Most liked posts in thread: England v Italy

Actually think bringing on Henderson was the right move but agree he was awful. And he shouldn't have come on for Rice who was by far our best player at that point.

 

What? Are you actually being serious?

Firstly, Luke Shaw was probably our player of the tournament.

Secondly Henderson has been out injured and clearly wasn't fully fit. Add to that Phillips and Rice were ticking along nicely and building a decent understanding.

Thirdly, Rashford has also been injured, had a massive loss of form and is rightly no where near the starting 11. Perhaps he's been distracted by his admirable charity work but there's definitely been a drop in performance levels to the point where he's probably now 3rd or 4th choice for the left forward slot.

 

Fully Agree
Rice along with Shaw were definitely our men of the match
Not easy for Sancho/ Rashford to come into a pressure cooker atmosphere and be expected to score a penalty with virtually their 1st kick of the match and under no circumstances should sakho been anywhere near taking a penalty that miss could seriously hamper an outstanding career prospect
I blame Southgate and some of his senior professionals Henderson should have stayed on the pitch to take one Sterling (our tournament leading scorer) should have been told to take one and Shaw has scored penalties in big games before
Scoring penalties in training bears no resemblance to taking one of that magnitude The so called senior pros should have been on at Southgate to take them not left to young kids undoubtedly talented but not experienced enough for that kind of pressure

 

A habit of bucking under pressure?

He's just conceded the least number of goals in the entire Euros then helped his team with two excellent penalty shout out saves and
you're worried about HIM buckling under pressure?

I remember Pickford taking a penalty for England before and smashed it home. I'd certainly have had no worries about him taking another one, especially with how he strikes a ball. Certainly a better option than Sterling I'd say, whose technique is often apalling for someone with such ability.

 

Pickford has been superb in this tournament and last night was no different. His save just before Bonucci tapped in the rebound was world class as were his penalty saves, especially the one from Jorginho when he knew he had to save it or it was game over.

I would've actually backed him to take a pen over some of the outfield players. The one he took in the nations league against the Swiss was very well dispatched.

 

Just calmed down after seeing England snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Southgate really fecked up yesterday on at least two fronts.

1. Sitting back to try to defend the lead in the second half.
2. Choosing penalty takers based on no pressure training environment v who was looking up for it on the day.

I would have preferred to lose 3-2 having a go than wimper out on pens.

Now three England players are being vilified for their managers weak decisions.

No way on earth should Saka have been taking pens in the first 5-I heard it was his first in pro football?

 

It is. Its the same folk who have convinced themselves all tournament we had no chance - who still want to believe we wont win it. So they can sate their own egos...

 

I'm not sure he can drop Rice or Philips now and that's the only role Henderson can play so for me he's on the bench again.

 

An interesting stat, is that England have won 100% of the cup finals they've been in, whereas Italy only manage 38%. Can't beat mathematics - it's a nailed on win! I too stuck on a tenner on England before the cup started at 6/1. I could cash out now for 28€, but I'm not going to!

 

I think Italy will probably have a bit too much going forward for us to handle, tomorrow so I’m expecting a win for them. That’s not to say we can’t win, obviously if we play right at the top of our game we could do it. We have done fantastically well, but watching Italy I feel this is going to be really tough. Alongside their attacking flair and pace they have a great spirit too and I feel they’ll thrive on being up against it playing ‘away’. I really hope I am wrong, but that’s how I see it, I’m not putting England down or writing them off, just my honest assessment.

As for the anthem booing, folk doing that lack so much class, and you are also giving the opposition a gift wrapped motivational tool as well. If they stoop to booing a national anthem, that notion would probably go over their heads, anyway.

 

Definitely, there's much more too.

One of Italys star defenders said that a team mate was "50/50 to blame" for getting racist abuse.

https://news.sky.com/story/juventus-defender-says-blame-for-his-teammates-racist-abuse-is-50-50-11682791

But at least the English gammon won't be able to sing that arrogant song about it coming home eh? The anti-English sentiment amongst our own people while completely ignoring the failings of others is quite something to behold at the moment.

 

So does that excuse us for disliking Iranians, Pakistanis, Iraqis as nations and all the other countries we have had problems with - FAR DEEPER than tabloid headlines and a few pissheads....... or is it just small minded Europeans in a small minded political union we are thankfully out out???????....

You seem to be excusing hate and division, giving it reasoning. That doesnt fit the lefty narrative?

 

Weird isn't it? I think we all accept that judging everybody of a certain nation/skin tone because of the actions of a minority of people who look similar is completely unacceptable.

Ah, except the white English gammons (a questionably acceptable term in my eyes) you can judge all of those together and any negativity towards them is perfectly fine and understandable. All the rest of Europe are actually right to hate us.

 

A Russian bell end singing the Italian National Anthem! A sight to behold.

 

We WERE a warrior nation . Now an utter irrelevance except on the brain, no meaningful British owned collective industry, a defence force thats has been whittled away to nothing, , yet we are perfectly happy to launder Russian money instead.

Some of the so called “ Nationalism” we have seen since 2010 is pretty poisonous.

Football has nothing to do with the above….Thats how it should be and that’s how it should remain.

I want England to win absolutely no doubt, despite the above, not because of!

 

Keep the same team. Two holding mids to counter their attackers, Shaw and Walker to counter their attack. Look at the speed of the Italian defence. I'm sure those two guys are not looking forward to Saka and Sterling running directly at them.

 

Whatever the result tonight I hope people keep a sense of perspective. This team is young and can only get better so the World Cup next year beckons this could just be the start

 

We played 3 out and out attackers against Germany, pace either side of Kane. Mount plays instead of saka today either on the right or in behind, both of which makes us weaker imo. I like Mount but he's been ineffective this tournament.

 

Ridiculous to put that pressure on such a young kid.
I'd have fancied Kyle Walker to take a good pen but they took him off.

 

Started with 7 defensive players eventually a good Italian team will come into it and get to grips with the game. Southgate threw Rashford and Sancho under the bus not giving them a kick except for the most pressure penalty they’ll ever face, and a young Saka who’s not taken one. Sorry but it’s Southgates fault, the players gave their all and can all hold their heads up high fantastic effort.

Italy deserved winners, I’d expect Germany to improve and Spain. Feels like a massive opportunity missed.