I'm going with Quarter Final- although my FM2012 game predicts England win it Reason being, we might well raise our game to face France, and the irony is, if we're not relying on Rooney, we might actually be more expressive in our football, rather than punting the ball to him.
I can see England squeezing results past Sweden and the Ukraine. I can't see England defeating the mostly like quarter final opponents in Spain or Italy. England just doesn't have the quality players to be contenders.
My predictions. I think England will narrowly get results against Sweden and Ukraine. This tournament is in Poland/Ukraine, so you know they will put up a fight. Swedish teams tend to be well organised and with guys like Ibrahimovic, they can score at any moment. Sweden will be difficult to break down, which I think may be difficult for England because England is better at counter attacking than they are at carving teams open. France will easily outclass England because they are quite simply the better team with tons of talent (on the bench as well). However, football is not played with the mouth so you never know... Expectations are low for this England team because no one expects anything special, really...so I think they may surprise everyone. I have France as a potential surprise winners of this tournament. Can't wait for the Euros !
The frogs won't deliver, and they won't easily outclass us, regardless of who Hodgson puts on the pitch.... Too much disfunction amonst the players.. Also, their defence is a weakness,..
England have better players than people think. It's a shame Oxlade Chamberlain and Downing are in the squad ahead of Lennon and Johnson, but there's still potential. This time around I think they'll finish second behind France in the group and lose in the quarterfinal, but with the right matchups anything could happen. Roy has set them up to sit back and soak up pressure, then use speed on the wings and play the ball forward to Carroll. It worked for Chelsea, so who knows?
This isn't the same France side that you saw in the world cup. Despite this, they simply have much better, and technical, players...and that is a fact.
With all the love you have for France, maybe you should go visit their forum? If not, I'd keep the England jabs to yourself.. and that too is a fact..
Meh, I find it to be true. This generation of English players aren't that technical. I think in the 90's England had better players, tbh.
Oh good Lord ... really? Saying France have better individual players than England is hardly contentious. So it's just saying it here? Blimey. There are anumber of players on the French team who would improve the English team. There are also players on the English squad that would be a bonus to the French side. We're so hypersensitive to "trolling" we can't even acknowledge this?
Agreed. 3L, I don't think at this moment in time the guy is trolling. On the whole, France do have better technical players than us (at least I believe so), and as they are in our group, it should be open for discussion within the England forum
it is pretty obvious that France as a team will be technically better, it doesn't need pointing out to anyone. But technique can often mean nothing, it just depends how both teams are set up. England is more than capable of doing a job on French sides, even great ones, as we did in 1982. I expect Roy will have us difficult to beat and the French will probably be happy to just avoid defeat as well.
My expectation are the lowest they have been since Graham Taylor era. The team is lacking proven international goal-scorers up front bar Rooney and Defoe. Rooney is out for the first 2 games and Defoe might not even play if Hodgson goes for a younger option up front. Preparation has been terrible with Capello being sacked and then not replaced until months later with Hodgson. Hodgson does not have any time to play around with his squad at all, the Euros are around the corner. I also am pessimistic due to witnessing the dire football Hodgson served up at Anfield - completely passive and unambitious. Similar fare will not succeed for England. I am not sure exactly how the FA think swapping Capello for Hodgson is an improvement. Of course Football is a funny old game and it might turn out to be an amazing tournament for England. At least we are there this time, so that is already an improvement. We are probably going to have to defeat Ukraine in Kiev to get through to the next Round where tough challengers will await. I won't make a placing prediction until I get some inkling of the formation and team Hodgson will pick.
I didn't realise his join date was today. Suspicious, but I've not seen a clear troll post as yet. Jury is out I guess.
I take my time to write a post that (in my opinion) was thought out...and I'm suspected of trolling. :/ That upsets me a bit, to be honest. I don't even see what caused the issue. I mean seriously, if someone can point me to where I went wrong, I'll apologise.
I dont know how much you can read into qualifying ,but in their group they got taken to the limit by Bosnia and didnt look impressive . They were 10 minutes away from dumped into the playoffs . On paper they look dangerous ,but they have some heartless players like benzema and Malouda in their ranks .