England v Italy

First things first, the racial abuse received by these players, by some young players, is down right depicable, nasty, heartless and cruel. Disgusting behaviour and I hope that those responsible are brought to justice. While I don't like kneeling for BLM (and what good has it done?), it doesn't mean I condone racism, and those responsible need to be prosecuted.

There's no place for it.

The game felt like a bigger loss because we played so well. I finally saw England play with fluidity and motion, it was a dream. I thought we lacked the prowess in the box with Kane largely absent and wingers unable to pass anything into the box. 


Defensively we were very srong and contained Italy for much of the game, unfortunately Pickford, instead of tipping the ball round the post, allowed it to hit the post and bounce into the path of an Italian player. 

Saka had too much repsonsibility - talented player, but a bit light weight and very easily dispossesed. 

Can't fault the penalty takers, but I can fault the selection of the penalty takers. Too much repsonsibility on young shoulders where we probably needed a more experienced head. There's only one person really to blame on that front, Gareth Southgate. And some of his tactical decisions and late late late substitutions just gave the impression he really didn't know how to change things.

Maybe that means we haven't quite got the talent yet, or maybe he was scared. I've heard people say he was out of options, there was no one else to send up. In that case, we need more options, and I doubt therefore one extra year will do much to improve that talent that drastically. One might consider this an unusual tournament, with some of the top teams out at the start. We had the "rub of the green" as it were. It's going to be much tougher in the World Cup, and much tougher in the next Euro. 



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