A mix bag for our stars at the Euros may affect them for the season!
Bernd Leno had a waste of a tournament and what a shame it has been for him as a player and for us as his club.
Joachim Low must have had a brain block as for the whole of the tournament he chose to go with Manuel Neuer for all of their matches and low and behold, they have been knocked out.
Neuer failed to keep a clean sheet in all four matches he played in and I am not saying it is all down to him, but why would you not switch up to see if any other goalkeeper can maybe do better.
Although it is disappointing for Germany and Leno, it is no doubt good for Arsenal because Leno comes back early, maybe has a few weeks off and then is back for preseason. That is if he remains an Arsenal player next season.
But his lack of football at a big competitive tournament will not do any good for his confidence, and he is no better off than what he was before he left for the tournament.
Now this is something that really grates on me and I know not every player can or will play at tournaments when they are called up but if you are 100% not going to play a player then do not take him to a tournament. SIMPLE!
Leno was criticised many times last season, quite often by myself, but you can’t help but feel for him having sat on the bench for all four games, where, who knows, had he taken part he may have made a difference to Germany and they may not have been knocked out at this stage!
Thank god, we still have two players who are in the tournament and are actually taking part.
Bukayo Saka has done well for England in his last two appearances and has now been part of the team that downed Germany after so long. And Granit Xhaka, although he misses out playing in the quarterfinal stage because he has racked up too many cards (not a surprise but at least he hasn’t been sent off!), he was part of the Swiss team who downed favourites and current World Cup champions France.
Now we don’t know if Xhaka will be an Arsenal player next year, but he has been a stand out player for his country and if he does come back to us we can hope he takes that form in to the season and helps us produce what we know we can.
As for Leno let’s hope if he remains too, that this disappointment only spurs him on to become better and stronger, to show the incoming Germany boss that he has what it takes to be number one for club and country!
Shenel Osman
hard not to go with Neuer. I think that Germany needs the full change to retool. They have been kind of stuck with the residuals of best-in-world for sometime now.
Will be interesting to see if they can get set in time for Qatar but I think that it might be too soon for them. Watch out at next Euros…
Shenel, there are 23 players in the squad but only 11 can play. Neuer has been the stand out keeper for Germany for years and the only way Leno would play was if Neuer got injured. You saying if he’s not going to be picked he shouldn’t be there is ridiculous as in your world you wouldn’t have a back up keeper available. SIMPLE!
Wouldn’t be amazing if we had a switizerland vs england Euro?
The Gods are smiling on England methinks, as the result was far better than the actual performance despite the hype being dished out by the Press and Media.To crown it all they avoid Sweden who have 2/3 players who could have hurt them.Surely to God Southgate will not be so defensive against Ukraine?
He will go defensive then they will get knocked out and all the goodwill from beating their nemesis will go down the drain. Don’t forget it’s England we are talking about
To leave the !likes of Foden , Mount and Grealish on the bench was bad enough, but the fact that the wing backs rarely ventured forward, particularly in the first half, took the biscuit.Why on earth Trippier is playing is beyond me and Rice looks like a man who is in need of a break.Germany missed two great chances and Pickford saved our bacon with a great save com Havertz.All that said,the end justified the means on this occasion and unless they become complacent they should have too much for Ukraine.
Against my better judgement Grandad, I actually watched the GERMANY game and though we shaded the game, the half hour from half time til our first goal was probably the single worst, most turgid, boring, timid, excuse for a half hour I have suffered in many years.
Good finish though but a game lasts 90 mins and much of it was awfullly boring.
FAR TOO DEFENSIVE BY BOTH SIDES , GIVEN THE WEALTH OF TALENT AVAILABLE TO BOTH. Like watching paint dry TBH.
Why on earth would you play Leno instead of Neuer ????