The 20-21 season football thread

tijuana taxi said:
I could stand no more from the lunatic commentator in the closing stages of last night's game.
Thought he was going to have to be taken away frothing at the mouth, just inane ranting.

Sunday should be an interesting match, hard one to call although I think Italy have the edge.
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Re the ref. As mentioned in my response above last Thursday it was Sam Matterface you heard and he's the commentator at today's final on ITV so maybe better for your sanity if you watch it on BBC where it will be Guy Mowbry and the pundit..Jermaine Jenas . Intelligent lad is Jermaine, always worth listening to his footballing views.
 
JohnC6 said:
Re the ref. As mentioned in my response above last Thursday it was Sam Matterface you heard and he's the commentator at today's final on ITV so maybe better for your sanity if you watch it on BBC where it will be Guy Mowbry and the pundit..Jermaine Jenas . Intelligent lad is Jermaine, always worth listening to his footballing views.
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I find Jenas VERY dull!
 
cambsno said:
I find Jenas VERY dull!
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I'd agree with that...hardly an extrovert.Sometimes he's with a commentator at a game and I find his input interesting .A dull monotone delivery, maybe but decent. I also quite like listening to Clinton Morrison. He's always very courteous. I don't like Chris Sutton ...far too acerbic. He presents 6-0-6 with Robbie Savage as you probably know. Infact, he's fronting the 5-Live presentation today which is why I won't be listening. He borders on being rudeness with callers.He'd generate an argument with himself, I'm sure.
 
JohnC6 said:
I'd agree with that...hardly an extrovert.Sometimes he's with a commentator at a game and I find his input interesting .A dull monotone delivery, maybe but decent. I also quite like listening to Clinton Morrison. He's always very courteous. I don't like Chris Sutton ...far too acerbic. He presents 6-0-6 with Robbie Savage as you probably know. Infact, he's fronting the 5-Live presentation today which is why I won't be listening. He borders on being rudeness with callers.He'd generate an argument with himself, I'm sure.
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Morrison can hardly talk.
I have come round to Richard’s though. The motd stuff he did with linekar and shearer was excellent
 
What a shame for Foden. Not fit enough to even bench.
 
Looks very defensive. Not sure I like that.
 
JohnC6 said:
Re the ref. As mentioned in my response above last Thursday it was Sam Matterface you heard and he's the commentator at today's final on ITV so maybe better for your sanity if you watch it on BBC where it will be Guy Mowbry and the pundit..Jermaine Jenas . Intelligent lad is Jermaine, always worth listening to his footballing views.
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I couldn't put up with another match of ITV commentary!
 
Sloppy match, my little flutter on Italy to win in ET is still on though [if I haven't just jinxed it]
 
Cagey75 said:
Sloppy match, my little flutter on Italy to win in ET is still on though [if I haven't just jinxed it]
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I hope you have. :beer:
 
Cagey75 said:
Well, we're in ET now so we shall see, it's only a small wager so I don't care too much, I just like being right :p

Odds were 10/1 - stuck a five on it
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You were right. Note to Southgate , don't let kids , who have been like a rabbit in the headlights for 2 hours, take penalties.
 
Someone said Southgate was a failure earlier on in the thread. I agree, He lost us the game.

We had done well to get here granted, but his big failing was using subs,

We dominated the game for the 1st half - excellent. So Italy decided to make some changes and affect the game. They did from 60 mins in. we did not react.

We left it far too late to change the game and were on the back foot from 60 mins onwards.

To put Saka on when Sancho was so good in previous game was crazy, He did nothing. To not put Grealish on till too late was crazy. To then make 2 changes with 1 min left was crazy, and expect them to score.

Overall disappointed. We did great to get here but let down with very poor game management from 45m onwards.
 
Thank god I didn't cash out my bet at HT which was Italy to win (made in the group stage)
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Why not?
They should have been fresh.
Rashfords penalty was hilarious
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Saka was on for the whole game and terrified from minute one.
Leaving him on was abuse.
 
cambsno said:
Morrison can hardly talk.
I have come round to Richard’s though. The motd stuff he did with linekar and shearer was excellent
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Yes.. Clinton doesn't have the best grip on grammar but he's very amiable and inteacts well. Not seen much of Micah so I did a Youtube just now and up came 4 clips on FB came up all with Lineker and Shearer He's a bit of a character isn't he. :D He really made me laugh...and them too. Larger than life. Give him a 10/10:)
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Why not?
They should have been fresh.
Rashfords penalty was hilarious
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When will they ever learn to just hit it...like 'arry. :) No room for fancy kicks. hop skip and a jump just blast it so hard that if the goalie gets a hand to it he won't be able to stop it. Having said that he, Rashford almost scored.
 
I’m gutted. We really should have done Italy tonight. Going direct rather than playing through teams with more pace really is an England curse.

We started going more direct more and more against Denmark and tonight almost constantly. Certainly played into the hands of Bonucci and Chielini.

I’m not sure we’ll ever learn :-(
 
cambsno said:
Someone said Southgate was a failure earlier on in the thread. I agree, He lost us the game.

We had done well to get here granted, but his big failing was using subs,

We dominated the game for the 1st half - excellent. So Italy decided to make some changes and affect the game. They did from 60 mins in. we did not react.

We left it far too late to change the game and were on the back foot from 60 mins onwards.

To put Saka on when Sancho was so good in previous game was crazy, He did nothing. To not put Grealish on till too late was crazy. To then make 2 changes with 1 min left was crazy, and expect them to score.

Overall disappointed. We did great to get here but let down with very poor game management from 45m onwards.
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I wonder if that was my post. I had said that a Middlesborough supporter calling 5 Live had said that he had misgivings about Southgate's decision-making when he (Southgate) was manager there and that he was very concerned about this game. He's been vindicated. I wonder if he';; call 5 Live tomorrow ? It was the 9-10am 'Your Call. I'll be listening to it tomorrow.

Absolutely agree with you 100%. He should have brought on some of the firepower he had on the bench. As you say, why leave Grealish on the bench until the last 20 minutes of extra time ? Grealish with his dribbling skills and penchant for getting free kicks changes games. I think he brought on Rashford and Sancho in the last minute to take penalties rather than expect them to win the game.

I'm sure the newspapers tomorrow will be very critical of the way he left his subs on the bench until it was too late.
 
Cockney said:
You were right. Note to Southgate , don't let kids , who have been like a rabbit in the headlights for 2 hours, take penalties.
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Not exactly, I predicted Italy win in ET, penalties don't count there unfortunately - so I lose too
 
I really thought when Belloti fluffed his that it was over there, didn't think there'd be so many misses/saves. He looked nervous and took way too long before taking the shot, called that miss long before he struck. It was just one of those shoot outs, who would make the most mistakes. Well done Italy, should have backed them from the start - I did chose them before a ball was kicked but I rarely bet on outright winners from the off. In saying that, I also thought France would be there in the final too or Belgium
 
"He's bringing on Rashford and Sancho for penalties!" :oops: :$ :thinking: That worked out well then. :( :D

Jorginho missing, after being hyped as the great penalty taker, gave me hope that we would have a chance in sudden death penalties. Alas, it wasn't to be. :(

Great to get to the final, a first in my lifetime so far, but they didn't really turn up for the final. :( Great goal at the start though. (y) :)

Sad to see England fans causing trouble pre-game in London. Wtf, who are they fighting! Scoop them all up and throw away the keys. :mad:
 
Saka looked like a rabbit in headlights for the whole time he was on. Offered nothing.
But play defensive and you deserve to lose.
 
JohnC6 said:
I wonder if that was my post. I had said that a Middlesborough supporter calling 5 Live had said that he had misgivings about Southgate's decision-making when he (Southgate) was manager there and that he was very concerned about this game. He's been vindicated. I wonder if he';; call 5 Live tomorrow ? It was the 9-10am 'Your Call. I'll be listening to it tomorrow.

Absolutely agree with you 100%. He should have brought on some of the firepower he had on the bench. As you say, why leave Grealish on the bench until the last 20 minutes of extra time ? Grealish with his dribbling skills and penchant for getting free kicks changes games. I think he brought on Rashford and Sancho in the last minute to take penalties rather than expect them to win the game.

I'm sure the newspapers tomorrow will be very critical of the way he left his subs on the bench until it was too late.
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It was my post,
tijuana taxi said:
Hopeless, Southgate wasn't a winner as a player or a manager.
Is he trying to bore them into submission?
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I don't think he knows what to do when Plan A doesn't work.
As I've said many times bringing on a sub with 15 minutes to go is Plan A+
Not impressed at all, no clue once Italy started knocking it about.

Can't really complain the best team in the tournament won it. Chiesa is excellent, takes people on and shoots on sight.
 
When we did that down the wing stuff Itlay had no response.

So we stopped doing it.

After that first goal I dreamt of 3-0 up after 30 minutes...
 
tijuana taxi said:
It was my post,


I don't think he knows what to do when Plan A doesn't work.
As I've said many times bringing on a sub with 15 minutes to go is Plan A+
Not impressed at all, no clue once Italy started knocking it about.

Can't really complain the best team in the tournament won it. Chiesa is excellent, takes people on and shoots on sight.
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That was it - bang on. Plan A is great when it works (and it did for 1st 45) - but then Manchini did what he is paid to do and made changes. We did not react. The game was there to be won but we went on the back foot from 60 mins on. Very poor subs at the wrong times. Italy were losing the game and turned it around.

Sadly, Southgate has shown this in the past, he is not learning. Far too defensive and sorry, we looked like we did not practice pens (Maguire aside, that was the best I have ever seen!) - those stupid run ups only work if you score!

Sterling played very well but tired should have been off earlier but as he was on, should have taken a pen.

Pickford, despite my thoughts 4 weeks ago was excellent again.
 
I don't think we will win anything with Southgate as manager, just not good enough tactically.
When the challenge comes in the big games he doesn't know what to do, similar to Keegan in that respect.

A different captain is also required, someone more inspirational and a defender or midfielder.
Need to be able see the game and be able to talk to the majority of the players.
Can't think of many successful teams who have a centre forward as captain.

Last night was so similar to the World Cup semi in many respects,
Watching the opponents coming back into the game with the inevitable equaliser or winner.
Game management is another term for go in the lead then get back behind the ball.
If you invite quality teams to come at you the result is always the same.

Incredible stat that our centre forward didn't have one touch in the 18 yd area for 120 minutes.
Half expected Chiellini or Bonucci to be alongside Kane when they spoke to him after the game.

Plus points for me was the performance of Declan Rice, looked really good at times
Shaw also played well especially getting forward and from the young players Sancho looked the best.
Sterling went back to his old self last night, one touch too many or overrunning the ball.
 
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Shocking (but sadly not unexpected) to see the 3 pen miss players have been racially abused - no idea what goes on in peoples heads to do this but disappointing to see. Hopefully some of these were stupid enough to use their proper accounts.
 
So, for two minutes England were great and I looked forward to more of the same. Then they went back in their shell. I really thought half time would bring changes - Grealish, Sancho, Henderson - but no. If folks thought Saka was like a rabbit in the headlamps, then what about Southgate?
Bringing players on to take penalties is absolute madness when they haven't touched the ball.
 
Cockney said:
Saka was on for the whole game and terrified from minute one.
Leaving him on was abuse.
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You were watching a different game then, Saka came on for Trippier after 70 minutes. I will again mention the "great white hope" Mason Mount, where was he during the game?

Taking off Henderson when you are going into a penalty shoot out, I can't get my head around that. He's taken penalties & free kicks for Liverpool in the past, and I also noticed that Sterling wasn't in that first 5 either.
 
Game was there to be won but Southgate lost it. Thought both Kane and Sterling should have been taken off and Sancho and Rashford brought on. Grealish should also have been given longer. To bring players on just to take penalties was madness. Some great player performances and some not so great. I’d have Harry Maguire as Captain as Kane is just nit cut out for it.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I wondered the same thing.
I know they're disappointed, but I thought that was poor sportsmanship.
They could've waited until they were off camera.....
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Seen other players do it in finals, just disappointment I guess.
 
Craig1912 said:
Game was there to be won but Southgate lost it. Thought both Kane and Sterling should have been taken off and Sancho and Rashford brought on. Grealish should also have been given longer. To bring players on just to take penalties was madness. Some great player performances and some not so great. I’d have Harry Maguire as Captain as Kane is just nit cut out for it.
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Maguires pen was probably the best I have seen!

But for a world class striker, who would get into pretty much any international team, to NOT TOUCH THE BALL IN THE PENALTY AREA IN 2 HOURS is shocking! I bet the Italians couldnt believe their luck. Sure, he can score worldies from outside the area but he will do a lot less damage outside the box!

Manchini is a proven winner - things not going to plan so changes it! Worst of all it was a repeat of 2018. I have no problem with making mistakes, but I do have a problem with not learning from them
 
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