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Group D (Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Scotland)


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1 hour ago, ToonArmy1892 said:

Each to their own but it just seems like a bit of a pointless exercise now, does the taking of the knee now continue for ever? If not why not? 

 

If it stops and racism continues (inevitable), does that mean the racists have won?

 

I know it's a totally seperate issue but it reminds me of the clapping for the two toon fans who died in the plane shooting, it just went on for too long and just became a "thing" that people did, as if not clapping anymore meant you were being disrespectful or something.

 

 

 

 

The conversation about wrapping it up would probably be a lot closer had it not been for the recent reactions. 

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I find it incredible people think England are going to go far. No chance they beat any top team for me.
 

Henderson and Rice in central midfield v Pogba/Kante, Kroos/Goretzka, Bernardo Silva/Neves, Tielemans/De Bruyne etc etc. Then add in a poor manager,dodgy keeper and centre halfs it’s a poor spine. 
 

Until England have centre midfielders who are good technically and can keep the ball rather than just run around a lot we will never beat a top team. Bellingham looks like one but he will no doubt be benched. Foden is one but he will be in the attack. 

 

 

Edited by CalmintheChaos

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10 minutes ago, CalmintheChaos said:

I find it incredible people think England are going to go far. No chance they beat any top team for me.
 

Henderson and Rice in central midfield v Pogba/Kante, Kroos/Goretzka, Bernardo Silva/Neves, Tielemans/De Bruyne etc etc. Then add in a poor manager,dodgy keeper and centre halfs it’s a poor spine. 
 

Until England have centre midfielders who are good technically and can keep the ball rather than just run around a lot we will never beat a top team. Bellingham looks like one but he will no doubt be benched. Foden is one but he will be in the attack. 

Agree, we never have centre mids that actually control games, the last good one was Scholes and Sven kept playing him out of position..he should have been to England what Pirlo and Xavi were to Italy and Spain.

 

People go on about Lampard and Gerrard, good players but not good enough at international level and neither were pure passing, control a game type of centre mid anyway.

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It's been an English problem for a long time, focusing on size, strength and athleticism before actual ability and technique.

 

It starts from coaching at grassroots, promising small players end up getting released because they can't compete physically, when the focus at that young level should be purely on skill and technique.

 

Look at the Spain team that dominated.

 

Obviously, you can also be big, strong AND skillful, but we've got the set up all wrong.

 

 

Edited by ToonArmy1892

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47 minutes ago, CalmintheChaos said:

I find it incredible people think England are going to go far. No chance they beat any top team for me.
 

Henderson and Rice in central midfield v Pogba/Kante, Kroos/Goretzka, Bernardo Silva/Neves, Tielemans/De Bruyne etc etc. Then add in a poor manager,dodgy keeper and centre halfs it’s a poor spine. 
 

Until England have centre midfielders who are good technically and can keep the ball rather than just run around a lot we will never beat a top team. Bellingham looks like one but he will no doubt be benched. Foden is one but he will be in the attack. 

 

Think you could be overrating alot of the other squads. Other than France there's no others that are comfortably better than our own imo. 

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15 minutes ago, Wullie said:

"International level" is just a meaningless phrase.

Especially given how many shit players play international football for their countries. The Premier League and Champions League are both a level above in standard than international football these days.

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I didn't even realise Wan-Bissaka wasn't in the squad till just now, that is madness.

 

John Barnes: “Look at Aaron Wan-Bissaka - he is our best right back by far in this country. But because he is not as good on the ball as the others, he got unfairly overlooked. So when we [England] come up against a team like France, that is when you don't need a marauding player who will be more comfortable whipping in crosses and free-kicks in attacking areas. Everyone is clamouring for attacking right backs or number tens, but do not pay enough respect to players who are out and out defenders or defensive midfielders. It doesn't matter if Southgate plays four or five at the back, if you don't have players who can defend properly, it is immaterial."

 

 

Edited by ToonArmy1892

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50 minutes ago, ToonArmy1892 said:

I didn't even realise Wan-Bissaka wasn't in the squad till just now, that is madness.

 

John Barnes: “Look at Aaron Wan-Bissaka - he is our best right back by far in this country. But because he is not as good on the ball as the others, he got unfairly overlooked. So when we [England] come up against a team like France, that is when you don't need a marauding player who will be more comfortable whipping in crosses and free-kicks in attacking areas. Everyone is clamouring for attacking right backs or number tens, but do not pay enough respect to players who are out and out defenders or defensive midfielders. It doesn't matter if Southgate plays four or five at the back, if you don't have players who can defend properly, it is immaterial."

 

Trippier can fill that role quite well Tbf though. I probably would have taken AWB for the reason mentioned above, but it's not like he's miles better than the other four. 

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Two of the other rightbacks just played in a champions League final, like. James bossed that right side of the pitch and Trippier was a key player for Atletico winning the league. Having Kane in the side it makes sense to go for fullbacks who can attack well, and have a good delivery. 

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6 hours ago, Wullie said:

"International level" is just a meaningless phrase.


Yep. Mitrovic is elite international level. He’s no more than an average Premier League striker.

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9 hours ago, Jaqen said:

 

Think you could be overrating alot of the other squads. Other than France there's no others that are comfortably better than our own imo. 

I mainly mean our centre midfield, keeper and centre halfs. Plenty of teams have better players in them key positions 

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On 09/06/2021 at 05:20, Optimistic Nut said:


Yep. Mitrovic is elite international level. He’s no more than an average Premier League striker.


International football lends well to scoring goals through crosses and set pieces, as the defence aren't as used to playing with each other and are inherently less well organised as a result. Mitrovic can thrive in this environment, Kyle Lafferty did the same. Zigic, Koller etc. Ibrahimovic must literally be the worst striker to face in international football for this reason, he's got that aerial threat combined with being one of the best players in the world for the past 15 years.

 

I've always thought that there must be some merit to just getting an established club team's back 4 to play for their country. Don't know how far down the ladder we'd have to go in England for us to do this but I think it'd be an interesting experiment at least. We should have had more of the Arsenal back 5 at international level, it was a great chance (Dixon, Adams, Keown/Bould, Winterburn, Seaman).

 

 

Edited by HawK

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19 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said:

 

That the Oak? What's the setup like there now? Is the garden full capacity, or have they reduced tables? 

Booked at Oak, aye. Full Capacity, tons of tables outside. Massive screen. You have to order on phone and they will bring drinks/food but its all good.

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45 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said:

Not been in the Oak for years. Worked there for 3 years whilst at Uni. Have they updated the big screen? The quality used to be horrendous.  

 

It's better now. Obviously I think key is getting a good seat close to it.

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