Final: England v Italy (In London, England)

[Uppercut]

Thinking more about the game and I'm remembering some analysis of 3-5-2 that said the key is making sure the wing backs don't get pegged back. I think back to when England had good spells and it was always when one of the full backs, usually Shaw, managed to get forward.

I ragged on the players for not controlling the game, but I hadn't realised quite how defensive a selection it was. 7 defensive players plus Mount, Sterling, and Kane. It's just not a lineup designed to keep the ball or create lots of chances. I thought Kane actually had a good game dropping deep but there wasn't a lot going past him.

 

[Pothas]

I know everyone now rates Mount very highly but he did very little in this tournament.

 

[sledger]

Yeah he was very underwhelming. Today also really emphasised that England simply don't have a central midfielder who is just good on the ball and can float about and pass it around, and just take control of a match. They've got plenty of defensive, kick it and run, and attacking types, but no passing midfielder who's not a ball winner or basically just an attacker.

 

[grecian]

Thinking more about the game and I'm remembering some analysis of 3-5-2 that said the key is making sure the wing backs don't get pegged back. I think back to when England had good spells and it was always when one of the full backs, usually Shaw, managed to get forward.

I ragged on the players for not controlling the game, but I hadn't realised quite how defensive a selection it was. 7 defensive players plus Mount, Sterling, and Kane. It's just not a lineup designed to keep the ball or create lots of chances. I thought Kane actually had a good game dropping deep but there wasn't a lot going past him.

I think he had some moments in the first half, but went missing after that, it was a defensive set up but worked when Trippier and Shaw bombed forward, but they stopped doing it.

 

[sledger]

And yeah I thought Kane did fine today to be honest. Had the unenviable task of competing for the ball with basically no support about two absolutely fantastic centre backs who were all over him for the entire game.

 

[grecian]

I think Mount's energy and positioning is generally brilliant, but in the end too often he does little with the ball should have been taken off much earlier, probably for Foden.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I think Mount's energy and positioning is generally brilliant, but in the end too often he does little with the ball should have been taken off much earlier, probably for Foden.

Foden wasn't fit. But besides that, apparently Harry Kane didn't have a single touch of the ball in the Italy penalty area.

 

[Pothas]

Thinking more about the game and I'm remembering some analysis of 3-5-2 that said the key is making sure the wing backs don't get pegged back. I think back to when England had good spells and it was always when one of the full backs, usually Shaw, managed to get forward.

I ragged on the players for not controlling the game, but I hadn't realised quite how defensive a selection it was. 7 defensive players plus Mount, Sterling, and Kane. It's just not a lineup designed to keep the ball or create lots of chances. I thought Kane actually had a good game dropping deep but there wasn't a lot going past him.

Yeah the wing backs are very much defenders as well, would always want one of them to be a naturally an attacking player really.

 

[sledger]

Yeah the wing backs are very much defenders as well, would always want one of them to be a naturally an attacking player really.

Probably should have been Saka, ironically

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah he was very underwhelming. Today also really emphasised that England simply don't have a central midfielder who is just good on the ball and can float about and pass it around, and just take control of a match. They've got plenty of defensive, kick it and run, and attacking types, but no passing midfielder who's not a ball winner or basically just an attacker.

I've heard that in England they tend to make technically talented players into attackers at an early age, whereas other countries do the opposite. In Spain they tried to make Iniesta into a DM the whole time he was a teenager.

If you could swap one player to change the result it would be Jorginho. He's not in the same league as the last generation of game-running passing midfielders, but having one in the side is just a million times better than not having one.

Kinda the opposite of what I was saying about Rice, nobody likes him and casual fans think he doesn't do much but the teams he plays for keep controlling games and winning stuff.

 

[grecian]

I've heard that in England they tend to make technically talented players into attackers at an early age, whereas other countries do the opposite. In Spain they tried to make Iniesta into a DM the whole time he was a teenager.

If you could swap one player to change the result it would be Jorginho. He's not in the same league as the last generation of game-running passing midfielders, but having one in the side is just a million times better than not having one.

Kinda the opposite of what I was saying about Rice, nobody likes him and casual fans think he doesn't do much but the teams he plays for keep controlling games and winning stuff.

I think we are really trying to change that, and it is showing in results, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

My first post when the teams were announced was "Trippier for Saka is a bad start to the day". It looked like a master stroke after two minutes, but after 20 minutes it turned into a back 8 with Kane coming deep.

 

[Furball]

And yeah I thought Kane did fine today to be honest. Had the unenviable task of competing for the ball with basically no support about two absolutely fantastic centre backs who were all over him for the entire game.

Didn't help that Pickford spent the entire second half launching it over his head either.

 

[Teja.]

Pickford makes some great saves but is so jammy. He’s like one of those slip fielders who takes incredible backward flying one hand catches once in a while which dominate the memory (especially of the commentators) but also quietly drops a routine catch every 3 innings.

Tbf, I’m probably being a bit harsh on him.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Distribution is a major part of being a keeper at the top level in the current era, and Pickford is terrible with the ball at his feet.

 

[Uppercut]

Pickford makes some great saves but is so jammy. He’s like one of those slip fielders who takes incredible backward flying one hand catches once in a while which dominate the memory (especially of the commentators) but also quietly drops a routine catch every 3 innings.

Tbf, I’m probably being a bit harsh on him.

He'd been a really poor keeper for years. This tournament is by far the best I've ever seen him play.

His long kicking is presumably a tactical choice from the team as a whole. They don't immediately spread out when the keeper has the ball the way Italy do.

 

[Teja.]

He'd been a really poor keeper for years. This tournament is by far the best I've ever seen him play.

His long kicking is presumably a tactical choice from the team as a whole. They don't immediately spread out when the keeper has the ball the way Italy do.

Surely England must have a better keeper than him?

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Surely England must have a better keeper than him?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

On the bench we had Aaron Ramsdale and Sam Johnstone.

 

[OverratedSanity]

England not being able to create anything on the counter all game after they went ahead was pretty bad.