Canāt see England winning this barring some major shocks elsewhere. Beating France and Portugal/Germany in the space of 4-5 days would be totally out of character with everything weāve seen from them over the years. Theyāre capable of winning one of those matches but not two in succession in my opinion. They havenāt had two victories that seismic in the last 30 years, never mind a week.
Who will the england left back be?
Kieran Trippier apparently. Or Luke Shaw if heās fit. Theyāll need two sitters to protect that back 4 which will lend itself to criticism of Southgate being too pragmatic.
Deschamps only named 25 in his squad, that is beautifully French 
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Iāve just clicked into this thread as the tournament is almost upon us and this post stood out.
Some fellas just donāt have a clue.
Have the Scots improved that much since 2021 or where is the confidence of knock-out stage progression coming from? I know they beat Spain in qualification but it was a heavily rotated Spanish team. The most impressive result was probably beating Norway (A) when Haaland was bizarrely subbed off before the two late Scottish goals turned the game. Steve Clarke did well to finish 8th with West Brom once but thereās shades of a mini-Southgate with his pragmatism. They were critiquing his lack of tactical nous after failure to qualify for the World Cup.
In 2021 they had 2 home games against Czech Republic and Croatia which was in some respects more favourable than Germany (A), Switzerland and Hungary. It would be the most Scottish thing in the world to end up one of the two worst 3rd placed teams and miss out on progression in that manner. Strong possibility it happens too. Thatās a tough group.
That wasnāt a prediction, merely a bad feeling i had, one which Iām glad didnāt turn out to be the case.
Scotland will really struggle for me. Hickey a massive loss right back and Ferguson a loss coming off the bench. Struggle to score goals and with Grant Hanley at the back will lose all 3 games for me.
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I think Ukraine will win it all out
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You backing them to win the group? Croatia, France, England and Portugal/Germany would be an extremely treacherous potential route to glory. If they finished 2nd behind Belgium theyād probably end up facing the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and then France in the final.
I might do albeit itās unlikely Iāll end up betting them. I really fancy one on tuesday in royal ascot.
https://twitter.com/henrywinter/status/1801004062625636654?s=46
England have won 12 knock out games since 66.
Got the Netherlands in the work sweep. Not too bad although they wonāt win it
Frankie de jong out now
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Southgateās knockout victories have been against Colombia, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Denmark and Senegal. The victory against an ageing Germany team is the standout but even then it was expected at the time. Itās why Iād have strong reservations about them having to beat France and Portugal in the space of 4/5 days to win the tournament. Their best chance would be upsets elsewhere like the 2002 World Cup.
I found it hard to make any predictions with 3 going out of the groups.
Youāll still get upsets but just trickier to predict routes.
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I donāt rate deschamps and Martinez is useless. Iām not sure many managers will be much better than him.
I
Ralf Rangnick is going to knock a tune out of these Austrians.
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Turkey to make serious amends for their dark horse status and flop last time. They are practically at home too.
The Germans burned me bad the last time but Iām going to predict they win it this time. Havertz finished the season well for Arsenal tbf and Fullkrug isnāt the most fashionable but he is a proper number 9. Wirtz & Musiala are class and I think they have more balance in the full-back positions now.
France have the most talent but have underperformed in Euros under Deschamps. They can be got at too.
Often, itās not a bad shout to go for whoever has the best manager. I had Italy on that basis the last time and it proved effective. I think the Italian squad is worse this time but Spalletti won a Serie A with Napoli and got them pretty deep in the Champions League. Probably the best manager on show.