It's coming home

[duncs500]

Very disappointing but overall, the best team won. On the night and in the tournament

Yeah, this. They were brave, but just couldn't sustain a good spell of play for very long and were mostly dominated by a good Spain team.

[Simon]

And thank fuck we didn't lose on penalties. The best team won tonight, no question.

Tired of seeing Kane start though. The guy has no energy. Just trots about a bit then stops to catch his breathe. It was the same in 21. Hope that new blood can come through now, he feels old.

[Rich B]

The guy with the medals and his helper are slick as fuck though.

[240PP]

Decent last couple of games from England after completely forgettable dross in the run-up. Correct result.

[nuttinnew]

Bah, I feel for them

And thank fuck we didn't lose on penalties.

That, but at least they're no longer expected to lose if it goes to penalties.

A neighbour is emigrating to Spain (he's worked and lived over there previously, his pups understand Spanish not English), I can only imagine the jibes when he goes back.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I actually thought we played fairly well tonight. In fact, I'd say that of all the teams that Spain played I thought we gave them the toughest test by far.

It was funny in the bar in our hotel though - most were watching a particular screen near the bar but it was a different feed to the one I was watching further back, and had a 5s lag. Was a bit weird when I jumped up shouting when Palmer scored, followed by total silence for a bit until everyone else saw it

And it still seems.mad to me that I lived through 42yrs before England even made a tournament final and we've now done 2 back to back

[DeskJockey]

The boys stayed up and watched it. There were proper tears and crying at the end.

[Sundayjumper]

England: Football’s coming home !

Football: Nah, I’d rather stay in Europe.

[Gavster]

That was a good game, I enjoyed watching it, the result was precisely to be expected and both teams played well.

[Ascender]

Enjoyed the game, but that's another tournament which was there for the taking if England had been a bit more decisive and willing to make changes. I know Kane's the captain, but not sure why you persisted with him as a starter all the way to the final.

[KiwiDave]

[integrale_evo]

Southgate resigned

[Rich B]

Understandable really - get loads of abuse for a month despite getting another 2nd place in a major tournament.

[dinny_g]

In 25 tournaments between 1966 and when Southgate took over, England won 5 knock out games

In the 4 since Southgate took over, they've won 9 .

Ramsey aside, he's undoubtedly England's best and most successful manager - however, I think this will only be appreciated over time.

[duncs500]

In 25 tournaments between 1966 and when Southgate took over, England won 5 knock out games

In the 4 since Southgate took over, they've won 9 .

Ramsey aside, he's undoubtedly England's best and most successful manager - however, I think this will only be appreciated over time.

Agreed. I don't think it will take that long to be appreciated though... maybe 2 years.

[Mito Man]

In 25 tournaments between 1966 and when Southgate took over, England won 5 knock out games

In the 4 since Southgate took over, they've won 9 .

Ramsey aside, he's undoubtedly England's best and most successful manager - however, I think this will only be appreciated over time.

Agreed. I don't think it will take that long to be appreciated though... maybe 2 years.

This, can’t believe he got pressured out of his job by fat pissed up cunts who think they know better

[Gavster]

Fuck me, English football fans are utterly delusional. From the BBC website:

“Like football, Gareth was the assist and now the new manager will get the win!”

There’s a small chance they will improve, but a far larger chance they will perform worse at the next major tournament under a new manager. Boils my piss that these people can’t see how Southgate is the best manager we’ve had in recent decades.

[dinny_g]

This, can’t believe he got pressured out of his job by fat pissed up cunts who think they know better

And those self same yobs - who threw beer at Southgate because the game wasn't going well, will all now be calling for Klopp or Potch to be the new manager.

Like they'd bother with the hassle

[Brannen]

Southgate has done well, especially given where the national team were post the Euro 2016 loss to Iceland. To build it back up and to have been as successful as we have been since the 2018 World Cup, is impressive and that shouldn't be forgotten. He genuinely comes across a nice person and seems to want the best for the players etc. I would have liked him to take up something like a director of football roles for England.

That being said, I do think it was time for a refresh after this Euro's though. I just don't think he was great tactically this tournament and made some questionable decisions (tactics / players). I think we rode our luck to the final, with quite a negative form of football. If you look up some of the stats from the Euro's, it really highlights just how poor we were in places. xG - 0.77, only better than a few teams in the tournament. We only won 2 games in 90 minutes and I think we got lucky with the Bellingham overhead kick wonder goal just before the end of the Slovakia game. With the players we have at our disposal, I think we can do better, but we just seemed to have the odd spell in games of looking dangerous, then back to negative play style. I've got no idea why they adopted long balls in the final, was like going back in time. We weren't even successful in doing it!

Not sure if some of the players were just tired / injured, but they just looked off the pace. E.g. I think Kane is still dealing with an injury or lack of fitness from the end of the season where he was out of action. Cole Palmer looked to be our best player, and he didn't really play that much.

I'm sure I could ramble on about it. I'd thank Gareth if I ever got the chance, but hopefully we can build on the foundations he's set.

[dinny_g]

Football managers come in two forms...

Attacking Managers who try to concede fewer goals.

or

Defensive Managers who try to score more goals.

Southgate was the latter - England need the former.