don't try a leg because they don't want to get injured.
The Netherland are in a bad place and a couple of friendly wins doesn't gloss over that.

We had Poland by the balls? Ya we sure did and we were in a charitable mood that's why we let them away with a draw and let them hockey us in Warsaw.    

Edited by Bitored - 06 Jun 2016 at 5:19am

No, I'm obviously not on drugs. What a ridiculous statement. 

Edited by SByrne24 - 06 Jun 2016 at 10:01am

SByrne24 wrote: No, I'm obviously not on drugs. What a ridiculous statement.  Dele Ali, Jamie Vardy, John Stones, Tom Heaton,Kyle Walker as were/are lower league footballers in their youth,  also as recently as 13/14 Ryan Mason was playing his trade Swindon next statement please. The players I mentioned have an abundance of talent and a lot of potential in the right environment, Browne is another who could break into the side he's been doing very well at PNE a move to a bigger club isn't far away.  As for Jack Byrne, he played for Cambuur which aren't a great side but he played against teams who are decent sides and one/two very good sides a comparison I could make here playing at that standard of dutch football is Thomas Vermalen he was off a similar age when to RKC Wallwijk he didn't do to bad did he?, played for Ajax, Arsenal and now Barcelona. Our own Wes Hoolahan was playing for Livingston at a similar age.  Are you familiar with GIF Sundsvall? Forsberg played for them, he was the standout player in his league this year and one of Swedens best players with Zlatan. John Guidetti? IF Brommapojkarna as a a late teen Ludwig Augustinsson also played for them. Kallstrom starting playing his career for the world renowned BK Hacken at the time in the second division in Sweden theres more players who played for lower league clubs be it in Sweden or Germany.  Lets move on to our other opponents at Euro 2016, Italy do you know who Barzagli started his playing days at? San Frediao Rondinella in the Tuscan C league, as for Parolo Como in Serie C.  It doesn't matter what league you are playing at as a young player, if you are showing potential you will earn a move and in the right environment make a name for yourself Northern Ireland currently have an ex post man playing for them. Friendlies don't matter, i disagree. Friendlies is how managers to prepare for Championships and Qualifiers, the Dutch? Yeah they done brilliant at Euro2012 didn't they? 0 points. Fast forward two years, they're in the Semis of the World Cup, they'll qualify for the next tournament without a shadow of a doubt they've serious talent in their ranks Vicent Janssen for example don't take notice of him though or his amount of goals, he was playing lower league football two seasons ago. Yes, we had Poland by their balls in Dublin so heres some stats. Ireland 57% Possession              Poland 43% Shots 13                                    4 Corners 5                                   1 Anyone watching that game clearly seen we dominated them we rarely dominate any team for possession for example also hitting the post/crossbar. Poland scored a goal due to Given, beat at his front post is a big No no. Anything else I can correct you on? As for Holland/Netherlands

lassassinblanc wrote: Hennessy would be our number 1 Seriously he is a woeful keeper only reason he is number 1 is because the others options are even worse. Just look at the goal he conceded against Sweden too slow to get down. He wouldn't get into our squad let alone be number 1

Strazdas wrote: Bitored wrote: Strazdas wrote: TonyNotJack wrote: Whatever about the merits of Sweden's 3-0 earlier, having just been on the main Welsh forum, it seems most of their fans have now decided they are a terrible team who have one great player, nothing else, and only qualified because they got a lucky group. The world cup group is looking better and better considering we were a pot 4 team. If Austria and Wales look as average in the Euros as they have in their friendlies, it could turn out to be the best world cup group we ever got.    They're right to be worried IMO, Wales looked awful today and could barely even get out of their own half.  Austria have a bit more about them and are clearly a good technical side. These Euros will be a big test for them though....they will be expected to beat Hungary and Iceland in the group games, which means they will be under a fair amount of pressure and can't hide behind the underdog tag. Wouldn't read too much into the Welsh forum. As much as there's a bandwagon here, I would say 95% of the Welsh fans in France will never have been at a Wales game prior to recent success. I remember when we played them in qualifying in croker they couldn't give their allocation away. As "poor" as they are I'd still take a good few of their players. Hennessey would be our number one. No question. Ramsay, Bale, Allen would walk into our side. One or 2 others would be in the mix too. Still don't reckon Cardiff will be a handy trip . I reckon it'll be a similar campaign to this one with 3 or 4 sides nicking points off each other. Fingers crossed we come out the right side because we won't run away with the group. Austria are decent and on a similar level to Poland with an outstanding player in Alaba who can turn a game. The problem for the Welsh is that football is not actually that popular in Wales. Rugby is king there and football will always be the poor relation. Even if you look at this week, excitement in the Republic and NI is approaching fever pitch but I get the distinct impression the Welsh are not that pushed and are only paying lip service to how 'wonderful' it is to be going to the Euros. Agree completely they won't be a pushover in the WC qualifiers. They should be competitive at least and as a rule, we don't like playing British sides (dropping four points to a very average Scottish side of course). The WC group will be a real scrap between the top four sides : at this moment I'd jump at the chance to even get a play off spot, never mind anything else.

That's actually a common misconception !
Football is played by more people in Wales than Rugby.
Perception that rugby is their national game as they generally do well but footie is actually King. Just look at the attendences at say Cardiff / Swansea / Wrexham etc.
Easily outnumbers that of say Llanelli / Scarlett's / Ospreys etc.



Edited by HampshireDub - 06 Jun 2016 at 12:09pm

HampshireDub wrote: Strazdas wrote: Bitored wrote: Strazdas wrote: TonyNotJack wrote: Whatever about the merits of Sweden's 3-0 earlier, having just been on the main Welsh forum, it seems most of their fans have now decided they are a terrible team who have one great player, nothing else, and only qualified because they got a lucky group. The world cup group is looking better and better considering we were a pot 4 team. If Austria and Wales look as average in the Euros as they have in their friendlies, it could turn out to be the best world cup group we ever got.    They're right to be worried IMO, Wales looked awful today and could barely even get out of their own half.  Austria have a bit more about them and are clearly a good technical side. These Euros will be a big test for them though....they will be expected to beat Hungary and Iceland in the group games, which means they will be under a fair amount of pressure and can't hide behind the underdog tag. Wouldn't read too much into the Welsh forum. As much as there's a bandwagon here, I would say 95% of the Welsh fans in France will never have been at a Wales game prior to recent success. I remember when we played them in qualifying in croker they couldn't give their allocation away. As "poor" as they are I'd still take a good few of their players. Hennessey would be our number one. No question. Ramsay, Bale, Allen would walk into our side. One or 2 others would be in the mix too. Still don't reckon Cardiff will be a handy trip . I reckon it'll be a similar campaign to this one with 3 or 4 sides nicking points off each other. Fingers crossed we come out the right side because we won't run away with the group. Austria are decent and on a similar level to Poland with an outstanding player in Alaba who can turn a game. The problem for the Welsh is that football is not actually that popular in Wales. Rugby is king there and football will always be the poor relation. Even if you look at this week, excitement in the Republic and NI is approaching fever pitch but I get the distinct impression the Welsh are not that pushed and are only paying lip service to how 'wonderful' it is to be going to the Euros. Agree completely they won't be a pushover in the WC qualifiers. They should be competitive at least and as a rule, we don't like playing British sides (dropping four points to a very average Scottish side of course). The WC group will be a real scrap between the top four sides : at this moment I'd jump at the chance to even get a play off spot, never mind anything else. That's actually a common misconception ! Football is played by more people in Wales than Rugby. Perception that rugby is their national game as they generally do well but footie is actually King. Just look at the attendences at say Cardiff / Swansea / Wrexham etc. Easily outnumbers that of say Llanelli / Scarlett's / Ospreys etc.

2-0 now

Its encouraging watching these play their last 3 games, extremely average bunch all the same, worst Italian team I can recall in last 15 years+