Kane didn't hold the front line and dropped deep too often so we were less effective again. We stopped pressing the Italians high up, which was working so well in the first 25 minutes, and fell into defensive mode way too early. Raheem Falling was useless, running into cul-de-sacs all the time and diving as often as possible. We got worse when we took Trippier off and went four at the back. Trippier was one of the best players yesterday. Also can't understand why you would put Saka on 5th penalty. Neither Rashford or Sancho looked confident when they stepped up likes.
surely any manager worth his salt ,would have worked out who the penalty takers were in advance ,and at least had some practice before the event just in case.
Italy only beat us on penalties, they failed to beat us in open play for 120 minutes ! We had a brilliant start with Luke Shaw scoring in the second minute. The opposition and their manager looked rattled as they failed to break through our defence. They tried their hardest, using numerous fouls on our players, hence five yellow cards. Penalty taking was a disaster for us. You can't blame Rashford/Sancho/Saka for missing their shots. Why didn't more experienced players like Shaw, Walker or Sterling offer to take one ? It was a lot of pressure to put on Sancho and Saka in particular, so they can't be blamed for failing to score. There is always the World Cup next year to aim for, as to my mind we have an excellent squad of young players who can only get better.
