Holmes_and_Watson

59mins -AA is brought on. 60mins - AA falls over after a soft challenge. 61mins - Physio reaches AA. Drinks/rest break for the Saints! 62mins - AA is brought off at first throw in after ref restarts. 🙂

Crab

And that goes way back to him appearing in the mid 1960s feature film with the Dalek Invasion. He adds a bit of lightness to quite a bleak film. Excellent at everything he was involved in, whether narration, acting or novelty records.

Cheese

Rat

A much scrappier game than the previous games for either team. That was due to the amount of work going on in the middle. The high work rate there nullified a lot of attacking threat. It also resulted in plenty of moves that broke down and some misplaced passing. In the end it suited Germany more, as they had a top striker in Popp, while France struggled to create through Cascarino and Bacha. Renard did get a couple of headers in, but Germany never felt likely to concede a second. Either of these two had showed enough in the tournament to potentially beat England. A battling contest here belies the serious threat Germany will pose in the final. They managed to shut down both the French midfield and their creative players. England will have to be planning on ways to not let that happen to them.

No more caps for Grealish then. 🙂

Crack

Fair comment. There's always the chance that enough of the young talent struggle to settle that results in us trotting out the same team with the same results as the end of last season. To offset that though is that some are at a level where they'd be playing more regularly if they weren't at a top 4 club, like Tino last year, some have had good loan spells and some already have had first team experience at their parent clubs. So a bit stronger than Lowe's time. They have an experienced group around them, so it's not going to be all youngsters. The strength in depth should be pushing the previous first teamers to up their game. It should also enable Ralph to have more comfort to change things as required. You'd hope everyone coming in is suitable for RalphBall v2.0 after v1.0 got found out. For those now surplus to requirements, it should also be pushing their agents to get them new clubs if they want to kick a ball next season. There will always be a bit of concern from me short of us having a squad of super stars. I'm pleased with the quality of those we've brought in. But a lot is on Ralph's shoulders as he dictates his automatism style of football. If that's as fragile as last season, any number of squads would suffer the consequences.

Invisible

Couldn't have got off to a better start to the second half. Strong, directed downward header from Bronze, with Hemp onside and blocking some of the view for the keeper. But Sweden, like other teams against England, will look to their lack of finishing. They had a couple of good headed chances. At the other end Hemp missed a bit of a sitter, before Sweden had another good chance. England are among the most versatile teams in the tournament. They struggle with Walsh cut off. They can have issues with White closely marked. But Mead and Hemp in particular offer pace, strength and trickery. Stanway and Kirby offer attacking options and Daly's time as a forward enables her to pick out spaces for the attackers. England have strengths across the team. So, if one approach fails they can find a way round it. Russo delivered again from the bench. Involved from the second she came on, getting a clever back heeled third. The Swedish keeper will not look back on the game fondly, with Russo's effort going through her legs. She should have got more on Kirby's goal, a chip that she got hands to, but couldn't keep out. Her positioning for the first wasn't the best either. By that stage England were in control. Kelly offers plenty of attacking threat, coming on late. Each of the subs did well, in controlling the game to the end. 4-0 might seem flattering, but England had to dig in early and work hard. The scoreline reflects how, unlike other teams here, how unpredictable they can be, offering threats from different areas. They will have to still work at stopping opponents getting clear chances, particularly early in the game. Looking forward to seeing if it's a final against Germany or France.

England have to be very pleased to be taking a 1-0 lead into half time. Sweden nearly went ahead within the first minute. They, like Spain, stopped the supply from Walsh. England looked to thread passes through the lines. But Sweden are narrow enough that it meant they regained possession and put England under pressure again. Sweden looked far the more likely, getting a few chances including one off the bar from close range. England, being closed down were forced to be more direct. The strength of Kirby and Hemp brought England back into it. Lots of excellent passing out from deep for England. Sweden dropping back opened space up for Walsh again. Bronze had been caught out taking players on,and Mead had a couple of loose passes. But it was Bronze's delivery into the middl, that reached Meade to give their team the lead. It was a confident finish to the half from England who had a couple more efforts, mostly from range. But will they be able to control the second half and survive more Swedish pressure?

Poor presenter. I hope she fully recovers from her brain shutting down to protect itself from any more rubbish from the candidates. Not a super look from Truss though.

A couple of other folk watching it too... "The previous cumulative total audience record of 164 million viewers in 2017 was surpassed following England`s 2-1 victory over Spain in the quarter-finals on July 20." C'mon England!

Feel the Paine On the Ball Master Bates Tiss' XXX Files Hothouse Flowers

We do get them both for the £23million. We'll, until social services step in to stop Delap senior hoisting a small child in the air to win headers at corners. Unsurprisingly the FA will remain silent regarding potential concussion issues. 🙂

Pedant

Burden

Receipt

Looking forward to the semis. France were by far the dominant team last night. But, not for the first time, simply couldn't convert. They had 33 attempts to 9 in reply. Unlike some previous games, they did really test the opposing keeper and defence on numerous occassions, with more than one clearance off the line. Renard went into extra time with a bemused expression after yet another of her towering headers was just cleared. As I've mentioned for a lot of games, both teams had chances. Netherlands had a dominant 10 minutes in the second half where they could have got the lead. The French made changes and all of them added to the French attack. Bacha, in particular, was a live wire popping up everywhere, and opening up space for Cascarino. They may not have been as ruthless as England and Germany, but France have lots of creative outlets, strength in depth, and one of the best centre half's around in Renard. Edit: Meant to mention that Van Der Gragt had an excellent game for the Dutch at the back. Without a club this past month... 🙂

"Wilkinson won both the Championship Player of the Season and Golden Boot for two consecutive seasons" stood out. Impressive.

Car

I was catching up on some work, so I didn't get to pay too much attention to the Sweden Vs Belgium second half. There had been a goal ruled offside in the first by mm for Sweden. Belgium didn't create much of anything and Sweden were nearly at the mid 30s for attempts. A lot of those were from outside the box. Sweden dominated the midfield, and eventually Belgium just fell back. While Belgium defended constantly, it looked very likely to be extra time, as Sweden just weren't taking advantage of their chances. Belgium looked limited here, and that impacted the quality of this one as a contest. Sweden will be concerned about finishing, and where they are taking those shots from, as they're not likely to get so many chances against a strong England team.

Boots

Now, where's that thread of what you would do if you'd won the euro millions.... Hello Southampton FC, I'd like to help with a signing... 🙂