England were smart, they saved themselves from 5-0 crushing by the Germans. At least now for Germany it wont be straight forward walk to the final as they face italy rather than that overhyped shit called England ..
What I don't get is that England seems to always lose at the penalties. Then why do they play so defensively like they just want to make it to the penalties?! lol
I'd support England but just to avoid another boring game in the semi, I was actually happy for Italy. Germany vs Italy might be the best game so far.
Wow, you're a stupid idiot arent you? Chelsea were an inferior team. They never won at penalties but they played for them in the Champions League final. They won. Oh wait, you are from North America. That explains how you know shit about football! You're excused.
Germany v Italy won't be the best game. Italy are quite boring really and will lose quickly.
England did the best with what they had, i think everyone realised it was either squeezed out by Italy, or well beaten by Germany. For 20 minutes or so England played to a level good enough to have beaten Italy- but it just wasn't sustained. Isn't that the same old England though?
I think that with everything that happened in the run up to this tournament, England did ok. Roy made the best with what he had and although it wasn't pretty in any of the games, they were still in it up until the penalty shootout. England kept themselves in it with just fight, which only gets you so far. But it was good to see that fight, after a horrific World Cup campaign with nothing, at least they had that.
England have to rebuild the side now, and evolve the young players. Roy has 2 years to remould the team and setup. I think Jack Wilshere is the exact sort of technical central midfield player England are crying out for, and they need him to fulfil his potential. Alex Oxlade Chamberlain needs to keep developing, clearly he is very talented and has a bright future.
England have other sparks around, Welbeck showed some bright moments, and did fairly well- despite feeding off nothing but scraps. Smalling and Jones can grow together at Manchester United and break into the first team eventually. Kyle Walker looks like a certain for many more non too distant England caps too. These players are all about the future.
It should all now be about the future of England. A future that with the right kind of guidance, can be positive.
im no man u or liverpool fan but you cant go so hard in bashing united players when the only liverpool player worth mentioning was gerrad, hendson was invisible, carrol did nothing, downing???
Welbeck had a good tournament, but was was limited with what he could do against Italy. Absolutely nothing was getting through to him as the man up top. When he managed to actually get the ball facing Italy's goal he linked up well but it was hardly raining chances for him...
He was replaced by Carroll, but Carroll had more misplaced passes than anyone in Italy's half, with only half of his passes finding an England shirt. Absolutely shocking and was culpable more than anyone in the latter stages for losing the ball on attacks- especially when he was brought on to win it high and hold onto it. You look at his pass success rate against Sweden as well and it was dismally low compared to Welbeck or Rooney's in the other games. It is awful for Liverpool too, no coincidence. That was a poor substitution when England needed to hold up the ball, not give it away so easily.
Ashley Young had a poor Tournament but he was great before it. He looked burnt out but with only Downing to replace him properly on the left no wonder Roy didn't even dream of making that change!
same ol story.. possession wins games at this lvl you cant expect to go past the quarters without it.. pirlo was class 442 is outdated and we need a manager who's teams play good football, redknapp, rodgers etc and not just focus on being organised.
we have the players but not the mentality but with the likes of cleverly, wilshire, ox and hart coming through theres still hope aslong as we introduce the youngsters and phase out the old ones who have already proven many times they are not up to it.
When Germany were smashed at World Cup 98 and then crashed worse than England at Euro 2000 there was a massive enquiry and restructure of the way Germany dealt with development.
They made it mandatory for every professional club in league 2 and above to have a youth academy. Some were forced into creating one, or they would not have been allowed to compete. Their football association demanded better facilities for development, and coupled with the top 40 or so professional clubs, invested a fortune into their youth programmes and coach certification.
There are more than 6 times as many Uefa 'Pro' certified coaches in Germany as there are in England. Spain has 14 times as many. FOURTEEN! That is besides the number of coaches for youth with lower A and B certifications....tellingly more than 10 times as many in Germany as England.
England don't really have the players right now, and we don't have the infrastructure of other top European nations. Finally however, I think we have realised this (about a decade late) and are taking steps to correct this incredible gulf. St. George’s Park is nearly completed. http://www.thefa.com/St-Geo... It looks fantastic. "Every other country that has won the World Cup or a European Championship has a dedicated national training centre."
It'll be at least a decade before we can actually see the results of these changes. It'll take time. Lets just hope we can keep moving in the right direction.
To me, to see England playing like this, like Greece or Switzerland, or any countries with far less talent in the squad is a total disgrace. I can excuse when "small" teams play like this, but England should be able to do better.
england played decently in the first half but fell apart by the second half and extra time and i have no idea why england seemed to play for the penalty shoot out when their record is so poor
What i will never understand is why dont i see Walcott from the beginning its fkin beyond me cos that player is a class and currently the best in the english squad.. if im correct he wasnt even included in da squad in da world cup ... stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid team managing
England's midfield lacked creativity! They kept feeding long balls to Carroll and hoped for a miracle, the entire extra time! Pirlo was just pure class, and he's been Italy's best player since the beginning of the Euros! Player of the tournament for me.
didnt deserve it, italy were a lot better but it doesnt make me feel any better. you really cant fault the team, they worked their socks off, especially the defence - terry was immense. the reason we didnt really hurt them was because we dont have players that can keep the ball, pirlo was the difference, couldnt get near him.
Agree x 9 Bring on Whilshere Chamberlain Cleverly Mceachran Walcott Jones Welbeck and the likes. Keep it new young and adaptable... They can still learn to play with less fear of having the ball. No doubt they can still learn from the gerrards Terrys coles et al but we now have to look to the future....C'Mon England
They definitely deserved to get to the quarters as usual but the will need to go back to the drawing board if they wanna win a tournament, still I', happy with the effort and heart they put into it and it was good practise for the world cup.
@Kinect You are a complete and utter loser, seriously get a life you scum sucking pig.
played shit, italy deserved it. If only we played wallcot and the ox on the wings instead of retard millner and younge who was poor all tournament. seriously roy needs to drop milner he like by far one of the worst england players iv seen in years, mancini stoped using him and guess what they started winning and scoring more goals than ever which ended up them winning the league!!
two boring matches, the semis look to be really entertaining. I wouldn't put it past the italians to come out of nowhere and maybe go as far as pks and even win against germany, thats just how they've always been. Portugal v Spain could go either way. Spain hasn't been top notch and but portugal have looked shaky at times. Good to see all the top teams make it.
What a horrible game to watch England.. we had a good start, but flaked away.. Pirlo outclassed us completely..
Young not showing much positive, Milner is a scared little boy at taking things forward and1/10 being a decent cross.. But at least Hart made me laugh with his facial expressions!
Good while it lasted, but to b honest i hadn't placed any expectations this yr..
Kinect, u r the saddest little troll ive seen on here, pretty funny mate.. keep it up, u come off as a pathetic little girl.
Ppl sayin the premiership is overrated.. keep dreamin! no other league competes with rivalries, battles for relegations and amount of top class teams.. Any player who has played there will say its the hardest league to play in..
Pirlo was amazing for Italy him and Xavi are exceptionally great midfielders. This match was one of the best Euros matches so far entertaining for the whole 120 mins + penalties.
Glad Italy made it to semis cant wait to see another great match up with Italy and Germany. All italy are missing is a exceptional striker like gomez that can bang goals in.
We never take our ball players and then we get schooled, imagine Carrick, scholes and wilshere. I just want the ball damn it :( it's painful to watch us give the ball away so easily. Fair play to Italy, hope they win simply because they are likeable unlike the arrogant Spanish.
I honestly thought england were out of thier depth last night (and for most of the tournament.) the players looked unfit and tired before the match started . the second half was so anti-football i'm glad italy won because it would have been a crime against football itself.
they cant keep the ball or pass it, rooney just seems like his riding the wave of his own name and hasnt put in a decent england performance in years, gerrard and parker looked like a pair of tired old men in midfield you hardly knew they were there most of the time. ashley young was really dissapointing he was terrible all tournament, james milner while he worked hard for the team he was just inaffective and added nothing to it. the back four were ok at times but just couldnt get thier act together.
I cant wait till they bring in some new players and the likes of gerrard, parker, cole terry will be used maybe as subs or not at all, they did thier best but its time to give them a rest lol. time for some new blood.
Why is everyone bashing england out of interest? grow up.
expectations have never been lower, a run of bad management.. no settling down wot so ever.. i doubt one english man thought we'd actually win this tournie. so u guys need to hush ur anonymous, ignorant mouths.
Alot of players who are considered some of the best players in the world dont always perform for the country.. Messi, Robben (infact the whole dutch team this year). Just because a team doesn't gel, doesn't mean they're not quality players.
Rooney has only played 2 games in recent times for his country and is unfit.. any club would love to have Rooney..
Personally i think we need more of the likes of Chamberlain and Wilshere.. some young blood, that in the long term will bring some vibrancy to the team..
Dont think Germany will crush Italy, best i've seen them in years.. Definite holes in Germany, Greece managed to get 2..
Italy deserved it and England bye bye
That was the worst i've seen England play EVER!
Italy totally deserved the win though it hurts to say it.
They had pretty much 110 mins of possession :/
We cant keep the ball at all and terrible at the counter attacks, we are too slow!
Once again we lose on penalties... :(
Italy deserved it just for the Pirlo pen alone.
Pirlo's penalty was amazing
same ol story.. possession wins games at this lvl you cant expect to go past the quarters without it.. pirlo was class 442 is outdated and we need a manager who's teams play good football, redknapp, rodgers etc and not just focus on being organised.
we have the players but not the mentality but with the likes of cleverly, wilshire, ox and hart coming through theres still hope aslong as we introduce the youngsters and phase out the old ones who have already proven many times they are not up to it.