crouchaldinho Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Here are the key players for England going into Euro Spain 2024 (according to my club information screen): Jack Butland Phil Jones Jack Wilshere Billy Crooks It's the usual big names in Jones, Wilshere and Crooks. However, Jack Butland is now the superior goalkeeper. I've been sticking with Joe Hart because I wanted him to get as many caps as possible before retiring but all of a sudden I'm thinking that maybe I should abandon this sentimentally and go for Butland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 International Friendly 2024 - Spain 0 England 4 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Are we just amazing and totally going to win Euro 2024? Or are Spain in decline and really poor? Billy Crooks was in lethal form as he grabbed all four goals. The new back four with Meadows and McKnight looked excellent! I gave young Valentine a chance on the right and he was superb. I tried Cahill in the middle with Mooney and that partnership looked good too. I think Cahill probably did enough here to start ahead of Jones in the middle alongside Mooney. I think Sterling will come back in on the right for our first game but otherwise this could well be the eleven for our opening game of Euro 2024! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Wow, maybe Spain is heading for a tumble Nice win! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I'm quite excited for Euro 2024 - you seem to have done the right thing in attempting to blend some youth into the squad, even at such a late stage. That win over Spain in particular must get your hopes up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Legendary midfielder, Jack Wilshere, says England can do it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 England squad numbers announced, which gives you an idea on my preferred starting XI for this tournament. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Euro Spain 2024, Group E - England 0 Bulgaria 0 Match Stats Formation & Ratings We were completely dominant in this match but just didn't create enough and couldn't make our dominance count. A very poor start for us at Euro 2024. Three points here would have given us a great chance but for some reason it seems the pressure got to us and we didn't produce our best football. Extremely disappointing. Other result in Group E: Turkey 1 Ireland 0 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Euro Spain 2024, Group E - Ireland 1 England 1 Match Stats Formation & Ratings Another really poor result. We didn't keep the ball well but at least created enough chances to win the game. Unfortunately, we just didn't take our chances. After going ahead in the second-half, we conceded almost straight away, and then just couldn't find a winner. This is getting extremely worrying. It leaves us needing a big result against Turkey in the final game. Other result in Group E: Bulgaria 0 Turkey 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Euro Spain 2024, Group E - England 2 Turkey 3 Match Stats Formation & Ratings An extremely even game and we really deserved a draw out of it. When Crooks put us ahead on 19 minutes, I was thinking that we were about to rescue ourselves from a humiliating early exit. However, Turkey grabbed three goals to go into half-time with a 3-1 lead and at this point, I was extremely worried for England's, and especially my own, future. It looked as if we were going home and I needed to do everything in my power to stop that. Turkey had absolutely destroyed our back line in that first-half. We had completely fallen apart in defence. At half-time, I made all three subs, because some of our players had been so poor in that first-half and made such bad errors that I felt I needed to make big changes to turn the game around. I went for familiar, experienced players to come in to try to sort out the back four situation. This was a risky strategy but our second-half performance was much more solid. However, I probably should have saved one sub for an attacking substitution because we didn't do enough going forward to get back into this match. Mooney pulled one back from the spot and we went all out attack but it just didn't come off for us. There isn't much more to say. England are going home early. Roy Crouchson will likely be sacked and this adventure is over. Other result in Group E: Bulgaria 0 Ireland 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Euro Spain 2024 - Final Group Standings Group A: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Serbia | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Italy | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 5 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Q | Germany | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Poland | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group B: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Czech Republic | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Denmark | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Q | Spain | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Ukraine | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 0 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group C: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Russia | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Romania | | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 5 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Q | Israel | | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 3 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Sweden | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 1 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group D: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Slovakia | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | France | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | Q | Belgium | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 5 | +2 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Bosnia & Herzegovina | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | -5 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group E: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Turkey | | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 9 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Ireland | | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [b]| 3rd | | England | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 2 | [/b] | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Bulgaria | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | -5 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Group F: | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | Netherlands | | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 7 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Portugal | | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Scotland | | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 2 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Belarus | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 1 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| England go home early. Hosts, Spain, struggle through their group in third place, as do the holders, Germany. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Results Summary for Knock-out stages of Euro 2024: Click here for the knock-out tree! Hosts, Spain, are knocked out in the second round by the Netherlands on penalties. Holders, Germany, go out in the semi-finals to Italy. Serbia become the shock winners of Euro Spain 2024. They topped their group, which included Italy and Portugal. They then beat Denmark, Portugal, Slovakia and Italy to lift the trophy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 As expected, England manager Roy Crouchson is sacked! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 Roy Crouchson's Legacy (2012 - 2024) How will Roy Crouchson be remembered by England fans? As the man who took England to their first trophy at a major tournament since 1966 with a glorious run to the Euro 2012 final? Or perhaps, instead, as the man who afterwards could not better this early achievement, tending to find his and England's level at the quarter-final stages of major tournaments? As the man who took England to their first World Cup Semi-final since 1990? The man who got the best out of Jack Wilshere and unearthed a great goalscorer in Billy Crooks? Or the man who relied upon an older generation of players in decline for too long, which ultimately cost him his job at Euro 2024. As the man who stubbornly continued the tradition of 4-4-2 and 4-4-1-1 but generally got the best out of his teams, qualifying for tournaments and meeting expectations the majority of the time? Or as a manager who was ultimately too cautious and not adventurous enough when it counted? Perhaps, even, as the man who could never quite take England that extra step onwards to win the World Cup? And then there are the humiliations of the Euro 2024 campaign. The warning signs were there. Roy Crouchson was losing it towards the end. Sticking with older players in decline during the qualifying campaign and then suddenly rushing in a bunch of younger players just before the tournament started. Crouchson paid the price for staying loyal to a generation of players who had passed their best and then made it worse by trying to correct the error by bringing in a number of new players just before a major tournament. This was Roy Crouchson's error going into Euro 2024 and this definitely cost him his job. One thing is for sure though, Crouchson's record makes him one of the most successful England managers of all time, as shown below. Roy Crouchson's England Record (2012 - 2024) P W D L F A Win % Competitions ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 162 108 37 17 402 138 66% [b]Euro 2012 Winners[/b] Confederations Cup 2013 Third Placed World Cup 2014 Second Round Euro 2016 Quarter-finalists World Cup 2018 Quarter-finalists Euro 2020 Quarter-finalists World Cup 2022 Semi-finals (4th place) Euro 2024 Group stages Certainly not a shameful record compared to some of the greats (and the not-so-greats) who have held this post over the years. It's interesting to compare to Fabio Crouchello - see this post! Roy Crouchson lasted much longer than Crouchello but Crouchello did better in terms of being a runner-up on two occasions and winning a tournament. Roy Crouchson just has a Euro 2012 trophy and a fourth place at World Cup 2022. Overall, their statistical records are about the same in terms of games won etc. Well, this has been quite an interesting adventure and I'm gutted that it has come to an end. Ultimately, I have once again failed in what I set out to do, because I still have not managed to win a World Cup. I'm not sure if Roy Crouchson will be back. He could potentially head abroad to find another International job and try to win the World Cup with another nation. He isn't short of offers! Turkey, Spain, Russia, Italy, Romania and France are all after his services but Germany turned him down! Turkey or France could be interesting, although I don't have their leagues loaded. Spain could be a good one for trying to return them to excellence and perhaps would be my best chance of winning the World Cup but I don't know if my football would be a good fit with Spain. Italy would normally be a definite for me but I'd actually quite like to try to get the chance to manage them on my Calcio save, so would be a bit of a spoiler/boring to do it here too. For now, I think a break from this save, which gives me the chance to go back to my Calcio save and to make some progress there. I long for some club football management after all of this time in international football! I'm really disappointed I didn't last for a few more tournaments. I really wanted to see out more of the career of Billy Crooks. Also wanted to see a new generation of regens come through. Oh well, it's all over. This adventure is finished. We'll say goodbye to Roy Crouchson for now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cerud Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Tough on the sacking, but you survived in national management much longer than most! England is proud, sir! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Been a good run. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 It has indeed. Shame you get sacked for one poor tournament. Jack Wilshere couldn't have been more wrong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Very reminiscent of my one and only crack at the Euros with England! I hope Roy Crouchson will be back again at some point, but also looking forward to a few more lessons in calcio Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRL88 Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Have an applause, here . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
crouchaldinho Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Thanks for the posts guys. It was a fun adventure with England although, as always, my failure to land a World Cup trophy hurts. But it is England we're talking about here. Thanks for coming along on my adventure anyway. And maybe more Roy Crouchson again soon but first a return to Verona! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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