Euro 2024

[Kyle]

Just now, Adam said:

Hey @Kyle maybe those subs ten minutes from the end aren't so bad 

That Watkins moment is probably the best I've ever had supporting England. Incredible.

Again, I don't have an issue with the subs, my issue is entirely with Lee Dixon

[Bobfoc]

England would have been disappointed to lose that. I think they looked better over the 90 minutes against what was admittedly not a great Netherlands side.

[gunnar hendershow]

You gotta commend Southgate for treating the first 5 matches of this tournament as friendlies and figuring out his tactics & best subs.

England honestly looked very good today and while Spain are clearly the best I think that it could be a tense match.

[Colly]

Best performance of the tournament by an absolute mile, and the right changes albeit probably 10 minutes later than needed. The penalty was soft as hell but we were the better side, pleased that we got a "clean" goal to cap that. Hard to feel sorry for Koeman regardless, he owes us a far more game changing shite decision than that.

Great for Olly Watkins, and Mainoo again was outstanding. He's been the difference in this side since coming in, so comfortable and progressive with the ball to the point that Southgate will probably drop him.

[Mad Jack]

 

[DavidMarrio]

1 minute ago, Mad Jack said:

 

All there needs to be is pints of warm Carling flying about and someone offering a stripe and it's a hard-core ENGURLAND fans wet dream 

[Adam]

42 minutes ago, Colly said:

Best performance of the tournament by an absolute mile, and the right changes albeit probably 10 minutes later than needed. The penalty was soft as hell but we were the better side, pleased that we got a "clean" goal to cap that. Hard to feel sorry for Koeman regardless, he owes us a far more game changing shite decision than that.

Great for Olly Watkins, and Mainoo again was outstanding. He's been the difference in this side since coming in, so comfortable and progressive with the ball to the point that Southgate will probably drop him.

Mainoo has been absolutely class since coming in, seems he was the answer to "the midfield problem" all along.

[Liam]

Late to the discussion, but for those saying it was 'never a penalty' and 'what could he have done?' - he could have tried to block the ball rather than play the ball. The moment he tries to play it, misses the ball and catches the player, it is a foul as it is effectively a mistimed tackle. As was mentioned elsewhere, that is a freekick anywhere else on the pitch and no-one complains about it at all.

It does open up two threads though:

- the old 'clear and obvious' debate, and

- should there a different tolerance for fouls for free-kicks and those for penalties? I mean, I don't think there should, but it seemed to be the tone of some of the discussion on the television last night.

Edited July 11 by Liam

[Bobfoc]

While I can see that it was a contentious decision, I don't think the idea that it was some colossal miscarriage of justice is one I agree with. Obviously, a touch of football tribalism is likely to affect how a lot of us saw it.

It feels a bit much for Koeman and Van Dijk to focus on how it changed the game too. Yes, they can claim to have a grievance, but the fact remains that they had over 70 minutes to get a winner and they didn't. It's a bad sign if you let something like that affect you for the rest of the match.

[Colly]

Honestly think fans would hate it if they "standardised" fouls and handballs across the pitch, regardless of whether that's easier pens or making free kicks harder to get. For me a penalty is such a game changer that it needs a higher bar than an innocuous "contact" in the centre circle. It's also the way refs have controlled games for decades, it would be a fairly major shift to go the other way and we've seen how well refs have handled shifts in interpretation in recent years.

On this one in particular he hasn't really "caught" Kane, Kane's follow through hits the bottom of his boot. The shots already gone and refs usually take that into account, as ITVs ref pundit was pointing out just as it went to VAR. It's painful (hate kicking someone's studs), but I'd be gutted if that was given against us.

[Baddar]

[METALMAN]

The solution is to abolish penalties. If you a were to argue that a big dirty tackle is no better or worse because of the location it happens surely you would also have to argue that it shouldn’t be punished more or less harshly based on location. Just give them a free kick wherever it happens.

[Bobfoc]

That makes me want to see a direct free kick a few centimetres away from the goal line.

[lanky316]

5 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

That makes me want to see a direct free kick a few centimetres away from the goal line.

Honestly, on paper anyway, it's kind of one of the tweaks I wouldn't massively object to, free kicks in the area as for a backpass. There are occasions where you can be doubtful if it's "worth" a penalty. Last night, people will debate about "worthiness" and there's the debatable nature around the Germany handball shout. In those accidental cases I can see an argument for a free kick over a penalty. If it hits a hand accidentally which blocks a shot going in to the net, we now have a situation where some referees give a penalty, some don't and it turns in to a lottery on the day, a free kick option might make things easier as in "yeah you've not meant to do that, but it was goal bound..."

Counter point to this is simple, you're still relying on the same people to actually make a call so consistency and competence won't actually be there and it'll just lead to an even bigger mess so best avoided but on paper at least I could get it. Sort of solves the "it's a soft penalty but anywhere else on the field it's a free kick" debates.

[METALMAN]

I was half joking but I genuinely do kind of believe this. I think another argument against penalties is that with football being so low scoring, you’re allowing often minor and often dubious infringements to have a decisive impact on the game. And it probably disincentivises the referee from giving minor infringements the punishment they deserve because he is wary of letting them have a decisive impact on the game.

[Colly]

Don't forget that we never see an indirect free kick in the box for obstruction or dangerous play, which is definitely in the referees box of tricks.

[Bobfoc]

The chief executive of the Independent Schools Council has attributed England's run to the final to private schools. It is being used as a reason for why the proposed VAT on school fees shouldn't happen.

It's all a bit misleading, though. Bellingham went to a private secondary school, but had been part of Birmingham City's academy since he was eight years old. Foden and Palmer were also privately educated at secondary level, but only because Manchester City paid their school fees, as they do with several players at their youth academy.

[stokeriño]

I wouldn't even bother analysing a claim like that. Assigning credit for a run to the Euros - something inevitably influenced by so many different factors/coincidences that it's effectively unknowable - to his own self-serving lobby interest? Such low quality bullshit reflects badly on the guy's own schooling, if nothing else.

[Chris2K]

That was a beautiful video on the BBC with people from the players' pasts leaving messages for them.

What will probably be the first of many random notes from me; in the TV Listings the BBC have gone for the factually accurate "Spain vs. England", whilst ITV have gone for I assume the nationalistic "England vs. Spain".

 

CHIELLINI!!! 

[Kyle]

I am ready to be hurt.