EURO FINAL 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 V 🇮🇹

[sanddancer 1,967]

I cannot believe there are educated people on here suggesting England would throw a match. Seriously that is desperate excuses for another s# it game.. 

[smogsterking the Inspirati 2,489]

The players might just fancy a trip to Baku. A draw will probably mean we avoid the big team as well in the last 16. 

[pikerman 1,121]

Must be careful what I say after downing a few, but that was pretty abysmal. The midfield was nonexistent, Philips stood in the centre circle most of the match and Ricejust ran around him. No urgency no pace no speed of passing and Southgate did nothing to change it, clueless as usual. Six very p..... off people sat in a pub here and the consensus is, when do Italy play again so we can watch some proper football. Football coming home,don’t make me laugh

[LBP 3,035]

How on earth he takes Foden off after he's the only one getting us up the pitch in the 2nd half and then Kane off as well while Sterling drops a disasterclass and plays the full 90 

[AnglianRed 6,320]

10 minutes ago, boro-unger said:

It does make it a lot more palatable if we pretend we let them draw 😄

Well it goes a long way to explaining England's utter lack of urgency for much of the game and the ridiculous amount of backwards and sideways passing...and general failure to get players in Scotland's box, shots on target etc.

If England really played to the full extent of their powers then we aren't going to progress further than the last 16. 🤷‍♂️

Also, if true then we have regressed a fair way from 2018.

Which is perfectly possible, but as you said, the alternative is a lot more palatable. 😁

 

Edited June 18, 2021 by AnglianRed

[Rioch's Braves 711]

Just now, sanddancer said:

I bet there will be some on here who will defend GS… but say what you will I’ll call it again,, Inept… 

Not me, how can a manager sit and watch his midfield and players under perform (Mount & Sterling) and do very little to change it. We are the masters of sideways and backwards passing. Kane was isolated upfront feeding on scraps, Boring Boring tactics, no imagination devoid of ideas awful, it would have been a travesty if England had nicked it. .

[AnglianRed 6,320]

6 minutes ago, LBP said:

How on earth he takes Foden off after he's the only one getting us up the pitch in the 2nd half and then Kane off as well while Sterling drops a disasterclass and plays the full 90 

Sterling was a waste of a shirt, as usual. Couldn't stay onside and when he did get the ball, immediately killed the momentum of the move by *** around trying to take on 6 players at once, or stopping to look for someone to pass to...usually going backwards.

In his defence he often didn't have much in the way of options, but he could have made more of an effort to just get the ball to someone else.

The whole team's general lack of willingness to run with the ball (Foden & Grealish apart) was exasperating...and worrying.

And for the other players to run with them and provide outlets.

[wilsoncgp 9,281]

3 minutes ago, sanddancer said:

I cannot believe there are educated people on here suggesting England would throw a match. Seriously that is desperate excuses for another s# it game.. 

I'd like to think the majority of people who even consider saying that aren't being too serious so I wouldn't worry about it.

It was a crap game from England, there's no defending it. There was no sense of occasion, it was just utterly drab football and the levels in that second half in particular were embarrassing.

Honestly, how have we gotten through that game and only made two substitutes?

[pikerman 1,121]

2 minutes ago, Rioch's Braves said:

Not me, how can a manager sit and watch his midfield and players under perform (Mount & Sterling) and do very little to change it. We are the masters of sideways and backwards passing. Kane was isolated upfront feeding on scraps, Boring Boring tactics, no imagination devoid of ideas awful, it would have been a travesty if England had nicked it. .

Let’s call it as it is, Southgate is clueless and out of his depth at this level 

[Jamie-H 1,322]

I still blame Southgate for our relegation, he was a very mediocre U21 manager and he's just plodded along in the England job. Maybe I'm a tad biased in my dislike of him but we wont win anything with Southgate he lets games breeze by and is as passive as Hodgson was he just has better players at his disposal.

[HolgateHero 601]

Sterling and Shaw are so poor yet they got 90mins each. Poor all over the pitch though and so slow. On that display we will get ripped a new one by any of the big boys. 

[sanddancer 1,967]

GS does not understand that to win games you need to feed strikers, a creative midfielder helps. Passing sideways and backwards only plays into the hands of the opponent. Why take Foden off, why.. I don’t care what people think off me I call it as it is, what I see, I understand the game and these players need a better manager then GS.. it will take luck and a miracle for this team to do anything worthy. 

[Neverbefore 10,939]

4 minutes ago, AnglianRed said:

Well it goes a long way to explaining England's utter lack of urgency for much of the game and the ridiculous amount of backwards and sideways passing...and general failure to get players in Scotland's box, shots on targets etc.

If England really played to the full extent of their powers then we aren't going to progress further than the last 16. 🤷‍♂️

Also, if true then we have regressed a fair way from 2018.

Which is perfectly possible, but as you said, the alternative is a lot more palatable. 😁

 

Against Scotland England had 2 shots on target. Against Croatia they had 1. 

Against Scotland you had 497 accurate passes. Against Croatia you had 381

Against Scotland you had 262 successful passes inside the opposition half, against Croatia you had 163.

Against Scotland you had 60% possession, against Croatia you had 50%

Yet after the Croatia game everyone is talking about how impressive you were. Sterlings goal covered up an extremely average performance, the fact England couldnt score against this Scotland team is just a continuation of that average start against poor opposition. 

[sanddancer 1,967]

Let’s face it England have a lot of good individuals but not a cohesive team. 

[AnglianRed 6,320]

3 minutes ago, Neverbefore said:

Against Scotland England had 2 shots on target. Against Croatia they had 1. 

Against Scotland you had 497 accurate passes. Against Croatia you had 381

Against Scotland you had 262 successful passes inside the opposition half, against Croatia you had 163.

Against Scotland you had 60% possession, against Croatia you had 50%

Yet after the Croatia game everyone is talking about how impressive you were. Sterlings goal covered up an extremely average performance, the fact England couldnt score against this Scotland team is just a continuation of that average start against poor opposition. 

A lot of that is down to the perception of the quality of the opposition.

Croatia (FIFA ranking 14th) were World Cup Finalists 3 years ago.

As it happens they aren't living up to those standards in this tournament (so far) but historically they have been considerably better than Scotland (FIFA ranking 44th).

So the perception is that if England don't perform against Croatia, its because they aren't being allowed to.

When England fail to perform against Scotland, its because they played poorly.

Reality is its a bit of both. Croatia don't seem to be quite the force they were in 2018 while Scotland are playing better than their history and ranking suggest.