UEFA Euro 2020 Round of 16 ** spoilers ** [26th - 29th June 2021]
- Thread starter explicit4u
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Don
The ref said he considered it excessive force, and I would imagine it was because of his straight leg (the argument being with a straight leg he can transfer his entire body weight into the lads knee with a forward lunge).
This has been the guidance to refs for years now, it’s nothing new.
Caporegime
Forward lunge? The attacker is the one providing most of the forward momentum, he runs into him. The defender has almost stopped moving until the guy runs into him. Why is the attacker allowed to throw himself into the challenge with no regard for his own safety and the defender gets punished?
Never said Sterling out, but Kane only did 10 good minutes once Grealish came on. If it wasn't for a late goal all the comments were on the money. Until then he was useless. As earlier post from a day or two back, there's no point persisting in playing him without people he can link with. Without them he's a dead weight. And our team is very light on those people. If Grealish gets crocked... but no fear, Gareth won't start him anyway.
England. Southgate. Mediocre squad. Biased ref. Take your pick, so many ways we could lose. We didn't, and that is good, but just being at home doesn't mean we auto-win. It didn't work that way in 96 sadly. I still wish Gazza hadn't checked that run before he slid in for the cross. And Sol Campbell's disallowed goal. I remember it all.
So, a few days ago I asked in this thread, if we win the tournament will it be thanks to Southgate or in spite of Southgate. Each person who replied said "in spite of Southgate" , is that still the consensus tonight or has anyone changed their tune?
I didn't see the post at the time, but to me the answer to both is thanks to Southgate. It's sad but true that most teams to win international tournaments (possibly with the recent exception of France at the last world cup and the Brazil teams of old) don't play the most exciting, flair football. Look at Portugal, Greece, even the three tournaments won by Spain effectively involved slowly passing the other team to death. Southgate is defensive and it may lead to us coming unstuck against a lesser side, but he gets that you need control to win a tournament, and we wouldn't have that by bunging all of our attacking players on at the same time, no matter how good they are.
I'd still say in spite of Southgate - recent events have forced his hand somewhat and those seem to be the elements which have elevated England from a (sort of) textbook but sterile setup to something more disruptive. I will credit him with seemingly to take a somewhat pragmatic approach and if cautiously (which probably has its merits) running with it rather than as too many of his predecessors did blindly continuing with ideology even when everyone else could see it didn't work.
Soldato
Yes, and very fetching it was!
They wear them in the AFL too, carries the GPS transponder between the shoulder blades which is huge compared to modern wearable technology. Seems a bit excessive in this day and age but there you go.
Caporegime
No. Nothing from last night made me think any more of Southgate. Its not like he engineered a masterful tactical display against a superior German side. Germany offered little, we still needed out keeper to make a number of good saves and Muller to have an uncharacteristic miss to win the game. He picked an uber defensive lineup that was going nowhere until he put the player on that he should have played from the start.
Just because he won doesn't mean it was because of him. As we said a few days ago, we have a cracking set of players here and he is barely getting a tune from them. The first half was embarrassing. We had our wingbacks and wide forwards in the same part of the pitch far too often and absolutely no one in the middle of the pitch. It was literally defence, wingbacks and wide forwards on the wings and Kane up top with nothing in between to link it up. He then waited ages to make a change to this awful setup.
The man is still a **** manager, he was just playing a very very average German side and had a far better set of players than them. Hes a poor mans Ole.
Agreed a win is a win but it was **** poor German side. Boring football with super Stirling scoring a goal, yet anyone else would have scored 3 and be more trouble. As for Kane`s goal well it wasnt magical and a sitter.
But you can only play what is put in front of you and it pleased the masses.
But you can only play what is put in front of you and it pleased the masses.
I wouldn't say they were that bad - thanks to Saka and hard hitting play from 1-2 others we managed to stop them settling in and playing the game they wanted and things just didn't fall for them on the night. They were however a very average German team - they've certainly put together squads who'd have been able to respond better to the impetus not being on their side in the past.
Caporegime
Germany right now are a very inconsistent side. The 2-0 defeat by North Macedonia was one of the worst footballing displays I've ever seen from a supposedly top footballing nation, but they were decent against France, if lacking in bite, produced a cracking display against Portugal, then ordinary for 60 minutes against Hungary before remembering how to play for the last 30 minutes. Yesterday, was neither the best nor worst I've seen from them. I think against most of the sides left in the tournament they'd have had a good chance; that they looked like the better side for most of the match is a credit to us.
Permabanned
Havertz, Neuer, Muller, Kroos, Werner, Kimmich, Sane, Reus, Hummels, Goretzka, Gnabry....bang average the lot of them. 
Just going intersect the people explaining how 4 clean sheets and win against Germany still means Southgate/England are rubbish.
I thought we had control of the game mostly. Both teams look pretty evenly matched once we settled after our hesitant start. For the first ten minutes or so England looked scared. After that there was good pressing from England. I think the defence for the first tournament in decades looks fairly stable. Really impressed with the back three, especially Maguire.
First half, some good chances from both sides and I really couldn’t call it. Second half I genuinely thought we looked more dangerous. That’s not to say Germany didn’t look dangerous, I think we just edged them going forward and our defence looked more sure.
Stirling played outstandingly well. Grealish made an impact straight from the bench. Pickford is incredible in an England shirt. Really impressed with Phillips again. Kane didn’t seem to drop deep as much and I liked that. Really pleased he ended his goal drought because if we can get him on form we will get more goals for sure.
As for Southgate, there’s definitely room to question his tactics and approach to games but I won’t argue with the results. The best thing about him is he has England playing as a group. There’s no ego on the pitch and they all genuinely look like it means something to them. I applaud him for sticking to his guns despite the incessant criticism from people who think they know better because they play FUT. He has a game plan and it’s working so far.
I think it will be another tough game against Ukraine. We seem to struggle breaking down teams who sit in.
I thought we had control of the game mostly. Both teams look pretty evenly matched once we settled after our hesitant start. For the first ten minutes or so England looked scared. After that there was good pressing from England. I think the defence for the first tournament in decades looks fairly stable. Really impressed with the back three, especially Maguire.
First half, some good chances from both sides and I really couldn’t call it. Second half I genuinely thought we looked more dangerous. That’s not to say Germany didn’t look dangerous, I think we just edged them going forward and our defence looked more sure.
Stirling played outstandingly well. Grealish made an impact straight from the bench. Pickford is incredible in an England shirt. Really impressed with Phillips again. Kane didn’t seem to drop deep as much and I liked that. Really pleased he ended his goal drought because if we can get him on form we will get more goals for sure.
As for Southgate, there’s definitely room to question his tactics and approach to games but I won’t argue with the results. The best thing about him is he has England playing as a group. There’s no ego on the pitch and they all genuinely look like it means something to them. I applaud him for sticking to his guns despite the incessant criticism from people who think they know better because they play FUT. He has a game plan and it’s working so far.
I think it will be another tough game against Ukraine. We seem to struggle breaking down teams who sit in.
^^^ No hyperbole in that whole thing?!?! Get out sir!
Totally agree though, especially with regards the Ukraine game. Whilst they weren't perhaps playing the best football last night, but they never stopped pushing. I think it's only a matter of time before the clean sheet spell is broken and for us to discover it may have done more harm then good, throwing us into a mad panic where we break down tactically.
Totally agree though, especially with regards the Ukraine game. Whilst they weren't perhaps playing the best football last night, but they never stopped pushing. I think it's only a matter of time before the clean sheet spell is broken and for us to discover it may have done more harm then good, throwing us into a mad panic where we break down tactically.
Football is ultimately a results business, Southgate is a negative manager but if that works then good, it won't matter. Just because we've beaten Germany, that doesn't magically make him great.
That said, there are many positive signs and we do have good squad depth, so hopefully we continue to do well.
That said, there are many positive signs and we do have good squad depth, so hopefully we continue to do well.