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Euro2020 Knock Out Rounds

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Drico said:
As a neutal, oh, alright, as an Irishman, I thought England had a real chance to put the game to bed by half time. They had the early goal, Italy were shell-shocked, and England were riding a huge wave of momentum. This was the time to be brave and go for the jugular. Instead, they backed off and Italy got a foothold. The moment had passed by the interval.

There was still no guarantee that Italy would equalise, mind. This is not one of their greatest sides - there is no Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, or Andrea Pirlo, but it is a side that plays to its strengths and England ceded that opportunity to them rather meekly.

The regret for England is that they never pressed home their advantage - and they had the players to do that. We didn't see enough of Sterling running at the wonderful, but slow, Italian central defensive duo. On top of that is the realisation that there will hardly ever be a more favourable set of circumstances for England to win a trophy. Six games at home, a soft half of the draw, European superpowers like Germany at the bottom of their curve, the rest together in the opposite half... It was there to be won.

England will go to Qatar as one of the contenders, but Spain will be stronger, France will have had the complacency knocked out of them, Argentina and Italy are strengthened as continental champions, Hansi Flick will have 16 months to get the best out of a talented but mismanaged German generation, and the likes of Belgium, Portugal, and Brazil will lurk with intent. It will not get any easier for an English generation that will also improve but will now carry scars it didn't have prior to last night.

Commiserations to the many decent English fans who, thanks to the actions of a large minority and an environment seeded by an extremist government, have not been able to take as much carefree joy as they should have been able to from the genuine achievements of their national team. Your team did you proud.
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Hendo on … Hendo off

lol lol lol

highlight of the match
 

Sharpies volley said:
The fact that it was an accident does matter. There was a match last week I'm not sure who it was where the ad clearly won the ball but his momentum took him through his opponent. VAR checked it and he was sent off, that was an accident. And I'm not using it as an excuse. Italy where the better team and deserved to win the game. I was just asking the question.
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He was putting his foot on the ball that Grealish slid in trying to kick away. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it, it's just one of those unfortunate things.
 
davek said:
Good point made in the Athletic analysis of the game that this is the third big game Southgate has seen an early lead sat on and then pegged back mid-way through the second haf as a result of defending deep:

Against Croatia in the SF in Russia in 2018 (pegged back in the 67th minute)
Against Holland in the SF of the Euro Nations in 2019 (pegged back in the 73rd minute)
Against Italy in the Euro 2020 final (pegged back in the 68th minute)

There's no composure or confidence in the team to retain the ball and keep playing. That has to come from the manager.

The penalties are a distraction, even though they're getting the publicity right now.
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For penalties 2021 read Hand of God 1986 which glossed over Robson dithering whilst 2-0 down against Argentina then finally putting Barnes and Waddle on with 15 mins to go, I recall Lineker was the width of his eyebrows away from a 10 minute hat trick
 

Toast said:

He does talk sense.
Click to expand...

Why is he saying his criticism is nothing to do with party politics when the only major mainstream political party encouraging racism are the Tories?

Why has he shied away from that?

If Neville wants to put himself up as a man who tells the unvarnished truth then let it be unvarnished.
 
chrismpw said:
@Vintage I'm curious and would be grateful for you to articulate your choice of middle finger at this. Are you a pundit? Are you married to a pundit? Do you have some form of financial investment in punditry or homoerotic obsession with a pundit who likes to rationalise cheating?

Or is it simply that you like to cheat yourself and feel the need to defend the concept of corruption in sporting compensation?

Genuinely curious.
Click to expand...
I gave you the middle finger not because I'm a pundit, nor married to one or have a gay crush on a pundit who likes cheating but because of your persistence in commenting on Italy winning the euros because of cheating.
Italy were the better team on the night. England played atrocious football and managed the game dreadfully despite their squad strength and playing at home.
I find it humorous and ironic of you banging on about cheating and being butthurt when challenged about it. By the way I hate cheating in football, thats why kane and Sterling constantly throwing themselves to the ground at every opportunity to con the ref through the tournament was infuriating to watch.
 
Drico said:
As a neutal, oh, alright, as an Irishman, I thought England had a real chance to put the game to bed by half time. They had the early goal, Italy were shell-shocked, and England were riding a huge wave of momentum. This was the time to be brave and go for the jugular. Instead, they backed off and Italy got a foothold. The moment had passed by the interval.

There was still no guarantee that Italy would equalise, mind. This is not one of their greatest sides - there is no Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, or Andrea Pirlo, but it is a side that plays to its strengths and England ceded that opportunity to them rather meekly.

The regret for England is that they never pressed home their advantage - and they had the players to do that. We didn't see enough of Sterling running at the wonderful, but slow, Italian central defensive duo. On top of that is the realisation that there will hardly ever be a more favourable set of circumstances for England to win a trophy. Six games at home, a soft half of the draw, European superpowers like Germany at the bottom of their curve, the rest together in the opposite half... It was there to be won.

England will go to Qatar as one of the contenders, but Spain will be stronger, France will have had the complacency knocked out of them, Argentina and Italy are strengthened as continental champions, Hansi Flick will have 16 months to get the best out of a talented but mismanaged German generation, and the likes of Belgium, Portugal, and Brazil will lurk with intent. It will not get any easier for an English generation that will also improve but will now carry scars it didn't have prior to last night.

Commiserations to the many decent English fans who, thanks to the actions of a large minority and an environment seeded by an extremist government, have not been able to take as much carefree joy as they should have been able to from the genuine achievements of their national team. Your team did you proud.
Click to expand...
You could've just stopped after "this was a time to be brave". That is England's problem in a nutshell.

Manager bottled it and Kane bottled it. Mourinho has said he knows for sure one senior England player refused to take a pen but won't name them.
 

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