https://metro.co.uk/2024/04/27/erik...-knee-injury-sparks-euro-2024-fears-20730374/ Scotland have a lot of injury doubts at the moment.
Leverkusen scored again in the 96th minute to keep their unbeaten run in tact. Absolutely unbelievable how they keep scoring late goals. Alonso might as well buy a Euromillions ticket next week because he’s winning it.
Hate to say it but I’m more worried about facing Germany each passing day goes by towards the Euro’s. Ok, we probably wouldn’t face them until a later stage if we get that far but I just can’t see any obvious weakness other than maybe centre forward but I don’t think that will be a huge issue for them since they have goals elsewhere in the team. Not sure I’d fancy our chances if I’m honest especially also with it being in their back yard. I can see them winning it!
Only of our defence can stay fit which is the big problem so I would take Germanys defence over ours if I’m honest.
Our pool of defenders is deeper than Germany's imo but if we compare the back four that Southgate will pick to the back four Nagelsmann will pick then I'm taking Germany's every time.
Yep, I was about to post similar. I think Germany, and German football in general are so used to winning and have such high standards that any slight dip is seen as a crisis. Thus giving an illusion they are weaker than they really are to the rest of the world. The last 5-6 years has been seen as a really weak era for them and a crisis period, yet when you compare the team and players they’ve had in this period to ours in the early-mid 10s, it’s chalk and cheese and makes a mockery of the whole “weak generation”. They’ve still had a side and still do have a side laden with quality and players who can and have done it at the very highest level, the likes of Muller, Neuer, Kimmich, Gundogan, Kroos, Rudiger etc. Compare that to our “banter era” where we were fielding the likes of Livermore, Jagielka, Welbeck, Michael Keane etc.
Their team hasn't been that bad on paper but to be fair the run of form has been very poor. Consecutive group stage exits at world cup, RO16 at the Euro's having scraped through the group stage with a late goal. It's not the worst run ever but its still bad for a major national team. On paper their late 90s to mid 2000s teams were somewhat worse for sure though, even if they somehow salvaged a world cup final appearance in that era (not too dissimilar from the dreadful England 2018 squad making the world cup semi's I guess).
Welbeck Welbeck was a very good option for England. Really suited international football. Offered versatility and had a good all round game. Even with his injury issues he has had a good club career. 16 England goals when he only made 26 starts (42 overall caps). Scored one of the best England tournament goals. With only slightly better luck with injuries he would definitely have been one of the few to get over 20 goals for England.
I still like our chances against Germany in Germany. It's how not long ago Germany was a team to always avoid, but now I rather welcome the chance of playing them compared to France and Spain.
Why the eff do we always worry about other teams. 'The Germans look good, Spain scare me, no chance of beating France' etc. I doubt other big nations worry about the opposition. I'm not really afraid to face anyone. This Is one of the strongest England squads in my lifetime
Germany after France would be the team I'd want to avoid, but I wouldn't say any team other than France really scares me. Of course Portugal/Spain etc would be a very tough game and I wouldn't bet much on any game given our history against big nations on KO rounds. But yes, our 2018 squad was poor and from 2010-2018 we didn't have a great crop. I think Welbeck was good to be fair but we had impact players like SWP, Downing, Carrol, Carlton Cole and players like Upson, Parker, Milner starting. It's night and day with now and none of those would be anywhere near even our second string team now (Milner was decent in the latter part of his career to be fair after he retired from England, but was never an international LW)