UEFA Euro 2024 Final Spain v England ** spoilers ** [Sunday 14th July 2024]

Silly Goose On The Loose said:
I don’t buy this idea England played well in the first half. In every way it was a step down on the previous game. They were INCREDIBLY lucky to not go 1-0 down there and as soon as the second half started they did.

The equaliser was good and there was a real opportunity there to go 2-1 up as Spain were on the ropes for a minute or two. But then Gareth had the team sit back again.

I can’t understand why - and I am not a football fan in the way I am sure many of you are - England seem to decide to just kick the ball around instead of PRESSING the other team. They are perfectly capable of doing it, so why do they not?
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England against Spain were like a Burnley against City. Which is fine if that is the personnel you have but we have a fantastic squad depth unrivalled I would say.

Everyone was gawping at that 16 year old kid but a semi fit Luke Shaw kept him quiet for 90 minutes. Across the board our squad is better than Spain's. Just like it was against Italy.

It is also why Italy beat us in Euro's the last time around. They just had a different tier manager who could get the most out of their players.

Holland was the same but we were lucky and got the win. Holland got their tactics wrong in the first half which made us look good but Koeman made the sub at 35 minutes and completely nullified England. After that Gareth was lost and had no idea what to do. Bailed out by a moment of brilliance by a player who should have really been starting instead of Kane.
 
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uscool said:
played crap football and didnt win anything, so much the ones defending southgate doesnt matter how we play as long as we win
reminded me of watching stoke, bolton, burnley fighting relegation
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Funnily enough, a huge number of people wouldn't care how we won as long as we did. Unfortunately, losing in the final is not winning and there is no difference in the record books between losing in the groups and coming second. No one cares. Thats the problem with playing dull, **** football. The only way its ever excused is if you win trophies.

Italy was our changes to win something with ****, negative football because they were fundamentally an average side. This Spain side were far better and deserved the win far more that we did. Their path to the final was full of good football, good performances and good wins against good teams. Contrast that with crappy wins, crappy performances and jammy wins over average sides on our path to the final and there was realistically only one team that ever deserved to lift that trophy.
 
In a parallel universe we'd have lost the previous game, save for that very fortunate last minute ball in goal. And my guess is Gareth thought he could replicate that again.

But with these players, we need a coach who wants to attack. Our defending to be fair has improved but we just are too negative.
 
JamesH85 said:
England created less xG At Euro 2024 (6.43) than Croatia (7.1) who went out in the group stage.
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By almost any metric other than "how far did you go in the competition" England were awful considering our players. A lot of people don't see any correllation between performances and results however. You can't ride your luck forever as we have found out in two finals now. There is a reason Southgate has done far better as an international manager than a club manager. As a club manager he has only ever managed average players and got below average results because he has to play against good managers and good teams.

As an international manager a lot of his games have been against rubbish opposition where our quality vs theirs is just huge and that gets us over the line. It flatters him. If we had faced remotely difficult paths to the last 2 Euro finals we wouldn't have made either.
 
Across the 2020 final Vs Italy and 2024 final Vs Spain, Harry Kane had one touch in the opposition box.

So many different views regarding kane this morning, is it the tactics/set up that failed him?
 
I expected us to lose yesterday and I’ve woken up today not feeling that arsed about the defeat. Probably a sign that I’m well and truly done with Southgate.

Still not convinced the FA are going to hire someone who’ll take us all the way.
 
Like the last Final, England didnt win the pocession battles and were chasing a lot.

England kicked it away far too often, as they did last time, the stats dont lie.

Personally i thought some of the players looked tired. Maybe ling seasons taking there toll. However, Spanish players also play at top teams.

Englands time will come, but when im not sure - Spain i see being around the top for a while to come.
 
adam cool dude said:
England against Spain were like a Burnley against City. Which is fine if that is the personnel you have but we have a fantastic squad depth unrivalled I would say.

Everyone was gawping at that 16 year old kid but a semi fit Luke Shaw kept him quiet for 90 minutes. Across the board our squad is better than Spain's. Just like it was against Italy.

It is also why Italy beat us in Euro's the last time around. They just had a different tier manager who could get the most out of their players.

Holland was the same but we were lucky and got the win. Holland got their tactics wrong in the first half which made us look good but Koeman made the sub at 35 minutes and completely nullified England. After that Gareth was lost and had no idea what to do. Bailed out by a moment of brilliance by a player who should have really been starting instead of Kane.
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Luke shaw kept Jamal in check during the first half then second half Jamal started moving inside taking better positions, assisted the first goal and was involved in a few other really good moves. He walks into the England squad and probably starts same with Nico Williams those pair are absolutely at the highest level.

Squad depth is unrivalled? Maybe in some positions but left back, right back and centre half we are paper thin defensive midfield our best option is a 19 year old who has only played 25 games. Up front we have Kane who has been world class until now but behind that we have Brentford’s and Aston Villa’s centre forwards!

Don’t get me wrong England have a good squad and a few outstanding players/potential players but man for man plenty would pick the Spanish player over the English. Spain beat France and Germany on the route to the final they were the best team in the competition and we ran them reasonably close, I think football fans to easily loose sight of reality when talking about England.
 
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