{"id":3679,"date":"2021-07-12T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T14:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3679"},"modified":"2021-07-17T19:04:38","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T18:04:38","slug":"groundhog-day-and-not-a-happy-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3679","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog Day and Not a Happy One"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A number of years ago I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Sir Geoff Hurst. I made the point to him that since late July 1966 he has almost lived a Groundhog Day existence. He understood my point that every single day of his life everyone who meets him (like me) only wants to speak about that wonderful hat-trick in the World Cup Final. It\u2019s not a bad Groundhog Day to have is it? It\u2019s certainly better than reliving root-canal surgery or rush-hour commuting every day! Unfortunately, England\u2019s football team lives in a Groundhog Day in which we live in a agonising penalty shootout. More of that later (as is always the case in a Groundhog Day). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this expressly produced piece on the Euros I\u2019d like to look at three things. Firstly, how good a tournament it was and what we remember most. Secondly, how did the home nations do and thirdly, what might it all mean for Arsenal? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tournament itself was in a new format with multi-country venues which was not an ideal scenario during a pandemic and in a world focusing more and more on sustainability but the decision was taken by UEFA who are only surpassed by FIFA for crassness, greed and obnoxiousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It got off to a wonderful start with an exhilarating performance by a free-flowing Italian side dispatching Turkey easily but then we saw a horrendous incident in the second game when Denmark\u2019s Christian Eriksen collapsed just before half-time in their game against Finland and had to be given CPR on the pitch as his teammates formed a chain around him protect his privacy. The Denmark captain Simon Kjaer emerged as a real leader displaying huge compassion and dignity in an appalling situation. That UEFA felt the game should continue in those circumstances notwithstanding the fact that Eriksen happily survived was extraordinary. Nobody wanted to play in it or watch it and the 1-0 victory by Finland was totally artificial as the Finnish goal was due to an error by one of the best goalkeepers in world football who had just watched his close friend fighting for his life a few yards away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this the tournament unfolded and was hugely entertaining in places. I didn\u2019t watch a lot of the less interesting group games, North Macedonia is still a mystery to me but we saw fine football in the group stages from Belgium, France and Spain, an initial stutter from Germany who then stuffed Portugal and encouraging efforts from Austria, Hungary and Ukraine. Denmark inspiringly roared back to qualify. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision to only eliminate eight teams from twenty-four severely reduced the jeopardy element. It was twice as easy to qualify as to be eliminated. But that detail aside the tournament really took off in the knockout stage. There were some superb matches. Belgium eliminated Portugal and then fell to Italy. France were amazingly eliminated in a shootout with Switzerland. Spain and Croatia provided a cliffhanger and eliminated the Swiss. Italy stuttered against Austria but probably took part in the match of the tournament against Spain who were most unfortunate to be beaten on penalties after playing some exhilarating attacking football. There were a variety of styles and approaches which is, in itself, a blessing and most games saw positive and attractive football unlike so much of the attritional football we often see in tournament play. Perhaps the biggest change in approach came from Mancini\u2019s Italy who without completely abandoning the defensive dark arts, had attractive creative midfielders and direct, exciting front players like Chiesa and Insigne. They forged their way to the Final as part of a 34 game unbeaten run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what of the home nations? Wales had cause for encouragement after their superb run in 2016 although they are still heavily dependent on Bale and Ramsey, neither of whom are quite the players they were five years ago. A fine win against Turkey was offset by a bit of a thrashing by Denmark in the last sixteen. Then we have Scotland!  Ah Scotland that enigmatic footballing nation who showed both sides of their football psyche in their short time in the tournament. They lost two games at home against decent but far from top-quality teams in Croatia and the Czech Republic, Schick scoring an incredible long-distance goal in the first game, my Goal of the Tournament. But against England at Wembley they were in full Braveheart mood and with better attacking quality they may have beaten England who were slightly second best on the night. If only Scotland could muster the quality that they can dredge up against the Auld Enemy more frequently against less emotive opposition. Under a thoughtful coach in Steve Clarke they are showing progress and it is to be hoped they can build on this foundation to qualify for the next World Cup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

England will ultimately feel that yet another heartbreaking defeat in a penalty shootout adds to the litany of failure but I think this campaign was an immensely encouraging one. Much was made of the so-called Golden Generation of Beckham, Owen, Gerrard, etc. who rarely showed much quality in an England shirt. The current generation is exceptionally gifted and because of the high-pressure environment in which they play in the Premier League and Europe they have gained enormous match experience. Southgate forged a terrific team spirit and every call he made up to the Final was joyously proved right. But in the Final, the switch to three at the back, his slowness responding with substitutions to Italy\u2019s growing control (the switch to 4-2-3-1 later in the game suggested England might have achieved better in-game control with that formation) and the choice of penalty-takers in the shootout suggested that his hitherto magic touch had deserted him. Choosing penalty-takers is a very difficult thing and it was to be hoped that more experienced players might have prevented him throwing Bukayo under the bus. To put someone who has never taken a penalty in a senior match in that position was unfair and deeply unwise. Southgate appears a decent man, a fine role-model and honest communicator and if we want to choose an English manager, he is the outstanding candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what does all this mean for Arsenal? Our involvement was pretty minimal. Granit Xhaka showed both sides of his skill-sets giving a Man of the Match performance against France but being overwhelmed by the Italian midfielders. His departure appears imminent and he may well flourish in a slower style of football with less high-level intensity. Kieran Tierney missed the first Scottish game but was superb against England but against Croatia, he was unable to resist some Modric magic. Nothing he showed here dispelled the notion that he is a very high-quality defender both centrally or as a multi-purpose left back. The big revelation was Bukayo Saka and how sad that his tournament will inevitably be remembered for his last kick of the tournament. I tweeted him last night to say how proud all Arsenal fans were of him and to encourage him to look forward to what will surely be a stellar career. He will probably never read it particularly because he may well delete his social media accounts after revolting abuse from online scum. He had a fine tournament and is clearly adored by his teammates. His impact has been greater than even we could imagine. I hope the reaction to him from Arsenal fans is as warm as it can be.  I am certain that it will be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were many players on view that I would like us to sign but we have to be realistic. Duku, the Belgian wing-back was sensational but do we need him?  Locatelli the Italian midfielder caught my eye but although we are apparently bidding he seems destined for Juventus. I thought of the strikers on view the best was Chiesa followed by Lukaku, Schick and Dolberg. In midfield I also liked Barella, Damsgard the Dane and Dani Olmo of Spain. We seem likely to sign Ben White of Brighton who was not used by England and possibly Maddison who was unlucky to be left out of the England squad or alternatively Aouar who failed to get into the French squad. They are all fine players but we may have to shop in the category labelled \u2018high-quality but not established,\u2019 given our absence from Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Euros 20\/21 comes to an end. A tournament that engaged, delighted, inspired and ultimately ended in the way a lot of English tournament campaigns end. Congratulations to Italy, a wonderful football country (a wonderful country full stop) and worthy winners. As I held my sobbing grandsons last night the eldest said \u2018Why does it always end this way?\u2018 He is thirteen!  He has a lot of future heartache to endure but could we possibly be seeing the beginning of a golden era? I think that might just be possible. It\u2019s the hope that kills you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of years ago I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Sir Geoff Hurst. I made the point to him that since late July 1966 he has almost lived a Groundhog Day existence. He understood my point that every single day of his life everyone who meets him (like me) only wants to speak […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3679"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3705,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3679\/revisions\/3705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}