12 Jul 2021 01:00:49
Taking tonights match in isolation as i only watched the scotland match previously, which was shoite, we looked the same old. The fact that kane did not touch the ball at all in their box is a shocking statistic. So the other stats that southgate has taken us to world semis and now the euro final has to be acknowledged. However the football is dross and its a minor miracle that we progressed so far.
Something i witnessed tonight goes against the scriptures of football management. You don't make a substitution when defending a corner, Right? Southgate made 2. With a minute or so to go in extra time he rushes on 2 experienced pen takers? Experienced my arse, and it proved so. Had italy scored at that point there was no way back, so it made that decicion all the more bizarre. He subbed another sub in Henderson, who looked poor anyway. But surely he had enough experience on the pitch to deal with penalties?
And if not then why practise the spot kicks with players you had no intention of playing then taking the other risk of the ball not going out of play negating the chance to get them on. We were technically so far behind the Italians it was embaressing.
My feeling with the pens was that Southgate saw headlines that would have suited his and the FA'S mantra through this tournament. It backfired horrendously and instead of elevation he has potentially scarred these lads deeply. conspiracy?
12 Jul 2021 07:34:07
I don’t understand why mount was left on the pitch post 60th minute. When you have Grealish, you play him. I also don’t understand why you get your best penalty taker going first, he should have gone 3rd or 4th. Never ever ever ever let your youngest taker take the last one.
12 Jul 2021 08:08:05
I know what you’re saying about the FA mate but isn’t Rashford usually quite reliable from the spot? I can’t comment on the other two lads as I’ve never actually heard of them . I only watched the shoot out, it’s all I’ve watched of the whole tournament . The usual flak about the performance is doing the rounds and be more inclined to criticise the algorithm football it appears to insists on, coaches are selected on that Basis and it’s how football is getting . On the other hand I’m sure Italy played with all the or usual guile and were hard to break down, I just think we should go for it more and lose 2-0 through open play rather than lose on pens. You never know we might succeed if we went for it a bit more, frankly I felt you could see the fear in the players, that psychology around pens runs deep in the nations fabric and we seem locked into irrespective of generation.
12 Jul 2021 09:09:12
Southgate is a nice man a father figure for the young squad, a man to negotiate a settlement but does NOT have football managerial skills in abundance . Inches and inches of newsprint will be written as the match is analysed. However 60,000 Wembley attendees and some 25 M armchair viewers would not have done what he did. Throughout the whole tournament a player worth 75 m hardly played a game. Another player he only played under fan pressure and brought blast night after 5 mins of extra time had passed. Everyone could see in the last 20 of the first half and all of the second half Italy were almost camped totally in our half . Mancini subbed . South Gate did nothing . He then brings an 18 yr old with 20m to go and then two ‘ cold ‘ subs with two minutes to go. No way should he have accepted Sako who volunteered to be a penalty taker, the pressure the poor boy must have been under it was disgraceful.
12 Jul 2021 11:11:35
Italy could walk the ball out of defence as Kane was way too deep, we retreated with the arrogance of a cultured footballing side but clueless on how to change. Our retreat allowed italy to get a into position and gear to open up the spaces. Italy were an ageing team particularly at the back. They stood the test and more, right to the very last kick.
12 Jul 2021 11:57:27
Rutland, sorry to disagree again mate, but 2nd half of extra time I thought we were the only team trying to win,