I think Grealish or Sancho will start. Try and tire their defenders early
Final: Italy vs England
- Thread starter ivaldo
- Start date
When is the final itself going to be the topic of discussion?
The anyone but England stuff is getting old.
The anyone but England stuff is getting old.
True, it should be in the Denmark's thread.
Do you not know who the manager is?
Tbh I'm not aware of Pickford's record with pens, so I'll take your word for it. But I'd still feel more comfortable having that absolute unit of an Italian wall during the shootout, as well as the composure of the Italian penalty takers instead of England's somewhat....dubious track record with them.
But who knows, this is all moot if England managed to it within 120 minutes.
Garth Southall?
Yes onto the game!
one of the things about Kane that’s really frustrated me, is his dropping deep, but against the Italian defence, this could work against Italy.
In terms of the keepers, I actually think they are well matched. Donna looked very nervous in the semi, and his distribution was poor. Pickford has been solid throughout the tournament, but yesterday his distribution also was poor.
I think it’s really even. Home advantage and a big crowd for England has to mean something, even if it’s a 1-2% advantage.
I really think it’s too close too call. I won’t even bother making a prediction.
I don't think Southgate will start them, and tbh I wouldn't blame him. I'm certain he'll pick Mount again to try and negate Jorginho dictating the game from midfield, and Saka will be a better defensive outlet against Chiesa on their left hand side. Bringing them on late when the Italian's would be a bit more gassed would be the sensible approach.
Doesn`t look like it , sound like a bad bunch picking on Danish children.
Beating them on pens would be tough given how good Donnarumma is and how big he is but Southgate has done major work on penalties hence why we’ve won the two shootouts under him.
I think this would actually be to England's benefit. I think he'd be easily handled by Italy's CBs as a conventional CF roaming around the box, but dropping deep to help negate Italy's expected midfield dominance while picking out passes to Sterling (who will likely be England's most potent threat against an average Di Lorenzo) will probably be England's best chance at creating chances.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/703283.stm
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/family-england-fan-killed-bulgaria-21150982
Loads of times our fans have been subject to violence, most often in Italy. Not sure why you’d think there would be riots really.
Are we done with the bullshit anecdotes, the hyperbole and the hypocrisy?
Can we actually discuss the final now?
Can we actually discuss the final now?
I can`t wait. I just hope we start well , stay in the game as we seem to be strong in the last 20 mins. Mind you , the Italians are masters in shutting a game down . It is so hard to call this one.
Please, im never one to be arsed calling for some moderation, but we really do need to get 1 thread for all the shite rambling. Can the mods maybe try cleaning it up a bit, not that i know how hard that is to police.
How is Grealish when he plays more central? I know he seems to be favoured on the left but could be play as an attacking mid or behind the striker?
This obviously won’t happen as we have Southgate in charge but if we wanted a more attack minded line up could we sacrifice one of our defensive holding midfielders and try Grealish in that position? It also enables to keep Sterling on the left and Saka or Sancho on right.
This obviously won’t happen as we have Southgate in charge but if we wanted a more attack minded line up could we sacrifice one of our defensive holding midfielders and try Grealish in that position? It also enables to keep Sterling on the left and Saka or Sancho on right.
You did a quick Google search on "danish national team hooligans" and even then only found the top-article saying that different hooligans of danish football teams fight each other. (If you actually read the article). I know you searched this way, because i actually tried to find articles about danish national team idiots and the best that Google came up with was that article, which doesn't even have nothing to do with the national team's fans.The source is not even anything more known/reliable here in Denmark than a blogpost.
We have our drunk fans too, and every country has it's idiots dont get me wrong, but that article is not even relatable for this debate. It's just people allegedly fighting each other in a forest. Arranged fights happens with every hooligans in every country.
There's very little accounts of danish national team brawls/fights/vile-shit like yesterday, if you really want to take it there. Very few incidents happening. In fact there is a term for the danish fans called Roligans - which comes from the Word Rolig mixed with Hooligans and plays on the fact that we've historically been the opposite of hooligans. "rolige" = "quiet/cosy"
We can be drunk and we can be idiots while we're drunk as a fanbase, but I haven't ever seen reports like those yesterday about abuse, spitting at children, throwing bottles at busses, etc, now that you want to bring this up as a comparison. My point still stands, it's seems a culturally allowed thing with some of the bigger scale incidents mixed with the law of numbers. There's more incidents of course, when your country is way bigger.
And yeah, back to football for this thread. That would probably suit it. Just couldn't sit back allowing you to paint this fake-picture of the danish average fan painting us as neo-nazis. So unfitting.
Not sure how Italy is considered as favorites by some here. They looked good, but also second best against Spain and not so great as the tournament progressed. They lost Spinazzola and have Immobile upfront who has been playing like his name suggests...
Individually looking at both teams I also give small advantage to England. And finally, you are playing the final at Wembley. Surely you would be massively disappointed to not "bring it home" at this stage.
I would probably also try to lower down the expectations a bit in your (England fans) position, but realistically you do go in that match as slight favourites at least imo.
Individually looking at both teams I also give small advantage to England. And finally, you are playing the final at Wembley. Surely you would be massively disappointed to not "bring it home" at this stage.
I would probably also try to lower down the expectations a bit in your (England fans) position, but realistically you do go in that match as slight favourites at least imo.
Anyway I look at it I just can’t not see England’s midfield getting dicked by the Italians if Rice and Phillips look average against Denmark then Italy should really outplay them.
The saving grace for England is the speed and quality of their forwards mainly Sterling who could cause real problems for an aging Italian defence but gun to head I’d say Italy 3-0..
The saving grace for England is the speed and quality of their forwards mainly Sterling who could cause real problems for an aging Italian defence but gun to head I’d say Italy 3-0..
The thing is, Verratti, Barella and Jorginho spell trouble in the middle.
I can`t see any real changes about how we play , he will go with who he trusts as we were yesterday or 3 at the back .
Understand that and it is a valid concern, but I think your midfield/defence can hold them while the prospect of your counter looks more threatening to me.
Have a lay down and stop being so bitter.
Spain were a very different kind of animal to England though, Italy struggled because of Spain's possession game - I don't think England have the midfield to exert that sort of possession-based dominance through the middle.
Midfield lack of quality will be a big big issue in this game, could decide the game.
The thing is, I don't think England need to exert that kind of dominance. Italy going a bit more open and on the front foot might be a good thing for England looking how quickly they can hurt the other side in transition.
Turkey can be a wild country, didn't hear about the bulgaria incident. RiP to both and there should be uproar or at least I'd have hoped there were reasonable threads about it on the internet.
What I don't like is brushing the animal like behaviour towards the Danes yesterday, which ths Danish bloke posted, and got ridiculed for it.
What would you do if somebody spat on your daughter? Or hit you when you wanted to congratulate. I'd imagine this happened in strictly public places.
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Agree, if Southgate tries to be defensive it will backfire, guaranteed.
Folks, this thread is terrible! Back to our beloved religion aka opinionated football, you all know Italy is inhabited by 60 million “commissario tecnico” (Italy football national team’s Head of the selecting & training committee): 1) Would you drop Pickford for the final? 2) Would you field Henderson in a 4-3-1-2 with Mount in the hole?
I know some people are saying England are going to annihilate Italy but I think we need to be realistic. They're a decent side and will raise their game against England like all other national sides do. England's quality will prove the difference but it will be a tough match and we'll have to be patient to break them down.
Ultimately, England will edge it 4-0.
Ultimately, England will edge it 4-0.
this isn't jesse owens in munich, this is 2 teams that are likeable and dislikeable for various reasons. supporting one over the other isn't some great moral act.
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Anyway, i want Italy to win, also my support has been a kiss of death for every team in intl football ever (France in 2006, Russia in 08, Germany in 2010, Italy in 12, Argentina in 14, Italy in 16, Argentina in 18, France this year).
Fully expect either referee-related nonsense like vs Denmark, or a repeat of the 2012 final where the Italian defence dropped like flies.
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Anyway, i want Italy to win, also my support has been a kiss of death for every team in intl football ever (France in 2006, Russia in 08, Germany in 2010, Italy in 12, Argentina in 14, Italy in 16, Argentina in 18, France this year).
Fully expect either referee-related nonsense like vs Denmark, or a repeat of the 2012 final where the Italian defence dropped like flies.
Think this sums it up perfectly.
If they score first, they'll park the bus with some style, looking for the 2-0 from a counter. They have many players than can score a long-range goal.
England could easily lose the final (1-0 or 2-0). And penalties? Italy has the edge, like always. Spain would have been a better (easier) rival for England.
England could easily lose the final (1-0 or 2-0). And penalties? Italy has the edge, like always. Spain would have been a better (easier) rival for England.
It was nice to see England respond to going down and scoring relatively quickly after the Danish goal. So they have that in them. When they go on the attack thats when they're most lethal, they just have to make sure they don't concede when Italy counters. I have no idea which way this game will go tbh
Nah. After seeing rice and Phillips chase Danish shadows until they gassed and their coach took off their good players Spain would be the worst side to play. We'd never see the ball.
But Spain would just pass around and never score then lose on pens.
I think the critism of those two is a little over the top. Having just rewatched the game, Denmark had a good 10 min spell before their goal and a fairly good, but end to end period for first 15 mins of the 2nd half. I don't think either put in top class performances but they did fine in my opinion.
England were the better team in the first 60 mins for me and at worst it was an even game.
I don't think so. It's even worse if you watch the level of Spains midfield vs italy the night before. Italy midfield is far superior to ours and they barely got the ball.
Yes their finishing is shit but Spains mid would be awful for us to play against. Italys will be bad enough but I'm hoping sterling's pace and set pieces will be enough to get us over the line.
Start Grealish so Chiellini can try playing mind games on a guy without a mind.
Where's Ashley Young when you need him