titchuk

I put Germany, they feel in a similar position to how England were in 2018 - following on from a few poor tournaments and fans disengaged with the team, now a new squad, connection with the nation re-energised, good young players who are going to be better for the experience. Except that they're German, so of course they'll take the extra step that we couldn't.

Kane's probably been one of the best strikers in the world over the past 5ish years but yeah don't think he has the 'superstar' appeal that Bellingham does.

I don't think we'll go back to the dark days of not qualifying for tournaments, mostly because so many teams qualify nowadays that it's actually quite hard not too, but I don't think we'll have a record of 3 semis in 4 tournaments in future. I said this earlier but while yes we do have a good core of young players who will get better, and some good midfielders coming through, I'm slightly concerned about who is coming through in other positions, particularly centre forward.

I don't think Bellingham should be played in central midfield!!! Oh, wait...

I know the last one's only just finished but based on what you saw and the direction different nations are going in, who do you reckon?

Also donated, well done everyone.

Quite a striking statistic from the FA: in the 25 tournaments between 1966 and him taking over we won 7 knockout games, in the 4 tournaments he was in charge of we won 9 (yes I know there were fewer knockout games in the past, but still)

Fair enough and not a surprise. Best manager we've had in my lifetime, by some way. Huge shame he couldn't get us over the line but has transformed how the country feels about the team in my opinion.

Suspect it'll be Potter, he strikes me very much as an England (semi-final-achieving) manager.

There's quite a lot of "we are SHOCKED that Southgate was disappointed we continually published his team selection and tactics days in advance"

The Athletic had a big feature on England and around the atmosphere of the camp, Bellingham isn't criticised as such but reading between the lines...quotes here:

I said half-jokingly in the thread earlier about him ending up in the House of Lords and, bizarrely, I've just seen - even more bizarrely - an American presidential adviser suggesting Starmer should do that and make him a minister in the sports department.

A pub near me reached capacity and stopped letting people in at 3pm. Everywhere I saw was packed.

Someone make me feel better and tell me I'm wrong: we talk about us having a talented squad, and it's true, but tonight felt like maybe the end of an era and I'm worried about when our next opportunity might be. 2028 feels like the obvious one what with it being on home soil but if anything it feels like it might be too obvious and the pressure becomes too much. And some of our key players over the last 6 years are most likely going to not be there - Kane will be 34 and based on tonight retired, Stones 34, Maguire 35, Walker 38(!), Shaw 33 and probably finally crocked for good. We have some ok defenders coming through but who is the number 9 who'll lead the line? Are Bellingham and Foden going to be that much better in 4 years than they are now? Hopefully I'm just being maudlin because...yknow... but whereas in previous years it felt like we were still building up to something, tonight felt like the something and I'm concerned its going to be downhill from here.

Gutted, for me feels worse than 2021 because I really did feel we could/should win whereas back then it felt a bit more of a free hit. Spain were good, we had spells and moments but didn't perform for too long periods. Would need to watch it back but felt like we didnt really know what to do after we equalised, felt like Gareth was caught in two minds as to whether to stick with the attacking or revert back to the normal plan. Maybe we'll watch us win something in our lifetimes.

Is it busy? I'm heading off to one soon (presumably a different one to the one you're in)

3 years ago according to this my main concern was trying to work out what time to arrive at the pub to guarantee a view but not be too drunk, and that's my main concern again this time. (why oh why do I never book anywhere) Except that 3 years later I've discovered non-alcoholic beer. TURN THE PAGE!!

Weirdly confident, maybe uncomfortably so.

Excited for the lovely Juan Mata!

The past 4 weeks have all been building up to this, heroes made, dreams shattered along the way, but now it's the one we've all been waiting for...CJ's last thread in the euro 2024 forum.

Feels like there is a bit of revisionism to Spain because yeah that 2012 run was maybe a bit too controlled to be thrilling, but I seem to remember 2008 being fun and quite 'wow'? Just looked it up and they were the top scorers, put 7 past Russia over 2 games, last minute winners in others, beat the world champions in a penalty shootout...sounds exciting.

Might be tricky to combine managing Tunisia with his job in the House of Lords.

I'll be out somewhere but not sure where yet, a lot of pubs in London have turned into walk-in only or charging extortionate amounts for a seat - got to one yesterday 90 minutes before kickoff and I reckon there were 80 people in the queue on a one-in-one-out policy so sacked that off.

Surely Sunday is his last game regardless of the result, he either leaves on an amazing high or he's got so much abuse in this tournament (and the last to a lesser extent) that he doesn't want to stay on and I wouldn't blame him. Personally think he should leave as one of our greatest ever managers and fingers crossed he gets a trophy to confirm it.