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


Big River

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1 hour ago, Hughesy said:

Grealish is clearly talented, but there's no clear evidence that he's better than any of Foden, Mount, Sterling, Sancho or, after yesterday, Saka. 

 

It's a bit of a coin flip as to which of those you play, yet when Grealish isn't picked some people are acting like Southgate has dropped a prime Maradona.

 

Well, I guess there's an element of hype, but you only have to see the way defenders react when he gets the ball. They're scared and try to stop him by whatever means. 

 

He keeps the ball very close to his feet, and it's quite difficult for defenders to win it cleanly. 

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29 minutes ago, Kaizero said:


For starters, their teams are quite canny and their players play well together as a unit, so there's that.

Not sure Portugal do tbh. Think there's a disconnect there between the manager's general pragmatic style and the attacking players they now have

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Guest HTT II
2 minutes ago, RodneyCisse said:

Henderson looked decent when he came on, telling people where to go and that.

 

Not really sure which way Gareth goes in the next round, sometimes feels like he randomly picks someone to create a headline.

Same team but Henderson in for Rice and if Kane us wank for the first 45, replace him with DCL

 

 

Edited by HTT II

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Quote

Manager Gareth Southgate says England aspire to play "champagne football" but that he has been pleased with the defensive solidity they have shown to qualify top of Euro 2020 Group D.

England produced a professional display and kept a third clean sheet in three games to beat the Czech Republic 1-0.

It means a last-16 spot and a possible tie with France, Germany or Portugal.

Asked about the expectation to produce "champagne football", Southgate said: "We would like to see that as well."

He told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I think if you spoke to the players, we spoke a lot about that freedom, but we are a little bit short in a few areas of match fitness and sharpness, and I thought as the game wore on that started to take its toll a bit.

"We have hit the woodwork in all three matches and the other thing we have to get better on is our attacking set-play which is normally such a good source of goals for us and our deliveries have been really poor.

"We are difficult to score against at the moment and although we're not perhaps flowing as much as we'd like, that solidity is critical for any team doing well."

 

Proper PFM stuff. 

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It seems odd saying this but despite not conceding I don’t think we look that good defensively. We certainly don’t use the ball well in those circumstances and the longer the game goes on it just reverted to booting it upfield. None of the three sides we’ve played have really attacked us that much which is odd given we don’t seem to have an organised plan to counter quickly. 
 

I’m not the biggest fan of Maguire but I thought having him over Mings was an obvious boost. The benefit of having centre backs with at least an intention to drive forward and pass the ball forward was way better. You can draw parallels with Bruce’s reluctance to play Schar and Lejeune and how flat we look without a proper ball carrying centre back in the side. 
 

I expect we’ll perform much better against the better sides but I can’t say I’m confident we’ll beat any of the three we’re likely to face. 

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Out of the Group of Death contenders, I'd rather play Germany.

 

Germany have a top class midfield and would dominate the ball, but it would allow us to sit in with our two defensive midfielders.

 

Germany have no striker so there would be less pressure on Maguire on Stones. There's also no doubt their defence could be got at and as France have shown are vulnerable to the counter attack.

 

Don't get me wrong, whoever we get it'll be a tough game, but I just think we're suited to playing them more so than Portugal and France.

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48 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Out of the Group of Death contenders, I'd rather play Germany.

 

Germany have a top class midfield and would dominate the ball, but it would allow us to sit in with our two defensive midfielders.

 

Germany have no striker so there would be less pressure on Maguire on Stones. There's also no doubt their defence could be got at and as France have shown are vulnerable to the counter attack.

 

Don't get me wrong, whoever we get it'll be a tough game, but I just think we're suited to playing them more so than Portugal and France.

 

Agreed - I think along very similar lines tbh.

 

Saka/Foden/Sterling running in the channels could impact their CB's too imho.

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20 minutes ago, Collage said:

 

Just watching us it's incredibly frustrating how passive we are in possession. There seems to be no real urge to get forward or move the ball quickly for large portions of the game and it's minging to watch. 

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The only drive is when maguire or stones go on a rampage. 

 

Honestly think the formation is diabolical. The back 6 and the front four don't have any link. 

 

 

Edited by La Parka

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6 minutes ago, La Parka said:

The only drive is when maguire or stones go on a rampage. 

 

Honestly think the formation is diabolical. The back 6 and the front four don't have any link. 

 

 

 

Need Bellingham in the midfield two, he's the only one who can link the midfield and attack. Carries the ball well and gets in the box. 

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Been away on holiday so only just watched the Scotland and Czech games this morning. Decent first half but second half was eye bleedingly bad, all 3 group games have been basically the same. I saw a little more tempo in the first half of this game plus the goal so it looked a bit better but there hasn't been much difference between the 3 performances. This England is needlessly dull and functional, it's a bit like watching Cliff Thorburn at the snooker in the 80's  :lol:

 

Hate the system at this level, the way we implement it, it's like having 2 separate teams, 6 at the back and 4 up top, that have no real link, it's no wonder we generally look disjointed and vulnerable (which defeats the point of using 2 DMs to be solid). Since Southgate doesn't appear to have either the brains or the balls to change it, i'd play Bellingham and Henderson in the middle, we may be more exposed against the better teams but at least we'll have 2 central players who are forward-thinking and mobile and can carry the ball forward and link with the attackers, instead of the only attacking philosophy being have a defender lumber forward or give it to one of the attacking 3 and hope they conjure something for a central striker who isn't moving much and is too easy to mark out of the game.

 

The 3 behind Kane, I tend to agree with others, there's not a lot of difference between them. People are suggesting dropping Sterling but without him, we'd probably have ended up with 3 points so I think he's "earned" his spot. Besides, Southgate clearly isn't dropping hm. Saka looked good but lacks experience and i'm not sure a France or Germany wouldn't expose him. He does bring a slightly refreshing and nerveless element to our attack though. No clue what we do with Kane, the system isn't working for him, he needs more support and service but i'd be surprised if the system changed in any way. Maybe against a team that really goes for our throat, there'll be more space up top for him to operate but his movement and mental agility seem way off, like he's ill or something. Can't see us getting past the next team but maybe there's a big performance coming.

 

 

Edited by LionOfGosforth

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3 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

If England could get past the last 16 the draw massively opens up now, tbf. 

 

Yeah the potential quarters and semis look do-able. If we could bungle a pens win on Tuesday, defo have a solid chance. Massive game.

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26 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

If England could get past the last 16 the draw massively opens up now, tbf. 

 

Get past the opponent in the second round at home and it should be a relatively easy QF. Semi-final is going to be tough but it is at home. 

 

Second Round

England vs runners up of Group F (most likely Germany) at London

 

Quarter Final
 Vs winner of (Sweden vs. 3rd in A/B/C/D) at Rome

 

Semi-Final

Italy or Austria vs. Winners (Belgium vs 3rd in A/D/E/F ) at London

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