Euro 20/21

[rodney trotter]

Mancini has done a brilliant job with Italy. Undefeated in 3 years,missed out on the 2018 World Cup which was a wake up call for a Country like Italy ,who are always involved in the big tournaments.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Seen videos of English supporters in the stadium (middle aged men) kicking & hammering Italian supporters, what utter scumbags. Online abuse of the 3 black lads that missed penos to, utter scum. Glad they got beat & the manner of the loss all the better.

Those weren't Italians, they were English fans wearing their away Jersey. They'd just stormed in without tickets and other English fans went fighting them.

In what was a very bad weekend for Cavan gaa, at least one result went my way. Thank you Italy.

It was , but if you listen, they thought the guy on the ground was an Italian(theres one get him)

[imtommygunn]

Keane was bang on when he talked about managers gambling. England are a half decent team but they are too defensive when it comes down to it. They pretty much have two holding midfielders and Kane has to come deep to get the ball. I honestly think the ref not falling for diving last night curbed his game. Also they had no idea what to do with Chiesa- far too direct for them.

There are a lot of scumbags among the fans. When have you ever seen scenes like that in a major tournament this century anyway.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Southgate gets a lot more credit than he deserves. He is a decent but limited coach. He has a lot of attacking talent at his disposal but prefers to lean on a decent defence and defensive tactics. Sancho is already a well established attacking talent at the top level but not at international level because Southgate doesn't give him a chance. He didn't have Foden tonight but had dropped him previously anyway.

Grealish is also a class act but only gets his chance to make an impact as a sub. Saka also got dropped in favour of the defender Trippier. Southgate caught a big break tonight with Shaws early goal but his team were unable to take advantage because of the managers negative tactics.

In terms of the future, the team is young but a world cup in Qatar might not be to Englands liking either. So tonight was Englands big opportunity but Southgate failed to maximise Englands chances playing at home by being too defensive minded imho.

England were very ordinary in 2018 but fluked an easy draw, the English public and media lost the run of themselves and thought Southgate was some sort of footballing genius. They were much better this time but still had a handy draw and met Germany on big off day. Southgate is too negative. With the players they have and home advantage it was a real opportunity to win. If Roy Hodgson stayed he would have done as well as Southgate in 2018 and2021 with those players and those draws. Roll on Qatar but cant see England doing much with big nose. Ill give him credit he is very good with the media unlike our boss and he does have a rapport with the players but tactically he isnt up to much

[Tony Baloney]

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  .

[BennyCake]

Keane was bang on when he talked about managers gambling. England are a half decent team but they are too defensive when it comes down to it. They pretty much have two holding midfielders and Kane has to come deep to get the ball. I honestly think the ref not falling for diving last night curbed his game. Also they had no idea what to do with Chiesa- far too direct for them.

There are a lot of scumbags among the fans. When have you ever seen scenes like that in a major tournament this century anyway.

Yeah, early on he did give soft frees for Kane/Sterling dives, but he got wise to it after a while. Kane in particular was shameful.

Italy for all their possession, never looked like delivering that killer blow. A bit like Derry pissing about v Donegal, passing it around so much that the final whistle blew. Italy needed to mix it up. Should have lumped it up to Big Cas now and again to keep England guessing. At times this limited England team were shown up for their lack of quality.

[yellowcard]

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.   

[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    ).

[thewobbler]

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.

Their major deficiency was their manager.

You play three at the back to allow a box to box midfield to do its thing. Or you play 3 at the back because you've got shit centre halves. Or you play two DMs to protect a weak back line.

England played 5 at the back and 2 DMs.

If those two midfielders had been Grealish and Henderson, or Grealish and Mount, England would likely  have won. Their defence doesn't need that level of protection, but their forwards absolutely needed shorter, sharper passes to feet, and more sustained periods in the opposition half.

It was pure fucken dirge from Southgate.

[tiempo]

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+

[RedHand88]

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.

Their major deficiency was their manager.

You play three at the back to allow a box to box midfield to do its thing. Or you okay 3 at the back because you've got suite centre halves. Or you play two DMs to protect a weak back line.

England played 5 at the back and 2 DMs.

If those two midfielders had been Grealish and Henderson, or Grealish and Mount, England would likely  have won. Their defence doesn't need that level of protection, but their forwards absolutely needed shorter, sharper passes to feet, and more sustained periods in the opposition half.

It was pure fucken dirge from Southgate.

Couldn't agree with this more.

[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

[Itchy]

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.

[thewobbler]

Itchy in all honesty, that's only half the story.

Sterling never got a run at them because England never passed the ball to his feet in space. You can eulogise about the ageing centre halves all you like, but Chellini took a card the only time it happened, with a few mins to play. He'd have been sent off had England pressed with Grealish and Foden.

[north_antrim_hound]

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.