Euro 2020 proved to be a fantastic tournament and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the matches over the past few weeks.
The competition was delayed by a year, but it was certainly worth the wait and Italy were worthy winners.
They defeated Belgium and Spain on their way to the final and played some very good football.
They had a great team spirit and played a more expansive brand of football that is not typical of Italian sides.
I didn’t think they were fantastic in the showpiece fixture, but they are different in the way they chase and press opposition teams.
Despite falling behind, the Italians worked their way back into the game and managed to get the equaliser. I felt luck was on their side.
England will be extremely disappointed with how the game finished after starting so well.
Luke Shaw’s goal after only two minutes seemed more of a hindrance than a help as it looked like England were trying to grind out a 1-0 win from very early on. That can often be a recipe for disaster.
Jurgen Klinsmann was correct in his half-time analysis when he was asked if England should stick or twist.
His answer was that England had to push for a second goal rather than sit back and try to soak up the Italian pressure.
He was right – it was a strategy that invited trouble.
It seemed inevitable that the final was going to be decided by a penalty shootout.
I must admit I am not a fan of the staggered run-ups used by some of the modern players.
I don’t understand why some players are almost jogging on the spot before finally taking their kick.
The slow run-ups didn’t seem to help on Sunday night. I imagine those penalties are much easier at training when the pressure is off, but more difficult to replicate in a game scenario with everything on the line.
I may be old-fashioned, but I prefer to see players keep it simple by stepping up and hitting the ball.
I felt very sorry for the young England players who missed penalties in the biggest game of their careers. It will be difficult for them to get over that one.
Gareth Southgate came under a bit of criticism for subbing on Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho to take spot-kicks and for naming the penalty takers rather than looking for volunteers.
I don’t think any of that matters. If you ask any player if they want to take a penalty, most of them will step up.
I know teams do a lot of training around penalty kicks to prepare for these situations, but there is still a great deal of fortune involved.
There is no doubt England have plenty of good, young players and I’m sure hopes will be high that they can reach the latter stages of next year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Sunday night’s defeat was a sore one as I think a lot of the England fans thought this was going to be their year, especially with the bulk of their games at Wembley.
The whole tournament has been a fantastic spectacle. We have had lots of goals, some controversy and some superb games.
It has been a welcome distraction from the pandemic for a few weeks.
Are we set for more Covid call-offs?
The Premier Sports Cup got under way at the weekend, but three games were called off due to Covid outbreaks.
Ross County were forced to forfeit their tie against Forfar Athletic, while Stranraer’s match against Morton and Dumbarton against St Mirren were called off for similar reasons.
I am worried that we are going to see a lot of fixture disruption this season because of Covid.
That could change fairly soon if they alter the rules once everyone has been fully vaccinated and this becomes less of an issue.
Aberdeen, meanwhile, have applied to have a crowd of 8,200 at their opening games of the season.
I’m not sure if it will be approved, but they are right to push for a decent number of fans in the crowd.
As things begin to open up again, we need to move back towards normality and it should be easy to get sizeable crowds in Scottish football grounds while maintaining a safe level of social distancing.
We have seen almost capacity crowds at some games in England recently and big crowds at Wimbledon and the cricket.
It would make a big difference for the Dons if they got the green light for that number of fans, especially for their opening Europa Conference League game against BK Hacken.
I’m sure Dons manager Stephen Glass would love to have a large support cheering on the team for what looks a tricky European tie.
