Euro 2020/21

[Jaded]

^ or it will be the ref’s fault, or 100% the fault of one player (either the goalkeeper or preferably one of the non white players, Marcus Radford would be excellent for them as they love to build them up and knock em down).

Ehem.

Ehem what?

[Blodwyn Pig]

Best team won. .......ducks. 
“Football’s coming Rome”

[Pingu]

[Wowbagger]

Dez's only interest in the match was that it's the first time since 1966 that the major final has been played using a ball constructed of rectangular strips, or so he tells me.

[John Stonebridge]

You can almost hear their wives accidentally falling down the stairs

[De Sisti]

Don't they ever learn? Hit your penalties low and it gives the keeper a better chance to save it
(providing they guess the correct way). Hit them high like the Bayer Leverkusen player (as I posted upthread).

[Von Broad]

Best team won. .......ducks. 

Wrong. The best manager won.
By a country mile.
Southgate's a decent guy....but I'm sick of this kind of defensive narrative.
You don't bring on youngsters to take penalties....well, you can do.....but why not bring them on the second half if you think they're worth even half their money.
We sat back, we sat back. we sat back.........bit like saying to the Italians "hey guys, we'll give you loads of time to figure your system out after going a goal down, not a problem".....
Same in 2018.

Roy Keane this evening:
"That best managers gamble"

Mancini 1
Southgate 0

Man of the match for me for England: Maguire, thought he was brilliant ......Pickford played superbly too.

[Jaded]

Pickford's performance changed my view of him, a great effort.

[rogerzilla]

Mouth-breathers on social media saying England lost because black players were allowed to take penalties.  Also fighting with police and trying to bum rush Wembley.  The lagered-up England fan hasn't evolved for the better since the 1980s.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Thought it was all over once Italy got the early goal.

[andyoxon]

Jurgen K called it.  'England's best chance is to win in 90 min, the longer the match goes on, the more an Italy win is likely'.

[bobb]

Oh well, there's always next time 

England were the better team for the opening 20 minutes. After that... I've got nothing to add that hasn't already been said!

[salar55]

Semi final was shine a light, final was lights out. Denmark knew Italy would beat them so never kicked up hell.

[rogerzilla]

Two things you need to know about the Italian national team: they can play dirty, and they are lucky - they often do far better than their general performance would deserve.  I remember backing them to win the 1994 World Cup, and they almost did...until R.Baggio punted a penalty kick over the bar 

[Cudzoziemiec]

The nickname Shawbert O'Carlos (though they probably spell it Shawberto Carlos) has reached Polish TV!

[fd3]

^ or it will be the ref’s fault, or 100% the fault of one player (either the goalkeeper or preferably one of the non white players, Marcus Radford would be excellent for them as they love to build them up and knock em down).

Ehem.

Ehem what?

Mouth-breathers on social media saying England lost because black players were allowed to take penalties.

That. 
I noticed yesterday that all the coverage on the BBC (and on yacf) was Rashford missed a penalty.  I give the Heil 24 hours.  They'll run "PM condems racism" today and then blame MR tomorrow.

[Mr Larrington]

Two things you need to know about the Italian national team: they can play dirty, and they are lucky - they often do far better than their general performance would deserve.  I remember backing them to win the 1994 World Cup, and they almost did...until R.Baggio punted a penalty kick over the bar 

Which cost one of my then-employers' building maintenance bods untold quantities of cash; he was on to win a 7-part accumulator.  His six picks at the Cheltenham Festival all romped in and that just left Italy to pwn the World Cup…

[Peter]

Amongst teams who did not reach the final are:-

France, Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Croatia.  Their players populate English football when it's obviously not necessary!

Oh, and Russia - population 300 zillion.

I think there is only one member of the Italian team playing football in England.  Guess who missed his penalty!  (And is really from Brazil)

[Cudzoziemiec]

What about your opinion of Rashford

I knew he was going to miss even before he started his run-up - he took way too long about it, then started fannying about, clearly had no confidence in himself.

"He was playing mind games and the post outfoxed him."

[spesh]

Given the scenes in Leicester Square yesterday, and how it looked this morning, it's clear that the City of London has a better sweeper system than the England team.

[farfetched]

Best team won. .......ducks. 

Wrong. The best manager won.
By a country mile.
Southgate's a decent guy....but I'm sick of this kind of defensive narrative.
You don't bring on youngsters to take penalties....well, you can do.....but why not bring them on the second half if you think they're worth even half their money.
We sat back, we sat back. we sat back.........bit like saying to the Italians "hey guys, we'll give you loads of time to figure your system out after going a goal down, not a problem".....
Same in 2018.

Roy Keane this evening:
"That best managers gamble"

Mancini 1
Southgate 0

Man of the match for me for England: Maguire, thought he was brilliant ......Pickford played superbly too.

I agree with most of that, it was very very similar to 2018 against Croatia, the difference being that Croatia at that time were probably better than this Italy are and England in fairness are better now, at least the organisation. Thought Pickford was OK too.

The game was crying out for Grealish - someone who could link up and hold the ball, get free kicks etc... he should have come on for Mount around the 60 minute mark.

I have just read on Wikipedia that it was Saka's first ever penalty at senior level, ever... thats one hell of a responsibility
to put on his young shoulders. Its unfair too. Southgate knows that and frankly while I dont like blame games that's one hell of an error of judgment. The two late subs are not the biggest issue, I think both are established players with a track
record of taking pens.

[fd3]

Amongst teams who did not reach the final are:-

France, Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Croatia.  Their players populate English football when it's obviously not necessary!

If you have the best players playing in your comp it develops your local players.  My "local" club is the Catalan Dragons and the key to developing Frnech local players was bringing in the best international talent for them to learn from.

But you make a fair point, in the WC there will be France and Belgium for England to struggle against.

[hatler]

This is a good read about mixing politics and sport - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/11/this-england-team-arent-playing-for-the-tories-version-of-the-country

[hatler]

Given that the Italian central defensive pairing had both been booked it seems obvious to me that Grealish should have been put on sooner with the instruction "Run straight down the middle with the ball."  Or am I naive ?