Euro 2012 General Discussion

Lads try watching on BBC. The nauseating commentary from Jonathan Pearce and Martin Keown and their constant ramblings on Ronaldo as if he was the only player on the pitch. Well that and the awesome performance of Howard Webb throughout the tournament.

Back to the studio and more of the same from Linekar and pitch side from Shearer - a BBC editorial line? Thankfully Hansen and Dixon did at least try to throw in a few other salient points such as the limitations of the Portugese Centre pairing and the fact that couthino (sp?) perhaps was more influential on the night.

I switched on BBC at half-time whilst RTÉ went to a break... tHen I asked myself... What did I do that for? soon switched back on that realisation that there was nothing to see here. Move along folks.

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Originally Posted by Junior

Lads try watching on BBC. The nauseating commentary from Jonathan Pearce and Martin Keown and their constant ramblings on Ronaldo as if he was the only player on the pitch. Well that and the awesome performance of Howard Webb throughout the tournament.

Back to the studio and more of the same from Linekar and pitch side from Shearer - a BBC editorial line? Thankfully Hansen and Dixon did at least try to throw in a few other salient points such as the limitations of the Portugese Centre pairing and the fact that couthino (sp?) perhaps was more influential on the night.

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Pearce reminds me of David Attenborough narrating a wildlife documentary, except not half as interesting.

Enjoyed this offering of 'Apres Match':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVioe4ro-Q

Moosels!

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

I saw that on Craig Doyle and I actually said, "There's Tets' thumb"

Also, that's an impressively geeky graph. Huzzah.

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thanks, I made that site a while ago to build graphs of how tweets are passed from user to user. The larger the circle, the more followers the user has

I had to endure the BBC 3 coverage for the Italy game, Shearer smirking at Staunton in the studio after it was done, Staunton deciding he would look to a brighter future and our young players coming through, then struggling to name any. Christ.

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Pearce reminds me of David Attenborough narrating a wildlife documentary, except not half as interesting.

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I watched the game on the Sky BBCHD, the sound balance is such (only on BBC) that the crowd noise is so loud from the rear speakers, you can barely hear the commentary coming through the front. Did I hear Pearce in the 2nd half, rambling on about a flea market in the ruins of an old stadium, over the replay of a wonderful move by Portugal which was marginally offside?
I listened to the pundits for a few minutes at half time. Hanson and Dixon kept agreeing with each others banal and boring points in a conspiracy of sorts whilst ignoring what Klinsmann had said in his intelligent overview. That Jurgen is an interesting chap.

In fairness Keown did say Portugal needed a midfielder to make a decisive break just as Moutinho did just that for Ronaldo's goal.

But the standard of commentary was dire.

Everyone over here now thinks the England spirit is good, momentum is on England's side etc. I'm not ruling England out, they have enough quality to trouble the good teams and to get goals, but the evidence so far is that 3 teams have dominated them for large periods and they got waxy breaks at key times. A nothing shot from Walcott, a double deflected cross with a namby pamby goalie flapping at it and a goal not awarded against them at a key time. They still can't keep the ball and will struggle to do so against Italy. Will Italy take their chances? My mate is in Italy and says Italy fear them.

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Originally Posted by Junior

Lads try watching on BBC. The nauseating commentary from Jonathan Pearce and Martin Keown and their constant ramblings on Ronaldo as if he was the only player on the pitch. Well that and the awesome performance of Howard Webb throughout the tournament.

Back to the studio and more of the same from Linekar and pitch side from Shearer - a BBC editorial line? Thankfully Hansen and Dixon did at least try to throw in a few other salient points such as the limitations of the Portugese Centre pairing and the fact that couthino (sp?) perhaps was more influential on the night.

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The pairing of Meireles and Moutinho? They played it tight and cautious in the first 30 minutes. In the 2nd half, both of them moved forward and shackled the Czechs convincingly, Moutinho's passing in particular was very good, he would have been my motm,
only for

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and the fact that couthino (sp?) perhaps was more influential on the night

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Coentrao? he looks an outstanding footballer, he had an excellent game, hard not to notice that one.

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Originally Posted by geysir

The pairing of Meireles and Moutinho? They played it tight and cautious in the first 30 minutes. In the 2nd half, both of them moved forward and shackled the Czechs convincingly, Moutinho's passing in particular was very good, he would have been my motm,
only for

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Not saying I agreed with Hansen but at least he was trying to bring up another point rather than letting Lineker constantly pull everyone back on topic i.e. Ronaldo

I have been a little disappointed in Meireles though from what of I have seen of him in the matches so far (Last night and bits and pieces from the Group games). He's looked good in the EPL but I didnt see so much of it last night.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Coentrao? he looks an outstanding footballer, he had an excellent game, hard not to notice that one.

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Sorry yes it was Coentrao. I was posting from the phone which would not be my forté and also got my Mouthino/Couthino (from days gone by!)/Coentrao mixed up:D He was excellent.

And just to add - What was the Czech's marking like for Ronaldo's goal? Unbelieveable that the FB (well none of the defenders in fact) had a clue where Ronaldo was. It was like Fabregas' 4th goal against us all over again in terms of players being oblivious to their opponents whereabouts.

Ronaldo's run into the box was incredible. So much so Cech didn't even know what hit him.

Ronaldo is a great player. He was unplayable last night. You get bored of humble superstars, I've never heard Messi say something like this:

"Fans jeer me because I'm good-looking, rich and a great player"

I hope he leads his team out for the semis wearing a red robe and crown and starts reciting Muhammed Ali poetry

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Originally Posted by BonnieShels

Ronaldo's run into the box was incredible. So much so Cech didn't even no what hit him.

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Yeah, Im not really disputing it was a good run in to the box with lots of energy and a great finish but its just the fact that he was in acres of space and not one Czech player had a clue where his starting position was. I mean he's the most obvious danger from the Portugese. I just cant work out why none of the Czechs were looking around going "where the fcuk is he, he must be here somewhere...." They were all just ball watching.

This link is the best I can find with the right angle to show his starting point for the run.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gi...zech-republic/

Junior, are you angling for a spot on the RTE panel?

Attack the post not the poster.

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Originally Posted by Junior

Yeah, Im not really disputing it was a good run in to the box with lots of energy and a great finish but its just the fact that he was in acres of space and not one Czech player had a clue where his starting position was. I mean he's the most obvious danger from the Portugese. I just cant work out why none of the Czechs were looking around going "where the fcuk is he, he must be here somewhere...." They were all just ball watching.

This link is the best I can find with the right angle to show his starting point for the run.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/gi...zech-republic/

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The more I watch it the more I think it was wonderful. Was that Gebresalesie making the last ditch lean into him?

Great angle. RTÉ didn't show it from that wide, or I just didn't see it.

Yes it was. Actually this clip shows the above angle plus a few others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPJOC0yPu6s

I think the reason they were slow to pick him up was because Moutinho's break into the box was so late and caught everyone by surprise. Within a second the ball was being crossed, Ronaldo read the situation well and Gebra Selassie was cuaght unaawres, but understandably. Every goal can be avoided in hindsight. Ronaldo being able to run at it gave him a huge advantage.

Not to mention that Cech was shocking.