Werthead Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Some interesting stories to come out from how they chose to do the penalties, but strong performance over the tournament. I was expecting a reasonable or strong Italian win in full time, so us scoring early, being (marginally) the better side in the first half and extra time and dragging it out to penalties, and only conceding a goal to a rather messy scrum in the box was good going. The Italians were by far the better side in the second half though and should have finished it then, but they were a bit too reliant on one player doing a lot of the heavy lifting for them, and also a bit on some diabolical playing which they were lucky not to be punished for. That challenge on Saka could have gone red very easily. Fortunately for them they got wind of the ref not standing for any BS early on and reacted accordingly (Sterling tried to do his dive in the box trick a bit too easily as well). And in just under 500 days we get to do it all again. I think we can be reasonably impressed by finishing fourth at an international tournament in 2018 and now second in 2021, which is the kind of stats we could only dream of for most of the last few decades. Next year is going to be an even bigger challenge and I think people will be starting to ask questions about some players, like Kane who had too many off-form games. The fans were absolutely fucking diabolical though (again). I'd hoped we'd left scenes like some of those behind back in the eighties, but apparently not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 My problem with Southgate is less the choices over who took the penalties and more over how he was clearly playing for them from half time and had no tactical answer. Grealish should have been on earlier, Sancho should have been on earlier, Mount should have been gone ASAP, Rice should have stayed on unless he did have a knock, even Rashford should ideally have had time to get into the mindset before being asked to take one. Just shocking decision-making from the manager at every step once the first whistle blew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Well done to Italy. They deserved it on the night and over the full tournament. That’s an incredible rebound from failing to qualify for the last WC. England are dull to watch, even with their advantage of being the most familiar squad to me. In fairness, that conservative football got them to the semifinal of the WC and now the final here (and won France the WC), but they were one of the dullest teams in a pretty entertaining tournament. England’s fans did manage to unite most of Europe these past few days, which just adds to the feel-good factor now at the end of a good tournament. Considering the bad design of the expanded group stage, and so few fans in the stadia, it was much more entertaining than expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 39 minutes ago, L'oiseau français said: See, what you guys were missing in the game was the sound of gunshots in the background. During the break I watched the golf tournament, the John Deere, and there's a gun range near the golf course. All during the play that I watched all you could hear was boom-boom-boom, and you wondered, is someone getting murdered on the golf course? It was truly the most American golf game ever! Are you in the US right now, Bird? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 I had no problems with Southgate’s choices through the tournament. It’s not the style of football you love to see but he did exactly what was expected of him, what he’s paid a lot of money for and there’s something to be said for team loyalty, especially with players that have been playing for you since youth level. But the penalties thing is a joke. You don’t need to put 4 strikers on penalties. It’s a penalty. Any professional should be able to take one. Unless he was running some kind of Red Squadron secret penalty takers club all through training it makes no sense. And if he was it fucking failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairparavel Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Yeah, fuck all those kids he fed. This is right on queue. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 55 minutes ago, Consigliere said: That was always likely to be the case. The conservative brand of football he plays will never endear him to a lot of England fans unless he wins especially given the wealth of attacking talent at his disposal. Deschamps faced the same criticisms for the same reasons but won a world cup. Does style really matter? I think England fans would watch their team crawl on broken glass if it delivered results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said: Does style really matter? I think England fans would watch their team crawl on broken glass if it delivered results. His style failed to deliver result in the final, too content to sit back from the second half. I'm surprised by how negative Southgate was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 32 minutes ago, Mindwalker said: Are you in the US right now, Bird? Good grief no, Toronto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mindwalker Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Ah ok... Asked becuse you mentioned gunfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 Congrats Italy. I think over the full tournament, they were the most impressive, although i'm still amazed at how Spain completely dominated them in the semi-finals. Eyes will start moving to the WC now. Spain are a young team. Maybe they'll find a striker over the next 16 months. England could certainly be there again. Maybe they'll be a little braver. France will be back. Italy depended on a few very experienced players, who may not be around though. Belgium's time may be finally up. Germany will need a major rebuild. And then you have the rest of the world. Should be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 11, 2021 Share Posted July 11, 2021 15 minutes ago, Mindwalker said: Ah ok... Asked becuse you mentioned gunfire. There aren't guns on literally every street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 52 minutes ago, kairparavel said: Yeah, fuck all those kids he fed. This is right on queue. Ugh. I knew it was going to happen. All three black players miss their shot, que disgusting racist attacks online, and probably in the streets too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 18 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said: There aren't guns on literally every street. Where I live there are. Maybe not every house, but for sure every street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Silver lining: it took 4 tournaments for the great German squad that Low buit to win a tournament. This English squad with a few changes here and there is at two, and performed well in both. Stay the course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 15 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said: Where I live there are. Maybe not every house, but for sure every street. I live in the once proclaimed "Murderapolis." It's not so bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 7 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: Silver lining: it took 4 tournaments for the great German squad that Low buit to win a tournament. This English squad with a few changes here and there is at two, and performed well in both. Stay the course! And the changes are already known, its not like we have to wait for people to emerge. All our players are moving toward, rather than away from their prime for the WC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 7 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: Silver lining: it took 4 tournaments for the great German squad that Low buit to win a tournament. This English squad with a few changes here and there is at two, and performed well in both. Stay the course! Yep, this England team is on the rise. And unlike that previous gilded generation(s) (Beckham, Owen, Campbell, Neville and after that: Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand etc.) this team actually has the quality to win something and become a golden generation. France will presumably be the other big team with a chance next year. Italy will have to find replacements for Chiellini and Bonucci before too long. Germany's last golden generation (Lahm, Kroos, Neuer, Schweinsteiger, Özil, Khedira etc.) just happened to run against Spain's golden generation (Iniesta, Xavi, Pique, Busquets, Puyol, Ramos, Cassilas, Villa). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorn Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Quote Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini both completed the entire #EURO2020 tournament without being successfully dribbled past by an opposition player or making an error leading to a shot. I remember Italy being mocked for fielding a pair of stoppers with the combined age of 70. Guess experience has some advantages as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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