When things get sticky with Espírito Santo, and they will, we can take comfort in the safe and certain knowledge that Tottenham could have given the job to Gareth Southgate.
Everyone becomes a football expert during these tournaments, and many of the broader brushstroke comments I’ve heard over the last few weeks seem to have value.
Raheem Sterling was behind several Euros goals, but there’s a reason he’s not enjoyed even such modest form at his domestic club, coming joint 20th in the Premier League 20/21 season’s top goalscorers. Sterling is a good example of bad greed.
England’s expected goals’ activity makes for a sorry read, at 0.79 it failed to match the full-time score. The name at the bottom of the shooter list is another niggle. 100% passing accuracy when Jack was finally allowed on.
Maguire and Shaw, both defenders, bossing the xG list tells its own story. One goal against Ukraine doth not a secret weapon make.
The inability to focus on exploiting Grealish and Kane was mind-boggling. The 3 Lions’ shots on target versus Italy was 2 against 6.
The Italians passed more and passed with greater accuracy, England 390 made passes, of which 317 were accurate. Italy completed 813 passes, 741 of which were accurate. England’s possession soared for 20-minutes after the Shaw goal, then steadily diminished.
Harry Kane had 45-touches, but it was the usual desperate fare, with the captain invariably in the periphery. This is the same Harry Kane that scored 33 goals, and contributed 17 assists for Tottenham last season – picking up the Premier League Golden Boot and Playmaker Award in the process…
Listening to Southgate’s comments before the kick-off, it was confirmed for the umpteenth time that we aren’t entirely dealing with a football manager here and until the FA can install someone whose sole focus is on the best players and enhancing the team’s chances, then just like at Tottenham Hotspur, the unmerry-go-round will continue to grind around in pointless circles.
Data credit: Wyscout[€]
Southgate was outwitted big time by Mancini. He wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. I hate his Jose style of football but only at the next World Cup will we know if he has taken any of it in.
Apart from that it was a great tournament, knowing quite a few sides had a chance to win at the start was great without billionaires being able to buy it.
I think we have a great chance in the world cup but only if Gareth rethinks his whole strategy. After watching this tournament and the Copa America i am in no doubt the World Cup is on it’s way back to Europe so
why not us ?.
Gareth you have one of the best players in the world in Harry Kane, play to his strengths. Not rocket science.
I think the point is if your first 3 miss then you may not even get to 4 and 5 – I am pro putting your best takers in first, but 4 and 5 need to be seasoned experienced pros, not kids.
How Southgate doesn’t recognise this is beyond me.
Southgate delivered the ultimate in failure last night proving once and for all his lack of ability in holding such a position of importance and even prestige as England manager.
The final straw being the decisions of allowing two boys deal with a situation they have never encountered before and one of such significance the result of which could have a detrimental effect on their careers. Asking two boys to step and take a penalty in a domestic cup is one thing, but to expect an eigtheen and nineteen year to take the two most important kicks at such a crucial stage, and with the added pressure of having to score was not just too much of a risk, it beggars belief in my opinion.
It should not go unnoticed of how this competition was structured in such a way that it favoured England an undeniable advantage with all those games being at home, yet they still failed. I don’t personally blame the players, it’s quite simply down to the man in charge, oh and they wanted to give him a Knighthood ?
Much like watching Spurs over the last year, it was clear that once the first goal went in we needed to push on for a second. Trying to shut up shop against the Italians was a risky business, they were always going to get their act together eventually.
I dont need to bang on about Sterling again, but if he wasn’t gonna take a pen he should have come off in the 2nd half, let alone extra time. Grealish should have come on much sooner, as being on the pitch seems to encourage Harry to get a bit further forward.
I feel for the lad Saka, I like him, good positive player. Not an awful penalty, but bloody disgraceful that a 19 year old lad should be responsible for the biggest spot kick England have ever had.
Bringing Rashford and Sancho on for pens when it was their first kick of the game was madness as well. I’m sure “outsmarting the keeper” works great in training, but Rashford’s in particular, it’s like he didn’t really consider the possibility of what happens if the keeper doesn’t move first! Just smash it man!
Oh well, more final heartbreak for us English Spurs fans, in a similarly Spursy “we didn’t really go for it” way.
Hard luck England, you have some really good players but you won’t be winning anything under Southgate. Teams with aspirations of winning major tournaments need to show more ambition than playing 7 defenders. The Italians were there for the taking in that first half but instead England retreated into their shells. The parallels between England and Spurs are stark. England talk like they are a tier one nation but win F-all, just like Spurs. Sorry but that is the truth. I felt so sorry for Harry Kane listening to his post-match interview talking about building for the World Cup. He must be sick to death of playing for teams who are building.
On another note Twitter went into woke overdrive last night, within 5 minutes there were tweets trending along the lines of ‘lets remember all of the starving kids Rashford has fed in the last year and not for one missed penalty’. Unbelievable Jeff.
Cundy and Goldstein weren’t having a bar of criticism after the game.
I commend Southgate for getting us as far as he did but despite modern international football often being a game of chess, you have to be brave and take risks once you get to such a critical stage of a match and I feel like he was going with the hope and pray option
Yeah well done Finn I will be stealing that ,I’m playing 5’s and 7’s 4 times this week with my Scottish friends and the abuse I’m gonna take..
Maybe the might just feel sorry for me😂😭
He did to be fair but his inclusion made us too defensive and lacking pace.
Anyone seen the footage of the fans getting in the stadium on twat book?
So very wrong in everyway…
It really was just like watching Spurs play a top 4 side in the past season.
Take a 1-0 lead within a couple of minutes and then drop back and think you can defend it for the next 97 odd minutes. Harry’s stats in the Italy box says everything. If you don’t show your teeth in a dog-fight you’ll get bitten eventually.
England are never made of the right stuff.
To be fair, Trippier assisted the goal so if he hadn’t played who knows.
My heart sank when I heard that Southgate had selected Trippier instead of Saka to play five at the back. I think England teams play better with a flat back four. By dropping Saka to the bench, Southgate signalled his intentions to sit back and absorb pressure with his usual over cautious approach. Great managers know when to be defensive and when to change their tactics. Apart from the early goal, we hardly tested their keeper and Pickford had all the saves to make. Overall possession was 34% for England and 66% for Italy and at one stage in the second half, England conceded possession to the tune of 75%. Kane was played far too deep the entire tournament and Sterling played too central and frequently in front of Kane who was seldom in the box when the all too infrequent crosses came in. Southgate’s tactical inadequacies were completely exposed when he asked Rashford and Sancho to take penalties despite not having kicked a ball all match and you could ask yourself if it was the right thing to ask a kid like Saka to take one as well. In short, a predictable result. I have never seen so much hype and rubbish from the MM in my life. Will we ever learn?
Maguire was a beast all tournament. Stones and Mount got caught at a set piece for the goal. Both the wrong side of their attakers.
But the 20mins of pressure leading up to the goal was a great time to ring the changes.Which he’s done all tournament at the 60min mark. The occasion got the better of him.
We just sat back, with no oulets, for the inevitable goal and when the goal did come, brought on the wrong players and changed to the wrong system.
Unlikely we’ll get such a blessed route to a final again with home advantage.
🙂
Totally agree with your last sentence, absolutely no excuse for it, these idiots don’t represent me at all and should all be put on a boat.
Ironically, we thought our defence would let us down but it was the midfield siting too deep that cost us. Thought Maquire and Stones did ok.
Finn said it well, being English AND a Spurs fan is like being abused by both your mum and dad with no where to go.
Sterling’s obsession with not passing cost us goals in the 1st half. The 2nd half Southgate bottled it. It was like watching Spurs vs City in the cup final all over again…
When will this pain ever end….
England have an overarching plan and their following it. Southgate is the perfect FA man and they’ve done pretty well considering the resources they have for player, remember winks and dier are on the outskirts of this squad (though pen shoot out specialist it might have been worth having Dier). We had talent valued at over 200m in the transfer market miss penalties, sport stars choke ask Greg Norman.
The vile abuse after though has to be weeded out that’s the real sickener in this.
This was a great tournament with some fabulous and exciting games. It was noticeable that the majority of the 24 teams used ALL their subs, sometimes all six, which meant that the later stages of games and extra time was played at a faster pace than in previous tournaments. Southgate was alone of the 24 teams to follow that pattern and for all the good he has done he fell woefully short on that front.
The science of penalty taking is also now well known. Analysis over ten years ago showed that the most difficult penalties are numbers 4 and 5 and so reserve your most trusted players for those. Instead English teams seem to want to put the captain up first and then Numbers 4 and 5 are left to the lesser players. It was scandalous that two players were asked to take them who had not kicked a ball in the game. Madness at any level. How could they get the most important part of the journey so wrong..! Just lucky perhaps that Spurs have already chosen their manager.
It would have been more if a shock had we won but as Jimmy once said, it’s a game of 2 halves & in the 2nd half, we we a different team. Pleased to see all players singing the National Anthem but not pleased to see most if them take their runners up medals off as soon as they were put on.