2011/12 Football Season chat (contains MOTD spoilers)

[lanky316]

Yeah, the way the game works over here would be killed. The top flight would have to remain a the same few teams and a side in a lower tier would find themselves with no future. In American league systems for example I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the joys of successive promotions as the structure just wouldn't allow it. Let's see if They have the guts to do something properly with the new financial rules but they almost certainly won't have the guts to penalise the Man Yoos of this world.

[Liamh1982]

Euro 2012 play-offs:
Ireland v Estonia
Turkey v Croatia
Czech Republic v Montenegro
Portugal v Bosnia

Think the Irish will be happy enough with that.

[DreamcastRIP]

Uefa's disciplinary panel have handed Rooney the maximum penalty of a three match ban... meaning he'll not be eligible to play in any of the group stage matches at Euro 2012.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15297615.stm

Debate will now likely focus on whether Capello should include Rooney in the tournament squad at the expense of another striker...

[paranoid marvin]

He booted an opponent. He's already been sent off in a finals competition. And he's already picked up a couple of yellow cards this campaign. And it's not as if he's a defender, strikers simply shouldn't have that kind of disciplinary record. Fining a multi-millionaire would do nothing, the only way to punish him is through stopping him playing in matches that mena a lot to him. Perhaps in future he will think more of his team-mates than of himself, and it sends a great message to younger fans.

Personally I wouldn't take him to the finals. If the other squad players get England past the group stage , they deserve to play in the later stages of the competition. Yes he's a great player, but no player is better than the team.

[sscott]

He booted an opponent. He's already been sent off in a finals competition. And he's already picked up a couple of yellow cards this campaign. And it's not as if he's a defender, strikers simply shouldn't have that kind of disciplinary record. Fining a multi-millionaire would do nothing, the only way to punish him is through stopping him playing in matches that mena a lot to him. Perhaps in future he will think more of his team-mates than of himself, and it sends a great message to younger fans.

Personally I wouldn't take him to the finals. If the other squad players get England past the group stage , they deserve to play in the later stages of the competition. Yes he's a great player, but no player is better than the team.

But they will take him of course, we all know that sadly...

[dste]

Take him, don't take him.

Either way we'll be knocked out in the quarter finals after barely scraping through the group stage.

[firebreather]

Take him, don't take him.

Either way we'll be knocked out in the quarter finals after barely scraping through the group stage.

i think thats overly optimistic!

[the_hawk]

Looking at the list of qualified teams it promises to be a hell of a tournament, Loads of strong teams.

England
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Ukraine
Greece
Denmark
Poland

Plus the 4 teams that qualify from the play-offs.

Much as it'll improve our chances of qualification, I think the Euros will lose something when it's expanded to 24 teams.

[greenberet79]

The Euros are always harder than the world cup, the calibre of team is strong throughout. England didn't have a chance of a semi final appearance anyway!

Ho ho ho, well done Wayne! All those Fleet Street journalists will be foaming at the mouth now, dreaming up more bizarre team selections nobody cares about.

[retrogarden]

Spain
Germany
France
Portugal

Possible group of death there (assuming Portugal go through).

[the_hawk]

The astonishing football rankings page explains the seeding process better than I ever could...

http://www.football-rankings.info/2011/ ... -pots.html

France could end up in pot 4 if, as expected Portugal & Croatia win their play-offs.

[paranoid marvin]

He booted an opponent. He's already been sent off in a finals competition. And he's already picked up a couple of yellow cards this campaign. And it's not as if he's a defender, strikers simply shouldn't have that kind of disciplinary record. Fining a multi-millionaire would do nothing, the only way to punish him is through stopping him playing in matches that mena a lot to him. Perhaps in future he will think more of his team-mates than of himself, and it sends a great message to younger fans.

Personally I wouldn't take him to the finals. If the other squad players get England past the group stage , they deserve to play in the later stages of the competition. Yes he's a great player, but no player is better than the team.

But they will take him of course, we all know that sadly...

Of course , because nowadays it's not about ability, it's about commercialism. A banned Wayne Rooney is worth more commercially than a fully-fit , in-form Defoe; in fact a banned Wayne Rooney, ready to jump back into the same and lead them to Cup glory (yeah,right) after the group stages is probably a better commercial proposition than a Rooney who once again disappoints from the first game of the tournament.

Cynical? Moi? No, just basing my opinion on how club/international football has been run for the last couple of decades. When was the last time we gave a non-PL player a run in the first team? I recall David Nugent when playiong for Preston getting a game for england and scoring (albeit a tap-in against Andorra) - never played again. 1 goal in 1 game, and that was it. How many other talented strikers, not yet burdened by the popstar lifestyle or unrealistic expectations of the Premiership could perform for England? How many will ever get the chance?

[lanky316]

Nugent partly wasn't picked again as it wasn't really his goal. He did the schoolboy thing of kicking the ball over the line when it was already rolling in from a Defoe shot. After looking out of his depth for most of his time on the field. I'll be the first person to say there were times we really should've changed it up but Nugent even being called up was an insult. He wasn't premiership standard let alone international.

[dste]

Another loss, at least it was only 1-0 this time.

Still leaves us in 23rd place though.

[retrogamerdude]

Toon army keeps on rolling! 2-2 draw against Spurs 4th in the P.L