Thanks Wales , Proud Of You

[jon1959]

Proud of these lot, can’t fault the effort. We’ve waited a long time to qualify for tournaments, I’ll take this type of disappointment over Bodin penalty near misses every day of the week.

We’ve been living through a halcyon period for us the last 8 years or so. Consistent top 20 in the world with a foray into the top 10 at points. I’ve tried to savour it whilst it lasts. The anomaly of Uruguay aside, not many countries our size get to this place let alone maintain it.

Few things conspired against us for this tournament. The Giggs situation couldn’t have helped in terms of our preparation. I do think a savvier tactician would have gotten more out of this squad for these games but we’ve limited resources and that was sadly the hand we got dealt.

The obscene imbalance where we had to criss cross Europe and travel the equivalent distance of Wales to Argentina whilst the Danes, for example, only had to contend with a comparatively short hop from Copenhagen to Amsterdam. This tournament and the time we’re living through condemned us to playing “away” games the entire time, a situation worse than our non-tournament away games over the last few years as we’ve regularly taken thousands.

And frustratingly, in a tournament where I think generally the refereeing has been of a good standard, we didn’t get the rub of the green with some decisions not going our way.

[SunderlandBluebird]

Have found it strange some of the negativity to yesterday. Doing great to get there then to get out of a tough group where every side is in the top 30. (The only group to have that I think)

We didn’t play well yesterday but it happens. Everything went for Denmark, the world backing them, their fans taking over Amsterdam, the momentum of the 4-1 win against Russia. Just one of them things, plenty of good teams will go out in the last 16, no shame in that.

As has been said, the tournament format has completely done us over imo. Look how average Italy looked yesterday when suddenly not playing in front of their own fans. It has a massive impact and all the countries who have 2 or 3 home games that are virtually home qualifiers have benefited massively, and England will continue to do so until the final. That’s before you factor in the travelling/lack of travelling.

It must be one of the most weighted tournaments in history.

[Trigger]

Yesterday I just felt disappointed that we almost seemed resigned to losing before kick off and that everything was against us.

I'm disappointed in how we played as I know we can do so much better. You can accept losing to the likes of Denmark as they are a good team but it was the manner of the defeat that irked me.

On reflection I can appreciate that I've seen us at another major tournament, something that prior to 2016 I wondered if would ever happen.

The tour to the extreme edges of Europe wouldn't have helped but we knew that when qualifying. I'm not a fan of the set up, massively favours some but then the likes of Scotland hardly made much use of such advantage and we would have liked our games in Cardiff I'm sure. Just as well fans en masse couldn't travel as I'm sure it wouldn't have been a patch on the 2016 experience.

Hopefully we only see one host or two neighbouring ones from now on.

For us, hopefully we can shake this off, continue to do all we can to bring through the next crop and keep doing as well as we can.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

The morning after , loads to be optimistic about

Some great young players coming through

And Bale still has 4 years in him

[A Quiet Monkfish]

The morning after , loads to be optimistic about

Some great young players coming through

And Bale still has 4 years in him

Not sure. We were fortunate against Switzerland, and have only really played well at times against a really poor Turkey. Yesterday things didn't quite go our way, but we were lucky with a 4-0 scoreline.

[William Treseder]

The morning after , loads to be optimistic about

Some great young players coming through

And Bale still has 4 years in him

No way has Bale got 4 yrs left in him. Sadly he’s already lost his biggest attribute. His pace.

[Hilts]

Bale has lost his pace and isnt the player he was but hes still a very good player and we are heavily reliant on him and Ramsey.

I dont think he will play on for 4 years though.

Hopefully he can help us qualify for the World Cup.

[Pearcey3]

Bale has lost his pace and isnt the player he was but hes still a very good player and we are heavily reliant on him and Ramsey.

I dont think he will play on for 4 years though.

Hopefully he can help us qualify for the World Cup.

Captaining his country in the World Cup Finals would be the perfect end to his career.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

No way has Bale got 4 yrs left in him. Sadly he’s already lost his biggest attribute. His pace.

He could easily slot into a defensive midfield position . If Mark Hughes plays until he's 36 so can Bale

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Captaining his country in the World Cup Finals would be the perfect end to his career.

Perfect

[surge]

Bale has had to change his game as every player does as they grow older. Giggs became a CM, Gerrard waved goodbye to box-to-box days, Christiano Ronaldo stopped being a winger and concentrated on being a goal-scorer...

I think Bale has a lot to offer at the highest level in terms of his creativity and his skill, someone described him as a big Ozil or Pirlo, but he's 32 soon and unlikely he's got as many as 4 years left in him. Things will slowly become harder for him and he'll need more support from us/his team-mates.

8 of this squad were at the 2016 tournament (2 GKs) and without those 8 the average age of the squad is something 22.8 years old. They'll need support from us too in order to push on.

Over the next 9months plus a couple of days we find out whether we qualify for a World Cup and then after that it's about a proper Euros in Germany - so much still to play for.

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Not sure. We were fortunate against Switzerland, and have only really played well at times against a really poor Turkey. Yesterday things didn't quite go our way, but we were lucky with a 4-0 scoreline.

we have some very good young players coming through

[willo1927]

A tiny nation that has been sent on a tour of Europe in the last few weeks while some of those big guns you mention have been able to play home game after home game - no complaints today, we were beaten by a much better team, but I hope this is the first and last time we see this format used.

Totally agree
Been an advantage to so many teams this format and we definitely wasn't one of them.

[surge]

Former Wales women's manager Jayne Ludlow says she was "infuriated" by the "petulance" shown by Welsh players in the Euro 2020 defeat Denmark.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/footb...medium=custom7

I do think this is a good point though. Ref was poor, Denmark were better but there were still things we could have done ourselves to handle that situation a bit better.

[MacAdder]

I do think this is a good point though. Ref was poor, Denmark were better but there were still things we could have done ourselves to handle that situation a bit better.

I haven't seen the podcast, not interested what JL has to say to be honest.
The game is gone and confined to the annals of history, but if the caption is the gist of it, I have no problem seeing that.
IMO referees need to be told that they have made a bad decision, and, let's face it, there were plenty of them.
The next time the referee is thinking he may choose to favour the opposition and may think twice.
It can also have the effect of motivating the team to perform better, siege mentality.

There were many factors why we got beat by Denmark but I doubt "petulance" played a significant part.

In that caption it looks like our Gareth is tired and in need of some sleep due to all the travelling.