Football is coming home, Euro 2024 Final, England v Spain(Sunday 8pm)

[PITA]

Shout out to the ref tonight. I thought he was really good.

 

[tantavisiteler]

Shout out to the ref tonight. I thought he was really good.

Four stoppages in additional time - stopped exactly on 4th added minute?

Ball was in play for less than 60 seconds in stoppage time

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

Four stoppages in additional time - stopped exactly on 4th added minute?

Ball was in play for less than 60 seconds in stoppage time

Yeah that was odd, definitely got the stoppage time wrong.

 

[PITA]

Four stoppages in additional time - stopped exactly on 4th added minute?

Ball was in play for less than 60 seconds in stoppage time

Not going to argue/discuss because I didn't notice. However, overall, I thought he was fair and tried to let the game flow.

 

[Tommy Chong]

Shout out to the ref tonight. I thought he was really good.

As our Hebrew mates would say: He was a mensch! He showed some real chutzpah tonight!

 

[PITA]

As our Hebrew mates would say: He was a mensch! He showed some real chutzpah tonight!

I'm not sure that I have any Hebrew mates. I'm sure that they are a good bunch of lads though.

 

[gonetomorrow]

England supporters singing;
10 German bombers
You can stick your fkn tulips up your ars
You Spanish bast**** Gibraltar is ours

I am made up they got beat, supporters like that don't deserve the joy of winning

They are the reason Scots wore Spain shirts yesterday. They are a disgrace to world football.

 

[Tommy Chong]

You're the man. LOL.

Having read past this post a few times now, I just have to respond:

 

[Connor]

Hahahahahhaa

 

[Toffe3m4n]

They weren't brave enough last night unfortunately. Between the Holland game and that 10 minute spell before the equaliser those were the best moments that England looked all tournament - just didn't see it enough.

Think the FA need to move on from Southgate at this point and get a European coach in - someone more used to working with a squad of players in this mould. A Pep, for instance.

 

[jazzy]

Absolutely no shame getting beaten by a better team but a terrible waste of some talented players.

Hopefully Southgate now slopes off to anonymity but the new manager will have to juggle with how you get Palmer , Foden , Bellingham and Saka into the same team when none of them want to play on the left.

Personally I'd put Saka out there even though he plays on the right for the Arse.

Kane wasn't fit and only Southgate knows why he continued to pick him. But even when he is fit he doesn't/ can't press and compresses the pitch by insisting on dropping into midfield.

Rice has had a poor tournament and I'd like to see Wharton and Mainoo in centre mid.

Still a mystery why Branthwaite didn't make the team let alone the squad.

 

[Bohemian Toffee]

Ultimately it's going to come down to the blazers at the FA and I think they'll buy a narrative of "clever tournament management" and "unlucky on the night".

Crucially ignoring that...

a) the squad selection disrupted Southgate's famed harmony and positive vibes schtick.

b) the selected squad was fundamentally flawed with no outlet or balance on the left.

c) Southgate invites teams to build pressure, with no outlet or requisite mobility to counter

d) Slovakia should have been the end.

e) A genuine, deeply ingrained trauma inducing panic at the prospect of not playing Kane

f) The Trent "experiment" - no other major international team starts experimenting at the beginning of a tournament

At the start of his tenure Southgate made a big play of "not being the best man for the job". He hasn't developed tactically, he hasn't used friendlies well.

In short, what might have been right for the organisation at the start is no longer what's needed.

England progress in spite of Southgate, not because of him.

There is no case for him to remain.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Yeah that was odd, definitely got the stoppage time wrong.

But at least it's funny England being on the receiving end of one of those at least.

My non-pisstake opinion is that it is weird though, which is weird as non-English refs have been good all tournament. Was surprising he gave it like that, felt out of nowhere in a way as it was mostly timewasting up until that point.

 

[Ed_Winchester]

Lots to pick over once again and where they go from here is anyone’s guess.
We’ve had golden generations and won nothing. We’ve had foreign coach who was everyone’s mate and won nothing. We’ve had a foreign coach who was supposedly a master tactician and disciplinarian and won nothing. Now they’ve backed a manager over 3 tournaments and still won nothing.

Something is inherently wrong when England rock up to tournaments with injured/unfit players, unbalanced squads or a manager experimenting to replace a player who hadn’t featured for over a year or more.

Yes Southgate has got England closer than his predecessors but was it a combination of an easier pathway through the groups each time?

 

[Jamo Martinez]

My main issues with Kane and England:

His entire game these days is playing more of a 10/CF by collecting deep and trying to link play and as such he is not in the box when we need him, nor does he have the pace to get there. He's also then occupying zones of the pitch where our best two attacking mids (Foden and Bellingham) want to operate. It means the opposition CB's have nothing to do and is why we looked SO bad up against a few bad teams that used 3 at the back.

Watkins runs deep constantly and Toney is a belting target man. Both occupy 1-2 CB's, are a nightmare to defend against, and also don't clog up the space for the attacking mids.

If Kane starts, we need two very wide players (Gordon and Saka) and then a midfielder to break beyond but can't have Foden and Jude behind.

If we want Foden and Bellingham central Kane cannot start.

Article in the guardian about how England's style has changed since we beat Spain 3-2 in Seville. Back then we had the pace of Rashford and Sterling to get on the end of Kane's passes from deep.

I must be one of the very few on here who was dissapointed that Gordon didn't get more chances.