Grendel
Well-Known Member
Of course it’s luck if we’d converted two more penalties he’d be praised for his tactics
European championships 2020 thread (8 Viewers)
- Thread starter Evo1883
- Start date
Of course it’s luck if we’d converted two more penalties he’d be praised for his tactics
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
In the second half it looked increasingly like we just had 11 disconnected individuals as opposed to the cohesive machine of previous games or even the first half. It needed more courage to stick to the style of play the Italians couldn’t handle, and it wasn’t as risky as some have hinted
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
That’s just being churlish to be honest
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
It was a bit more than a shirt pull!!
COV
Well-Known Member
These stats are not luck. 34 games unbeaten isn't luck, and Italy from memory never look amazing in tournaments- but its in their DNA to win when it matters, but its not in ours. Southgate is the man for me, he should definitely stay, but there are serious lessons here- we literally threw that game away.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
How is it? Italy once won the World Cup with a shocking group performance when they failed to win a single game
COV
Well-Known Member
Maybe I'm missing something but when you're playing in a way that clearly has the opposition rattled, surely you stay playing that way, at least as much as you can. It was like two different teams last night.
COV
Well-Known Member
People ignore facts- no team has lost more penalty shootouts at major tournaments than us- we've won 3 and lost 7.
When something happens repeatedly you can't just say its luck.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
They hardly win when it matters. They’ve won half of the finals of the two competitions since the war and lost the other half - this is the first euro win for over 50 years and in the modern era have won one more than us in the World Cup. It’s fine margins that win tournaments and large slices of good fortune - 9 times out of 10 we’d have defended that corner and they really only forced one other save in normal time
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
To call 34 games unbeaten luck is pushing the boat out somewhat. If they’re as bad as you say they’d have got nowhere near the final-in fact for most of their modern history they’ve played the same way Southgate has tried to make England play in this tournament
Sick Boy
Super Moderator
Apart from they’ve actually won 4 world cups.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
COV
Well-Known Member
So you wouldn't swap Italy's record for ours?
The point is we didn't defend the corner- might have beens, what ifs, maybes, had enough of those.
Talk about fine margins all you want- we have a dire record, it has happened too often to be called "luck", and the most frustrating thing is that last night it was ours to lose- and we managed to lose it.
It feels like we're on the edge of doing something special with the players we have and the way we can turn it on, particularly at the start of games, but for whatever reason something goes weird in our heads and we decide to invite pressure on ourselves. There's no getting around it, it went badly wrong last night and it was our own doing.
I hope Southgate stays and learns as we're blatantly not far away- last night could and should have been the night for us though, thats whats annoying.
COV
Well-Known Member
Only the losers call them a lottery
shmmeee
Well-Known Member
And showing exactly the lack of discipline and putting the team ahead of self that means he doesn’t get picked.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
two in the 30’s which had no qualifying and was by invite - one even had a one armed player in it
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
The Netherlands have also only one tournament win to their name
COV
Well-Known Member
There you go again- "until this tournament"- you can't edit history, it happened, we bottled it and how the hell Saka ended up taking that penalty is baffling.
As for Holland- 3 World Cup finals, 1 Euros win, multiple semi-finals. Don't know if I'd swap our record for theirs tbh as they haven't won the world cup and they're in a bad place now, but for 18m population they have a pretty good record.
COV
Well-Known Member
I think its actually accepted that a few bungs happened in one of them, but the fact remains that Italy are in a different league to us when it comes to international football, nothing you can say changes that.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
There is some funny irony in you deflecting to the 1934 World Cup to dismiss a 34 unbeaten streak
COV
Well-Known Member
So you wouldn't swap Italy's record for ours?
World Cup:
Winners x4 v our 1
Finals x6 v our 1
Semi Finals x8 v our 3
Euros:
Winners x2 v our 0
Finals x4 v our 1
Semi Finals x6 v our 3
Italy are way, way above us. Last night we should have beaten them and I think we have better players now, but we chucked it down the toilet.
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Sick Boy
Super Moderator
1934 did have qualification games.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Well sort of - Italy were allowed to play one leg not two - at home against Greece
1938 was even more hilarious - Austria were fancied so Hitler decided to make them withdraw and have half the team transfer to Germany
chiefdave
Well-Known Member
This thread has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Lots of criticism in the group stages. Then looking at the draw an expectation that we'd, as a minimum, reach the final and now a split between those not happy with the tactics & selection of penalty takers and those that think reaching the final is an amazing achievement.
For me its a pretty typical England performance when compared to recent years. Limp out the group, get a relatively easy draw in the knockouts, one or two half decent performances and everyone gets over excited and starts claiming 'its coming home' before we inevitably lose.
Would love to think this is a team that will go on and improve but not convinced. We had all but one game at home and less travel than anyone else, not sure we'll get a better opportunity than this.
For me its a pretty typical England performance when compared to recent years. Limp out the group, get a relatively easy draw in the knockouts, one or two half decent performances and everyone gets over excited and starts claiming 'its coming home' before we inevitably lose.
Would love to think this is a team that will go on and improve but not convinced. We had all but one game at home and less travel than anyone else, not sure we'll get a better opportunity than this.
COV
Well-Known Member
Evo1883
Well-Known Member
They did however completely dominate England in the final
COV
Well-Known Member
I think we're onto something, but this tournament was it. We have the mentality of serial losers and thats a hard thing to change, last night was the chance to change it once and for all.
Terry Gibson's perm
Well-Known Member
I have seen a few of these and most of the people who have posted them are non regular football fans.
The crucial word is winner and winners will do what it takes.
SkyBlue_Bear83
Well-Known Member
Will have to disagree with that
COV
Well-Known Member
100% spot on
I’m sick of being “proud” of failure, it’s ok if you’re up against a much more talented team but last night that wasn’t the case, we laid down with barely a whimper after 25 mins
It’s one thing breezing through the group and earlier rounds, but winners know how to approach and win finals- we don’t… yet
