Today's Game

[HunterST_BFC]

Now London gets trashed...

And fights all over the Country...

[ClaretTony]

In the cold light of day the better team won, the better manager got his tactics right, the penalties taken by the players Southgate brought on were poor, well done Italy.

I wish players would put their foot through it with pens as Kane & Maguire did.

But over the game the better team did win.

[Pstotto]

100 % fix to lose to kill the nation's mojo.

That was soccer suicide.

Second half sitting back, Sterling playing rugby league,

You don't bring two teenagers on who haven't kicked the ball, to take penalties.

They're not warmed up.

They haven't played.

And three stumbling hesitant teenage mixed mind mess ups.

You don't make your mind up on the night.

Each player should know what to do.

[Terrier]

Mancini far too cute for southgate

[Vegas Claret]

But I thought Southgate was the one who still turned us on, and football was coming home again?

he got bashed for not making changes against Croatia in the semi final and he did the same again. It was crying out for Grealish but credit to Italy, experience won the day

[BurnleyFC]

I think Italy deserved it to be honest.

[kentonclaret]

This squad may well be around for a while but the next tournament won't involve England playing 6 out of 7 games at Wembley.

Difference for me was the manager,Mancini is a wily old campaigner and came out on top tonight.

Well done England just came up short in the Final.

[joey13]

Henderson missed his last penalty, he doesn't take penalties. Rashford has taken plenty for United pre Bruno. Not sure you can blame the manager for players missing penalties but there you go.

What , when they’ve only been on the pitch for a minute, ridiculous decision

[HahaYeah]

Massive mistake with the penalties.

[Darthlaw]

I thought we were the much better side in the first half, 2nd best in the 2nd half and extra time we shaded it, particularly the first half of ET.

We bossed it for the first 20 mins.

Raheem offered nothing yet was untouchable, Henderson sub was a joke and leaving kids to take the heat, well…

Croatia mk II (and yet again the first decent side we meet)

[Stayingup]

Sadly very sadly the better team won. But was it right to let young players like that take penalties. No.

[duncandisorderly]

The penalties that were scored had the player take a breath, run and kick.

What is it with this all this stuttering, hopping, taking yourself out ride run ups?

You're 12 yards away, just smash it.

[taio]

Second best tonight I'm afraid. Southgate and the squad have done very well overall. Highly questionable those put forward to take the pens unfortunately.

[thelaughingclaret]

Henderson missed his last penalty, he doesn't take penalties. Rashford has taken plenty for United pre Bruno. Not sure you can blame the manager for players missing penalties but there you go.

If you can’t blame a manager who bought two players on right at the end just to take penalties, who were not up to the speed of the game, then you are an idiot. No manager does that for a reason! No surprise they both missed. Also I am sure Maguire doesn’t take penalties but he has the experience and was up to the speed of the game like Henderson. Taking off one of your most experienced players in that situation is bonkers.
Saka taking one was a risk too. You need old experienced calm heads in that situation. If you think Southgate got it all right you are just as inept as he. Tactics awful. As has been said the best manager won tonight.

[KRBFC]

We bossed it for the first 20 mins.

Raheem offered nothing yet was untouchable, Henderson sub was a joke and leaving kids to take the heat, well…

Croatia mk II (and yet again the first decent side we meet)

Aye first decent side we played!

We lost a penalty shootout, it's a 50/50 thing, it is what it is. Devastated

[taio]

Absolutely no issue with Rashford taking a penalty. Not the case with Saka and Sancho - not that I blame them.

[randomclaret2]

Grezza as Penalties coach ?

[tim_noone]

The penalties that were scored had the player take a breath, run and kick.

What is it with this all this stuttering, hopping, taking yourself out ride run ups?

You're 12 yards away, just smash it.

Totally 100% true...to much fannying about.

[NewClaret]

I wish players would put their foot through it with pens as Kane & Maguire did.

But over the game the better team did win.

The “stutter” is ludicrous. Just pick a corner and smash it.

[KRBFC]

If you can’t blame a manager who bought two players on right at the end just to take penalties, who were not up to the speed of the game, then you are an idiot. No manager does that for a reason! No surprise they both missed. Also I am sure Maguire doesn’t take penalties but he has the experience and was up to the speed of the game like Henderson. Taking off one of your most experienced players in that situation is bonkers.
Saka taking one was a risk too. You need old experienced calm heads in that situation. If you think Southgate got it all right you are just as inept as he. Tactics awful. As has been said the best manager won tonight.

Regular penalty takers, Jorginho is Chelsea's main penalty taker, he was up to the speed of the game and he missed. **** happens I guess, the team and manager did the country proud in the end, just a horrible way to lose.

[duncandisorderly]

The worst decision Southgate made was bringing Henderson on at all. He never caught up with the game and was very poor.

[BurnleyFC]

Disappointed for me, not devastated.

If we’d have played Italy off the park and lost on penalties I’d be devastated, but Italy were the better side and deserved winners in the end.

[tim_noone]

Haha...ffs! Some ******** being spoken in the studio.

[dsr]

Sadly very sadly the better team won. But was it right to let young players like that take penalties. No.

The problem wasn't that they were young, the problem was that they didn't know what the object of a penalty is. They were far too concerned about sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, and not copncerned enough about putting it in the net. Sako in particular, didn't take his penalty particularly badly - he actually aimed to put it a couple of yards to the keeper's left at a good height for him to save. Presumably he hoped the keeper would go the other way.

I don't know what they were practising in these penalty practices after every training session, but either they forgot every word they were told, or else they practised the wrong thing.

[KRBFC]

The worst decision Southgate made was bringing Henderson on at all. He never caught up with the game and was very poor.

I agree with this, Rice was incredible in that first half, best I've ever seen him play, probably just shattered.

[boatshed bill]

What , when they’ve only been on the pitch for a minute, ridiculous decision

This, I think, nails it.

[ClaretTony]

Just watching the officials go up for their medals. Overall I thought the ref tonight was excellent.

[martin_p]

This squad may well be around for a while but the next tournament won't involve England playing 6 out of 7 games at Wembley.

Good, our best performance was in Rome.

[BurnleyFC]

Our player of the tournament for me was Harry Maguire. Him and John Stones, actually all of the defence to be fair, have been magnificent.

[duncandisorderly]

Italy were arguably the better side, but not definitively, and I think Jorginho should have walked. Not that a red card then would have help much at that point.

There's too much emphasis on short passing and keeping the ball and not enough of playing the percentages. Stirling couldn't seem to get the ball out from under him half the time and there was an opportunity in the second of half 90 and 120 for him to put a good ball across but he has to take one more touch.
Neither of those opportunities will read in the stats as a chance, but they should have been made more of.

[BabylonClaret]

Poor to lose a pen shootout if the oppo miss two.

Thought apart from the pen subs and not bringing grealish on at the sakae sub Southgate got most stuff spot on.

Grealish looks well ****** off (rightly so after e really shocking pens)

[fidelcastro]

Just watching the officials go up for their medals. Overall I thought the ref tonight was excellent.

Did you hear how much he was worth?

[Iloveyoubrady]

Saka should not have been in the squad, never mind taking the most crucial penalty:

[clansman]

Agree with comments on ref, excellent.
England did well. Just a strange blip at the end in the decision making re the penalties. Italy were very very good throughout the tournament.

[NewClaret]

Just watching the officials go up for their medals. Overall I thought the ref tonight was excellent.

The whole tournament has been refereed brilliantly in my opinion. PGMOL take note.

[Bigvince]

The penalties that were scored had the player take a breath, run and kick.

What is it with this all this stuttering, hopping, taking yourself out ride run ups?

You're 12 yards away, just smash it.

Unfortunately I think it’s their EGO’S that dictate the way they take their penalties!

[kentonclaret]

Well done Mancini and the Italy team you deserved it tonight.

Beating Belgium and Spain en route then England at Wembley in the Final is no mean feat.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Saka should not have been in the squad, never mind taking the most crucial penalty:

Sorry what?
Why not in the squad?

[NewClaret]

Poor to lose a pen shootout if the oppo miss two.

Thought apart from the pen subs and not bringing grealish on at the same sub Southgate got most stuff spot on.

Grealish looks well ****** off (rightly so after e really shocking pens)

Rightly so.

[ClaretMat]

The better team overall did win on the night, and the best team throughout the tournament is walking away with the trophy so cant have too many complaints.

Enjoyed the whole championship far more than I thought I would. The officiating and use of VAR far superior to what we see in the prem.

England grew into the competition and were a very well balanced side, we put in some excellent performances I the knockout stages. Hopefully this is another stepping stone towards a trophy.

Only slight criticism is I thought Graelish should have had the last pen, he seems the sort of character to get over a miss,hopefully Saka will bounce back and be ok; he has been excellent in the prem.and in the euros .

Well done England and Southgate, I'm sure tonight you will be disappointed as will a lot of the nation but on reflection I'm sure we should all look back with pride in our performance throughout the competition. No dramas, no histrionics, just solid progression. .

[HunterST_BFC]

Can’t believe getting an extra bank holiday was decided on penalties.

[KRBFC]

Poor to lose a pen shootout if the oppo miss two.

Thought apart from the pen subs and not bringing grealish on at the same sub Southgate got most stuff spot on.

Grealish looks well ****** off (rightly so after e really shocking pens)

Should've let Stones hit one the way Maguire scored
It's easy to be a smart arse after we lose a penalty shoot out though and blame everyone and everything. People criticize the stutter but two of the best PL penalty takers are Jorginho and Bruno Fernandes. Tight game, game of two halves, shitty way to lose. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

[Funkydrummer]

Our time will come, I'm confident of that, but we were beaten by the better side tonight.

To put a 17 year old in the position of taking a penalty in that situation was not his best decision to be fair.
No blame on the lad for me, but the pratting about by Rashford was crass and uneccessary.

Onwards and upwards.

[ClaretTony]

The whole tournament has been refereed brilliantly in my opinion. PGMOL take note.

I hope so. Some very good performances from some very good referees.

[Vino blanco]

Overall they were tactically the better team, though we did play better than them in the first half. Bringing two young lads on in the last minute to take penalties was a nonsense. The last three penalty attempts for us were awful, wrong choice of penalty takers.

[Vegas Claret]

it's time we allowed Referee transfers

[Steddyman]

Southgates only mistake this tournament was to bring on late subs with no experience of the game and too young and inexperienced. But those players will learn a lot from the experience and will become better players.

I'm still proud of the players and the team. Roll on the World Cup.

[Elizabeth]

Was it too much to ask that our players keep their medals around their necks after they were presented with them ?
Most of them showed disrespect in my opinion. A Final losers medal should still be something to be proud of .

[KRBFC]

it's time we allowed Referee transfers

The very best is that referee imo

[NewClaret]

Would love to know what Trippier was saying to Southgate at the end. Didn’t look happy.