Not really the same. And yes, in England, you're known as a bit plastic if you don't support your local club . Anyway let's not argue, I'm on .ayellow after all
Hi, I just looked at the odds for this game and I am a little bit taken aback . Basically many think that England is at least twice more likely to win than sweden is. The English are also expected to do so within 90 minutes. It is seen, at times, as an even clearer favorite than Croatia is against Russia. While I can understand the overall argument in favor of England ( due to the qualities of its players). I do not see such a vast difference of level between the two team as a whole. What is the criteria that tips the balance so much in favor of England in your opinion ? The thing is, I do not follow the English league and I realize I may have a bias resulting from the early exits of England from previous competitions. I am sincerely curious, how is this team standing out from the previous ones ? Better coach, players or cohesion ? Do you see them as a clear favorite for this EURO 2018 ?
The main criteria is that player for player England clearly has the upper hand.The public reacts to this.They see guys like Kane,Alli,Dier and so on all the time while most swedish players is much more low profile. Football,however,is a teamsport.Average Joe doesn´t fully understand this and there can be no doubt that the valuebets will come in for Sweden given these odds. I think that Southgate has managed to create a team of all the highprofile english players.It is a difference from from what has been going on for twenty previous years. Then again..it is very small margins.England loses to Colombia and Southgate would have been buried by now. All I can say is that on the day before the game I fancy our chances. I am sure that we will score...I am not at all sure that England will.
I'm confident about Egland's chances, but also cautious. Sweden are very well organized, but they lack pace on the break so I think they'll be very limited. Since we've gotten to the quarterfinals and breaking the penalty curse, I like our chances and won't have as much pressure on us. 2-0 England.
TBF the country has gone mental, I think we could be accused fairly of overstating our chances, at least this time.
Not sure of your source but I think it's pretty common to give England shorter odds. Lots of casual money going on and the bookies need to protect themselves from big payouts. Doesn't mean it is a real perception of the chance of winning.
You're Belgian and you don't follow the English leagues? you must not watch the vast majority of your squad play club football then! I don't think this team is particularly better than previous England squads, I do feel they are in a better system that suits the players better though. I also feel due to lower expectations they have been playing with less pressure than previous England teams which has also been beneficial. Of course we have also had an easier route than previous teams also which does help. One area we are better now though is in the striker department, Harry Kane is a big upgrade on a past his best Wayne Rooney from the last tournament. I also like Harry McGuire and Trippier who have really been stand out performers so far. Trippier's delivery has been very impressive so far. I may be biased but I do feel JonJo Shelvey should have been in the squad as we do not need three defensive midfielders in the form of Delph,Dier and Henderson. Shelvey has the vison and creativity to thread balls forward to runners with perfect weight of pass and would have been perfect when we had vardy and Rashford on against Colombia. However apart from this I do like what Southgate has done with this team and agree with most of what he has done. On paper England have the better players than Sweden so we do feel confident. We have to be cautious though as Sweden do play well as a team and are very organised and have showed this in their performances so far. They are physical and sound defensively. I am cautiously optimistic but I do think we will win in a close game.
I also think this is also the first time I have posted on this forum in over ten years....I was a teenager then and now I am in my 30's.I still remembered my username though!
Good luck tomorrow getting to semis, mate! Specially from a Clash fan to another. Although i don't think you quite got the message from the songs...