Euro 2024

[Durhamfootman]

and doesn't end up anywhere near Newcastle

[Durhamfootman]

King of Spain has had a good day. I think he was at the Wimbledon final earlier

[Gingerfinch]

Absolutely gutted. I really thought we would somehow win tonight but not to be. The best team won!

[sussexpob]

I thought we gave knighthoods to people who won famous battles, not lost them?

Poor Nelson may have well just not bothered heroically getting shot at Trafalger. Just played out some insane tactic then surrendered....

He'd be alive and "Sir Horatio"...

[sussexpob]

Can imagine the Inscription in the Knighthood museum in 200 years...

Sir Horatio Nelson.... Continued to lead his vastly outnumbered fleet to a famous victory against Spain and France even after being shot through the shoulder with the bullet lodged in his spine ..

Sir Garerh Southgate.... Beat Switzerland and Colombia on penalties in games we played naff in despite being 2/7 favourites at the bookies.

[Durhamfootman]

the various reports today suggest that this was a reversion to type for Southgate. Defence, defence, defence, cede possession and only have a bit of a go if you're behind. I'm glad I didn't watch it. This group of players are much better than that and the sooner Southgate disappears, with his shiny star on his chest, the better, if you ask me

[Durhamfootman]

maybe he'll stand as a conservative candidate at the next GE

[Durhamfootman]

it'll be interesting to see if Kane starts the season for Bayern from the off. He must be carrying something to be as slow and as poor as he has been this tournament

[sussexpob]

the various reports today suggest that this was a reversion to type for Southgate. Defence, defence, defence, cede possession and only have a bit of a go if you're behind. I'm glad I didn't watch it. This group of players are much better than that and the sooner Southgate disappears, with his shiny star on his chest, the better, if you ask me

Spain started brightly for 10 odd minutes, but after that it was like watching the football equivalent of the Battle of the Somme, with neither team really showing any quality.

After the break, Spain came and put their foot down, and England conceded. Spain then sat back a little and there was a very brief period to the goal and after from England where they caught Spain for 5 odd minutes on the back foot. After that Spain woke up, and the goal was coming by the time it came.

So yeah, another game where we struggled to really do much. The goal from Palmer was an excellent finish but it was a hit from outside the box and not really a chance as such. After that we had one corner that Rice/Guehi should have buried at the end, but nothing else.

Eseentially we created 2 chances when already down. And nothing when the match was equal.

[sussexpob]

This group of players are much better than that and the sooner Southgate disappears, with his shiny star on his chest, the better, if you ask me

Refused to be committed on his future. My guess is the FA will have to drag him out the job with his fingernails embedded in the wall. Where else would an amateur manage get paid millions and be celebrated for winning nothing ? He's mad for quitting the job if you ask me, and I can guarantee you the FA will offer him a new deal.

I'd be absolutely amazed if hes not in charge next game.

[sussexpob]

I guess the annoying thing is, I see lots of people who proclaim Southgate a great manager also excusing our latest non-arrival in a game as acceptable based on the fact Spain are such a great team, and its obviously understandable we lost to them, so not Southgate's fault.

Unai Simon was up for a free transfer this year, but just signed a 5 year deal at a team in Spain who mostly finish in the 5th to 12th range in the league and never win anything. He's not a top rates keeper (nor a bad one).

Carvajal has spent his career being a squad rotation player at a top club, and is nowhere near as good as Kyle Walker

Cucurella is cited as one of the worst transfers in PL history, is an abject failure at Chelsea, an has been dropped after a string of embarrassing performances.

The two Spanish centre backs are French players who accepted Spanish nationality to get football, because they were not even good enough for consideration in France's squads

Fabian Ruiz has played the equivalent of 10 whole matches in France this year.... PSG fans consider him unworthy of their team, and the midfield he can't get a game in is touted in France as the reason PSG cant win a champions league.

Rodri is world class.

Yamal Lamine has played 64 matches in a calendar year and has just turned 17....

Nico Willams was a hot property 3 years ago, but like Unai Simon signed a long term deal at Bilbao because he has flopped so far on his potential (4 goals as a forward in each of his last 2 La Liga seasons is a terrible return).

Morata has transferred 7 times in 10 years because he flops everywhere he goes. Chelsea paid a lot of money for him, and loaned him out 4 of the 5 years he was under contract. Never scored more than 15 in a season, which is lower than about 6 players in England's team from this year alone.

This was not a great team nor some generational talented team. They won the tournament because they had a manager who created a style of football out of underwhelming tools.

Worth adding the manager was under heavy criticism in Spain for the squad he picked and the team he preferred. He made ballsy calls based on piecing together a side that could play together.....

England on the other hand had at least 8 players better than Spain on the pitch, had a better bench.... played rubbish. Wonder why?

[Durhamfootman]

I'd be absolutely amazed if hes not in charge next game.

you see, I don't agree. The FA would like him to stay, but I think the crowd reaction in the Hungary game two years ago shocked him and prompted the 'won't outstay my welcome' comment. The beer glass incident shocked him again, because he doesn't understand the frustration of fans until it hits him in the face.... almost literally, and so I think he'll walk away. It isn't like he needs the money, after all. Besides, there will be some daft owner somewhere who will see 2 Euro finals, ignore his time with Middlesbrough and decide that he's the man for them. If that doesn't happen, or even if it does, the telly will throw cash at him for his insights into the process whenever England play football.... ITV would be my guess, because he doesn't like Shearer... or at least his missus doesn't like Shearer

Crikey, I hope the big daft owner isn't PIF. With a bit of luck daft turnip Ratcliffe will nab him before anyone else does. I reckon that's why ten Hag is still in a job.... keeping the seat warm

[Gingerfinch]

I'm a bit split on Southgate

One one hand prior to his reign, two semi finals since 1966, 5-6 tournaments we didn't even qualify for, turgid Football like in 2006 and 2010, not to mentions Roy's reign between 2012-2016. Group stage exits like in 1988 with three losses, consisting of a pre euro warm up against Aylesbury Utd, which was played as a confidence booster for Bobby's boys. Plus penalty shoot-out losses galore, including two on the trot to Portugal with our 'golden generation'
Gareth comes in and we have two finals, a semi final and a quarter final loss against France who were one decent finish away from winning the world cup. He's also been a massive factor in galvanising the team.

On the other hand. He has had nice draws, the Football isn't always the best and we lose when we come up against a good team. He also has a array of attacking talent that we've never had before.

A better manager would have and will do better but who? Potter? Not convinced. Poch? Possibly.

If he does leave then he would have done a bloody decent job and given me better times than Capello, McClaren, Roy and even Sven has.

[sussexpob]

Plus penalty shoot-out losses galore, including two on the trot to Portugal with our 'golden generation'

England nowadays have 7-8 teams in Europe in a year, the League cup nowadays has no replays, and the FA cup after certain rounds also goes straight replays, and the Community shield was changed from being shared to a penalty shoot out in the late 90s. English players nowadays will struggle to go through a top level career without having experience of taking a spot kick at some point in high pressure.

Contrast that to those days in the 80s-90s. Spot-kicks were introduced in 1970, but tradition in England until 93-94 dictates unlimited replays in the cup with no shootouts. England were banned from European football after Heysel, and in the early 90s when they got back in they only had 3 teams in the competition. You cut back to 1990 or 1996, how many of those players had ever took part in a penalty shootout? Compared to a generation of German's who actually had because it was in their domestic cups and they were playing in Europe still.

Its beyond compare.

[sussexpob]

Either way, the penalty shoot out thing I guess is another amusing example of Southgate as a manager. After the Switzerland game, much was made of the "Pickford bottle" and Southgate claimed credit for their planning being a reason why they win penalty shootouts.

Interestingly I seen Jose Mourinho talk about this very subject a few weeks ago. He said that he had lost a lot of penalty shootouts in his career and sought opinion from all the world's top data analysts on the matter of how they could number crunch to his teams advantage. After doing extensive research with all the best experts, he says the unanimous opinion in football was you simply couldn't do it and that no team at the high end of football attempts to predict what is a coin flip. Teams that had tried to use data tended to always lose, because you are reacting to data and not watching where the keeper or penalty taker is shaping.

Essentially, Mourinho said winning or losing a shootout is down to pure luck. No amount of data, research, practice or psychology work to prepare players has any provable effect outcome other than a casual link to increased odds of failure.

But yeah.... Southgate cracked it. Him and his coach from Hyde United know better than all the data experts working for Real Madrid. After all, what have Real Madrid won compared to Southgate's finishing "19th but not last" PL trophy?