Anyone see the game last night? If ever there was a ‘game of two halves’ that was it. Great first half - glad to see Grealish get a start - I thought perhaps Southgate had made positive adjustments, but in the second half it looked more typical Southgate England, with hardly any shots on goal and very defensive. Great defending when down to 10 men though - a real mix of a game. Is Southgate the right man to give England a trophy? He’s certainly very good at qualifying……
I enjoyed the game very much and thought that once England upped the ante we looked like world beaters and should have had the match wrapped up by half-time. For me Grealish wants to show off too much, despite his obvious ball skills, and how on earth he missed just side-footing the ball into the net for a third goal is beyond my comprehension. In the second half after some brilliant play by Saka followed by a pitch perfect cross into the penalty area Jack was 5 yards behind the play when he should have been attacking in the six yard box. On another note I find Maguire to be an accident waiting to happen and lo and behold his lack of attention and the subsequent foul eventually led to Italy's goal. He is a liability in the England squad and yet he is continually picked by Southgate and I think his time in the shirt needs to be questioned for the future. The referee was a bit quick in dishing out yellow cards for supposed wasting time at throw-ins but the penalty and the later red card were well deserved in my books. Beating Italy is always going to be a feather in our cap and doing the job on their soil makes it even better, so well done those 3 lions.
I saw the game, England were very good 1st half. Mancini made alterations in the 2nd half, Southgate sat on his hands. We lost it early 2nd half with Phillips running out of legs, we tended to sit back and gifted them midfield. Maguire is great defending set pieces and in their box, terrible liability with the ball. I have no problem with Walker and Shaw getting booked for obvious time wasting. Served Shaw right 50 seconds later.
I like Maguire for England, imo he’s one of those players that are better at international level. Some people knock him, but some people like to look for someone to knock.
