Roker Riches: Who are our pundits tipping to succeed in the deferred Euro 2020 competition?

Welcome to another special edition of Roker Riches, this time covering the UEFA European championships for 2020, which were deferred due to the pandemic and are now being played out in 2021.

Across the period of this contest we will be running a Euro Roker Riches page ahead of every England game. We are giving the 5 Riches punters a sweet £100 kitty to see who can top the Riches pile at the end of the European championship. Hopefully they will be able to bet on at least one of the home nations right to the end...

Yes, we have a feast of international football to keep us entertained while Lee and his team rebuild our red and white army ready for another pop at promotion from late summer. Let’s hope the new structure including our sporting director and heads of data and recruitment have a great summer filling our squad out with quality appointments.

Let’s take a look at how the Riches team’s bets are looking as England once more try to “bring it home”....

Cold beer - check. Nuts and crisps - check. Lets crack on.

Photo by Eddie Keogh - The FA/The FA via Getty Images

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The Euro Roker Riches Table 2020/21 - pre round 1

As mentioned previously, all players get £100 for this comp. Rather than being limited to a fiver, it is down to the individuals to bet what they want on each round. Many may still go for a fiver on England (as long as that lasts, after which it is up to them) and a fiver on another, but the option to bet and win big is there this time.

Only time will tell who will try to win by winning, and who will try to win by not losing more than others.

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Banker’s Bonus...

Bankers bonus will continue for this competition.

If we are going to see England do well they need some statement wins from the off, as we saw from Italy on the opening night.

If England beat Croatia by 2 goals or more on Sunday afternoon, that will be a good start. Should that happen punters will get an extra tenner for the game against the Auld Enemy Scotland next Friday evening.

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This rounds bets...

Matty Crichton says...

England to score a penalty: The one thing I massively remember from the 2018 World Cup is how many penalties were given through VAR, it was mental! England win their fair share of penalties regardless, but with the likes of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish in the side I think the chances of Harry Kane finding the net from 12 yards are highly likely. A safer pot builder kind of bet. £10 returns £50.

EURO 2020 Fourfold: Knowing how tournaments pan out there will probably be a shock draw or win here, but in terms of ability Holland, Austria, Belgium and Denmark should all collect three points in their opening group stage fixtures. Another bet that will not bring much profit, but will give you a healthy pot to build on! £5 returns £38.76

Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images

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Luke ‘Bomber’ Davies says...

Something to get you through Game Round One (hopefully!)

Rather than dump an acca on you thats done and dusted in a day, I’ve created a ‘pick n mix’ four-fold to try and prolong the excitement through til Tuesday!

Tournament favourites Belgium and #1 team in the world should easily breeze past Russia who are criminally over-rated in the betting stakes. Netherlands again should be comfortable in their opening match. Ukraine come into the tournament with kit controversy and essentially is just the Dynamo Kiev team with a few Shaktar players and a sprinkle of PL second string. Slovakia are capable of upsetting the Group D Apple cart, but Poland are a strong side that always seem to be built for major tournaments… and how can you bet against Lewandowski in a game like this! Two international football powerhouses go head to head in the group of death! I can’t call the game result, but Germany vs France is too big a game to ignore. If our bet gets this far, sit back, relax, enjoy the game and pray for goals! *Germany / France both teams to score. *

£10 returns £86.50

Photo by Alexander Scheuber - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

England bet builder

Keeping on the SAFC themed bets, I’ll be using Paddy Power’s Bet Builder for each of the England games. A tough opener against Croatia but try this on for size;

- Over 1.5 cards

- Harry Kane 2 shots on target

- Both Teams to Score

£10 returns £67.51

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Phil Butler says...

Underdog Double

International tournaments are typically hard to bet on in the early rounds since the groups, so I’m going for just a couple of teams in an underdog Double.

Scotland have half a chance of getting out of the group, if they have such aspirations they must beat the Czech Republic on Sunday night. On Monday, Ukraine are slight dark horses for this competition, I’m backing them to beat a Dutch side which has gone drastically downhill since Ronald Koeman departed for Barcelona.

£5 returns £79.06

John Stones to score a header

There’s a number of question marks over England’s team selection for the opening game of the tournament against the side that knocked them out of the world cup three years ago. I’m expecting Gareth Southgate to target set pieces once again during this tournament and with Maguire an injury doubt that means John Stones is the best option for a defensive scorer - he does have a World Cup brace to his name after all.

£5 returns £95

Photo by Eddie Keogh - The FA/The FA via Getty Images

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Paul Fletcher says...

England to lose 2-1:

Call me negative, but I’m going for a repeat of the result in the world cup semi-final. Croatia weren’t a great side then and Croatia definitely aren’t a great side now. England should beat them - but all the expectation and pressure is on England and I don’t think we’ll have enough characters in the starting XI to deal with that. I’d love to be proved wrong, but if I’m right then £10 returns £220

Photo by DAMIR SENCAR/AFP via Getty Images

Under 2.5 goals fourfold:

I’m expecting the first round of games to be cagey, boring, low-scoring affairs as nobody will want to start off the tournament with a defeat. With that in mind, I’m going for under 2.5 goals in the games between Austria / North Macedonia, Netherlands / Ukraine, Scotland / Czech Republic and Spain / Sweden. £10 returns £74.30

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Malc Dugdale says...

England yes/no

As others have said, it isn’t easy to predict outcomes in internationals, especially the first games which can be very cagey. I am going for the Sky Bet “Pick 4 yes or no” option, which looks reasonable this time.

Kane to score one or more - yes

England to take 6 or more corners - yes

Croatia to score one or more - no

England to get 20 or more booking points - no.

This returns £60 for my fiver with a decent 11-1. That’ll do nicely to start things off.

Photo by Nick Potts - Pool/Getty Images

3 way acca

I dont think our friends from the other side of Hadrian’s Wall will have enough to win their opener, so I am backing the Czechs to win that one.

I’m also backing Austria and Spain to win in their opening games. I didn’t even know North Macedonia existed as a country to be totally honest, and I think the Spaniards should have more than enough to see off the Swedes.

Fiver returns £33.15, at OK odds of just over 5.6-1.

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Good luck to England, especially Pickford and Henderson, and to all the home nations as we embark on this competition, and good luck too to all our fellow punters.

Please remember to gamble responsibly, and enjoy your weekend.

While we are busy with this Mr Johnson, feel free to sign up half a dozen barn stormer players for the next big push...

Cheers, and ha’way the Lads!