Euro 2021 thread

[SuperBacon]

Youngest and her class wrote letters to the England players today.

I asked her what she wrote and she said "some nice things about how well they've all done, and to not be so sad, and that I get sad when I lose at Fortnite but I get over it. Also, they'll win the World Cup so this doesn't matter" So I'm sure that'll make them feel better

Didn't tell Kane to fucking stay though did she? Grounded.

[Jazzy G]

On 7/13/2021 at 7:38 PM, air_raid said:

The added bonus to this approach being that successful partnerships at youth level could be transitioned seamlessly to the senior team. I assumed this would happen with Jones & Smalling at centre back but that died a death when Ferguson bought them both and became obsessed with trying to turn Smalling into a right back and Jones into a midfielder.

Jones did a fine job protecting the back 4 at Blackburn under Big Sam.

[Devon Malcolm]

9 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Jones did a fine job protecting the back 4 at Blackburn under Big Sam.

Under Allardyce he wasn't required to pass it though.

[CleetusVanDamme]

Every day Phillis/Jonesing/Smelling & Selling/Small Ones/Facepull and Shirtpull (we all have our own top 5) remain apart is unacceptable. They belong together.

 

[Guy Bifkin]

I've never seen anyone mark Drogba out of a game like a 17 year old Phil Jones did for Blackburn. 

I've just about stopped moping about the final to give it my final thoughts. Italy deserved winners, apart from the first 20 minutes (where England seemed to have an adrenaline dump in every game), they bossed the game and it would have been harsh on them if they had lost on penalties. Chiellini and Bonucci were magnificent - add them to the long list of Italian centre backs who I have a girly mancrush on. The Italian midfielders could match the workrate of ours and look after the ball a lot better. Rice and Phillips have had very good tournaments but the sooner we get Bellingham alongside one of them, the better.

Southgate has been magnificent and deserves a job for life but got a few things wrong in the final. Not very proactive with subs and the penalty takers/order of penalties was baffling to say the least. Mancini won the tactical battle, and the battle of the clobber too. He is a sharp dressed man. 

Overall a great tournament and gutted not to win it, but maybe we've learnt some valuable lessons as a nation over the last month? Probably not.

 

[Devon Malcolm]

23 minutes ago, Guy Bifkin said:

I've never seen anyone mark Drogba out of a game like a 17 year old Phil Jones did for Blackburn. 

I've just about stopped moping about the final to give it my final thoughts. Italy deserved winners, apart from the first 20 minutes (where England seemed to have an adrenaline dump in every game), they bossed the game and it would have been harsh on them if they had lost on penalties. Chiellini and Bonucci were magnificent - add them to the long list of Italian centre backs who I have a girly mancrush on. The Italian midfielders could match the workrate of ours and look after the ball a lot better. Rice and Phillips have had very good tournaments but the sooner we get Bellingham alongside one of them, the better.

Southgate has been magnificent and deserves a job for life but got a few things wrong in the final. Not very proactive with subs and the penalty takers/order of penalties was baffling to say the least. Mancini won the tactical battle, and the battle of the clobber too. He is a sharp dressed man. 

Overall a great tournament and gutted not to win it, but maybe we've learnt some valuable lessons as a nation over the last month? Probably not.

I think Southgate has upsides and downsides. His clear strength is that he's absolutely, 100% not going to listen to anybody's opinion on who he 'should' be picking. He's got incredible strength of character, which I think is extremely admirable but also far more likely to win England something that anybody who's gone before. There are also few other people, for obvious reasons, who I'd choose to help Saka, Rashford and Sancho what they're being put through for missing a penalty.

On the flipside though, I question whether he's brave enough with his selections to win a big tournament. I think he has to be more forward-thinking across the board. I can understand a certain amount of caution against Italy, who were deserved winners of the final and whole tournament, but his formation against an ageing Croatia was baffling. His backline were superb all tournament and he has to trust them more because he's swimming in match winners further forward. He doesn't need to play Rice and Phillips, as good as they were individually and as a partnership, EVERY game.

As for the tournament as a whole, it was far and away the best Euros I've ever watched, as they're always awful. They were very few duds and there was constant drama throughout, even in the group stages, which need to be restructured. Disappointed but not surprised Poland went nowhere, despite such a talented midfield and forward line, because they're under the charge of a manager who has no idea what he's doing and they've kept him on for the World Cup qualifiers. Wspaniały.

[Mr_Danger]

I think Southgate is a really good egg and a great fit for England but that England team plays some dour predictable shite at times. They’re on the right track though and the simple no fuss approach works so why change it? 

Let’s just all agree that it’s Tory Kane’s fault for trying to be like one of those fancy foreign forwards instead of being exactly like Alan Shearer.

Also, I’m not English and still hate international football, especially as it’s the stupid ACoN this year.

[SuperBacon]

37 minutes ago, Guy Bifkin said:

I've never seen anyone mark Drogba out of a game like a 17 year old Phil Jones did for Blackburn. 

I've just about stopped moping about the final to give it my final thoughts. Italy deserved winners, apart from the first 20 minutes (where England seemed to have an adrenaline dump in every game), they bossed the game and it would have been harsh on them if they had lost on penalties. Chiellini and Bonucci were magnificent - add them to the long list of Italian centre backs who I have a girly mancrush on. The Italian midfielders could match the workrate of ours and look after the ball a lot better. Rice and Phillips have had very good tournaments but the sooner we get Bellingham alongside one of them, the better.

Southgate has been magnificent and deserves a job for life but got a few things wrong in the final. Not very proactive with subs and the penalty takers/order of penalties was baffling to say the least. Mancini won the tactical battle, and the battle of the clobber too. He is a sharp dressed man. 

Overall a great tournament and gutted not to win it, but maybe we've learnt some valuable lessons as a nation over the last month? Probably not.

 

I'll have to dig out the article I read the other week which explains it a lot better, but this has all been a very deliberate effort by the FA to get England to this point (well, actually 2022) so this squad over achieved in getting to the final.

Germany did it, Spain did it, England are doing it right now.

From the early stages of development (when you take your youth badges now and what you're expected to teach) through to every single age group and to the senior womens and mens teams, there is a defined sense of style and play that goes all the way through.

It was unfathomable 10 or 15 years ago that England would produce a Phil Foden, or a Jadon Sancho.

15 years ago, people were crying out for Stewart Downing to start for England (sorry Stewart). Those two players would at this moment in time, walk into any starting 11 in the world. There are possibly more in the England starting 11 that would, but those two are the most "un-English" players I have ever seen I reckon. They are superb talents.

Southgate has to be applauded for being deep in embedding this culture, and like Guy says should have a job for life. As manager though? I'm not sure. I absolutely get why he played two DMs in front of a defence he clearly didn't fancy, but he should've had a better plan for adapting when facing teams that weren't that strong, and seeing that the defence were actually pretty good.

Italy were 100% there for the taking. He badly mismanaged that final and I think the players had fear as well. 

People can slate Kane all they want, but for your striker to not touch the ball in the box in 120 minutes? That's mental, and not all on him (although he should shoulder that burden too of course).

The issue you have with him is that he is miles ahead of any other striker that England currently have. Who are you going to replace him with if hes out of form, Calvert Lewin? Do me a favour.

The only one that will run him close, for me, is Mason Greenwood and he would actually work well with Kane, so that'll be interesting to see.

Who was the 'out' ball in the final. Sterling. How many times did he get beyond the ageing centre backs? I don't think he did.

Saka did, and look what happened. Should've been doing that from an early stage. Chiellini should've been pulled 40 yards away from his goal and made to play facing his goal. Didn't happen. He bested Kane all game.

Rice and Phillips. Amazing. Cannot fault them at all, I thought they were superb. I'd be amazed if they started any games at the World Cup. Feel free to bookmark this and bite me on the arse with it. Jude Bellingham is the future, and who plays next to him is the headache. Personally I think Mount can. I thought he was absolutely dreadful in the final, and most of the tournament, but I've seen him do some fantastic things in a Chelsea shirt and believe he can be that *uuuuuugh* double pivot player.

So many positives to take from the entire thing. Just a shame England really blew that final as it was there for them. But this group of players WILL win something, they just need some tiny adjustments. The World Cup probably. 

[Mr_Danger]

The thing about Kane in the (wanky term alert) 9 and a half role is that he has developed that side really well and he’s good at it but it’s not necessarily what you want from him is it? There’s an abundance of players who can get between the lines or drop deep and they’re mostly all more mobile than Kane, it’s not a burden he needs to take on. You can’t blame him for wanting to be that kind of player, it’s a short career and he is good enough to do what he wants but if he persists then  I agree he’ll need someone beyond to actually be in those goal scoring positions.

[SpiritOfTheForest]

Something that I don't think I saw posted here but was pretty entertaining from last week. The day before the Final, one of our newspapers, The National, posted this as its front page. 

Within hours, it went viral in Italy, trending on Twitter and so on. I even had some Italian pals who don't even like football messaging me on WhatsApp laughing about it. A little petty and childish to some I'm sure, but all in good fun and the Italians definitely got a kick out of it. And then this happened:

The man himself, flying home after winning the Euros with the trophy placed on top of this very newspaper cover. Cue it going viral again. What an absolute champion. 

[David]

The National is an embarrassment to Scotland. Not for that in particular, just in general. Cringeworthy, anti-English shite.

[SuperBacon]

3 minutes ago, Mr_Danger said:

The thing about Kane in the (wanky term alert) 9 and a half role is that he has developed that side really well and he’s good at it but it’s not necessarily what you want from him is it? There’s an abundance of players who can get between the lines or drop deep and they’re mostly all more mobile than Kane, it’s not a burden he needs to take on. You can’t blame him for wanting to be that kind of player, it’s a short career and he is good enough to do what he wants but if he persists then  I agree he’ll need someone beyond to actually be in those goal scoring positions.

I mean, as Spurs fans have seen for the past 2 or 3 years, Kane passing to Kane would be the ideal scenario. 

When he did drop deep, he *wanky term alert* pre assisted a few goals.

He is 100% preparing for his latter career, and his ankles are made of biscuits. 

[PunkStep]

29 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

From the early stages of development (when you take your youth badges now and what you're expected to teach) through to every single age group and to the senior womens and mens teams, there is a defined sense of style and play that goes all the way through.

100% this. Rick first mentioned it years ago, and I've seen it first hand during my coaching courses. It took a while, but England finally realised this was needed so badly. 

[SuperBacon]

1 minute ago, PunkStep said:

100% this. Rick first mentioned it years ago, and I've seen it first hand during my coaching courses. It took a while, but England finally realised this was needed so badly. 

It makes sense. I have no idea who would or could replace Southgate, but after years of just wildly targeting completely different styles of manager (Sven, Capello etc) its good to see sense of continuity now. Meaning when Southgate does go, the replacement can just step in and go.

[JNLister]

I would love to see Emma Hayes get it, 50% for the job she'd do and 50% for the gammon-triggering.