‘Ultimately, I’m a City fan first and foremost and that will never change. Nothing England do will ever compare with the sheer visceral excitement of watching my team score, or see out a landmark win, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens on Sunday, just that whatever the result, the effects will be less dramatic!‘
Thus wrote Canaries Trust chairman and MFW contributor Robin Sainty in the Pink Un on Saturday morning and I have to say he spoke for me too – and probably many other footsoldiers of the Y’Army as well.
So the Henri Delauney trophy lodges in Rome for four years, but at least the elegant cup, its minders and the engraver had 24 hours in Wembley, North West London. A place Norwich City fans are very familiar with and over almost the last 50 years our record there remains played four, won two, lost two, goals for three, goals against two.
Please join me in feeling empathy with Gareth Southgate and his marvellous young squad who [let’s be honest here] came up short against Roberto Mancini’s Italy outfit to fall at the final hurdle.
Luke Shaw’s cracking goal after only two minutes led to an outbreak of joy and sheer optimism amongst England supporters but I wouldn’t be giving an honest opinion if I said anything other than: you cannot defend for 88 minutes, however adept you are within the discipline. We got caught out and suffered accordingly.
No disrespect to Southgate who thought that was the way to go but the constant Italian high press and utter domination of midfield had us on the back foot and looking wearier by the minute. Frankly, I don’t know how we stiffed it out to extra time, but we did – and came into the game much more during the additional period.
With looming penalties the only show in town, Southgate opted for the introduction of Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho in something like the 118th minute. Bad move on this occasion Gareth, I’m afraid – as we will all have witnessed.
I’m not going through the shoot-out drama. Nobody surely wishes to recall it.
I’d better settle for the hackneyed phrase of same old, same old – as in when England manage to turn a winning *penalties* position into a complete buggers muddle despite a performance from Jordan Pickford that our very own Tim Krul would have been proud of.
Moving swiftly on, Southgate has achieved so much by getting England followers back onside and assembling a genuinely likeable squad of exciting young players who will surely only improve between now and the 2022 World Cup. There is a genuine enthusiasm for this squad that I cannot recall in slightly over fifty years.
Youngsters have role models like Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Kalvin Phillips. Add on Harry’s Kane and Maguire if you wish. For people of my vintage, Southgate is the first England manager I have been able to relate to since El Tel – and for totally different reasons. Everybody uses the word *decent* to describe Southgate and quite rightly so.
The team had pre-match messages from HRH the Queen, Prince William and, erm, Boris Johnson.
Locally the NNUH said: “Our patients need not miss out on watching this Sunday’s Euro 2020 final, as we’ve arranged for bedside TV screens to be unlocked in time for kick-off at 8pm so they can view the match free of charge.”
As always there’s no political punditry from me but it surely goes to show how England’s performance alerted some of the powers that be in this sceptred isle not seen during recent FIFA/UEFA tournaments. Maybe some of it was pseudo, perhaps there was an element of bandwagon jumping from certain quarters but the point remains: they took notice.
So, although I speak from a slightly lower strata of society, I’d like to say that I truly appreciate what Gareth Southgate and his England squad have brought to me and hopefully many more of us over the last few weeks: a bit of pride, a bit of pleasure and some fond memories of the tournament
And after all, we can realistically dream of a great performance in the World Cup next year, can’t we?
Some excellent words in your article Mr Penney and at least Gareth opted not to become the next ‘Wally with the brolly!!’
It has indeed been excellent to see how the fans have got behind this young England team and given the nation something to cheer about after the last 15 months or so. As was expected ‘social distancing’ was non-existent during the celebrations of the early goal, but that concern is for another day.
Apart from the first 20-30 minutes, Italy were very much in charge of the game and I think in the 2nd half, England managed one shot on target. Perhaps Skipp will be considered for the full England squad in future and add some much-needed ‘steel’ to midfield.
IMO, a serious area of concern was the lack of goals that England scored (other than the 4 against Ukraine!!). They EVEN failed to score against a relatively poor side from North of the border!!
As for the poor/missed penalties, I can only refer back to NCFC’s evening out at the ‘New Lane’ when both Idah and TC (playing ‘keepy ups’ on his way to the spot) absolutely SMASHED their penalties high into the roof of the net. I know, I know not QUITE the same as the pressure of last night, but for everyone in the ‘Canary Nation’, it CERTAINLY was.
I’ll avoid any reference to the antics of Boris and his chums, but there will be no knighthood for Southgate this year.
PS – I know you’ve had to write this article early in the morning, but the trophy will only be in Rome for 3 years!!! Southgate has been confirmed in post until after the 2024 Euros.
PPS – Perhaps the England players would do well to watch girls’ football. The final of the local under 11 tournament last Sunday saw the winners win the penalty shootout 15-14, with the last one being saved!!
Hi Ed
Yes you’re right – the Trophy only has a three-year tenure in Rome of course!
I think the theory behind the Scotland draw was simply to ensure that we would qualify. At least it gave me my first serious look at one Billy Gilmour, recently seen in one of Ayrshire’s finest pubs with his family – all good clean fun!
Agree with your take on last night’s game.
Cheers
Marty, a piece of prose from the heart, and I agree with it all. We had our hands on the trophy in the first half, but the second half the Italians were brilliant and we were pedestrian. As to the shoot-out, I never watch them, might as well toss a coin. On to the World Cup, I fear we will never master high speed one touch football, but hopefully we will win our way through to the semifinals before we are taught another football lesson. However the Canaries are my first love and international football is in a distant 2nd place.
Hi Cutty
That’s why I quoted Robin S. I said before the Euros began that City always come before them national team and that’s how it remainds, although I was as gutted as anybody when we lost out in the cruellest of fashion.
Glad to see you too giving credit to Italy. They deserved it.
We were so close but no Signature Red filter. Well, a few for me I’m afraid.
Cheers
Hi Martin
An excellent summary
I was expecting lots of media critics this morning moaning about the subs bring on young players for the penalties when he had experienced ones like Henderson, Walker who have stepped up before.
The media is full on about the abuse given to the 3 young men that stepped up for their country and sadly missed, when will the media stop calling it racial abuse colour doesn’t define your race.
Being an old white person I accept that other colours have received abuse but nothing has been proved that all the online warrior are white doing the abuse so no matter you colour we are all of the human race, Media should start to call it personal abuse and get away from the racial title.
The game last night really came down to 2 Refereeing decisions.
1) Joninho high tackle on Grealish
2) Chiellini rugby tackle on Sako
A lot of pre headlines around Europe were calling for a strong Ref and saying that he might be influenced by EUFA into letting England get the result but in reality he let the Italian out muscle England in all tackles and get away with cynical fouls and with 2 possibly Red cards the result would have been different
Were we out played in midfield yes but our defence held firm and our attack had nothing to take advantage of and test their keeper.
It is a young squad and can progress and we will see every pundit have an opinion on the how’s and why’s we lost and who will join this squad to take it forward ie Skipp.
Onwards and upwards
OTBC
Stay safe and Stay Healthy
The high tackle on Grealish would probably have been a red in this country after VAR had intervened, but one of the joys of this tournament has been that VAR has mostly let the referees get on with their decision (with the exception of games where English referees were running it), so consequently there was a better flow to games. Grealish did his usual rolling around in agony, but got up and ran around ok when he saw it was only going to be a yellow. He contributed very little else when he came on.
The Chiellini foul on Sako was only ever a yellow, cynical though it was. It was not a clear goal scoring opportunity, given the area of the pitch where it happened, and the covering Italian defenders.
Agree that neither was quite a red, but a bit harsh on Grealish – that would have been very painful on impact, and actually he didn’t “roll around” at all. He stayed put. Nor did he, or any of the England team, seem to be asking for a red card or make the “please consult VAR” gesture. Had that been the other way round….
I know Grealish and many others (not least Madders, Emi and Todd) get reputations for making a meal of these things. But there’s a difference between going down easily, which they certainly do sometimes, and taking a hit on the back of the calf or achilles. One of their key skills is the ability to get in front of their opponent and the number of times they get caught by painful niggly little fouls must be very irritating.
Trouble with Grealish and our lads you mention is that they cry wolf a bit too often and a good ref will know that even before kick-off.
Good players all, though.
Agree about Grealish. He was used sparingly in this comp. for a reason.
Hi Alex
I agree with you about the key refereeing decisions and some of the Dutch official’s calls were a bit odd – but overall the referees have been pretty good.
The Italians have always known for their ability to tread that fine line between physicality and red cards and the current crop are no different in that respect.
I don’t see Skippy displacing Rice or Phillips anytime soon but you never know!
Cheers
I’m probably one of the few English supporters feeling smug rather than gutted this morning, having predicted an Italian win from the start. I said in a comment on this site last week that the Italians control the ball and move it quicker than England, and despite England’s early goal, I never doubted that Italy would get back into the game. I’ve so far resisted texting my grandson to say “I told you so”.
England needed to push for a second before half time, but instead they let the Italians build their way back into the game. I think Italy might have finished it in 90 minutes if Chiesa hadn’t had to go off; they certainly would have done so had Spinazzola been fit to play. As it was, they had twice the possession that England had, they had three times as many shots, and three times more on target. Rashford and Sancho should have had at least 15 minutes to get the rhythm of the game, rather than coming on cold for the penalties. Why wasn’t Shaw taking one of the first five, or possibly Stone, even Pickford? Crazy choices.
England just don’t excite me in the way that Norwich do under Farke.
Hi Jim
All good points and I’ll pick up on Pickford – he takes a mean pen from what I’ve seen in a couple of training clips.
Maybe down for six or seven slot? Maybe we’ll never know.
Cheers
I’ve enjoyed our Euros campaign but we were given a dose of reality last night.
We’d ridden our luck a bit avoiding teams that could boss our midfield until then. Had we faced Pogba/Kante or de Bruyne and his mates in the last 16 or QF I think we’d have been out. The French in particular became complacent against the Swiss– they wouldn’t have done that against us. Nobody we faced was as quick at winning lost ball back as the Italians were and we lacked the experience in the middle of the park to stay composed and find a way round it.
I wish we had lost the game in the 120 minutes because instead of focusing on Rashford, Sancho and Saka we’d be talking about Pickford and Maguire’s dodgy distribution, some nervy passing throughout the team, too many poor decisions going forward. Not unlike the Scotland game actually.
The defence still looked pretty solid though – it took a bit of a scramble to finally beat them. Maguire’s in-your-face approach tends to dominate the screen but I think Stones’s reading of the game has been exemplary.
But the whole tournament has shown how much potential is coming through. Of course people are excited by the prospect of a clutch of flair players , but to me the solid basis of Phillips and Rice is what I find most encouraging. Bellingham looks as though he will be a top player in 2 or 3 years too, and there’s a certain Ollie Skipp waiting to make his mark.
Qatar next year will be a nightmare for all the big European countries. Not just the heat but the whole issue of rescheduling domestic leagues and European competitions to allow time for preparation. If there’s a strong African team out there they could do very well. For us Germany in 2024 is probably a more realistic target.
So, time for a very short breather then bring on the PL.
Hi Keith
Qatar is indeed a nightmare – and not just because of the heat. Whoever sanctioned this at FIFA should have a strong word with themselves but they’re probably too busy studying their personal bank balanses to do so.
The high press and fluidity of the Italians was too much for us in the end.
Good post – thanks.
Vintage Canary.
Although yes i do support my country England . But always with intripidation, But City are my true love,
I don’t rate Kane , and England were complete lost in the second half outdated by slick passing and constant pressure the had no answer to Italy.
Culminating in the madness of letting three cold greenhorns to take on the task, of clinically winning the game which they unfortunately were not up to doing.
What got up my goat more than anything was the disgusting spectacular of watching two thirds of the English team remove there medals in front of the cameras
In a mass protest of spoilt brats.
Do you think that the England team that won the world cup in 1966 would have done that if they would have lost to Germany in the final. No they were proud to have played for England and reached it.
I bet Bobby Moore would be turning in his grave. I likened it to the black power salute at the Olympic games in the 60s
But do the press say anything no. Quite discussted.
.
Hi Keith
As for the removal of the medals I didn’t really notice at the time.
Petulance or a reaction to sheer disappointment?
I don’t think any of our players were less proud to have worn the shirt of England than the 1966 lads and I’m afraid I’m old enough to remember them pretty well. Don’t forget that they won that day which does tend to puff out the chest!
Thanks – interesting comment.
We came up short against a very street wise Italian side. The early goal did for us but only by small margins and they missed 2 pens both brilliantly saved by Pickford who I thought was a stand out performer for us all tournament.
As you say Gareth Southgate has restored pride in following our national team, he tolerates ego’s in the same way as our Daniel, isn’t it refreshing. Okay, he was too cautious but easy to be critical and Grealish isn’t as good as many imagine, (I suspect an Argentinian, once of this Parish, may become the new Villa talisman).
Good to get the Euro’s out of the way and look forward to 14th August and L’pool, will it be at a full Carrow Road? Covid 19 may have something further to ‘say’ about that but I hope not.
Hi Colin
Your comment about Grealish & Emi has cheered me up for sure!
I had doubts surrounding Pickford beforehand but must agree with you that he had a terrific tournament and was a bit unlucky in the prelude to the Italian goal.
Cheers
Trouble is Martin the football has been overshadowed, again, by – can I call them Engerland fans , not England fans, – the anti social behaviour of a minority of England fans . Crashing security at Wembley to gain illegal entry , booing the anthem Italian and the teams taking the knee. To be followed by abuse of the kids who took the penalties in the shootout.
Makes me sad , but it was kind of expected.
Hi Bernie
I completely agree with you mate, no question about it.
I actually wrote this piece straight after the match and kind of closed off all other media to facilitate that so I had no idea at the time about what went down apart from the *storming of the barriers* which Alex B made me aware of.
Quite why this attitude prevails, particularly among some of the younger generation who have not a glimmer of an excuse, I simply dunno.
It’s a sad, mad world sometimes I’m afraid.
Cheers
I can’t disagree with any of that. Poor planning and response by the FA and police may have contributed to the scenes witnessed last night but those involved need to be identified and dealt with preferably in court. The investigation could be financed from monies set aside for the 2030 bid which must have been kiboshed.
On a lighter note millions more have been introduced to the joys of following football. High expectations dashed upon the rocks of reality!
Hi Gerry
*High expectations dashed upon the rocks of reality* – wish I’d thought of that line!
With all the CCTV out there now there should surely be more prosecutions.
Great comment – thanks.
Southgate didnt seem to believe his squad talent to be able to challenge Italy. 5 defenders, 2 defensive midfielders and attacking midifielder (Mount) who was forced to play defensive role. Attacking was basically Sterlings runs with the ball, he played fantastic tournament. At the same time you had player like Grealish in your squad, he is brilliant and not just a player who do very well in english football and gets to laughing matter internationally. Last time you had player like that it was David Beckham. England over performed clearly when we talk about how many scoring chances you need to score a goal. Ironically even Luke Shaw suddenly shot technically perfect shot and then later he shot like he usually shoots about 30 meters too high and wide. England is kind of difficult to estimate where real level is, this tournament was very unfair to some and to England it gave biggest possible advantage to get result. I can understand that England fans are disappointed to loose the final, I feel that getting to final was huge victory to England. Italy was better and deserved probably to be new champion, Spain could have deserved to be champion too.
England played very pragmatic football, like Sweden plays. Should England be able to play more brave way and be able to create more scoring chances? Thats the question about England national team level, is it part of best national teams or part of challengers like Sweden and Denmark are? I looked the stats between England-Italy and Finland-Italy games, they were very identical except Finland were able to pass way more than England did. I think England should have done better, tactically you started to play very much like Finland did in tournament. Very low block defending and 8 players out of 10 whose job was basically defending. I dont know what happened except your manager just like our manager didint believe anymore to his players. Then always you approach game hoping that opponents does not have their best attacking day and your team happens to be extremely clinical. Can you be more clinical than each of your opponent every time? I dont believe that. Mancini trusted his players that they are able to adapt different roles and tactics during the game.
Hi 1×2
Always good to hear the objective view of an unbiased neutral – thanks.
I agree with almost all of what you say but I must admit I hadn’t previously considered comparing England with Sweden!
You’re spot on about England’s low block defending, which was painful to watch for most of the match, at least for me.
Anyway please continue to give MFW your views on all things NCFC next season, particularly regarding Teemu Pukki of course.
Kiitos
Martin, Sweden is team which is difficult to play against. I know that swedes felt they had brilliant lottery, but they failed against Ukraine. England is better on paper but Sweden is like they are in every sport, tactically very well organized.. Their lost to Ukraine was still not surprising. Ukraine honestly was disaster against England, they looked tired. Sweden and Denmark are very even teams and England played at home against Denmark.
1X2
Re “you had player like Grealish in your squad, he is brilliant”
Look up Matt le Tissier if you’re not familiar with him. And Alan Hudson before that. Neither played as many games for England as their ability (as seen in the top division week in week out) suggested they should.
Grealish, and possibly Foden, may face a similar fate. Given the number of matches and large number of substitutions these days they will of course play bit parts in a lot more games than those two did, but I think their contemporaries such as Rice, Mount and Phillips will play a lot more.
Mind you if Le Tiss had come on for a penalty he’d have scored for sure, and I somehow don’t see Grealish following in his wake by winning 3 games on Countdown….
Do you remember the FA Cup QF replay at Carrow Road when the sainted Le Tiss was sent off and, I think, Barry Horne too?
I have rarely been as pleased as I was after our 2-1 triumph that night!
Keith B,
Grealish is different level player than Le Tissier was at least to me. I can see that in England, Grealish is either loved or hated. Outside England we mainly appreciate him and when he got playing time in euros, England looked way more creative. Hopefully he will stay in Villa, but he is a player who would be also interesting to see playing outside england too.
I agree with you there.
I reckon Grealish would look good in a top Spanish side such as Atletico or. Barca.
Maybe one day?
Great analysis Martin.
The boys did us proud that’s for sure. As did for 99% Gareth Southgate.
The 1% mistake in my view was bringing on Rashford and Sancho far too late to get any rhythm.
And that’s not in retrospect, I felt it at the time. In fact I think Italy missed a trick, all they had to do was keep possession for a minute and we wouldn’t have got them on.
I know now that may have helped us but I couldn’t believe they didn’t try to do it.
I agree with you, we tried to defend for far too long and it was a mini miracle we survived to penalties.
Pickford was the far busier keeper by some way.
Alex B is right two big decisions went against England. Jorghinio should have seen red.
And 2 or 3 inches a lower cross Stones would have headed into an empty net into history.
But let’s be honest Italy to me were the outstanding team of these Euros. Belgium now look what they are an ageing “Golden Generation” and sorry Keith I thought France were very, very disappointing.
Mbappe was totally overshadowed by Raheem until last night were he looked out of sorts for the first time in these Euros.
We would have taken a final, not losing a game and just losing out on penalties at the start of the tournament. It is improvement from 3 years ago and Italy are now 34 undefeated. That is incredible.
I do agree with Roy Keane ( very rare) senior players should have stepped up to take Saka’s place on penalties but Grealish has said he wanted and offered to take one and it was Gareth’s decision that he didn’t.
Finally Sancho and Saka’s penalties were not great but they were on target so fair play to the lads,
but what on earth was Rashford doing ?
That will sadly be my abiding memory of Euro 2020.
The abuse he is getting on line is disgusting and unforgivable. But constructive criticism must be allowed. Doing what he did he had to hit the target. The keeper had already gone the other way and he had 2/3rds of an empty net to roll the ball into.
It goes back to the over confidence of prima donna’s of previous years, something that Gareth has all but extricated from the squad.
All in all though an excellent tournament for the boys to be proud of. Sadly a minority of fans after last nights scenes were the total opposite and a disgrace to the country.
Hi Tim
All good points made well – I’ll pick up on just a couple.
What was Rashford doing? I have no idea. I’d hate to single anybody out under these circumstances but it was the worst pen from the ten by a country mile.
And while feeling as bad as yourself for agreeing with Roy Keane, he was indeed right. Even our dogs knew Rashford would stuff up as soon as they saw his approach.
I’ve only latterly caught up with the antics of some so-called supporters and this merely confirms to me that never signing up to Tw*tter and the rest of them was the right decision. Disgusting is the only word for it, although revolting runs it close.
Cheers
Good article Martin.
England’s match against Italy last night was a bit of a Curate’s Egg really!
The early goal meant England effectively bossed the first half, and Italy – worthy winners – could not steal the game from the get-go. Second half, the Italians came back well and overall they deserved to win.
We needed to freshen the team up midway through the second half and failed to do so, too many tired English legs, too shapeless. Mancini’s substitutions were all very effective.
I have no real criticism for Southgate and the team they all did us proud in the tournament, up to the penalties – which are nerve-jangling at any time.
My only criticism is allowing three young lads to take the most crucial penalties England have ever taken, whichever member of the coaching staff compiled that list needs to go, we now have three world-addressing young players, clearly dubious when taking their penalties, damaged by the experience, while more experienced players watched on, or were on the bench.
Can’t wait for the Prem to get under way, hope we bring in a couple of top-notch players over the next couple of weeks to supplement our squad, NCFC need to strengthen quickly so the new guys get time to participate in the warm up matches
COYYs !!
Hi Kev
Yes I agree with you – the pressure on Sancho and Saka must have been immense but I’ve seen Rashford taking a few before and he’s never tried that *style* before to my knowledge – maybe in training!
As you say, it’s all behind us now so the attention moves from Southgate to Farke for what I’m 100% sure will be a *challenging* season.
COYY indeed 🙂
Acknowledge what you say about Rashford Martin, I see him as a very self-assured young man with an eye for a goal … only other thing I can say is, I’d rather all three lads had just blasted their penalties with all the power they possessed – history already though, not even listening to the blues here!
One more good striker to support Super-Teemu – we could easily convert Hernandez to that job though.
Cantwell to take up Emi’s role, I tnink he would shine.
One utility defender to support the backline,
COYY !!
Cheers all!
England and Norwich, for me, are two separate incomparable experiences with very different memories.
For Norwich I largely remember the successes. Beating Manchester United and Man City during different PL spells. Promotion via playoffs, or not. In my lifetime City have won a cup, finished 3rd in the PL, beaten European champions, and witnessed many promotions. Who knows what someone as old as Martin has seen.
Not that City hasn’t had defeats, or relegations, but they tend to be slow, long, winding, descents. Even after a dud season, there’s the promise of a new one just months away, with the league and two cups to enter. Club football offers the consistent stream of opportunity.
England, will always be fewer, more pivotal experiences. Euro ’96 and WC ’98 heartbreaks as a teenager were devastating. To have ultimate faith, the type only uncynical youth can have, that our heroic England players were going to bring football home, yet see them fall short, dashed dreams. Now I experience it with my own kids. We may never have a better chance, certainly not of doing it at Wembley. At almost 40, knowing that I may never see England win a major tournament with either my father, or my children, is a hard pill to swallow. But the bittersweet hope remains.
Hi Dave
As I’m 23 years older than you I might have seen many more matches but in terms of significance the only memorable event I’ve witnessed that you haven’t is the 72-72 promotion season.
And as I was growing up in London for most of the 70s I didn’t really get to see much of that!
Cheers
Great piece as always Martin.
There’s not much I can add except for growing disdain for some of the comments I keep seeing on social media over Southgate.
I don’t claim to have a deep knowledge of football, but some fans seem to seem to think simply throwing Grealish and more attacking players into the mix would have won us the game – in my mind this increases the chance of losing it, so I think GS’s approach was wholly justified.
I spent the entire penalty shootout on the toilet as nerves got the better of me and my bowels!
Having watched it back it’s incredible to think we lost a shootout in which our keeper saved two pens, which is normally enough to win it.
I personally don’t like any stuttery run up or placed pen. Surely any professional footballer can strike a ball cleanly, with power into the corners – so why give the keeper a chance of making a save?
Hi Segura
I’ve only played at, say, lower-middle Anglian Combination level or its Essex equivalent but have both taken and faced a few pens in my time – especially when I was in my 40s and played 5/6 a side at the UEA on the astro when the high blast isn’t really an option..
Looking back I’d rather be the keeper than the taker every time.
Even in a *nothing match* at the lower end of the scale the pressure is immense if you’re unlucky enough to be one of the gladiators.
Place v power? Well there were Neil Adams [us] & Ray Stewart [WHU] and both made their individual techniques work pretty well.
Hope the jolly old bowels are ok by now – and the toilet too, of course 🙂
Cheers