General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

I watched all the tournament and watched the team progress. My opinions and observations are: a) If you are trying to fire up your opposition who, standing in a stadium, vastly outnumbered and nervous, why not boo their National Anthem. Mancini must have been rubbing his hands, the minority did his job for him. b) We made another fast start, a goal in under 2 minutes. Opinion: , we should have gone after them for the elusive 2nd goal. The longer it went, the more feared we became. 2nd half, we barely turned up. c) Opinion: , later in the game, cards should have come into play. I'm not blaming the ref for our defeat, but anyone who stops a player getting through by grabbing the back of his collar pulling him off his feet should get their marching orders. A 10 man Italian team at that point would have got mullered. d) Penalties: I'm not sure how the lineup is/was decided but to have a 19 year old taking the vital 5th with the scores poised as it was, at best, foolhardy. I don't blame the lad, there were more experienced boots on hand to take on that responsibility. The fact that he held his hand up at the vital moment speaks volumes for the lad and his mentality. e) The racist backlash: Hypothetical, forget which Clubs they represent, what would have been the reaction if the 2 Harry's had missed 2 of the 3 ? Graffiti on walls, abuse on social media or worse ? No probably not. But because we have ENGLAND players with BLACK skin, it's open season. What will be the reaction when 1 or more of these players see us into the World Cup and potentially another final ? Southgate, in my opinion has done a fantastic job of building a Team mentality where they were all fighting for each other. Tactically possibly a bit green but as he said, they're all still learning. We will come again. f ) Wembley, the occasion: again the idiot minority, most of them full of ale, show the Country up in the eyes of the World whilst the FA are trying to put a solid case forward for hosting a full World Cup. I think that ship has sailed !!