re: Match Day 7/11 England vs Italy Euro 2020 Final - 3pm EST BBC One/ITV/ESPN Italy Champions

England goalkeeper was very good today

He played well today. He’s the regular keeper for the club team I support (Everton). But that’s just his personality while out there. High strung at times for sure and can pop off a little too much.

Not sure, but no one really knows what happened behind the scenes. Sterling very well could have said no I’m too tired to take that or something

It was obviously a fail on Southgate, but c’mon, Jose is right.

And what’s Saka’s PK history? There is none.

Southgate blew it and Grealish/Sterling should have absolutely been adamant in taking one of those PKs.

Rumors that Pickford would have been their 6th PK taker? WTF

England has all the talent on earth to run a 4-2-3-1 at the World Cup next year. One of Rice/Phillips and for the love of good get a technical 8 next to them. I'm not sure who that is at the moment but man the negative football played by England and France is embarrassing.

England's attack is phenomenal on paper. Kane, Saka, Sancho, Rashford, Greenwood, Sterling etc.

That is a World Cup winning potential attack who will be way more experienced in November 2022 but the midfield and the regressive tactics are just woeful. Stones and Maguire is a great duo too. The pieces are there. It's the getting the ball from defense to attack without Kane dropping back to fricking defensive midfield to get the ball that is a huge problem.

I don't expect Southgate nor Dechamps to change.

That's why I shite you not, Argentina is the early favorite at the world cup next year for me. Obviously others will get better (ex. Germany with Flick)

Yep. That team just looks incredible on paper. I would swap Walker for Trent and we are cooking but of course Trent isn't defensive enough for some.

I've also read that Sancho hasn't played well at all in his England career but I'm just honestly assuming that is because of the tactics used by Southgate

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England has all the talent on earth to run a 4-2-3-1 at the World Cup next year. One of Rice/Phillips and for the love of good get a technical 8 next to them. I'm not sure who that is at the moment but man the negative football played by England and France is embarrassing.

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Southgate has to be more progressive. It was amazing to see a competent midfield duo in Verrati-Jorginho control the pace of the game like they did. Someone yesterday suggested that looking at the number of passes alone was a bad metric, or something along those lines, but what the number of passes does show is that controlling possession and being able to recycle the ball also works as a defensive tactic, and completely negated the ability of England to play on the break. What's intensely odd is that the last two generations of English players are perfectly capable technicians of the ball, yet they don't ever seem to have the desire to possess the ball in the international game. It is super weird and doesn't make any sense. Italy won this tournament having an incredibly "light" midfield with the classic destroyer coming off the bench, which should dispel the notion you really need "balance" in midfield in the way the English think of it. What I'm saying is that having Phillips and Henderson as a duo is perfectly fine, especially if that duo helps you possess the ball.

The problems were apparent in the Denmark game, as even the Delaney-Hojbjerg duo was able to work around England's duo, by just being patient and understanding where they would have overloads, namely when Damsgaard would come infield. I mean, having a direct winger like Sancho play from the beginning of the game, and get 1 v 1 versus Emerson is a battle that you would think Sancho would win more often than not. The sheer fact of Emerson's inability to defend caused Verrati to shade to the left inside right channel the entire second half.

It's just an intensely odd way of looking at the incredible technical talent you have, and deciding you need to play super negative in order to win. I can't understand it, and I just feel terrible for this English squad in particular, who has arguably the most technical talent of any generation of English players ever.

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Southgate blew it and Grealish/Sterling should have absolutely been adamant in taking one of those PKs.

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Sterling was never taking one unless mandatory largely because he is awful at pens, but also Southgate knows the media would never forgive Raheem if his pen was saved.

Grealish said on Twitter he asked to take one. He doesn’t even take them for Villa.

I genuinely feel awful for Saka and Rashford. Saka had brass balls stepping up in that moment and not being afraid of the moment. Very unfortunate it went against him. Same with Rashford. Dude barely played this tournament and is hurt, but stepped up. Hopefully nobody holds this against either of them moving forward.

Southgate should have used common sense and thrown Stones out there for it. Lad has ice in his veins and has a panenka on his resume.