Euro final

[cider-manc]

13 minutes ago, Super said:

It does prove though that you don't need much to win a tournament, Portugal had a huge amount of luck had they been on the other side of the draw not a change they would have reached the final. They had a manager with a game plan which can go a long way.

So... They wouldn't have beaten an England side that failed to beat Iceland, a French team they have just beaten and an injury depleted German team that couldn't score a goal against defensively organised sides.

I'd say it would have been more difficult but you can't say they wouldn't have stood a chance.

[Super]

3 minutes ago, cider-manc said:

So... They wouldn't have beaten an England side that failed to beat Iceland, a French team they have just beaten and an injury depleted German team that couldn't score a goal against defensively organised sides.

I'd say it would have been more difficult but you can't say they wouldn't have stood a chance.

I don't think they would of beat Germany, all ifs and buts I know but still think they were the best team.

[cider-manc]

11 minutes ago, Super said:

I don't think they would of beat Germany, all ifs and buts I know but still think they were the best team.

Exactly... it's all ifs and buts- I didn't think France would beat Germany but they did- You can't argue that Portugal have no chance of beating Germany.

I'm not a particular fan of either Portugal or Ronaldo, and i think all this tournament has proven is that we need to go back to the previous formats but you can't knock Portugal for doing what they had to do and sticking to their strengths. 

[JamesBCFC]

8 hours ago, Olé said:

Appreciate many of the sensible posts on here, and the comedy @Super posts full of hate and bitterness as always.

I'm just back from the Stade de France in Paris and proud of what the country of my birth achieved. I was privileged to have a number of English mates with me, and to meet an Irish fella from the Cayman Isles whose best mate is a City fan (anyone?)

Along with supporting City for 25 years and using a season ticket from 125 miles away for the past 3 seasons, I've been to support Portugal in internationals since 1995. I feel like I earned today (and I was at the abortive Greece final in 2004).

I know Ronaldo is a pantomime villain but I thought it was only the classless plastic French kid near us (ostracised by his own fans) who could boo a world class player off the pitch on a stretcher (one his own team had crocked). You obviously never played football anywhere other than your Xbox if you boo a player on a stretcher.

By the sounds of your whining that would be you @Super. Hate all you want but I've been privileged to see my country produce a world class player who desperately wants to win whatever cheating you want to accuse him of, and to see a team who in many cases play in average clubs, work as a group to win a tournament after seven matches, three 120 minutes long, completing against the hosts who started and finished favourites and had 65,000+ fans today (outsung by 5,000 Portuguese)

I have too much respect for the England fans I count as friends to make any cheap comparisons, so I will simply say that I'm proud of what we achieved and perhaps instead of sitting on forums making snide comments about players or countries, you should get out a bit more and find reasons to talk about your own country instead of hating someone elses. 

In the meantime, we are European Champions fella. QF or better every tournament since 1996. Semis 2000. Finalists 2004. Semis 2012. Winners 2016. Turn up or shut up.

Any accusations of Ronaldo being a cheat are founded, because he is one. There's been numerous occasions where it's been shown he will dive on the floor with no contact, or collapse at the slightest brush. 

As for the person booing, again it's down to circumstances. In the case of last night I wouldn't have booed him off, but I wouldn't have applauded him either. I was at a game where a player being stretchered off was roundly booed by 35000 fans, he had dived, a blatant one at that, to waste time. But in the process of diving this player injured himself, as a result he was carried off on a stretcher with a capacity Ali Sami Yen crowd all booing at him.

 

Well done Portugal for winning though.

[cider-manc]

5 minutes ago, City169 said:

Any accusations of Ronaldo being a cheat are founded, because he is one. There's been numerous occasions where it's been shown he will dive on the floor with no contact, or collapse at the slightest brush. 

As for the person booing, again it's down to circumstances. In the case of last night I wouldn't have booed him off, but I wouldn't have applauded him either. I was at a game where a player being stretchered off was roundly booed by 35000 fans, he had dived, a blatant one at that, to waste time. But in the process of diving this player injured himself, as a result he was carried off on a stretcher with a capacity Ali Sami Yen crowd all booing at him.

 

Well done Portugal for winning though.

Oddly enough i remember watching a report on Sky sports News into diving when Ronaldo was playing for Manchester United. One of the things the report said was whilst there was numerous clips of him exaggerating pain from contact... they couldn't find a clip of him diving with no contact. Likewise with Drogba (surprisingly).

 

 

[BRISTOL86]

1 hour ago, Super said:

It does prove though that you don't need much to win a tournament, Portugal had a huge amount of luck had they been on the other side of the draw not a change they would have reached the final. They also had a manager with a game plan which can go a long way.

I wouldn't say you 'don't need much' 

Yes they got fortunate to finish third in their group and end up avoiding a top side until the final, however the fact remains that they played seven different sides and all seven failed to beat them. 

They scored more goals than all but two teams and had better goal difference than all but France - whose stats were somewhat skewed by the Iceland thrashing. 

You don't win a major tournament by sheer luck. Yes they had a bit of help on the way and rode their luck at times, but beneath it all was a well drilled team who proved impossible to beat. 

Last night so many teams would have capitulated. Lose your best player so early in the game, game plan completely out the window yet for nearly 2 hours kept a side much more fancied and star studded then themselves at bay. 

Lots to admire about their performance IMO. They had a spirit and mental resilience that England can only dream of. 

[Sir Colby-Tit]

So, do we all agree that Ronaldo is a bit of a wanchor that is good at footy?

[AshtonGreat]

1 hour ago, Phileas Fogg said:

I think we're closer to them than people think. They've got more quality, especially in midfield, but we do have players that would add to their squad. They could have done with someone like Vardy last night. I'd have Kane over Gignac or Giroud. Probably have Walker over Sagna too.

I'd also argue that Pogba is overrated, definitely not a 100m player right now, albeit it he does have fantastic potential. He'd walk into our team though, as would Kante, Payet and Matuidi.

Add to their squad, maybe - on the bench. There's no way I would start Harry Kane in that French team - compared to Giroud, who had a good tournament, Kane was clueless. 

Walker, maybe. Sagna, maybe. The rest, no way.

Pogba is good but I agree, £100million is a monstrous amount. Even if he turns out to be as good as Patrick Viera, he wouldn't be worth that much. But he's still better than Rooney is now. So is Payet, and so is Griezmann.

[JamesBCFC]

33 minutes ago, cider-manc said:

Oddly enough i remember watching a report on Sky sports News into diving when Ronaldo was playing for Manchester United. One of the things the report said was whilst there was numerous clips of him exaggerating pain from contact... they couldn't find a clip of him diving with no contact. Likewise with Drogba (surprisingly).

 

 

Fair enough, that's interesting. Partly comes down to what's seen as a dive also I think. I just saw a video where a players arm touched him briefly out side the box, Ronaldo has no one touching him after this brief touch and falls to the floor when he is 5 yards inside the penalty area and a yard clear of the defender

For me that's a dive, there wasn't enough contact to send him to the floor, and when he decided to fall there was no contact at all

[cider-manc]

6 minutes ago, City169 said:

Fair enough, that's interesting. Partly comes down to what's seen as a dive also I think. I just saw a video where a players arm touched him briefly out side the box, Ronaldo has no one touching him after this brief touch and falls to the floor when he is 5 yards inside the penalty area and a yard clear of the defender

For me that's a dive, there wasn't enough contact to send him to the floor, and when he decided to fall there was no contact at all

I absolutely agree- I just remember watching it and thinking that it was crazy that couldn't find a clip of him diving!!

To me football should be a contact sport, but others will argue that he is taking advantage of the rules and if an arm went across him then technically he has been fouled.... so if technically if hes been fouled does that make it cheating?

Like yourself i would argue yes but many others would say no.