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4 at the back, Sancho to start. Don’t hate it.

Should win. Not comfortable being expected to win (which I think is the general vibe for the game), but trust Southgate to have the players in the right mindset.

Don’t let yarmolenko cut inside and jobs a good’un

when it gets to quarter finals I put it chances as 50/50.

Three years to the day since the penalty win against Colombia too. Birth of the greatest bbc montage of all time

https://youtu.be/VIYj4R-TeT8

I'm on the Milan to Rome train with tickets, I'm so excited

Just realised we could have gone to this. Never entered my head EU residents would be allowed to travel to Rome.

Anyway, my foolproof prediction - based on the number of wasps I killed waiting for a meal yesterday - is a win by the margin of 4-0.

Lucky you !!.

I wonder if Harry Kane will play tonight😀

Excited to see Sancho. Hope we see Mount back in the side and maybe Bellingham ahead of one of the DMs on yellows, but nothing too experimental.

Professional performance and a win please, nothing too interesting.

nice!

hope you enjoy it

Trippier at left back?

Think we'll win comfortably 2-0. Kane brace. Can't be arsed to go to a pub to get beer chucked over me so I'm at home to watch it with a case of Thatcher's haze.

At school England was always spelt with an E it must have since changed😀

Snap, albeit with a few tins of Aldi's Taurus cloudy apple. Quite similar to Haze and only £2 for 4.

Heart says comfortable win, head says tetchy 80 minutes until someone scores, probably Ukraine.

Yeah Taurus is very decent for the price. Haze for me too, very summery.

Denmark 1-0 up already.

As cheap(ish) cider goes I like Strongbow's cloudy apple.

2-1 England tonight. Looking forward to seeing Sancho from the start if rumours are to be believed.

Rumours? Fuck off mate, we’ve had enough of them this week 😁

What a cross that was from the Denmark left back, outside of the foot. Lovely.

Never tried that. I'll get the Mrs to get me some next time she's in there. I found the regular Taurus a bit tinny and acidic. Is it nice and smooth like haze?

Not looking beyond Ukraine, as they are capable of an upset. But, Denmark are looking very good!

It was a thing of beauty.

Maybe I’m doing the Danish a disservice but the whole Christian Eriksen thing appears to have completely galvanised them. It is sometimes said strength comes from adversity.

Would not surprise me to see them go all the way...

Have you tried the Thatchers Rose and Lemon? Bloody lovely stuff.

Is that in all of the big supermarkets

Yep.

Cheers Quag :pint:

Having said that! Czech Rep have been a different team at the start of the 2nd half!

Shick again, 2-1

If Spain had Shick they'd be brilliant.

Not yet no. Will do though. Cheers.

Why are the teams playing in their opponents colours😳

Both teams home kit is red. Czechs are the 'home' side via the draw. I'd prefer the Czechs in white shorts and the Danes in red shorts though.

Cheers Donkey I didn't know that and I agree with you

Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Phillips, Rice, Mount; Sancho, Kane, Sterling


Good to see Mount back, would maybe have swapped out one of the more defensive minded midfielders who are on yellows but happy enough with that. Excited to see how Sancho does.

Understand the calls for Grealish from the start but think he's such a good weapon against tired legs

Bit harsh on saka

Got a knock apparently. He's one of the three not on the bench.

That makes sense

Denmark await.

I'm off to get some beer.

Hurry up 😀

Style advice is hardly my area, but there can't be many people whose face has benefited as much from a beard as Gareth Southgate.

Harry the experts said, "you should have been dropped last week" :pint:

How many tickets did we get?  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Gwaaaaan. Huge goal, means they can't sit in a bank of 5 now.

I’ve had this thought.
Work colleagues mentioned France 98 when all the England players kept sneaking song titles into their interviews and there is one of Southgate and middle age has been kinder to him than his 20s & 30s were

Even crossed my mind that he might have had some surgery done

Southgate lurking on the touchline in a white shirt and navy trousers is repeatedly fooling me into thinking we have an overload down the left.

I was wondering if Shaw was playing right wing back for the Ukraine

Bloody hell Rice caught that well.

Come on England

We're having one of our wobbly moments

Makes a mistake and immediately redeems himself. Involved in both goals the other day. He's quality.

Decent half. Ukraine look a different side since the substitute, much more attacking and they look brighter for it but also gives us much more space to counter - no coincidence Sancho has had two or three bright moments in the time since.

Half way there. Come on England.

I can't disagree just like him to pass forward more than backwards

Players don't make these decisions themselves, England's tactics are clearly that they'd rather take the safe pass across the defence than a risky one forwards. We play slowly and wait for an opening, it's the tactics of the side (and probably sensible in 28 degree heat) not a left back going rogue.

I'd love to see us play balls out crazy attacking Keegan football but this really isn't the time.

Based on your theory wouldn't Walker be doing the same

That would be Walker who set up their best chance with a dodgy back pass?

It's also an asymmetric formation, Sancho is tucking in much more than Sterling is on the other side so Walker will play differently.

Yes he made a mistake but also been superb attacking down the right wing.

Shaw again  :pint:

Oh look Shaw assist.

Great onward pass by Shaw  :pint:

Excellent timing. Great cross from Shaw from the set piece.

Nerves settled. For a bit, anyway.

Getting them back for Eurovision….

Great cross but note it was forward

And again  :pint:

Kane again the player they should have dropped last week :pint:

Hahaha. Shaw again. Weight of pass sublime

Shaw clearly popped onto the TEF at half time  :soapy tit wank:

Time to get the lads on bookings off now...
Job done

Yup, Henderson on to check his fitness and Bellingham too please.

Mings on for Maguire too.
No point risking them now.

A night for the Harrys

Harrys 3 Ukraine 0

If only they'd taken Toffolo, we could have had a hat trick of Harrys.

Ukraine are a lot like Swindon last season. Lack any attacking creativity and the game plan was to keep it tight as long as possible and try and nick a goal where possible.  England’s class came through.

Denmark will be a different proposition as they have players who can attack. I think home advantage will be key for England and a final against Italy looks likely.

Fuck me  :D

This is actually going better than in my wildest dreams.

Audrey will have to come back to tell us more and go out for a wasp infested meal on Wednesday

Resting players with 25 mins to go. Bloody lovely job.

England taking the piss a bit here. I like it

Ole  :)

Some spectacular pass completion rate stat padding going on now.

Superb team performance

wow. stress free brilliance

it's ...

And a mercy kill from the referee, the ultimate compliment. Thought we should be comfortable winners today but that could not have been more perfect.

Come on England.

Surely there must have been some time to add on for subsitutes 😀

You would imagine Rio Ferdinand mustn't be short of a Bob or two, you would think he could spend some cash on some socks.

Completely in control, albeit for a few moments from Ukraine

FOOTBALL

Think he spent it all on Grecian 2000 for his beard!

Iconic performance. Have we EVER had a stress free quarter final before? Gareth FUCKING Southgate, take a bow.

Missed it was it good?

This squad is mechanically ruthless.

I don't see Denmark beating us.

5 games without conceeding is crazy for a major international tournament.

Two games at Wembley to bring it home.

Really enjoyed that. I’ve been quite critical of Southgate, but he got the formation and the players right and properly put critics like me firmly I their place. It’s why he’s a football manager and I’m not.

Also saw a montage thing of him on Twitter earlier yesterday which, strangely, almost immediately made me love him a little. Game on

Much better performance from the whole team, although the defence still at times worries me, but the way they cover each other shows they all know their roles and can be there when mistakes do happen.

Easily way better than the German performance and in a QF too. As Barry says I have been critical at times of Southgates tactics but yesterday he got it right and that was one of the most polished performances at knockout stages I have seen from an England team.

Possibly only matched by the Dutch game in 96 and we conceded a goal in that game.

A polished performance from An England team as I’ve ever seen. A place in the final is there to be lost rather than won.

Great summary, great performance now great expectation. The way England controlled the second half was unbelievable and if I was to be super critical it would be that Luke Shaw passes backwards more than forwards but having said that his contribution and assist were excellent.

Take a Knee!

Your knighthood awaits, Sir Gareth.

there games in: I'd drop Kane. possibly sterling, and put some bloody attacking players in FFS.

two games later: yeah, maybe Southgate has got this right after all

Taking nothing away from England, that control was aided and abetted by the Ukrainian tactic of standing still football. Maybe they were just mesmerised by England.

You may be right as they were still reluctant to have a house even when they were two or three goals down

‘Mechanically ruthless’ is a top notch way of putting the last couple of performances. Nothing flashy, no going crazy, but very effective indeed.

Cheers i was proud of myself for coming up with that one    :girlgiggle:

Nothing too flashy is correct. We remind me a bit of previous German teams. Strong structure and tactically sound.

Any team would be happy with that performance. It looks like every player is comfortable receiving the ball unlike previous teams where it was a hot potato. Weve made good use of players and systems.
Still work to be done but in southgates two tournaments so far, two semis

Ing-er-lund haven't won anything yet. There is still a banana skin of Denmark - Didn't we draw 0-0 and lose 0-1 recently to them? So not a foregone conclusion by any stretch of the imagination!

Then, there are still either Italy or Spain waiting in the final!

Southgate could still be lining up for another Pizza Hut ad rather than a knighthood!

Who's already celebrating all I'm hearing is caustious positivity!

(https://i.postimg.cc/QtYSwq0w/212452702-358233665726814-8364270577897773605-n.jpg)

Question has to be - could previous 'golden' generations have been managed better?

Personally I think that is much more a workman like team, no major divas who are always spread across the news for the wrong reasons. I still see the press is taking swipes at our current lads - swipes at Saka and Phillips IIRC.

This team would piss all over the golden generation team. The main issues being keeping hold of the ball and positioning both on and off the ball.