Euro 2024

[17 stone giant]

31 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

Spain deserve to win this, they are the best side by a country mile. I mean, I'd like England to win it but if they don't then Spain are very deserving of the title .

That said, the semi final could well have taken a lot out of them and they might not be as explosive as they've been all tournament so far. But probably not. 

If they win the final they will certainly deserve the trophy, and it will have been a very impressive campaign.

They will have beaten Italy (albeit in the group stage), Germany, France, and one of England/Netherlands.

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, The Masked Poster said:

Spain deserve to win this, they are the best side by a country mile. I mean, I'd like England to win it but if they don't then Spain are very deserving of the title .

That said, the semi final could well have taken a lot out of them and they might not be as explosive as they've been all tournament so far. But probably not. 

Spain have to be hot favourites whoever they get.

That said, it's football and a funny old game!

[GeordieSaint]

Never a penalty…

[Maximus Decimus]

We're in an exciting game at least!

Oh yeh, never a penalty but definitely deserve to be at least level.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

Never a penalty but I'm not complaining!

We've been much better in this game. Much more direct, forward moving, pressing play. Really sped our game up. Depay going off can only help us as well seen as he was the Dutch's main attacking threat.

[Maximus Decimus]

For once we've been the better team. The Dutch look dangerous on the break and it's still only 1-1.

Gonna be tight all the way.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

YEEESSSSS!!!!!! CMON ENGLAND!!!!!!!

[Futtocks]

Left it late, but that's always better than never.

 

[EagleEyePie]

GET INNNNNNNNNN!!!! I said we'd get to the final by playing stinker after stinker but this was actually a decent performance against a team that was definitely capable of troubling any side. More importantly, Southgate made positive substitutions for once without waiting for something to react to and it won us the game! It seems like it's finally clicking for the players on the pitch and whatever was making Southgate overly cautious has disappeared. 

Like Leeds Rhinos in 2012 it's not how you start it's how you finish.

[Maximus Decimus]

Yeeeeeessssssssss

[17 stone giant]

That's what we've been waiting for. Finally a good performance. Mainoo and Foden were excellent, especially in the first half. I liked the change for Shaw at half time. Trippier had been solid but I think having a genuine left footer gives us better options. The other changes were a few minutes later than I would have liked (Netherlands had wrestled the momentum from us and were starting to look more dangerous, without creating anything clear cut), but I'm just pleased that they were made when they were. My fear was nothing changing until the 89th minute. I'm not going to give Southgate amazing credit for that though, given that everyone I was watching the game with also wanted those changes (or similar), and the ITV co-commentators were calling for likewise just minutes earlier. It would have been terrible management had Southgate not changed anything.

Overall though, that's the big win that I've been asking for. Irrespective of how we achieved it, we've beaten a top team in the knockout stages. That's what we need to do more regularly to take our seat at the top table of football nations.

[Maximus Decimus]

All I'm gonna say is....

Take that Koeman, revenge for 1993. Have some of that you Heineken swilling, clog-wearing cheat!

[17 stone giant]

1 minute ago, Maximus Decimus said:

All I'm gonna say is....

Take that Koeman, revenge for 1993. Have some of that you Heineken swilling, clog-wearing cheat!

 

[The Masked Poster]

4 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

If they win the final they will certainly deserve the trophy, and it will have been a very impressive campaign.

They will have beaten Italy (albeit in the group stage), Germany, France, and one of England/Netherlands.

Yes but it's all about the result. If Spain lose, all their fantastic displays will have counted for nothing. If England win, all their dreary performances will be forgotten. 

[The Masked Poster]

Very good performance by England. Spain are definitely still the favourites but in a final, who knows? Great to see so much enjoyment around! 

[Maximus Decimus]

Can we not knock it?

Yes we can!

[Tommygilf]

Just got home. That was the best performance from England in a long time.

[The Masked Poster]

2 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

Never a penalty…

Do I think it was? Maybe not.

But in the modern day, I can see why it was given. 

And that's all you can do, accept the decision, good and bad - and England have had plenty of bad. 

[17 stone giant]

23 minutes ago, The Masked Poster said:

Do I think it was? Maybe not.

But in the modern day, I can see why it was given.

I think it was borderline. I personally wouldn't have given it - and the deciding factor for me was that the contact came after Kane had kicked it, so it didn't actually impede him - but I can see why other people would have given it.

If it was anywhere else on the pitch I don't think anyone would have complained too long if a foul had been given. It would have just meant a quick free and play on. Unfortunately it was in the penalty area so the stakes were much higher.

I don't think it was a shocking decision. The very fact that opinion seems to be split, I think reinforces that. I put it down as one of those that we as football fans just have to accept can go either way.

[Tommygilf]

2 minutes ago, 17 stone giant said:

I think it was borderline. I personally wouldn't have given it - and the deciding factor for me was that the contact came after Kane had kicked it, so it didn't actually impede him - but I can see why other people would have given it.

If it was anywhere else on the pitch I don't think anyone would have complained too long if a foul had been given. It would have just meant a quick free and play on. Unfortunately it was in the penalty area so the stakes were much higher.

I don't think it was a shocking decision. The very fact that opinion seems to be split, I think reinforces that. I put it down as one of those that we as football fans just have to accept can go either way.

To me, in the modern game, it's a free kick anywhere else. 

That means it's a penalty.

[Gerrumonside ref]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

To me, in the modern game, it's a free kick anywhere else. 

That means it's a penalty.

Yes, that’s how I saw it too especially on replay.

[17 stone giant]

Just now, Tommygilf said:

To me, in the modern game, it's a free kick anywhere else. 

That means it's a penalty.

I can accept that, but in reality we all know that there is a slightly higher standard applied when it comes to the penalty area, even if by the rules there shouldn't be.

It's just human nature that referees are reluctant to give a penalty for many of the things that they'd happily give a foul for on the half way line.

In the same way, referees don't give second yellow cards quite as easily as they do first yellows. They understand that they would be sending a player off and affecting the balance of the game, so they generally show a bit more leniency.

[Gerrumonside ref]

My view is we finally pressed with a higher line in the first half and suddenly players like Foden, Bellingham and Saka found a lot of space showing what they’re all about.

Then Koeman made a tactical switch after withdrawing Depay through injury and in the second half he flooded the midfield more and more, denying us the space we’d enjoyed previously, leading to more turnover of possession by England.

The Netherlands didn’t do a great deal with the ball at this time but it did lead to less gaps in the channels between Kane and the midfield plus less room for Foden and Saka to cut inside frustrating our plan.

The subs when they finally came were certainly needed as we were being pushed back and Kane was neither capable of leading the counter attack or holding it up, in fact at times in that second half there was just no outlet.

To be fair to Palmer and Watkins they linked brilliantly and the shot before the Dutch keeper could get set, was a superb winner.

I think Spain will enjoy much more possession in the final (maybe 65%-35%) and the Williams-Olmo-Yamal combination will take some stopping, particularly by the England left back who will need a big game.

All in all, the best performance by England so far tonight in the tournament - not sure we will go into the final as anything other than underdogs, but in a one off game a lot can happen.

Edited July 10 by Gerrumonside ref

[17 stone giant]

I can't stop replaying the Watkins goal. We watch a lot of dross as England fans, but these moments are just incredible. Once there was Platt, then Bellingham, and now Watkins (which is my favourite, simply because it won us a semi final).

[Maximus Decimus]

12 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

I can't stop replaying the Watkins goal. We watch a lot of dross as England fans, but these moments are just incredible. Once there was Platt, then Bellingham, and now Watkins (which is my favourite, simply because it won us a semi final).

It was just do perfectly timed too, I couldn't believe it when I saw just 2 added minutes as they were celebrating.

Also, as a negative England fan, I could already see the near misses that I'd be going over in my head for days: the weird Foden line-clearance that looked like it crossed the line, the Foden wonder strike, the Saka disallowed goal etc

It came from nowhere and was a thing of beauty!