England v Denmark | Euro 2020 Semi Final

[stan bowles]

Don't know about brave,but the end result vindicated it.

Taking off a player who was on as a sub and who wasn't injured could, in some ways, be considered brave. I certainly wouldn't have done it.

 

[Mancity1980]

Terrible management. Sterling should have gone at that point. Ran his bollocks off all game. Now you’ve shot the confidence of a fantastic player.
Top management ey

Except Southgate trusts Sterling to also cover his defensive duties effectively.

I watch an interview with Spitty this morning on SSN, not my favourite pundit by any means, in fact I really dislike him but he made a very valid point. Southgate is not a great club manager but he is suited to the England role and overall setup. He works with youth development, has international tournament experience and he learns from others. Ever since Pep came to city I have noticed Gareth on City TV videos at the Etihad watching and learning from the great man and our fantastic setup and I am sure he has done so elsewhere.

Terrible club manager? maybe; terrible England manager? do me a favour.

 

[stan bowles]

From a defensive standpoint, Kyle Walker has been as good as anything in the tournament so far.

 

[JamesMCFC]

Watching Kane last night convinced me he would be amazing in our team.

That through ball to Saka was class and his general play was exceptional.

Imagine Sterling and Foden buzzing around him for City with the likes of Kev and Mahrez as well?

 

[The1nvisibleMan]

We are so good at football

 

[Mancity1980]

I wondered if there was an element of two half pens. We didn't get the first (Kane) so we got the second. If the Kane incident had not happened, would we have got the Raz foul?

Two half pens add up to one actual pen? Love it, I don’t know if that is actually a thing but it is a funny thought. What is a real thing is equalising a wrong decision, it happens all the time and I bet it is not written down in the official rule book.

 

[xgorton]

who missed a penalty ?

His spot kick was saved and he got a fortunate rebound,now he his favourite for BBC sports personality of the year, unbelievable.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

That through ball to Saka was class and his general play was exceptional.

It reminded me of Merlin at his peak. And that's the highest praise I can give. Of course Kane would be like a fish in water in our team. Anyone saying otherwise is in bad faith. Yes, because of the age factor, I'd prefer Haaland. But he simply doesn't seem to be available. We should go all out for Kane.

 

[bluenova]

This is just patently nonsense - last night England made 635 passes. City on average last season made 675 per game. Burnley made an average of 365.

Occasionally, England go long, and we utilise set pieces well, both of which essentially make us less predictable and a better football side. All our goals this tournament (i think) have come off the back of decent build up play and either short low passes / crosses or short stand up crosses. We are not lumping it into the box aimlessly.

We aren't defensive in the traditional sense, in that we don't simply park the bus and play on the counter. We have two defensive mids and for most of each game, we have dictated the pace of the game and (without checking) i believe we have had more possession.

Last night, according to Opta, Schmeichel kept out 2.9 goals, according to expected goals on target (xGOT) measurements. That’s more than any other keeper at the Euros in the last 41 years at least. Again, not evidence of a team that is defensive but somewhat fortunate - if anything it is the complete opposite.

Southgate is pragmatic, but he also has a group of attacking players who are mobile and given license to express themselves at the right time. Its not tiki taka wankball, passing with no purpose but its effective and at times exciting to watch. To suggest they are long ball merchants is palpably incorrect.

True. The stats show it was a dominant performance - England had 13 shots in the Danish penalty area - Denmark had just one. They only had six touches in the England penalty area in the whole match - most of those on the edge of the box, and none within ten yards of the goal.

 

[Mancity1980]

I was thinking about Pickford and he is a fine Keeper, but perhaps unfairly we know measure every keepers kicking etc in comparison to Eddies and no keeper in the world does it like it Eddy.

Depends on your definition of fine, he is OK but many national sides have a better keeper. It’s a shame England could not have persuaded Schmeichel to chose England!