-
NEXT GAME: Sheffield Wednesday FC
Sunday April 21st 2024
Kick off 12.30 pm
Ewood Park
Championship
European Championships 2020 (2021)
- Thread starter Old Darwen Blue
- Start date
OnlyOneTugay
Prediction Champion 2019 & 2020
Me too Dave . My JMB O’Level Latin Grade 6 ( a pass in 1974 ! ) helped - but not much
Anyway to continue a theme :
IN ANGLIA VENIRE 
davebirch
Senior Member
"It's coming Home"?Me too Dave . My JMB O’Level Latin Grade 6 ( a pass in 1974 ! ) helped - but not much
Anyway to continue a theme :
OnlyOneTugay
Prediction Champion 2019 & 2020
COME ON ENGLAND 
Can't be racist ODB. We are the same race... or at least the indigenous British are. Perhaps ethnic discrimination is more accurate but I'm willing to be proven wrong.
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
I am sure that is Drog. He is easily recognisable.
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
England ‘fans’ acting as complete tools on Wembley Way; another group just reported to be storming the outer stadium security barriers. Tossers 
Robin
Senior Member
I dunno if this is from that situation but there should be decent defender for England in the security guard if you have injuries:England ‘fans’ acting as complete tools on Wembley Way; another group just reported to be storming the outer stadium security barriers. Tossers
Wilpshire Blue
Senior Member
Well, if Southgate agreed those penalty styles, he needs gelding.
Why can't they all hit them like Maguire?
Why can't they all hit them like Maguire?
I doubt he did tbh but to rely on teenagers for penalties is just stupid in the extreme. Why tf did he allow Sanchez and Saka to take a pen in that situation? Sure Rashford fucked up and God only knows why he varied from his normal style but he would have been one of my choices from the spot.
The rot started much earlier. Three years back and in the second half of a semi final of the World Cup and 1-0 up Southgate elected to give ground and defend our area for the second 45 minutes to our ultimate cost! Only a fool would believe that at 1-0 up at HT we could allow a better team like Italy the same territorial advantage without conceding. 3 years on from making the self same mistake against Croatia he bloody well does it again ffs! The stupid bastard must have seen Italy camped in our half with Kane, Mount and Sterling contributing nowt yet again he allowed it to continue until we conceded!
Let no one convince you that Southgate is the English Messiah.... he's just a very stupid and incompetent boy!
The rot started much earlier. Three years back and in the second half of a semi final of the World Cup and 1-0 up Southgate elected to give ground and defend our area for the second 45 minutes to our ultimate cost! Only a fool would believe that at 1-0 up at HT we could allow a better team like Italy the same territorial advantage without conceding. 3 years on from making the self same mistake against Croatia he bloody well does it again ffs! The stupid bastard must have seen Italy camped in our half with Kane, Mount and Sterling contributing nowt yet again he allowed it to continue until we conceded!
Let no one convince you that Southgate is the English Messiah.... he's just a very stupid and incompetent boy!
England need a new manager and immediate 'fresh start' right now.
After failing at 2 successive tournaments I can't for the life of me think of any reason why Southgate should be given another tournament.
We need a change or this loser mentality is going to stick.
Is it time to let that Burnley guy have a go?
After failing at 2 successive tournaments I can't for the life of me think of any reason why Southgate should be given another tournament.
We need a change or this loser mentality is going to stick.
Is it time to let that Burnley guy have a go?
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
John Bull?
davebirch
Senior Member
Need a fat bastard for that, and with a pint of ale in his hand.
Right I'll do my one and only review on the Euros.
Einstein famously said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and to expect different results. Gareth Southgate is setting out to prove that theory. Just as he did against Croatia three years ago he had his team conceding ground and trying to defend a narrow 1-0 lead whilst relying on the occasional attack from free kicks and corners. Yet again we lost but this time in the Final! Don't round on me for criticising Southgate btw he's done it for us....... 'It's down to me': Southgate takes responsibility for England's Euro 2020 loss against Italy (msn.com)
In the opening stages we had Italy on the ropes as we played some scintillating one and two touch passing making nonsense of their famous 30 odd match unbeaten run. In the second that was abandoned as we relied on defending against a much better team than Croatia and Harry Kane continually winning us free kicks despite a very good Ref who had clearly sussed his intentions in the first half and was rightly determined to give him nowt.... even when he was fouled! Truth is that after the goal it was half way through the second half before we had another attempt on target! We were clearly never going to score again and once the inevitable equaliser went in we were doomed to either a straight loss or the dreaded penalties against a team with a goalkeeper who must have looked to the nervous takers as if he could stretch out his arms and touch both posts at the same time! Even more damning in World Cup and Euro final stages we have now lost 7 penalty shoot outs out of 9! The psychological state of young players as they ran in for their spot kick can't have been one based on unshakeable confidence.
Pickford.. 7 Seemed to have got over his case of the collywobbles he suffered against Denmark. No doubt a few sessions on a couch with the team shrink did it's job. Saved two of Italy's penalties so he at least can hold his head high this morning.
Walker... 7 Defended pretty well but was obviously under orders not to venture too far forward which was odd given the lack of pace down that side of Italy's back four. Even more odd given that the chap in front of him was Trippier and they could have dove tailed and overlapped perfectly.
Stones... 7 Just one jittery moment when I feared a John Stones special rick but he survived it and defended ably.
Maguire 8... England's next captain I'd assume.... starting our next match! Defended strongly and hardly put a foot wrong despite Mancini obviously having done his homework and noted how much a part of our play involved passing the ball about between the back four (shades of BRFC here as the teams that gave us most trouble last season were the ones that 'weighed on' our back 4 and denying us the chance to build from the back). Took a great penalty too.
Picked up our sole yellow card to Italy's 5 which perhaps is an illustration of the football philosophies of the two nations. There is no doubt that once behind they set about softening up our better players with Sterling, Kane' Saka and Grealish coming in for some rough treatment. Consider that we only had 34% possession that's a very revealing statistic. We all know that the Dark Arts are ingrained in the hearts of Italian footballers.
Shaw... 7 Solid game and scored a wonder goal in the first two minutes. I got called all sorts btw for suggesting that we had scored too soon! Sometimes it does inspire one team and deflate the other with another 90 minutes still to play. Speaking as a left footer I can tell you it was a wonder strike too! Hitting a ball with precision that is coming across your body from a right wing cross is definitely not easy. All credit to him for not going for power as that would surely have seen him blaze it over the top.
Rice....7 Probably the best game that I have seen from him in an England or WHU shirt. Strong in midfield and carried the ball forward well on a few occasions. Unfortunately he let himself down with his final pass.
Phillips... 6 Energetic game but up against strong opponents illustrated his limitations at the top level.
Sterling... 6 Capable of terrifying the Italian defenders but England's tactics didn't see him figure often enough in the game.
Trippier.... 6 Excellent cross for Shaw's goal but for some reason after that was starved of the ball by his teammates despite frequently standing in acres of space down the right. He and Walker should have been the key players in attack down our right side but for some reason the midfield preferred to play towards Sterling or pass it amongst themselves. Southgate should have acted on that.
Mount.. 4 Never got in the game and there needs to be an inquest as to why he was kept on until the 99th minute. 10 mins into the second half and he should have been hooked off.
Kane... 4 I've said earlier in the tournament that our lack of a centre forward at point would cost us and so it proved! Kane is an institution who is rarely criticised but he is now an inside forward imo, a good one too but he and Mount were taking up the same area of the pitch and doing the same job when one of them should have been benched for a proper front runner. Too often as crosses went into the box Kane was outside it! He should have been subbed once it was clear he couldn't fool Mr Kuipers into giving endless free kicks. Would Southgate have had the balls to take off a Captain, a legend and a top penalty taker to boot? Not a chance. One thing that I would suggest is that he is no longer worth the money that Levy is asking and if City are prepared to pay it then it will be the best bit of business done since Liverpool got 130m for Coutinho and we got 9m for Jordan Rhodes.
Subs
Saka (70 mins for Trippier) 5 Why? Saka has had one decent game this tournament and Tripper wasn't getting the ball enough. He's a talent certainly but from what I've seen he is one for the future and not a player to change a match of this magnitude. Why Southgate nominated him as a penalty taker must also be questioned.
Henderson (74 minutes for Rice) 6 Apparently Rice got a knock. Henderson is a leader on the field but on this occasion brought little to the party and if 'a knock' is a euphamism or excuse then it was another poor call by Southgate.
Grealish (99 for Mount) 7 Did at least help to switch the emphasis a little as he's done all tournament but why on earth did it take until almost the end of the 1st half of extra time to get such a 'game changer' off the bench and into the action. At times in that second half England needed someone to hold the ball up to take pressure of the defence and draw the sting of Italy's almost constant possession in our half? Showed what a danger the Italians thought of him as Jorginho nobbled him with a challenge so cynical at the first chance that he got that it should have seen Mr Kuipers reaching for his red card. I feel it would have nine times out of ten in the Premier League.
Rashford (120 Henderson)
Sancho (120 Walker) Both just for the penalties!
Suffice to say both missed along with Saka. Whoever asked kids to do a man's job eh? Coming on cold is difficult enough but Rashford in particular appears to have changed his usual technique by emulating a foreign style of waiting until the GK commits before rolling it in the other corner. If that's the case then Southgate shouldn't have nominated him to take one on the basis that it's not big and it's certainly NOT clever! A change of styles is OK on a relaxed training pitch session but I don't like players taking those sorts of pens in a pressure cooker atmosphere of a Euro final. I did note that Rashford wasn't looking at the ball when he scuffed his shot against the post which as far as I was ever concerned was breaking a golden rule.
Southgate 4 (Mancini 8 btw) Thanks for this Gareth! Euro2020: Gloating Italian media brag about victory over England | Daily Mail Online
A poor match which hopefully should be his last but I'd stake my mortgage that the FA will keep him on. His faults...
1. Relies too much on the youth aspect and I believe revels in his reputation for doing so. I'm all for giving kids a chance but only if they are going to improve the team and to date I haven't seen anything from Sako, Sancho and Bellingham to suggest that apart from a few flash in the pan moments.
2. Stubborn as hell. I've a feeling that Jack Grealish got so little playing time simply because every pundit and commentator in the press and media said he must play. I may be wrong but should the entire England squad be put on the transfer market this summer I'm pretty sure Grealish would go for the most money. When he comes on he not only brings a brand of creativity to the game that no other player possesses but he so often changes the emphasis of the game, and with just 34% possession at home we certainly needed that.
3. Tactically not great. Did he learn nothing from our semi final loss to Croatia? Sitting back against a top team for most of the match and attempting to defend our own area will inevitably end in tears 9 times out of 10...... and he's already up to 2. Note the differing expressions through the match between him and Mancini. The italian was a perfect study in concentration whilst our Gareth just appeared to be watching 22 men kick a bag of wind around a field!
btw just as a postscript I'd say the FA with their stupid policy of stubbornly continuing to expect us all to mourn the loss of an odious small time American gangsta when most would rather move on have exacerbated the situation. Racist abuse of England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho & Bukayo Saka condemned by Boris Johnson and FA - BBC Sport
All I can say is that they are just lucky they get a shirt, they wouldn't get one as readily in Italy...
Einstein famously said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and to expect different results. Gareth Southgate is setting out to prove that theory. Just as he did against Croatia three years ago he had his team conceding ground and trying to defend a narrow 1-0 lead whilst relying on the occasional attack from free kicks and corners. Yet again we lost but this time in the Final! Don't round on me for criticising Southgate btw he's done it for us....... 'It's down to me': Southgate takes responsibility for England's Euro 2020 loss against Italy (msn.com)
In the opening stages we had Italy on the ropes as we played some scintillating one and two touch passing making nonsense of their famous 30 odd match unbeaten run. In the second that was abandoned as we relied on defending against a much better team than Croatia and Harry Kane continually winning us free kicks despite a very good Ref who had clearly sussed his intentions in the first half and was rightly determined to give him nowt.... even when he was fouled! Truth is that after the goal it was half way through the second half before we had another attempt on target! We were clearly never going to score again and once the inevitable equaliser went in we were doomed to either a straight loss or the dreaded penalties against a team with a goalkeeper who must have looked to the nervous takers as if he could stretch out his arms and touch both posts at the same time! Even more damning in World Cup and Euro final stages we have now lost 7 penalty shoot outs out of 9! The psychological state of young players as they ran in for their spot kick can't have been one based on unshakeable confidence.
Pickford.. 7 Seemed to have got over his case of the collywobbles he suffered against Denmark. No doubt a few sessions on a couch with the team shrink did it's job. Saved two of Italy's penalties so he at least can hold his head high this morning.
Walker... 7 Defended pretty well but was obviously under orders not to venture too far forward which was odd given the lack of pace down that side of Italy's back four. Even more odd given that the chap in front of him was Trippier and they could have dove tailed and overlapped perfectly.
Stones... 7 Just one jittery moment when I feared a John Stones special rick but he survived it and defended ably.
Maguire 8... England's next captain I'd assume.... starting our next match! Defended strongly and hardly put a foot wrong despite Mancini obviously having done his homework and noted how much a part of our play involved passing the ball about between the back four (shades of BRFC here as the teams that gave us most trouble last season were the ones that 'weighed on' our back 4 and denying us the chance to build from the back). Took a great penalty too.
Picked up our sole yellow card to Italy's 5 which perhaps is an illustration of the football philosophies of the two nations. There is no doubt that once behind they set about softening up our better players with Sterling, Kane' Saka and Grealish coming in for some rough treatment. Consider that we only had 34% possession that's a very revealing statistic. We all know that the Dark Arts are ingrained in the hearts of Italian footballers.
Shaw... 7 Solid game and scored a wonder goal in the first two minutes. I got called all sorts btw for suggesting that we had scored too soon! Sometimes it does inspire one team and deflate the other with another 90 minutes still to play. Speaking as a left footer I can tell you it was a wonder strike too! Hitting a ball with precision that is coming across your body from a right wing cross is definitely not easy. All credit to him for not going for power as that would surely have seen him blaze it over the top.
Rice....7 Probably the best game that I have seen from him in an England or WHU shirt. Strong in midfield and carried the ball forward well on a few occasions. Unfortunately he let himself down with his final pass.
Phillips... 6 Energetic game but up against strong opponents illustrated his limitations at the top level.
Sterling... 6 Capable of terrifying the Italian defenders but England's tactics didn't see him figure often enough in the game.
Trippier.... 6 Excellent cross for Shaw's goal but for some reason after that was starved of the ball by his teammates despite frequently standing in acres of space down the right. He and Walker should have been the key players in attack down our right side but for some reason the midfield preferred to play towards Sterling or pass it amongst themselves. Southgate should have acted on that.
Mount.. 4 Never got in the game and there needs to be an inquest as to why he was kept on until the 99th minute. 10 mins into the second half and he should have been hooked off.
Kane... 4 I've said earlier in the tournament that our lack of a centre forward at point would cost us and so it proved! Kane is an institution who is rarely criticised but he is now an inside forward imo, a good one too but he and Mount were taking up the same area of the pitch and doing the same job when one of them should have been benched for a proper front runner. Too often as crosses went into the box Kane was outside it! He should have been subbed once it was clear he couldn't fool Mr Kuipers into giving endless free kicks. Would Southgate have had the balls to take off a Captain, a legend and a top penalty taker to boot? Not a chance. One thing that I would suggest is that he is no longer worth the money that Levy is asking and if City are prepared to pay it then it will be the best bit of business done since Liverpool got 130m for Coutinho and we got 9m for Jordan Rhodes.
Subs
Saka (70 mins for Trippier) 5 Why? Saka has had one decent game this tournament and Tripper wasn't getting the ball enough. He's a talent certainly but from what I've seen he is one for the future and not a player to change a match of this magnitude. Why Southgate nominated him as a penalty taker must also be questioned.
Henderson (74 minutes for Rice) 6 Apparently Rice got a knock. Henderson is a leader on the field but on this occasion brought little to the party and if 'a knock' is a euphamism or excuse then it was another poor call by Southgate.
Grealish (99 for Mount) 7 Did at least help to switch the emphasis a little as he's done all tournament but why on earth did it take until almost the end of the 1st half of extra time to get such a 'game changer' off the bench and into the action. At times in that second half England needed someone to hold the ball up to take pressure of the defence and draw the sting of Italy's almost constant possession in our half? Showed what a danger the Italians thought of him as Jorginho nobbled him with a challenge so cynical at the first chance that he got that it should have seen Mr Kuipers reaching for his red card. I feel it would have nine times out of ten in the Premier League.
Rashford (120 Henderson)
Sancho (120 Walker) Both just for the penalties!
Suffice to say both missed along with Saka. Whoever asked kids to do a man's job eh? Coming on cold is difficult enough but Rashford in particular appears to have changed his usual technique by emulating a foreign style of waiting until the GK commits before rolling it in the other corner. If that's the case then Southgate shouldn't have nominated him to take one on the basis that it's not big and it's certainly NOT clever! A change of styles is OK on a relaxed training pitch session but I don't like players taking those sorts of pens in a pressure cooker atmosphere of a Euro final. I did note that Rashford wasn't looking at the ball when he scuffed his shot against the post which as far as I was ever concerned was breaking a golden rule.Southgate 4 (Mancini 8 btw) Thanks for this Gareth! Euro2020: Gloating Italian media brag about victory over England | Daily Mail Online
A poor match which hopefully should be his last but I'd stake my mortgage that the FA will keep him on. His faults...
1. Relies too much on the youth aspect and I believe revels in his reputation for doing so. I'm all for giving kids a chance but only if they are going to improve the team and to date I haven't seen anything from Sako, Sancho and Bellingham to suggest that apart from a few flash in the pan moments.
2. Stubborn as hell. I've a feeling that Jack Grealish got so little playing time simply because every pundit and commentator in the press and media said he must play. I may be wrong but should the entire England squad be put on the transfer market this summer I'm pretty sure Grealish would go for the most money. When he comes on he not only brings a brand of creativity to the game that no other player possesses but he so often changes the emphasis of the game, and with just 34% possession at home we certainly needed that.
3. Tactically not great. Did he learn nothing from our semi final loss to Croatia? Sitting back against a top team for most of the match and attempting to defend our own area will inevitably end in tears 9 times out of 10...... and he's already up to 2. Note the differing expressions through the match between him and Mancini. The italian was a perfect study in concentration whilst our Gareth just appeared to be watching 22 men kick a bag of wind around a field!
btw just as a postscript I'd say the FA with their stupid policy of stubbornly continuing to expect us all to mourn the loss of an odious small time American gangsta when most would rather move on have exacerbated the situation. Racist abuse of England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho & Bukayo Saka condemned by Boris Johnson and FA - BBC Sport
All I can say is that they are just lucky they get a shirt, they wouldn't get one as readily in Italy...
Last edited:
Well done to ODB. If there was a prediction league for the Euro's you'd have won it.