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Gerrard consoles Ashley Cole after his penalty miss. Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport
Post-mortem

Analysis: Same old story in Kiev

England going out on penalties, Andrea Pirlo’s brilliance… we saw nothing new tonight, writes Miguel Delaney.

IT WAS A night, really, that offered nothing new.

After a pre-tournament scandal, Italy have again enjoyed a successful campaign. Andrea Pirlo was peerless. England were again found out at a quarter-final against the first elite side they played. What’s more, England again lost on penalties.

Those are the historical trends. But this match also conformed to what will be seen as a trend of this tournament when it becomes history itself: it has almost always favoured the brave.

Sure, Italy’s proactive approach didn’t actually produce tonight, and they required the luck of penalties as well as finishing from Ashley Young and Ashley Cole that was as ultimately as poor as their own.

But there can be no denying they deserved the victory. They were superior in every aspect of the game except the actual finishing. Indeed, the very fact that Italy’s form in front of goal was so poor was the perfect illustration of the ultimate flaw of Roy Hodgson’s approach.

If you’re going to base your game on defence, you have to have defensive solidity. Joe Hart ended up making more saves than any other goalkeeper in the tournament: a clear illustration of how panicked England’s defence often was.

The worst thing for the English, though, is that Italy’s often looked the same. With a bit more adventure and a bit more emphasis on attack, they could have caused more problems than the save Glen Johnson forced from Gigi Buffon in the opening minutes.

That spell was to prove something of a mirage for England. Thereafter, Italy completely dominated with constant English concession of the ball underscoring a failure that has repeatedly cost them in these tournaments and spotlights the atrocious infrastructure which will always hold back British and Irish teams until it is solved.
Another aspect that ultimately comes down to coaching is how to take a penalty. Note that all of Wayne Rooney’s penalties have been beautifully tucked since he started properly practising after a spate of misses earlier in the season. He tucked one away tonight again, in stark contrast to Ashley Young and Ashley Cole.
Ultimately, that all contributed to England’s miserable record continuing.

In truth, though, even success would only have prolonged the inevitable.

The general performance – if not the scoreline – illustrated that England never had a realistic chance of winning this tournament.

Italy, however, do. Despite their issues with finishing, manager Cesare Prandelli appears capable of coming up with a tactical masterplan that can pretty much confound any opposition.

He, certainly it seems, is capable of offering something new.

Otherwise, the night in Kiev was the same old story.

As it happened: England v Italy, Euro 2012 quarter-final

Non, je ne regrette rien: Blanc defends negative tactics

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