It’s 745 in New York, I’m at the airport thinking about my UK brethren that woke up at 730am this morning and immediately started sinking pints. What a beautiful mess my home country is going to be today, I am gutted I won’t be there for the shame. I’ve never seen England in a final of a competition and I’m nearly 30. Quite wild.
The mural image in the picture was sent to me by Paul (check out his awesome Instagram), what a moment it’s going to be for a player that has truly blown-up onto the world stage in this tournament. He’s one of ours, there’s a small chance he starts tonight, what an unbelievable experience for him. He has everything, he’s a straight-A student, god-fearing, extremely humble, and everyone who works with him seems to love him. It is such a treat that Arsenal has a player with his technical gifts. Someone is going to need to give Jack Grealish break-up counselling when this is all over… the bromance is strong.
The game tonight is the one everyone wanted to see. The Italian’s have been sensational for the most part of it. Direct, fast, aggressive and spectacular at times. Roberto Mancini has put himself back on the map, he’s reinvented Italian football, but this is where the journey has to end.
Gareth Southgate has been on a similar journey. No one believed in him, but he reinvented the way English people look at football. He didn’t answer the question: How can I put all the shiny pieces in the same side. He built a team that could do the job. We control games, we’re patient, we knock the ball around like Spain when we want to, and we have the class to finish games at any point. We’ve conceded one goal all tournament with Jordan Pickford in goal. That is so impressive.
I really hope we can win it at Wembley. My first big football memory was that Germany semi-final way back when. My first non-Arsenal game was Turkey vs Wembley with my uncle in the early 90s. To go back to there with the man that missed the important spot-kick and win would really be a story for the ages.
It’ll be a tough game though, Italy are deadly all over the pitch. This game though is the one we all wanted. I have no idea what is going to happen, let’s just hope it’s a cracker and we’re lifting the trophy come the end of the game.
Also… those people that put on Twitter, ‘I’m English, but I really struggle to support our country’ need to get in the bin. I don’t mean to be childish, but you don’t have friends if you are writing things like that on the internet.
Onto a bit of Arsenal.
The James Maddison rumours are revving up to white-hot. The ITK rumour mill has Arsenal offering him a shit ton of money. The whispers I’m hearing are that the player wants the move, Leicester absolutely do not want to sell, and the fee will have to hit £70m.
YIKES.
Will this be like buying property in London? Extremely hard to swallow, but long-term, the right move. Or will it be like buying a timeshare to Monte Carlo from Gary down the Masons? Painful and more painful.
It’s an interesting move. Leicester were a top 4 side pushing for the title until Maddison picked up an injury. He’s created the 2nd most chances in the league behind KDB since he made his debut in 2018. He immediately addresses our creativity problem. There’s a lot of chat that his open play creativity doesn’t really match up to the big dogs, which is a fair call… but one of our biggest challenges last season was creating from setpieces. If you have someone that can provide like Beckham, you are in a great place. I don’t think there’s any way around it, he’s a very good player we lack, he’s in the top percentile categories you want him to be in, and he’s been very specifically working on the goals side of his game.
£70m is well expensive though.
Still, you have to thumb through what Arsenal are trying to do here… they’re trying to shortcut top 4 again, but this time with a younger profile of player. Maddison is 24-years-old, he’s on the verge of elite, and he’ll 100% hit the ground running. If you are calling Arteta a bum, that means you have no time for him to blood players, this is what you should be smiling about.
There’s the other side of the coin if you want to take more of a risk. Houssem Auouar for £25m seems like an absolute steal. He’s bossed Champions League knockout stages at 20 years old, he is technically outrageous, and he could be world class within a couple of seasons. But… there’s no guarantee he hits the ground running, there are worries about his attitude, and he wasn’t great last season. He feels very Samir Nasri to me, gifted, but a little unpredictable knowing what you’re going to get.
Again, who knows where this is going, but if we’re tapping up Maddison, I refuse to believe someone hasn’t said, ‘Arsenal, he’s going to be fucking expensive.’
I salute the ambition.
Arsenal are going big with the spine, padding out the squad with well-scouted youngsters, with the hope that these additions make the rest of our players infinitely better.
Imagine an attacking line-up with Maddison, ESR, Saka, and Auba. I mean, that is very, very sexy.
Next up should be Lokonga if the media is to be believed. He’s out of isolation and the paperwork is done. Another sharp siging if it works out. I like that Arteta has been getting intel from Vincent Kompany on the player. You know that not only will he get a talent read, he’ll be getting the character download, which I think is just as important based on some of our recent experiences.
Right, enjoy the game, stay safe, don’t put anything on the internet you’ll regret. Do NOT be that meme of the naked guy crowd surfing.
See you in the comments. x
And Bukayo messes it up… ☹☹☹☹☹
gutted for saka
specialists in failure tho
Fuck off Southgate.
Why put Saka on it with Sterling there??
Oh man…. Thanks a lot Southgate.. why…
Not a great man management from Southgate ,
No taker should’ve been asked to take one cold turkey.
Feel for Saka
Why the fuck saka!
Grealash surely?
Disaster class by Southgate.
Horrible choice of penalty takers. Horrible. Bottled it like a typical spud.
Lol st Bonucci it’s coming to Rome
all those men let a teen step up. don’t deserve it after that anyway
And Bukayo is broken. What a sad scene.
Only for a moment….
That was crazy… sorry England …. but Saka can not be your anchor… unreal.
Why did he put someone so young in that crucial role
Aren’t there more experienced players in the squad
football’s gone home
Is it a bad time to talk about Leno and Martinez? Oh, OK.
At least the young lads had the balls to step up, credit to Saka and Sancho.
Sterling bottled it.
Southgate is at fault for sending a rookie Saka agaist currently No 1 goalkeeper
Best team of the Euros won it
FA should loan Southgate to Thailand for couple of years…
That is a disaster by Southgate
#SouthgateOut
Saka absolutely devastated breaking down sobbing.
It’s like he was the only one to miss.
Shocking from Southgate. Why not Grealish or Sterling not the kids.
What a relief.
Saka is massively overrated.
Did Sterling play a penalty?
Horrorshow by Southgate. Henderson slots it in.
Fuck you southgate. Golden generation and you fucked them.
Well, Saka is cheaper than Rashford and Sancho
Taking Henderson off was a very poor decision.
55 years and still counting.
Saka taking 5th penalty tells a lot about Grealish, Sterling and other ones, established players, reality is all them all are an overrated bunch of shit.
“Saka is massively overrated.”
Here we go, here we go
Usual loser England. 11 men behind the ball Stoke performance from the start. Even at 1-0 up it looked like we were hoping for pens at best. 25% possession. Couldn’t keep the ball longer than 5-10 seconds. Play for pens but bottle them.
Dissenter… that’s the BS. Sterling didn’t and Southgate put Saka to it. But it was a shit pen tbf
Lots of cowards in the England team
All the Grealish fans, where are you?
How can you put Sancho and Saka in that position ahead of Stones, Sterling and Grealish? All had far more experience in these situations. Southgate pissed me off because he broke Saka’s heart. Fucking hell.
Weagle
“At least the young lads had the balls to step up, credit to Saka and Sancho.”
Yeah but their wet behind the ears inexperience showed.
I’ve always thought Rashford himself lacks full maturity as well.
The only really surprising miss was from Jorginho.
No surprise that Belotti failed as he is just a big lump,
Southgate is a fucking idiot. How do you use your subs for penalties especially ones that didn’t get much playtime. Useless! Southgate alone lost this final. What a bum!
I love Saka but the kid can’t shoot and shouldn’t be taking pens. Rashford??? Lol
ancho is gonna flop hard in the pl. It feels like a fluke England even got to this final beating crap teams and the moment they meet a real team well you know how it ends.
Saka isn’t overrated
Perhaps Rashford, Sancho too??
Dissenter
You ought to eat some humble pie on your cheerleading of Southgate, he fucked it tonight for England.
5 defenders and 2 holding midfielders isn’t the wave, I am shocked.
The negative approach caught up with England, and a shocker of a decision right at the death costs us. Was great to make the final, but that was circumstances for me rather than approach.
Chin up Saka, we love you lad and you’ve let nobody down.
Useroz
A 19 year old should not be in that position, thats why you have experience
In other football news, here’s some of tonight’s results.
Carpark Handjob 1-1 Bunga Bunga (p)
Pope Francis (p) 1-1 Vicar of Dibley
Antipasti (p) 1-1 Anti europe
Yep… Kane should have been 5th… dumbass decisions.
Saka is a kid and penalty shootout needs experience. Wrong to blame Daka for Southgate Botler arseholery
I will offer some English girls a shoulder to cry on
We shoot ourselves in the foot every single time.
I have seen this time and time again. England bottling it with a shitty gamble to go at it at the pens.
We fail, every, single, time.
Feel very sorry for Bukayo.
Can’t say how shit of a decision is to put a 19 yo take the 5th pen in the biggest international game in 55 years.
Italy deserved it though on the balance of play.
Congrats to Italy.
Wengereagle
100% right mate
Fucking sterling shit himself
Left it to the youngsters
Fair play to them for having the billow to stand up
Sterling is a fucking pussy
weak mentality on England’s part
as you were..
What’s the betting Southgate starts appearing in pizza adverts again.
Sack him – offer Arteta the job and there might be a silver lining to this.
Why on earth did we choose the youngest players to take the last three penalties?
Sancho is a tubby overrated player and is going to flop hard in the pl. If there is one player that is massively overrated its him. Shouldn’t even be mentioned in the breath as Haaland or Mbappe.
England got what it deserved but I really feel for Saka. And those of you saying he’s overrated, get a fucking grip. People have been hyping Graelish and Sancho to the skies. Meanwhile, Bukayo has been better than both of them. He’ll become what Sterling could have been.
Hate that strategy in Volley too. Subbing in players just to serve. They almost always fuck it up.
Well..I’m a bit speechless. Unlucky England..Played well.. Gosh feel for our boy-Saka.. GS did well,could have done better.. But well played in general.Did far better than the golden generation of Rio,Lampard,Beckham,Gerrard,Terry,etc… Exceeded expectations.. But trying to shit house to a victory after two minutes of scoring,for almost 120 minutes of play,against an elite opposition in the way of Italy,you’re kind of gambling hugely on the odds being stacked in your favour. I wonder if we’ll see more of Rashford plugging his school dinner books? What would his up and coming book be titled? “How not to take a penalty kids?”… Read more »
In fairness Italy was the best team of the tournament. Deserved winners
izzo
sancho tubby lol
he’s a lean machine
saka’s a better player imo though
England need way better midfielders
Well at least you won’t have to see Southgate knighted now.
Mancini was the man for Italy.. had it pretty much spot on.. whole tourney..
WengerEagleJuly 11, 2021 23:00:03
You must be briefing a sigh of relief over and across the Irish sea??
LOL..
🙂
Not only were those English penalty takers who missed lacking maturity they were also substitutes in the match which is not always the best situation coming on from the bench.
A few England players have to take a hard look at themselves tonight in why they were not stepping ahead of others.
Wenger Eagle
The only criticism I have of Southgate is his choice of penalty kickers.
England lost to the better team.
How many games have they gone without a loss?
England only reached the final and were within a pubic hair’s width of winning because of Southgate’s pragmatism.
Let the dogs devour hom, that’s how the English press and public do their football.
Poor management by Southgate, coward display. Grealish only on second half? Harry Kane trophyless
*You must be breathing a sigh of relief over and across the Irish sea??
Bonucci MotM for me even if the goal wasn’t his. Incredible leadership and play.
PHD
Feel bad for the young lads that were put in such a massive stakes situation honestly.
Saka who has never taken a penalty for his club on the 5th pen was just wrong.
I hope that retard GS hasn’t broken Saka… Arsenal need to lock him up with a shrink for a couple of weeks after this shit. Having a 19YO take the final kick. Jesus…
This loss was aided and abetted by the decision to park the bus against a side like Italy after going one up inside 2 minutes. Even though for solid 70 minutes Italy knocked on the door and looked like they were going to score, Southgate did nothing. That’s where the game was lost. After going 1 up England’s tactics turned into a salvage operation and if it ever did get to penalties the chances of coming out on top for England were virtually zero. It was all down to Southgate in my view and horrible tactics in the game.
curse
“England need way better midfielders”
Southgate didn’t even play with a recognised midfield so you could have the best central midfielders around and we wouldn’t have seen them in this England team.
Frankly, the England Euro matches remind of the dismal Arteta negative football during large chunks of the games.
Unlike Arsenal tho, Southgate has this bunch of midfield and attacking talent at his disposal, and he chose to still play possession football. Why?
One goal up at 2″… only an idiot would think he could park the bus for 88″ remaining , not against Italy or any team for that matter.
Where’s the sauce?
Whenever Penalties are there you put Experience over youth no matter how talented. Shaw, Grealish, Stones, Sterling all should have taken one before it came down to Sancho and Saka. Even Henderson shouldn’t have been subbed out.
Stones, Sterling, Grealish, and Walker are more experienced players that ought to play the PKs before Sancho and Saka. I was really hoping that Saka wont have to play the last one. SG shot himself in the foot with his tactics in the second half.
Jeff…. agreed.
Even when Grealish came on, what did he do?
This Grealish -mania is utter comedy.
Henderson and Grealish were piss poor
Fuk man
Dissenter
They had a favourable group and route to the Final, come off it.
I have him credit for the Germany game and for dispatching Ukraine but they were bailed out by a jammy pen vs Denmark AET and were very much 2nd best tonight with such a negative set up.
All of that attacking talent and it’s backs to the wall stuff after leading within 2 mins with bodies behind the ball.
Whats ridiculous was Sterling not taking a penalty ? ? Why?
WE
Is it ok to start wanking ourselves over Italy yet?
putting 2 subs on for a few mins before PK’s was stupid.
Never has and it never will, come home to England lol
Forza Italia
Dissenter
Of course that would be your bail out.
Southgate has played second fiddle in every match because he’s a safety first manager. It doesn’t win finals, you have to go out and win them, which is impossible when you’ve been negative throughout.
Was only one winner in the 90 mins and that’s on Southgate, do they have the better squad? Do they fuck. Lost on penalties but never landed a glove on them in regular time.
Habesha Gooner
Well said, I thought Henderson was injured.
Dissenter,
I keep hearing he gets fouled a lot.
Edu should pack £90m in briefcases and go grab Donarumma and Chiesa …
Saka our Baggio,
fuck man I hate southgate
Magnificent Mancini
Italy deserved Euro champions.
Great managers always seem to find a way and the average ones always seem to fall short.
You just know lots of drunk England fans will be visiting Saka’s social media platforms tonight.
Saka doesn’t even take penalties for Arsenal so why put him in that position
No one can tell me Italy had the better players than England.
Mancini deserves a lot of plaudits.
Tom
The real question is, are we about to see Bati on live television crowd-surf bollock naked?
I was worried about it beforehand… that’s why I asked if Saka had ever taken a pk for us.. But seriously … you have Saka take one and not Sterling. Wtf.. Still don’t believe it.
Southgate is a dull, unimaginative, negative manager who managed to have a run of matches where he got things right.
He left it far too late to make the changes that should’ve been made in the 90.
Feel so sorry for Saka.
Removing the medal is absolutely atrocious manner. Whoever started doing it is missing the point.
“You just know lots of drunk England fans will be visiting Saka’s social media platforms tonight.”
Most of them will be ManU fans and not even see the irony.
Better not be any racial abuse hurled at the PK missers …
Lovely to see Spinazzola enjoy things after his injury, and can’t hate Chiellini at all. Total legend of that game. Good for them
Grealish taking off his medal. Moron you should have taken the penalty.
Very easy to.be angry about losing but not about didnt step up to win the match
CC
England lost to a bettet team.
Maybe this generation of England players can still do something social
Embrace Southgate’s pragmatism the same way you lap up Arteta’s.
Jeff, Southgate didn’t decide to park the bus after scoring after 2 mins. He had decided to park the bus and then see what happened with his line-up and formation. Watch the replay and you’ll see us literally with 11 behind the ball inside our own third in the first half hour of the game. We set out not to lose, got the perfect start for our gameplan with the goal, then hoped to survive in our penalty area for 88 minutes.