The Gamers Arms

England in its usual top form I see.....

Just the usual delusions of grandeur.

That was something I was thinking about. Why the hell do folks get so bloody excited about England playing in major competitions? We are shit, perennial underachievers. England can always be relied upon to turn in a lacklustre performance with very little to excite anyone - and that's going back as far as I can remember.

Fuck me, fantastic games tonight! 14 goals so far!

[edit] wow! fucking wow!

Yet another powerful and emphatic win, not a goal conceded the whole tournament. Strong, integrated teamwork that goes through to the whole squad, brilliant. 2 games away guys!

This morning I was overcome by a funny feeling that we might go all the way this time. Denmark have surprised everyone, but on paper we're stronger. Then it would be Spain or Italy in the final, which would be a toughie but we seem to have found some tournament nous this year, so will be interesting to see how far that takes us.

What a tense game! We deserved a third goal on balance, we wore them out in the end, and the key structure that has got us through - interception and calm passing, keeping the ball - although slightly pressured tonight, bled enough energy to give us the edge. Sterling has been a terrier this tournament, energy and contribution through the full length of a game.

Well deserved praise for Gareth and how he's managed and persevered, just hope they can get their energy back for Sunday. Italy are beatable, they were slightly more open than Spain, so it should be a good game if we can get our defense on top form to defeat their breaks.

It's coming home!

Amazing. First time in my lifetime (and I presume for almost everyone on this forum) that we reached the final of a football tournament.

Yep, my dad was around the age of my eldest child the last time England made a final

.....and so the wait continues

It was a good game to be fair. England just never pressed any advantage after that early goal and by the second half Italy were so dominant with consistent attacks.

I can't stand loudmouth England fans or football culture but the team did us proud this year.

Mantis wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 11, 2021 11:46 pm

It was a good game to be fair. England just never pressed any advantage after that early goal and by the second half Italy were so dominant with consistent attacks.

I can't stand loudmouth England fans or football culture but the team did us proud this year.

I agree with everything there. The team did really well but Italy just ground them down.

Now though, I am just waiting to read what hideousness happened around the country and to the Italy fans leaving Wembley.

Southgate just let the game drift away from us due to his conservative nature, many parallels with the semi-final defeat in the World Cup to Croatia. Disappointed that we let such a good chance slip by us, on the night Italy were not massively superior to us. Can't see much changing in the World Cup unless Southgate learns to be less cautious.

DjchunKfunK wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:29 am

Southgate just let the game drift away from us due to his conservative nature, many parallels with the semi-final defeat in the World Cup to Croatia. Disappointed that we let such a good chance slip by us, on the night Italy were not massively superior to us. Can't see much changing in the World Cup unless Southgate learns to be less cautious.

This. I was pleasantly surprised by how good we looked in the first half, then we were passive and shite in the second. We had the players on the bench to take things to Italy, but as so often in the past we tried to play it safe and it ended up costing us.