An all too familiar England but Spain look superb – Football Daily

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Hello, and welcome to Guardian Football Weekly.

Well, if it comes home like that, then it won't be allowed in.

Another early lead, and then deeper and deeper and deeper.

Kane scored, but did little else.

How often has he been substituted by Southgate in a game that matters?

The Alexander Arnold experiment isn't going well.

Bellingham looks knackered.

It didn't help, they played on a plowed field, and no one was good, apart from a few Danes.

And yet, still top of the group, and the only side in the least interesting group in the tournament to win a game after Serbia equalized with the last kick, brackets header of the game against Slovenia.

In the late game, Spain absolutely batter Italy 1-0.

Fabian Ruiz, Pedri, Williams, and Rodri.

It was like watching the Premier League after an afternoon of League One.

Also, today we'll look ahead to tomorrow's games or we'll read Chris Sutton's preview.

You've sent some lovely emails, we'll take your questions.

And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

On the panel today, Barry Glendenning, welcome.

Hello.

Hello, Troy Townsend.

Hello, Matt.

Hello, Nikki Bandini.

Evening.

Paul says, Are England tired?

Robin says, Barry must be quite confident now that football's coming home is never going to happen anytime soon, and he can enjoy his adventure with the Bears in Canada in peace.

We'll get to the panel in just a second.

Before that, Barney Ronnie is at the ground.

The game has just finished.

Barney, how was that for you?

It was bad.

It was hard.

It was painful.

It was difficult.

There were very angry people shouting things at the end, a few of them, and they did, to be fair, look insane.

So maybe we can discount them.

But

it was like watching England against Iceland 2016.

There's just this feeling of energy leeching,

just gaps on the pitch.

They seem to be sinking into the pitch right from the start, just into this sort of quagmire.

And the...

the contrast between the energy and snappiness.

Some of the other teams, you know, players look released from the shackles of card football.

I've been thinking how it feels like a summer holiday for some of those players.

Whereas England, just they've got that thing again.

They're absolutely weighed down.

And I don't know if it's reversible.

How do you create life?

You think about it.

You take away Jude Bellingham's incredible 45 minutes, which was just like a bolt on the canister of nitroglycerin.

England have been utterly lifeless outside of that over two games now.

And I don't know how you stop that happening.

Yes,

I agree completely.

How much, I mean, Southgate will get a lot of criticism, and you've been quite a supporter of Southgate as I have been.

How much would you give him for this?

Well, obviously, it's to do with Southgate.

He is the manager.

I think there's a sense of a kind of dying era.

It feels a bit overripe.

He tried very hard this week to talk to the players about not feeling any pressure, as though he were trying to recreate the 2018 environment, which happened quite organically and quite naturally.

It reminded me slightly of that bit in Brownhog Day where Bill Murray tries really self-consciously to have his greatest ever day, like laughing and throwing snowballs.

I felt it was a bit like that.

If you repeatedly tell someone not to feel pressure, does that work?

I feel like probably those messages are the same messages.

And yeah,

they come full circle.

It was like they've got a misplaced midfielder in central midfield.

I half expected to see Harry Kane taking corners.

It was one of those things where the ball just suddenly looks square, and England players look afraid.

And they can't shake that once it starts.

And it's almost comforting.

It's familiar, you know, like a family Christmas, you know, just singing the old song.

Hey, buddy, I'll let you go.

I know you've got stuff to do.

The line's not amazing, but thanks for coming on, pal.

All right, cheers.

Bye now.

Let's bring in the panel then.

Barry, you're sort of, you've got that smile on your face that

you have after a desperate, desperate england performance well first of all i wonder am i allowed to criticize england because they've got a draw they're top of the group when i criticized scotland last night i had people uh accusing me of being on the pop because i got in a heated debate with uh john bruin so um

you know i hadn't been to the pub i haven't been to the the top shell

and I'll be honest, I kind of saw this coming.

I said last night I thought England would slip up.

I didn't think they'd be this terrible.

I mean, this was considerably worse than their pretty average opening game performance.

Now, the pitch was terrible, but it was terrible for both teams.

I'm not sure how that,

you know,

we don't expect this to happen in Germany, but it was really bad.

And,

you know, where do you start?

It was just.

It was

so bad.

They were so passive.

They were incredibly passive in the first half.

They went ahead

through, you know,

Kyle Walker showing some great initiative and pouncing on a mistake and teeing up Harry Kane.

And then they did that England thing under Southgate.

Oh, right, we scored.

Let's sit back, invite the pressure.

And while we're inviting the pressure, we will let

Danish midfielder Morton Hullmond advance towards our penalty area and unleash a shot with nobody within 10 yards of him.

So the shot goes in.

Denmark have a well-deserved equaliser and they'll be sitting in their dressing room wondering, how the hell did we not win that game?

Hoiberg, if he'd had his crosshairs better aligned, would have scored one or two from distance.

There were a few other chances.

Yusuf Paulson had a chance from a corner where he somehow failed to connect with his head when the ball was just begging to be headed past Pickford.

But it's important to remember, it's not a bad result for England.

They're top of the group.

If they win the group, they go back to Gelsenkirchen, which is

probably be better off for everyone if they finish second, given the reports of how awful that was for everyone involved.

Yeah, I will hand over to one of my England supporting fellow panelists to add their two cents.

So as Nikki is full Italy, I would suggest that some of the things that

it's worth saying, I think a lot of Spurs fans would say, look, Hoiberg just doesn't have the crosshairs.

So

Him and Ericsson were brilliant in midfield against a midfield that didn't really exist.

Do you think anybody, I mean, Barney alluded to it there, Troy, apart from that Bellingham 45 minutes against Serbia, like, has anybody been good?

We have to look beyond

the start of this tournament and go back to Iceland and even go back to Bosnia, the friendlies.

The friendlies were not great.

It didn't feel, you know, they didn't give anyone much optimism.

And obviously that Iceland defeat created a lot of storm for things that were happening on the back pages.

I cannot believe what I've witnessed.

And I'll be honest with you, I thought this would be as comfortable a game as what I thought England would have in the tournament.

I wasn't impressed with Denmark in the first game.

I thought that, look, once you get the first game out the way, you know, you dust off the cobwebs and you come back in and you kind of think that this is a game that you should be able to win comfortably and allow some of the squad players to come on and, you know, get a little bit of dirt on their boots.

Honestly, i couldn't have thought of anything any different i mean i thought they were fortunate to take the lead it was good play but they were fortunate um but from that moment onwards denmark didn't suffer from england's goal they actually i thought they pushed england back there's a bit of pushing england back and there's a bit of england retrieving i i understand that but i thought they were amazing and like you said two former uh hoiberg still there but he could be former but two totnam players bossing a younger midfield by the way a midfield that looks like it hasn't got any shape.

The Trent Alexander experiment, if that's what it is.

I know we were criticised the other day for use of experiment.

It hasn't worked.

Although, when he was pulled off, he was having his best couple of moments, as Barry has stated again.

So

I'm perplexed.

There were players.

Declan Rice, never seen him as bad as that.

I mean, the ball that he put out for a corner summed England up.

I thought it was a long way before that Jordan Pickford free kick.

And then Denmark had two or three chances off the back of that.

I heard someone say that Guiller was outstanding.

I'm not quite sure.

This doesn't compare to his performance in the last game at all.

And I look around and I just think to myself, there was players throwing their arms up in the air.

I saw Pickford and John Stones have a little go at each other.

There's something not quite right.

And yet, the caveat is they're top.

They win the next one.

They go through.

Happy days.

And let's see what happens in the knockouts.

But no one should be happy with that performance, including the manager.

i'm very happy that troy said that when when trent alexander arnold was pulled off he was having his best couple of moments i really hope that's done it doesn't matter for the socials

well i'll just listen to this barry he was i mean he was wearing socks but we don't need to go any further than that um i mean i suppose like players throwing their hands in the air at least is movement of some sort nikki i want to talk to you about there's loads of things i want to talk about i want to talk about harry kane right and him not pressing and him being taken off and i imagine the narrative in places will be this is the end for harry kane which is obviously ridiculous but is it the end for harry kane

it's it's it's like a narrative i can't even get my head around honestly max i mean he's he's scored 47 goals in 50 games for club and country a season uh no player has you know no european player scored more in the last four major international tournaments than harry kane i think sometimes english football has this complete loss of perspective about what international football involves because do people realize how rare it is to have a centre-forward who sticks the ball in the net that often for you at international level?

Very few countries have that.

It's not like you can just chuck him out and bring someone else in and get that same goal return.

That's not normal.

And yes, you can criticise him because I'm not for a second saying he's above it.

Everyone in the team, as Troy just said very eloquently, deserves criticism.

I thought that the gay point was well made because actually

I heard it felt like the TV coverage almost trying to plant their flag on him as the one player to get behind, but basically should have given a goal away at the end of the the game.

Alexander Barr took the ball off him and yes, he recovered, but only because Barr was very slow with his decision about putting the ball across.

Barr should have had that ball across before he got back and so no one is above criticism in this team.

But I think when it comes to Harry Kane, I'm much more inclined to say, okay, performance, things could be better in it.

But I'm much more inclined to say, Is some of that because the shape of the team makes no sense?

Again, Troy was talking about Declan Rice, who didn't have a good game.

But where even was Declan Rice for half of this game?

It seemed to me like he was playing as centre-back for a lot of it.

I think if you look at his average position on the pitch, he's further back than the centre-backs for half of it.

It's just such a very shapeless team.

And you've got this notional press going on with the front three, which lacked intensity.

The press should have been more aggressive.

But then behind it, you've got these wide open spaces.

The press only works.

if the spaces behind it are well managed because that's what makes it hard for the defenders to play the ball out.

And I think in the end, I'm sorry.

Yes, individual performances all over the pitch could be better.

Players can take more responsibility, but the manager just has to carry the can for that if the shape is as bad as that.

Yeah, Johnny Sharpel's tweet was good when he said Gareth South gets best tactic at this stage is probably chucking Ivan Tony on and hoping one of Denmark's countless Brentford players passed him by mistake.

Antrenton Alexander on, and he has got a lot of criticism, and I really don't think it's his fault at all, Barry, right?

He's not a central midfielder.

And, you know, Robin's saying the point you made, playing him in midfield without any runners is pointless taking him off and then putting runners on is a whole other level but but i watched him quite a lot in the first half i just think he's never in the right place and and i think that has an impact on where deck and rice is i think he he also doesn't move the you know it's if you look at erickson and the way he moved the ball quickly at the right time and then plays the decisive pass at the right time and you know erickson is you know

an old guy right as a wonderful player and and and alexander on doesn't have any of that because he's never he's never done that you know, we're back to round pegs in square holes.

Yeah, I expect the Trent Alexander Arnold experiment to be quietly shelved.

And my understanding was the whole point of him being in that midfield was to hurt teams playing a low block by, you know, pinging

sort of quarterback Hollywood passes to runners from midfield or out wide.

But there were no runners from midfield.

So even if he was in position

to do so, who's he going to pass to?

There's far too much sideways and backwards passing in that England team.

The most comical example of it being when they had a late free kick just inside their own half.

Pickford ambles up out of his goal to take it and then plays the ball three yards sideways to Kieran Trippier, who proceeds to boot it out of play.

I mean, I literally laughed out loud at that.

But if I could just briefly go back to the Harry Kane thing, sure.

What I think, I don't think he had a good game, even though he scored.

I think I'm not sure how much influence he has in the dressing room.

If maybe his ego is getting a bit out of control, I just genuinely don't know.

What I thought was incredibly interesting is that Gary Lineker, Rio Ferdinand, and Mika Richards all slaughtered him at half-time.

I have never seen him get criticised like that by the BBC or pundits anywhere, in fact, and that was quite remarkable because they were savage yeah and actually troy watkins did make a bit of a difference like none of no subs made a huge difference but he did make a bit of a difference he did to start with didn't he um when he came on it there was two runs in behind and all of a sudden you thought well with if he's running in behind the rest of the team can almost follow him and squeeze up the pitch a little bit more but even that petered out so we tried it a couple of times and it you know it looked decent and we thought all of a sudden there's a nine on the pitch that is going to make the two two cent ass think about their play beyond rather than you know going in front and then it petered out it's almost like they they

this is going to sound very disrespectful and i don't mean to be disrespectful it's almost like they've discontinued doing the things that they do well or try to do well and then go back to basics and

I just think England's basics are not good enough in the moment.

I'm going to criticise here.

And I said this,

I'm just trying to think if I said it on this pod before, but i think dude bellingham is a tired footballer i only do one pod and one pod only max sorry i was about to say i think he's a tired footballer and i think it's to be expected by the way i'm not criticizing him he's had an amazing season he's gone you know he's won the league he's he's won um the champions league he's he's put himself on a platform now that i don't think anyone would have thought of when he first signed for rail madrid but he's playing a lot of football and yes he was dynamic and magnificent and all you know, and produced a great goal and all that stuff.

But I was actually surprised that when those subs were made, that he wasn't one that was coming off as well.

The pitch didn't help.

So the pitch plays with his calves, his groin.

And I just think that there's times when you need to use your intelligence and say, let's get Jude out of there.

It's not working for him.

Let's get him out of there.

We'll refresh him for the next game.

Yeah, and just to come back on, and I keep just circling back to Kane constantly, but the key point I'm making is not that you can never bring him off either.

And I think that actually the the point about Watkins that that is true is it did feel like this whole game with that odd midfield setup like England just wanted to play Hollywood balls over the top so if that's the height of your ambition then yes pick your horses for courses get the players on the pitch who are good at running because if that's all you can do I just don't see that with these players, that should be the best that England can aspire to.

But actually, if you look at that little pass that Billy Gilmore played yesterday to set Robertson free, that's actually as important as a centre midfielder playing a 60-yard pass, right?

And if, of course, you know, and you're right, I put it on Twitter and people said, well, Conor Gallagher didn't exactly have a great, and he didn't, and he's not a great passer of the ball.

So, so, you know, I don't, I like Adam Wharton, but I haven't seen enough of him to know, but there is more than just Hollywood glory passes, and that puts so much pressure on a player, right?

Because if that's what you're there to do, that's really hard to do.

So if you try two of them and they don't come off, then you're instantly going to get that criticism as well.

I was just going to say, Max, you know, at the time that Ollie Watkins came on, there was a clear change of strategy.

And I thought that clear change of strategy should have involved Anthony Gordon as well.

Because if you're now going to press and you're now going to slide things balls in and whatever else, you have someone that can run beyond on that side.

I was surprised.

I've got to be honest.

And I know he hasn't had a lot of international

experience, but I was surprised he never started.

the whole competition to give us better balance, to do something slightly different than what's happening on the other side.

I don't believe in shoehorning Phil Foden in, despite his qualities as a player.

And he started well, but then he faded.

He started well on the other night, but then he faded back into this, I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing in this position.

And I think that's that whole makeup

is wrong.

And Gareth's got to admit to that.

And, you know, I'm pleased the next game is still a bit of a pressure game because I think now he needs to select a team that has to go out and win it, but with people playing in positions that they feel comfortable in and enjoy.

And I think I didn't see any one England player enjoy that performance as they were playing.

Not one.

And I thought Kyle Walker was probably the best, but the best out of a really bad bunch.

Didn't see anyone enjoy what they were doing out there tonight.

Yeah, I would say Pickford and Walker are the only two that didn't make a show of themselves.

I think we can finally all agree that Phil Folden's best position is in front of Rodri to the left of Bernardo Silva and never more than 30 meters away from Kevin De Bruyne.

Let's put that one to bed.

Yeah, and also like not having a left-wooded left-back, right?

It's not fair on Q and Trippy, but totally limits, if it isn't working elsewhere, that totally limits you as well, doesn't it?

I mean, we mentioned the pitch.

It was very much like it was, you know, people yelling molds or studs before the game, you know, in the warm-up saying, lads, take a touch on this pitch.

You know, like, like, it was, as Barney said, it was like quicksand.

Yeah, but we're using using it as an excuse because I don't oh I'm not Danish the Danish were slipping about as well yeah but I saw them get up and then just make their passes again I didn't see them changing boots I saw them adapt to the pitch a lot it was almost as if England were like what is this we're playing on you know we can't perform on this it's worth I mean we've got quite a big Danish audience yelling at us going we also played yeah

We were also there.

And like, they were definitely better, Nikki, weren't they?

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think it's totally fair to say both things that maybe Jude Bellingham is knacking and maybe he doesn't need to be on there for 90 minutes.

But at the same time, Huyberg owned his part of the pitch, completely owned it.

And

that's not

something that any player could do, right?

Against someone who's got that much talent.

Huiberg was man of the match, really.

He was brilliant in the way he controlled everything.

I thought there were.

The problem for Denmark is that I still feel like they lack something up top.

I think for sure, Hoyland doesn't look like the confident presence that you want him to.

And

that might just be time and an age that will get him there.

As I said already, when Alexander Barr came on, he did great with the pressure on Gay to create that opportunity, but then he wasn't decisive enough once he had it.

He had to put that ball in or take a shot or do something in the time that he had and he wasn't quite quick enough.

But overall, I think that the middle of that team, Heuberg, Ericsson, Humlund, they all did their jobs.

They controlled their part of the the pitch, which is more than their opponents did.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, you know, don't peek too soon and all that.

We did draw against Scotland in the last Euros.

We could probably go back and listen to that podcast, and it'd be very similar to how this one has been.

Max, can I do one more?

If do you mind?

Please.

Does anyone else think that Pickford should have done better for the goal?

And I know none of us are goalkeepers, but does anyone think he should have done better?

It was doubly on target for you as it hit the post and it went in.

But like, no, like, that's a brilliant strike, I think.

I didn't think so.

I mean, I think he saw it late and probably wasn't anticipating the shot.

So maybe he should have anticipated the shot.

But

I think that would be harsh.

I mean, there's so much else we can criticise a lot of players for.

I think singling him out for that would be quite, quite

brutal.

I must say, I did love the last 10 minutes of just getting it launched.

I mean, I was just absolutely here for this, going, here we go.

This is what I'm here for.

Pickford, long diags, no one decent in the air.

Doesn't matter.

Let's just do it anyway.

You were saying before the podnick, this has been such a brilliant Euros, apart from Group C, which has been bad.

Have any of the games been good?

Like comparatively to all of them?

I mean, I really enjoyed this game.

Don't get me wrong.

I did.

It was.

For what?

You know, for what?

It doesn't have to be a brilliantly skillful game between, you know, the mistakes were funny, the pitch was funny, the result is funny.

You're watching it in a different way to me.

I will say that.

Let's touch on Slovenia, Serbia then.

And it's such a shame for Slovenia Nikita.

That's so close to their first ever win at a Euro.

Yeah, and

I think again...

To agree with what you just said, Max, it wasn't the most

compelling 90 minutes of the tournament when you compared it to, Troy was saying to probably came on that Albania game yesterday, which was just bonkers the whole time.

This one was a lot less activity, it felt like at times.

But having said that, Karnishnik took his goal so well after just winning the ball at right back, travelling it up the whole pitch, bringing it inside, and then timing his run to the bottom.

It wasn't even a run.

It wasn't more of a

amble or a plod.

He deliberately slowed down to lose Milinkovich Savich.

That's completely true.

But to start and finish it like that, and then to be in the 95th minute and to have it in your hands

that first win.

I mean, look, Luka Jovic, as someone who's...

I had him playing in Serie Ab and watching the Serie A game season.

He's had a habit of this, of coming off the bench and scoring late goals.

He's done that a good few times this season in Serie A, but 95th minute is certainly leaving it right down to the wire.

It was good drama at the end of that game.

I mean, the stadium certainly looked not necessarily always in a good way, but it certainly looked like it was very involved, the crowd there.

And it does leave the group poised very, very delicately for the last round.

There's lots going on off the pitch with the Serbian FA and Serbian fans and Croatia and Albania fans.

Don't have time to go into it.

We will go into it at some point when we get a minute.

But that'll do for part one.

Part two, we'll talk about Italy-Spain.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

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Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So Spain won Italy-nil.

Williams says, have the Olympics already started.

This seems to be an entirely different sport to the one at 5pm.

Spain.

Spain were so good, Barry.

I mean, I thought better than the Croatia game that they won 3-0.

The goal was lucky, but they

tormented tormented Italy.

Yeah, it was as one-sided a 1-0 as you'll ever see.

And

Giovanni Di Lorenzo, the Italian right-back,

you know, we all envy footballers

because they're doing a job we all like to do.

They get paid loads of money, they've great life, you know, it's fantastic.

I did not envy Giovanni Di Lorenzo one bit tonight, and I would say after five minutes, he wished he was anywhere else.

But he was left on for the entire 90 minutes.

And after having been tormented by Nico Williams for, I don't know, 70 of them or whatever, then

I Jose Perez came on and just continued where Nico Williams had left off.

And I don't, you know, I'm sure Giovanni DiLorenzo is a very good footballer,

but that was the kind of evening that can absolutely destroy a player.

He was destroyed.

But it is unfair to single him out because there were so many good Spanish performances.

How they only won 1-0

is an absolute mystery.

And it's a joy to see Nico Williams play so well because I always remember this article Ced wrote about him and his brother in Achi and their

parents and how tough it was for them when

you know they crossed the Sahara in a pickup truck and on foot

while Mrs.

Williams was still pregnant with Inaki and then they got a home in

Bilbao.

Inaki is actually named after a priest who helped them out, gave them clothes and food and stuff when they literally had nothing.

Mr.

Williams traveled to London and stayed there for 10 years doing quite menial jobs, trying to, you know, send him money home.

And it's a lovely story, uh, well worth seeking out.

But I'm veering off topic.

It was a brilliant, so many good Spanish performances.

They won.

Uh, I thought in the last maybe seven or eight minutes, Italy might get an equalizer.

They wouldn't have deserved it, but you know, it's Italy.

Yeah, it would have felt so Italy to do that.

I think you're right to pick out Nico Williams.

I mean, Troy, he was because we've talked about Lamin Yamal a lot, and we haven't talked about Nico Williams a lot.

And he is, you know, beside the story, story, which is extraordinary, just such a gifted footballer.

I mean, yeah, he proved his qualities tonight, didn't he?

And he started straight away.

He was

terrorised himself.

He should have scored the move from Murata.

They ended up with Muratta's cross into the box.

And I think Murata would like to have run and got on the end of his own cross so that he could have probably headed it in.

But

yeah, inside, outside, down the line, just a great performance.

And, you know, he created created the goal, didn't he?

The goal was fortunate, but it was fortunate because he made it.

He made it, crafted it out of nothing.

Great delivery into the box.

Murata's got a slight flick on it, hasn't it, which has kind of almost confused Donaraman.

He's only patted it straight onto the knee.

I forget the defender that he's put it onto, but he's patted it onto the defender's knee.

But

yeah, there were so many great performances.

Marata

just looks perfect for this system that they play.

So as well as Williams, Murata, Rodri is Rodri, Ruiz driving through midfield.

Even Cookarella looks more accomplished in this setup as a natural left back.

And remember, he was marking Chiesa as well.

I know the Italians were, look, they weren't great, but Piesa had Chiesa had shown so much.

in the first game against Albania and caused all sorts of problems.

But he was anonymous in this game.

And even in the commentary, they said they felt that he could have gone at half-time.

so my worry for Spain is just eking out those chances and making sure that someone's on the end of them as they go further in the competition but as Barry stated it was as good as 1-0 as what you could wish to see and obviously I put in the group that it wouldn't be surprised if the Italians you know nicked in and got one but no that and it was right near the end where it looked like it could have happened but yeah I'm sure Spain would be very very pleased with that and I'd get happy to get over the line I just want to echo all this because I'm sure I'm going to get asked about Ithy in a a minute, but like Nico Williams,

I think I'm someone with a fairly broad European perspective.

I try and watch league games when I can, but of course, when it's not a league, you're primarily focused on you tend to see clubs in Europe most.

Now, of course, athletic haven't been in Europe, so I haven't got to see this guy.

outrageously talented.

He actually sat down for an interview this week with Gazzetta della Sport.

Maybe that was his secret source.

Talk to the Italian press and then go and just rip the Italian team to shreds right afterwards.

But funnily enough, he was saying that in 2012, I guess he would have been about 10 years old, he was watching the Euros and he and his brother were obsessed with Mario Balatelli and they got the haircuts done like them.

And all I can say to that, I guess, is I hope that there are some Italian kids watching today who get obsessed with Nico Williams and maybe can do it back to them in 10 years' time.

I mean, I'm not sure Italy touched the ball until about the

83rd minute, Nikki.

It felt like that, didn't it?

Is that too hard?

I mean, is that too harsh?

I don't know.

I feel like I'm sort of preemptively feeling like already that I'm going to get people coming after me for not being as harsh on Italy as I have been on England just now because I've laid the boot into Gareth Southgate and I don't necessarily think I'm going to be as critical of Italy, partly just because Spain are Spain are really flipping good,

but more because actually I just think England have a level of talent in their squad where you should expect better things from them than you can from his Italy team.

The Italy team has some players.

There are some players I feel positive about.

I think Niccolo Barella certainly is a world-class talent who's stuck in this in-between generation that never got to play at a World Cup yet.

I oddly thought, even in a siege, that the two centre-backs, Bastoni and Calafiori, played pretty well for most of it.

Calafiori, extremely unlucky with that own goal.

And Donaruma reminding us what a good keeper he is.

But I do think that the number of really world-class players in this group is not that high.

Chiesa is a great example of someone who I think the world probably has a bigger impression of than Italians do at this point because he was so good at the last Euros.

And then in the three years in between, he's had crucially knee ligament injury.

He's been injured with other things since that a lot.

He hasn't played that much.

When he has played, he's not been that impressive for Juventus.

So

my bar of expectation is lower.

But I would still say,

look,

in the weeks falletti was saying we know spain are this and that but we hope we're gonna have some passages of being able to dominate the play against them we aspire to play football with the ball we think you have to play with the ball it didn't happen at all and so yes he needs to be um asked some questions about how they set up tactically and whether or not it was right to whether he was naive to leave di Lorenzo out there on his own against Nico Williams because as I tweeted Di Lorenzo, 30 years old, that kickoff, but it felt like every time Williams ran at him, he was another 12 months older.

Would they have been better off being more cautious going to a 3-5-2?

He's tried with before this tournament.

With hindsight, I would say yes, but I do think

you just have to hold your hands up to a certain extent and say, this Spain team are really, really, really good.

Yeah, and actually, Barry, I mean, we talked a lot about what England's midfield was.

I mean, I hope they don't...

It's probably better they go out than come up against Rodri, Fabian Ruiz and Pedri.

Barney's talked about it before, you know,

the quality of our midfield when you get to the end of these tournaments is so important.

And there is a three that are so balanced.

And actually, Fabian Ruiz was the star of those three, I thought, today.

Yeah, he was brilliant again.

I think De Le Fuente knows his best 11.

Southgate doesn't.

That's the problem.

And Southgate's still experimenting with his midfield in game two of a big tournament, which is not far from ideal.

No doubt he'll get slaughtered for tomorrow.

I actually, since we're recording this out of sync, I've since read comments

that Trent Alexander actually was one of England's better players stats-wise in this game this evening.

So that's one I didn't clock while watching the game, I must say.

Having a balanced, strong,

really good midfield is incredibly important.

Croatia's, I think, are finally getting too old.

But yeah, Spain, they were brilliant tonight.

Yeah.

so good.

I mean, it's silly to compare those two games in a way, because the pace of this game, Troy, was just totally different.

The way that they move that ball and Yamal as well, who is, I mean, Bob asked an interesting question about Yamal, actually, which looks as exciting it is to see him be so good at 16.

Is it really safe from a sort of mental well-being perspective to play a child in a competition and games as big as this?

I was thinking about this.

I sort of, I guess you just don't know, do you?

And you don't know if it's fair to put anyone in that situation, right?

Because it all depends on the mentality of the person.

Yeah, I mean, these questions have been raised for decades now, you know, and it doesn't matter the level or the quality of the tournament.

It's just that you have an underaged

young boy, you know, in changing rooms with men.

you know in certain situations and scenarios and you know it's not just in football you could say that about many other sports um where young prodigies have come to the to the to the fore you know but look he can definitely handle it can't he that's the one thing that we can see because his performances are not diminishing his his outlook on the game is very bright you know he's out there in germany also doing his homework as well which is something yeah i saw that yeah many other players will not be doing during this tournament but look there there is a sense of

care needed as well as you go along but you know on the outside we never know what's going on on the inside but on the outside you know he just looks like a very talented young man who's enjoying his time enjoying you know developing and growing um not only at barcelona but obviously in the spanish national squad and you know that whole old you know if you're if you're good enough it it doesn't matter your age does it and he's kind of proving that in a very good

as the saying goes many of us say if you're good enough you're old enough but that's the one that's that's the one that's the one but remember i'm here to make it yeah all yeah but yeah i lost it for a moment there but no look he he's look he's he's he's amongst some very talented and young individuals in that Spanish side.

And like I said,

I agree with Barry.

I think England, if they were ever to play them or when they get to play better teams, I think they will actually perform a lot better.

Where the onus is probably not on them, but it's the ABBA team that's the most creative side.

But I would worry if they came up against this Spanish side, that's for sure.

Interesting, Nikki, that...

You know, Italy have Croatia next who absolutely need to win.

I mean, that will be fascinating, that game, because

you just don't know with either of them, actually.

No, I think there's a real possibility Italy can go out from here.

It's a perilous position they're in.

Obviously, for them to finish bottom of the group would require Albania to beat Spain.

So that requires Spain to not feel their strongest team, probably, because I think if Spain take it at anything like full pelt, as...

fun as an Albania have been to watch.

I can't imagine them beating Spain at full pelt.

Having said that, Spain Spain are pretty much guaranteed top spot now.

So they could well rest some players for that last game, that last game.

So it is a perilous position Italy are in.

And I said this at the start of the tournament.

I said with this Italy team, I really didn't know what to expect.

And I think I'm getting more of a sense of the level as we go.

And I think tonight was definitely a sharp reality check about

some parts of the level.

Look, we were talking with England about the Harry Kane, Ollie Watkins thing.

Well, whichever way you want to cut that, Ollie Watkins is a very nice option to be able to bring off a bench if you're not going to start him.

Look how good a strike we've got.

Italy's starting with Scamaka, who didn't have a great game, and you take off Scamaka, who else have you got?

You've got Matteo Rotegi, who scored seven goals for Genoa.

You haven't got world-class options to play around with.

So it is a perilous spot for them.

Croatia, obviously, likewise.

Italy are in...

the better position because if they draw they're definitely going through but it's not inconceivable at all to me as you say say croatia did play well in that 3-0 loss oddly to to spain there issue has been finishing and um i'm not sold that italy's finishing is going to be that reliable either so it will be a an interesting final round for sure people saying 0-0 nikki are you is it 0-0 yeah

it's possibly possibly so tense that game it's going to be so tense it's good what you want isn't it you want some real jeopardy in those final group matches and you sort of think a lot of the time we've said you know because third a lot of third places go through there isn't that much but it feels you know with this one with scotland as well that you know there are some games with a lot on the line the sixth own goal barry at the euros so so far i mean i can't i can't i can't ex i can't expect anyone to have a good analysis of why there are so many owned goals but it's great isn't it yeah

it's not great for the lads who are scoring them but um yeah we've had six and then like we had a half i think was it last night that

uh it was eventually Fabian Scher, McTominay.

McTominay got it.

That's fair enough because it was a shot on target.

We've had six on goals and we've had no penalties.

Like not no penalties.

That is when you see how many penalties there are in the Premier League.

Also, I know this, they brought in this thing saying that only the captain can talk to the ref.

But even like, even Spain, Italy, like when Carvajal's acting like an idiot or whatever,

there's still no dissent.

Like, I don't know what have they told the players.

They've clearly given them laid down the law, and like any lip, and you're getting it booking.

And

long may it continue.

It's great.

But how has that worked?

I don't know.

That doesn't work in any other competition or league or anything.

I don't know.

Speaking of which, hats off to Christante, who came on for Giorgino at half-time

and then got booked after 15 seconds for an absolute gawk,

awful challenge on Rodri, which I reckon he was lucky not to get a red.

Yeah, it is remarkable how little dissent there's been.

It's been remarkable how quickly the VAR has been dealt with.

I've always thought people who go on and on about how bad British match officials are or English match officials, you know, I just think they're sort of tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists, but

the way

decisions have been made.

There's been very little controversy.

The way decisions have been made in this tournament has certainly given me food for thought.

Yeah, and no, almost no diving.

There's almost no sort of people pretending they've been absolute occasionally.

It's happened, but you know.

Yeah, but let's look at us fishing for stuff.

No, no, no problem.

You don't even think it's surprising.

Like, it's been so pure.

Like, I mean, you know, it's been so sort of.

You're absolutely drawing this into being now, Max.

The last round of games when it's all happening.

Oh, absolutely.

Well, I hope so.

I mean, like, I like the purity of this, but I want the shithousie to come back.

Anyway, anyway, that'll do for part two.

Part three, we'll look ahead to tomorrow's games.

Coach, the energy out there felt different.

What changed for the team today?

It was the new game day scratchers from the California Lottery.

Play is everything.

Those games sent the team's energy through the roof.

Are you saying it was the off-field play that made the difference on the field?

Hey, a little play makes your day, and today it made the game.

That's all for now.

Coach, one more question.

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Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly.

So tomorrow we've got Slovakia, Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Netherlands, France.

And you may have seen this.

It's been doing the round.

But Chris Sutton's preview for the Netherlands-France game is absolutely sensational.

I'll read it.

It says, We're waiting to see if Killian Mbappe plays with his broken nose.

I'm no medical expert.

I can't be an expert at everything.

But my diagnosis is that it probably comes down to how sore it is.

Patrick Vieira broke my nose once.

He elbowed me off the ball at a corner when I was playing for Blackburn in 1998.

I went down, and when I looked up, he was laughing at me while my eyes were pouring with water.

Then I tried to take retribution by going in two-footed on him, missed, and got a straight red card.

As I got up, I saw the ref waving the red card at me, and Emmanuel Petit pushed me over, and I landed off my nose.

It was a terrible few minutes for me.

I reckon I would have been able to play with my broken nose, but not that particular day because I was sent off.

As for the game, I just cannot see past France, really.

I quite like the way the Netherlands played against Poland, but France will still probably edge past them.

It's what they do.

It's just so, it stops.

You can't...

You can't get a better prediction than that, if you ask me.

It's more Partridge than Partridge.

That was a terrible few minutes for me.

It's just...

sort of pathos.

Except Partridge would have had the last laugh.

Sutton very much didn't.

No, he didn't.

But I'm a huge fan of that.

I mean,

it is an interesting gap.

I mean, I don't know if we should do it the justice it deserves, Barry, by actually talking about the game that's coming up.

But it looks like the pick of the games.

of the day.

Yeah.

I mean, one of my earliest childhood memories is seeing my father get his nose broken playing rugby, and he was lying on his back at the side of the pitch with blood pouring out of it.

And I honestly thought he was dying and I was beside myself with, you know, crying with grief.

Whereas he wasn't that fussed.

So France win for me.

Yeah.

Well,

I'm thinking of the time.

And I think I've mentioned on this pod once when I was on that boat sailing to Colombia when I got seasick.

And I...

I was on a boat and I tripped over and I landed on a bloke's knee and my nose started just burst open and started bleeding.

And then I threw up a linguine bolognese.

And then I lay on a boat dry retching for five hours.

It sailed through a storm in the Gulf of Panama.

And then some Australians caught a fish and gutted it on the other side of the boat.

And the juices seeped into the pillow that I was lying my head on.

So for me, I think France went as well, actually.

Troy, do you want to praise your...

We're moving on.

Do you want to praise your son for bringing some good Townsend punditry to this year?

Yeah.

I mean,

he's doing it behind the mic.

I'm doing it on the radio.

What more can you ask for?

No, listen, the praise has been amazing.

The reason why I enjoyed the Croatia-Albania game so much is literally at the end of the game when the referee blew the final whistle and he just went, oh no, as if like he wanted to hear more.

He wanted to commentate more on the game.

I'm really pleased with him.

He's doing his homework.

He's getting a lot of plaudits.

He comes home soon, so he's not continuing in the competition, but I think he's done himself a lot of good with the producers, with the fans, and definitely with his dad.

There was a moment during one of the games, I tweeted it, where he talked about how he liked to cut inside on his left foot.

And I wondered if he shouldn't be giving those secrets away because

defenders might know.

That's a big problem, isn't it?

We've got some emails, a few emails, some nice ones.

Josh says, Hi, all.

I hate to add on another pedantic chapter to what should have been a throwaway gag, but having heard Joanne defend Barry from an Irish perspective, I feel obliged to provide the Belgian one.

Living in Belgium for three years now, I can confirm that in Flemish, castiles is in fact pronounced cast ales, like the beer.

So I'm sorry to say Barry's well-crafted pun was built on dodgy linguistic foundations right from the start.

All the best.

Josh never has a joke been analyzed so well-crafted like a cask ale.

Exactly right.

Mark says, dear Max Barry and Co., long time listener, first time emailer.

Following on from John Bruins reminiscing on the beardy ones from Hungry on today's podcast, I couldn't resist pulling out my full Mexico 86 Panini sticker album, only to discover a few spots unfilled, including the Hungry Team photo.

By any chance, does anyone have the Hungry Team sticker 201?

Even then as a 12-year-old, back in the summer of 86, I couldn't get over the ferocious-looking Magyars.

Thank you for that lovely jog down memory lane.

Love the podcast.

Keep up the good work from West Cork.

And he has sent it in.

And although John Bruin said they were all bearded, only two are.

The keeper,

Peter Ditzel's beard is absolutely tremendous but yeah if anyone has tick a sticker 201 from Panini 86 Mexico 86 not Panini 86

do let me know

Luke says hi Max Barry and the football weekly massive it is the classic first time email a long-time listener here football weekly has been a source of joy and comfort during my many years of listening having me agreeing disagreeing particularly with Jordan as a villa fan reflecting and laughing throughout the good and bad times one of the good times in my life is coming up on Saturday, the 22nd, and Sunday, the 23rd of June.

I'm marrying my partner, Carmeny, who is the person who actually introduced me to the pod.

She isn't going to be the only Football Weekly listener at the wedding either.

In fact, there are many amongst our guests.

So, much like people recently using the pod to get in touch with family members, please tell our guests not to be late.

Really, though, I just wanted a classic best wishes message from Barry and anyone else on the panel to start off our wedding in style.

It would really make our day.

Thanks very much.

Keep up the good work, Luke.

So, Barry, that is Luke and Carmen.

Well, Luke and Carmody, I wish you all the very best.

A two-day wedding.

So, you know, the guests will love that during the Euros.

You're not only taking up two days at a time, you're forcing them to shell out for at least one night's accommodation, if not two or three.

Probably want a present as well.

But, you know,

it's your day.

Don't worry about anyone else.

It's your day.

You know, there may well be Scotland fans going.

They'll miss their game.

Well, they won't because anytime I've been at a wedding where there's been a big match on,

a lot of people have snuck off to watch it.

Anyway, I wish them all the very best.

I hope they have a lovely couple of days.

And I hope their guests aren't too resentful at the amount of money they are being forced to spend.

Finally, thank you to Gab for this email.

It says, Dear Max, Barry and all.

A week ago, my wife had her first round of chemo as she's been diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time she's in her 40s we have two kids so this week has been exceptionally difficult there have been many tears over the last few weeks but i didn't expect them to come from me tonight as i finished the pod recorded after the french game yes i'm a bit behind those last five minutes were comedy gold and sparked tears of laughter as max described his 20 year old self quickly followed by barry's over sharing i wanted to wake my wife to share my joy but luckily i realized she would never want to hear about a middle-aged man's love of socks especially while recovering from chemo thank you for all the laughs over the the years.

I moved from England to Tasmania many years ago.

I listened to the pod over watching these days, not just because of the time difference or because I support Palace.

Please give a shout out to fellow Football Weekly listeners, Whitey, Bendy, and Jim, for being excellent and very funny humans.

Cheers, Gav.

Thank you, Gav.

We appreciate it.

We wish you and your wife all the best and good luck with all the treatment.

And yeah, we send all our love.

And thank you so much for listening.

And that's all for today.

Thank you, Nikki.

thanks thanks troy pleasure as always max thank you thank you barry thank you um football weekly i'm taking two days off actually barry i know my first ever days that i missed from a tournament i'm going to a stag du oh um yes in uh in grantham

there's just a big house i mean on the whatsapp group someone did say shall i bring ball that shows you the level of stag that it is

there's a croquet set and there's ball oh yeah it's gonna it's gonna be wild.

Anyway, Robin Cowan.

Are you sure that's not like a euphemism for cocaine?

No.

Do you know what?

With my friends, I can guarantee it isn't.

It is literally bull and a croquet set.

Anyway,

you know, most people are doing the park run on Saturday after the first night.

It's that.

Even I'm like, come on.

Even for us, that's poor.

But, you know, everyone will be there, 9 a.m.

doing the Grantham park run.

The last stag du I was on, we went go-karting the day,

you know, the morning after, the night before.

Oh, I think I know this story about

one of the lads, Beavis, got sick into his helmet.

And he couldn't get it off, isn't that right?

That is so...

That's the worst.

That is the worst place to vomit, isn't it?

Anyway, Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove.

Our executive producer is Christian Bennett.

You're in the worryingly capable hands of Robin Cowan over the next two days.

And I'll be back on...

Tremendous.

it, Darry.

I'll be back on Sunday.

This is The Guardian.