Euro 20/21

[yellowcard]

Similar to others have said, apart from the pens it is clear England have good players but their style of play is totally dictated by Southgate and his flip-flopping from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and back again. They tried to soak up Italy after going 1-0 up. That is clearly a mistake against the best team in the competition but they did alright for a while, but it was never going to last. They are a good team but not a great team. They have creative players and plenty of young boys who should be able to play without fear, but Southgate by his very nature is conservative and has a natural reluctance to deploy these players for fear of leaving gaps behind them. Anyway, the right result for the tournament and the greater good  .

Phew, that was too close for comfort.... Well done Italy, you've saved the rest of us of years and years of analysing a eulogising the tournament for decades and decades.....


first things first, that was a really well taken goal by Shaw so credit there but for most of the game especially in normal time the Italians bossed it and Pickford was by far the busier of the two keepers.

Chiesa doesn't look anything spectacular but he's some player and probably for injuries would and should have been player of the tournament. Class with the ball at his feet but so were most of the italians, neat and tidy in the tight confines and run the England midfield ragged.
Much was made of the age of Cheilline and Bonucci but Kane was pants the whole tournament if the truth was told and never bothered either of the two elderly gentlemen that much. If Southgate was serious about winning this Kane should have been hauled off after half time, he offers that team nothing (not complaining though    ).

The two Italian Ctr backs are just so cute and clever. An example is this, not once in the entire game of 120 mins did Sterling get a run at them. They were up his hole all day and if he did manage to get on it and get half turned he was brought down. It was just not going to happen. Its a lesson on how a slower player can deal with pace by using their head. 2 unbelievable defenders. The reason Englands "defence" was so good is they effectively play with 6 defenders, because Southgate doesnt trust his ctr halves. But then that makes every game (bar when you play shit teams) low scoring and you are prone to get caught like England did last night. Good enough for them, setting up like that on their own turf and conceding a whopping 70% possession for most of the game.

I would agree with this. Defending deep suits that England defence and with 2 holding midfield players in front of them it gives them an added layer of protection. Stones and Maguire look great when everything is played in front of them but if they have to defend 10-15 yards higher up the pitch to squeeze the play, they are vulnerable to players running in behind them. The trade off is that they concede possession and are unable to get much support to their own attacking players.

Phillips and Rice wouldn't get into any top midfield side in the world. They are good at breaking up the play and putting in tackles but offer little creatively going forward and do little to try and maintain possession and control a match. I don't think England have any of those types of players. Henderson nor Mount are not those types of players either whilst Grealish is a luxury No.10 type player not a midfielder who can control a match. I think Southgate undoubtedly has questions to answer on just why he set up so defensively but I can at least see some of his logic.     

[Saffrongael]

When will England next get a better chance to win a major tournament? It is no coincidence that their 3 most successful tournaments came on home soil. This time they were further enabled by getting the very kindest of draws.

They have a deficiency of top class midfielders and whilst they are blessed with attacking players they will always struggle against really top opposition since they are unable to control a match via long periods of possession. Therefore they are reliant on going from back to front really quickly via fast counter attacking football. Overall Southgate has done a good job with them but backing up what he has done so far in the heat of Qatar will be very difficult.

Quite simply never.

England will never be given another major tournament, WC or Euros.

2/3 of the selection process is greasing the wheels and corruption, after that the technical capability of the bid.

The English have no idea how despised they are the world over due to their colonial past, but now their "supporters" have stormed their way into the final of UEFAs showpiece event... end of days scenario.

Southgate will do nothing with them at Qatar at which point all the psychological issues come back front and centre that they just don't have the brain function to handle other countries in the finer points of the beautiful game.

One things for sure, they should be counting their lucky stars they weren't playing Spain last night or possession could have been 80:20+

Spain would have destroyed England last night I think but we would have run the risk of them not taking their chances.

[thewobbler]

Italy would of ripped them apart if they set up more offensively. Of all the teams in the tournament their midfielders and forwards have a lovely first touch and creative ability. England's only chance was to suck them up the field and try and get in behind them. Even at that Shaw was their most menacing player going forward and who would have thought that at start of tournament. Kane is OK against a mediocre defence ditto Sterling. Average team completely overhyped on a very easy side of the the draw and home advantage most games. Let's remember it took a bit of cheating to reach the final in the Semi against an exhausted Denmark. Southgate's biggest boob was throwing on kids for the penalties after his tactics got them that far against a better team.

England's "back 4" defence contains 2 x starters from both Man City and Man Utd.... the teams that finished first and second in the highest quality league in Europe. Two champions league winning starters - Chilwell and James - barely got a sniff between them.

It's a seriously tidy and well balanced back 4.

Italy's average forwards likely wouldn't have troubled them.

That's on Southgate.

[tiempo]

England need a beautiful human being with great character at the helm, unfortunately Garth only fulfills the former criteria, they'll do nutin at Qatar, no way is he capable of the evolution needed and too fearful to let them off the leash, they may hope the Panamas of this world haven't improved since the last WC or it could get ugly...

[ardtole]

Three years ago in Russia they behaved wonderfully.

[johnnycool]

Similar to others have said, apart from the pens it is clear England have good players but their style of play is totally dictated by Southgate and his flip-flopping from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and back again. They tried to soak up Italy after going 1-0 up. That is clearly a mistake against the best team in the competition but they did alright for a while, but it was never going to last. They are a good team but not a great team. They have creative players and plenty of young boys who should be able to play without fear, but Southgate by his very nature is conservative and has a natural reluctance to deploy these players for fear of leaving gaps behind them. Anyway, the right result for the tournament and the greater good  .

Phew, that was too close for comfort.... Well done Italy, you've saved the rest of us of years and years of analysing a eulogising the tournament for decades and decades.....


first things first, that was a really well taken goal by Shaw so credit there but for most of the game especially in normal time the Italians bossed it and Pickford was by far the busier of the two keepers.

Chiesa doesn't look anything spectacular but he's some player and probably for injuries would and should have been player of the tournament. Class with the ball at his feet but so were most of the italians, neat and tidy in the tight confines and run the England midfield ragged.
Much was made of the age of Cheilline and Bonucci but Kane was pants the whole tournament if the truth was told and never bothered either of the two elderly gentlemen that much. If Southgate was serious about winning this Kane should have been hauled off after half time, he offers that team nothing (not complaining though    ).

There was 60 yards between the English  forwards and midfield for the entire second half. But here blame Kane for not pulling every ball out of the sky and threading a series of passes to Stering's feet.

You read like a man with a pre ordained notion rather than someone who watched the match

What I'm saying is that Kane wasn't the man for that role. England were always looking to play on the counterattack and that's not his game, but by being England Captain was deemed untouchable and was kept on when it was obvious Rashford in a more central role would have caused the Italian midfield to sit deeper to ensure their two aging centre backs weren't exposed by a long ball. Bonucci had an armchair ride as Kane was neither willing or able to make those runs. Veratti and Jorginho were calling the shots barring the first 10 minutes.
If there's a heat map for Kane it'll be pretty blue and he's not entirely to blame for that.

[sid waddell]

England will never be given another major tournament, WC or Euros.

2/3 of the selection process is greasing the wheels and corruption, after that the technical capability of the bid.

The English have no idea how despised they are the world over due to their colonial past, but now their "supporters" have stormed their way into the final of UEFAs showpiece event... end of days scenario.

Colonial pasts - or presents, for that matter - don't seem to be be a barrier to winning contests to host major tournaments

Russia, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, all are colonial powers who have hosted major tournaments in the recent past and two of them are hosting tournaments again in the near future

Russia and Italy have far worse hooligan problems than England

[Captain Scarlet]

The little digs going on around Chiellini 'overlapping' after all his games.
He played 5 games and covered 47km, mostly pottering around. And he was hardly bursting past the man in possession he was just sauntering up the field.

The English media have also stuck to the party line that a small group got in when in reality it looked like it was pushing for a couple of thousand.

They are going to get some land in Qatar!

[thewobbler]

Similar to others have said, apart from the pens it is clear England have good players but their style of play is totally dictated by Southgate and his flip-flopping from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and back again. They tried to soak up Italy after going 1-0 up. That is clearly a mistake against the best team in the competition but they did alright for a while, but it was never going to last. They are a good team but not a great team. They have creative players and plenty of young boys who should be able to play without fear, but Southgate by his very nature is conservative and has a natural reluctance to deploy these players for fear of leaving gaps behind them. Anyway, the right result for the tournament and the greater good  .

Phew, that was too close for comfort.... Well done Italy, you've saved the rest of us of years and years of analysing a eulogising the tournament for decades and decades.....


first things first, that was a really well taken goal by Shaw so credit there but for most of the game especially in normal time the Italians bossed it and Pickford was by far the busier of the two keepers.

Chiesa doesn't look anything spectacular but he's some player and probably for injuries would and should have been player of the tournament. Class with the ball at his feet but so were most of the italians, neat and tidy in the tight confines and run the England midfield ragged.
Much was made of the age of Cheilline and Bonucci but Kane was pants the whole tournament if the truth was told and never bothered either of the two elderly gentlemen that much. If Southgate was serious about winning this Kane should have been hauled off after half time, he offers that team nothing (not complaining though    ).

There was 60 yards between the English  forwards and midfield for the entire second half. But here blame Kane for not pulling every ball out of the sky and threading a series of passes to Stering's feet.

You read like a man with a pre ordained notion rather than someone who watched the match

What I'm saying is that Kane wasn't the man for that role. England were always looking to play on the counterattack and that's not his game, but by being England Captain was deemed untouchable and was kept on when it was obvious Rashford in a more central role would have caused the Italian midfield to sit deeper to ensure their two aging centre backs weren't exposed by a long ball. Bonucci had an armchair ride as Kane was neither willing or able to make those runs. Veratti and Jorginho were calling the shots barring the first 10 minutes.
If there's a heat map for Kane it'll be pretty blue and he's not entirely to blame for that.

Rashford is never suited to playing as a no.9 for a counter attacking Man United side.

Kane led the league last season in goals and assists playing in Mourinho's counter attacking side.

He's untouchable because he's England's best player by a distance. And it's absolutely disgusting from Southgate that he neglected to use such a talent.

There is much, much more to counter attacking than being able to run quickly. Namely that you need a midfielder or central defender who can quickly and accurately play a forward pass (not a boot over the top).

[Denn Forever]

For coaches of any team sport, that game is the best example surely of he folly of trying to protect a lead for so long.  In the 2nd half, all the english players seemed to be in their own half.

[GiveItToTheShooters]

Similar to others have said, apart from the pens it is clear England have good players but their style of play is totally dictated by Southgate and his flip-flopping from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and back again. They tried to soak up Italy after going 1-0 up. That is clearly a mistake against the best team in the competition but they did alright for a while, but it was never going to last. They are a good team but not a great team. They have creative players and plenty of young boys who should be able to play without fear, but Southgate by his very nature is conservative and has a natural reluctance to deploy these players for fear of leaving gaps behind them. Anyway, the right result for the tournament and the greater good  .

Phew, that was too close for comfort.... Well done Italy, you've saved the rest of us of years and years of analysing a eulogising the tournament for decades and decades.....


first things first, that was a really well taken goal by Shaw so credit there but for most of the game especially in normal time the Italians bossed it and Pickford was by far the busier of the two keepers.

Chiesa doesn't look anything spectacular but he's some player and probably for injuries would and should have been player of the tournament. Class with the ball at his feet but so were most of the italians, neat and tidy in the tight confines and run the England midfield ragged.
Much was made of the age of Cheilline and Bonucci but Kane was pants the whole tournament if the truth was told and never bothered either of the two elderly gentlemen that much. If Southgate was serious about winning this Kane should have been hauled off after half time, he offers that team nothing (not complaining though    ).

There was 60 yards between the English  forwards and midfield for the entire second half. But here blame Kane for not pulling every ball out of the sky and threading a series of passes to Stering's feet.

You read like a man with a pre ordained notion rather than someone who watched the match

Absolutely. Says Chiesa doesn't look spectacular then proceeds to eulogise him for a whole paragraph and said he'd be player of the tournament 

[tonto1888]

England will never be given another major tournament, WC or Euros.

2/3 of the selection process is greasing the wheels and corruption, after that the technical capability of the bid.

The English have no idea how despised they are the world over due to their colonial past, but now their "supporters" have stormed their way into the final of UEFAs showpiece event... end of days scenario.

Colonial pasts - or presents, for that matter - don't seem to be be a barrier to winning contests to host major tournaments

Russia, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, all are colonial powers who have hosted major tournaments in the recent past and two of them are hosting tournaments again in the near future

Russia and Italy have far worse hooligan problems than England

The old but themmuns argument gets everywhere

[tiempo]

England will never be given another major tournament, WC or Euros.

2/3 of the selection process is greasing the wheels and corruption, after that the technical capability of the bid.

The English have no idea how despised they are the world over due to their colonial past, but now their "supporters" have stormed their way into the final of UEFAs showpiece event... end of days scenario.

Colonial pasts - or presents, for that matter - don't seem to be be a barrier to winning contests to host major tournaments

Russia, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA, Japan, all are colonial powers who have hosted major tournaments in the recent past and two of them are hosting tournaments again in the near future

Russia and Italy have far worse hooligan problems than England

The old but themmuns argument gets everywhere

The old ones are the best

Send her victorious 

[RedHand88]

Now that the 2020 Euros are over...

Sums it up well. Plenty of Irish Arsenal and United fans will have celebrated the missed penalties last night but will be chanting their names in the pub in a few weeks.

[JoG2]

Now that the 2020 Euros are over...

Sums it up well. Plenty of Irish Arsenal and United fans will have celebrated the missed penalties last night but will be chanting their names in the pub in a few weeks.

They support teams not players surely?