Can we win Euro 2004?

[Scowcroft]

Yup, another poll!

What are your views on this? I personally believe we are not strong enough to go all the way and lift the trophy. I just can't see us beating the likes of France, Italy and Portugal.

I do think we have a good chance to go far, but IMO, I think we lack that extra little bit to go all the way. Mind you, we do tend to play well against the big teams and Sven has only lost 1 competitive game - Against world Champions Brazil.

 

[Jedi]

I would say it depends on whether the likes of Spain and Holland get through the play offs. If Owen is fit etc then we have a chance but I think we lack a partner for Owen

 

[Anonymous]

Euro 2004

Definitely not! Look at the French - light years ahead . They hada tougher group and won it at a canter. Other contenders: Czech Republic, Holland and Spain (if they qualify), Italy and Portugal. We have too many liabilities: Cole, Ferdinand, James, Heskey. Our only hope is that the French appoint Peter Taylor as their coach!

 

[Scarby]

look how far we got in the WC and the squad hasnt changed that much since then has it. Just lost Seaman but gained Rooney and at the end of the day its 11 against 11 and if you want to win it that bad you can (take scotland U21's on fri night for example oh and well done to Scotland for getting to the POs as well)

 

[Scarby]

and the welsh of course.

 

[MKFox]

i feel like a traitor writing this...

the scots played better football than we did today,
OK, lesser opposition, but they were stroking it around really well. How come we never seem to do that?

we could win 2004 if everything comes together.
got a feeling it won't though

 

[mad biker]

Of course we can win it ! on our day we can beat any side !

 

[MKFox]

hhhmm
but we get 1 day every 4 years madbiker

 

[Scowcroft]

I thought we played some good, slick football yesterday. Scholes, Beckham, Gerrard and Butt linked up well in midfield and were passing the ball round quite nicely.

Scotland? Stroking the ball around? You've been on the funny pills again MK...........

 

[Scarby]

i wasnt impressed with Butt at all to be honest as a defending medfielder i dont rate him one bit. England should play more attacking with Wayne Bridge given more of a chance

 

[Scowcroft]

I would take Bridge over Cole anyday. Cole did alright last night, but he tends to be rash and dive in and let the opposition expose us.

 

[Scarby]

I agree Ashley he dosnt run enough IMO and he isnt a great crosser, not a patch on Gupps.

 

[scottmeister]

Shouldn't this thread be under the "teazer" one.........England win the European cup, how?

 

[Scowcroft]

Shouldn't this thread be under the "teazer" one.........England win the European cup, how?

You have a point.

 

[Anonymous]

2004

Neither Cole nor Bridge can defend. Let's be honest, the group we were in was very week: Turkey (we beat them 9-0 just over 10 years ago, with players past their sell by date, eg Sukur, Tugay, Alpay, Bulent), Liechtenstein (complete no hopers, but we could only score 4 goals against them), Slovakia (the poor half of the old Czechoslovakia) and Macedonia (1/4 of the old Yugoslavia).

Technically, our players are poor which is why they are found out when they play top class opposition. Can anyone name me the last decent side we beat? How many of our players would get into,say, the French team - er, none!

We may stand a chance of winning a competition if we compete against the likes of the Faroe Islands, Andorra and Armenia

 

[Scowcroft]

Neither Cole nor Bridge can defend. Let's be honest, the group we were in was very week: Turkey (we beat them 9-0 just over 10 years ago, with players past their sell by date, eg Sukur, Tugay, Alpay, Bulent),

A bit unfair. I think Bridge is a much better defender IMO than Ashley Cole. Who else do we have that can play left back?

Turkey are a very good team. They finished third in the last world cup and have some excellent players in Emre, Okan, Basturk and Nihat. And add to that the useful experience of Sukur and Tugay. Turkey are 100 times better than the outfit we beat 8-0 10 years ago. Recent results and the quality of the team certainly make them a 10 top team in the world.

Technically, our players are poor which is why they are found out when they play top class opposition. Can anyone name me the last decent side we beat? How many of our players would get into,say, the French team - er, none!

Technically poor? The likes of Ferdinand, Gerrard, Beckham, Scholes, Rooney and Owen are certainly not technically poor.

The last decent side we beat? Well, we beat Turkey 2-0 in the qualifying group at the Stadium of Light.

Comparing us to France is a bit extreme. The quality they have make them one of the best in the world. They are certainly favourites to win Euro 2004.


There you go - I've just had me rant..... [/quote]

 

[xsubmariner]

Got to believe we can go on and win it, otherwise whats the point of qualifying!
As for France, how did they fair in the last World cup
Its not just about having the players, but also how they perform on the day.

 

[Anonymous]

apartr from henry most of france's good players are getting old(vieira, desially, lizarazu, petit, candela) barthez doesn't paly for manyoo, so i think we have agood chance of beating them. spain and holland(better than them) still have to qualify, portugal rely too much on figo. i think the only main contenders will be italy and if we are playing with our strongest 11 i tnihk we can beat italy too oh and garrmany will get knocked out first round. england for 2004!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[Scarby]

only 243 days to go. And a white horse i think is the Czech Republic

 

[Dunc]

Spain will never do any good cause they all represent their different regions not Spain as a country - eg Basque and Catalans don't even see themselves as Spanish so don't give a hoot really. Add to it the other areas and its never going to happen for them.

France didn't even score in the last world cup. Italy will always shoot themselves in the foot by constantly defending 1-0 leads and no other team is there to strike fear into English hearts.

We have a spine of World Class Players - Campbell & Ferdinand (going off World Cup and overall England performances) Gerrard, Beckham, Scholes, Owen with emerging talents like Rooney, Johnson etc, I reckon we have a good chance as any. As for Ashley Cole, in the big games he plays well - Brazil, Argentina, Turkey x 2 and Bridge is a worse defender than him and not as quick so can't recover as well as Cole.

I'm not saying we will win, but we have no reason to fear any teams in the competition.