England - Lee Carsley Takes The Reins

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Still buzzing this morning. After 40 odd years of watching England mess up.every tournament, 2 consecutive finals is dreamland.  Even if we lose, it's better than usual! 

 

That said, Spain have played exceptionally well this tournament but we've nothing to fear.  They weren't pre-tournament favourites and if anything have over-performed. 

England have generally under-performed. 

I think we are better suited to nullifying passing teams, than those with big, quick players like France. 

Pretty optimistic tbh.  

Only downside maybe that Southgate will go to a back 4 so he can match Walker up against Nico-Williams. 

Big decision to make over Kane. He's stunk the team out so far. 

Come on England.

[roversfan99]

5 hours ago, roverandout said:

Also their goal shouldn't have stood after the foul on rice 

That was never a foul, it was just poor from Rice.

We were favoured by some terrible one sided officiating and I am all for it.

[DE.]

Think I saw on the BBC that Kane is joint top scorer with 3 goals and could get the golden boot if he gets a goal on Sunday. 

Probably says more about the tournament than Kane, but still, would be pretty funny if Kane walked away with the golden boot despite everything. 

[M_B]

2 hours ago, bluebruce said:

That must have been a shock to all the teams they played on the other side of the draw.

You're getting muddled, the original "draw" had us and France on the same side, we were scheduled to meet in the semis if both had proceeded as expected. 

 

[ABBEY]

19 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

That was never a foul, it was just poor from Rice.

We were favoured by some terrible one sided officiating and I am all for it.

that's 100% a free kick and yellow anywhere else on the pitch. Its been like that for decades on the continent . Raising foot been frowned on for at least 30 years.

100% pen , unless sweaties start and then I will be winding them up

[RoverDom]

At the start of the tournament our potential route to the final was Spain / Italy in the quarters and France in the Semis. It's opened up very nicely for us and I don tgive a damn. If you win the final no one cares who you played in the last 16

[Moptop1]

Let’s hope England give us something to cheer about on Sunday, because this coming season is going to be a nightmare for us Rovers fans!

[Eddie]

9 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

“Smart” answers don’t compensate for ignorance. The Dutch national team of the 1970s containing the likes of Cryuff and other brilliant players was one of the greatest teams to have graced the game. 

It wasn't ignorance, I could list every winner and finalist of the World Cup, but it doesn't change the relevance.

I don't consider Uruguay to be a great international footballing nation, but they've won a World Cup and lost in a final. That was before your time, so you probably don't add the same weight or significance to their success that you might to the performances from the Netherlands that you witnessed.

The Dutch team of the 1970s was certainly one of the greatest of all-time and they did a lot to help revolutionize the game of football with their approach, but it's long enough ago that it's purely historical.

I feel the same way about England winning the World Cup in 1966. Great for the history books, but not even remotely relevant to what happens on a football pitch nowadays.

The Netherlands, much like England, are a team that have mostly been living in the past for the last 3/4 decades. The Southgate era has been changing that for England, but the Netherlands have yet to have a true resurgence (one appearance in a World Cup final aside).

The answer wasn't meant to be smart.

"Age" doesn't always translate into wisdom. 

Edited July 11 by Eddie

[frosty]

5 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

 

They beat Georgia in the last 16. A side just happy to be there.

Then they beat a completely underwhelming France side in the quarters with a wonder goal and a quick fire second shortly thereafter which forced a France team completely devoid of attacking prowess (despite a ridiculous amount of talent) to attack. 

 

Germany in the quarters, France in the semis. 

[benhben]

Much better performance than any other game this tournament. First half apart from their one long range strike, we were all over them. The only downside was that we didnt come in at half time 2 or 3-1 up. The second half was tight as the dutch packed the midfield. 

I personally think Southgate should be brave and drop Kane for the final. Hes definately carrying some sort of injury. Hes completely immobile and innefecitve bar penalties. You dont score 40+ goals in the bundesliga moving as little as he is at the moment. Hes not even holding it up well. Given spain will have a lot of the ball and well have to counter attack more that suits Watkins far more than Kane. I doubt hell do this though. 

Edited July 11 by benhben

[chaddyrovers]

Delighted again and Souttgate us to another final 😉

Let's win it 

[Admiral Nelsen]

With the possible exception of Germany in the last Euros, that was our best night under Southgate. Bit of luck with the penalty, but a thoroughly deserved win nonetheless. Also it was against Koeman, so we can call it quits for 93!

 

This has been such a weird tournament. Southgate's tenure has basically been about making short work of beating the teams we should beat and then really struggling to get results against the better teams. So far we've totally reversed that, which augers well for the final. I've been really critical of the manager over a number of years but performances and results are the way to shut people like me up. Delighted that we've got another final to look forward to and whilst Spain have looked impressive, they're certainly beatable. A mixed England/Spain XI has plenty of our players in it. 

[TheRevAshton]

Come on England! Think there's a very decent chance, that it could in fact come home.

Spain have looked like the best team in the tournament from the start, but if we play like we did last night we can definitely beat them.

Will be over the moon if we win this, come on lads!

Side note: I'm still a little bitter that Wharton hasn't had the chance to show the world what he can do, I genuinely think he could have made a massive difference in some of the games... but it is what it is 🤷‍♂️

[Gav]

So much angst about this Dutch team in the lead up to this game, why I have no idea. I was always confident we'd beat them last night, we are the better side and of course we proved that and sent them home.

One of my worst moments supporting England was the World Cup Qualifier against Dutch in 93, Koeman freekick, taken twice, Seaman hopeless, England didn't qualify for USA 94. Well that last night was payback Ronald, its been a long time coming. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m8Q9drqJe0

Neville made a great point on ITV last night, nobody has more experience than Gareth Southgate in international tournament football. From his playing days in 90's, to managing the England under 21's and now the full side reaching another final, he's seen it all and its shown time and time again, he gets results. 

Nobody knows what will happen on Sunday, we have the players individually who can win a final, but regardless of the result, for me Gareth Southgate has once again proven the social media experts wrong and I'd be looking to tie him into the next World Cup campaign right now, as these players are his players and are to a man fully behind the manager, you can't buy that.

Anyone found any decent flight prices to Berlin for Sunday? 

 

 

[joey_big_nose]

6 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Lightyears ahead? One of the best in tournament history? No way.

They are a balanced side with a fearless young star getting the headlines but they aren't miles better than everyone else. They have an average keeper, a solid yet slow back 4, and a misfiring striker. Their midfield is very good though. 

This forum has been banging on about how England have been on the soft side of the draw, but Spain have had an easy ride of it too. Although their group looked hard on paper, it wasn't. Croatia still relied on 38 year old Modric and failed to get out of the group, and that was only because an awful Italy side scored a last minute goal to send them through instead. Albania had little to offer anyone.

They beat Georgia in the last 16. A side just happy to be there.

Then they beat a completely underwhelming France side in the quarters with a wonder goal and a quick fire second shortly thereafter which forced a France team completely devoid of attacking prowess (despite a ridiculous amount of talent) to attack. 

They keep the ball well and have finished their chances. England have nothing to fear.

Crikey, theyve won every game (never been done before) and solidly beat Crotia, Italy, Germany and France on the way. In comparison we've struggled through all games until last night ,and while we deserved to win against the Dutch they were in all honesty not very good compared to Germany, France etc.

Spain are a great side. We've always got a chance, but lets not delude ourselves that we have nothing to fear!

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, RoverDom said:

The striker position is the big question mark for me ahead of the final. I think it would take an absolutely gigantic pair of bollocks not to start Kane and imagine being the opposition and seeing one of Europe's best strikers sitting on the bench. 

But we scored the winner because our striker was the furthest player forward and making a run into the box. Had Kane still been on the pitch our striker would have been ambling past the half way line. Bellingham and Foden can occupy the space that Kane likes to drop into and one of Toney or Watkins can stick up top and get into the box. Also, kane is clearly not fit.

To be honest without even thinking about goals or even having the ball I think we need Watkins just for the pressing. I dont think we can afford to have Kane jogging around at 2 mph.

[Eddie]

16 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Bit of luck with the penalty, but a thoroughly deserved win nonetheless.

No luck with that penalty. It was absolutely stonewall based on how the laws are interpreted these days.

Neville and the defenders union can lament the fact that it is harsh on defenders - which it may well be - but that doesn't change the fact that it is consistently given as a penalty across Europe now.

It was reckless, it was studs up, and it impeded Kane's follow-through. The fact that no one on the ITV commentary team initially thought that it was a penalty shows that they probably don't pay enough attention to modern football. 

Zero luck. Penalty every day of the week until the laws or instructions given to referees are changed.

2 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Crikey, theyve won every game

*Sort of. They beat Germany in extra time, I'm not sure you can really count that as a win, although I know that stat has been bandied about.

[Dreams of 1995]

The talk of 'lucky draws' is all pointless. Just meaningless, crap pub chat that looks to play down a very successful England manager. We have consistently made the knock out finals of every tournament he has been in, with now back to back Final games in the Euros. People shouting about lucky draws are just sucking the enjoyment out of it for themselves

Southgate has managed to turn this tournament around. You'd have spent good money betting on England being knocked out earlier in the tournament. We were stinking the place out. But we improved against Switzerland and the first half of yesterday was as good as I have seen England play in a very long while. Foden looked dangerous and Bellingham looked like the player he sometimes promises to be

Koeman wised up in the second half and packed that midfield out. He made it more difficult to play through the line and it choked Foden out of the game. Perhaps the change should have been made earlier - the game was crying for the directness of Palmer and Watkins. And what a finish by Watkins. Real old school striker - one touch, bang. Kane used to do that but he's 100% carrying some sort of injury. He's half a yard behind the rest of the players

Some England fans have this habit of bigging up our opponents before we play them and then telling us how rubbish they were once we beat them. It must be an English thing - a bit of self deprecation. As though we can't just be better, we have to be lucky or they have to be rank poor. Not for me. That was a good Dutch side and we made minced meat of them. I had a feeling we would win because I think we are the best team in the tournament, even if we haven't been playing like it

Spain are a different animal. Rodri is one of those players that just never loses. In a way, he's like Bellingham, who seems to just be a lucky talisman for wherever he goes. The game will be won or lost on moments of individual brilliance. I think Walker will have Williams in his pocket - his driving runs are pointless when Walker can match any man pace for pace in a 1 v 1. I'd be going for Trippier against Lamine Yamal again. The fact he's a right footer may actually benefit him for once defending against Yamal who wants to come in on his left all the time. Spain will let us play a bit more - they like to press really high and providing we have the ability to beat that press, which we do, we should have some success running at what is a back line that can be really "got at"

[ABBEY]

bleeding hell just said on the radio, cheapest official ticket 2 chuffing grand. Working class sport ? how do people afford that 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Scores in my paper today -

Pickford 6

Stones 7

Saka 7

Rice 5

Foden 7

Kane 7

Walker 7

Guehi 7

Mainoo 8

Tripper 5

Bellingham 5 

Watkins 9

Shaw 6

Palmer 7

Gallagher 6

Konsa 6

I don’t where the 7 for Kane came from. Great penalty but that was it.

[Gav]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Scores in my paper today -

I'd buy a different paper.....

[joey_big_nose]

3 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Scores in my paper today -

Pickford 6

Stones 7

Saka 7

Rice 5

Foden 7

Kane 7

Walker 7

Guehi 7

Mainoo 8

Tripper 5

Bellingham 5 

Watkins 9

Shaw 6

Palmer 7

Gallagher 6

Konsa 6

I don’t where the 7 for Kane came from. Great penalty but that was it.

Wow, those ratings are very harsh imo, no way Trippier, Rice and Bellingham get 5s?? We weren't fabulous but definitely deserved the win and had a great first half.

[roverandout]

25 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Crikey, theyve won every game (never been done before) and solidly beat Crotia, Italy, Germany and France on the way. In comparison we've struggled through all games until last night ,and while we deserved to win against the Dutch they were in all honesty not very good compared to Germany, France etc.

Spain are a great side. We've always got a chance, but lets not delude ourselves that we have nothing to fear!

They got some luck on the way. The handball that should have been given to Germany.  The fact that mbappe was affected so badly by his nose injury.  They were fortunate not to be 2 down to Georgia at one point.  They have been Impressive but man for Man we have better players but they're a better team. It's a 55-45 game in their favour imo

[Mike E]

If we win this, where does Southgate sit?

1. Still not as good as Sir Alf, he won a World Cup.

2. Better than Sir Alf, he’s won a major international tournament AND has a better record of getting to the latter stages.

3. Right alongside Sir Alf.

Either way, a knighthood can’t be far away.

[roverandout]

He's for me the best England manager we've ever had regardless of the result sunday

Edited July 11 by roverandout