I didn't say they were, I said they were hard to break down and organised. Their strengths matched Italy's weaknesses. You can talk about over a two-legged affair favouring a better team, it does over a one=legged affair, but not over a full 8 game qualifying campaign. I remember us nearly doing the might Man Utd team of the late 80s over two legs. We did a much better villa squad over two legs in the zenith semi, happens all the time.
What cost italy was initially being paired with Spain in the group stages. Those two world cup qualifying campaigns they lost 3 in 21 games. Two of them 1-0 defeats where they didn't take their chances.
Of course Italy fans should be gutted not to win it, but they were unfortunate to a degree as well, and it wasn't a minnow.
Ok, you said a decent team. Sweden aren't a poor team, admittedly, but I certainly wouldn't be worried about them. On their day they might spring a surprise result, especially at home, but over 2 legs, then sorry, but Italy should be putting them to bed.
Not only did they get KO'd, but they didn't even score against them in 180 minutes. That is extremely poor. Sweden aren't that 'decent'. That was more of a case of how poor Italy were/are than how 'decent' Sweden were.
a game they absolutely should win 99/100, this was the 1/100. Maybe the psychology of fear of failure kicked in after losing the previous play off.
Exactly! A game they should win. Psychology of fear or not. They have zero excuses. None whatsoever. They had over 30 shots in that game alone I believe? Simply embarrassing.
For their high standards yes, but they are still stacked with excellent defenders and midfielders
They had some good defenders/midfielders, but their fire power was terrible by their standards.
I don't buy that, at that time they had 17 clean sheets in their previous 20 games, they hadn't conceded 2 in a games for 36 matches. The idea that that Italy would just roll over and capitulate isn't realistic. We were on top, but they are still a strong defensive side, one of the strongest at that time. They are also more than capable of hitting on the break.
First half we threatened them and not once did I think that this looks like a team that are good defensively. Even the game before us, Spain ripped them to shreds and if they had a decent striker they would have put Italy to bed well before ET and Penalties.
We have no idea which players were carrying injuries, which had missed training, and which were capable of doing the jobs he needed. What exactly should we have done sub-wise? There is never a guarantee that subs will have a positive impact
We all know Mount should've been hooked well before he did. He was ghosting in that game the majority of the second half. And we all know Grealish should've been given a lot more than 21 minutes. This is the same Grealish that changed the game when he came on against Denmark in the semi's!
And as for bringing on Rashford/Sancho without barely having a kick, for them to take a penalty in the shoot out, well that had disaster written all over it. Southgate as a very very experienced player (and someone who knows fine well what it's like to take a crucial penalty for England under extreme pressure) and should have been very aware of bringing on a couple of young kids to take a penalty without getting into the game first.
They lack the killer instinct, but they win the vast majority of their games, they scored twice against Belgium and 1 against Spain in competitive games just after beating us, they'd failed to score in just one of the previous 29 games.
Our performance against them this weak was a sign that we can limit most teams to a handful of opportunities, and we can score against the stingiest of defences.
They also failed to beat Bulgaria and Northern Ireland not long after the final - 2 huge world cup qualifiers. Bulgaria and Northern Ireland for goodness sake.....Oh and don't forget they also had a further 2 world cup qualifiers against Switzerland in which they failed to beat on either occasions. I definitely understand Switzerland are a good team, but they finished 2 points off them in qualifying. 2 points extra needed against either Bulgaria/Northern Ireland. And then the fact they had yet another lifeline with facing a very easy first round draw against North Macedonia in the play offs...and still failed to even reach the final KO stages of the play offs.
Again, I still stand by Italy were truly not as good as they have been or not even as good as some suggest.
Lets see how they get on in our group. On paper they should breeze to 2nd place to qualify for the Euro's and at worst, if they don't, I believe they should qualify for the Play Offs (via Nations League).