England - the future....

[WestYorksRoyal]

I'm a little surprised by the extent of bitterness across social media and various commentators. Are people that blinded by them views? Sterling's penalty was soft, but it wasn't a dive; he was knocked off balance sprinting at full speed. Comparisons to hand of god is laughable. And the bitterness that we're playing at home is also ridiculous; every tournament has a host.

I think it's fear really. We have a population comparable to France, Germany etc., a great domestic league and a big footballing heritage. That we've underperformed for so long has been great for other nations accumulating honours. Now we've rebooted our player development systems and the culture of our international team, they are trying to clutch to excuses and reasoning that we're not that good really.

Well I say f*ck them. Even if we lose on Sunday, its a semi final followed by a final with a young squad who will only get better. We're here to stick around and challenge for honours in the long term. Get used to it.

[NathStPaul]

I'm a little surprised by the extent of bitterness across social media and various commentators. Are people that blinded by them views? Sterling's penalty was soft, but it wasn't a dive; he was knocked off balance sprinting at full speed. Comparisons to hand of god is laughable. And the bitterness that we're playing at home is also ridiculous; every tournament has a host.

I think it's fear really. We have a population comparable to France, Germany etc., a great domestic league and a big footballing heritage. That we've underperformed for so long has been great for other nations accumulating honours. Now we've rebooted our player development systems and the culture of our international team, they are trying to clutch to excuses and reasoning that we're not that good really.

Well I say f*ck them. Even if we lose on Sunday, its a semi final followed by a final with a young squad who will only get better. We're here to stick around and challenge for honours in the long term. Get used to it.

This.

[Winston Biscuit]

I'm a little surprised by the extent of bitterness across social media

are you new to the internet or summat?!

[genome]

I'm so glad it didn't go to penalties, Schmeichel was having an absolute blinder last night and easily would've saved a couple.

[genome]

Anyone else in a weird mood this morning. Usually I'm elated after an England win but this morning I'm a mixture of elated, and "did that just fcuking happen"

[NathStPaul]

Anyone else in a weird mood this morning. Usually I'm elated after an England win but this morning I'm a mixture of elated, and "did that just fcuking happen"

I was very happy until I read social media, full of people trying to do England down and calling us cheats etc. Fcuk them.

[Winston Biscuit]

Noticed at one point Schmeichal was getting booed by the crowd. Whats that about?

[genome]

Anyone else in a weird mood this morning. Usually I'm elated after an England win but this morning I'm a mixture of elated, and "did that just fcuking happen"

I was very happy until I read social media, full of people trying to do England down and calling us cheats etc. Fcuk them.

Meh. Couldn't give a fcuk, not about to let a bunch of salty keyboard warriors ruin an historic moment.

[Starfish]

First of all, congratulations to you all. I admit I was hoping Demark would win last night, but England certainly deserved it over the 120 minutes. Sunday will be very interesting indeed but either way, this summer will now be one most of you will remember forever. I am pretty jealous.

The penalty was disappointing. I think the VAR should have looked at the expression on Sterling's face as he was going down, and not at his feet - it was clear he had decided to take the fall, but that's the way it goes. He was otherwise excellent and has to be one of the contenders for player of the tournament.

It was also a bit disappointing someone thought it necessary to shine a laser light in Schmeichel's face as the penalty was being taken - there is no place for that in football. Nor is there place for booing the national anthem of your opponent, but that is one subject that has been talked about enough already. It would be great if the Italian national anthem (which is a cracker) is respected on Sunday.

But again - congratulations to England - the future looks bright.

[NathStPaul]

Noticed at one point Schmeichal was getting booed by the crowd. Whats that about?

Might have been due to him joking around in the press conference? I am not sure some of the knuckle draggers who attend football matches understand that sort of humour and took it as a personal attack on the country.

[Brogue]

I’ve always liked Ian Wright as a pundit. But he went to different levels last night. He wasn’t there as a pundit he was there as a fan. What a ledge

[LWJ]

Kane tripped pen not given, then we get a soft one, swings and roundabouts and all that, I thought it was knee on knee that made Sterling go down.

There was nothing wrong with the penalty

Even if you thought it wasn’t a penalty, there were two balls on the pitch

But then I’ve just remembered their goal wasn’t a freekick either

So fck em

Law 5:
an extra ball, other object or animal enters the field of play during the match, the referee must:

stop play (and restart with a dropped ball) only if it interferes with play – unless the ball is going into the goal and the interference does not prevent a defending player playing the ball; the goal is awarded if the ball enters the goal (even if contact was made with the ball) unless the interference was by the attacking team
allow play to continue if it does not interfere with play and have it removed at the earliest possible opportunity

[LWJ]

Contrastingly I've no idea how Delaney didn't get a yellow, felt like he was popping up with fouls all over the pitch. Thought this ref was great in the Germany game, but no so good last night. Their first foul, after about 10 seconds, was strictly a yellow, pulling back Sterling as he broke away, but he bottled it.

Yeah agree with this. There was one on Maguire in ET, I think, where he had his shirt pulled back which is a yellow all day.

Alternatively there was a foul on Grealish I think, that a Danish player got booked for, he had only just come on, which I thought was very harsh.

Was some odd decisions.

Think it'll be the German dude, who did the Italy v Spain game for the final.

They don't normally give a ref from the semis a final.

I would be happy if it was the Argentinian referee. He has been the best official I have seen.

The final ref is the dutch Kuipers

[NathStPaul]

Yeah agree with this. There was one on Maguire in ET, I think, where he had his shirt pulled back which is a yellow all day.

Alternatively there was a foul on Grealish I think, that a Danish player got booked for, he had only just come on, which I thought was very harsh.

Was some odd decisions.

Think it'll be the German dude, who did the Italy v Spain game for the final.

They don't normally give a ref from the semis a final.

I would be happy if it was the Argentinian referee. He has been the best official I have seen.

The final ref is the dutch Kuipers

Good referee, firm but fair.

[tulip]

Yeah agree with this. There was one on Maguire in ET, I think, where he had his shirt pulled back which is a yellow all day.

Alternatively there was a foul on Grealish I think, that a Danish player got booked for, he had only just come on, which I thought was very harsh.

Was some odd decisions.

Think it'll be the German dude, who did the Italy v Spain game for the final.

They don't normally give a ref from the semis a final.

I would be happy if it was the Argentinian referee. He has been the best official I have seen.

The final ref is the dutch Kuipers

Good to see the Dutch make the final in some way.

[LWJ]

Anyone else questioning the non IDFK for a pass back in the 2nd minute?

[Greatwesternline]

I'm a little surprised by the extent of bitterness across social media and various commentators. Are people that blinded by them views? Sterling's penalty was soft, but it wasn't a dive; he was knocked off balance sprinting at full speed. Comparisons to hand of god is laughable. And the bitterness that we're playing at home is also ridiculous; every tournament has a host.

I think it's fear really. We have a population comparable to France, Germany etc., a great domestic league and a big footballing heritage. That we've underperformed for so long has been great for other nations accumulating honours. Now we've rebooted our player development systems and the culture of our international team, they are trying to clutch to excuses and reasoning that we're not that good really.

Well I say f*ck them. Even if we lose on Sunday, its a semi final followed by a final with a young squad who will only get better. We're here to stick around and challenge for honours in the long term. Get used to it.

This.

Is the bitterness coming from commentators from other countries? Who you talking about? I suspect internationally people were rooting for Denmark because they were the underdog.

[windermereROYAL]

I'm a little surprised by the extent of bitterness across social media and various commentators. Are people that blinded by them views? Sterling's penalty was soft, but it wasn't a dive; he was knocked off balance sprinting at full speed. Comparisons to hand of god is laughable. And the bitterness that we're playing at home is also ridiculous; every tournament has a host.

I think it's fear really. We have a population comparable to France, Germany etc., a great domestic league and a big footballing heritage. That we've underperformed for so long has been great for other nations accumulating honours. Now we've rebooted our player development systems and the culture of our international team, they are trying to clutch to excuses and reasoning that we're not that good really.

Well I say f*ck them. Even if we lose on Sunday, its a semi final followed by a final with a young squad who will only get better. We're here to stick around and challenge for honours in the long term. Get used to it.

This.

Is the bitterness coming from commentators from other countries? Who you talking about? I suspect internationally people were rooting for Denmark because they were the underdog.

Only if you class Scotland and Wales as international.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Grealish won us around 7-10 free kicks after coming on, some in dangerous positions. What more did you want?

To play the nice simple ball then move into a position to receive it back more often than keep it, run towards teammates closing down their space and keeping it until he gets fouled.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Always thought Maguire was a decent player but prone to making mistakes and as a result, not quite worth the £75 United paid for him

But he’s been absolutely phenomenal every game this Euros. As said, it’s not just his defending which has been solid, he’s a massive thorn to the opposition with attacking set pieces and he’s very good at bringing the ball forward from defence which gives the attacking players more confidence in maintaining better positions up the pitch rather than constantly dropping deep to the take the ball off the CB’s

There was a 20 min spell in the first half where Maguire and Stones were looking very exposed. Not all their fault but I felt it needed Maguire (as the leader of the defence) to tell Shaw to sit back a little bit for 10mins whilst they weathered the storm as Maguire kept getting pulled to the left hand side.

May be wrong but I thought their period of domination was all coming through the middle of the park rather than from our left

Yep, I just felt that was because Shaw was pushing forward all the time which meant Maguire was pulled to the left leaving the space for them to attack. Nitpicking I guess as that's clearly the game plan to get Shaw forward as much as possible just thought he should have curtailed it a bit for 10mins.