Morning all.
Congratulations to Italy, commiserations to England but, I’m left with the feeling that England have only themselves to blame for not winning last night. After the perfect start with Luke Shaw emulating Nacho Monreal with a low shot just millimetres inside the near post, Gareth Southgate’s men were negative in their approach in my opinion.
Gung ho football wouldn’t have done anyone any good but letting the Italians play their own game was dangerous. Eventually they equalised. What followed was pretty negative I think, the changes Southgate made were perhaps too slow. Harry Kane was doing very little other than a gentle jog around the centre circle, seldom was he in the box when it mattered.
Grealish came on too late and then with penalties looming, expecting Sancho and Rashford to be ready after being on the the pitch for a minute, was crazy in my opinion. Expecting Saka to remain calm was foolhardy. Considering Southgate himself knows how it feels to miss a key spot kick in a major tournament, his lineup for last night’s penalties was strange. Why didn’t Grealish, Henderson or more senior/experienced players take the first five?
Anyway, it’s over now and the wait for the country goes on.
As does racism! I’m not going to repeat some the vile, shameful and darn right evil comments which have been left on social media but needless to say, I’m appalled by them. I’m embarrassed to think these people might be my fellow countrymen and women.
Arsenal.com
Last night, we saw Bukayo Saka reach the Euro 2020 final at the age of 19 years old.
Bukayo has been with us since he was seven and the whole club couldn’t have been prouder to see him represent England throughout the tournament. You could feel it right across the club.
Last night we witnessed the leadership and character we’ve always known and loved in Bukayo. However, this feeling of pride quickly turned to sorrow at the racist comments our young player was subjected to on his social media platforms after the final whistle.
Once again, we are sad to have to say we condemn the racism of a number of black players. This cannot continue and the social media platforms and authorities must act to ensure this disgusting abuse to which our players are subjected on a daily basis stops now.
We have processes in place internally at Arsenal to ensure our players are supported both emotionally and practically on this issue but sadly there is only so much we can do.
Our message to Bukayo is: hold your head high, we are so very proud of you and we cannot wait to welcome you back home to Arsenal soon.
Well said Arsenal. I’m sure all the clubs whose black players have represented England, their country, will be given the right support after this. I hope the perpetrators are found and imprisoned for a long time!
Maybe Sterling, Rashford, Saka, Sancho, Bellingham and every other English black player should turn their back on the country and say enough is enough. When the World Cup comes around next summer, say no. See how England play then. We’d never have made it to the final without Sterling’s goals or Saka’s assist. Where were these racist criminals then?
See you in the comments.
Morning all, and commiserations.
Yes, I believe Southgate made some crucial errors, but I’d stick with him.
He’s young, learning and what he’s done so far with this squad shouldn’t be ignored.
I’m reading all over social media comments from good, decent people who are embarrassed by the behaviour of racist scumbags, but they do not represent England, they don’t represent you.
They represent all that’s filthy and authentic in this world.
That should read Pathetic, not authentic.
My apologies.
Saka will be ok.
It’ll take him some time, but he will come to realise the huge majority were and are right behind him.
If it had happened yesterday like it happened 4 years ago in France with Éder in the goal of Portugal, the comments would be totally different, I assume.
I think Saka will be fine too.
It’s hard to find anything to say that wasn’t said in the wake of last night’s debacle . If we are to stick with Southgate and the F.A probably will unless the pressure grows on them then he has to learn some hard facts about winning tournaments.
I don’t blame any of the three that missed penalties , they were put in positions that they were not ready for.
To make Saka who has never taken a penalty in his professional career to shoulder the most crucial kick was plainly wrong . Sancho and Rashford hadn’t hardly even touched the ball before they got the calling.
Bad management.
Also for 20 minutes Italy were on the rack , an early goal and we should have run them for a second . Sitting back on it and giving them a chance to grow into their game was also bad management.
For me the buck stops there,
Morning Rico and all
Rico I understand were you are coming from but don’t be ashamed it’s not your fault these so called fans that attacked the Italian fans are nothing but cowards the same as these keyboard heroes that use a false name and photo to racially abuse people.
Devil as a coach and not being able to change the players picked for the penalty shootout would it of been better if Saka went first. I wonder if by going first would it take some pressure off Sake before the keeper got his in
Absolutely agree Potter.
Morning Geoff, it’s not my fault I know and it probably is just a minority but even so, it’s too many.
Devil it’s meant to be Saka not sake bloody spell check
Good Morning Rico and everyone.
Rico…..why should you feel ashamed to be English?? I don’t feel you should be ashamed. Not at all.
I saw some comments on social media platforms and also a few videos of how some scum treated Italian supporters and whilst I did not see a single women, let alone you, I dont think that you and/or anyone who writes here does these sort of things.
Yes they were appalling and some of the comments vile and vicious. However, they are just a minority. I am sure that 99.5% of real English supporters are not going to do such things. And believe me, if England had won, these bunch of morons would still have done the same. They would still have attacked Saka on other issues……they simply forget that he was one of the major reasons England reached the final. I still remember how Baggio, the divine ponytail and 2nd only to Bergkamp, took Italy singlehandedly to the WC final in 1994 but missed the crucial penalty. Sacchi murdered him and he still feels that Baggio lost him the WC….forgetting that he was in the cup final thanks to RB10. Even some Italian journalists murdered him in the press. Baggio was crushed and took a long time to recover mentally. As I keep sayng many times….there are people who expect to win every game 10-0. But in reality it never works out that way.
A reason to be proud is that England went all the way to the final, with a number of teenagers or less than 22. Another reason is that they exited out of the tournament undefeated. And another reason to be optimistic is that, whilst we all criticized Southgate (and rightly so) he changed formation and yet the players adapted. So England played 7 games won 5 and drawn 2. If that is transferred to our first EPL 7 games we would all be happy. Yes I udnerstand that its the Euro Cup final but let’s be honest and look at it from another perspective. England’s players have made giant strides forward and learned a lot more than the players who graced the game in years gone by.
The only things I can criticize Southgate about it is why he did not tell Sterling or Shaw or any other senior player to take the penalty which Saka was told to take. The last penalty is always the worst one….and a lot of psychological pressure especially if the tie is in balance. Saka has never taken a penalty on a professional level in his life. And although Southgate said that they were chosen according to how they took penalties in training I feel that there is a lot of difference between training penalties and reality….especially if you are facing a man mountain unit in Donnarumma who is agile and one of the top three keepers in the world. Saka has balls….he took it. he failed? no he did not…as Donnarumma saved it….but he had balls….something which the likes of Sterling, Grealish and co did not have. They hid. Saka didnt.
We gave Ozil 350Kpw which amoutn to over 18M per year. Donnarumma was given a 12 million per year salary. Couldnt we have gone after Donnarumma on a free and given him more than PSG gave him but less than what Ozil earned?? And at 22 he would have been massive for us…..plus a large sell on fee in the future if he decides to go.
Devil, Donarumma has his choice of clubs throughout the world.
Well, nearly.
Maybe we did have a sneaky look at him but who knows, though realistically, we’d have been long odds to get him imo
Geoff…the answer is no. Neither the first kick let alone the last. I would not have allowed such a young professional to take such a burden unless he came forward himself and demanded it. Ronaldo at 19 would have demanded the ball…..but Saka is a different character. Mentally he is still a humble boy, one, many of us can relate to quite easily. Saka is not the confident (some might see it as arrogance but I think otherwise) mentality of Ronaldo.
So no I would not have told Saka to take a kick unless forced to by sudden death in which case everyone has to take a kick before someone else repeats.
Morning Devil, I doubt Donnarumma would have come to Arsenal because of our European situation. I get what you’re saying re the racists.
Good post Rico, unfortunately all that vile abuse online will do is camouflage the errors that cost us the game, but such is life…
Saka will be fine once he gets back among his Arsenal colleagues and the Arsenal fans will put a collective arm around him and protect as best we can from the scum out there online – as for social media, it’s a cesspit, but you have to blame the platforms themselves as they allow this to happen whilst stealing your data and making a fortune out of advertising.
The social media platforms have to be made accountable for what they pump out, if they can cancel people then they are publishers and editors and therefore have to stand or fall by the content they provide and if they allow this prejudice to ferment on their platforms then they have to be either allowed to be sued or the government of the day has to step in and police it.
Newspapers have to work under certain standards and rules and so should social media.
Well said DG.
Some England fans caused problems after the win over Denmark, it’s a combination of lockdown, too much alcohol and not enough police.
There’s no excuse but for me 8pm kick offs allowed too much drinking time and a lot of morons don’t need much excuse to get tanked up and act accordingly.
Kev is right 100% here. All social media platforms and editors of newspapers etc should be accountable for what people publish on them. And the government of the day has to step in and police everything. Its all fine and well BJ coming out and condemning it….but he is in a position to make a change. and implement laws to control such things.
Rico here, always deletes comments which are felt to be dodgy or whatever. And I feel its right to do so. Because at the end of the day its here blog….and she is responsible for it even if I said the comment myself.
Thanks Kev, I think he’ll be fine too. For once I agree with Mourinho on the penalty situation. But yes, there are things Southgate needs to learn from the final although before then, he’d barely put a foot wrong. Perhaps too many experienced players weren’t prepared to take responsibility at the end.
Devil, I can’t understand why Facebook etc allow the comments through in the first place. It’s easy to setup a spam folder and have comments with certain words be directed there. I do that here for the ‘C’ word or certain IP addresses.
DG, Grealish would have great difficulty in taking one of the penalties, he had already been substituted. So he was on the bench, not hiding.
Southgate has much to answer for, not least for throwing Saka under the bus.
Thanks for that Dg as much as I would have loved to play soccer I unfortunately I grew up in the wrong area, even though I had friends from different parts of Europe the adults at the time would not pick anyone from Australia or England to play soccer and then the Aussie rules coaches would only pick Aussie to play Aussie rules, thank god things changed about 35 years ago
I read the 5 players who took penalties were the 5 stand outs in training, so it was decided before the game.
Not sure how the order was sorted though.
I read the same thing Scott but their has to be a big difference between practice and a real match I guess you just have to trust the coach/manager that they make the correct choice
Training stats over common sense. It’s the modern way, set up an algorithm to sort out who is best suited to take a penalty. Then ignore the human element and follow the science.
Southgate took of some of the more senior players, Walker. Trippier, and Henderson off and introduced an entirely out of form Rashford and another rookie Sancho. To expect either of those two to be fully ready for the tension of a penalty shoot-out was naïve at best and unwise to say the least. I would have thought Luke Shaw was a better option than Saka in the circumstances, or even Sterling.
Sorry DG, Grealish hadn’t been subbed, so could have been in the mix for penalty taking although, he’s more used to “winning” them than taking them.
It’s great to see people on this site support Saka, I just hope the other 2 players who missed their penalty shot are getting supported by their club and it’s fans
Rashford and Sancho were still cold , they were not even warmed up . If he was going to do the penalty taker swap , he was 10 minutes too late . I always think that you get your third best taker to go first , then the second , fill in the gap and let your best take the vital one. Saka despite his technical ability should have been nowhere near the top 5 . As Cicero says , he was thrown under the bus something that Southgate knowing what happens when you miss one should only be two aware of.
Now Saka will have to live with that up and down the country as we play away matches , it just beggars belief.
Has Saka ever taken a penalty for Arsenal? I don’t think he has.. Ridiculous to expect so much from him..
Afternoon all.
Have we signed White yet?
NN headline suggests Bellerin has handed in a transfer request..
I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if they had all scored easily
Alan HUdson’s view in the sporting life , hard to argue with.
The Sporting Life:
For much of Euro 2020, it felt as if destiny was on England’s side. Ghosts of the past were banished as a country embraced its national team like never before in recent times.
But destiny doesn’t count for much out on the pitch and Gareth Southgate and his players were made to rue a missed opportunity. And make no mistake – the opportunity was there.
This was a final that swung one way and then the other, but England didn’t make the most of the time the pendulum was in their favour. An early goal should have been their cue to press home the early advantage, but in the end Southgate’s inherent conservatism caught up with him. It might have carried England to the final, but it couldn’t take them any further.
Back three worked – for a while
Southgate’s switch to a back three initially looked to have been made with the system’s defensive strengths in mind.
While Italy don’t use wing-backs, their full-backs are pushed so high up the pitch that they are used as a key attacking outlet. The tactical shift made by Southgate was in recognition of this.
However, it took just two minutes – 1 minute and 57 seconds, to be exact – for the attacking benefits of England’s system to become apparent with Luke Shaw overloading the Italian defence which just didn’t have the bodies to account for the Manchester United full-back and Kieran Trippier (who made two accurate crosses in the first 10 minutes) bursting into the final third.
Italy appeared unprepared for England’s approach.
With the Three Lions defending from the front, they struggled to feed the ball into their midfield. Trippier was deployed so high on the right wing that Emerson Palmieri wasn’t allowed to provide any forward thrust.
Mancini might have expected Nicolo Barella, Jorginho and Marco Verratti to control the contest in the centre, but Harry Kane’s willingness to drop deep gave England a foothold.
My View: The problem here was with Harry dropping too too deep into areas which couldn’t hurt the Italians it allowed them to grow after the break and Mancini’s half-time talk would have been quite simple: “You’re playing against eight or nine defenders, so go out and play your natural passing game and football will win.”
Without any width, the limitations of Italy’s 4-3-3 formation were exposed. While the Azzurri did a better job of getting a foot on the ball for the final 10 minutes of the first half, this was largely down to England dropping slightly deeper.
There was so no way for Italy to get in behind with their only real opportunity coming from a Federico Chiesa dribble – he made three dribbles in 85 minutes.
For 55 minutes, Italy offered next to nothing in transition.
It was therefore unsurprising to see Mancini acknowledge this by introducing Domenico Berardi for Ciro Immobile to provide more width and pace beyond the last man. This saw Lorenzo Insigne moved into a central position, although his primary purpose was to drop deep and create the space for Berardi and Chiesa to spin behind him.
My View: If a team with Trippier, Walker, Stones, McGuire, Shaw, Rice and Phillips, that’s seven defensive players, plus the goalkeeper being eight, played in the Premiership they’d get relegated, as they were like Sheffield United, 31% of the ball tells you that you might win the odd match but you will never win a European or World Cup playing so defensively.
In the history of our game the Dutch, Danes, Spanish (who won the European and World Cup by playing superb football only ten years ago), French, Italians and Greeks have won this competition by playing attacking football with their best players on the playing field.
Jack Grealish will rue the day he didn’t find out he never had a blood test to see if he had any other such ancestry. Southgate sat and wasted a genius!
Verratti took it upon himself to disrupt the connection between Trippier and Kyle Walker on the England right wing in the second half with Mason Mount increasingly stretched by the defensive duties he was being asked to perform. Giovanni Di Lorenzo used this to ghost away from the Chelsea midfielder down the right – no Italian player made more crosses (4) than him.
England’s second half approach was about controlling the space rather than the ball, but this conceded too much territorial advantage to Italy. With the opposition camped on the edge of the box, it only took one pass or cross to fall kindly for an Italian player, which is how Leonardo Bonucci was presented with the chance to equalise.
Southgate’s alterations from the semi-final win over Denmark might have caught Mancini by surprise, but the changes he and his players made during the match itself saw Italy regain control.
My View: England scored three goals in the opening minutes of two matches against Ukraine and Italy and through playing negative approach they could not use such good fortune to their advantage and that was because they had too many defenders on the field at the same time.
Was Southgate too slow to introduce Grealish?
The introduction of Berardi in particular changed the dynamic as Chiesa and Insigne (who made more shots than anyone else on the pitch – five) were freed up. With England’s defence now occupied, and pushed closer to their own goal, by the pair, Italy’s midfield took over and England found themselves pinned back.
Bryan Cristante also provided excellent coverage off the bench, with the Roma midfielder pressing high on England to prevent Kalvin Phillips from taking the ball into feet out of the defence, breaking up his partnership with Declan Rice in the centre of the pitch which had proved so effective for much of the first half.
At this point, Southgate surely felt the temptation to introduce a playmaker like Jack Grealish to find some creativity, but no change was made during normal time.
My final view: Jack Grealish will be happy with his contribution to England’s progress – despite having bench sores – and will be looking forward to getting back to a manager who loves his style of play. It was once again like going back to 1975 when I left England squad and Don Revie and went back to Tony Waddington, someone who appreciated my ability to create something out of nothing.
As Tommy Cooper might say; “JUST LIKE THAT!”
This is a good read I think
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/12/england-the-country-not-the-football-team-needs-to-take-a-look-at-itself
Good evening everyone
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/racist-abuse-football-beyond-continue-criminal-social-media-bosses-online-safety-bill-1100016?ITO=newsnow
this is a good read as well.
Yesterday, as my son and I watched Donnarumma SAVE Saka’s kick (it was a save not a miss…..there is a vast difference between the two) I went exactly through the feelings described above. On one hand we were supporting Italy but at the same time my heart sank…because I also knew what Saka will go through.
DG, I started to read it but as usual all the old remoaner rhetoric came spilling out so I lost interest. I don’t need some leftie snowflake lecturing me thanks very much.
These journalists simply can’t put their biases to one side and just report on the game, their has to be a deeper meaning and obviously one that fits their political BS.
It’s gone now, I’m focusing on Hibernian tomorrow…
The only way to stop online abuse of anyone, not only black players, but anyone, is to hold accountable and criminalize the owner of the site or social media platform.
Its not enough to take the knee. In my opinion it is becoming counterproductive. And it instigates more opposition now as some players or teams or countries (Scotland did it only once if I am correct) refusing to do so. And for countries who dont have black players in their national team…..Scotland and Italy spring to mind) that will not have the desired effect. The majority of Italians are racists….to be exact against blacks, especially due to illegal immigration, however express it in a finer way. When Balotelli, who was black, broke into the scene, every time he touched the ball it was always monkey noises besides the now famous chant, Balotelli figlio di puttana (Balotelli son of a b***). And when Moise Kean began his footballing journey it was soon evident that he was being hounded out of Italy. He went to Everton and is now at PSG.
It did not help that MB had a couple of screws missing and that sometimes he was a loose cannon with his antics, but MK is not that type of player. Both of them are skilful players and I always felt that if MB had his head in the right place he would be talked of in terms of Lewandowski’s level. Unfortunately he did not and as such a great career went to ruin.
Imo Mario Balotelli, and other black players, would have been in the right to walk off. And if I was the FA chairman I would fine the opposing team plus make them play the next game behind close doors. The club will learn the hard way to control their own fans. They employ stewards no?? so make them work and eject anyone shouting abusive language. Failure to do so would work against the club in question as they would suffer the fine and no supporters for the next match.
And this would apply to away fans as well. We all know that fans are segregated, and if abusive language comes from the away section than fine the away club and its behind closed doors for the next home match.
Likewise those who have a blog or social media. Ban them for a week or so if they fail to control the comments.
Rico’s suggestion that black players refuse to play is good as well. But I dont think they will all do it or they will be persuaded to return eventually. Plus, I stand to be corrected on this as I dont know the English FA rules, but Maltese FA and Italian FA have a rule stating that a player cannot refuse to play for his country otherwise he will be sanctioned from playing for his club
Guys, I fear this “I stand with the 3” is already getting too big.
These lads will want a break, then to get back onto the pitch.
What they don’t need, imo, is this hanging over their heads as a constant reminder that a small percentage of the population are just low grade scumbags.
They know that already, we all do.
I’m sure they’d love and appreciate the fact people have stood up for them, but this could be done to death very quickly.
I agree with everyone you guys have stated about social media being held accountable for allowing such garbage.
They can do it!!!
I copped a Facebook ban for an obvious joke about something my wife posted when I replied with “women are the devils works”.
Boom, 7 day ban.
Racism-nothing to see here, really????
Henry Francis and Hutchison are with the senior squad in Scotland so that’s some good news especially as far as Hutchison is concerned as he has the potential to be another top Hale End graduate of Sakaesque proportions.
The only way to cut back on racism and these drunken cowards is to
1 use cameras to identify them and lock them up for 12 months
2 companies like Twitter and Facebook is to fine them
3 start all matches at say 2 PM
4 ban all alcohol at matches
5 have police check any fan who seems drunk with a breathalyser and if over a certain level ban from entering the ground for 24 hours
Until they take strict action nothing will change
Good morning everyone.
Seems that Bellerin has handed a transfer request. Good. Whilst as player and as a person he is a role model, a change of scenery is deeply requested with regards many players. Bellerin is one of them. And someone new bought in.
Winds of change are sweeping. Its like being a kid in a Candy shop, and although the money is limited to a certain extent there is a chance that new sweets will be tried out. Fingers crossed the new sweets will all taste very good and the kid goes in for more when he gets more pocket money.
It seems that Thilo Kehrer is being considered as the Poch does not fancy him. And he is similar to Chambers….he can play RB and CB.
As Kev pointed out that he wouldnt mind if Chambers and Soares shared the RB spot between them I still would love to see Soares leave and a new face bought in, unless AMN decides to put newfound energy shifts and tries to make the RB spot his own. However, I am sceptic about this although I would prefer AMN to stay and put all his efforts in there. Maybe Fat Sam has spoken in his ear and managed to convince him that its the right way for him. If that is the case my respect for Fat same will have gained a couple of millimitres. I still haven’t forgiven him for spoiling our league chances in 2003 with telling the players to get in our faces and we only managed a 2-2 draw.
The biggest problem is the symbolism , Kick it out was working but probably not publicised enough.
The general public have memories and the uproar about the Police in London taking the knee should have been warning enough for players to steer away from that symbol of protesting.
I said at the time that BLM would inadvertantly make things worse and unfortunately it has .
It means that anyone that sees it as a problem is now by association deemed a rascist and has forced no end of normal people over that line .
They should have found something original if they wanted to bring it to the attention of the public , copying the image of a political movement was the wrong way to go.
Potter, there was nothing inadvertent about BLM 🙂
Morning all.
These lads should be held up as symbols against racism only if they choose to be, because it’s possible they just want to get on with life and football.
Just playing Devils advocate, I’m not sticking up for racist people as their is good and bad in all races,
but maybe some fans have just had enough of seeing players being forced into kneeling before every match and are now turning against the BLM movement
Morning all
New post up now
https://highbury-house.com/2021/07/13/the-boys-are-back/
Morning All, I wonder how much of Joe Willock were going to see during pre season, quite a bit it seems if the rumours of an Arteta change of heart are anything to go by?
Newcastle’s hopes of taking Joe on loan again are fading fast as their reluctance to talk a permanent transfer are ebbing away and given the Newcastle owner that isn’t really much of a surprise.
Interesting to see that Mathew Ryan has joined Real Sociedad for a reasonable £1m, but I wonder what the asking price would have been from Brighton if Ryan was moving to Arsenal, not a £1m I’ll wager?