Cronky

As per usual, an England manager has been more cautious than most supporters would like him to be. On reflection, it's probably sensible to go for experience in the back four, seeing it's our first game, with added pressure. I'd have picked Grealish rather than Sterling though.

Italy played the sort of football that I'd love to see an England team play. The way they improvised moves by one-touch passing through the midfield was great to watch. We may just have the players to do that for once, but it depends on Southgate having the nerve in his selection. As others on here have said, too often over the years, we've seen England teams qualify for the later rounds, and then come unstuck the minute they're up against a good side. We seem to run out of ideas (as against Croatia 3 years ago) and fail to break down quality opposition. The only times we've done well is when we're the host country (1966, 1996) or we've had the benefit of a favourable draw (1990, 2018). Home advantage will kick in, but we'll need to be bold as well because the opposition looks tough.

Lovely one touch football from Italy. They've got to be contenders.

Being linked with Alan Velasco, 18 yo playing for Independiente. Looks like a real star in the making.

Yeah, I was hoping for JWP, but if there had been two places available, White would have been the other one. He seemed to handle the extra pressure of international football without nerves, which is essential for a CB in particular. He also looked like he had the confidence to bring the ball out of defence and pass rather than hoof it or knock it sideways. It also brings our CB contingent up to four - Walker looked very shaky as a CB in the last tournament.

I'm not so sure. It looks to me very unprofessional when there's some sort of debate about who should take a penalty. That should be decided before the game, and unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as a team being 5-0 up, the team should stick with that decision. Last night, the game was still in the balance, and Henderson wanted the penalty because he'd never scored for England before. So ego came before the team. It wasn't as bad a situation as when you see players grappling for the ball like kids in a playground, but it's the same syndrome. And asking Calvert-Lewin if it was okay doesn't excuse Henderson, because he's the captain and Calvert-Lewin is a rookie who isn't in a good position to say no.

I'm interested to see who Southgate plays if he goes for a 4-2-3-1, which looks the most comfortable fit. Assuming he'll go for Henderson-Rice in the centre (though I'd pick JWP), and Kane up front, I'm wondering who he'll go for in the attacking three. Grealish, Mount and Foden seem to pick themselves, but will he have the nerve to drop Rashford, who he's previously favoured? For me, Rashford needs space where he can use his pace, but you don't get much room at the top level. When he has to operate in confined spaces, he makes poor decisions and usually loses the ball. On another issue, I've yet to see Sancho have a good game. Presumably it must have happened a few times, and I've missed them.

JWP showing a lot of determination to get into the squad. On this showing, I'd give him the nod, but if he's in the squad he really has to start. His dead ball delivery is outstanding, and we'd need to take advantage of that over 90 minutes, not 20 minutes as a sub. The other player who I think is making a strong case is White. I'd not seen that much of him, but he looks class, and has the calmness to do well at international level. Unfortunately, we can only include the one.

Okay, okay.

Perhaps I'm having a senior moment, but I didn't think that the Saudi PIF bid was part of a Staveley-led consortium. I thought the two bids were separate. Am I wrong?

Watkins would be a sound bet, simply because we only have two out and out strikers. There are other more tempting options in other areas, but we seem to have decent strength and depth in defence and midfield. In terms of the quality of the young players coming through, this is the best squad that I can remember.

When Grealish gets the ball in certain situations, there's not a lot can be done to stop him, but he needs better protection than he got from the ref last night. We are not the most popular European country unfortunately.

Last half hour we were a shambles. Couldn't string two passes together. A bit of a waste of time.

Tuchel seemed to instil a lot of confidence in the Chelsea players very quickly. They seemed relaxed and unafraid of making decisions. Enjoying their football, basically. Obviously, he has his tactical skills as well, but whether that will be all be enough to stop City is something else, particularly if they sign Kane.

I thought the reasoning behind the 4-6-0 formation with no DM was to strangle Chelsea through a good high press, and a lot of the time Chelsea found it very difficult to build an attack. The trouble was, that on the occasions that Chelsea did break through, the City back four was very exposed - and no more clearly than for the goal. Chelsea are very good at beating a high press, and I think Pep tried to take it out of their armoury. But when you're playing a team with anything like Chelsea's quality, you can't completely nullify them. Having said all that, it was a close game that could have gone either way. Losing De Bruyne was a real blow. But maybe City were also hampered by a bit of over-thinking on Pep's part.

Guardiola's decision not to play with a recognised DM felt like a gamble that he didn't need to take. Why experiment when you've got the better team?

In the few appearances that Matty has made this season, he's looked very poor. He seems to have shed a bit of weight, and it may be something to do with that. More likely, it's what's going on in his head that's affected him. Bit like his brother, when he was looking to go. Sean looks to have recovered his focus and I'd like him to stay. I'm not sure he will though. It's been difficult for two young local lads, pushing for the first team, but in all probability with their mates and possibly family as well, telling them what a shit manager Bruce is.

I must be missing something, because three Premiership teams always end up in the Championship, no matter what the owners might be doing.

Yeah, I agree. He's certainly good enough for us. That anchor position in midfield is a real weakness. The fact that he can't get starts at Leicester doesn't worry me too much. They're a lot better than us, basically.

Well on this website, as with others, some players get dismissed as completely useless (or fruitier words to that effect) and I do sometimes feel the need to put forward a bit of balance. This would be my overall assessment - Dummett is limited in terms of his ability on the ball. He has no right foot, and in possession you're never going to get much more than that inswinging boot up the line. However, he was developing into a decent defender, particularly in a back three. I'm a bit worried that the injury has taken away some of his pace, because that was his chief asset. He was the player that you could most bank on to rush across to get a block or tackle in, or intercept a cross. There were some signs yesterday that he was getting back to his best, and of course he now has a bit of experience behind him. Like Dummett, Murphy has his technical limitations, and I was ready to give up on him not long ago. But I think he's found his role at RWB. He's shown a lot of strength and determination in that position, and has come out with the ball in defensive situations where a number of our players would have lost out. In attack, he can put in a decent cross, which I think is the product of hard work rather than natural talent. On the debit side, he mis-controls the ball a lot, and doesn't always read the game well. But right back was a bit of a problem position for us, and now I think we can concentrate on other priorities.

Which 'average cloggers' are you talking about?

His ability to run at defenders has been a huge asset for us, particularly when we don't have much ability to carve out chances through passing our way towards the opposition box. However, I don't think he's quite such an attractive proposition for the CL clubs. He plays very much as a individual, loses the ball a lot and doesn't always link well with his team mates. He won't fit in as well with a possession-based, passing team. The fact that he's ended up with us must say something.

ASM struggling, but he's getting a lot of rough treatment. Almiron looks a bit lost. Midfield doing okay though.

It'll be interesting to see how Almiron and ASM do up front. They won't be able to keep the ball for long but they'll be good on the break. If we're going to experiment, now's the time.

He looks like he's lost a bit of pace since his injuries. Whatever his other limitations, he wasn't slow. If he can recover full fitness, he'd be a real asset.