The full reaction from players and pundits to England's Euro 2012 quarter-final exit on penalties at the hands of Italy
Harry Redknapp
"It would have been an injustice if we'd won. They had twice as many touches as us. Roy Hodgson did the best he could with that squad. The players couldn't have given any more. I'm naturally sad that we didn't go through and I was shocked by how good Italy were. What this could do is provide a lesson for everyone about how to be a force at international level. With Andrea Pirlo in there it was extremely tough for our boys to make an impact. From the starting XI, [Danny] Welbeck was the only young player on show. Other than that it was a pretty experienced side, which is no surprise. The match showed that the way forward points to a man like Jack Wilshere. His absence was keenly felt because he can be like Italy's Pirlo and can certainly dictate play the way Italy's experienced man did. Not having the young Arsenal playmaker available shows how much value he could be to England. Gerrard was still our best player at Euro 2012. John Terry was magnificent. We still need those players as now there is World Cup qualification for Brazil in 2014 to think about. We need to bring through a few youngsters, the likes of Wilshere I've already mentioned. But while we are doing so, players like Gerrard and Terry and others will be of vital importance."
Joleon Lescott
"A lot was made before the tournament about how far we could get and in every performance we have shown pride and passion and that is what the England fans wanted to see. Is the quarter-finals the level England are at? Definitely not. We were confident coming into the competition, with the players we've got in the team. They are at the top of their game and some of them are the best in the world in their position. I think a quarter-final is the least of our expectations and progression has been made from the last tournament. It is disappointing to be going home but, as soon as we've licked our wounds, we can look back and feel we've made the nation proud. Everyone is disappointed with the way it happened. The penalty shootout was nerve-wracking and a lot of credit goes to the boys who stepped up and put their name forward to take a penalty. It's one of those things we need to get past and it's probably more mental than anything else. You have to blank things out to go through in a penalty shootout."
Michael Owen
"Pirlo was awesome but we have a player of a similar age and equally as good. Unfortunately he wasn't there. #Scholes. Easy for people to say 'until we keep possession better we will never win anything'. We are not as good as others at doing that. We played to our strengths but are just not quite good enough. We were hoping to 'do a Chelsea'. If you are not the best team then you have to find an alternative way to win. The other option is to forget results for a while and start from scratch playing a different style. Doubt we have the type of players to do that though. Answer has to be to start coaching our youngsters a different brand of football."
Graham Taylor
"If we'd won, we'd all be excited and we'd all be saying things but in the back of our minds would be the 120 minutes where we were the second best team. You know as well as I do that tournament football is all about winning and if we'd won the shootout I would be as excited as the next man. But in Andrea Pirlo you've mentioned a player there who had the freedom of the pitch. This is difficult but it's one of the things I learned from my time and that is that we were never going to win anything playing 4-4-2. You can't allow yourself to be outnumbered in the middle of the pitch because they play through the team and yesterday Pirlo had the freedom of the pitch, so I think from a tactical point of view that was a mistake. It's about style of play. They are very comfortable on the ball and apparently going nowhere for a lot of time. That is something we are getting more and more aware of, possession is nine-tenths of the law in that regard. Italy basically kept the ball from us and dominated possession and had more shots. England looked tired as the competition went on and we've seen that before in many respects. But the difference between our club football and our international football is there to be seen. Steven Gerrard gave everything to the cause in this tournament but time catches up with everyone no matter how good you are and it will be very interesting to see what happens in the next two years."
Rio Ferdinand
"Wow, out on penalties again. Gutted for the lads man. On a pure footballing note Pirlo just put on a pure footballing master class + the penalty was too much. Ok so my prediction for us to beat Italy + the Germans was off the mark..I've held my hands up! Pirlo is an inspiration + Heart breaker too. When Park ji Sung played against Pirlo at the San Siro I swear it was a master class in man marking....pirlo would of seen Ji in his sleep!" Read More
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