England vs Denmark - Semi Final

[OUFCGav]

Agreed on the Officials. The only minor criticism was the inconsistency of the few yellow cards. Maguire and Wass's bookings were soft but Hojberg, Vestergaard, the Danish left back, Phillips got away with persistent cynical fouls.

The Maguire one was something officials had been told to do at the tournament (ie leading with an arm), can't remember the Wass one. I think the general lack of bookings for fouling has been positive, its been a much more "competitive" tournament.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

That was an angry snarl. Everyone I know cheered when he said that. Such a break from lying and selfishness.

Nobody I knew did. Neville should stick to his knitting.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Nobody I knew did. Neville should stick to his knitting.

Knitting? Why do you say that? Is he into knitting? Or are you implying that because he's vaguely liberal he's in some way female? And that this would be a bad thing? You Tories need to sort yourselves out.

 

[Junior_1]

The one bright spot was Gary Neville slamming BoJo by saying Southgate is the honest leader this country has been missing in recent years.

Salford’s FC’s latest accounts puts the honesty line into question!

 

[Junior_1]

Can Bazzer have his own thread!?

 

[Marked Ox]

The Maguire one was something officials had been told to do at the tournament (ie leading with an arm), can't remember the Wass one. I think the general lack of bookings for fouling has been positive, its been a much more "competitive" tournament.

Maguire wasn't leading with his arm as he was already up and his arm is going down towards his side, not at shoulder height or close iirc, the Danish player goes up late and jumps into Maguire's arm at not a great height. Simply put, Maguire got booked for reacting quicker and being up high first/early whilst the Dane got away with being slow to react.

The sub Wass was booked for his first challenge (possibly first involvement) for a push on Grealish. It was a foul he'd been giving consistently but hadn't booked players for up to that point. The Danish left back got away with 2 far more cynical fouls in the 1st half on Saka after being beaten along the same lines as Vestergaard and Phillips got away with similar. The most obvious cynical foul was by Hojberg who very early on when Sterling had beaten him, he just hauled him back in the 1st minute or so but wasn't booked, possibly because it was so early but any other game it was as close to a guaranteed booking as you can get.

I agree that the lighter touch by Officials has been good, just a very minor gripe really.

 

[m]

Can Bazzer have his own thread!?

...and TV and Radio shows?

 

[horseman]

Maguire wasn't leading with his arm as he was already up and his arm is going down towards his side, not at shoulder height or close iirc, the Danish player goes up late and jumps into Maguire's arm at not a great height. Simply put, Maguire got booked for reacting quicker and being up high first/early whilst the Dane got away with being slow to react.

The sub Wass was booked for his first challenge (possibly first involvement) for a push on Grealish. It was a foul he'd been giving consistently but hadn't booked players for up to that point. The Danish left back got away with 2 far more cynical fouls in the 1st half on Saka after being beaten along the same lines as Vestergaard and Phillips got away with similar. The most obvious cynical foul was by Hojberg who very early on when Sterling had beaten him, he just hauled him back in the 1st minute or so but wasn't booked, possibly because it was so early but any other game it was as close to a guaranteed booking as you can get.

I agree that the lighter touch by Officials has been good, just a very minor gripe really.

The only issue i would have is that crazily Lovren was sent off for such an incident when his arm caught an opponent even though he was not aware of the guy being behind him.

Hojberg was fairly late in the game was it not on Maquire? it was a yellow regardless of time which by the way should make no difference.

 

[Marked Ox]

The only issue i would have is that crazily Lovren was sent off for such an incident when his arm caught an opponent even though he was not aware of the guy being behind him.

Hojberg was fairly late in the game was it not on Maquire? it was a yellow regardless of time which by the way should make no difference.

The challenge I'm thinking of was with Raheem Sterling's first run (iirc) when he cut between Hojberg and the Danish right back very early on. Sterling got past them both and Hojberg just hauled him back. Hojberg committed more fouls so may well have fouled Maguire but the Sterling one stuck n my head.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Generally the standard of officiating has been really good throughout the tournament. I think decisions constantly get over analysed. There looked to be contact on Sterling from Jensen for the penalty, although he was probably already on his way down and was definitely 'looking for it', not that I could care less. If you play positively and constantly get your players into the opposition box with the ball then you'll get rewarded in some way, and England were much the better side for a lot of last night. I've watched enough League 1/League 2 wingers running at the likes of David Hunt or Phil Edwards to know they'll eventually give away a penalty if you keep asking the question.

Southgate has now hopefully shown everyone what he's capable of. He's the first England manager in my lifetime that I can recall managing everyone, including the media. So often it was the other way around. Neville was spot on about Southgate last night and I much prefer his quiet, calm and authoritative nature over the brashness and arrogance we see everyday in politics but also in workplaces and of course football.

Tactically, I thought England were very good last night. Kane spent a lot of time in deep positions and out wide, basically away from that Denmark back 3. I hate to imagine what an Allardyce team would have tried last night, probably endlessly kick it up to Kane to compete with a 2m tall centre back. We got all our joy down the sides and in behind. Everyone knows Italy will be a tough test, but if anyone can get the players focused and organised for it, it's Southgate. I've got more confidence in him than any previous England manager.

 

[IsleofWightYellow]

The Maguire one was something officials had been told to do at the tournament (ie leading with an arm), can't remember the Wass one. I think the general lack of bookings for fouling has been positive, its been a much more "competitive" tournament.

Apart from that insane straight red card for the Wales player who gently tripped someone as he was running in the middle of the pitch!

 

[Osei Yaw]

The challenge I'm thinking of was with Raheem Sterling's first run (iirc) when he cut between Hojberg and the Danish right back very early on. Sterling got past them both and Hojberg just hauled him back. Hojberg committed more fouls so may well have fouled Maguire but the Sterling one stuck n my head.

There was a foul on Sterling by Delaney after 10 seconds after Sterling cut between him and Christensen. The sort of foul that gets a yellow card if it happens after 60 minutes but so rarely if it happens straight away.

I thought Sterling was brilliant at breaking past Denmark players all night.

 

[horseman]

The challenge I'm thinking of was with Raheem Sterling's first run (iirc) when he cut between Hojberg and the Danish right back very early on. Sterling got past them both and Hojberg just hauled him back. Hojberg committed more fouls so may well have fouled Maguire but the Sterling one stuck n my head.

Ah yes i recall the one you refer to

on a separate point re the officials i thought the Ref was very sensible in Extra Time allowing for tired legs when fouls were committed.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I thought the ref was great, really calm and authoritative and kept himself in the background as much as possible. There will always be decisions that are revealed to have been wrong but in general the officiating and use of VAR have been excellent.

 

[unification]

Generally the standard of officiating has been really good throughout the tournament. I think decisions constantly get over analysed. There looked to be contact on Sterling from Jensen for the penalty, although he was probably already on his way down and was definitely 'looking for it', not that I could care less. If you play positively and constantly get your players into the opposition box with the ball then you'll get rewarded in some way, and England were much the better side for a lot of last night. I've watched enough League 1/League 2 wingers running at the likes of David Hunt or Phil Edwards to know they'll eventually give away a penalty if you keep asking the question.

Southgate has now hopefully shown everyone what he's capable of. He's the first England manager in my lifetime that I can recall managing everyone, including the media. So often it was the other way around. Neville was spot on about Southgate last night and I much prefer his quiet, calm and authoritative nature over the brashness and arrogance we see everyday in politics but also in workplaces and of course football.

Tactically, I thought England were very good last night. Kane spent a lot of time in deep positions and out wide, basically away from that Denmark back 3. I hate to imagine what an Allardyce team would have tried last night, probably endlessly kick it up to Kane to compete with a 2m tall centre back. We got all our joy down the sides and in behind. Everyone knows Italy will be a tough test, but if anyone can get the players focused and organised for it, it's Southgate. I've got more confidence in him than any previous England manager.

England wouldn't have even got out of the group. I'm not even sure that they would have qualified for the finals. Why on earth England went for Big Sam in the first place beggars belief. That sting and the pint of wine have become a very happy turning point for the national team.

I've said it before on here - you do not need to be entertainers to win international football tournaments. It's a nice-to-have feature. For all the criticism of Southgate in the group stage that England were too slow and ponderous, you can see the benefits now. The team looks fresh, they're going through the gears and he's fostered a team spirit that happily ignores the white noise of the hypercritical media and England fandom. He's rather MApp-like in his approach to international football and even if the football isn't dazzling (and very few international teams are) it's the warm, fuzzy feeling of going so deep in a tournament that remains. The destination is far more memorable than the journey.

 

[horseman]

England wouldn't have even got out of the group. I'm not even sure that they would have qualified for the finals. Why on earth England went for Big Sam in the first place beggars belief. That sting and the pint of wine have become a very happy turning point for the national team.

I've said it before on here - you do not need to be entertainers to win international football tournaments. It's a nice-to-have feature. For all the criticism of Southgate in the group stage that England were too slow and ponderous, you can see the benefits now. The team looks fresh, they're going through the gears and he's fostered a team spirit that happily ignores the white noise of the hypercritical media and England fandom. He's rather MApp-like in his approach to international football and even if the football isn't dazzling (and very few international teams are) it's the warm, fuzzy feeling of going so deep in a tournament that remains. The destination is far more memorable than the journey.

Sadly certain sections of the media will no doubt already have their garden forks out as has been the case with most England Managers

 

[RyanioBirdio]

For all the criticism of Southgate in the group stage that England were too slow and ponderous, you can see the benefits now.

Yep, fair point. The players do seem quite fresh and as though they’re able to stay in a decent gear later on in matches, when the other team gets a bit leggy. Definitely saw that in the Germany game and again last night. They rarely break out of third but they can stay in it for the duration, while others have to change down and are spluttering and barely hanging on to second in the final quarter. The friendlies in the fortnight before the tournament started were pretty drab affairs, but again, clearly this was a process.

I have always respected the way Southgate conducts himself, I think he’s a man with integrity and decency even when I’ve been bored watching some of the games over the last few years, but he’s earned respect on so many more levels now. Knight the bloke. Give him fancy sports cars filled with beautiful women and bags of cash. I’ll even change my middle name to Gareth.

 

[m]

Yep, fair point. The players do seem quite fresh and as though they’re able to stay in a decent gear later on in matches, when the other team gets a bit leggy. Definitely saw that in the Germany game and again last night. They rarely break out of third but they can stay in it for the duration, while others have to change down and are spluttering and barely hanging on to second in the final quarter. The friendlies in the fortnight before the tournament started were pretty drab affairs, but again, clearly this was a process.

I have always respected the way Southgate conducts himself, I think he’s a man with integrity and decency even when I’ve been bored watching some of the games over the last few years, but he’s earned respect on so many more levels now. Knight the bloke. Give him fancy sports cars filled with beautiful women and bags of cash. I’ll even change my middle name to Gareth.

...and then alter your username appropriately I trust.

 

[OUFCGav]

Maguire wasn't leading with his arm as he was already up and his arm is going down towards his side, not at shoulder height or close iirc, the Danish player goes up late and jumps into Maguire's arm at not a great height. Simply put, Maguire got booked for reacting quicker and being up high first/early whilst the Dane got away with being slow to react.

The sub Wass was booked for his first challenge (possibly first involvement) for a push on Grealish. It was a foul he'd been giving consistently but hadn't booked players for up to that point. The Danish left back got away with 2 far more cynical fouls in the 1st half on Saka after being beaten along the same lines as Vestergaard and Phillips got away with similar. The most obvious cynical foul was by Hojberg who very early on when Sterling had beaten him, he just hauled him back in the 1st minute or so but wasn't booked, possibly because it was so early but any other game it was as close to a guaranteed booking as you can get.

I agree that the lighter touch by Officials has been good, just a very minor gripe really.

ah yes, forgot the standard Grealish yellow for Wass. Yes, if yellow for that then Shaw possibly lucky to be on pitch for a couple of fouls given (never mind the others). But again, its likely what the refs have been told to focus on/avoid. UEFA aiming for no-one to actually be suspended (hence things like yellow cards being wiped out after quarter finals so that no-one could get suspended for final for 2 yellows), but still wanting to crack down on certain things.

 

[Marked Ox]

Southgate's rotation of the younger attacking players and looking to match them up to the opponent has impressed me so far. He is willing to drop a player regardless of how well they played if the tactical situation requires it and subbing sub Jack Grealish last night was the most obvious example or Sancho only playing in the quarter final.