Euro 2020 Final England Vs Italy

Jorderz_Moyes_will_be_Moyes

Rice did look exhausted when he came off but he was probably England's most composed player, alongside Phillips.

A lot of commentators/pundits were saying Henderson was coming on to bring leadership and composure, but all he did for the time he was on the pitch was give the ball away.

It was frustrating to see that.

Overall, though, Italy were the better team, because they just are a better team right now. England pushed them all the way.

I think any complaints about Southgate are crazy - on and off the pitch he has turned England around in a massive way.

MrsGrey

BBC report I read this morning said Rice had a knock...

but a different one just said he was knackered.

buffybegood

In the BBC match report it says Rice came off because of a knock

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51198762

IronHerb

Rice always looks tired but that's just the way he is. I mean he looks worn out when coming out for the start of the game.

ASLEFshrugged

Just watched the Italy goal again, we had seven outfield players in/around the 6yd box to Italy's five, two more marking two Italians on the edge/outside the area.

Kane on the near post but no one on the back post.

We'd successfully defended 22 corners in the Euros before they scored

Ah well, next stop Qatar!

MunichHammer

You could see that goal coming.
In the first half I had the impression that England were well on top. A lot of those knock-ons and second balls just fell our way. The correct thing to do would have been to bring on attacking players and take the game to the Italians.
Hwever, if that goes wrong then Southgate gets crucified for throwing caution to the wind and not defending enough. So effectively, whatever he does, it is a losing situation.

It would have been nice to win the cup but I have no doubts that with Southgate at the helm of this exceptional crop of youngsters we will see success at some point.

Bazshuayi

Outside of the obvious disappointment of history repeating itself (early goal, sit back and penalty failure) actually getting there was unexpected and a lovely bonus for the country. Before the tournament, plus during the early games I never liked the (IMO) overly cautious/conservative team selections (as we have an array of young attacking talent) but we got through the rounds that way so I was thinking fair enough.

I absolutely hate that the 3 boys, and they are boys comparatively to most of the competing teams players, got the inevitable abuse from the mindless hateful morons who love that social media route to dump on people.

The team bond and spirit is heartwarming and so welcome. My hope is that Bellingham will soon forge ahead of Henderson and compete with Rice and Phillips in the middle plus Sancho, Grealish and Foden will be that much more established. Stones and Maguire are decent ball playing defenders, Shaw has fulfilled the potential of years ago and TAA plus James will be decent (champions league winners already) combination/competition on the right side (not knocking Walker as he did well but not sure how long he'll be that defender that gets out of trouble with pace). Perhaps finding a replacement goalkeeper too will see us competing with the best sides for years to come rather than thinking we've blown a great chance...

Giant_Hammer

Rice just reminds me of Trevor Brooking with the way he seems to run into blind alleys surrounded by the opposition yet somehow comes out the other end with the ball seemingly glued to his feet. Just brilliant skill.

BubblesNeverDies

The thing that Southgate got totally wrong IMO was to bring on Rashford and Sancho just to take penalties. Imagine the burden of that, not being involved in the game and then having all the pressure to win it.

OutcastLondoner

Considering Sterling didn’t take one, which was apparently Southgate’s decision, he really could’ve brought Sancho on earlier. I understand not wanting to flood all the attackers on but he could’ve adjusted.

Yeoldhammer

Although this was made in 2018
Its coming home 2022

thornburyiron

Yes we may have a good crop of youngsters but that doesn’t guarantee success unless all other nations fail to bring through their own crop of youngsters.
I’m sure Italy,Spain, Portugal and Germany will have their own and let’s not forget the South American countries.

Pearces_Left_Foot

The fact we are getting so many good youngsters coming though is a plus yes other countries will aswell but i think we were well behind in other countries a decade ago. we had kids playing on full size pitches so of course they get used to hoofing the ball up field . We have more young players playing top level football that are being coached by some of the best managers in world. There is never a guarantee of success all we can do is give our players the best chance and opportunites to be the best players they can. Italy did n't even qualify for the last World Cup now they are 34 games unbeaten and european champions with a blend of young and old and players from outside the big clubs they have tremendous team spirit. Alot of these qualities I see in the current England team which makes me optimistic of a decent future for the england team

ScotHammer

From a Scottish point of view, England looked a real ‘team” in the first half, playing for each other. They probably could have won it then, but Italy were always going to score in the second half. No real winner in extra time.
Penalties a lottery as usual. Criticism would be that the senior players in the team (e.g. Henderson, Grealish, etc) should have stepped up and not given the responsibility to the youngsters. Southgate at fault there as well IMO. Especially as some of the older players may never be in a final again.
Best news is that it looks like all the Hammers got through without injury! ⚒

IronHerb

Southgate said he selected the penalty takers.

buffybegood

ScotHammer said:

Penalties a lottery as usual. Criticism would be that the senior players in the team (e.g. Henderson, Grealish, etc) should have stepped up and not given the responsibility to the youngsters. Southgate at fault there as well IMO. Especially as some of the older players may never be in a final again.
Best news is that it looks like all the Hammers got through without injury! ⚒

Bit harsh to blame Henderson as Southgate subbed him off. Southgate definitely to blame for me, bringing on Rashford and Sancho and making them take penalties when they'd barely touched the ball, if at all.

MrsGrey

Grealish says he offered to take one.

Southgate says he picked the takers based on practise/training.

Thing is, as he has no doubt seen, you can't assume practice = real thing. You can't replicate pressure in a training session. So you need to factor in other elements that give you an indication of things like mental strength, focus etc.

Will he learn from it?

He should get Nobes in as a consultant.

ScotHammer

Sorry, didn't see Henderson go off.😜 Just using him as an example.

PrestonHammer

Nobes will tell him not to bother practicing penalties at all.

thornburyiron

If players took penalties like they used to by putting their foot through it rather than the ridiculous strictly audition shuffles they’d score a lot more.
Bond, Stewart and Hurst rarely missed or had one saved.

Yeoldhammer

Anyone see that tweet from the Tory MP of Dover, what a disgrace. Though not surprised.

Fortuneseeker

thorn, You can add Julian Dicks to your list.

yoyo

Maguire's penalty, pick a corner, don't waiver and smack it. Best penalty of the lot

steve

You notice Kane and Maguire scored by just putting there foot through it ,No messing there

claretandbluesky

What players now get wrong regard penalties is that they concern themselves with what the keeper is going to do. Players should choose a spot they want to hit and do their best to hit it. It’s the Keepers job to guess what the taker is going to do not the other way around. Rashford did this in my view, he was so concerned about what the keeper was going to do he missed the goal altogether. I think had he scored we may have won as the pressure balance changed with that penalty.

Kuchinghammer

I hope Rice's knock wasn't serious. How good was he in the big matches (Germany and Italy)? Up yet another level, and only one level to go: World Class.

WHU_Champo_league_in_7_years

It worrying how many modern penalties actually miss now

This tournament, the level of penalties has been mostly shocking, but even in the Prem they are far from guarantees

Would like to see what the conversion rate of penalties is now compared to 5, 10 20 etc. Years ago, maybe because its recent I notice it more and it actually is similar

Agree with C&B Sky, think players try to be too smart now adays worrying about the keeper and should stick to putting their foot through it

ASLEFshrugged

Asking Saka to take a penalty was bizarre, the last penalty he took was January 2019 Arsenal U18s v Spurs U18s in the FA Youth Cup. At least Southgate was big enough to take the blame for picking the penalty takers

Yeoldhammer said:

Anyone see that tweet from the Tory MP of Dover, what a disgrace. Though not surprised.

It wasn't on Twitter, it was on a Tory MPs' WhatsApp group which raises the question which Tory MP leaked it. She has apologised

"Comedian" Andrew Lawrence tweeted that the white players scored penalties while the black players didn't then claimed he was being "edgy". Since then his Twitter account has shut down and several venues have cancelled his performances.

Meanwhile Tyrone Mings has had a pop at Priti Patel on Twitter

Pearces_Left_Foot

Its a shame that the minority yet again ruin England football fans and football in general reputation with their disgusting behaviour. Having an 8pm kick off probably did n't help there were so many people drunk by mid afternoon . I thought as a sport we had made progress grounds certainly feel a lot safer but its shame its difficult to have the right people in them. It seems that people seem to think they have the right to say and do whatever they want and usually there are no consequences if the do. No easy answers more bans for racist abuse but its difficult to implement is a steward on minimum wage having to deal with it , there is not enough police to deal with it either. :-(

alderz

ASLEFshrugged said:

Asking Saka to take a penalty was bizarre, the last penalty he took was January 2019 Arsenal U18s v Spurs U18s in the FA Youth Cup. At least Southgate was big enough to take the blame for picking the penalty takers

Yeoldhammer said:

Anyone see that tweet from the Tory MP of Dover, what a disgrace. Though not surprised.

It wasn't on Twitter, it was on a Tory MPs' WhatsApp group which raises the question which Tory MP leaked it. She has apologised

"Comedian" Andrew Lawrence tweeted that the white players scored penalties while the black players didn't then claimed he was being "edgy". Since then his Twitter account has shut down and several venues have cancelled his performances.

Meanwhile Tyrone Mings has had a pop at Priti Patel on Twitter

Andrew Lawrence is getting exactly what he wants. He’s got attention, and some places will cancel his shows, but he’ll grow his racist audience which is basically what he’s been trying to do for years. He used to be an alright comic and then got bent out of shape because he thought political correctness was limiting his career.