Great to see Croatia do well, a side i've always liked, and a gorgeous country. Great team display there 

Periši? would be my dream signing for us this season, what a fabulous player, makes beating players so easy, rapid, and two footed, wow........

Those Slavic teams always produce fantastic footballers...

So, Spain will play Italy in the first knockout round. Tasty.

 

And the winner of that will probably meet Germany in the quarters...

Edited June 21, 201610 yr by undertow

Christ our half of the draw is brutal now.

Spain's first loss at a European Championship since 2004.

 

Christ, I was 10 when they last lost at the Euros!

England, and Italy V Spain on at the same time, jeez....

 

Think i have that wrong, just that dick on ITV said it was 8 O'Clock (Mark Pougatch)

Edited June 21, 201610 yr by Ballack & Blu

I get having to have concurrent matches on the final match day of the group stages but knockout games? That makes no sense.

On Redcafe there's a member who bought very expensive tickets to the round of 16 game of the Group B winner, expecting that he would see England play. Instead he's going to see Wales

I get having to have concurrent matches on the final match day of the group stages but knockout games? That makes no sense.

 

the Italy game will start at 5pm; England's game is at 8pm

Germany's finishing has been worse than England so far 

 

I have said it a few times during the tournament, and i'll say it again, why are so many players hitting it straight at the keeper ? 

Or worse still, miles high or wide of the target.  The standard of finishing in this tournament has been quite pathetic at times.

On Redcafe there's a member who bought very expensive tickets to the round of 16 game of the Group B winner, expecting that he would see England play. Instead he's going to see Wales

 

That might be more fun to watch anyway 

 

All we need now is for Portugal to finish second as well.

Wow that right side is stacked

The best teams in the competition pretty much. And also England.

If Northern Ireland get a result here it will be the biggest smash and grab since Chelsea/WHU in 2014, they have been truly pitful.

We are a nation of 1.8 million, playing the world champions, who have a population of 80 million. Perspective?

We are through! Which is a lot more than anyone from here could ask for.

We are a nation of 1.8 million, playing the world champions, who have a population of 80 million. Perspective?

We are through! Which is a lot more than anyone from here could ask for.

N.I. and Wales have done v well to get though the groups. They are showing England how it's done in terms of commitment and either team might go further in the contest than us, at the moment.

Well done to both nations.

And 3 million population Wales thrashed a country with 143 million

N.I. and Wales have done v well to get though the groups. They are showing England how it's done in terms of commitment and either team might go further in the contest than us, at the moment.

Well done to both nations.

Absolutely Spud! what NI lack in skill, we make up for in commitment, spirit and a dogged determination. Wales have more tools in their box compared to us but both teams are going very well.

If England showed a quarter of our heart they'd be a dangerous team...

Absolutely Spud! what NI lack in skill, we make up for in commitment, spirit and a dogged determination. Wales have more tools in their box compared to us but both teams are going very well.

If England showed a quarter of our heart they'd be a dangerous team...

Congrats on getting through, well deserved after some really characterful displays, and Michael McGovern being possessed by Peter Schmeichel for the night last night! I hope we can show as much determination against italy tonight. 

Congrats on getting through, well deserved after some really characterful displays, and Michael McGovern being possessed by Peter Schmeichel for the night last night! I hope we can show as much determination against italy tonight.

Cheers, and all the best to our southern brothers.

Ireland have a chance if Conte rests several starters, I believe he's already said he intends to give everyone in the team a shot.

A condensed version of an article in today's 'i' newspaper: The FA are very unhappy with Roy for placing us on the wrong side of the knockout draw by making wholesale changes to the team before it faced Slovakia.  There is also speculation that Roy has decided on more changes for the next game, despite not knowing who we are playing and despite us having to win. The accusation is that Roy still doesn't know his preferred starting XI.  He shouldn't be faffing about with player selection now.  That's what pre-tournament friendlies are for(?).

Meanwhile, Alan Shearer says that Roy is playing Sturridge, Vardy and Kane in positions that they are not comfortable with. This makes sense as my impression has been that, in our games so far, we are not posing a threat to the opposition. Possession? Yes. Goals? No. 

In summary, we are on the verge of ****ing up another campaign. Bear in mind we completey ****ed up the World Cup and this will be a "blood on the floor" situation for Roy and the FA as a whole, particularly if Wales progress further than us when they have a much, much smaller pool of players to select from, much less funding, etc.  This will be worse for England because it can be argued that Roy took victory against Slovakia for granted and gifted the Welsh passage into the easier side of the draw. 

This 6 changes thing is a complete misnomer being used as yet another stick to beat an England manager. If you break down the changes then theres more like 3 that had an impact, possible even only 2.

 

Vardy/Sturridge in, everyone was calling for this after they scored the goals against wales

Clyne for Walker was a like for like, with Clyne being one of our best players.

Berty for Rose, again like for like, made few mistakes and had a solid game

Henderson or wilshire for Ali was a gamble but Ali had hardly been on fire, he was anonymous in both our first 2 games. the

problem here was both Henderson and wilshire were dog sh*t.

 

so 6 changes yes, 6 significant changes that were expected to severely weaken the team? No.

This 6 changes thing is a complete misnomer being used as yet another stick to beat an England manager. If you break down the changes then theres more like 3 that had an impact, possible even only 2.

 

Vardy/Sturridge in, everyone was calling for this after they scored the goals against wales

Clyne for Walker was a like for like, with Clyne being one of our best players.

Berty for Rose, again like for like, made few mistakes and had a solid game

Henderson or wilshire for Ali was a gamble but Ali had hardly been on fire, he was anonymous in both our first 2 games. the

problem here was both Henderson and wilshire were dog sh*t.

 

so 6 changes yes, 6 significant changes that were expected to severely weaken the team? No.

I don't want to beat Roy the person; he seems a decent bloke to be honest.  I am concerned about Roy the manager, mainly because of the changes made before the Slovakia game.  There's a lot to be said for having a settled team, with players understanding the system and each other.  Changing players on the scale of Monday can't help with team cohesion(?)