The senior team can find some consolation in this.The U 19’s beat Italy 3 -1 and won the championships for the first time since 1992.That rounds up the euro championships for now – unless they are planning to have a tournament for even younger players.The technical observers for the games – Zdeněk Sivek of the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland’s Roy Millar – have gathered some data and you can read that here if interested.
Things like...”Everyone now plays with a back four; gone are the days when you had three at the back or man-marking and the back four gives you more solutions whether the opposition play with one or two strikers,” he said. “Having two screening midfielders who don’t go beyond the ball allows the full-backs to attack wide yet still leaves you secure at the back. Most sides will now play with a lone striker, which is very effective, and usually three interchangeable players behind him. We’ve seen the importance of wingers coming back into the game in that position, so it’s been very interesting.”