Thetownend.com

Think my productivity at work is going to be a bit limited today tbh.

Also have my second jab, so there's a real risk tomorrow morning might be miserable.

No leaks of team news from the England camp yet? Would be a break from tradition.

I think it'll be a tough game. Both teams to score and us to win it in extra time 2-1. Saka back in if fit hopefully, otherwise unchanged side I reckon.

I'm wary of the Danes, they are a cohesive unit and play good attacking football and will cause us problems. However they are no great shakes at the back and we should be able to counter attack them with our pace, if Sancho and Sterling are playing certainly. I also wonder whether the emotional energy (if this even is such a thing) might be waning from Denmark in front of a large away crowd.

At least Rio Ferdinand will be nowhere near the television tonight.

At Wembley, we haven't conceded a goal so far, we are getting better each game. 2-1 to Denmark.

love it 4D.  :clap: :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

Don't underestimate ther Danes they will not be a pushover, I expect a single goal will win for England and probably in extra time.

I would hate to go to penalties again at such an important stage.

The Danes are well up for this and will create far more than Ukraine and probably Germany did against us.

England looked rather good in their last game - but I've not watched the Danes play once so can't make a prediction.

Fuck it.

2-0 England.

Nervous about this one given Englands habit of following up good performances with mediocre displays against capable nations..

3-2 England golden goal 5 minutes into extra time😀

It's not golden goal, is it? We'd have to play to 120 regardless.

I know just seeing whose paying attention :pint:

Don't forget the biggest factor. Its on ITV.

Such a 50/50 game. And there is a reason we have 55 years of hurt. But we can do this. 2-1 (Rashford 90+3, Grealish - 104)

Is that good or bad😳

Bad. I don't know what the stats are, but whenever we go out of major tournaments it seems to be when ITV are showing the game.

I have noticed that, we were on ITV vs the Scots and look how that ended with the Scots winning the world cup at Wembley, or so their fans seemed to think.

Sugar😂

The essential supplies have just arrived from Lilley's Cider Shop.
A few bottles of Gladiator will help to calm the nerves.  :)

ITV's poor record when covering England in major tournaments is a concern.
So far, at least England have managed to perform with much greater consistency than Lee Dixon's accent.

Love Gladiator its made not too far from me here as the wife sometimes works close so I always pop in the cider shop there and pick a 3 litre box of Gladiator up, 6 pints of the 8.4% stuff is a decent night with a few beers to top it off.

Sounds like a sex shop!  :D

Its my nickname.

2-0 to us, Sterling and Kane. Completely unimaginative of me I know, but that’s what I think, so shut up

Kane 3/1 to score in 90mins on skybet. Had me some of that...

Heard Saka back in for Sancho, otherwise unchanged.

Here did you hear that

It's not often there's a game of this magnitude for a team I support so I can't wait but I'll be nervous and cursing throughout. I'll go 2-1 England with Kane and Sterling, Dolberg for them.

Tight game but hopefully we come through before the 90 mins are up.
I will adopt my usual Town prediction of 5-0. I am correct once every decade.

Posted this on the book of many faces in reply to a post that's been doing the rounds but apparently, it's coming home!

Let's take a look at Denmark...


...not too sure about that 2-6-4 formation though.

⚽ ;)

#ItsComingHome

Something to pass a bit of time from Mr Squires;

https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2021/jul/06/david-squires-on-england-inflatable-unicorns-and-the-euro-2020-semi-finals

It's five o clock somewhere, so the Rattler is open.

I'm almost more nervous about ITV hub fucking up than I am about the game. Denmark are good, but I trust England more than I trust ITV!

Why do you have to watch the game on ITV hub out of interest?

Good choice. I cracked open a cider about an hour ago, feeling quite nervous about this one.

I decided it was time to finally open some of the new vinyl I've been hoarding for a few months, so put Fat of the Land on as a bit of build up.

Coz Nemo lives near the North Pole.

I'm relatively calm. It will be a tough game, but we are better than them and will beat them.
3-0 England :)

No aerial. Should probably have sorted before the tournament but assumed ITV Hub would be okay. I was wrong, think I watched the same corner fourteen times earlier in the tournament.

Gonna try and go to the pub tonight. Or the hotel bar, which is what passes for a pub here.

Stromness Hotel?

Wrong end of the island, although I'd go to the Ferry Inn in Stromness if I didn't intend to be too drunk to drive back. Lovely place that.

We're going to beat them so hard that Eriksen guy will be spinning in his grave.

One change. Saka back in for Sancho.

 ;)

Don't like this term of phrase but...

Noice!  :)

In the pub. Only Strongbow on tap and can't see the whole screen but maybe that's the price to pay. Come on England.

This is my current picture. FFS.  :doh:

Standard ITV

Standard booing of national anthem. Pathetic.

I really wish some fans wouldn't do that.

Fml Lee Dixon commentating.

Indeed....

Just put a bottle of Duval into the fridge for extra time.

Sent from my SM-A125F

Lordy me Walker is quick

I hate England games in ITV, not only is their coverage usually poor, but I’m convinced our results aren’t as good

Danes throwing themselves to the floor  ::)

What a goal.

Now we’re going to see what England are made off.

Outstanding.  Perfect free kick.

Good hit that. Prick.

Should have been disallowed IMO as their players edged closer to our wall than 1 meter when the ball was struck. Let’s see if Southgate can switch over to a positive approach now, big test!

One hell of a free kick. England getting scrappy before the goal and the Danes were starting to grow into the game so it's not against the run of play. Interesting to see how Southgate responds, this is new ground for us in this tournament.

Barring the first 10 minutes England have been shite...

No urgency, they get the ball first instinct pass it backwards....

Dare I say it footballs not coming home!

Pickford having a poor game (not referring to the fk, nobody would have saved that)

As it stands best team is winning.

Sent from my SM-A125F

Yep

Free kick was perfection.  No complaints.

Now let's respond.

What a miss.

Scores this time though !

What a miss, and what a reprieve! Get the fuck in Raheem!

Own goal actually but he would have scored anyway.

What a goal  :)

Own goal actually I think

Indeed  :)

Justice served as still think the free kick should have been retaken. Sterling showing why he has to play as he’s a magnet for chances.

Come the fuck on. Mixed reception north of the border but back in your box lads.

Kane is our most creative player. He's having a good game

He's a funny player in being a good 9 and 10. If we had a pure poacher up top I could see him playing really well off him, but England need the 9 not the 10 in him.

Pretty even first half. 11th own goal of the tournament, crikey. Free kick one moment of brilliance, otherwise level a fair bit lower than yesterday.

Interesting first half. England better team for first 10 minutes. Denmark then dominated up until England equaliser and then England were better after that.

Not really sure how this is going to go.

With you in spirit, brother.  RWBRobin as well.  Seem to be a growing number of us.

#stfcalbabranch

ugh. not great but not a disaster

well matched

We seemed to lose focus in the middle of the half. But I do like that we seem to have developed a style of play. I'm not 100% sure what it is yet, but its not far from what the German's have been known for in the past. 'Mechanically ruthless' as Bamboo put it the other day, perhaps. We deserved to concede when we did as the Danes were dictating by that point, but we almost responded immediately, and then did just that. Enjoyed that first half

Not against a ferry to Aberdeen for the final if it comes to that!

Pleased with how England reacted to going behind looking back, older teams may have panicked but we kept at it and had a golden chance then the goal.

Can't expect us to dominate all games for 90 minutes. Apart from the freekick they haven't really troubled us too much.

More needed in the second half though. Philips and Mount have been AWOL.

This has extra time & penalties written all over it

Anything but penalties

A classic yellow card for jumping.

Hot knife through butter..

Sent from my SM-A125F

Good game this. Both teams going for it.

Do we have defensive midfielders?

Easily fingered by Jordan Pickford.....

Sent from my SM-A125F

Good spell for England here.

Yep were growing into this. Would like to see Foden or Grealish but we're getting there. Deep breaths.

Some very bizarre subs made there...

Not a penalty?

Fell over to easy.

Seen those given. Maybe outside the box, not really sure how it's a free kick against Kane.

Fair point but that hasn’t meant it’s not a penalty for at least 20 years now...

Would have been given in the Premier League

We are not winning second balls.... Good to see Lee Dixon going all the ref has it in for us!

Sent from my SM-A125F

Make some subs. Please make some subs, we have so much more strength there than Denmark.

It's been attack v defence for the last ten minutes. Denmark are on the ropes. Time to go for the kill, do not leave this to pens. Come on England.

Tense

I will be switching off if it goes to pens.

That last throw in at least shows we have some thought in the team...

Sent from my SM-A125F

Italy will be happy with extra time here. Nothing really on show hear for the Italians to fear.

I think the winner of this will win the final.
13 shots against 5.

England's players going down very easily. Kane especially.

I hope you're right but yesterday's game felt a lot higher quality than this.

Southgate's glaring flaw is his caution to not change his defensive setup and use substitutes.

Make a fucking change!

Whoever plays Italy, the game will be different in style to this. So the Italians will have plenty to ‘fear’ as will today’s winners. Though fear is not a word the professional players would use, mindful I suspect.

Italy and Spain complemented each other.

That was cool, playing a 1-2 with the keeper 😄

2-1. Deserved. Soft penalty though.

Soft pen but deserved on run of play. Earlier one felt more of a pen but there you go.

Come on England. Take us home.

Soft penalty, but we were unlucky not to have been given one earlier.

Think Dave Bamber taught Kane everything he knows about staying on your feet.

I think there was a touch on Sterling's knee that brought him down.

Not the best penalty by Kane, he usually smashes them in, and unlucky for Schmeichel, but it doesn't matter now. Come on

I find Matterface annoying.

Mathematically Better for goalscoring stats. Total goals for England (x+1), Penalties included (x - 1)

Sitting too deep

Sam Matterface playing commentators curse to the max.

Ace  :)

Blimey.

Wow. Deserved that in the end, amazing!

Have fucking that. Well deserved. Bring on Italy.

2-1 ft. Best team won. Shame the game was settled in the way it was but getting to the final is all that matters.

Even first half. A total shitting on in the second half  and extra time. Not sure why Denmark shut up shop after the first half. Raheem sterling has been our man of the tournament so far. We've got so many options on the bench.
Cant wait for Sunday.

holy fuck sticks .....


iiiiiiiiiits coming home

as clear a penalty as Chalkies that. Cast iron

it's there anyone that doesn't?

A few weeks back Kirkwall pier had a flag for every nation in the Euros with the plan being to remove them one by one as nations were eliminated. They're all gone now, I wonder why they might be?

Fuck off Keane, you morose smeggy bellend. Bitter paddy, who’d scream blue murder it’s a penalty for Man U.

Anyone envisage any changes against Italy?

Thought Foden was excellent but I'd keep him on the bench and bring him on later.

I'm watching a Canadian stream and Kevin Kilbane is the pundit (clearly hates England) and he's suggesting Henderson should start. Nah, not for me

Typically Roy Keane. Dunno why they bother asking a question.

Envy is a bad thing, clearly.

I think we need a bit more in central midfield against Italy. Not sure Henderson is the right answer but need to think about something. Jorginho, Veratti and Borella scare me when I think about our central mids.

But this is tomorrow's problem. Tonight, we're in a major final for the first time since my dad was 2. Let's enjoy that.

I've a thumping headache after that. Having one's blood pressure that high for that long can't be good for ya.

No I don’t think so. When I watched Italy vs Belgium, Italy looked vulnerable on the wings and I think Sterling will cause them all kind of issues. He’s been player of the tournament for me so far.

I'll be honest, Gary Neville laying into the govt. in his praise of Southgate at the end was right up my alley. Sure there'll be complaints but fuck 'em, he's absolutely right.

He's been excellent. I don't expect to see any changes either, but it also wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened. Southgate has shown himself to be willing to chop and change if he sees fit

The more I see the penalty, the more I think the ref got it right.

It was blatant. Not so much the defender clipping his heels, but the midfielder coming in late and bundling him over. I’m genuinely confused by the conversation around it

That game was the exact mirror of the Croatia semi final, only we were Croatia. Denmark played well first half, and deserved to be in front. But from 55 minutes onwards we dominated and comfortably deserved to win

Fundamentally agree.

The only stats that ever matter are goals, period.

I thought Sterling went down very easy. If England conceded a penalty like that then there would be uproar.

I think VAR has been used very well in this tournament. However for a game of this magnitude I think the referee should have been asked to look at a replay of the situation. If he still thinks it’s a penalty then fair enough but I think he would have changed his mind.

Whether or not the player goes down easily does not make a difference to whether or not it was a penalty.

And I'm not sure he did go down too easily anyway. There was contact from one side and was then basically pushed from the other side. There's no way he could be expected to stay on his feet after the second contact. I think too much attention is being paid to the first contact, with people forgetting the other guy just ran right into him.

He was clipped by the first guy and bumped by the second. It was a staggered sandwich. Pretty clearly a penalty to my eyes

The ref was closer than any of us. Also think Kane should have had a pen earlier. Bollocks to the doubters  :)

Never had a staggered sandwich. Had a scabbard sandwich. Very tasty :)

Fuckkkkkkinnggg hell lads, most of us have never been alive or old enough to see/watch England in a final of a major tournament!

Still buzzing. Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz.

Also loved Gary Neville's metaphor for a good human in Gareth Southgate  :clap:

Fuck. It is only sport but it hasn't sunk in properly yet. It's nice to be alive to be part of some positive history. Let's hope England can go one step further. All about taking your chances and England have been very good at that.

Such an efficient machine, which is not even the finished article. Several lads who have barely been adults yet play with the intelligence and maturity of a top level seasoned pro with 10-15 seasons under their belt. Saka, Sancho, Mount, Foden, Bellingham, Trent Alexander-Arnold...if they continue at the same rate, these players are going to become absolute myths in the English game in say 5years (2026 World Cup), the oldest of that bunch would only be 25. Add to it that Sterling, Shaw, Phillips and Kane (31, 30, 30 & 32 respectively in 5 years) will still be knocking around, so there is not only a decent core in the set up but one that could and should sustain good tournament success (semi finals or better) at International level for a little while yet.

The final is the correct match up of two good teams. Both rejuvenated but in totally different ways. It is the right final that even the neutrals deserve.

Final thought, that ball retention and game management for England in the last three mins of ET was the kind of stuff we've seen Brazil & Germany do in the past. Denmark just could not get the ball. It took a passing error in the end for them to get it back. I stopped counting after 39 passes. I'm sure someone will tell me how many it was.

It was never a penalty and we'd be sick as dog's if it had been given against us but who cares. That's football. Nice to get the rub of the green. Stirling was phenomenal again I thought.

I’ve only watched each one once and the latter on my phone whilst working

I thought the one on Kane looked like more of penalty than the Sterling one.
We’d have probably had been in the lead if Denmark has literally any other keeper in the world in goal. Schmeichel was a class above.

Yep, Sterling tremendous - the stamina of the guy to still be breaking forward in extra time was remarkable. I'd be steaming mad if the penalty went the other way, but think there was at least one stronger penalty shout not given and we were by far the better team from 1-1 onwards.

Kane excellent, Walker excellent, everyone pretty good except perhaps the CMs in the first half - but Phillips turned it round. He's been the revelation of the tournament for me, there's no way he starts the tournament if Henderson is fit but he's made himself a key part of this team.

Just bloody delighted. I think we'll probably start as outsiders on Sunday and I'm a bit concerned that Italy feel like the perfectly set up team against us, but four or five days of buildup should get any sense of perspective thoroughly out of the way.

Never a penalty in my opinion. Harsh on the Danes.

There was the same amount of contact on Sterling than there was from mount on that shit free kick that led to their goal. Fuck em

Afraid not,  England favourites, varying prices at just under 2-1  Italy at just over 2-1.  

Yep. The Danes went down easily enough across the pitch.

Must remember to use those free £5/£10 bets,  not done very well with them up til now !!.

I thought at the time there was enough contact for the pen to be given and this confirms it for me, at least:

https://twitter.com/KevinDoyle1983/status/1412896303064010752?s=20

The contact was apparently from the first defender. He was on his way down before being barged.

In the video above you can see the contact. It's a stupid stupid attempt, he hasn't actually gone for the ball

I think the Danes were naive last night. Kane kept drifting into positions 30 yards from goal by the by-line and was looking for any excuse to flop on the floor to win free kicks in dangerous areas. As for the penalty, yes there is just about enough contact to warrant the award.

Clearly the game Denmark had to play in Baku took it out of them, the looked dead on their feet from about 80 minutes, had that penalty not been awarded I still think we'd have got another goal as they were shot with 10 men.

(https://i.imgur.com/7Bq1ibA.png)

You can't say there's no contact there - if you do then I can't take you seriously. From that point in, Sterling loses his stride but doesn't go down until he is barged over from the other side which was also worthy of a penalty. If it's not given for the first contact then it definitely should be for the second.

And the ball had already gone at the point of first contact. There was no reason for there to be any contact at all. I reckon the defender knew exactly what he was doing but didn't get away with it.

There wouldn't be half as many comments about this if it wasn't England  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: #bitter

Maybe Sancho for Saka and nobody really mentions how good Walker has been

Only downside for last night was Pickford . His head seems to have gone again, weirdly it went in the 70th min against Ukraine. Last night I thought we started brilliantly but then he had a wobble and it really knocked us out of our stride

We did what we needed to do, which is what we have done all tournament.

I am going to get rapidly pissed off if the events of this morning are repeated over the next 4 days, every bloody radio station seems to be playing 3 lions on repeat...

Bring on the final.

I didn't think either penalty shouts were penalties but I couldn't give less of a fuck - after Lampards non goal, the hand of goal and numerous other things that have gone against us over the years - we are due some luck in a tornament.

Italy is a tough one, and my head says we will get out shithoused on the day, but it is a final so anything can happen - bring it home boys

I wonder if we'll go with the wingbacks again on Sunday, try and keep Insigne and Chiesa quiet.

You may be right as Italy do like to use the width of the pitch

Perhaps some of the Irish lads replying should take a look at this  :)

https://youtu.be/oQQiaAtKFcs

Not sure it was a penalty but the ref gave it and thats all that matters unless you are a bitter Scot.

Some refs give them and some don't he checked VAR and thats good enough for me.

Overall a good performance, Pickford gave me a few moments as did Stones and Shaw, wecontrolled most of the game barring about a 15 min spell in the 1st half.

Terrible penalty from one of the best takers in the world but well done for getting quickly to the rebound.

Very happy with that and onwards to Sunday which will again be an evern tougher match against a very very good side rather than a decent side like Denmark.

Love the emotion this young lady captures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1IR42o--xo

Kanes looked a cert pen at the start, i was amazed, so a bit of equalling out with Sterling getting crowded out for his.

We have had some right shite decisions go against us in the past....Maradonas hand, the German ball over the line, blah blah blah. So fuck em.

I hope we do it....us Town fans need something to cheer us up.

If we do manage to actually win the thing, you know the Jocks, Taffs and Paddys will point to home advantage. Fuck em.

We could win every game 6-0 with 10 men and they'd find something. It is what it is. You'll drive yourself nuts if you worry about it.

Already had my wife’s Welsh uncle on FB spouting bitterness. My only surprise is it took him till this morning to start.

This is it for me also. The records say it's a penalty whether anyone likes it or not.

Pickford acts like he's got tourettes or ADHD, he just seems to be constantly shouting nonsense, you can see the other players just completely ignore him. He needs to calm down a bit as when he works himself up he loses his composure and starts making basic mistakes and in the final we can't afford that.

‘Not sure it was a penalty but the ref gave it and thats all that matters unless you are a bitter Scot.’ Add to Taffy or Paddy. Plus VAR agreed with the referees decision, so a double lock.

I think it was a pen. Regardless Sterling made it happen and the defenders were fucking stupid to put themselves in that position. Sterling showed great intelligence. He really has matured into a great player for England.
The Kane one is a bit 50/50. Sometimes they're given sometimes they're not.
Their free kick was never a free kick and I don't think Maguire should have been booked.
This team is still growing.
Sunday should be a cracker.

Var only overturns if it’s a clear and obvious error. Like Mourinho, Wenger and other top managers have said, the referee should have been asked to review his decision. Gut feel is he would have overturned it as Sterling fell over with ease. It doesn’t matter now though as England got through.

On the balance of play we should be through regardless.

Chiesa is the key one for me.  He's a shoot on sight kind of player.  We need to stop that.  I could consider a man making job on hiim.  I also have a feeling Grealish will start.

I think there's a need to go man-for-man pretty much all over the pitch. Mount, Rice and Phillips on Verratti, Jorginho and Barella. Walker and Shaw on Chiesa and Insigne.

Massive opportunity to use pace in behind Bonucci and Chiellini. Play Kane deeper playing balls around the corner for Sterling and Saka, much like last night.

Why the fuck do we have such a bunch of fucking arseholes as fans.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/57763001?at_custom2

Link is broken for me but I assume it’s talking about the booing and the laser?

The laser could have just been one stupendously brain dead individual, but the booing was a collective effort. It’s so obscenely pointless. Has zero effect other than to make the england support look like a collective of pricks. I can’t fathom why anyone would think it’s a good idea

Compare and contrast https://twitter.com/munchenbikkies/status/1413054717488418816?s=20

Yes hopefully fixed the link now.

The laser is stupid in the extreme but as you say the booing annoys the fuck out of me, especially when you know it winds up players of the opposition as well as a total lack of respect, its even announce don the tannoy before. Mindless idiots.

didn't even sport the laser until ITV showed it after. It's a fucked up thing to do

It was bought to the referees attention early in the 2nd half I think - he stopped the game and went and reported it to the 4th official

Ah, is that what that was all about? I did wonder at the time.

Yeah, you saw him waving a mock laser from side to side when he was informing the 4th official

No Surrender!  Innit.

The stupid thing about booing another Nations National Anthem is the only outcome likely is the players getting a faster start against your team.

It's embarrassing.

I wonder if the italians will be charged for booing the Spain anthem

National anthems are stupid, football fandom is 90% panto and booing the anthem is part of that. I don’t have a problem with it and wouldn’t clutch my pearls if other nations boo’d god save the queen

That said, I don’t think England fans should boo the Italian anthem on Sunday purely because it’s guaranteed that the Italian players will use that to their advantage. If anything I’d encourage people to sing along to the Italian anthem, really get in their heads

plus the Italian Anthem is a great tune.

See online that the most likley outcome is a huge fine of c.£8k, but there is the option for the game to have to be replayed.

A pub that only sells Strongbow? 😮

I cannot for the life of me remember where now, but I am 99% certain this sparked a memory of having been in a place over here that had ZERO taps.  All bottles and cans.  It will turn out I am lying of course, but I am certain this happened.

On the plus side, I have a spot local to me that has 100+ taps!!

Well, the only cider. There was a much more respectable selection of beers (and Tennant's) which I made do with.

Strongbow is piss. A nasty fucking wanky drink. Should be made illegal. Probably regarded as respectable to the sweaties.

Nemo - can we have the Euro final thread up today please?

Hopefully with Keane in his starting line up :pint: