The UEFA European Championship 2020 Thread

[Bob The Badger]

1 minute ago, Ghost of Clough said:

He's probably referring to Bellingham

It doesn't matter because he's not a child either, he's 18. 

[May Contain Nuts]

Southgate admits / claims that the penalty takers were entirely his decision and based upon training.

He could just be saying that to save face for some senior players if they didn't want to take one, and to protect the youngsters but taken at face value it defeats the "it's whoever put their hand up" argument. 

If.

Depends what you believe.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Coconut

[LittleEatonRam]

Did Kane and Sterling even get a kick between them? The Italians were superb in a completely hostile environment for them.

[Gone]

1 minute ago, maxjam said:

Can't argue with that tbh, especially after the first 15 mins or so - we just sat back after that and got pushed further and further back.  I turned to my wife in the 65th minute and said we need to make a double substitution right now, a few seconds later we were 1-1 and hanging on.

Gutted we never went for it, we had them chasing shadows at Wembley for 15 mins but then let that match slip ?

I'd like to think we'll peak in 2022 but does anyone really think we'll win Qatar?  We've had 2 great runs to the final in the past 2 tournaments we'll need another favourable draw and significant practise from 12yds.

This was our chance and we blew it.

This was it, 6 out 7 games at Wembley including the final, weather perfect for our football. A favourable draw, Country behind us. This was it, this was the chance. We didn’t capitalise on a great start and got dominated. In Qatar we’ll have Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium (maybe) Germany won’t be as bad again, as also the heat to contend with. But I’m sure we’ll learn from it, and on to the next tournament. 

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

4 minutes ago, Bob The Badger said:

Saka is 19, you become an adult at 18 in England.

What relevance is it that you'd never heard of him?

No need to give that much head space because the answer, is absolutely zero.

 

Bellingham is 17. You said there weren’t any children in the England squad. There was. Saka isn’t literally  a child but he clearly is in terms of experience on the international stage, which was my point. We are all disappointed- more so because in all likelihood the way things are at pride park that might have been the last chance in my lifetime to see my team win something. We’ll leave it there.

[sage]

Just now, Van der MoodHoover said:

Ward-Prowse might have helped. He was at least match fit. Henderson had little impact on the tournament. Bellingham less. 

I was merely quoting reported comment that Mancini had brought players in from outside the traditional Italian "big" clubs. Sassuolo were mentioned. No idea who they are and not that fascinated to look them up. 

They finished 8th this time and finished in the top 6 for most of the last 5 or 6 years. They are a Leicester,

Rice of West Ham and Kalvin-Phillips of Leeds were up against a midfield 3 from Inter, PSG and Chelsea.  

[Wolfie20]

3 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Bellingham is 17. You said there weren’t any children in the England squad. There was. Saka isn’t literally  a child but he clearly is in terms of experience on the international stage, which was my point. We are all disappointed- more so because in all likelihood the way things are at pride park that might have been the last chance in my lifetime to see my team win something. We’ll leave it there.

He's 18 (and 2 weeks)

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

1 minute ago, Wolfie20 said:

He's 18 (and 2 weeks)

?

Ive been busy for the last two weeks and must have missed that ?

[TigerTedd]

21 minutes ago, Derbados said:

Nonsense 

Mancini was 1-0 down after 2 minutes. His tactics, proactiveness of substitutions, experience and general nouse won them this game. 

Italy are unbeaten in 30+ games under Mancini, after we scored the goal he changed it up and they absolutely dominated us.
 

we’ve got a better team and squad than Italy, 100%, and he made Southgate look like an amateur. 

So what you’re saying is, Southgate is one of a list of 30+ managers that Mancini has also schooled. So we should get Mancini to manage us?

southgate met his match in Mancini. Doesn’t mean we should ditch Southgate, cos we’re more likely to end up with a Sam Alardyce again than a Mancini.

Southgate also has a pretty impressive win ratio. Perhaps. It a 30+ game unbeaten run, but very few managers do. 

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

I think I'm done with football for the foreseeable future to be honest. I don't enjoy following Derby any more and tonight has just broken me in a way I haven't felt for a while.

I don't enjoy it at all.

[Jourdan]

Italy, as expected, just had more guile, more nerve, and crucially, more experience.

On the balance of the whole tournament, Italy were the best side from start to finish and deserved winners.

I echo the comments of a few others. We scored too early and allowed Italy too much of an opportunity to grow into the game. 

It was like Croatia in Moscow all over again - outdone by the more streetwise side with a few more gears to find.

Personally I think Southgate should step down and we should start a new era. There’s plenty to be proud of and he can leave with his head held high.

But a different coach might make the tweaks that take us from nearly men to the finished article.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Jourdan

[Bob The Badger]

7 minutes ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

Bellingham is 17. You said there weren’t any children in the England squad. There was. Saka isn’t literally  a child but he clearly is in terms of experience on the international stage, which was my point. We are all disappointed- more so because in all likelihood the way things are at pride park that might have been the last chance in my lifetime to see my team win something. We’ll leave it there.

Bellingham is 18.

[TigerTedd]

24 minutes ago, TexasRam said:

That’s all I’ve heard on the telly every year by the experts, that’s all that’s been said on the BBC tonight, they’ll learn from this. It’s BS it can’t keep rolling on tournament  after tournament, we should of won it. This was our best chance and we bottled it, too defensive and didn’t build on a great start. 55 years and counting 

A final can go one of two ways. We can win it, or we can lose it. We don’t have a god given right to win it, whatever tactic we play. We deserve it, we’ve waited long enough, we’ve got great players, but none of these things give 100% certainty that we’ll win it. 

so I choose to believe that this just wasn’t our time, and our time will come on another day, at another tournament. Maybe next year. Maybe learning the lessons from this tournament. Who knows?

italy are a bloody good side. 30+ unbeaten. Absolutely no guarantees that going out all guns blazing would have beaten them. What we did do was take then all the way. We’ll never know if we could have done slightly better, or a lot better, or worse doing something different. We did what we did, and We could have narrowly won, but we narrowly lost. 

[Derbados]

1 minute ago, TigerTedd said:

So what you’re saying is, Southgate is one of a list of 30+ managers that Mancini has also schooled. So we should get Mancini to manage us?

southgate met his match in Mancini. Doesn’t mean we should ditch Southgate, cos we’re more likely to end up with a Sam Alardyce again than a Mancini.

Southgate also has a pretty impressive win ratio. Perhaps. It a 30+ game unbeaten run, but very few managers do. 

That’s cool, let’s stick with Southgate then and win absolutely naff all 

[G STAR RAM]

2 minutes ago, Jourdan said:

Italy, as expected, just had more guile, more nerve, and crucially, more experience.

On the balance of the whole tournament, Italy were the best side from start to finish and deserved winners.

I echo the comments of a few others. We scored too early and allowed Italy too much of an opportunity to grow into the game. 

It was like Croatia in Moscow all over again - outdone by the more streetwise side with a few more gears to find.

Personally I think Southgate should step down and we should start a new era. There’s plenty to be proud of and he can leave with his head held high.

But a different coach might make the tweaks that take us from nearly men to the finished article.

We just played in a final which, we were second best in but, could easily have gone either way and you want the manager to step down ?

Could go for a more experienced manager like Eriksson or Capello, that worked well in the past!

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

3 minutes ago, Bob The Badger said:

Bellingham is 18.

Yes I have just heard. To be fair it was my birthday 2 weeks ago as well and I am pretty sure he missed it like I missed his. Anyway, I think the choice of penalty takers was woeful, which was my point, and you sort of agree or disagree, I can’t quite tell. Although to be fair, you do have a better grasp on when out squads birthdays are 

[sage]

2 minutes ago, Derbados said:

That’s cool, let’s stick with Southgate then and win absolutely naff all 

I agree we should sack our second most successful manager of all time. 

[Tyler Durden]

Biggest pisser for me wasn't the result tonight but having to trawl a number of bars in Nottingham to find somewhere that wasn't fully booked in advance and chancing on The Canal House which was entirely populated by 18 year old female students whom I imagine hadn't ever been to watch a football match in their lives.

Nothing against females or students or 18 year olds but most of the venues in Nottingham were already booked up in advance of England playing Denmark in the semis.

Am sure there's a lot of genuine supporters out there who didn't even get the chance to watch England play in a major final in a pub or bar which in itself it totally unacceptable.

[Andicis]

2 minutes ago, sage said:

I agree we should sack our second most successful manager of all time. 

Wasting another golden generation.

[Andicis]

Absolutely pathetic lack of ambition after we scored. We sat off. We got what we deserved. Southgate get out, people will act like you've done a great job but we had the best squad in the tournament and we should have won it easily.