[Devongone]

For the first time in several seasons Luke Shaw didn't look like a diddyman, with his boots sticking out of his shorts. Was it a surgical procedure?

Harry Kane is trying to prove the case for both Leicester and Millwall where he was on loan and they attempted to make him into a defensive midfielder. He is currently a huge negative benefit to the team.

Why Declan Rice can't play centre back when he only has to retreat about four foot from his normal England position I just don't know.

Against Switzerland every substitution Southgate unwillingly made improved the team. Every Swiss sub was a negative for them!

We were roughly as good as Switzerland without the stunning mountains and skiing. Our penalties were perfection.

We could as Ritchiebaby suggested win this tournament (without ever playing properly or meeting a good team).

We've got Koeman's Netherlands next. Brilliant player. Unwilling to select the fastest player the Premier League has so far recorded, a star in German football who can play in any position on the right, from back to forward, or one of the mainsprings of Bologna's success last season who currently is being eyed enviously across Europe, but in Ronald's eyes is inferior to a very long bloke out on loan from Burnley for the last two seasons. We might even win FFS!

[Lord Snooty]

Southgate's tactics drive me mad. His unwillingness to bring on subs when required, drives me mad.

[Lord Snooty]

Well what do any of us know? The man's obviously a tactical genius!

[Devongone]

Obviously the squad was perfectly designed to succeed rather than fail. I watched 5 of our 6 games and enjoyed 35 minutes against the Netherlands when we looked the classiest side in the competition by a distance. But Memphis Depay stopped all that by getting injured and being replaced by a pedestrian midfielder. If anyone can explain why that was an insoluble problem I'd be willing to listen and learn.

The Dutch could have started a mobile and threatening forward line of Gakpo, Zirkzee, and Depay, but they never tried it. They could've played three at the back with Van Dyke, Van der Ven and Ake, and Frimpong and Dumfries attacking from wing back. They never did. Like us they were deliberately ordinary. Like the whole competition they tried to cover perceived weaknesses rather than playing to their strengths.

Examples of idiot failure abound. Serbia have three high-class central attackers. They hardly received the ball, didn't play together, and never received the ball quickly. I wonder why they couldn't score. The Dutch already weakened before the tournament by the loss of their best midfielders, left out three of their best players throughout. Portugal with an excellent squad with genuine depth played as if the tournament were a Ronaldo Farewell Benefit Gig. France stubbornly decided Rabiot is a better player than Camavinga and insisted on playing three defensively based midfielders then discovered that with their star man broken-nosed scoring was beyond them. Belgium looked almost too old and bored with one another to share a pitch. Little wonder we found Georgia's approach refreshing.

Spain have come through a very shallow pool of talent smelling of roses, but they are coming on stage after a drag act with hairy arms, a broad arse and a few tasteless jokes. They are very beatable, but to do it we are going to have to play at least 60 minutes more football than we've done so far. Course I hope we win. Course I want to see Ollie Watkins face wreathed in a Devon smile again (a man who failed as a left back for Exeter City!). Course I hope Wakey Terrier and crew bounce all the way back to Yorkshire. But Lord the fare has been dire. And so far we fitted right in.

But a win's a win you cry. And I can't argue.

[0762]

A brief summary after watching this Euro final match in Germany: As feared and expected - SPAIN ARE THE EURO2024 CHAMPIONS AND DESERVEDLY SO WITH THE TIGHT 2-1 SCORELINE BEING A TAD DECEPTIVE TBF!! Yamal honoured with the player of the tournament award and I think the young lad could've scored a "hat trick" on another day - some great crisp, sweeping moves through the England defence, but he disappointingly lost his scoring boots!! Thank god the attacking side, the best team of the tournament, won this Euro final and indeed they won all their matches from day 1 - WELL DONE!! Re England? A reasonably spirited display, lots of exhausted players - the same observation v The Netherlands. I suspect this will be Southgate's last match.

[Lord Snooty]

Congratulations to Scotland as well. The only team to have beaten Spain throughout the whole Euros campaign.

[Lord Snooty]

What's happened to Harry Kane though. He's only 30, but looks like one of those ex players playing in Soccer Aid.

Jogging around, never in position for a cross. Never in position to receive a long ball. Always either stood offside or far too deep.

The quickest he ran all night was when he got subbed off.

[hibeejim21]

Football won in the end. Spain have been by some distance the best team in the tournament, i mean look at who they beat to get to the final compared to England.

England do have some high quality players but they also have a bang average manager. His loyalty to certain players has become a real impediment.

What stands out is that in most teams in the EPL that fulcrum type midfielder isn’t English and allows those teams to press and to retain easy possession.. Rice and Mainoo on the other hand gave the ball away constantly. On top of that Pickfords kicking was woeful, Kane is well past his sell by date, and by the looks of it Palmer is a better fit than Foden. Bellingham,Kane and Saka all dive constantly.

England haven't really impressed throughout the tournament bar a spell against the Netherlands and Switzerland, they were a sclaffed clearance away from going out to slovenia.

On the night Spain could have had 4 or 5 if they had been more clinical. Ruiz just glides around the pitch, Rodri is class and their players can play on the half turn brilliantly and cut through England with ease in the 2nd half. Williams and Yamal are ridiculous quality for their age. In the end only one team took risks on the ball to try and win the game.

What next ? If Southgate goes you might get a manager playing more attacking fitba which would play to your strengths but leave your defence more exposed. On the positive side only Spain and France look like settled teams at the moment (although the latter also badly need a new manager) however Germany have clearly turned a corner as well.

[Devongone]

First a word to Hibeejim - is sclaffed a real word, whether or not it is a wonderful one! I'll use it forever.

I suspect we are going to find out later that Harry Kane has a serious injury or illness. I've never been his greatest fan, but he scored 44 goals for Bayern Munich in the season that just ended. Over seven England games I wouldn't have given him much more than a 5 out of 10 in any game. He was mostly hovering around a 3 crying out to be substituted. He just isn't that bad. He really gave Bellingham and Foden nowhere to go with the ball and their frustration showed on their faces. If I were a travelling England fan I'd be feeling a bitter loss deep in my pocket! Poor sods.

Spain were the best side in the tournament, arguably the ONLY side in the tournament apart from Georgia. But this tournament throws up some poor winners at times. Italy against England, Denmark won it, Greece won it! Spain have high quality wingers, but their enthusiastic centre forward is ready for replacement. They have Rodri (Pedri too when not crippled by Kroos, and a couple of other younger players not selected), and they have an aged but indomitable right back. BUT their keeper is ordinary, any of their three centre backs who played would struggle for more than a Lewis Dunk role if they were English and Cucurella did well throughout but his hair is better going forward than in defence. What made them was that they had a great team ethic, played the ball quickly and often first time and they had realised their own strengths, so they were genuinely aiming to SCORE, which was quite unusual within the tournament.

Southgate is an intelligent, decent man. Given very good players he is capable of taking them a long way. He will always win games and players will like him, but does he have that ruthless, clear-mindedness that makes a true decision-maker, that makes a real winner? My answer has always been no I'm afraid. And as usual we made too much of it, football's coming home is just a song, it's not a political philosophy, it won't change our lives. Spain made a better team than us with less to work on. We had a whole host of players who were top goal scorers for very good club sides, far more than any of our opponents, yet two goals in any one game almost became an improbable dream for us. With all our attacking strength John Stones was our best player last night. That stands as its own narrative.

[Lord Snooty]

It's coming home. What does it even mean?

When the song first came out, I assumed that they meant the tournament, it being the first major football tournament in England since 1966.

Therefore it did come home.

Or am I wrong?