trotta starts against englands u21s

[dannyboi-ffc]

To be fair I am with the media on this one. He never made the grade with us, don't recall him ever making an appearance for the first team but that penalty miss and the fews seconds after were so unbelievable that I dont think anyone following the full time results will ever forget. Especially because it was a whoever wins goes up finale.

Dont often like the media forgetting Fulham but with Trotta I can forgive them.

How awful are England? Southgate seemed clueless with the lineup. Cant believe the Chelsea lad didnt start after his impact against Sweden. Will Gareth ever repair the damage of the most famous penalty miss ever? Even more famous than Trotta's lol

[snarks]

I couldn't understand his formation, it was like a diamond with wingers and no point to it.

Looks like liverpool may have made a good purchase in Ings for his finishing and ability to take defenders on.

What summed it up for me, was an England corner, less than 15 seconds later it's back with the England keeper. I don't think any team passes the ball backwards as much as England did last night.

[cmg]

Fascinating case, Marcello. Never looks like much of a footballer - but usually makes a telling contibution at some stage. Italy didn't really need him last night and, in truth he didn't do much. Created one decent opportunity for himself and then provided an assist (maybe intentional!) for the third goal.
What I do find interesting is that he becomes a starter for Italy, wheras 'our' Cauley (who is, of course, a completely different type of forward) doesn't make the final cut for an inferior team. Cauley is a couple of years younger, of course, but I have always felt we rather missed a trick with Trotta. He's a Matt Smith sort of centre-forward, although a little bit quicker.
I've watched quite a few of Southgate's teams these past few years and frankly they have always looked like what you would expect from teams coached by Southgate. Never get anywhere with that sort of poverty of inspiration and ideas.

[St. Andrews White]

Well he's tipped by the Times to be next England manager.

Fits the bill then.

[Neil D]

The Italians are convinced they were the victims of another 'biscotto' (biscuit - haven't a clue why) or stitch-up.  A draw would ensure both Portugal and Sweden would go through at Italy's expense and a draw is that they got (handy last minute Swedish goal).  The Swedes have form here.  They and the Danes conspired to arrange another biscotto - a Scandinavian chum-fest draw in the 2004 Euros to get them both through at Italy's expense.  On this occasion, only a 2-2 draw would fit the bill and that's how it finished.  Another explanation is that Italy were so inept against Sweden in the opening game that they got what they deserved.

[cmg]

The Italians are convinced they were the victims of another 'biscotto' (biscuit - haven't a clue why) or stitch-up.  A draw would ensure both Portugal and Sweden would go through at Italy's expense and a draw is that they got (handy last minute Swedish goal).  The Swedes have form here.  They and the Danes conspired to arrange another biscotto - a Scandinavian chum-fest draw in the 2004 Euros to get them both through at Italy's expense.  On this occasion, only a 2-2 draw would fit the bill and that's how it finished.  Another explanation is that Italy were so inept against Sweden in the opening game that they got what they deserved.

You've got to feel a little bit sorry for them. But only a little bit. They knew what the deal was. A match between two sides who would both be suited by a draw is highly likely to finish in a draw. If Italy had been involved you could have put your mortgage on it!
And, as you say, if they hadn't messed up the Sweden match they would have been in control.

[FPT]

The easy option last night was to blame that our players are not good enough - but that's simply not the case. Gareth Southgate showed is inability as coach, our team looked disjointed, lacked fluidity and displayed lazy, sloppy defending. One of our best players in the squad, James Ward-Prowse, was dropped for our last two games completely. One of ours players least expected to make an impact, Jesse Lingard, made the most and that was individual quality rather than team play.

Jake Forster-Caskey had been dropped by Brighton throughout the season, yet was deemed fit to not only join up with the squad, but start ahead of James Ward-Prowse and Will Hughes.

It's too easy to blame injuries also, so what if we lost Saido Berahino, Alex Pritchard and John Stones (for the first two games)? Danny Ings had 11 goals at Premier League level last season, missed a huge opportunity in the first 10-15 minutes last night. We dropped James Ward-Prowse for no reason, who easily could have filled the void of Alex Pritchard. I'm a big fan of Michael Keane, and I don't think he kicked a ball in vain in this tournament, instead, Liam Moore (who had been largely out of the Leicester side) was judged to start alongside Ben Gibson.

Our group of players are worse than any other in the group, but the coaching was well below par. It was so visible that we were not drilled as well as the other sides and relied largely on individual quality. Disjointed is the buzzword of this tournament for me, because our crop of youngsters were not behind in talent. We need to start appointing and developing coaches and the England philosophy, rather than just giving an ex-player a go.

Another thing, England need to stop copying other countries. Be England, develop an English way of playing - they will innovate faster than we can imitate.