Final: England 1-2 Spain

[Bizza]

Starting to feel like I'm never going to see a team I support win a major cup final, 5 now between Newcastle & England.

 

[Heron]

12 minutes ago, Bizza said:

Starting to feel like I'm never going to see a team I support win a major cup final, 5 now between Newcastle & England.

 

Had this discussion tonight too.

 

Our time will come my friend. Never despair.

[Anderson]

2 minutes ago, Heron said:

Had this discussion tonight too.

 

Our time will come my friend. Never despair.

Had a similar discussion, albeit prematch. Rather break the duct with Newcastle. When the dust settles, give a fuck about England really. Can laugh about tonight, be inconsolable if it was Newcastle.

[Big Geordie]

If Gallagher played for us, he'd be nowhere near this England squad.

 

BTW - was talking with Jack Charlton's son, John on Sat dinnertime. We agreed that the England team has looked unbalanced all tournament and he felt that Southgate has been pressurized by the media/FA (in the main) to fit certain players into the side, at the expense of the overall team. Told me a story that when Jack was called up for the WC squad in 66 (aged 29 I think), his dad asked Alf Ramsey as to why he had picked him, when there was other 'better' players available. Ramsey said that he wanted to play a certain way and Jack fitted into that.  Ramsey also made a big call that tournament in not putting Jimmy Greaves back into the side  - playing Geoff Hurst instead. As they say - the rest is history.

 

Big name players are being shoehorned into this side at the expense of the team. But it's probably always been that way in recent times.

 

 

Edited July 15 by Big Geordie

[Disco]

2 minutes ago, Anderson said:

Had a similar discussion, albeit prematch. Rather break the duct with Newcastle. When the dust settles, give a fuck about England really. Can laugh about tonight, be inconsolable if it was Newcastle.

Same and England is an absolute need to watch out job to feel it properly

[Disco]

Apropos nothing Id amazed if a team that can’t keep the ball and kill games to get the opposition running about doesn’t win the next WC. Gonna be ludicrous temperatures across the board.

[The College Dropout]

3 hours ago, Wullie said:

I was delighted when Spain kept bringing on Real Sociedad players, fucking mediocre load of nowt, and one of them scores the winner. Fuck off.

A team that got to the last 16 of the CL.  

 

3 hours ago, triggs said:

Mad to win that many Champions Leagues while not being able to defend apparently

Also the only player of that group to start each of their 6 CL wins.  But Kid Icarus thinks he’s shit.  

[Pata]

Carvajal was so good today, didn't know he could be that good with the ball on top of being the usual terrier-esque nuisance defensively.

[Stottie]

Spain scored both goals from their left hand side, one with their left winger at the back post and the other with a dangerous ball from their LB way up the pitch. I don't think England scored from the left once all tournament. The Foden offside goal and the Kane missed header from the free kick are the only chances I can remember coming from the left.

 

I understand Rashford, Grealish, Chilwell etc. having difficult club seasons and the Shaw injury created selection problems for that side, maybe Colwill too, but the solution chosen was not a very good one. LW ended up as an excuse to crowbar another #10 in the team.

[ponsaelius]

Thing is they had stumbled on a kind of solution to the lack of a left hand side with the 3-4-3. That did allow Bellingham and Foden to both have influence particularly against Netherlands. 

 

I don't really understand why we got rid of that just because Shaw was back. Unless we didn't and they were trying badly to do both systems, which did kind of seem to be the case. 

 

 

Edited July 15 by ponsaelius

[Optimistic Nut]

Where was Saka for the goal by the way? He literally just jogged back and watching him bomb past him to put in a cross with no pressure. Very frustrating..

[Skeletor]

5 hours ago, Bizza said:

Starting to feel like I'm never going to see a team I support win a major cup final, 5 now between Newcastle & England.

 

 

Never gonna see a team I support perform well in a major final.

[La Parka]

31 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Where was Saka for the goal by the way? He literally just jogged back and watching him bomb past him to put in a cross with no pressure. Very frustrating..

He did it for both goals TBF.

 

 

[gbandit]

Worst international tournament I’ve ever seen

[Optimistic Nut]

5 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Worst international tournament I’ve ever seen

 

Aye it was shite. Don't think the 24-team format helps and I can't see them going back to 16. If anything I'd prefer them to just add another 8 teams so we can go back to two going through.

[RobsonsWonderland]

Do you pick the best 11 players and fit a system around them or pick your system and get the best players to fit that?

 

I think Southgate got lost between the two.

 

So many players out of position or playing a different way to their natural strengths.

 

When you see how well the lower teams cope by just playing as a team, you do wonder how we make it so difficult to at least achieve that.

[Lush Vlad]

This nails it, for me. Got me reinvested in England. Got rid of a lot of the negativity and noise from the media. Players seem a more connected and likeable bunch. 
 

But my word. The football is dull and also infuriating a lot of times. He has blind loyalty to certain players. I know all managers do this to a point. But it seems amplified with Southgate. The lack of subs at earlier stages or rotation so players aren’t gassed. 
 

He has gotten us further than any manager in my lifetime. So it is hard to give him too much stick. As plenty have under-achieved. But it feels like most of the while. We’ve had good runs in the knockouts against weaker teams. Then whenever we play someone decent. We fail. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Yeah, don't have any doubt he'll leave. But I don't necessarily think a new manager will do any better. Maybe in terms of style, but almost certainly not in terms of progress through tournaments. 

[samptime29]

Feel absolutely honking this morning. Hungover, didn't sleep well, feeling down and working 8am to 6pm today. Shite. Thanks England.

[Novocastrian]

5 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Yeah, don't have any doubt he'll leave. But I don't necessarily think a new manager will do any better. Maybe in terms of style, but almost certainly not in terms of progress through tournaments. 

If Southgate played a Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain etc. in last 16 or QF he’d be out, he’s done exactly what other managers have done but with incredibly fortuitous draws.

 

 

 

[The College Dropout]

Think English players are overrated but the manager didn't get the best out of them.

[joeyt]

How are we rating the tournament as a whole?

 

I think I'd struggle to give it anything above a 5 or 6 out of 10

[gbandit]

3/10

[RobsonsWonderland]

3 hours ago, Optimistic Nut said:

Where was Saka for the goal by the way? He literally just jogged back and watching him bomb past him to put in a cross with no pressure. Very frustrating..

Both goals...

[Infinitely Content]

6 minutes ago, joeyt said:

How are we rating the tournament as a whole?

 

I think I'd struggle to give it anything above a 5 or 6 out of 10

The trusty Eastern European and Caucasus lads provided the highlights in Romania & Georgia. I thought the tournament started off well for the first round of fixtures and became more and more subdued as it tapered down to the bigger nations in the latter stages. It's probably an indictment on top level football these days for me, fewer and fewer players are worth watching for individual brilliance and it's generally becoming less enjoyable - creating a landscape where a player like Bellingham who in my opinion is largely unspectacular is considered one of the best in the world and wins the biggest prizes.