Holmes_and_Watson

Echo Headlines... Strange feelings of déjà vu sweep the Southampton area, baffling residents...Matt Jansen deal "close"... Saints sign promising glint in the milkman's eye from Chelsea academy...

A levy levy. 🙂

I hope she gets some game time too. Good for our club too. NI have been the weakest of the team's I've seen. Which considering their development, is only to be expected. England will probably have to be breaking them down. I'd not be expecting to see NI play out so much from the back, with England swarming over them. It might be a different challenge to England's last 2. Still expect a comfortable win. No doubt the commentators would get carried away with goals going in or moany if it takes a little while. But it wouldn't hurt England to not get complacent ahead of a tougher game to come.

Have the waves cover a bit of the SFC to future proof the design for global warming? 🙂

One of the commentators mentioned xG the other night. I thought that there was a topic that all of us could appreciate: xG at Euro 2022. Great to see you've anticipated that, and really looking forward to more of your thoughtful analysis.

And with so much of the tournament to go, there's every chance of similarly exciting games to come!

As a centre half, she didn't have the instinct to follow through with some composure. She'll be glad the game was won shortly after.

I was looking forward to this one. But the first 35 minutes of French domination didn't result in the best of matches. The French were wasteful with their final deliveries, after getting an early lead. Out of nothing Belgium got a really good equaliser from a deep passing move. That lasted all of 4 minutes, as a good aggressive header past a static defence restored the lead. Belgium troubled the French keeper once or twice, without any real chances in the second half. A late bit of controversy gave France a penalty. Depending on the view it was a natural movement of the arm, or a sneaky deliberate deflection. France missed the penalty, and Renard rushed the follow up, missing a sitter. Belgium left out a couple of players on yellows. So,they already had an eye on their final game, and I think that showed.

Super

Our badge is lovely. I was going to say "never say never" in case someone comes up with something. And then I see Nolan has just posted all the things I'd like in any replacement. 🙂

Tuned in just as they were reviewing a goal for the Dutch. Although it was ruled offside, it wasn't long before they got a third with a cracking strike. The commentators were saying how well Portugal had done in the second half, but it seemed to fizzle out. Lots of scrappy bits of play and tackles going in. Portugal looked tired and the Netherlands just a bit unhappy generally. Something to do with their coach behind the scenes perhaps, or just not being at their best.

Where do euros/world cup threads normally go? Double post after not being able to type past emoji. Although, I do wonder where Laura Rafferty would prefer the thread to be... 🙂

That was post one of a thousand in my Laura Rafferty, Saints international series. This is post two 🙂

I wonder how Southampton's Laura Rafferty will reflect on her time at the Euros as part of the Northern Ireland squad? 🙂

They read out a passing stat, with a massive difference between the two. But Spain didn't seem to have anything that would be more direct. Like you say, Germany were able to shut out all the passing moves around the box, that Spain were relying on.

Germany crushed any avenues for Spain's attack in the second half. Really compact lines. Spain had to go wide. I thought they'd persevere with that, but they prefer passing through the middle. But, even with a couple of unforced errors, Spain couldn't get back into it. All the possession and passing just seemed to drain them as the game wore on. Germany nearly pounced on a third, with Popp ruled to have gone over with no foul, when nearly through against the keeper. Spain will have to be careful not to lose second spot to Denmark.

Spain have had chances, but it's 2-0 at half time for Germany. A suicidal pass from the Spanish keeper for the first. Another goal from trying to play out from the back. Although this was more unforced than most. A decent header for the second. Spain outfought at times, and the early goal will have changed the shape of the possession, we'd have seen otherwise.

Right. Next time do the wrist slitting warning before the getting us to picture things bit. Medic! 🙂

Hope

Some hyperbole from commentators aside, I think there's some happy surprise in the scoreline, resulting in the gusto. Norway are good up front, while England, transitioning from a poor spell under previous management, game managed their opener to ensure the win. Norway were blown away by England. I agree that you want tournaments at this level to be competitive, putting a number of strong teams against each other. There have been some high scoring matches. But in nearly all of them, each side has had chances to shift the outcome. That's led to interesting games, even when one side pulls away. With a number of strong favourites, it's hopefully not going to be one team of globe trotters turning up and beating everyone else. A lot of nations have players from top clubs.

Award

I remember chatting to Kilmarnock fans at Rugby Park about him, from his time there. He was one that came through the Juniors teams in Ayrshire. He gets a mention in books covering the history of that level. Seems far too recent a player to have left us. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

If you are what you are where you are where you are, then it is what it is.

Because we're waiting for someone to post the link to where we can pay people to read us hot immigration policies. 🙂

England will be pleased that they got another couple, and created, against a team who had adapted to be more defensive. Norway continued to be nearly completely snuffed out, and didn't have any workable plan to get past the England midfield. N. Ireland are the weakest at the tournament, so a comfortable win will be expected. You'd imagine them to be set up to frustrate, so this second half tonight will come in handy as practice for that approach. Then it's either Spain who create loads and have real strength in depth, or a relentless Germany whose energy levels are the closest to England's. Irritating commentary, with a quip about winning the tournament or getting the keeper to take a free kick. The one about no one having scored more than 6 in either a men's or women's tournament will have got some eyes rolling too.