Not entirely - his reversion to 3 at the back and selection of WB's took Mancini by surprise, which is precisely how England scored and why they went on to dominate the first 25 minutes.
And if Mancini's re-jig regained the initiative and forced England to defend, fact is, their equaliser still depended on Pickford's push onto the post rebounding back into the path of Bonucci, when it might have rebounded anywhere.
In their semi-final, Spain had 70% possession against them, yet Italy got to Penalties, just like England did last night.
Er, club record or no, in three years he has taken them from being a shambles with no discernable identity and rock-bottom morale, to a team which can give anyone a game. Moreover, he's done so with an extremely young team, which has the potential to improve further.
None of which is to say that Italy weren't the better side or didn't deserve to win - they patently were and did. And yes, Mancini outfoxed Southgate - just like he's done to just about every other manager in a 34 game unbeaten run.
But anyone expecting (hoping?) that last night represented the "high water mark" for England under Southgate could be in for a surprise over the next few years (imho).
Possibly.
Maybe he takes his cue from the manager who said this?
"I like 1–0 wins. When you don't concede a goal and you have players like Edin Džeko, Carlos Tevez or David Silva, you win 90%. I prefer we are boring for two to three matches and we win 1–0. If you watch teams that won titles, they conceded very few goals."
https://www.theguardian.com/football...anchester-city
Re; England ~ When you are bringing on Jordan Henderson in comparison to the Italian Substitute Midfielders ~ Perhaps you don’t want to be getting carried away about the English midfield. Perhaps Rice can improve his all round game / attacking game.
Re ; The England Goalkeeper situation ~ Pickford is a bit of a strange cookie for a goalkeeper ~ Usually you like to have your goalkeeper calming things down but Pickford does the opposite ~ Having said that he had good tournament overall but he does strike you as a fella that could combust on a bad day !
Re; Southgate in the two biggest games of his England career so far was out managed by the Croatian Manager and Mancini ~ Overwhelmingly by Mancini, He had from about 20 minutes into the first half to come up with some tactics to nullify Mancini’s changes, He came up with nothing.
Re; The World Cup, I think its pretty safe to say that there are at least two other very good teams in Europe i.e. Italy and Spain both probably better than England. It will be interesting how the fall out from the pretty bad performance in the final i.e. only 34% possession and the penalty self destruct plays out.
Re; Grealish ~ Has Southgate actually given Grealish enough game time over the last few years ? Grealish can be creative and is a magnet for getting frees and frees around the box at that. Did Southgate’s management fail to manage Grealish re; England.
England certainly need to find a few midfielders that can come on or even be in the team. Calvin-Philips must have a mighty engine when you consider how much he played and was hardly ever taken off. Lucky to have a player with that sort of sticking power but I suppose he could do with a little more creativity as well.
Sterling went missing quite a bit in the final while having a very good tournament overall. The final was a bit more like his England career overall. Kane was bit hit and miss which is what Kane has been like at Finals for England.
Trippier is great at set pieces and a good attacking wingback / fullback. Southgate took the option to take off Trippier rather than Kyle Walker ~ The more defensive option but there is some talk that Trippier may be nursing a strain / injury.
Southgate is naturally drawn to defensive security over attacking. After the early goal in the final , did this cost England ?
Re; Being defensive and there-fore more likely ending up in a penalty shootout ~ I think I heard the ITV Commentator say that before this penalty shoot out that Donnarumma had been involved in 5 penalty shoot outs and won all five = Might have been better to be some what more attacking than trying to take him on in a penalty shootout if that was the case.
Last edited by seanfhear; 13/07/2021 at 6:23 AM.
It's a valid point alright. That style of play is grand when you're winning, but get knocked out in the second round by Spain and the questions start.
On the possession stat (not paul's point I know), I don't think 34% possession is a worrying stat. A lot of teams aim to soak up pressure and hit on quick counters - they can be very effective with low possession. (I saw at one stage it dipped to 21% - I didn't see if that was last five minutes or something like that, but 21% is low)
Last edited by pineapple stu; 13/07/2021 at 1:38 PM.
Southgate had some extended squad to pick from with players on the bench that would have started in most other national sides.
His inherent trait of defensive football is at complete odds with the way most of his players play week in week out and stifled what could have been a great final for them.
Bizarre substitutions as well with a clearly not fully match fit Henderson getting on before more suitable players because of the gaffers negative kill the game attitude and blind loyalty to certain players.
Maybe not the best idea to be more likely, heading to a penalty shootout against this guy by, playing too defensively. I assume Southgate was aware of this guys record in penalty shoot-outs ! !
https://showsport.me/football/gianlu...italy-22969611
Rabbit in the Headlights for a man that has no managerial record for a job as big as the England Job. The Croatians wiped the floor with him 3 years ago and the Italians wiped the floor with him on Sunday.
A Yes Man that was in the right place at the right time after Sam Allardyce blew the England Job.
Think that World Cup bid should be quietly dropped: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2021...rrific-impact/
A ticketless group of 6,000 were believed to be preparing to storm the stadium as legitimate ticket-holders were trying to leave.
An official from the London emergency services said the consequences of an England win would have been "horrific", and that a major incident would have been declared at Wembley and in central London.
The official added: "I can guarantee that we would have been on our knees."
An official from the Sports Grounds Safety Authority told the review: "Thank God England lost. If they had won you would have to open the doors to let people out and the stadium would have been stormed."One individual even impersonated a steward and hijacked a disabled child in a wheelchair, separating him from his father in an attempt to gain entry to the stadium.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
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