I’ll be along with the Eldorado & Scotsmac in a few.
You’ll know me…
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Can we imagine the debrief?
Disappointed yes, but in the second half Italy played themselves in to the game with more possession and chances… The best side won.
Rob
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Quite.
And if Marcus perhaps had spent a tad more time honing penalty skills instead of doing TV appearances, and not showboated his kick…England could very well have won. He’ll carry that for good though.
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In fairness, the goalkeepers and the penalty takers both showboat and use tactics, both physically and mentally to effect the outcome of the spot-kick…
Rob
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Just drove home, top down 11.45pm on a lovely summers night…i’ve never seen so many dejected and sombre people in my life, what’s happened?
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Penalties…
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Watched the game and yes will admit we’re Scottish but both my wife and I always cheer on England. Even though they lost (and only on penalties) they played a brilliantly clean game. Italy seemed to be using the fact getting a yellow card wouldn’t matter now, so seemed happy taking chances with some dirty tackles. The fact England scored the first goal of the game within the opening 2 mins was amazing!!! We were jumping up and down like loons! They can hold their heads high as far as we are concerned, they earned their place in that final and although didn’t win, in our eyes they were the better team of the two. Well done England on giving us a hella exciting game!
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I understand what you are saying but it’s still negative play and for me they repeated the same process last night trying to hold on to a 1 goal lead … a very similar pattern to the Denmark game where the intensity dropped when we were ahead and then they play better football again at the end of the match when the scores were leveled. Again I don’t really follow football and I’m not a million pound manager with all the stats and fitness details in front of me. Just my observations as an outsider the we seem to play better when we are attacking …
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“The party’s over, it’s time to call it a day,
they’ve burst your pretty balloon,
and taken the moon away…”
Cole Porter
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I agree, very noticeable in both matches.
Like you I’m just a fan watching on, can’t fathom how their minds work, how playing those tactics can win them the game.
Enough said really but one more anolagy from that game, experience is needed in times of high pressure, so why bring on your young guns to do a specific job, that job to take a penalty. It’s going to make them heroes or villains, in this case they’ve had other stuff thrown at them. Mr Southgate I think you got that one wrong, poor lads feel sorry for those involved in the penalty shootout.
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I watched it and hated the penalties. For me it negates everything that has gone on before. I think we did brilliantly to hold an arguably better team to a draw for 2 hours and that’s what I take away from it.
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That’s what I took away from the Scotland game…(well, 90 minutes in our case).
But at the end of the day, it counts for nothing.
My opinion, for what little it’s worth, is to keep playing until a goal is scored. Eventually fatigue will set in and a mistake will be made. Stops all the abuse against the poor player who drew the short straw. Gareth is still reminded now, which is ridiculous. Forget about it and move on…
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I agree with you… They used to use something called “The Golden Goal” but for reasons unknown to me dropped it. Can’t help thinking though, a penalty shoot-out is good for tv spectator numbers…?!
Rob
From memory, the Golden Goal experiment was dropped because, far from encouraging teams to “go for it” as they’d hoped, it led to ultra-cautious play with the ball never leaving midfield.
The law of unintended consequences strikes again…
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Yes. It was more important not to concede a goal than to score one.
Penalties are a lottery, may as well flip a coin.
I would prefer a replay, but that plays havoc with everyone’s plans and schedules.
But being Scottish, it is all a bit academic…
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After the obvious disappointment of losing in the final, Jack Grealish makes a young lads day… 
Rob
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Like in the Croatia '18 semi final,. Saint Gareth got the tactics all wrong for the Italy game too. Italy adapted to the the ‘wing back’ system in about 20 minutes. The wing back system under pressure resorts to being a 5 back system and the inevitable camp out in one’s own half of the pitch ensued.They (italy) made pro active and positive minded changes in play and personal, and it worked and Saint Gareth didn’t adapt ala the Croatia game, and played much of the game on an unadapted defensive. Deja vu. A brief change of with Grealish and Saka introduced some spark, and makes one wonder why it took so long.
And the tactic of bringing on two penalty takers with seconds left in a game.
And edit: I am not an armchair quarterback and I should be offered the job. But I’m too good for it.