Euro 2016 - hype, anticipation and general excitement

Lol, yes. If the BBC is to be downsized can we start with lawro and Alan green who go to tournaments with the sole purpose off conveying how much they aren't, enjoying it.

HAMSIK golazo¡!!!!!!!!!!!

holy shit

Yep. Game over.

Just lovely

good riddance tbh.

tho i guess you can prob qualify with 3 or 4 points

Yes. If England win next two games and Russia beat Wales they would finish second.

They're really missing Dzagoev. Dzyuba and Smolov are good strikers and Kokorin is fast and direct but nobody is creating anything.

probly best all-round if the Russians get dumped out early doors. I think Wales have got enough to take them on the evidence of this first 1 and a half matches.

two very well taken goals from the Slovaks today, starting to get a bit concerned that England are gonna get turned over in these next 2 games

Yes, everybody wants to beat England, of course they do.

The sound of the ball hitting the post there was lovely.

(sorry, made the mistake of paying attention to 'a report from within the England camp') (xp)

Stockholm syndrome Gabby logan

Iceland defender Kari Arnason on Ronaldo: "He’s a fantastic footballer but he’s not a gracious human being, The thing is we almost nicked the win so him saying we weren’t going for the win contradicts that. We got a draw and could have nicked it."......"Obviously we’re not going to create as much chances as a fantastic team like Portugal but his comments are the reason why Messi is always going to be one step ahead of him. You wouldn’t expect Messi to say that. It shows we got under his skin. It was lovely to hear that."......"It makes it even sweeter when he’s a sore loser like that. He can say whatever he wants. He didn’t really get a chance. He got one and he couldn’t put it away. What can I say? Sore loser. Tough shit. What does he expect - for us to play like Barcelona against him? He fannies about and dives around."

lol owned

Hello, game on-ish

Russia finally appear to have woken up. Unlike me, because Lawrenson has entirely removed my will to live.

Slovakia crapping it here

Lumping it into the facking mixer.

When your centre forward is 6' 5" its not the worst idea.

Overwhelming Slovakia here, finding it so easy to get into the front men

Slutski should have real long crazy scientist hair, if he likes touching it so much

The score doesn't really reflect the state of play - Russia have been very aggressive, just god-awful at turning that into anything. 2-0 would have been misleading.

Aggression not a problem with Russians.

Great claim from the keeper there.

Classic skrtel

Now holding in the box would be ultra classic skrtel

Yay Slovakia hold on!

Russia play good last ten minutes of games but that's about it.

They looked so much better when Mamaev came on.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck9vCd3WsAAw0pd.jpg

that's great

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Penalty, no yellow though. Is that a new rule?

penalty has never meant an automatic booking

This seems to indicatie it shouldve at least been a card:

"But deliberate fouls - including holding, pulling or pushing, not playing the ball, serious foul play, violent conduct or deliberate handball in order to deny a goalscoring opportunity - will still result in dismissal."

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10308834/euro-2016-triple-punishment-kick-offs-penalties-new-ifab-football-laws-on-show-in-france

Kind of feel there is a weak link in this Rodriguez / Schar / Djourou / Lichtsteiner defence but haven't worked out who it is...

Swiss are really bad and dull

It's like they've given up already tbh

Or not

Great hit.

Wish i got space like that at five a side. Very poor stuff.

Pogba and Griezman out, Martial and Coman in

with Payet moved inside to 10? awesome, that's a fiendishly fast front line. + Giroud. but then he seems to be scoring for fun for the national team rn. i'm looking forward to this

interesting that even after pretty avg performance last week Matuidi is preferred to Pogba. cracking under the pressure of being the national "talisman"? or is it just that Matuidi is seen as a safer hand to help look after the defence?

I'd assume they're just resting him against a team they're 90% sure to beat either way.

Riding for a fall there.

Probably its that matuidi avg is better than pogba pish

OTM. Also to maybe jolt Pogba into being more team-minded when he comes back in.

otm or not, it is still an interesting move. i mean fancy dropping yr totemic midfield general (especially after months of media narrative building them up as the most important member of the squad) just cuz you suspected that the team might function better without them in there? what black voodoo is this

It's not like he's bringing in a couple o'schmucks tbf.