Bolton Wanderers Forum The-Wanderer.co.uk

KeyserSoze wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:41 pm

Absolute stones on the man to take a pen like that for the winner.

Quite. Just rolled it into the opposite corner..

Louis Enrique's face said it all.

TANGODANCER wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:46 pm

Louis Enrique's face said it all.

They were a bit lucky to even make the semis truth be told. They’d have won tonight if they had anything remotely approaching a half decent striker.

Best side on the night lost. Best side of the two through the tournament won. Not all too dissimilar to the 90 World Cup semi.

Worthy4England wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:43 pm

KeyserSoze wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:41 pm

Absolute stones on the man to take a pen like that for the winner.

Quite. Just rolled it into the opposite corner..

Absolutely. Much as I wanted the Spanish to win, that penalty deserved to be the decisive one.

It's Italys to lose now imo

Harry Genshaw wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:57 pm

Worthy4England wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:43 pm

KeyserSoze wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 10:41 pm

Absolute stones on the man to take a pen like that for the winner.

Quite. Just rolled it into the opposite corner..

Absolutely. Much as I wanted the Spanish to win, that penalty deserved to be the decisive one.

It's Italys to lose now imo

Italy are clearly a superb ‘team’ with one of the best mentalities I’ve seen. But they aren’t full of unplayable players. So I think they could be beaten. Whoever they play though in the final Italy are favourites just because they look so hard to beat.

It helped that Simon gave away the final penalty by diving far too early

Excellent football match.

Italy are incredible. A couple of key players obviously carrying knocks and their best player out, but they stay organised and play some great stuff. That gap in the 10 position finally cost them, but they are so much better than the sum of their parts that I think they deserved to reach the final.

Hopefully it's an England v Italy final and their wheels fall off (injuries, fatigue etc); but they will be so hard to beat if they can continue to perform.

I'm still not seeing this "special"ness.

I mean they're a good side of course. You don't get to a final if you're not. Big test tonight and they stood up to it. They're good. But they're not great.

Even the manager had an off night. Bottled it when Chiesa scored so had to take Immobile off for the bobbins Beradi and invited Spain on.

They're good, but the goal Spain scored was woeful defending. Like, shocking. You can get at them.

Plenty to respect, nothing to fear.

Tomorrow night, now.

Prufrock wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 12:20 am

I'm still not seeing this "special"ness.

I mean they're a good side of course. You don't get to a final if you're not. Big test tonight and they stood up to it. They're good. But they're not great.

Even the manager had an off night. Bottled it when Chiesa scored so had to take Immobile off for the bobbins Beradi and invited Spain on.

They're good, but the goal Spain scored was woeful defending. Like, shocking. You can get at them.

Plenty to respect, nothing to fear.

Tomorrow night, now.

As a team they are great. As a collection of individual players not so great. There is nobody you would fear individually. But their spirit and desire not to lose for an international side is as good as I’ve seen. Combined with their experience and know how. 33 games unbeaten is pretty much spectacular considering they don’t have a, for example, Ronaldo (either version) etc in their side.

They are beatable but tbh they remind me of the German sides of the 90’s. Beatable but so drilled, organised and together they can come through difficult moments in games. Definitely can be beaten if you can swamp their back line.

Not worried about other teams, just enjoyed a good game last tonight. Fingers crossed tonight is enjoyable - any kind of win in 90 minutes will do…be some feat to get to the final without playing any extra time.

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

jmjhb wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:11 pm

It helped that Simon gave away the final penalty by diving far too early

He's a very strange keeper to have in such a good side isn't he? He got away with 2 or 3 stupid errors last night, and the own goal t'other day was diabolical.

I'm no fan of De Gea, but surely he is no worse than Simon?

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:19 am

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

See, I don't buy into the media thing - are you telling me the Italian media aren't doing the same over there? What about the Danish media and their march forwards for Erikssen? I'm sure every country does exactly what ours does and I'm sure it doesn't have any bearing on our opposition......

dave the minion wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:05 am

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:19 am

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

See, I don't buy into the media thing - are you telling me the Italian media aren't doing the same over there? What about the Danish media and their march forwards for Erikssen? I'm sure every country does exactly what ours does and I'm sure it doesn't have any bearing on our opposition......

I think most countries with vested interests at this stage will see some pretty chest-beating media campaigns as you say...and I doubt many people outside of those countries pay a blind bit of notice.

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:49 am

As a team they are great. As a collection of individual players not so great. There is nobody you would fear individually.

Really? Based on what? I'll readily admit that, this tournament apart, I don't know most of them from Gino De Acampo (that chef fella), but their records speak for themselves. They don't exactly get picked for the national side off the back of a box of spaghetti.

TANGODANCER wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:17 am

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 7:49 am

As a team they are great. As a collection of individual players not so great. There is nobody you would fear individually.

Really? Based on what? I'll readily admit that, this tournament apart, I don't know most of them from Gino De Acampo (that chef fella), but their records speak for themselves. They don't exactly get picked for the national side off the back of a box of spaghetti.

I mean that they are obviously a group of very good players. You don't get where they are without being that. So are England and Denmark. Italy are a great side in that they are more like a club side where their workrate and experience and desire and clever gamesmanship gets them through tight games. They are outstanding at all that. But there is no player like say, Ronaldo, or Maradona or Brazilian Ronaldo or whatever who you'd say 'how on earth do you stop him if he's playing well'?

England are probably the same boat - we don't have any absolutely outstanding 'win it by themselves' player other than Kane I guess. But clearly Kane is reliant on the service you can supply him.

That's all I meant. You look at France - had they had Italy's spirit and collective togetherness and organisation they'd probably been in the final and then you look at their individuals like Kante and Mbappe and Trez and say 'blimey if they play well how do we stop them'? Italy are a different kettle of fish they are a team and an incredibly hard one to beat.

That's all I'm saying - they are a collection of incredibly good players but as individuals none are 'unplayable'.

dave the minion wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:05 am

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:19 am

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

See, I don't buy into the media thing - are you telling me the Italian media aren't doing the same over there? What about the Danish media and their march forwards for Erikssen? I'm sure every country does exactly what ours does and I'm sure it doesn't have any bearing on our opposition......

Assuming someone hasn't doctored this - the backpage of the mirror literally says 'Its England V Italy'.

Now whether Danish media are doing this too or not - surely such things are just motivation for Denmark? And I think the issue is more our perceived arrogance abroad is reiterated with things like this. Kasper Schmeichel asked about football coming home and gives a cheeky answer - but do you not think that if we showed a little more humility that we'd be risking winding the opposition up less?

Regardless of what other countries do - what good does a front page of eating Danish bacon do? How does that help?

We saw it last time as Croatia said they were motivated by it...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... mi%2Dfinal.

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:31 am

dave the minion wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:05 am

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:19 am

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

See, I don't buy into the media thing - are you telling me the Italian media aren't doing the same over there? What about the Danish media and their march forwards for Erikssen? I'm sure every country does exactly what ours does and I'm sure it doesn't have any bearing on our opposition......

Assuming someone hasn't doctored this - the backpage of the mirror literally says 'Its England V Italy'.

Now whether Danish media are doing this too or not - surely such things are just motivation for Denmark? And I think the issue is more our perceived arrogance abroad is reiterated with things like this. Kasper Schmeichel asked about football coming home and gives a cheeky answer - but do you not think that if we showed a little more humility that we'd be risking winding the opposition up less?

Regardless of what other countries do - what good does a front page of eating Danish bacon do? How does that help?

We saw it last time as Croatia said they were motivated by it...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... mi%2Dfinal.

And I'm sure the mirror's five readers will feel very emboldened.

I mean, the bacon sandwich thing is very obviously just a bit of fun between two tabloid newspapers, isn't it? Maybe campaigns from back in the day were much more aggressive but everything I've seen has been pretty respectful and, at worst, clearly just a bit of fun. And I very much doubt anyone of importance is paying it any attention.

KeyserSoze wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 12:01 pm

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:31 am

dave the minion wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:05 am

BWFC_Insane wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 07, 2021 9:19 am

I think the tournament for England and the media has been relatively low key....until today. The whole triumphalent 'its coming home' stuff is just starting to creep towards 'winding the opposition up' territory for me. We really should learn - there is a tough game tonight and whilst England are favourites semi finals are weird occasions where often very small incidents can dictate their direction.

My head says England have too much quality and focus for Denmark and will win. My gut tells me Denmark are just itching to beat us and might just do it. Hope my head is right. Perhaps I'm clouded by past glorious failures at this stage of the tournament.

But really wish the media would tone it down a bit - it just motivates the opponents.

See, I don't buy into the media thing - are you telling me the Italian media aren't doing the same over there? What about the Danish media and their march forwards for Erikssen? I'm sure every country does exactly what ours does and I'm sure it doesn't have any bearing on our opposition......

Assuming someone hasn't doctored this - the backpage of the mirror literally says 'Its England V Italy'.

Now whether Danish media are doing this too or not - surely such things are just motivation for Denmark? And I think the issue is more our perceived arrogance abroad is reiterated with things like this. Kasper Schmeichel asked about football coming home and gives a cheeky answer - but do you not think that if we showed a little more humility that we'd be risking winding the opposition up less?

Regardless of what other countries do - what good does a front page of eating Danish bacon do? How does that help?

We saw it last time as Croatia said they were motivated by it...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... mi%2Dfinal.

And I'm sure the mirror's five readers will feel very emboldened.

I mean, the bacon sandwich thing is very obviously just a bit of fun between two tabloid newspapers, isn't it? Maybe campaigns from back in the day were much more aggressive but everything I've seen has been pretty respectful and, at worst, clearly just a bit of fun. And I very much doubt anyone of importance is paying it any attention.

But the Croatians said this sort of stuff did motivate them. So I'm not sure your conclusions are correct. I expect the mirror back page will be used by the Danes.

Croatians were saying the same thing this tournament, that we didn't show them enough respect 3 years ago etc.. Their manager was just sing that to put a chip on their shoulder. Modric even said as much

Denmark don't need that They've got the 'Playing for Eriksen' thing to go for.

And if any other countries don't take all of our bravado in the tongue in cheek nature it's mostly intended with, then fvck 'em because it's comin 'ome