England

[TheBrownBottle]

5 minutes ago, gbandit said:

Fairly confident we’ll go far, there’s just too much quality in the squad to not go far and say what you want about Southgate tactically but the players do want to be there and do care whereas I think the “golden age” squad were a lot more selfish 

I think they will too - it’s a talented squad.  But Southgate is an unbelievably lucky manager. 

[Sibierski]

Can’t wait for Southgate to leave England and rock up at Man Utd.  

[RodneyCisse]

I’m starting to think, sacrificing the euros as far as the enjoyment I’d get from it, if it meant Southgate getting the Man U job after the sack to bring down that sinking ship.

[leffe186]

Only me that thinks losing that is a good omen?

 

That was very meh. I find it hard to get too worked up about these friendlies. A decent lesson about how to (and not to) break down the low block I guess.

 

Ramsdale hasn’t played enough football and does not inspire confidence. Stones and Guehi seemed fine but I wish one of them was a bit more commanding. Walker was Walker - good defender, great pace but he’s just not a natural attacking FB when he actually has the ball. That comes more naturally to Trippier but obviously he’s out of position on the left and was being actively targeted by fucking Iceland, which is telling.

 

I posted somewhere else about how dangerous Kane will be when he drops in and has both Gordon and Saka to hit. I think those two on the wing give us far better balance and the sort of width on both sides you need against the low block. We never really had that tonight, although there were flashes with Saka and TAA on the right late on. Palmer made a handful of terrific runs into the space Kane left which was encouraging, but he completely vanished for their goal and defending in general, and again took far too long with the opportunities he had. Gordon wasted a couple of opportunities too but is clearly the sort of player we need on that wing.

 

I know the low block is a pain in the arse, but it’s a given that the ways to break it down are (a) use width and (b) pass forward quickly, particularly when you have managed to draw them out. There was too little of both. Some lovely passes from Kane to Gordon (looked dangerous) and Walker ultimately came to naught. I think if it’s Saka getting those passes on the right it’s just a matter of time before we score. Last quarter we suddenly have two skilful attackers on the right and we should probably have come up with an equaliser at least.

 

I can’t make my mind up about Mainoo. He did OK - not great, not bad. Should probably have pushed on a bit more at times, but then you’ve got the same old problem of Mainoo, Foden, Palmer and Lane all sort of operating in the same space…and the space that all those Icelandic players are operating in too.

 

Toney covered a lot of ground but our central midfield fell apart for a while in the second half. We couldn’t get hold of and keep the ball, which was a bit pathetic against Iceland. Ho hum. Play Saka instead of Palmer, Bellingham

instead of Mainoo and just pray that we’re gonna score one more than them, I guess.

[gazza ladra]

Didn't watch.

 

How did Gordon and Trippier do?

[Lordshola]

2 minutes ago, gazza ladra said:

Didn't watch.

 

How did Gordon and Trippier do?

Meh. Gordo got into some good positions but his final product was abysmal. 1 embarrassing shot in particular comes to mind in the first half.

[RobsonsWonderland]

Too be fair if we can't beat Iceland we will have no chance against the bigger teams such as .. Sainsburys or Asda

[Kid Icarus]

1 hour ago, Jack27 said:

Two hours of my life I’m not getting back

Not getting any of them back. #profound 

 

 

Edited June 7 by Kid Icarus

[The Butcher]

God I hope Southgate gets the Man Utd job.

[Groundhog63]

Interesting post/thread. Can't really argue with the notion given previous treatment dished out to Rashford, Sterling etc etc etc

 

 

[Tsunami]

Playing against a low block having conceded early should have been a good test.

 

However, if you then play at around 85-90% effort it becomes a complete waste of time as you simply can’t create space.

 

Southgate has to get some training drills in as we will face this in the tournament. We’re not going to get some teams to play higher so what we going to do? Foden was wasted last night and there was no need for both Rice and Mainoo to be there.

 

Too predictable, who’d have thought?

[RodneyCisse]

1 hour ago, Groundhog63 said:

Interesting post/thread. Can't really argue with the notion given previous treatment dished out to Rashford, Sterling etc etc etc

 

 

That’s mental like, Saka came on for the last 30 mins at most.

 

’Cold’ Palmer should be all over that, when he rounded the keeper man. Or maybe just a picture of Southgate saying “not the man for this job?”

[Groundhog63]

35 minutes ago, Tsunami said:

Playing against a low block having conceded early should have been a good test.

 

However, if you then play at around 85-90% effort it becomes a complete waste of time as you simply can’t create space.

 

Southgate has to get some training drills in as we will face this in the tournament. We’re not going to get some teams to play higher so what we going to do? Foden was wasted last night and there was no need for both Rice and Mainoo to be there.

 

Too predictable, who’d have thought?

 

I guess these 2 games were indicative of what the group games will be like. Tbf, what group games are always like. 

You can get by with boring draws but the problems explodes if you concede. 

Tbf I only watched the game until the Toon lads went off and sacked the Bosnia game off straight after the penalty so can't give a 100% definitive opinion. What I will say, however, is England have fallen into the tiki taki trap too much. I'm not suggesting hoof ball by any means but we've got fast dynamic players and have had for the entirety of Southgate's tenure. 

Cunt needs to bore off to The Stadium of the North

[timnufc22]

1 hour ago, Groundhog63 said:

 

I guess these 2 games were indicative of what the group games will be like. Tbf, what group games are always like. 

You can get by with boring draws but the problems explodes if you concede. 

Tbf I only watched the game until the Toon lads went off and sacked the Bosnia game off straight after the penalty so can't give a 100% definitive opinion. What I will say, however, is England have fallen into the tiki taki trap too much. I'm not suggesting hoof ball by any means but we've got fast dynamic players and have had for the entirety of Southgate's tenure. 

Cunt needs to bore off to The Stadium of the North

This exactly. Yeah very said before, it’s so frustrating to see most teams playing what is perceived the only & ‘right’ way to play. Shooting outside the box is now looked down upon through snobby eyes. How many Laurent Robert’s have fell by the wayside because they’ve had their talent drilled out of them?

 

Rooney made a good point about playing two strikers - when Iceland are as deep as that, get some quality crosses in with two top strikers in the box. 
 

Unfortunately I think Gordon lacks the cutting edge quality coming in from the left when playing against teams sitting deep. His best position in such games on the right and I see him as Keith Gillespie v Barca out there. Once again, it seems like playing with traditional wingers who go down the outside is being ridiculously coached out of the game, but that doesn't stop such tactics being effective if actually implemented.

[Nucasol]

Was on the train home yesterday from Marylebone and it picked up a load of England fans at Wembley. Had a good hours craic with them before I got off, was a Baggie, a Blue and a Villa fan at my table, home and away England fans, two of the three are off to do the Group Stage games and back for the Quarters to Final.

 

Fair to say they weren’t enamoured by Southgate. Asked them their thoughts on Gordon and perception was he did some ok stuff but poor judgement and execution with his final ball. Interestingly they thought he was wrong for this England side trying to play Man City lite. They said he’d be better as a sub to use on the counter when / if we go 1-0 up. 

[Fezzle]

13 hours ago, Sibierski said:

Can’t wait for Southgate to leave England and rock up at Man Utd.  

That was a brilliant audition for their continued mediocrity 

[Groundhog63]

Seen this? No idea what threads best so hoyed it on here. 

Classy af 😍

 

 

[Armchair Pundit]

More difficult than I thought to put together a starting lineup for the tournament with who's in the squad. I think 4-2-3-1 is probably the way to go, but the biggest two areas of concern for me would be left back and who to put alongside Stones in central defence. That said, it was close for me on whether to have Saka starting on the right instead of Bowen, or Bellingham over Palmer in the middle - I know that sounds mental, but I've been really impressed by Palmer and Bellingham seems to have gone off the boil a bit recently. Let's hope a miracle happens and Southgate gets a knock to the head and starts playing more attacking, aggressive, pressing tactics... I won't hold my breath though.

 

 

 

... very tempted to swap Bellingham out for Palmer though.

 

 

Edited June 8 by Armchair Pundit

[andycap]

Foden was terrible yesterday mind. Stunk the place out. Ramsdale must of been wearing slippers to let that goal in aswell, we seemed wide open to counters with rice and Mainoo in the middle which is a worry but that might have something to do with foden losing possession all the time. 

[Tsunami]

Wasn’t impressed with Tripps mind. His positioning looked questionable at times and he looks to me to have lost a second or so in thinking. That’s not to mention concentration and touch which also appear a little affected.

 

Small things, if it’s him and Guehi defending our left I have concerns. 

[Mazzy]

There really is some woeful takes and absurd arguements (online in general) going on around this England squad. Don't remember it being this bad at the Qatar WC.

 

So many discussions around players who will never even play more than 10 minutes in this entire tournament. I really cannot wait for the 14th so we can finally have something else to occupy everyone's minds and then England can prove us all right or wrong, depending on what you think of their chances.

[Oregon_Geordie]

10 hours ago, Groundhog63 said:

Interesting post/thread. Can't really argue with the notion given previous treatment dished out to Rashford, Sterling etc etc etc

 

 

 

Straight up, good old fashioned Racism

 

[Ste]

It's disgusting and a sad reflection of this country that it more than likely gets more clicks/sells more papers if you put Saka's picture on than Foden or Palmer. 

[The Butcher]

1 Jordan Pickford

2 Kyle Walker

3 Luke Shaw

4 Declan Rice

5 John Stones

6 Marc Guéhi

7 Bukayo Saka

8 Trent Alexander-Arnold

9 Harry Kane

10 Jude Bellingham

11 Phil Foden

12 Kieran Trippier

13 Aaron Ramsdale

14 Ezri Konsa

15 Lewis Dunk

16 Conor Gallagher

17 Ivan Toney

18 Anthony Gordon

19 Ollie Watkins

20 Jarrod Bowen

21 Eberechi Eze

22 Joe Gomez

23 Dean Henderson

24 Cole Palmer

25 Adam Wharton

26 Kobbie Mainoo

[leffe186]

On 07/06/2024 at 22:44, leffe186 said:

Only me that thinks losing that is a good omen?

…

Some podcast mentioned something like this was the first time we’d lost the friendly before a major championship since 1968. I’m going to take that as a good omen.