EURO 2020 (2021 Edition)

he used the same tactics he used throughout the entire tournament

Didn’t want England to win but man that hurt to watch

I want to be clear, I only feel sorry for Saka (and ILX fans of the Three Lions)

You have to say, Italy did what is necessary in a shootout which is to make sure you put it straight down the middle at least once

He fucked up the penalty kicks not the game as a whole.

(xps)

Really though

I feel for the likes of Sancho and Rashford. Southgate basically excluded them from the team for the whole tournament and then just threw them into the biggest moment after being on the pitch for only a matter of seconds.

— TalkFCB © (@talkfcb_) July 11, 2021

I'm so relieved they lost tbh.. sorry England fans but the follow on from this would have been unbearable.

Have Gareth and Kieth ever been seen in the same room?

Get Eddie Howe in for the World Cup.

That Harry Maguire penalty was a screamer though. RIP the goal cam

P fucked how Eder is going to be ritually bound to have to bring the trophy out at every future Euros until someone else actually scores a winning goal

I mean he could be 119

Maguire's was the only really great penalty.

Kane’s was ok too.

not going to watch the 2022 world cup so guess this is it for me and international football for 3 years.

Really though

🐦[I feel for the likes of Sancho and Rashford. Southgate basically excluded them from the team for the whole tournament and then just threw them into the biggest moment after being on the pitch for only a matter of seconds.
— TalkFCB © (@talkfcb_) July 11, 2021🕸]🐦

how many spurs players in the italy XI

Great achievement by Italy to win a tournament where they were playing with 10 men most of the time. Immobile should maybe think about sending his medal back.

the emotional whiplash from Pickford’s last save to Donnarumma’s last save was brutal.

lol imagine if they'd let baddiel & skinner sing their fucking song before the game

they should make them sing it now imo

So, is that *it* for “three lions”?

I mean, World Cup next year, is it going to be “its coming home” again? I don’t think so…

Sadly...

any women in east London worried about DV tonight DM me we give u an alibi to stay at ours and join for afters (obv we have limited space but if any other women can offer same safe space pls do)

— Kate Flood (@KateFlood) July 11, 2021

Xp They have a bunch of good young attacking players they may or may not be able to resist the temptation to eat

the first thing we need to drop is three lions, the second sweet fucking Caroline, the third the majority of the pundits, commentators and fans. the boys on the pitch are the only real bright spot

Mamma Mia! pic.twitter.com/xW2DAbvFLJ

— Sanitayyyry Nap-ah-time (@SanitaryNaptime) July 11, 2021

Really feel for Sancho and Saka. Southgate said the choices were based on their practicing sessions, hmm

Rashford has at least scored his previous shootout pens, he'll be fine.

Not too fussed otherwise, enjoyed the progress but Italy were better and deserved that.

Ive zero idea why youd of all things do the pogba runup unless you really, really needed the hassle

England just lost the euro 2020 final against Italy on a penalty shoot out, nothing has changed then!

— Cameron (@lawseyitfc) February 22, 2013

Missed three this time so he doesn't know shit

racism already off the charts, fuck this country so much

p good tourney as a whole. italy mostly good but a team winning the trophy but only managing to draw their semi and final is a bit underwhelming tho i do think it would have been more convincing but for the injury to their lb and their route to the final was tougher.

england's defence had a much better tournament than i expected but the double pivot both helped that and hindered their attacking play. harry maguire good throughout.

was fine with saka taking a pen tbh all this 'he's only young let's protect him' is bs, if he's been better than the majority of his teammates in training and wanted to take one i don't see the problem. bbc going on and on about italy's wiliness and experience a bit weird when they are essentially referencing 2 players, not like the whole team was old. the goalie is 22 ffs.

loved chiesa and pedri and olmo this tournament.

was fine with saka taking a pen tbh all this 'he's only young let's protect him' is bs, if he's been better than the majority of his teammates in training and wanted to take one i don't see the problem.

Him going last though? If he had gone first or second that would have made more sense with Kane going 4th or 5th

And Henderson coming off? Earlier this year he was grabbing the ball off Calvert-Lewin for a penalty when it didn't count but didn't want any part of these

You know it's bad when Boris is forced to pretend he cares about racism:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/12/fa-condemns-racist-abuse-england-players-social-media-euro-2020-final

xp
should always order yr pen takers best-to-worst imo. who knows if it goes to the 4th or 5th one. michael owen was 18 when he scored in shootout vs argentina iirc. enrique 'protected' pedri by not having him takeone vs switzerland and italy but maybe he would have scored. nb i have no idea if pedri is any good at pens.

bbc going on and on about italy's wiliness and experience a bit weird when they are essentially referencing 2 players, not like the whole team was old. the goalie is 22 ffs.

Yes, this was irritating but pundits falling back on stereotypes and cliches is par for the course.

Henderson was taken off. He would've put his hand up, and he would've missed because he's BAD penno taker.

True, but wasn't he taken off precisely so he didn't have to take a penalty? Which seems fairly at odds with what happened with him taking the ball off Calvert-Lewin in a previous friendly

Feels like the violence at Wembley at England's last two games is really being swept under the carpet.

No need to comment.

I said I wanted to take one!!!!
The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did tonight! But I won’t have people say that I didn’t want to take a peno when I said I will… https://t.co/3mBpKyMoUV

— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) July 12, 2021

So true. And yet, here we are.

I seem, in life, to have arrived at a feeling, that I didn't have years ago, that penalty shootouts are in a certain sense irrelevant.

They're a way of technically separating two teams who have drawn a match.

ITA take the trophy, ENG don't, and I regret that, especially because this is the only final of my life and I'm not sure there will be another.

But somehow fixating on the penalties seems like a red herring. In the football match, we drew with ITA - who were also, probably, better than us. Why were they better than us? That's what we need to think seriously about.

* Why can't we hold a lead?
* Why did we only have one or two shots in 120 minutes?
* Why did Kane increasingly see so little of the ball, and never in the box?
* Why did we have about 35% possession?
* Why did we, as so often, get gradually pushed back, unable to get out of our half, rattled by ITA's pressing?
* Why couldn't we, just as much, do the same to them?
* Would different players, eg earlier subs, have changed any of this for the better?

Those are the questions I think worth asking.

Mount had an absolute dud of a game, is the answer to a surprisingly high number of those questions

Eng were a lot better even with 30% possession in this than The lol Golden Generation. This is only their 2nd final in a major tournament. Holland have had four in a shorter period of time. Italy have had ten.

If Eng get into more SF and finals they will pick up another win.

Would've been weird for the 'host' nation to actually win the thing although perhaps that is due (won't be happening at the next two World Cups). Hmm where's Euro 24? Oh LOL

The Italians basically passed England to death in the second half and England couldn't hold on to the ball on the few occasions when they managed to get it. Having said that England still looked dangerous when they did get anywhere near the Italian area whereas I was having flashbacks to the more ineffective Spanish teams of old watching the Italians trying to pass the ball into the English net. Once Chiesa went off, Italy didn't present too much of a threat and it was about organizing the teams for penalties, Mancini did that adroitly but Southgate seemed like he hadn't really thought about it.

Italy were poor in the first half, the game was there for England but they needed that second goal.

Mancini did that adroitly but Southgate seemed like he hadn't really thought about it.

― Wouldn't disgrace a Michael Jackson (Tom D.), Monday, 12 July 2021 bookmarkflaglink

It was odd because I think Rashford was going to come on five mins earlier than he did? I would like to know more as to what happened there because there was thinking behind putting Rashford and Sancho for pens.