Haven't actually got many, the 4 teams left are all better than us - Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal. Seem about right really, ok Ashley Young was a passanger and then missed a pen, but really, we're about 7th best in Europe and the Quarter finals is our level, anyone thinking any different is seriously deluded.
Agree with that. Beaten by a better team. Can't grumble, other than to marvel at how poor some of our players are. First touch and taking a ball under pressure are not english traits.
Agreed, been saying for years, we are in top 8, but not top 4. Quarters in Euros or World Cup is our level, a bit of luck and we can make the semis.
I think you're just about spot on. I've criticised the way we've played and our lack of quality but given what he had to work with I think Roy's done ok. The last eight is about our level.
Blame the academy system - teams in prem want to produce big men who can run alot but can't pass or don't have a football brain, and guess what? That's what we produce - I remember a stat about Paolo Maldini he made on average a tackle every other game for AC Milan. We love our tackles in this country though - get stuck in and all that, as long as we're stuck with this attitude at club level we'll win nowt. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9471db52-97bb-11e0-9c37-00144feab49a.html#axzz1ykl80iSg Tackles seemed a poor indicator too. There was the awkward issue of the great Italian defender Paolo Maldini. “He made one tackle every two games,” Forde noted ruefully. Maldini positioned himself so well that he didn’t need to tackle.
We are at that level. But I would have liked us to go out fighting. We were far too defensive. Strange thing, is that having moaned about Milner right through the tournament we seemed to capitulate when he went off. Wellbeck should have stayed on too. On a positive note, we do have some excellent defenders, and we lose very few games in big tournaments, Hart, Johnson and Terry made me proud to be English tonight.
