In, Out. No, Make That Out, In. Or Out, Out?
Jun 26th, 2016 by 'holic
Well, that was quite a few days, wasn’t it? I had the good fortune to be on the golf course on Friday and so missed the immediate aftermath of the referendum. Politics and sport have never been the best of bedfellows so I will refrain from further mentioning it here, other than to say that we are all up to our necks in it and need to pull together to make this transition as painless as possible.
Glastonbury Lite is reaching a conclusion later. I happen to enjoy listening to Adele and Coldplay, but it is something of a surprise that they were/are headlining this particular festival. Last evening I had three screens on the go watching the acts from Worthy Farm, the Euros, and the Anthony Joshua bill from the O2. The three matches in France provided mixed feelings, and these carried on into today.
Before the football kicked off us Anglos had the morning in front of the screen watching the England rugby union team create history with a third test triumph in Australia. It was gripping entertainment which could have swung either way until Jamie George’s late try. The final score in Sydney was a remarkable 40-44 to the tourists who had never won a series down under before, never mind a clean sweep.
In the first of the round of sixteen fixtures Jakub Blaszczykowski put Poland ahead against Granit Xhaka’s Switzerland six minutes before half-time. Xherdan Shaqiri’s sublime overhead kick from 18 yards gave the Swiss parity and extra-time could not separate the two. In the penalty shoot-out only one man missed from the spot, sadly the Gunners new man, otherwise impressive again in normal play. Hopefully a holiday will ease his disappointment and enable him to put in a solid pre-season with the club.
On to the meeting of Northern Ireland and Wales, and the ditty that will surely be runner up to “Will Grigg is on fire” in the chant of the tournament vote. “We voted remain, we voted remain, we aren’t stupid, we voted remain”. Those witty Irish, eh? Their wit didn’t save them on the pitch against a Wales driven forward by Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale, although it took a late Gareth McCauley own goal to decide the contest. The Irish can be very proud of their performance to that point however, and won many friends on a rare showing at a major tournament.
The final match of the day was, even given the fact I had it on mute, a very dull and uninspiring affair eventually won by Portugal three minutes from the end of extra-time. Croatia bowed out to a Ricardo Quaresma header into an empty net from two yards. Thankfully, although also silent, Chris Eubank jr and Anthony Joshua provided much more watchable entertainment.
So to earlier today. The sport started with a match that would not finish. Sri Lanka batted first against England at Bristol, and the umpires and players deserve credit for them completing their innings despite the showers that fell on Bristol, or Brizzle as we prefer to say in this part of the world. England’s response was limited to just four overs before the showers became more persistent and forced an abandonment.
The football portion of the day started with the Republic of Ireland coming off second best to Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud’s France. The match had started well for the boys in green though, with Robbie Brady converting a second minute penalty after Paul Pogba was adjudged to have brought down Shane Long in the box. The Republic’s rearguard action stayed firm until four crucial minutes around the hour mark. The impressive Antoine Griezmann, who nodded in the equaliser before driving in the winning goal from Giroud’s sublime flick. The partnership prompted much wishful thinking on Twitter but Griezmann has only this month signed an extension with Athletico Madrid. Dream on.
Favourites and current world champions Germany cruised past Slovakia in the second match. Mesut Ozil was in good fettle save for succumbing to the curse that makes Arsenal midfielders miss from the penalty spot. On the day it mattered not. Jerome Boateng gave the Germans an eighth-minute lead with a superb 25-yard strike before Mario Gomez slotted in the second, and rumoured Arsenal target Julian Draxler made it 3-0 with a near-post volley after the break. They are surely the team to beat now?
I’m closing this piece with Belgium a goal to the good against Hungary after twenty minutes in Toulouse. Could it be the Belgians are finally starting to fulfil the potential they undoubtedly have, but seldom display?
A word too for Alexis Sanchez who, if recovered from a knock received in training, will line-up for Chile against Argentina in the Final of the Copa America for the second successive tournament. Here’s hoping Chile can overcome the favourites again.
And so the wait for tomorrow, and England facing the surprise package of the tournament so far, Iceland. I’m predicting nothing. Exiting Europe twice in four days would be excruciating.
I hope you have had a good one, ‘holics.
67 Responses to “In, Out. No, Make That Out, In. Or Out, Out?”
Zing!
Good evening, ex-neighbour. 🙂
Wotcha ‘holic
Only two hours of it left, but a very happy birthday, or should that be baffday, to bathgooner. A gentleman, and a gentle man. 🙂
Happy bathday, bath.
About which … I have to say this bathing business looks positively medieval viewed from a geographical distance, wallowing in dirty water as you do. Myself I’ve had only two baths since I Brexited in 1967! Showering is quicker, cleaner, more invigorating and so much more civilised, imo. In fact I don’t even have a bath in my house, I dumped it years ago in order to fit a larger shower.
Rumour has AW ‘opening negotiations’ with Lacazette. As the class striker we need? A guy who can’t make the French Euro squad let alone the French XI where our man leads the line?
Sublime assist today from OG btw. Another awful pen from MO, I hope he never takes another one for us.
Griezmann certainly looks the goods, but I suspect AW has decided to stay with Theo on the right (and never again at CF hopefully).
Time to watch the Copa final…..
Need to touch wood on Alexis. He turned his left ankle badly in the first minutes of this Copa final. Soldiered on into 100 minutes before being subbed out, but not his usual effervescent self.
“Soldiered on” is what describes this one. One sent off for each side, yellow cards galore, players totally spent. Trench warfare, and penalties to boot…
Chile wins in PKs! Messi messes up, misses his PK over the bar; inconsolable. In American football, it would be good from 50 yards.
He’s been watching too much Özil footage.
Messi misses PK, moon shot over the bar. Chile wins the PKs. I believe Alexis was named MVP of the tournament. I don’t think he turned his ankle in the turf, he was stepped on. First half the tackles were flying in, a red for each team, complete carnage. Alexis was ‘electric’ as usual.
Germany and Draxler the team and player of the day at the Euros. As for Copa America, I foolishly turned off the game in the 23rd minute after Chilean defender Diaz got a red card. I had other things to do but figured the game was over. Sounds like it would have been quite a good watch, and Viva Chile.
Holic. How many ex-neighbours do you have, and why have they all exited? 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2bbnlZwlGQ
Happy birthday, bath.
Giroud did what he does best against Ireland, setting up chances for others. If we had someone who could stick them away when he does that for us, we’d be unstoppable.
A very happy birthday Bath!
I’d now take any of those strikers we’re being linked with rather than no striker, namely:
1) Lukaku
2) Lacazette
3) Slimani
4) Icadi
5) Morata
There’s a couple of speed boats on that list!
😆
Happy birthday bath, hope you have a great one.
Alexis winning was fantastic and the reaction from Messi to retire from the internationals is a sham. He is unarguably the greatest player of his generation but he cannot win anything for his nation alone, he needs a team to support. He will be coaxed out of his retirement for sure.
Belgium were brilliant. Hazard finally showing off his brilliance with a virtuoso performance against the hapless hungarians. They could go all the way if they are allowed to play the way they were yesterday.
No Lacazette please. He is poor. He scuffs his lines far to many times and if it 40 million and all, then no thank you. Not even for 1/4th that price should he be bought. Slimani or Icardi or if there is a remote possibility, Dybala are far better options.
Mkhtirayan set to join united is a blow. He was ours till as usual mou meddled and got the last laugh. I do not understand why these things happen only to us. I do not think so we will get anyone else as well for that position and looks like we are with theo one more time.
Atleast can we focus on a cb??? per and gabriel do not install any confidence at all. so for all the striker out cry, the cb option needs to be enhanced considerably.
Do these things only happen to us, Vinny? Aren’t ManU, the Chavs, Citeh all trying to stymie each others deals? It just we don’t pay attention to them.
We could end up short again if we do not cover both posts.
Out of a list of 5 we must be able to hook one. All have impressive goal ratios. Lukaku being the most experienced in the league, but 50mill sounds a bit steep!
Never a more offensive thing has been written on this blog than “I happen to enjoy listening to Adele and Coldplay”
Coldplay!?
God help us all.
I will take Lacazette. I don’t rate Lukaku that much higher than Giroud. He is just faster that’s it.For 50 million quids? No thank you. I dont want another left leg striker. If not Lacazette then we are better off getting a lesser known striker.
Hope Madrid gets De Gea… otherwise it looks like he’s going to keep ManU competitive again coming season.
We would do well to keep Ospina as well.. he looks the in form goalie for us at the moment.
As for our (Hopeful)acquisitions, no Lukaku or Higuain please.. the rest is fine.. although would take anyone rather than no one. Hope Arsene remembers Welbeck is out for many moons yet and we need some cover!
Happy for Alexis.. but does this mean he’s knackered coming back for us.. let’s hope not!
Get in two new players please!
😀
SAG, agree on Lukaku. Somewhat over-rated, as he plays in the bpl (for a poor Everton side) but he doesn’t do it for me, either.
Especially not for that sort of dough!
Don’t know much about Lacazette. And was Arsenal really in for Mkhtirayan? Maybe. If merdhino looks to swoop in then, whatevs. That odious little cretin hasn’t had an original thought in his entire, screed-filled, pathetic existence.
So England looks likely to progress further than the Spaniards….
😀 😀 😀
Italy vs Germany … that should be very interesting!
Now we apparently have a Brazilian international on our radar. 19, no experience of European, let alone English football and not a prolific goal scorer yet. I’m not certain I believe Wenger would entertain him as an alternative to Vardy. He may be one for the future given Giroud’s age.
As for Mikki I think it is down to the fact that his agent is Raiola who doesn’t like Wenger.
Watching Lukaku last night I think he is far from the answer to a maiden’s prayer. Belgium looked a much better side after he went off but he understands English football, has power and is a better finisher than HFB. I haven’t seen much of Lacazette but given that he is behind Giroud in terms of his place in the French team he looks overpriced. Higuain is a game changer, his price relative to Lukaku makes him worth a serious look.Mane is set to cost Liverpool £ 30 million so there is huge price inflation ( which will be exacerbated by a dropping pound) .
I’d love to see Perisic, Higuain and Ashley Williams join us, the latter based on the lessons from Morgan and Huth last season.
Not a very lively bar this summer is it?
England’s first half performance has been beyond pathetic.
Only Rooney looks capable of anything.
Five Spuds is five too many if you need heart and quality
And as for Joe Hart, hope bad is he?
Maybe not.. England have Spuds it up!
😀 😀 😀
Well England is officially out of EU. How in the hell did these overpaid bunch lose to Ice fucking Land
What do you expect from a Spurs Annex side?
Iceland were the better team and had a system, basic but effective.
England froze and some of our ‘ stars’ were utterly pathetic. Harry Kane, Ali, Rooney, Sturridge were awful. Rashford gave is more in five minutes than Kane did in ninety.
I had no expectations of this team ( see previous) but even I didn’t expect us to play that badly . It’s hard to imagine playing that badly.
The difference Eddie Jones has made to our rugby team is a pointer. Get a decent coach in. There are no good English coaches
If that is the best England can manage, they deserve to go out.
Overpaid, SAG? That starting England team is scraping by on about £1.5 million a week between them.
Spectacular Spudxit!
😀
Hodgson quits.
Hodgson and Neville gone….
Guess they did not want to face the press.
Like Corbyn, an honorable and decent man but not a leader?
@NBN You can say that again. Just plain ridiculous. I didn’t expect them to win the Euros, but to lose to Iceland in the round of sixteen is just not acceptable.
I rather suspect that France will take Iceland apart and show up how bankrupt that England performance was.
My mate has texted me’ We must pick Big Sam’. Ye Gods is that how far we have sunk?
I agree Ned. I think Iceland have done marvellously given their resources. But there was no fluke about the win tonight. But France should marmalise them
Fat ‘I could manage Madrid’ Sam…
…you know.. it might just work…!
😀
Well, if that wasn’t written in the stars…
Holic, my hunch is that in the end this will turn out Out.Out.In
In the sharp end of tournaments, Roy’s record with England was P11 W3. Says a lot.
In? Out? Now we’ve had the shake it all about.
BB
What does ‘ work’ mean?
He’s never won anything in his life.
Perhaps we might not get relegated.
Frank De Boer or Simeone is who we should go for
To be fair to Big Sam, Ttg, he did take Limerick to the Irish First Division title in 1991 as player-manager. Maybe he peaked too early.
@TTG
Was being sarcastic.. rather unsuccessfully.
Only thing Fat Sam could manage is some cake.
Need an Eddie Jones… who’s not afraid to drop players who are not in form!
😀
Spudland 1 – 2 Iceland. What did anyone expect?
Better from Jack today, even going forward occasionally. And still uninjured!
Hodgson gone, can Rooney be far behind?
Interesting to see Italy playing with just a 3-man backline against Spain … and hardly a shot on target from the tickytackas.
I also counted at least 5 more great chances for Italy in just the first half. Pelle in particular caught the eye with good positioning and a high work-rate. We could do worse as OG back-up.
If I was given a choice, I would take Lukaku @ 50M than Lacazette @45M.
Anyone here watched Chile play Argentina last night & seen how Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja”s team beat Argentina? Could Juan Antonio Pizzi Torroja be a good coaching option?
A meme doing the rounds: “EU have noted Brexit could be followed by Grexit, Departugal, Italeave, Fruckoff, Czechout, Oustria, Finish, Slovakout, Netherun, Luxembuggeroff and Byegium. Only Germaining.” 🙂
Thanks for the good wishes chaps and especially our gracious Guvna.
I spent 3.5 hours of my baffday cooling my heels in Gatwick waiting for a delayed flight to Reykjavik to a) arrive and b) take off. I’ve not had a chance to hit this bar until now.
The only place to be tonight was the fanzone in Reykjavik. What an atmosphere. One of life’s great moments – with apologies to my England supporting friends. ‘Asfar Island’ to the tune of ‘Fuck off you Spurs!’ came to this Gooner’s lips rather easily given Roy’s team selection and the spirited performance by a bunch of Viking raiders.
I wouldn’t bet against them turning France over. They’ve done it before. Though the dream will end before too long, won’t it? Or is this country of 330,000 cheery chappies going to outfox the Foxes?
http://tinyurl.com/j9ndv5f
😀 😀 😀
330,000 of them? You mean we only outnumber them 160 to 1? Not such a surprising win after all then.
Happy birthday, Bathgooner on tour. Courtesy of Google translate, that is til hamingju með afmælið (in Icelandic). 😀
Chris@53: What about Remania?
and @53: And not so much tiki taka from the tickytackas, either. Italy’s tactics were as spot-on as England’s were abject.
Is anyone really surprised England lost? They had Kyle Walker and Danny Rose in the side, who are not international footballers, and were relying on tools like Delli Alli to provide the chances, an elderly Rooney for inspiration and a couple of one season wonders in Vardy and Kane, along with the most over rated winger in England (Sterling) and a ball greedy injury case in Sturridge.
And the bench options were dreadful. Wilshere should never have been there for a start, having missed so much of the season. Even fully fit he’s not exactly Messi…
So what if we have a league rolling in money, it was just won by fucking Leicester City, which, as enjoyable as that was for the neutral, speaks volumes for the quality of the league. And even then, their main players were not English, with Vardy the only exception.
I mean we even had that donkey James Milner in our squad ffs.
Heh @ 55, the petition. Surely that’s a normal response to not getting what you want these days? I hear that infants have stopped throwing their toys out of their prams and have become keyboard warriors to fight democracy when it doesn’t agree with them.
A Spuds supporting friend of mine posted “Come on you England Hotspurs” on Facebook before kick off last night….Knew right there and then how it was all going to end…
@61 Bathgooner
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36652273
The referendum in the UK was, strictly speaking, only an advisory one.
—
Apparently some of the adults are following the kids too.
Extra time and replays..!
On another note Pool got Mane..and not cheap too! Miki looks like he’s going Moaninho’s way… and we’ve been terribly quiet, but am sure there’s a bee hive of activity behind the scenes (I Hope!!)
😀
Iceland and Italy showed how to plan and then execute it to perfection. No fluke that iceland won as they came well prepared, defended and attacked as a team and believed they can beat England. Italy first half were outstanding and spain led by that dna so and so were poor.
Italy germany pick of the q/f’s and the italians have the number on the germans in major tournaments. if they play the way they did against spain, they have a real good chance. Iceland pluck and luck may run out against france but then we said the same against england to.
Lacazette/Lukaku please no, they are not good enough and not what we need. I still say among all the unrealistic targets, the realistic one is chicharito. He is the fox in the box that wenger keeps looking for. Play him along side giroud and we will score for sure.
@ Vinay Lukaku for me is a definite NO. Lacazette I am fine with it. I don’t see us signing any marque strikers. They are all playing for top clubs, we all know how the pursuit of Benzeman went last summer. The earlier we start accepting this fact, and focusing on lesser known names the better. They wont come cheap neither. Mane just signed for pool for 30 million quid, go figure. I don’t want this summer to end like the last one. I still feel we should have tried to sign Miki. We probably did, who knows.
It was out, out. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>