The UEFA European Championship 2020 Thread

[Derbados]

1 minute ago, ScamRam said:

I understand you grew up in Italy? I played in Naples for 3 years, Chiellini's assault on Saka was class-less and should have been a Red

I agree it was too and I was screaming at the tv for him to be sent off. It was also very clever as If he’d not done that, Saka was away. 

He’s the epitome of self sacrifice, he bleeds Italy. He was fully prepared to be sent off to prevent a goal and give Italy a chance. The guy is probably the best defender in world football right now. He was Uber respectful in his post match interview, he did what he had to do for his country, that trophy’s heading back to Rome, not London 

 

[Andicis]

Just now, GadFly said:

100%. Was the same at the World Cup too. 

And then the occasion, the spectacle of being in a final, is used as an excuse to cover up the fact that we're just not that good at football tbh. 

I think that it's possible to separate the football itself, as in; "are we actually any good?", from the enjoyment of getting far in a tournament, as in; "we're in a final!"... but it seems to me that most people get those two things conflated with each each other. 

Everyone gets over excited when we beat rubbish. Honestly with our squad we should have out our group to the sword and we didn't. Won't change till Southgate is on. Picking Mount over Grealish will never make sense.

 

[Tyler Durden]

6 minutes ago, ScamRam said:

I understand you grew up in Italy? I played in Naples for 3 years, Chiellini's assault on Saka was class-less and should have been a Red

Nah not a goal scoring opportunity so never in a million years. He knew what he was doing.

[Rammy03]

It's been a great ride nevertheless. And I'm really sad it's over as now I have to go back to watching the sh*tshow that is Derby county.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Rammy03

[ScamRam]

2 minutes ago, Derbados said:

I agree it was too and I was screaming at the tv for him to be sent off. It was also very clever as If he’d not done that, Saka was away. 

He’s the epitome of self sacrifice, he bleeds Italy. He was fully prepared to be sent off to prevent a goal and give Italy a chance. The guy is probably the best defender in world football right now. He was Uber respectful in his post match interview, he did what he had to do for his country, that trophy’s heading back to Rome, not London 

 

Yes, the epitome of 'taking one for the team'. Even before that I told my wife Italy would settle for Pens, its what they do - but she no longer wants to eat lasagne!!

[Derbados]

Just now, ScamRam said:

Yes, the epitome of 'taking one for the team'. Even before that I told my wife Italy would settle for Pens, its what they do - but she no longer wants to eat lasagne!!

It’s hard to take but he’s a wise old head, Donnarumma is a 6” 5 monster, he’s never lost a penalty shootout for club or country. 

[rynny]

Think everyone needs to cool off a little. Going to lock the thread until morning, once we've all gathered our thoughts and disappointments and not aiming them at each other. 

[Boycie]

Morning everyone.

Don't forget it’s a bank holiday.

[Rambam]

22 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Morning everyone.

Don't forget it’s a bank holiday.

Where?

[Pearl Ram]

Scotland. ?

[Bob The Badger]

7 hours ago, Steve Buckley’s Dog said:

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 

I said at the time to my wife I thought it was a mistake to bring younger players on when they weren't already in the game, so we agree about this.

Although Southgate has earned some leeway, at least from me.

However, to talk about professional football players operating at this level as children is (imho) disrespectful and petty.

 

[Gone]

8 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

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. 

Agree with all that, but we were at home and have the most talented squad at our disposal in years. We will not get a better chance to win something, so hearing they’ll learn and grow from this (again) grates a little. That was our chance of glory, we came up short and failed. 

[Jourdan]

7 hours ago, G STAR RAM said:

Why do France,Belgium Germany, Spain and Holland, all who went out earlier than us in this tournament, automatically improve but we don't? How does that work?

Do you not think having such a young squad gives us room for improvement?

I never said all of those teams would automatically improve. I said they either will likely be contenders again or could improve on recent showings.

Of course, we could improve too. 45% of our squad for the tournament was under 25. We do have exciting talent that could grow and learn from this experience.

Like I said, if we change coach, it could make all the difference between heartbreak in the latter stages and actually winning a trophy.

Look at that game yesterday. It was almost a mirror image of Croatia in Moscow. Does it feel like we have learnt anything from three years ago?

[G STAR RAM]

My take on last night:-

The best team over the 120 minutes won but it was a game over very tight margins.

We looked good in the first 25 minutes and got into some very dangerous positions.

Obviously once Italy got back into the game they dominated. 

Chiesa looked a fantastic player and caused us all sorts of problems. 

Pickford really unlucky with their goal, another 2 inches and it goes out for a corner.

Substitutions were pretty uninspiring and did little to change general play, although we did get back into the match for a short spell of extra time.

Not sure if Southgate was being honest about the decisions on who was taking penalties but, if he was, it was a huge huge error on his part.

If you, as a squad, have been practising penalties for 5 weeks you really shouldn't be needing to put 2 players on, that have not even kicked a ball during the match, to take one.

Disappointed to see Saka thrown in at the deep end with penalty number 5, ridiculous decision.

The miss that turned the tide though was Rashford and I'm afraid if youre goinfg to pretend to be Paul Pogba with  stupid run up, on the very biggest stage, then you make sure you score because otherwise you end up looking like a cocky tit.

Plenty of positives but also a gew negatives to take with us from the touurnament.

We are a young team.

Didnt lose a game.

Most clean sheets.

Didnt concede a goal from open play.

Probably didn't see enough of our attacking flair.

 

[maxjam]

Some good, fair analysis here;

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/19693/12353740/euro-2020-final-where-did-it-go-wrong-for-england

We started brightly and caught Italy off guard but Southgate was to defensive and slow to react to Italy's increasing dominance.  I've been impressed with Southgate's man-management and handling of the media throughout the tournament and he clearly has the backing of the players - but can't help that feel we learnt nothing from the Croatia semi-final tactically. 

As the match progressed we were waiting to fall over the line, not go out and win it. 

I'm massively disappointed this morning and it will take a bit of time to get over. 

Edited July 12, 2021 by maxjam

[Jourdan]

7 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

I agree in that tonight was the night for us. It was at Wembley, we scored so quickly in the game, we had the best defence all tournament. All the pieces were falling into place. We will never get a better opportunity than this to win a major tournament. 

But to essentially write us off for the next tournament is strange. You mention the likes of Spain and Germany will be better in 12 months time, but so will we. The players we're bringing through are fantastic. We have a core that will likely stay in place. Southgate has taken us to a semi final and a final. It's better than any other manager has done for a long long time. We have no right to expect to win these big tournaments. We've come close and there's no reason in my mind why we can't go one better next time. We'll be back. 

I am not writing us off. I am saying a change of coach will make a huge difference.

Southgate will carry the scars of three huge defeats in major tournaments now, one as a player and two as a manager.

I am struggling to see how he will lift and galvanise the group and and set us up differently next time to learn from the past.

Yes, our players can grow and improve but if the manager doesn’t grow with them, it will be an uphill task.

[Pearl Ram]

Aye, same here maxjam. Can’t help feeling we missed a trick last night and fortune favours the brave etc. 

Maybe the club will have some positive news for us in the coming days to lift my spirits, who knows ?

[Gaspode]

20 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

My take on last night:-

The best team over the 120 minutes won but it was a game over very tight margins.

We looked good in the first 25 minutes and got into some very dangerous positions.

Obviously once Italy got back into the game they dominated. 

Chiesa looked a fantastic player and caused us all sorts of problems. 

Pickford really unlucky with their goal, another 2 inches and it goes out for a corner.

Substitutions were pretty uninspiring and did little to change general play, although we did get back into the match for a short spell of extra time.

Not sure if Southgate was being honest about the decisions on who was taking penalties but, if he was, it was a huge huge error on his part.

If you, as a squad, have been practising penalties for 5 weeks you really shouldn't be needing to put 2 players on, that have not even kicked a ball during the match, to take one.

Disappointed to see Saka thrown in at the deep end with penalty number 5, ridiculous decision.

The miss that turned the tide though was Rashford and I'm afraid if youre goinfg to pretend to be Paul Pogba with  stupid run up, on the very biggest stage, then you make sure you score because otherwise you end up looking like a cocky tit.

Plenty of positives but also a gew negatives to take with us from the touurnament.

We are a young team.

Didnt lose a game.

Most clean sheets.

Didnt concede a goal from open play.

Probably didn't see enough of our attacking flair.

 

Pretty much exactly my take on the match - and very nearly the same phrase I used about Rashford. I shouted out "that's what you get for being a cocky twit!" as the ball hit the post - had to then explain to my wife why he was being cocky and why it wasn't just unlucky....

[bimmerman]

We made a major final against a good Italy side and took it to penalties,plenty to be happy with

Abhorrent the abuse they've received since, completely disgusting and unnecessary,it's a game ultimately.

[Steve Buckley’s Dog]

1 hour ago, Bob The Badger said:

I said at the time to my wife I thought it was a mistake to bring younger players on when they weren't already in the game, so we agree about this.

Although Southgate has earned some leeway, at least from me.

However, to talk about professional football players operating at this level as children is (imho) disrespectful and petty.

 

Well, it was a metaphor but let’s move on and concentrate on our impending relegation battle and financial obliteration. ?