I would expect there are many factors…..age and maturity being a big factor. In the end I guess, that’s what penalties are all about…putting the players, who are paid handsomely for their services (by club not country of course) under extreme pressure and seeing how they handle it.
Agree, I just think we have a weird mentality to pens. It's been haunting us for too many years and now it's been passed on to a young fresh England team. Maybe bob is right and we make sure we win in 90 mins. Oh well that's it now and we all have our opinions. I'm going to have a catch up sleep.
Hugely disappointing outcome for all England supporters. But at the end of the day the Italians just squeaked a deserved win. Pretty much everything we didn’t do as well as we could have, has been put on here already - so won’t go on about playing too deep; not pushing them with our array of attacking players; not coming out in the 2nd half to shake them up and get them on the back foot. It happened and didn’t work for us. It was noticeable how Mancini was frustrated in the first half, even some dissent in the Italian team. If we had kept on them you just feel we would have come out with the win. The dropping back was fatal and allowed the Italians to re-group and build a belief they could get back into it. They just seemed to slowly slowly get stronger. Gutted for the penalty missers. It’s horrible, but as we well know it happens (too often). Hope they all get ‘back on the horse’ and use the World Cup to come back and go one step further. As for the keyboard abusers/racists … they can **** right off; scum. Nothing to be gained kicking people when they are down and hurting. All-in-all the Euros was a really enjoyable competition with some cracking and ‘interesting’ games. Well done England for getting to the Final. You did bring together, mostly, a nation and almost made it. Let’s learn and do better for the next one.
Based on some of the reactions, the solution to the problem of penalties seems obvious. Don't let people with dark skins take them.
As i said before, its a fine line between a good penalty and a bad penalty. The general difference is the ball in the back of the net. Some easily forget that its also the job of the keeper to save them. Pickford saved 2 and so did Donnaruma. One penalty was missed and that was Rashfords. There is no 'mentality' block here or 'its an English problem'. Its just simply that some penalties go in, some are saved and some are missed.
Anyone remember the effigy of Beckham being hung from a lamppost after getting sent off in France 98 ?
Thats true unfortunately. Why cant these racist morons be tracked on social media, named and shamed for the public to see, lose their jobs etc. **** them deport them as they are clearly not English!
I think we were superb first half and were tactically undone by superior and more experienced management and substitution choices. We hopefully learn and move on. Use this experience to set us up for next years’ bigger competition.
That’s part of the problem Bob, Social media has emboldened these pricks to make remarks that they wouldn’t make in public.....they obviously feel that the relative anonymity that they have will protect them from shaming......fortunately that isn't always the case. But on your second point.... sadly they are English. However, as a country, I feel racism is far less of a problem here than in certain other countries, especially those in the east.....and before I’m shouted down, I’m NOT saying it doesn’t exist here.
Totally disagree with this. He got the golden gloves and is an excellent shot stopper. His distribution is streets ahead of any of the other choices which us why no one will replace him. He has a tendency to panic, but in this tournament he really reined that in, apart from a couple of wobbles in the semi-final. He's not quite up there with the best, but there's no way he's the reason we were defensive minded.
What’s your thinking on the caution Col? I think that Southgate has studied other teams which have won tournaments with a ‘we are not going to lose’ attitude, like Portugal last time and Greece a few years ago, and thought ‘that’s the way we can finally win something’. I’ve read that even with France Deschamps only really coaches the defensive set up and just hopes for some brilliance from his outstanding forward players to score goals. It’s a tried and tested approach, and it nearly worked. It might have been exaggerated a bit through nervousness about an injured Maguire, plus I’m not sure that Southgate fully trusts some of the more attack minded players, especially Grealish. Or it might just be Southgate’s nature, rather than a strategy.
I think you're a bit off beam on penalties Ellers. I've seen seasoned performers forget their lines on stage in front of an audience, as I'm sure you have. It took me a lot of years and experience to learn how to turn the nerves of performing in front of people into positive energy. I once took a penalty in the last minute if a semi-final. We were 1-0 down. I slotted it away. The ref made me re-take it for encroachment. I just about put it away under the keeper's body. Both times my legs were so heavy I felt like I had lead in my boots. This was at a something like tier 8 level with around a hundred or so watching. Now compare that to Saka, aged 19, walking from the halfway line at Wembley in the final of the Euros, knowing that if you miss, your Country loses the final. That kind of pressure can never be replicated. I expect Saka scored them for fun in training. I agree that he should never have been put in that position. As Bob says, they had two saved and Pickford saved two. Rashford missed. It's a complete lottery under that much pressure.
Got to disagree regarding his distribution, I thought that was his only blemish, his kicking was poor & also just punting the ball up the field to no one time & again was annoying
I think it's a bit of both, his nature and a strategy. I agree that he's not a fan of Grealish because of his lack of defensive qualities and I fear he may have the same view on Foden. I do think some have exaggerated the defensive line ups. Wing backs are not defenders. Ours were often pushed high, although I don't like 3-4-3 because we lack a third midfielder, as we did last night. Also, Phillips played ahead of Rice for most of the time and often got ahead of the midfield. However, having said that, I do agree that Southgate is too cagey considering the attacking options at our disposal. I'd like to see 3 at the back scrapped for good and go 4-3-3. I don't mind Rice and Phillips in the centre, but I'd be tempted to put Foden at 10 and Grealish and Sterling either side of Kane. Two central midfielders is plenty in front of a back four, plus one can always be sacrificed for another attack minded player. I'd even like to see Mount or Bellingham alongside Rice or Phillips.
I was one of the many who questioned the amount of defensive minded players in the starting 11. It quickly became apparant as to why Southgate set up like he did. Take last nights goal as an example. Trippier to Shaw. Infact, (correct me if im wrong) Shaw might have the most assists for us in this tournament. So whilst appearing negative on paper, it actually became quite a positive game plan. We went wrong last night with Mount playing in that role. It would have suited Foden so much better. There isnt a better 'through ball' passer in the English game and that was the ball that would and will open up an ageing Italian defence. As for taking the foot off the pedal, give some due respect to Mancini and the Italians for the way they dominated the 2nd half. We were playing one of, if not the most in form team in international football. Did people expect a walkover considering what they have seen from the Italians these past few weeks? This wasnt negative tactics, or been told to sit on a 1-0 lead, this was a top team winning possession and hurting us. We were struggling to get the ball from them. Adding other attackers at this point wouldnt (in my opinion) have helped us win the ball. The Rice substitution was the strangest for me. He should have brought Henderson on for Mount to try win the midfield battle. All ifs and buts though.
