EURO 2020!

[MaxiRobriguez]

A large minority of our fans are utterly unbearable and sad as it is, I did think last night "at least some of the twats round here will pipe down."

Unlucky for the England team, who are very likeable. Felt awful for Saka who shouldn't have been put in that position at 19 years old. Rashford should remember he's fed thousands of kids this year, which is far more impressive and worthwhile than winning a Euros medal.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

That was horrible slow motion "oh no, we're fcuked" moment when Rashford was messing about on his run up as it became clear Donnasummer wasn't going to flinch. Everything was going swimmingly in shootout until then.

If Rashford would have taken a couple of steps back after seeing the keeper stand his ground then ran up and smashed it in, would it have been classed as a missed kick or a retake?

 

[Erik]

In a sense, Southgate fell victim to the praise he has (rightly) received in this tournament for his cynicism. He did a simple formation trick (three in the back, giving his quality full backs plenty of space on the flanks) and it worked perfectly. But instead of killing the game in the first half hour he then preferred to resort to very defensive tricks: three defence zones, absorving pressure, let them cross if they want.

The match was lost long before the penalties. You can't play Italian catenaccio when you have at your disposal several hundred millions worth of attacking talent.

Sorry to pour salt on a fresh wound, but if you wanted to bring football home, you should have played more of it in the final.

Different game but it emphasises the timid approach to the way English teams play football -

Does anyone seriously think for one second that the England Cricket one day team would have passed on an opportunity like England's footballers had in the first 30 minutes?

Eion Morgan's team would have seized the chance and buried the game there and then.

Different mentality. No fear of failure.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

Think we're getting carried away with the idea Italy were there for the taking.

We had them on the ropes about as much as Germany had England on the ropes in the first ten minutes of the second round. Only with a one goal headstart. Italy still had the whole night to show they were the better team, and they did it. We could have gone for kill and been picked off on the counter instead. Just as Denmark could have done the same on Wednesday.

In hindsight, I'd rather we hadn't scored when we did. At 0-0 Italy would not have had to push England back they way they did, and England might have won a cagey game late like they did against Germany. We were suited to staying in games and using the bench to break them open late on.

 

[karteo]

what i would like to know, if anyone does actually, is if Southgate and his team did any penalties practice during last trainings.

i saw a video where he discusses and tries to find the 5 for his list, not being confident on this.
they should be ready before match for the penalty list and they should have this in mind beforehand.

asking a 19yrs old kid to take the last penalty was completely nonsense. where was Sterling?

 

[Ravi]

It didn’t take long for us to go from ‘we just aren’t as good as these top teams’ to ‘we should be beating bang average teams like Italy who’ve only appeared in ten major finals’. Football fans eh?

Mostly though, it’s a testament to the excellent job Gareth has done that we were only a couple of kicks away from winning a major tournament.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

what i would like to know, if anyone does actually, is if Southgate and his team did any penalties practice during last trainings.

i saw a video where he discusses and tries to find the 5 for his list, not being confident on this.
they should be ready before match for the penalty list and they should have this in mind beforehand.

asking a 19yrs old kid to take the last penalty was completely nonsense. where was Sterling?

Yes, it has been planned and practice to the point of obsession under Southgate. Those that took one will have known they were taking one including Saka. It didn't work.

Though I like to see the record of teenagers taking penalties at penalty shootouts before saying his age made putting him on that kick an obvious mistake.

One thing I remember reading, is that analysis of all shootouts has shown the fifth penalty is not on average the most crucial kick, and that your best penalty takers should go first. That was Kane, Maguire and usually Rashford is very reliable.

 

[karteo]

Yes, it has been planned and practice to the point of obsession under Southgate. Those that took one will have known they were taking one including Saka.

thanks mate. i was curious about this because i didn't see a lot of confidence.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

thanks mate. i was curious about this because i didn't see a lot of confidence.

It visibly drained, didn't it.

Maguire couldn't have looked any cooler smasher that one into the top corner and taking out the camera. It all hinged on Rashford's miss. After that they looked like they'd miss.

There's no guarantee of success. Contrary to popular opinion, Germany and German teams have lost shoot-outs. Whoever is manager at the World Cup should not ditch the approach, it's given us a chance in them, when before we didn't have one. Don't thing you see any dicking about in the run up from England in Qatar though.

 

[Erik]

Think we're getting carried away with the idea Italy were there for the taking.

We had them on the ropes about as much as Germany had England on the ropes in the first ten minutes of the second round. Only with a one goal headstart. Italy still had the whole night to show they were the better team, and they did it. We could have gone for kill and been picked off on the counter instead. Just as Denmark could have done the same on Wednesday.

Sorry Francis but there's that fear of failure again. We sat back and they attacked. It was inevitable. As it always was going to be, as it always had been. You're right, we could have gone for the kill and been picked off, but equally, we may have got that kill.

We'll never know because we were too frightened to try it.

Until we lose that fear (like the one day cricket team has) we'll not win anything.

Patting ourselves on the back for failure by saying 'look how close we came' is the action of a loser. To be winners we need to be taking on the mentality of winners.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

Sorry Francis but there's that fear of failure again. We sat back and they attacked. It was inevitable. As it always was going to be, as it always had been. You're right, we could have gone for the kill and been picked off, but equally, we may have got that kill.

We'll never know because we were too frightened to try it.

Until we lose that fear (like the one day cricket team has) we'll not win anything.

Patting ourselves on the back for failure by saying 'look how close we came' is the action of a loser. To be winners we need to be taking on the mentality of winners.

This is ignoring how England got to the final in the first place. It's not a fear of failure. We played to our strengths to make the final. We had what everybody said was a week defence, and made it the strongest in the tournament to reach the final. Revert that when you're one up against the best counter attacking side to 'seize the day', and it might not end up. Unfortunately we're just not the best side in all situations, and we lost to a better team.

And if I remember right, both the England football team and the England cricket reached a final on home turf. And both tied the game. In the cricket we actually tied it twice. The two sports just had different methods of breaking a tie, and we the lost the football final in football's tiebreaker.

 

[Raymondo Ponte']

Oh well, didn't expect us winning it, won a good chunk of money on Italy.

I've forgotten about it already, the same as I will do when we fail at the World Cup next year.

U Reds !

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

Those are the margins, mate. England won a home World Cup in the cricket because a throw from the boundary freakishly ricocheted off a bat and the ball ran away to the boundary. England lost a home European Championship in the football probably because a penalty that sends the keeper the wrong way comes back off the post.

 

[karteo]

It visibly drained, didn't it.

Maguire couldn't have looked any cooler smasher that one into the top corner and taking out the camera. It all hinged on Rashford's miss. After that they looked like they'd miss.

There's no guarantee of success. Contrary to popular opinion, Germany and German teams have lost shoot-outs. Whoever is manager at the World Cup should not ditch the approach, it's given us a chance in them, when before we didn't have one. Don't thing you see any dicking about in the run up from England in Qatar though.

you have a very promising team that will mature and i hope they will win something big again.

even Southgate will mature with the team.

 

[Alf-engelos Mindminackers]

It didn’t take long for us to go from ‘we just aren’t as good as these top teams’ to ‘we should be beating bang average teams like Italy who’ve only appeared in ten major finals’. Football fans eh?

Mostly though, it’s a testament to the excellent job Gareth has done that we were only a couple of kicks away from winning a major tournament.

Lord knows I've learned my lesson not to raise my voice against popular opinion, especially on the internet, but I did chuckle to myself at how easily some were to dismiss a team which has now gone 34 games unbeaten.

I dare say similar comments were made about the 42 unbeaten Clough side not being good enough to win 2 European cups.

The job Manc's has done with a side not particularly flush of stand out players has been incredible.

 

[Haych]

Luckily we only need to do one thing from now till the World Cup and that’s grow a pair of bollocks and kill games off.

 

[valspoodle]

Out fought and out thought. Italy were technically better and tactically better. Their passes had zip and were accurate, our players spent far too much time looking around for a killer pass instead of passing and moving. We had the greatest possible start and almost instantly faded because Mancini started to re-arrange his team, Gareth ploughed on, without a thought in his head.

Heard the comment this morning from an expert pundit, ex-player who said "Oh well, at least we have a sound basis for the future". So Southgate is going to learn about tactics after being England manager for some time, even taking us through a World Cup?

The England players have some talent, that's plain to see, but Southgate has his favourites, which is also plain to see. Is it coincidence that many of his team and subs are from his Under 21 days?

It was a depressing end to a great tournament. Good job England didn't have to play in the same half as Belgium, Portugal or France and only met Italy in the final. Hope we have the same luck in Qatar otherwise we might not have such fun.

 

[MASE]

Sorry Francis but there's that fear of failure again. We sat back and they attacked. It was inevitable. As it always was going to be, as it always had been. You're right, we could have gone for the kill and been picked off, but equally, we may have got that kill.

We'll never know because we were too frightened to try it.

Until we lose that fear (like the one day cricket team has) we'll not win anything.

Patting ourselves on the back for failure by saying 'look how close we came' is the action of a loser. To be winners we need to be taking on the mentality of winners.

I agree, if we'd have mirrored our first half positivity in the second half, the outcome would have been totally different for me. Player for player, we had the best team in the tournament, retreating into our shell second half gave Italy a sniff again. Thought tactically we gave every team a punchers chance in tournament with a negative approach that belied our attacking credentials.

Granted it got us to the final, but the false sense of security it gave us in the second half ultimately cost us.

Id like to see us back ourselves going forward as a unit.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

you have a very promising team that will mature and i hope they will win something big again.

even Southgate will mature with the team.

Yeah, unfortunately similar was said in 1990, 1996, 1998. Then we went backwards. Seems likely that this was closest most of us will get to seeing England win a tournament.

Southgate will get blamed for tactics, selections, substitutions, selection of penalty takers for a bit while people get over it. Robson got stick for most of his eight years. But seems a reasonably chance in twenty/thirty years BBC will still be replaying clips from this tournament as we do now with 90 and 96, and in the BBC studio Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount will be reminiscing about a manager who took us to a semi and final, a feat we've never matched since, as Eric Dier's England are knocked out in the group stages of France 2054 by the newly independent republic of Flanders.

 

[Trents]

I thought Harry Kane was really good in the first half. Dropping deep and making things happen. Very early in the 2nd half is was obvious to all that he was tired and not having any influence on the match.

This is where Southgate's 'safe' mentality came to the fore. Do I take off my captain, who is a shoe-in for pens or do I bring someone like Rashford on to try and relieve some of the pressure by having a go ourselves.

It was a clear case of a proactive manager beating a reactive one.

 

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

I think for the three who missed pens, there's strength in numbers there. Not like being the only one of twelve to miss on a shoot out as Southgate was. Or the first as Pearce was. And though it was the biggest shootout, they are in good company. That must be about 16/17 players who have missed for England. They'll recover.

I did feel sorry for Kane. He'll end up England's top scorer of all time and highest scorer at tournament. He'll have a strong claim to be being our best striker and won nowt. 27, his fifth final, won nowt. Probably strengthens his resolve to move to Man City. But was probably his best shot at lifting a trophy for England. Must look around the dressing room and see players with all their titles and winners medals and think career is flashing by a little bit here.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

One change for me is Phillips for captain, especially if he moves to a successful club. Small moment, but he ran to Saka after his miss.

 

[Ravi]

Yeah, unfortunately similar was said in 1990, 1996, 1998. Then we went backwards. Seems likely that this was closest most of us will get to seeing England win a tournament.

Southgate will get blamed for tactics, selections, substitutions, selection of penalty takers for a bit while people get over it. Robson got stick for most of his eight years. But seems a reasonably chance in twenty/thirty years BBC will still be replaying clips from this tournament as we do now with 90 and 96, and in the BBC studio Bukayo Saka and Mason Mount will be reminiscing about a manager who took us to a semi and final, a feat we've never matched since, as Eric Dier's England are knocked out in the group stages of France 2054 by the newly independent republic of Flanders.

Robson was vilified for most of his time as manager of England. Euro 88 was a terrible performance. Yet now he's fondly remembered as the manager who took England to a World Cup semi final and narrowly lost. Southgate's England narrowly lost a World Cup semi final and a Euro final.
Even if this young English team matures into tournament winners Gareth will still be viewed as the man who set the foundations in place. If this is a rare high point, as you suggest, then he'll be remembered as fondly as Bobby Robson is now.

 

[RedRobbo]

Well I got there nice & early - in the ground a good 90 mins before the game.
Waited around until about 11 o’clock.
What happened to the England team - did they get stuck in traffic?
Not seen anything on the news…

Very disappointing.

 

[ozthecoz]

We have gone further in a tournament for the first time in 55 years.
Belief has been brought back to the national team.
Optimism, after a shit 18 months is on the up
We took the best team in the tournament to penalties.

It's hard to argue that Gareths tactics lost the game when the previous X amount of managers have never got us that far

I'm proud of the lads who stepped onto that field last night, ok, they couldn't quite do it but they have given us a month of hope in a period of time where that's been much.

Onwards and upwards. If i see Forest care that much about the game and put that much effort in over the season I'll be a very happy chappy