ponsaelius

A lot of England squads in my lifetime, for all the talent in the first XI, didn't really have the depth that this squad has.

Got to say Wembley was everything I expected it to be. Organisationally excellent but I found the setting very soulless and sterile. Surrounded by empty flats, chain restaurants/cafes and chain retail - an extremely artificial space. A lot of it might be down to it being a major tournament and how tightly the branding is controlled - but the exclusion of scarf sellers, food hawkers, independent retail etc only exacerbated the soullessness of it all. This could and should be easily fixed. Don't get me wrong placemaking is hard - and football stadiums are particularly difficult to do from scratch because what's great about them (history, the nostalgia that goes with the setting, the wear and tear over the years) is basically impossible to augment. But it could have been better. The elevated nature of the stadium is particularly bad - making it feel detached entirely from the surrounding streets that have now been built around it. No way to just walk around and take it in. Poor glimpsed views between all the flats and buildings also make it hard to get a feel for the scale and architecture. This is like having the worst of both worlds - none of the closeness and relation to the city that SJP has, but also none of the 'landed spaceship' visual drama that some of the big out-of-town stadia have. Inside was better than I expected it to be considering how much I hate bowl stadiums. View was great despite being miles away - and it held the atmosphere well enough for a stadium of this type. Glad that I went there for a proper occasion.

Any trophy.

Yeah I'll be delighted if England won on Sunday, but it doesn't come anywhere close to Newcastle. Even after everything Ashley has done and how much more I prefer international tournaments in general to club football. I genuinely don't know what I'd do with myself if Newcastle won a cup final.

I think their subs were absurd to be honest. They were pretty much done after that. I think prioritizing fresh legs is a big mistake if you don't have the squad depth.

I really wasn't that tense watching last night. Was pretty confident throughout that we would win weirdly. Only the Germany game have I felt particularly nervous.

England can't do what Spain did in monopolising the ball though. Italy basically made a conscious decision, before the match and emboldened by the early stages, to basically give up on the midfield battle and play entirely on the break. It's easy to say Spain 'could have won easily with a proper striker' but if they did it would have been a totally different game. If they had an an outright number 9, or more direct wide players (rather than ball-comfortable attacking midfielders), then they'd have had far less control of the ball and the game. It's almost like nobody has watched Spain play at all for the last 15 years. Keeping the ball from the opposition is basically how they defend and cover any weaknesses in the back line. However it has obvious trade-offs in the forward areas. Both because it means the selected personnel in the team are not naturally ruthless in front of goal, but also because it means needing to play through banked opposition. This game will be much more cut and thrust.

Buzzing like. Delighted with that final match up - what I would have wished for before a ball was kicked and I do think the two best teams throughout the tournament. Think England can do it.

Thought Nikopolidis could have done better with that free kick like.

Yes probably. His loss has been Locatelli's gain.

He's very comfortable at Torino. And he's never really been good enough to justify the level of fee that Torino have demanded in the past. I think there's a chance he moves this summer though. Out of contract next year so the price has come right down. There's strong rumours Roma are going to sign him to replace Dzeko. I'm usually all for players staying at one club but in this case I'd rather he moved. Torino are awful at the moment and he's stagnating as a player.

Great night's entertainment. Could tell a lot of the Italians in the ground were second/third generation who don't speak the lingua - even with lyrics the anthem was strangely subdued.

I think he'll go back to a 3-4-3 again to match up tbh.

Well tickets for the England game are absolutely ludicrous prices. But the other one had re-released fan tickets that were affordable.

I got one this morning as well. Absolutely buzzing!

Never ever gonna have a better chance to win a tournament here mind.

Two big lads upfront. Nothing to lose so ganning for it. Could be a fun second half.

Hopefully a Schick brace so Ronnie looses his personal trinket.

Vertonghen will be 35 and Vermaelen 37. Alderweireld nearly 34. Unless they've got defenders coming through 'sorting out their CBs' will be a major issue.

I was 18 when I made this thread

I was honestly stunned when I heard he was gonna play like. He was crippled 4 days earlier.

Emerson is obviously not as good but he was the first choice left throughout qualifying and had a good relationship with Insigne.

Belgium have 3 or 4 genuine world class players but I'm not sure they have any god given right to be winning ahead of other big sides in the tournament. They're a small country and the talent pool only goes so far. They don't seem to have a left back in the whole country of international standard. The back 3 is ancient. Once you get into the squad players there's clear weaknesses in depth. It's a generation, particularly at this stage of their cycle, more akin to the likes of Czech Republic in 2004 or Croatia a few years ago. Martinez has done a good job overall and fallen short against very good sides. The big fuck up was Wales in 2016 when they still had Wilmots.

Forza Azzurri! Gutted for Spinazzola mind.