BEST LAID PLANS
SO WITH a minute to go in extra time you sub on two penalty takers, which is of course the right thing to do with a penalty shootout looming. My worry was that in leaving it so late, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho hadn’t had the opportunity to get in tune with the game and the occasion, and so it proved with both of them failing to do the single job they were brought on to do, leaving 19-year-old Bukayo Saka to keep England in the game. Sadly it wasn’t to be for the young lad, but there’s no way he should have been put in that position, have to say that Gareth Southgate screwed up there.
That said, Italy were the better side tactically; they may only have won on penalties, but over the 120 minutes they were the more purposeful team, with the game’s outstanding defenders and attacking midfielders. They were also the most savvy, taking it in turns to pick up yellow cards without, barring Chiellini’s clothes-lining of Saka and Jorginho’s stamp on Grealish, looking like seeing a red card – or to put it another way, it was a typically cynical Italian display which unfortunately got the job done.
Tactics
Two wing backs, three centre backs, two holding midfielders in a 3-4-2-1 formation — that was how
Gareth Southgate set up his England team last Sunday. While in my humble opinion this reflects a certain degree of negativity, it could have worked but for the fact that Mason Mount, wearing the nominal number eight shirt, provided nothing in attack and very little in defence while trying (and failing) to be the link between defence and attack. In the 2018 World Cup England were unable to hold out against Croatia because we had no-one in midfield who could counter Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic, who slowly but surely took control of the game. That night in Moscow, Gareth Southgate failed to react and England lost the initiative and the rest is history. Or it should have been, but what we saw on Sunday was uncomfortably close to a repeat: get an early goal, check, ease off around the half hour mark, check, do nothing as the opposition build momentum, check, concede, check. In 2018 the quality on the bench was lacking stardust, so I doubt very much could have been done to stop Modric and co, but last Sunday there were options on the bench and, for whatever reason, Southgate ignored them until it was too late. This doesn’t make
Southgate a bad manager, but merely reinforces the view that he is very good at setting up a defence while lacking in offensive nous, which is a shame given the talent at his disposal. In the other dugout Roberto Mancini’s substitutions all worked to the extent that all his original five forwards were swapped out and yet more pressure was applied to England’s tiring defence.
And yet
In 2012 Italy “deservedly” beat England 4-2 on penalties in Kyiv after “smashing them for 120 minutes”. Last Sunday Italy “deservedly” beat England 3-2 on penalties after “dominating every facet of the game” — see a pattern here? The Italians are apparently massively superior to England and yet they can’t actually beat them over 120 minutes of actual football. As I said to John Sanders the other day, if a fit and firing Dele Alli had been on the pitch on Sunday, England would be European Champions. Hyperbole? Perhaps, but his particular talents were what England were lacking at Wembley. Let’s hope he or someone else steps up between now and the 2022 World Cup. While we’re on the subject, England did have a difference maker on the bench in Jack Grealish but sadly for the nation Southgate clearly doesn’t trust him. I can’t help thinking that Chiellini and his cohorts wouldn’t have fancied Grealish running at them one iota and that one change in personnel could and probably would have seen England win out.
What I can’t unsee
Boris Johnson wearing an England shirt.
Independence for Liverpool
Remember back in the halcyon days of communism when the USSR was made up of lots of countries from Eastern Europe, gazillions of “Stans” and autonomous republics? Well, of late it has become obvious that moves are afoot in the English north-west to create the “Autonomous Republic of Liverpool”. I’ve come to this staggering conclusion owing to the amount of letters in the media from Liverpool fans who don’t “give a s***” about England. Curiously fans of Everton don’t seem to feel the same way.
Missing it already
If, like me, you’re missing your footie fix fear not because the new Premier League season gets under way in just 27 days! While for those who don’t follow a Premier League club, the Championship, along with the rest of the EFL, starts in a mere 20 days. Meanwhile up in Sturgeonland wee Jimmy the Hibby will be able to immerse himself in Scottish
fitba two weeks from today. It’s coming home!
F1
British Grand Prix tomorrow, 5pm. It’s not hyperbole to suggest that this is one of the more important drives of Lewis Hamilton’s life. If he doesn’t cross the line ahead of Max Verstappen tomorrow then, barring something remarkable happening over what’s left of the season, his hopes of a record eighth title are surely gone.
And finally
Last week’s question: in 1968 Alan Mullery became the first England player to do what? The European Championships in those long ago days were a simple affair with just four teams competing in the finals played in Italy. The hosts reached the final by virtue of a coin toss after drawing 0-0 with Russia, while in an absolutely filthy match in Florence a Dragan Dzajic goal four minutes from time saw Yugoslavia beat England 1-0 after Mullery was dismissed for retaliation. Apparently Alf Ramsey was so appreciative of Mullery’s transgression that he paid the resultant £50 fine out of his own pocket. Italy went on to win the tourney by seeing off Yugoslavia in a replay. This week: equestrianism has had three, golf four, motor racing eight, footie 15. What?
I’d like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to the Scots who, prior to the final of Euro 2020, had supported Scotland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Ukraine, and Denmark and not seen a winning team (except when Croatia tanned Scotland). All those shirts and flags don’t come cheap.