Euro 2024: The First Round Postbox

Hello Rank Squad! By the time you're listening to this, every single team in Euro 2024 would have played, and we asked our ever-brilliant Patrons for the questions to help shape an episode around what we've learned so far in the tournament. We kick things off by discussing Kylian Mbappé's broken nose in the France-Austria game, how many games he will miss, and if it opens up an opportunity for young Bradley Barcola off the left wing, who replaced Mbappé for long periods in the PSG season just gone by. Then it's on to England, where some of our Patreons (and Dean) are pretty happy with what they saw from the Three Lions in the opening win against Serbia, whilst others want more from this England team - and from Gareth Southgate, who is in charge. We chat through the brilliant narrative of Christian Eriksen scoring on his return to the Euros with Denmark, before turning our attention to Germany, who won 5-1 against Scotland on the opening night.  Nagelsmann's fluid attack is a talking point, as well as whether Germany's use of Niclas Füllkrug could be crucial to breaking open certain games in this competition. Hungary are up next, and we talk whether being tipped to do well perhaps piled pressure onto them, and how they can move forward, as well as giving some love to Switzerland's majestic midfield pair of Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler. Onwards to Italy, who Jack was impressed by in their comeback win over Albania, and there's some more praise on the podcast for the ever-brilliant Nicola Barella, before we discuss if Albania can feel confident coming into their game against Croatia, and give some love to Spain - especially the performances of Lamine Yamal, Dani Carvajal and Fabian Ruiz. And we wrap things up by talking about the Netherlands and whether Ronald Koeman's stubbornness is a blessing or a curse, big up what was an incredible performance from Romania, and look at whether they can continue that form against a Belgium side now under huge pressure after their shock loss against Slovakia.It's Ranks!  And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.