Offer a loss in the final to a 10 year old, 20 year old, 30 year old, or even 40 year old life time England @KiwiValley supporter and he would have bitten your hand off. English football is respectable now and that’s of some consolation.
Don’t get me wrong, Spain were very good, but we were not very good first half. After conceding and subs were forced, we started threatening again, but the way we went back to being slow and ponderous almost immediately after equalising speaks volumes to me.
Spain deserved to win it.
I’d have loved us to win it, but we got a lot further than our play deserved. We should’ve gone out against Slovakia.
And minor annoyances like the “onside by a kneecap” or the ref blowing on 4 minutes despite all the time wasting are exactly that - minor. I’d rather they did more to combat timewasting, but that’s not why we lost.
Some will say it’s ridiculous that Southgate gets shit for his management given his record, but it’s undeniable that we’ve looked poor throughout this tournament. We’ve been saved by miracle moments right up to the end. We’re so desperately dull and it’s frankly unfathomable how bad a team we look when you look at the available talent.
It's always sad in sport, whether you're playing or supporting a team, that you come away feeling that you've died wondering. When you're a League 2 team in the FA Cup playing a PL side, you have to play a certain way. When you have gifted players but play as if you are that League 2 team then you will die wondering what might have been. And that's how we've played. Not to lose until a point in time in the game when we've been forced to go on the front foot. Time ran out for us to do that tonight yet again.
Great to see us in another final but in reality we played one decent proactive half in the whole tournament.
But did better that Germany, Italy, France, Netherlands, and some other great footballing nations. And Scotland.
I have to agree with this. We played about 40 mins good football in the entire tournament. Once again we were blessed with an extraordinarily easy side of the draw and yet were one minute away from going out to Slovakia. Spain showed the gap is still very wide and we have to move on.
The kind of ridiculous qualified statements that have gone on is an embarrassment. Saying Kane played well because he was joint top scorer with three goals, as if you should not believe the evidence of your eyes. Or that we are a 'moments' team because we rescue games when we're losing. It's a coping mindset. I'm not sure if I'll ever see us win but this certainly isn't the way.
Anyone watching ITV hear Dixon call Southgate a genius after Palmer scored. A genius for doing what 98% of the Nation have been shouting at their telly screens to do, for the last 3 weeks? Jesus christ.....
It’s a strong field, but I think Dixon is the worst commentator.
At lot of talk already about needing to take the shackles off. I agree vs Slovakia and Switzerland. We did vs. Netherlands. If we’d just gone at Spain from the off today they’d have picked us apart, which they did a few times second half when we were chasing it. The plan was working perfectly first half, but we didn’t make the most of the couple of decent openings we had first half and then switched off early in the second to concede. That forced us to open up looking for an equaliser and that’s when Spain started to look like the side that have been earlier in the tournament.
Keeping it tight and nicking one was always our best chance tonight. These big games, they swing in small moments - they didn’t go for us tonight. It’s shit, and you’ll always question if you could have done things differently or better, but I’d don’t think England played poorly or we got the tactics all wrong. Someone has to lose and the best team won on the night.
Anyone watching ITV hear Dixon call Southgate a genius after Palmer scored. A genius for doing what 98% of the Nation have been shouting at their telly screens to do, for the last 3 weeks? Jesus christ.....
It’s a strong field, but I think Dixon is the worst commentator.
Just hope that regardless of the Manager, this type of fixture remains the norm for England going forward - We should be winning things, but the fact we'd taken so long to reach a Final pre-2021 was even more criminal.
Anyone watching ITV hear Dixon call Southgate a genius after Palmer scored. A genius for doing what 98% of the Nation have been shouting at their telly screens to do, for the last 3 weeks? Jesus christ.....
It’s a strong field, but I think Dixon is the worst commentator.
Imagine there's a bit of a sigh of relief on here...
Imagine had Southgate had won this Tournament with a lot of the comments on here this Tournament, you'd have looked mugs a lot of you!!
Mate I have been critical of Southgate the last couple of tournaments but I always want England to win. I don’t dislike the guy I actually think he is a decent man and has done fantastic in shaping the England set up from the mess it was in. However I don’t believe we will win anything with him at the helm he is just to negative. Teams that win things are brave in their approach Southgate is not
Imagine there's a bit of a sigh of relief on here...
Imagine had Southgate had won this Tournament with a lot of the comments on here this Tournament, you'd have looked mugs a lot of you!!
Mate I have been critical of Southgate the last couple of tournaments but I always want England to win. I don’t dislike the guy I actually think he is a decent man and has done fantastic in shaping the England set up from the mess it was in. However I don’t believe we will win anything with him at the helm he is just to negative. Teams that win things are brave in their approach Southgate is not
Lets hope that the next man can do that then... I'm just reluctant to criticise his approach, given we've tried it the other way under previous Managers, and have fallen even earlier
Sorry, genuinely gutted for England. As many have said, the best team won in the end. But England looked better in stretches. It's weird to think this is the same team that almost went out to Slovakia. England under Southgate have gone from a team perennially losing quarter finals to never quite winning a final. It's an impressive change in fortune and player development.
No fault in effort, just came up against a better team that, importantly, fits better together. De La Fuente is like his successful predecessors in one regard: he knows his Subs and when to make them. All tournament they changed Morata for Oyarzabal on 70ish minutes. Oyarzabal keeps the ball better and drops deep well, but is naturally a winger with an eye for goal. Tonight it worked and a lot of it was down to players fitting well together and knowing their roles. It reminds me of 2008 when Alonso and Guiza would come on no matter what and change the dynamic of the team.
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They were killer after the group games and the last 16 game but perked up after the Swiss and the Netherlands matches.
The kind of ridiculous qualified statements that have gone on is an embarrassment. Saying Kane played well because he was joint top scorer with three goals, as if you should not believe the evidence of your eyes. Or that we are a 'moments' team because we rescue games when we're losing. It's a coping mindset. I'm not sure if I'll ever see us win but this certainly isn't the way.
Blow softened slightly
No fault in effort, just came up against a better team that, importantly, fits better together. De La Fuente is like his successful predecessors in one regard: he knows his Subs and when to make them. All tournament they changed Morata for Oyarzabal on 70ish minutes. Oyarzabal keeps the ball better and drops deep well, but is naturally a winger with an eye for goal. Tonight it worked and a lot of it was down to players fitting well together and knowing their roles. It reminds me of 2008 when Alonso and Guiza would come on no matter what and change the dynamic of the team.