Vocal Voices

Southgate? He had one job to do - being it home-and he failed- sack him

Rashford and Sancho showing off their " twinkletoe moves" should be ok for Strictly

Saka? Should never have been picked while other senior players were available

We'll never have a better chance of winning. The easy half of the draw, all our games at home apart from one and none of the criss crossing of the continent that teams like Wales had to do, traveling between matches.
There is no chance of Southgate getting sacked, he is the darling of the political class.
Those players were chucked on late and hardly had time to get warmed up before the penalties. It was a stressful situation and they didn't handle it.
The Italians had a slightly better team and a much better manager, unfortunately for us.

Those players were chucked on late and hardly had time to get warmed up before the penalties. It was a stressful situation and they didn't handle it.

Spot on, Crommers. They should have come on in (say) the first 5 minutes of the second half of extra time to give them time to acclimatise and warm up properly.
The fact they weren't says to me that they wre not "trusted" to perform in normal play, they were there as specialist penalty takers only.
It's not American Football .....

I find the 3-2-*3*-2 formation a bit of a puzzle.

With this team the back line, central midfield and front line all look to be filled with players he trusts and will always start. It is the *3* that is the problem because Southgate does not seem to know how to use or fill it.

Is it an out and out attacking unit, a support unit for the front two or a more versatile unit with the two wing backs dropping into a line of five at the back when the opposition beaks forward?

Whatever type of unit it is different players are needed in its make up and we do not have those options.

Must admit though I had a wry smile at one pundit who said that Rashford had "Done everything right, apart from....".
Well, yes but scoring is a rather important part of taking a penalty!

I am wondering if Chiellini should have been sent off for that tug on Zaka that lifted him off his feet and dumped him on his back - last line of defence and all that.

Rashford is unfit. He’s been carrying an injury for months that requires surgery, but he delayed that so that he wouldn’t miss games for club and country and admitted that he’s not playing at his best because of it and it’s not gone unnoticed either, he’s been frustrating to watch for Utd.

He should never have been selected to go to the Euros, he should’ve had the surgery he needed. Part of that’s on Southgate, he could’ve taken someone fully fit who could play 90 minutes. Rashford’s young, he’s probably got another 10+ years of tournaments ahead of him so it’s not like it was his last chance. Annoyingly it’s now looking like he’ll be having the surgery now this is over meaning he’ll miss some weeks at the start of the season.

Jo, I just read that out to Edward who is a ManU fan as you know, and he completely agrees with you. Even I, who doesn’t understand much of it, could see that England failed to capitalise on that early goal. Also, Southgate almost failed to get the last minute substitutions on to the pitch, plus whoever thought it was right to let poor Saka take that all-important penalty. This evening, we watched a documentary about Terry Venables and Euro 96. It was interesting to see how he decided on penalty takers.

Jo, it also hits Manu at the start of the season, and that is not fair on them. Not is it fair on other teams who will meet them with a full strength team, and a fit Rashford, later on in the season.

Osc, there has been a Euro competition for youngsters doing 'tricks'. One of them was penalties where the goal had two holes top right and left where it was felt that goalkeepers had no chance - all they had to do was score. It is the sort of thing penalty takers, and all players, should be practicing day in and day out.

A goal is 24ft x 8ft. If you can consistently put the ball in a 4 x 4 foot square hole at top left or right from 12 yards even a goalie of 6' 6" will never reach it.

Metric measurements are available.

Jo, was that the back injury he was reported to have?