Yeh but equally if you're sticking it in the row Zs in training what makes people think, ah it'll be alright on the night?
But at the same time there’s a lot on here convinced that we shouldn’t be letting young players take pens? Why? If anything they’re more fearless. As far as I’m aware nerves aren’t age dependant. Saka’s playing full of confidence, he has a couple of assists to his name & is constantly driving forward when he gets the ball. You've got a kid full of confidence who must be good at taking them in training. If he didn't take one I'd be wondering why.
Yeh, lots of '19 year old kid' comments. He's been outstanding. And Michael Owen was 18 when he scored that goal against Argentina. And then 18 year old kid Owen stepped up to score a penalty before 30 year old mester Batty missed.
Can’t be too arsed about who missed a penalty or who didn’t take one etc tbh. Penalty’s are a lottery both sets of players were nervous we just missed one ore than them is all. I just wished he’d used his subs to try and win the game in extra time instead of who takes penalty’s . It may or may not have happened but Sterling was done for and didn’t feature much end of normal time and with the firepower we had on the bench against brave but tiring Italian legs could have been an advantage . Southgate once again over achieving with some great performances but once again failing on a winnable martch . Not underestimating the Italian side whatsoever but our strengths if we weren’t winning on 70/75 mins was in our bench and it wasn’t used .
Sterling and Kane were anonymous because we had no midfield. The change to bring on Henderson and Grealish should have come earlier. He should have gone 3 in central midfield with Sterling pushed out wide or subbed and Grealish told to make things happen.
The problem wasn't the penalty kick situation, IMO the problem stemmed from England surrendering the second half to the Italians. They didn't win the second half, we gave them it!
The Grealish substitution against the Danes was baffling as although many were calling for him to come on anyone that knew a bit about football knew it wasn’t a game for his skills and it proved it . To put Henderson on yesterday was just as baffling if you want to actually win the game IMO. The first thing he does is turn backwards looking for a pass which wasn’t what we wanted and once again he had to sub a sub. I’ve not rated Southgates tactics or substitutions since he took over he’s too defensive IMO . However having said that I don’t know who we’d have to take over and his man management is the best I’ve seen . I suppose all managers have their weaknesses and even Mancini in their great unbeaten run has come in for criticism unbelievably to me as an outsider. Maybe the advice he’s taking from the other coaches needs changing in match time I’m not sure but it’s all ifs and buts and IMO they’d no other answers at this time . Euros over now we’ve had a good time not long for World Cup , One thing I do support is the call to make these key board warriors accountable and the thugs who rushed the security to face the law and the resale of tickets to be regulated . The price of some of these tickets on resale should be criminalised IMO , people applying for tickets to these events with the sole intention of selling on for vast profits . Tickets should have to be resold via a ticket firm with low profit margins .
We all know that sitting on a 1-0 lead is asking for trouble. How many times have the Reds been pegged back at 1-0 and how many times have we rescued a point from a 1 goal deficit. That said Italy did not let our boys settle and in the opinion of many they were the best team in the tournament. That England only lost on penalties says that we held our own against them. Losing to Italy last night was no disgrace. England are a team to be reckoned with. A few weeks off now and back to The Championship. CORY
What did Owen, Lampard, Ince, Sheringham and Gerrard ever do in an England shirt to gain hero status? Shearer, Gascoigne, Pearce, Lineker, Platt and Beckham makes sense though
Actually thought Henderson showed Rice and Phillips how you can play that defensive midfield role but still be in advanced positions. He was appearing and showing for the ball in really positive areas, and whilst his impact on the game wasn't noticeable I thought he did slow down the Italian tide. All about opinions but that's how it looked when you could see the whole pitch in front of you. A couple of times Saka didn't quite pull off a pass or win the ball first that would have led to positive breaks. Wise move taking Henderson off as well as he's missed his last two penalties for England anyway.
It was positive if you not going for the win I suppose but there were more positive subs to make to go for the game , we weren’t making any headway into Italian territory before the sub and definitely none after .
I don't think it was the right time to be bringing on anyone more attack minded. If it wasn't for giving away that sloppy goal from a corner we'd be sat here (or I would anyway) lauding over a Southgate masterclass that had the Italians playing in front of us most of the night with us looking dangerous on the break. I just think singling out Henderson (who I'm massively not a fan by the way so this is rare for me) is unfair as his impact from my seat was a positive one. Maybe not in terms of us being more attacking, but we became a lot calmer at a crucial time in the game.
Just to be clear I wasn’t singling Henderson or anyone for that matter out , I was commenting it wasn’t the right substitution IMO , We had more attack minded players against tiring legs .
I mean you kind of were because you called him out specifically? So I was replying directly to that singling out. You talk about sticking with Southgate because there might not be anyone else out there. I'm sorry but we've got to a Semi-Final and a Final in the last three years of the World Cup and Euros respectively. To even consider replacing him, or wanting to replace him, or discussing it, is way more baffling than any of his substitutions (and I don't agree with them all).
I kind of didn’t ! I was calling out the decision to put Henderson on and I’m vilified in the substitution of him minutes later for what ever reason Southgate gave . And yes I acknowledge we got to a semi and a final and I also think we could have gotten further both times with decisions on the day being different and that’s my opinion . I said there is no one to replace him so what moral high ground are you after there ?. Forgive me for discussing my opinion on a discussion forum but I don’t think he made the best out of the resources he had at his disposal , although I also acknowledge his man management was good for the players if his tactics were lacking at times .