Yesterday you were telling us about players who have left us coming back to bite us on the arse, to quote you "we still didn't win anything!" when they were with us.
I think I saw the same game as Angelic, different gravy IMO....We need to learn to be more comfortable and confident on the ball.....plus much more movement off the ball....we try IMO, but not with the same quality..
Italy were all over scaredy England for large parts of the ninety minutes. changed when Southgate went slightly more attacking with Grealish coming on in extra time or was that a lot more attacking?? dunno Southgate still had over half a team of defensive players on till sixty seconds to go where he brought on two of his missing penalty takers!!!! What I do know instead of dunno is that this is not luck!!
That's the game I saw as well + far, far too negative, we got away with it in the group stage, played well against Germany and Ukraine, got away with it again against Denmark and had to rely on a very dodgy penalty decision but Italy are the masters at what they do, they were the best team at the championship and deserved to win, I would have liked to have seen more ambition after the 2nd minute goal.
I’ve said elsewhere that I thought England were decent in the first half and did look confident on the ball. Other than the Chiesa chance, they didn’t seem that special and England didn’t look too concerned. Second half was different and that’s when Southgate should have made changes, but, for some reason, didn’t! From then on, Italy were composed, cynical, and totally controlled the game. I believe that Chiellini should have have sent off for the rugby tackle on Saka. Whether you like it or not, that’s the only way to stop that sort of thing happening! I’m actually really surprised that so little has been made of it; I suppose it’s been lost in the racism issue.
The game was exactly as you describe. Sending off is a tough one, if you are going to do something like that do it exactly where it was done, not the last man, it would have taken a brave man to send him off. My beef would be more along lines of the referee was too lenient for too long, a couple of early bookings might have stopped that particular challenge, but let's also be honest Sterling could easily have been booked at least 2 times for blatant diving.
it is a tough one but I think that had it happened in any other match than the final he may have gone! After all, it’s not fair to punish a player for such an insignificant thing as that in a final is it?! Whilst I agree with you about Sterling, diving is now almost part of the culture of the game!! It’s not right by any stretch of the imagination but that’s the way it is, whereas tugging a player back like Chiellini did isn’t - yet!
How many times does Kane look and fall over for free kicks.....more or less every time he gets it IMO....that also should be eradicated from the game
That ship sailed many years ago sadly. The Italians, Spanish, Germans (although mainly Jurgen Klinsmann) and South Americans eventually ruined what was an honourable game by thuggery, cheating and simulation.
Me too, I was shouting at the screen , we were slow to change things to counter the changes they made at half time and ultimately it may have cost us the game.
We can go all round the houses, the Italians were just better footballers. It's not as if we were away from home, they beat us fair and square on our own patch.
It’s modern football, I hate it, but that’s he way it is. Unless we can go back to the days when that sort of thing was frowned upon we just have to accept it is what it is.
The better team won I agree, that’s not to say they’re better footballers, we were tactically naive in my view, that’s different. edit they played to their strengths and prevented us playing to ours.
Angelic, we'll have to agree to disagree. I think they are naturally more gifted players. We have a few, Foden, Grealish, Sancho. I wouldn't put Kane, Sterling, Rice, Henderson, Phillips in the naturally gifted. Most of this lot graft and work hard. Sterling's gift is his pace. Scoring I grant you is a gift, but Kane doesn't half look ponderous sometimes. I believe there's a reason why, sadly, we haven't won anything since '66. Our players individually and collectively just fall short of being the best.
The formation and the manner Mr Southgate played it doesn't promote movement. There was no central attacking midfielder to play off frequently or a passing holding midfielder. Normal pass and move principles were absent - Width, depth were present but no balance in central midfield to join up the CB/CDM's x 2 to attack. England were at times like a (squarish) doughnut lacking a centre. England had confident on the ball but Mr Southgate chose not to play them to retain defensive shape.
Controversal question I know..but heyho.....does anyone else believe, that had Grealish been black, he would have had more gametime in the Euro's? IMO I think, most definately....I think Southgate plays to the cause!! Nowhere near used him enough with his talent throughout the tournement IMO..
At times , when he did come on he looked out of his depth, especially the time he was subbed as a sub .
Are you saying the reason we haven't won anything since '66 (even then we were at home) is down to wrong formations. We've had all sorts of managers in that time including Robson and Venables. If anyone knew how to win football matches it was these 2 let alone the other England managers in the last 55 years. Your theories are fine, but your theories need better players to be successful. Ask yourself why English clubs win the Champions League.
