England v Italy

[millertop]

England qualify

3-1

get in

[gru]

Job done. Maguire Phillips Henderson surplus. Foden lightweight.

[gru]

Job done. Maguire Phillips Henderson surplus. Foden lightweight.

How bad were Italy no test.

[uttis]

You don’t half talk rubbish sometimes it was Italy not Luxembourg

[millertop]

Phillips was lucky not to receive a ted card, Southgate wise in taking him off

Italy wouldve been glad Foden was subbed

Maguire shouldnt have started imo

Still an impressive win

[gru]

Southgate he's dullest manager ever official bringing Henderson on who should be an outcast. Worst Italy side I've seen. Foden flatters to deceive. With players we'll have at our disposal next summer we should be the side to fear if manager doesn't bottle it like before.

[scum_triumphant]

Southgate he's dullest manager ever official bringing Henderson on who should be an outcast. Worst Italy side I've seen. Foden flatters to deceive. With players we'll have at our disposal next summer we should be the side to fear if manager doesn't bottle it like before.

England come from 1-0 down to beat Italy with a Masterclass from Bellingham and 2 more Kane goals taking him to 61 - Maguire didn't do anything wrong and the Wembley faithful were singing his songs throughout the game.

Great save from Pickford just before half time and Foden ran the right back senseless and Rashford scored a beauty.



AND STILL YOU MOAN. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?

Should Southgate have said " This isn't a great Italy side, we are not going to play them, bring me another."

[scum_triumphant]

Southgate he's dullest manager ever official bringing Henderson on who should be an outcast. Worst Italy side I've seen. Foden flatters to deceive. With players we'll have at our disposal next summer we should be the side to fear if manager doesn't bottle it like before.

Foden is 23 with 5 Premier League Titles, 2 FA Cups, 4 league Cups and a Champions League - Not doing bad out of flattering to deceive.

[ragingpup]

Poor old gru, you can almost feel his pain each time England score a goal!

I thought we started well, and pretty much pinned Italy back until they scored with their first attack. After that, the defence wobbled worryingly, as our defence often does as it is very much our weakness. But once we got the equaliser, we hit them hard in the 2nd half and it was great to see us so dominant against one of Europe's strongest teams, although they are clearly rebuilding, and we also were lucky not to have Philips sent off which could have changed the game.

I also get frustrated by how quickly we seem to turn attack into defence with players seemingly under instructions not to risk getting caught on a quick turnover (as we were for their goal). Wobbly defence aside (although Guehi looked promising when he came on), with Bellingham now flourishing in that role, we are very good at what we do and I think our improvement under Southgate is continuing further and we are at a point, for the first time in my life, where I think we can go in against the top world teams as evens as opposed to underdogs. However, the ideal to move from here to consolidate that into genuine chance of winning is to move the ball much quicker through the middle into attacking positions on a more consistent basis - too often we get the ball in promising situations, and the man on the ball can't see the pass forwards, so backwards it goes. WE need to play it more like Italy as they were in the 2021 finals - quite ruthlessly quick from back to front.

But it's the best we've been since my first memory of going out of the WC qualifiers in 73 - so I'm not complaining. Southgate has built a culture where the players clearly flourish, so much so that they go in for duty, even if injured! That in itself is a very important aspect of getting right to the top and easily overlooked.

[Brin]

Poor old gru, you can almost feel his pain each time England score a goal!

I thought we started well, and pretty much pinned Italy back until they scored with their first attack. After that, the defence wobbled worryingly, as our defence often does as it is very much our weakness. But once we got the equaliser, we hit them hard in the 2nd half and it was great to see us so dominant against one of Europe's strongest teams, although they are clearly rebuilding, and we also were lucky not to have Philips sent off which could have changed the game.

I also get frustrated by how quickly we seem to turn attack into defence with players seemingly under instructions not to risk getting caught on a quick turnover (as we were for their goal). Wobbly defence aside (although Guehi looked promising when he came on), with Bellingham now flourishing in that role, we are very good at what we do and I think our improvement under Southgate is continuing further and we are at a point, for the first time in my life, where I think we can go in against the top world teams as evens as opposed to underdogs. However, the ideal to move from here to consolidate that into genuine chance of winning is to move the ball much quicker through the middle into attacking positions on a more consistent basis - too often we get the ball in promising situations, and the man on the ball can't see the pass forwards, so backwards it goes. WE need to play it more like Italy as they were in the 2021 finals - quite ruthlessly quick from back to front.

But it's the best we've been since my first memory of going out of the WC qualifiers in 73 - so I'm not complaining. Southgate has built a culture where the players clearly flourish, so much so that they go in for duty, even if injured! That in itself is a very important aspect of getting right to the top and easily overlooked.

pup, top post.

Your point on...'However, the ideal to move from here to consolidate that into genuine chance of winning is to move the ball much quicker through the middle into attacking positions on a more consistent basis'....that for me is an easy fix. Leave out Henderson/Philips and play Grealish from the off with a free run. His introduction is always a breath of fresh air and he carries our game forward. I fail to see why he never starts??