England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v Italy 🇮🇹 Euro Final 🏆 Official Thread 11.07.21

Lala said:
We lost the final on penalties. Better than we’ve done in my 50 year lifetime.
We learn and we build on it.
Well done England and Gareth, nothing to be ashamed of at all 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

And god I hope the press and the media don’t go after them for this. We lost to a brilliant team and it was a tough game.
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I’m with your general sentiment La, but from a footballing perspective there’s a lot we could have done better and I hope we learn with a ruthless mindset. Example: Rice and Philips are a solid shield but Rice in particular, isn’t good on the ball and that cost us. So he needs to be replaced (or improve). Sterling is dangerous but can be controlled by intelligence if he’s not allowed space to run into. He won’t improve and players like Foden, Sancho and Grealish are the future.

We lost to Croatia because we lacked a midfield and the same has been our downfall tonight. Some of that is down to options, but it’s an area that we can try to improve.

But I’ll return to your post and acknowledge that I’m happy with our best tournament performance in my lifetime. The coach and players are improving and hopefully we’ll see this continue for years to come. It’s only football after all...
 
Lala said:
Constructive criticism absolutely.
Not hounded and destroyed, because one penalty different and he’d have been a national hero.
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I couldn't agree more re the difference between success and failure and he could have easily been a national hero without doing anything differently.

Others could suggest that he may have been luckily at other times but maybe now isn't the time for such debate.

Fine lines.
 
Scaramanga said:
WTF is this got to do with the government you melts. England failed again at a major tournament and it’s Boris fault. Ffs have a word with yourselves.
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Don't think anyone blamed Johnson, but it would have been embarrassing watching him pretend to be a man of the people enjoying the victory when we nearly all know that he'd rather be boosting his own ego shagging average looking posh women or blagging free holidays than watching football.
 
What
Wizaard said:
I repeat, what the fuck are you on about?

Gloating? I'm one of the few taking the positives you idiot.
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positives you ** knob. We just got beat on penalties in a europ cup final and you on here gloating looking for a fight. Tit.
 
Scaramanga said:
What

positives you ** knob. We just got beat on penalties in a europ cup final and you on here gloating looking for a fight. Tit.
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Sober up and apologise in the morning.

I'm not the one slagging the penalty takers, I'm not having a pop at the first manager to take us to a final since Ramsey.

We lost on penalties. That's all. Meanwhile you're flailing around like the drunk you are, missing every target you're trying to hit.
 
Wizaard said:
Sober up and apologise in the morning.

I'm not the one slagging the penalty takers, I'm not having a pop at the first manager to take us to a final since Ramsey.

We lost on penalties. That's all. Meanwhile you're flailing around like the drunk you are, missing every target you're trying to hit.
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Nope, sober and angry. You keep praising failure like you do. And carry on being a loser like you are. Apologise 😂
 
I tend to get over tournament losses pretty quickly these days. It's just experience I guess, been through it so many times. But I don't think the players truly believed they could beat Italy and that was the problem. We were scared of them when we needn't have been, and they ended up being comfortably the better side. I think that makes defeat, even on pens, a bit easier to take. Not everyone will agree with that, but that's my feeling.

We've had a good tournament and broken down some more barriers. But I was quite pleased to see the players take off their runners-up medals (again, not everyone will agree as it looks like sour grapes). The reason I say that is because a happy loser will always be on the losing side. As a national team, we have to drop the praise of gallant losers - it's the only mindset that wins things. Second place really isn't good enough.

I also don't agree with Penalties being a lottery - if they were truly a lottery, we would win some. But the fact we lose so many shows it's not luck or coincidence, it's about skill and nerve. If I was Saka, instead of feeling sorry for myself, i'd be determined to practice pens relentlessly to make sure if I ever had to do it again i'd get it right. Ask Maguire because his was about as perfect as you can get, and if a centre half can do it, then anyone should be able to. That said, Saka's pen wasn't terrible, whereas Rashford's was.

This post sounds quite harsh, but we honestly need to move away from being happy second placers if we really want to win things.

A couple more things. I once said that I didn't think Declan Rice was international class but have to change that statement based on tonight as I thought he was excellent and really was the standout player for us. Also it needs to be said, how on earth was that challenge on Grealish not a red card? They really got away with that one imo, although it may not have affected the end result (unless he took a pen, I can't remember?)

Overall gutting, but the good thing is we don't have too long to wait until the next one to hopefully go one better.
 
Lala said:
Constructive criticism absolutely.
Not hounded and destroyed, because one penalty different and he’d have been a national hero.
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Sorry LALA, I arrived late on the scene and didn't realise before now that Southgate gate had already started that's why I said now is not the time for such a debate.

Apologies and as you were.
 
we_need_a_bob_hatton said:
At the end of the day....its been a great tournament and the England boys have done us proud...Mancini has outthought Southgate tonight and Italy had enough old heads to see them over the line....its wetted my appetite for the new season .

UTMP
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Scaramanga thinks its all a disaster with no positives.

That's lager for you.
 
Jaffa_The_Hut said:
I’am going be frank tonight.

We started well tonight and got a great early goal but from then on we went backwards.
Italy deserved it no arguments.
Southgate far to negative tonight
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You can be whoever or whatever you want to be these days, Frank You can even be Korean if you wish it. 🥴
 
gjr69 said:
Maybe Southgate needs to bring somebody in on the coaching side that can help him with the attacking side of the game.
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Its not that shocking in the end really i suppose, ex defender reverts to overly defensive setup when the chips are down....... with the best technical group of attacking talent we've ever had 🤦‍♂️
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Then again Italy needed three extra times and two piss poor penalty shoot outs for us to be wanking them off as the greatest team on earth.

Small margins.
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Possibly exaggerating your point to make a point but no doubt it comes down to very small margins.

That's why I always find that people/teams are never as good as is being suggested after a success or as bad as is being suggested after a reverse.
 
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SEASIDE2020 said:
Possibly exaggerating your point to make a point but no doubt it's comes down to very small margins.

That's why I always find that people/teams are never as good as is being suggested after a success or as bad as is being suggested after a failure.
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Spot on 👍
 
Scaramanga said:
What a wet back you are. Look at you sat in your piss stained undies wanking off at Englands failure.
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I never realised Lytham was a Mexican immigrant with a bladder problem, poor personal hygiene and a tendency to over indulge in his own company on the back of an England defeat, even stranger Scaramanga is watching him do it!!
 
we_need_a_bob_hatton said:
At the end of the day....its been a great tournament and the England boys have done us proud...Mancini has outthought Southgate tonight and Italy had enough old heads to see them over the line....its wetted my appetite for the new season .

UTMP
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Southgate didn't react at all, Italy were making effective changes, we made a few but too late in the end. They still couldn't beat us, but we'll never know if our creative lads could have made that one moment we needed, which is what they are there for.

With a more positive side with the likes of Foden etc in it and a positive formation id imagine a lot more possession and more chances. Beating them in normal time and going for it had to be the best choice given how pens go.
 
We've never had talent like that sat on a bench for 45 minutes, whilst we struggled like fcuk.
Frightened to make big changes in the biggest international game for over 50 years.
Right side of the draw and just had to beat Germany to reach the final. Never have a better chance and when it mattered most and we were under the cosh, Grealish, Sancho etc, sat on and watched.
Poor game management, poor management choices, discuss.
 
JJpool said:
Southgate didn't react at all, Italy were making effective changes, we made a few but too late in the end. They still couldn't beat us, but we'll never know if our creative lads could have made that one moment we needed, which is what they are there for.

With a more positive side with the likes of Foden etc in it and a positive formation id imagine a lot more possession and more chances. Beating them in normal time and going for it had to be the best choice given how pens go.
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Do you think a "Golden Goal" extra time is preferable to penalties?
 
JJpool said:
Southgate didn't react at all, Italy were making effective changes, we made a few but too late in the end. They still couldn't beat us, but we'll never know if our creative lads could have made that one moment we needed, which is what they are there for.

With a more positive side with the likes of Foden etc in it and a positive formation id imagine a lot more possession and more chances. Beating them in normal time and going for it had to be the best choice given how pens go.
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For the likes of Foden and Grealish, substitute, Hudson, Currie, Marsh, Hoddle, Worthington, Bowles etc etc.
We're scared of talent and shun it, work, work, work.
Don't bank on any player of Foden or Grealish's ilk, being an England regular any time soon.
 
rememberlesshannon said:
We've never had talent like that sat on a bench for 45 minutes, whilst we struggled like fcuk.
Frightened to make big changes in the biggest international game for over 50 years.
Right side of the draw and just had to beat Germany to reach the final. Never have a better chance and when it mattered most and we were under the cosh, Grealish, Sancho etc, sat on and watched.
Poor game management, poor management choices, discuss.
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He got it right against Denmark, stepped up to a final against a better coach and players and fell just short.
A semi, followed by a final worth another tournament but I do think he has to develop a less obvious playing style with the players we have available.
 
rememberlesshannon said:
We've never had talent like that sat on a bench for 45 minutes, whilst we struggled like fcuk.
Frightened to make big changes in the biggest international game for over 50 years.
Right side of the draw and just had to beat Germany to reach the final. Never have a better chance and when it mattered most and we were under the cosh, Grealish, Sancho etc, sat on and watched.
Poor game management, poor management choices, discuss.
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Grealish did fuck all when he came on.
 
gjr69 said:
I never realised Lytham was a Mexican immigrant with a bladder problem, poor personal hygiene and a tendency to over indulge in his own company on the back of an England defeat, even stranger Scaramanga is watching him do it!!
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To be fair he did subscribe to my monthly DVD newsletter.
 
rememberlesshannon said:
He sat there like a ** for a 100 minutes whilst Mount contributed zilch to the second half.
Go on son, I've not picked you, subbed you as a sub and left you on the bench until extra time.
I've got every confidence in you son, go on and win it for us. Give us a break Lytham ffs
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Give him 90 minutes and the Italian defence still would have stopped him. They were just better and I'm not sure our bench would have helped.

It ended up being what many predicted, two excellent defences dominating, both sides were poor coming forward, Italy didn't do much with all their possession and their goal was a bit scabby.
 
EagleDay said:
Do you think a "Golden Goal" extra time is preferable to penalties?
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Not if the other team score on in extra time no. Any goal in extra time of often a winner anyway. But at least the team conceding has a chance to come back still.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Give him 90 minutes and the Italian defence still would have stopped him. They were just better and I'm not sure our bench would have helped.
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Better managed, I'd agree with. Mancini made changes to make Italy better second half, meanwhile back at the ranch, let's hope we can hang on.
We never ever lose just going for it, expressing ourselves and having a go.
Not just a Southgate problem, a recent generation England manager problem.
 
rememberlesshannon said:
Better managed, I'd agree with. Mancini made changes to make Italy better second half, meanwhile back at the ranch, let's hope we can hang on.
We never ever lose just going for it, expressing ourselves and having a go.
Not just a Southgate problem, a recent generation England manager problem.
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Which international teams do just have a go now? I can't think of one, you're likely to get picked off fairly easily against the better sides, we've got decent attacking players but I'm not sure they're as world beating as we think they are.

We were as close to winning the whole thing as you can get, a major rethink isn't required and the first person to question the manager will be the manager.

Italy hung on for an hour against Spain, worked for them. They scored one more penalty than us tonight and one more than Spain last week, that was it, like I said, tiny margins.
 
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