The pod makes a visit to Cologne for some Euro 2024 action.

We’ve made it out of the country and over to Cologne for some Euro 2024 action. So only right we bring you a pod on tour. We discuss England’s first two games. Teams that have caught our eye too. Hungry were down as dark horses for the tournament for two of the panel. We did say dark
and not dead. Though they still have a chance to progress, playing Scotland. Max has tickets for the final England game. While Barra and Gareth went to watch Belgium v Romania after the pod was recorded.

this is Lee Ridley uh I was lucky enough to achieve two promotions with SCF for United but nothing compares to the Joy experience when listening to The aan Hour podcast just a heads up this podcast contains strong language you know the good stuff if this isn’t for you turn off now for the rest of you now [ __ ] enjoy the podcast good good morning for me my is Max and um that’s is G I have no idea what’re talking about I just speak English not very well welcome to the iron Hour podcast we’re here in Germany in Cologne at the moment for the auros uh we did have the full Ensemble yesterday but Marco has gone home he was let’s be honest he was too pissed yesterday wasn’t he he was all right a bit of I don’t know Italian flare well like like an Italian he’s left a conflict involving the English and the Germans halfway through and has decided that he’s just going to he’s going to flee the scene um I mean look we’ve had Jamie on the podcast before he was a little bit merry um I think Marco would have been fine but he clearly just wanted to sit and eat ice cream and uh get drunk instead yeah we we should probably apologize if the audio is not fantastic we are doing this in the breakfast room at the hotel that Gareth and I are staying at and we couldn’t get the the microphones for security we couldn’t get them on to the plane could we Gar so that might be the good thing anyway not getting them well look people always say in our Twitter replies they’re sick of hearing too much for me anyway so now instead they get some sort of slightly dodgy German talk radio over at the top instead it is usually your dad saying that though yeah but in a way it is at least 50% his fault and we’ve got on display here the swi United bucket hat provided by best banks wholesale and available still available in I think they’ve sold wow I think they’ve got their own brand in own version in now and as well if anybody’s not aware they’re reversible as well aren’t they so you can either have it with the blue with the unity badge yeah or if you flip it on the other side for a more a more modern look you can have it with with the camera with the um the well up until this season just gone the uh the current BGE could be on QBC yes anything you need right so we’ll probably make this one a short one we thought we’d review the two England gam so far look ahead to the rest of the euros and that’s um taking our F to anyone that stood out so we’ll just kick off with the first England game that Max um it was a good good performance good first half happy with the win um H happy with happy with the win against Ser Serbia I thought I thought the first half was good um we struggled to get out of our own half a little bit in the second half I thought seria’s game plan was good they got really they got really quite physical with England you could see seven or eight challenges where they’ve just left one on and you know Bellingham responded to that I thought a couple of times but in a good positive way you know probably the man of the match from from an England perspective for me was was Bellingham and look this is this is tournament football up until South G had taken charge of England it seemed like we never won the first game at at a major tournament and now we’ve taken it a bit for granted the vast majority of s play in the National Football are not clowns you know they’ve got to the tournament for a reason so yeah I I thought sery was positive so Gareth I mean Max briefly talked there about Bellingham MH in that game against Serbia he he was exceptional isn’t he yeah just yeah and then no he’s he’s that player is he that everyone’s talking about he’s done it at Madrid doing it at Madrid and you just expecting to bring it into the tournament football for England and all eyes on him really you know he’s at that age a lot of young players in the good age as a quality retro soccer am reference that I think and um but no a lot of eyes on him you know staran for England some would say and yeah I know he had a good game dictator at times Well speaking of stamman for England that that first game I thought there’s a little bit of flat com in Harry Kane’s way did you think he had a quite game by his standards um yeah but he seemed isolated at times as well I thought really isolated um and yeah didn’t didn’t have like many opportunities did he I can go no he just had the header didn’t he which was actually well saved by the Serbian Keeper in the second half and to be honest I can only really think of two major involvements with hurricane in that game the first was that header which was well saved really good save onto the back and the second one Max was the defensive header off the line really got us out of the back end of the game yeah it did and I I dare say we we’ll probably continue sort of the discussions about K when we got on to England’s second game as well but I think a lot of his work does go under appreciated I was really really interested to see the brenford manager who ironically is D defending on the TV recently so I think a lot of kan’s work both with and without the ball goes under appreciated when he you know when he’s dropping deep he sometimes get criticized for that but then the through balls that he plays to you know sacker on the right F on the left Bing through the middle whoever it might be are often really key and integral players attacks and like GTH said he’s been isolated at times this tournament you know particularly you speak to some fans who want the Wingers to stay wider then a tactical downside of that is going to be that Kane is going to be more isolated potentially so look Harry Kane I’ve only got good things to say about him in an England shirt I think some of the criticisms of him have been unfair Strikers are very rarely in the game all the time for for 90 minutes I I can remember some scny fans would criticize Billy sharp back in the day because he wouldn’t be in the game for 88 89 minutes but if he scored once or twice or set up a goal I didn’t care then and I don’t care now I think get disclaimer you and I go we don’t really watch a lot of Premier League football do we no I mean I you know I like my German football but it’s it’s G United it’s our level now really so for me seeing some of these players I don’t watch the Premier League maybe like you do I don’t watch it week in week out I thought gayy was very good I was very impressed with him actually at the back was it similar for you Gareth yeah you’re similar to me yeah I thought I thought he did do well you know think um Lots probably a lot of pressure on his shoulders as well you know coming into his first major tournament and how he’s going to react respond but I thought he did he did everything well I thought can’t think of anything that was UN to so yeah know he did well is only going to grow from that as well you know in in that first game then Max did you think the defensive Frailty started to show towards the end of the game uh not necessarily the defensive frailties I I actually think out of possession England’s shape defensively particularly if you were transposing to playing a really good side has actually been pretty good I think the majority of the criticisms of of England that have come particularly the valid ones have been what they’ve been like in in possession but I I do think that to say that he’s really been a bit untested at this level Gay’s played quite low so far probably a couple of couple of little mistakes in the second game but he recovered well from them both and then made good blocks yeah but I also think that’s perhaps why England’s defensive Midfield setup has been quite interesting if you look at the average positions and it did also sort of past the eye test rice and Alexander arold have been playing very deep they’ve offered actually quite good by and large defensive protection to the two set halfes because they got a lot of England fans coming into this tournament we’re worried about our back four we’ve seen that Luke Shaw’s Mist trining we’ve had concerns about the center half but I think that has been part of the consideration that SS made for the Tactical setup but then the test comes can you complement that with causing problems being good in possession transition so you get higher at the pitch making sure that K’s not isolated like we say and I think sometimes they’ve been a little bit hit Miss on that yeah and then just so if we just move on to to that second game then so you know we spoke about Bellingham in that first game and you know he got the goal he he was fantastic now coming up against Denmark in that second game it was it was a bit of a different story GTH I thought Bellingham was I don’t know if he was marked out of the game if that’s harsh but he certainly wasn’t on the ball as was he no but I think that’s you know to be expected as well just that you know’s he’s the main man a lot happens through him so he’s going to be a lot closer marks you know and it just it affects the whole game for me you know and many others I know we took the lead but still obviously mat you were at the game so that so that was in Stuart or Frankfurt Frank Frankfurt okay and it looked like a beautiful day it was rainy here in Cologne where we watched it in the fan part but it did look like a fantastic day it was it was absolutely roasting anybody who knows me I’m Ginger and pale so if it gets a gets like sort of 15 16 I start start sweating a bit um weather was fantastic atmosphere was great so absolutely zero trouble amongst any of the English or or the locals or or the Danish fans um they closed the roof which I think did make the atmosphere better but I do also think it made it a little bit hotter and I wonder if that is part of the reason why some of the England players at least they did look a bit lethargic you know bit Ley yeah you know you think back to S 2 World Cup some of those performances in Japan and South Korea when it was was really humid it wasy yeah it maybe reminded me a bit of that but you know the the frustrations around the performance not withstanding it was an excellent day it’s Where I Come Away with these fabulous cooks that me and bar Sport him with a little bit of German soft drink on it that I know Bar’s very partial to so uh yeah it was it was a good day it was just a shame we couldn’t come away with the three points let’s TR and break down the game so a little bit of a a bitty start to the game neither team kind of got into the flow and then England had I think had a good five minutes leading up to the goal Gareth and it kind of it comes from Walker on the right yeah so that tenacious really I mean were yeah you were Gareth really went in on Walker actually honestly so did the so did the BL St be on me in in the England end you really went in a walk for first 10 15 minutes but yeah no denar once caught in possession didn’t realize Walker was there nipped in ball across a little bit of a scramble and who should the ball po to but Harry came and he he puts one up what you thinking at that point do you think we’ll be all right the reason I say that is we went one n up and although he was a little bit merry I friend Ryan turned to me and said I’ll take a draw now me it did during the celebration what was you thinking um after being recovering from being smacked by right left right combo yeah um no I was thinking when he said that I was thinking H you know what I mean not really thinking any more of it but he was right in what he said because after that we just capitulated I thought in some respects just sat back sorry sorry this is this is a bang of this the man will be to hopefully they can’t hear it sorry G I’m just tring there B into a bit of ma more I think it is I’m so hot honestly no this you’re really not so yeah we go one look now for me when I think of England in the group stage of tournaments this was a typical performance and result we got one to look relatively early on the lead last 16 minutes and a it’s difficult because if I say lesser team it seems really snobby and like we’re we’re over confident brush but on paper we’re we are a better team than denar so the lesser team the lead only last 16 minutes max and they get all over us at one point yeah so I think I mean it’s worth pointing out that Denmark have won one more European Championship than England have absolutely as all of the Denmark fans in Frankfurt like to remind us all of the time U they just kept singing champions of Europe You’ll Never sing that I thought like this this must be what it feels like playing villain look it was it was disappointing but I I would say denark a consistently pretty decent side interational level very rarely do you see the game where any side kind tears them apart they s with a back five they clear had a very concrete game plan to swarm Bellingham who I think try almost trying to do too much himself there was probably four or five times where he’s beat one man and then he’s trying to beat a second immediately rather than just just play the ball out wide keep Rec cycling possession you know you’re not this isn’t Real Madrid versus alar you know the he a this was an international s with a lot of good players a lot of really experienced Premier League players um and I think mentally as well sort of even towards the end of the game England looked like they settled a bit for a point yeah we knew particularly after Denmark Dre their first game that it still puts us was in a really strong position to to win the group I think making sure that we don’t come second in this group could be a really important thing if wants to get first than the last 16 stage so look it it wasn’t a great performance I think the Meltdown from the media has been excessive tell me about it but you know if england go and play on Tuesday and they put in a good performance and and they win by a couple of goals then hopefully that meltdown will be long forgotten and we can go into The Knockout stage going look we’ve got seven points bit of momentum see who we get in the round the 16 game and just take it from there I do want to kind of look at the game a little bit in a little bit more detail in a second but I couldn’t help but think when I went to bed on Thursday night I couldn’t help but think God this doesn’t half remind me of the game against Scotland in the last Euros second game in the in the group stage okay that was nil nil but we drew never really looked like winning in that game Scotland could have won it later on and I thought Denmark definitely could have won it late on this time and I couldn’t help but think do you know what maybe we’ve got away with one there like if if that’s our in inverted comm’s bad performance in the tournament we’ve got away with one gar well yeah it need to be our bad performance cuz we can’t if we play anything like that again or worse than should I say we’re not going to pick a point of or anything you know and I I think finishing second we’ end up playing Germany more than likely yeah we’ll probably come on to our predictions and where we are with our initial predictions definitely need to step up from the Denmark game and just yeah it just reminded me so much much watching scum for it really did I know we’ve not got the same quality of player but just the way he went just sat deep and sat deep and it was just like they’re going to score they’re going to score you know what I mean you just had that impression that we’re getting pushed for the back they’re going to get get us and was only we was only in the lead for 16 minutes oh do you mean towards the end you thought they were going to score a win just yeah towards the end you know I just thought they’re going to get another one year and I know they were long range shots as well but the first goal was a long range shot it was it was a great strike so yeah it just felt like it was going to come yeah Max I’m I’m really Tor because on one hand I do think I I do genuinely think you know what I think we got away with one there we could have easily lost that game on the other side of the kind I’m also there thinking we fing it the post we had a couple of good chances Saka Saka had the little header yeah Saka had that header we did cause them problems is it an expectation question um yes question of expectation rather than performance yes and no I I would say that England haven’t won all three games in a group State since 1982 you know this is a this is a consistent thing at Major International tournaments Argentina won the World Cup having lost their first game to Saudi Arabia um I think of Spain when they won Europe in 2008 I believe they lost their first group game to Switzerland yeah so look they and also Argentina lost to in the last World I literally just said that did you sorry I was looking at my phone oh honestly if you’re not if you’re not listening to me why should the listeners but then obviously they weren’t either um I I do I had a very important message I do apologize um but I completely I completely agree I think hopefully like GTH said it is it’s the bad performance it is just a little hiccup it did remind you of the Scotland game like like you said thank you for listening to me but exact there is I I know the final didn’t end how we wanted it to but that is a tournament in which we did still get to the final there are I think at least two or three outstanding tactical SL selection questions for England now but look you could just take it one game at a time just take one half a football at a time just go out and if they win on Tuesday I suspect things will calm down a little bit I I a couple of things from the fan Park I knew it was coming but the celebration from the Scottish fans when denar equalized was yeah I mean so here in colog up until today there hasn’t been too many England fans I think there’ve been more Frankfurt area but having said that it has been full of Scottish fans hasn’t it up until and they’ve just started to go home now and yeah and we said didn’t we we have a feeling England fans are going to start turning up in the numbers from today definely definitely weekend I just hope it doesn’t turn it’s been so nice it has been really good atmosphere friendly you know saw the police running away yesterday chasing wherever they were going to I don’t even know if that was don’t know what that was he ended up on the pedestrianized section didn’t me a van had to be turned around was in a bad way yeah definitely but no as it’s been really friendly atmosphere you know the city’s been very welcoming as well colog cologne’s great stays that way yeah if anybody gets the chance to visit I I would encourage it I think one of the things I’ve liked is there’s also been like a lot of Germans it sort of struck me as maybe been like a bit of a like a newcast or Liverpool in terms of like it’s a bit maybe a bit of a sto town you know people here drinking i’ I’ve seen lots of that it’s more it’s more brighten that’s the kind of place that it is go on Gareth go on Gareth I’m I’m not saying anything either no seriously colog is like the the gay Carnival capital of Germany it’s it’s fantastic it’s like partisan atmosphere I think it’s been amazing to be here so looking ahead then to the final group game we’ve obviously got Slovenia now Slovenia did manage to get that late late late equalizer didn’t they against Serbia which probably helped hang on not again yeah no it was it was Serbia it was Serbia we last in the 95th minute against Slovenia had too much spy if anybody doesn’t know what spxy is it’s it’s half Coke sort of half like Fant Tango and it’s not as awful as that sounds so late equalizer in that game has done wonders for us because it now puts us two points player in that group knowing that probably a point would be enough to win the group do you think if if if we drew the mark would have to win by two goals to overhaul us on go def which which which could happen and I would not want to be taken at risk you know particularly as I think as most England fans know if we finish second in this group we would 99% were recording this on what satday afternoon yeah we’d almost be destined to play the Germans which would um it’d be a big game but we’ve got no chance if we play Germany at this stage I’m not sure I wouldn’t say no chance a chance you’re telling me there’s a chance yeah and I think in that game I would at least hope that England would would raise their game and you wouldn’t nether or necessarily expect to have quite as much possession yes you you would have a better chance of hitting them on the break particularly with Pace going forward but look playing them at um you know less than half of Wembley three years ago versus playing the matter fall I believe it would be Dortmund would be would be two very very different games for better or worse what if I to G your head prediction for the final group game gives a score prediction Max GTH first max is drinking oh I’ll go I will go 2-1 England England yeah Max uh one one nil England I’m going to go one nil England also so that’s where I am right so if we do that we obviously progress to the round of 16 as top of the group and it’s not favorable but it’s certainly for in terms of the next game it looks on paper like it would be the better game for us now Gareth and the teams that you’ve seen so far in the tournament who’s grabed your eye Spain yeah Spain Spain definitely Nico Williams just not the worst one no really wor name though Williams yeah um is it b b Barcelona wanting him but he’s just he just looks so good you know easy on the eye fast gets past his man gets the ball in he just looks amazing but the whole team has as well you know they’ve all like worked together and they justy unit going forward defending but yeah they’ve impressed me the most so far um yeah I think I would be inclined to agree with Spain on the basis that unlike some of the other teams you know they they they’ve gone Toe to Toe with Italy and certainly um that game it was pretty much oneway trough traffic Don rum and go had a terrific game could have very easily finished could have easily finished actually if it hadn’t been for the own goal and you know that would possibly been the performance of the tournament if they come out of that with a with a draw um I know who you’re going to say bar which is which is Germany um but with the best one in the world their best performance had come against Scotland and at least in that game I think even Scottish fans would admit that they were shot yeah I mean that is true they still have looked very good in those two games that they played I I accept that but they they they have they have only played Scotland and Hungary and whil against Hungary I thought they did look good they they Hungary played better than Scotland which is why it only finished two nil rather than Hungary were obviously your that yeah that’s gone well hasn’t it I don’t say that to score points what I mean is they’re obviously no mugs they haven’t they haven’t had a good tournament you know that’s not they could I mean I don’t think it’s impossible for them to get out of the group still due to the due to the crazy format but um they need a good win would they but and obviously Scotland got tanked so that’s the other Factor there but yeah I I I do think Germany have looked typically German maybe not typically German of the past eight years but typically German of what I expect from a German team they’ve look good in possession they’ve look good out of possession they don’t look flustered when they don’t have the ball for long periods of the game at Hungary there was maybe a 5 10 minute spell where Hungary kind of start to build a bit of pressure and then they pretty much immediately made it 2 at that point exactly but again I would look this is the thing with national football isn’t it you know you if you want to win the tournament you got to play seven games you can play six of them brilliantly all it needs is is one good side one good 10 minutes I’d be interested to see how Jim cope for a prolonged period against a possession orientated side this will be the challeng because both both Hungary and Scotland that’s not really their that’s not really their game you know they like to hit s yeah absolutely um so look we’ll see how the rest of the tournament shapes up I in a way you know I would like to avoid them in the last 16 because I think it would be a an unnecessarily tough game at that stage of this tournament but I you know I wouldn’t if heaven forbid I think England would make a proper game of ited I just I can’t see them going out in a round of 16 in a home tournament playing as well as they have done in previous tournaments they’ve not played well and have quite rightly gone out early the way they’ve played I’d just be amazed if they went out the round of 16 at home tourament just doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen does that make sense yeah of course of course it does but you know look in a couple of weeks we’ll um have a much better idea of everything going on at the tournament so look it’s it’s been fun to watch so far but yeah I reckon there’s going to be a few twists and turns yet Gareth you obviously were on the podcast when we did our initial predictions but you did you have Hungary as well yeah for your see that’s that’s honestly there he could have gone no no no it was no it was hungry and so who was your pick to win it do you remember I didn’t have a pick to win no I didn’t I didn’t really have one obviously I want England to win it obviously but no I I didn’t really I didn’t really have of course very good barer um thank you thank you no I I didn’t have anyone I didn’t have a pick for a win just hungry as my dark horses but you know I don’t know how well that’s going to go down we’ll find out I mean I I guess I’d be interested because I know we haven’t talked about whether or not we’d make too many changes at at this point going to your head G thought or Barett how far do you think Eng going to going to get uh I think we will get knock out in the semifinal I’m going to say so is yeah so was I which makes us very boring but yeah no I’m not even going to make I can’t be bothered I’m prepared to make a joke um knocking out of semi oh surely not so I mean that’s that’s where I am negative of course like we want to win and we’ll get carried away when we if we put four past Slovenia we’ll all think that it’s coming home again but yeah that’s where I am at the minute I think semi I think I think a courageous semi-final defeat is where I can see this ending yeah and then and and that would be and that would be very English I think it would it would probably be if that happened I do think it probably would be s’s last tournament but you know he would he would deserve to leave with with thanks and a bit of dignity on that basis because I think some some younger England supporters and also some younger scunny supporters that we speak to to who we can’t remember just how crap England were prior to Southgate taking over and then during the mid 2000s that socalled golden generation just how disappointing we were even qualify for the 2008 Euros exactly yeah just just ridiculous couldn’t get past any quarterfinal under any circumstances in any tournament just how disappointing they were and just how much they underachieved now look you know we probably should have won Euro 2020 against against Italy but I I think s deserves a lot of credit for the fact that he has brought England back to the top table I think internationally in in the discussion yeah exactly and the fact that England are in the discussion is is not something that we should take for granted because there’s plenty of evidence of the 18 years prior to that how we weren’t and we didn’t deserve for be so no matter what happens in this T I really hope that people don’t turn on S gate too much and that he’s still you know I will certainly remember him fondly and I hope other other England and skny fans do too yeah definitely right before we close it final word from us then on scunny United I don’t think we’ve um spoken since our latest signing also the announcement now we’ve got Chesterfield in it Chesterfield final pre season friendly on a Friday which is quite an interesting one well honestly absolutely typical on the um on the way to the the England G was on the tra through Frankford got got chatting with a family of Chesterfield fans and their reaction was typical of every other England fan I’ve met which was oh well who’ you support and say scum for and then they they GRE they greet you like somebody in your fames just dies you know oh my God oh my God I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I thinking in many ways the the genuine like sympathy makes it worse it really does but then like less than 24 hours after i’ got chat with him and we were talking about Paddy Madden obviously they’ve just signed him on a on a free from stock po it’ be really great to see him back at um the actress Arena and then you know we’ve got a friendly a friendly against them so look we’ll see there’s still a lot of work to do I think I’m sure it’s going to be a big pre-season for Butler to try and get the players set up personally collectively in the way that he wants them to play so um yeah I’m trying not to think about it’s going too much every the last couple of weeks but um ready for England to break our hearts instead no absolutely right should we wrap it up yeah right thanks for listening once again to the inl podcast like I said we’re out here in Germany and we’ll be out here for another three nights I think so three night four nights four nights and we’ll be heading back and so yeah will’ll hit you up with another podcast and Gareth are you going to put any of these Vlogs out that you’ve been doing have been over here not doing anything I’ve just been doing a bit of recording I’ll put something out I’ll put something out today as well going to a game yes we forgot to mention a huge thank you actually to scunny Fan Chris Owen who’s actually lives in Germany and manag to help us out didn’t he getting tickets for today so Chris if you are listening what a legend thank you so V bar Chris I’m not I’m not going but but but look these two up what what game you off Two Fellas so it’s Belgium versus Romania this evening 9:00 in Cologne German German time 9:00 8:00 for the yeah of course as I say Chris we we I met him in the iron bar with with Ryan actually met him in the iron bar over East and we got talking and I I could hear he was speaking to his friends in German oh is pretty yeah yeah exactly bar he like a dog [ __ ] in his leg and then it’ come out that they had tickets for this game but they were going to return them and I was like don’t you dare give me give me give me give me give me so yeah thank you Chris we can’t wait for tonight well and actually so obviously you’re your Zer off so keep an eye out for these two Ryan and Becky yeah big fans the big fans in the podcast so shout out to them um so keep an eye out for them on the TV and what what’s your prediction for the game tonight two no Belgium I’m going one all yeah yeah going one all I I Romania do you like Romania I’ve never been to the country they they played very well they played very well in the first game I thought um if if any of us had picked romonia as a dark horse i’ be you’d be feeling more filled of optimism it’s it’s it’s a massive go now you think of how disappointing Belgium weing their first game that they lost Lukaku could a bar door with a banjo so I think yeah I agree with G I can definitely see a little bit of a one all and the Belgian press going into meltdown so enjoy so I was just laugh you was very uh you very guard Brown there I I agree with Gareth I agree with Nick no no no there there is a niche retro reference that about four people are going to get um and I’m not one of them I agree with NI um okay fair enough but yeah no in gey tonight Lads it’s it’s obviously it’s in Cologne the stadium here where England are also playing on Tuesdays so uh any any tips about the stadium any things you find down do let me know nice one right we’ll close it then up the eye and we’ll see you next time Wonder