England

[jim mk2]

It's a Middlesbrough thing.... Southgate and Mowbray from the same stable

You can see why Southgate never hacked it really as a club manager. 

 

 

[roversfan99]

@roverandout I have never seen someone as full of outbursts and as irrational as you during England games!

The ref was a jobsworth but he wasnt against England nor was he worth a punch. And we saw the game out well in the end, that Italian side is not very good (as bad an Italian side as I can remember) but even with 10 men we saw the game out. 

I would likely agree that I don't see Southgate taking us to a trophy but how that result can seemingly heighten calls for his departure is beyond me. We know we will qualify as half of Europe does nowadays but that is on paper the hardest game in the group and we won.

 

[roverandout]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

@roverandout I have never seen someone as full of outbursts and as irrational as you during England games!

The ref was a jobsworth but he wasnt against England nor was he worth a punch. And we saw the game out well in the end, that Italian side is not very good (as bad an Italian side as I can remember) but even with 10 men we saw the game out. 

I would likely agree that I don't see Southgate taking us to a trophy but how that result can seemingly heighten calls for his departure is beyond me. We know we will qualify as half of Europe does nowadays but that is on paper the hardest game in the group and we won.

 

Of course he was against England 

[jim mk2]

2 minutes ago, Gav said:

Italy have lost for the first time tonight in 41 Euro qualifiers, England not won in Italy since 1961.

Trolling as usual.

Italy have failed to qualify for two World Cups in a row

Please stick to your area of expertise......Gareth Soutgate's "pumps"

 

[Gav]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Gareth Soutgate's

 

Who 😂

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, jim mk2 said:

Italy have failed to qualify for two World Cups in a row

Please stick to your area of expertise......Gareth Soutgate's "pumps"

 

It's an average Italian side but not a poor one

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

8 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I'll shut up now. Happy with the win just the shine taken off it with the second half performance 

Me too. If they were a good team they would have turned us over in that second half. I’d like to see the possession stats for that half. We couldn’t keep hold of the ball for more than 5 seconds.

I remember the last time we won there, Dougie ran them ragged on the right wing.

[jim mk2]

4 minutes ago, roverandout said:

It's an average Italian side but not a poor one

 

By past Italian standards it's poor. Mancini was complaining in the press this week about the lack of quality home grown players in the Italian game. The failure to qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups caused alot of anguish in the country and was masked by the Euro 2020 victory (which they only won because England failed to turn up in the final). 

Edited March 23, 2023 by jim mk2

[Dreams of 1995]

Honestly could have predicted the two posters to have said Italy are a bad side. It is just pure nonsense

The starting line up of the European Championship final:

Donarumma

Di Lorenzo Bonucci Chiellini Emerson

Barella Jorginho Verrarti

Chiesa Immobile Insigne 

Starting line up today 

Donarumma

Di Lorenzo Acerbi Toloi Spinnazola 

Barella Jorginho Veratti

Pellegrini Retigui Berardi 

Spinnazola is an upgrade; midfield is the same 

Pellegrini is the captain of Roma. Acerbi captained Lazio for years and now plays for 3rd placed Milan. Toloi is a stalwart for Atalanta, who are challenging for the Champions League AGAIN 

Retigui is a rising star that Mancini personally sought out to play for Italy. I don’t know much about him but he looked good 

The Italy squad is a good one. They brought on Tonali who is a rising star, bosses the midfield for Milan. Gnonto gets goals; Politano has been excellent as Napoli’s substitute striker and has a chance to win the champions league. Christante needs no introduction to followers of international football

In comparison we have Maguire who has played 8 games; Phillips played more minutes tonight than he has all season. Ivan Toney is our sub striker

The Italian team is not bad at all. That’s bollocks quite frankly. They are stacked with players playing regular football around Europe for the best teams. Today was a good win 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Dreams of 1995

[matt83]

As a side note how did Jimmy Floyd score a spot on the the England coaching staff. Had a double take at that. 

[roverandout]

38 minutes ago, matt83 said:

As a side note how did Jimmy Floyd score a spot on the the England coaching staff. Had a double take at that. 

Striker coach.  Don't think kane needs one of those

[Exiled_Rover]

15 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Striker coach.  Don't think kane needs one of those

You sure? The penalty miss against France says otherwise.

[roverandout]

Just now, Exiled_Rover said:

You sure? The penalty miss against France says otherwise.

That's nerves.  Maybe we need a psychology Coach

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, Gav said:

Reigning European Champions, what utter drivel. 

I think that's more our failings than anything to do with Italy.

I'm still not over losing that final - the biggest bottle job I've ever seen.

[roverandout]

According to talksport Alan Shearer never won a trophy 

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

No he didn't.  First half was perfect but second half he went back to what he does best getting rid of our attacking threat and defending which we are crap at 

I thought Southgate got it spot on. 

How did he get rid of our attacking threat? 

He got his tactics and subs spot on tonight 

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

I thought Southgate got it spot on. 

How did he get rid of our attacking threat? 

He got his tactics and subs spot on tonight 

Because he went defensive 

[ben_the_beast]

I think I was watching a different game to most people. I thought the whole thing was poor. 

First half we only crafted one chance from open play, only for Grealish to slice it a mile wide. Outside of that we got a scrappy goal from a corner after terrible Italian marking and a gift wrapped penalty, again from a corner. 

I totally disagree with all the superlatives about the first half. In my eyes we simply passed it around with zero intensity and never created any sustained pressure. Italy however were far worse.

Second half they upped the intensity and we couldn't keep hold of the ball. Which is no surprise, because as talented as some of our players are, non them bar the front 3 are agile, technical players capable of dropping a shoulder. Trying to tap it around our defense and a midfield of Rice, Phillips and Bellingham (who is phenomenal but still not of that ilk) was always going to result in us losing possession, as soon as Italy pressed us. 

We got the job done though. As poor as Italy were, it's still not an easy place to go. I just don't think that any aspect of the performance, even the first half was particularly good.

[jim mk2]

5 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I think that's more our failings than anything to do with Italy.

I'm still not over losing that final - the biggest bottle job I've ever seen.

 

Italy failed to beat North Macedonia to qualify for the last World Cup. The 2026 World Cup will feature 48 teams - will that enough to enable them to qualify for the first time in 3 attempts? 

There is no more damning indictment of the Italian game, which has been underperforming at both club and international level for more than a decade.

Remember, it's not just that they haven't qualified for the past two World Cups; they haven't even made the knockout stage since winning the tournament in 2006, having failed to get out of their group in both 2010 and 2014.

With Italy it's either boom or bust, and they're bust at the moment. A good win for England tonight but a meaningless list of players "playing regular football around Europe for the best teams" doesn't cut it I'm afraid.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Honestly could have predicted the two posters to have said Italy are a bad side. It is just pure nonsense

The starting line up of the European Championship final:

Donarumma

Di Lorenzo Bonucci Chiellini Emerson

Barella Jorginho Verrarti

Chiesa Immobile Insigne 

Starting line up today 

Donarumma

Di Lorenzo Acerbi Toloi Spinnazola 

Barella Jorginho Veratti

Pellegrini Retigui Berardi 

Spinnazola is an upgrade; midfield is the same 

Pellegrini is the captain of Roma. Acerbi captained Lazio for years and now plays for 3rd placed Milan. Toloi is a stalwart for Atalanta, who are challenging for the Champions League AGAIN 

Retigui is a rising star that Mancini personally sought out to play for Italy. I don’t know much about him but he looked good 

The Italy squad is a good one. They brought on Tonali who is a rising star, bosses the midfield for Milan. Gnonto gets goals; Politano has been excellent as Napoli’s substitute striker and has a chance to win the champions league. Christante needs no introduction to followers of international football

In comparison we have Maguire who has played 8 games; Phillips played more minutes tonight than he has all season. Ivan Toney is our sub striker

The Italian team is not bad at all. That’s bollocks quite frankly. They are stacked with players playing regular football around Europe for the best teams. Today was a good win 

They obviously have a number of players playing at a good level but compared to previous teams they are massively inferior and also aren't one of the best teams at international level at the moment, as proven by their inability again to qualify for the last World Cup. I thought it was very interesting that although 3 Serie A clubs are in the last 8 of the Champions League, there are only 7 Italians betwen them.

They still have a very canny midfield bur are lacking up front even compared to the team that won the Euros. Pelligrini is better suited in midfield, Berardi is nothing special and they are looking weak up front hence their desperate intervention to get an Argentinian to declare for them. Scamacca has struggled in the Prem and Gnonto is a player with a very bright future and I rate him but he is not comparable to our wide men. They miss Chiesa who stood out in those Euros. I also think they miss the experience that they have lost in central defence especially with Bonucci out injured.

That being said, to win in Italy is certainly an impressive result.

[roverandout]

12 minutes ago, ben_the_beast said:

I think I was watching a different game to most people. I thought the whole thing was poor. 

First half we only crafted one chance from open play, only for Grealish to slice it a mile wide. Outside of that we got a scrappy goal from a corner after terrible Italian marking and a gift wrapped penalty, again from a corner. 

I totally disagree with all the superlatives about the first half. In my eyes we simply passed it around with zero intensity and never created any sustained pressure. Italy however were far worse.

Second half they upped the intensity and we couldn't keep hold of the ball. Which is no surprise, because as talented as some of our players are, non them bar the front 3 are agile, technical players capable of dropping a shoulder. Trying to tap it around our defense and a midfield of Rice, Phillips and Bellingham (who is phenomenal but still not of that ilk) was always going to result in us losing possession, as soon as Italy pressed us. 

We got the job done though. As poor as Italy were, it's still not an easy place to go. I just don't think that any aspect of the performance, even the first half was particularly good.

Our first half performance was slick. We sliced them open.  We had 5 shots on target which suggests u watched a different game. Bellingham and rice were dominant.  

[roverandout]

Who would you take, prime Shearer or prime kane? Tough choice. Shearer was more dynamic whereas kane is the perfect all round forward. Personally I would take kane but Shearer pre first injury was something else

[superniko]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

England lucky to survive that onslaught. Southgate gets so many things right, but then gets alot wrong too. First win in Italy in 60 years though, so a reason to celebrate

“Onslaught”

They had 1 shot on target all game, and had a goal less on xG too despite the extra man for 30 minutes. Awful from Italy (and the ref)

Edited March 24, 2023 by superniko

[chaddyrovers]

49 minutes ago, roverandout said:

Because he went defensive 

Foden came for Grealish. 

Then Shaw got sent off so he subbed Foden for Tripper cos we need a left back on. Then subbed Saka off for James so he could move back 5 and move Walker into a centre back. Plus Gallagher on for Bellingham who was injured. 

These changes worked and Italy never created a clear cut chance and we stopped Gnonto having an impact 

 

[speeeeeeedie]

England were as good in the first half as they were bad in the second. After a nervy first 10 minutes England played Italy off the park. It should have been at least 3 by halftime. Grealish trying to be fancy rather than side footing it, and Phillips electing to shoot instead of passing to Kane. 

England lost the middle in the second half. Rice was worried about getting sent off. Bellingham picked up an injury long before he went off. Phillips hasn't played much at all this season and it showed. Saka was off it too. 

A first win in Italy since 1961 though. A good start to qualification.