Quote Originally Posted by GreenCastle View Post
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Reflecting on the game..

1st half if England had got a 2nd goal it was over. Italy couldn’t cope with them and it took them to half time to sort their shape.

England went backwards at half time and were luckily Chiesa went off as he was running riot and looked like he could score.

The stats while aren’t everything show Italy had 60% possession over the whole game / more goal attempts (20v6), shots on target (6v1) and double number the completed passes (798 v 340).

Italy you have to remember were also missing Spinazzola and had Veratti who played through a leg injury plus Chiesa going off after 85 mins.

The madness of the last few minutes of extra time didn’t help England - defending a corner without Henderson and Walker and the pressure put onto the guys who missed a penalty. Some of those guys hadn’t kicked a football since the half time warm up!!

Italy didn’t surprise me - you don’t go unbeaten in 34 games if you are average. Mancini's team needs to stay unbeaten in their next match to equal the all-time record of 35 matches unbeaten, which is held jointly by Brazil (1993 to 1996) and Spain (2007 to 2009).

Much of the build it was dominated by “its coming home” and many fans thinking this final was only going to be an England win. We know as Hibs fans that’s a dangerous mindset to be in and only leads to motivation of the opposition. Can’t see England winning in Qatar due to heat and other counties improving/ European teams winning outside Europe….then the next Euros is in Germany..can’t see them winning it there surely ?! Won’t get an easier run / chance playing at home for a long time (2030 World Cup?!).
I thought Italy had got hold of the game long before half time. Weren’t much of a threat but after the first 10/15 minutes England were playing almost completely on the break. Immobilie was a man short but as soon as they got him off that changed.