It was coming towards injury time in ET so even though Italy were still pressing there wouldn’t have been enough time. One of last plays of 120 mins was a corner to Italy that Florennzi won.This allowed the 2 to come on and Henderson one of those to come off. I was thinking Southgate may have had a bit of buyers remorse making those subs when he did as Henderson would be organising at corners and they were exposed.
They had way more shots - a lot of them speculative - very few clear cut chances because to be fair to England, they defended really well
This bit here is important. Italy are a tournament team, a country with a deep and ingrained knowledge of what it takes to win when they are in at the business end of a championship. England aren’t. That matters in games like these. England have as much big game experience as Croatia. They might build on that if they get to another final soon, but it’s hard to see a tournament falling their way as well as this one for a while - the draw, the home games, the home support, the lack of injuries to key players.
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Pickford must be an absolute disaster and pain in the hole for any defender to have behind them, the cunt is forever mouthing away and it’s not in a leadership type of way in marshalling his defence it’s just screeching away and you would be shitting yourself every time you had to play the ball back to him.
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So Italy have just the 4 world cups, 2 European cups and 1 world war then?
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Italy are the masters of managing a game, the absolute masters of it. Spain have learned to do it in a different way by taking the ball away from you.
Jorginho recognized what was happening around him and took a knee, you wouldn’t see Rice or Phillips doing it - there is something very individual about the English team.
Compared to Italy - Chiellini would make a block and the back 5 would be over congratulating him. Constant reinforcement of the unit, the collective. Guardiola is always at that, always emphasizing it.
With English managers and soccer in general, each player seems to be an island.
Don’t forget the bullshit VAR call too!
Chiesa worked some good openings. He forced a good save from Pickford in 2nd half cutting in that lead to the corner. His direct running was a thorn for England all night. He had a very good effort in first half as well that had Pickford beaten all ends up. Italy should have won it in ET when Emerson got better of Walker and played a wonderful ball across to Bernedeschi which just needed a touch. England parked the bus. I think it was always just a matter of time before Italy broke them down. I was very impressed with bravery of Italian players. Veratti could have got a serious bang with header that Pickford saved. There was a ball over top and one of subs only had eyes for it even though advancing Pickford could have flattened him. I hate the saying they wanted it more but I think they were just prepared to go the extra mile last night. Very deserving winners and it would have been a travesty had they lost.
They defended fairly well. It’s easier to defend if you’re playing a back 5 with 2 holding midfielders sitting right in front of them for most of the game. That was their game plan all tournament. You could argue Italy defended much better by playing the game in England’s half. Ultimately the better team won.
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Q.E.D
A great end to a fantastic tournament. It would only have been better if Ireland were there winning moral victories all over Europe
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Chiellinis situational awareness is his greatest asset. The ball he cut out he sniffed out danger a mile away. The Donnoruma save from Kanes cross where Stones was waiting I noticed Chiellini eyes wide open knowing where the ball was and what was behind him.
Fuck off Anders
Didi said on RTÉ that Sancho has taken penalties for Dortmund
In the modern game, trying to hang onto a one goal lead from a long way out is a very bad idea. The pace of football is ever increasing and the amount of goals is going up. You need to have that attacking outlet at all times.
England’s style is based on either killing a team by early in the second half as they did to Ukraine and Sweden in 2018 or eking a result out of a level game in the second half as they did against Croatia and Germany. But they are not good enough to defend a one goal lead from a long way out – and scoring early does not suit them – because if they can’t get a second goal, they start falling very deep and an equaliser almost becomes an inevitability, then the team who has equalised has the initiative and the psychological momentum. They nearly got caught in this manner against Colombia in 2018, and were caught out by Croatia. Last night was very similar to the way the game against Croatia in 2018 evolved.
Even Italy, who are supposedly the masters of defending a lead, couldn’t do it against Spain, and were extremely lucky to hang onto their lead against Belgium. France and Spain both gave up two goal leads by falling back.
This trend has accelerated in big Champions League matches too in recent years. Comebacks are now commonplace. Atletico Madrid’s style doesn’t work any more in the Champions League. Argentina did manage to dig it out the other night but had to engage in some serious shithousery and required a good deal of luck to do so. Belgium saw it out against Portugal but were even luckier.
He has taken a couple. Didi seemed to suggest he had been taking them all season which isn’t the case I don’t think.
Team of the tournament
Donnarumma
De Lorenzo, Bonucci, Kjaer, Shaw
Veratti, Jorginho,
Sterling, Chiesa, Dolberg,
Schick
Player of the tournament: Donnarumma
Can’t have both Italian midfielders after the schooling Biscuits and Koke gave them …Rice and Philips ran through them for 60 minutes yesterday too
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Who will deliver the trophy to the plinth at the final in 3 years time like Eder. Donnorumma or Bonucci. I thought it was a lovely addition.
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I thought both of them were brilliant yesterday in the match that mattered.
Rice and Philips got in their faces but they held the ball each time and kept possession.