Euro 2020 (21)

[Arthur Crabtree]

Terrible defending!

[sussexpob]

Sancho plays ...4-0 win.

Almost magic when you pick your best side. Played well. Ukraine were game with the ball, but defended like a pub team.

Still...can only thrash what's put in front of you

[sussexpob]

The most revealing stat....the four teams who played all their group matches at home made the semi final.

And England have two home games coming. Huge advantage

[sussexpob]

Completely separate note, but really loved seeing kane going over to shevchenko at the end and giving him a hug. Like a kid meeting his hero....one of Europe's greatest players

[alfie]

Can't complain about that display...

OK : Ukraine were , shall we say : a bit lacking in defensive skills... but it was good to see England actually putting their chances away. And still none conceded : couple of dodgy moments - even Pickford had one brain fade this time - but largely have looked pretty sound.

The combination of Shaw and Sterling on the left seems to be working well , no ? And indeed Sancho with a game under his belt adds to the options in attack : main problem might be deciding who to start in the semi...

Denmark will be a more serious test of course. But so far , so good.

[bigfluffylemon]

Well, that could have been worse.

Shaw has had quite the tournament, hasn't he? And Sterling. Hard to believe Sterling was questioned for so long in an international shirt. First back-to-back semis since 1966-68, England's biggest ever win at the Euros, first time we've scored 4 goals in a knockout since 1966. And an England record for clean sheets as well, I think.

[Durhamfootman]

The most revealing stat....the four teams who played all their group matches at home made the semi final.

I saw that stat, but Denmark lost their first 2 home games, of course, so home advantage didn't help them that much

I take the point, though

[Durhamfootman]

Well, that could have been worse.

Shaw has had quite the tournament, hasn't he? And Sterling. Hard to believe Sterling was questioned for so long in an international shirt. First back-to-back semis since 1966-68, England's biggest ever win at the Euros, first time we've scored 4 goals in a knockout since 1966. And an England record for clean sheets as well, I think.

First half I was getting cross with Luke Shaw (not as cross as with Rice and Walker, mind) for being too defensively inclined. His instinct in the first 45 was to go backwards... the whole team was. Comes out for the second half, gets forward, bang bang 3-0 job done. Great positioning, quality balls, easy goals... brilliant.

I've always liked Sterling. I think he's a terrific player. I'm not sure the questions you refer to had much to do with football. Papers!

[Durhamfootman]

4 past the Netherlands in '96, but not a KO, of course

[Durhamfootman]

Sancho plays ...4-0 win.

Sancho did well, but then so did Sako and I haven't ruled out Foden yet, so England have a wealth of talent to exploit out on the right

I felt a bit sorry for him in the first half. He kept making runs, getting himself into good positions only to be completely ignored by Rice and Walker who seemed intent on playing the chuckle brothers game.... to me, to you, back to the defender, back to me, to you, to me and back to the defender until we gave the ball away. He struggled to get into the game first half. Second half he did what everyone has to do when they play for England (even Kane) he came much deeper and got the ball for himself... cut out the middle men.

I commented on Walker's negativity after the last game and put it down to being part of a back 3, so when it happened again last night I did begin to wonder if the reason Walker plays so defensively was that perhaps he'd lost some of his speed, but then when Ukraine pumped a long ball over the top (and forced Pickford into racing out and fluffing his lines) he ate up the distance between him and the attacker. He was never going to get there, but it was like watching speedy gonzalez, the road runner and a drag racer burning rubber all combined into one, so it isn't that.

[Durhamfootman]

Second half was brilliant from England. First half they just sat back after the early goal and let Ukraine get back into the game. Ukraine had a few chances in that first half, but it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with England faffing about at the back when they could have been more dynamic... show a bit more intent. It will cost them eventually

I suppose they were trying to control the game, and not use up too much energy on what looked like a really hot evening, but it just gives heart to the other teams who end up believing that they are still in the game.

Second half was much better, so I imagine SG told them to stop faffing about and get out there and win the bloody thing, which ended up only taking 5 minutes once they put their mind to it

Still no goals conceded. Does that happen much with teams that reach the SF's?. Including the 2 warm up matches, that's 7 games now without conceding. The worry is that when they do eventually concede it'll be like Harry Kane ending his goal drought and they then concede another two very quickly

[Durhamfootman]

Mrs DF made me watch the match live (well, live-ish, I was on a 15 minute delay), because it was raining and I couldn't go down the allotment.......

and I didn't jinx it, so that's a bonus

[yuppie]

seems the secret is to watch it on delay DF

[Durhamfootman]

I doubt that will help on Wednesday, yuppie. The stars are aligned for Denmark

You can't beat karma, no matter how well you play

unless you're Italian that is

[Gingerfinch]

I was reasonably confident about the Germany and Ukraine games but not so much the Denmark one. Have the stars aligned for them this year? Lets hope not but if the do beat us, I hope they do win the final.