Man flu arrived with a vengence this AM. Made infinitely worse by sitting in a sterile passionless stadium watching overpaid ponces mince about.
The family enclosure tickets are so cheap that it makes it slightly more palatable, but that second half was truly woeful.
Can't complain about the family tickets, £30 for me & my daughter for an England game. As you say however, the second half was awful.
That does sound like a good deal, how do they pay you the £30, give you cash when you go through the turnstile or do they send it to you electronically.
I despair. The commentator made a terrible point that it is one thing beating these little teams but can we beat the big teams. Well ... er.... yes you plank. It is the little teams we have a problem with! The problem we have is breaking down a side that gets bodies behind the ball. Malta are not terrible in that they know what they are doing compared to say San Marino. It would have been a good opportunity at 2 up to play 3 at the back and a much more offensive formation. The issue when you keep a conventional shape is that your forwards have to beat two men to the ball usually or be very skillful which England have shown they struggle at.
Not impressed with this outing from Southgate. Not bothered about the score, but Southgate didn't use the game to best effect.
Until the supporters club are given their own block the atmosphere won't improve.
Sat a couple rows behind the Roland out flag in the top tier.
What are "two caps"?
Loyalty points that you build up and allow you get tickets for big matches.
Wow, so you travelled to Wembly, paid for a ticket, left before half time................so you can buy a ticket for a "big" England match.
Technically that is correct.
The whole organisation is pathetic. Especially, the same loyalty is given to attending a home and an away match.
To guarantee tickets for away matches such as Slovakia, Scotland, Malta and Lithuania you need to attend the soul destroying stadium that is Wembley.
Or buy a ticket and flog it
Unfortunately, no one actually wanted free tickets for yesterday.
If you buy a ticket through the member sale for home matches do you actually have to scan it or do the 'caps' go on automaticlly without it being scanned?
The longer Southgate continues to shoehorn Rooney into the side, the less respect i will have for him. He's pretty much the FA's dream applicant, he's young, english and uncontroversial and has a great chance to make the job his. So he goes and picks the same tried and failed players. Rooney in the holding midfield role, Cahill at the back. Both of these players have been on their way out for a year or 2, so how much use are they going to be at a world cup in 2 years time? Fuck all. Replace them with younger players and try to build a team!
Apart from the two Scotland games the rest of the qualifiers will be total dross. At least the Scotland games will have atmosphere and will be played like cup ties.
I gave up at half time - sounds like I made the right choice. I really think the lesser footballing nations should be given their own tournament with only 1/2 qualifying for the big tournaments - I just hope that we don't draw Iceland in the early stages after we have crushed the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
I despair. The commentator made a terrible point that it is one thing beating these little teams but can we beat the big teams. Well ... er.... yes you plank. It is the little teams we have a problem with! The problem we have is breaking down a side that gets bodies behind the ball. Malta are not terrible in that they know what they are doing compared to say San Marino. It would have been a good opportunity at 2 up to play 3 at the back and a much more offensive formation. The issue when you keep a conventional shape is that your forwards have to beat two men to the ball usually or be very skillful which England have shown they struggle at.
Not impressed with this outing from Southgate. Not bothered about the score, but Southgate didn't use the game to best effect.
C'mon Malta is a big country compared with Iceland.
I despair. The commentator made a terrible point that it is one thing beating these little teams but can we beat the big teams. Well ... er.... yes you plank. It is the little teams we have a problem with! The problem we have is breaking down a side that gets bodies behind the ball. Malta are not terrible in that they know what they are doing compared to say San Marino. It would have been a good opportunity at 2 up to play 3 at the back and a much more offensive formation. The issue when you keep a conventional shape is that your forwards have to beat two men to the ball usually or be very skillful which England have shown they struggle at.
Not impressed with this outing from Southgate. Not bothered about the score, but Southgate didn't use the game to best effect.
Er...you what? "Big teams" England have played in recent tournaments: Italy-lost (2014), Uruguay-lost (2014), Italy-drew-lost on pens (2012), France-drew (2012). I mean maybe you're inferring Wales are a big team and England won in the last minute against them, but Wales are really more of a case of having a really good run in a tournament, I don't think you can consider them a "big team" unless they follow it up with another decent outing at the world cup. This isn't a knock on Wales or what they did, just don't think they belong in that category.
That said, Iceland had to brilliant results over the weekend and I don't think they're a flash in the pan. I also think (and felt this way in the tournament) that they have more footballing ability than they showed under Lagerback.
I just get fed up with watching players who I see playing really well for teams I "hate" week in week out playing like 10 year olds in an England shirt.
Apart from the two Scotland games the rest of the qualifiers will be total dross. At least the Scotland games will have atmosphere and will be played like cup ties.
didnt bother going saturday flogged my tickets, so got the caps and didnt lose anything on the ticket, will go to scotland and spain at home and probably lithuania next march i think, away games hoping to do malta and scotland away, more the drink up than the football after all i am a charlton fan so am used to shit football week in week out.
I gave up at half time - sounds like I made the right choice. I really think the lesser footballing nations should be given their own tournament with only 1/2 qualifying for the big tournaments - I just hope that we don't draw Iceland in the early stages after we have crushed the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
England were not playing in a tournament and before the Euros beat Germany away and the eventual winners. The issue the team has at the moment is scoring goals against packed defences!
England were not playing in a tournament and before the Euros beat Germany away and the eventual winners. The issue the team has at the moment is scoring goals against packed defences!
Yeah that's certainly true, although how much should be read into friendlies, especially when Germany had a relatively experimental team etc. and so on.
You're absolutely right about the packed defenses, and it was the same against Italy and Uruguay in 2014.
I personally think this will be improved with Rooney out of the team. Against Iceland not only was he awful on the ball but his refusal to do anything other than walk meant that Wilshere could not pick up the ball in the space he wants them to start an attack. I think tomorrow night will be very interesting.
When looking at available English players, I don't really see someone who can be a part of a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 and play really incisive passes from the back of midfield to break sides down with the exception of an on form and fit Jack Wilshere and of course who knows if that is still a thing. I maintain, though, that between Sterling, Allie, Lallana, Rashford, Lingard, Wellbeck, Kane, Wellbeck, and Sturrdige England have a lot of quality in that "front four." To me, if coached well, and if they can find players capable of linking the midfield/defense with the attack they should be good enough to be better at breaking teams down. I thought Hodgson's biggest failure in the Euros was playing Rooney deep in midfield and thereby removing a player who could tactically/positionally link midfield and attack with one who tried to do it with largely pointless diagonals.
I was always critical of Lallana playing because he doesn't score enough goals. Now he looks like he is improving that side of his game, he doesn't play!
You're right that we have some decent attacking options, but the problem is they seem to freeze when they play their country in a major tournament. Kane has been brilliant for Spurs for 2 years, then turned up at the Euro's and played like a bloke who'd won a competition to be there. Same with Alli, great week in week out for Spurs, but what did he do in France? Sterling is looking like a world beater under Pep at City, but will he produce it for England? I think we probably know the answer.
The best option in my opinion would probably be a 4231 with Henderson and Dier as the holding 2, then a 3 of Lallana, Alli and Sterling behind Kane or maybe Sturridge (if he can remain fit for longer than 2 weeks).
Comments
The whole organisation is pathetic. Especially, the same loyalty is given to attending a home and an away match.
To guarantee tickets for away matches such as Slovakia, Scotland, Malta and Lithuania you need to attend the soul destroying stadium that is Wembley.
The family enclosure tickets are so cheap that it makes it slightly more palatable, but that second half was truly woeful.
Not impressed with this outing from Southgate. Not bothered about the score, but Southgate didn't use the game to best effect.
If you buy a ticket through the member sale for home matches do you actually have to scan it or do the 'caps' go on automaticlly without it being scanned?
Would some of these players get picked if they weren't at one of the 'top teams'?
That said, Iceland had to brilliant results over the weekend and I don't think they're a flash in the pan. I also think (and felt this way in the tournament) that they have more footballing ability than they showed under Lagerback.
You're absolutely right about the packed defenses, and it was the same against Italy and Uruguay in 2014.
I personally think this will be improved with Rooney out of the team. Against Iceland not only was he awful on the ball but his refusal to do anything other than walk meant that Wilshere could not pick up the ball in the space he wants them to start an attack. I think tomorrow night will be very interesting.
When looking at available English players, I don't really see someone who can be a part of a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1 and play really incisive passes from the back of midfield to break sides down with the exception of an on form and fit Jack Wilshere and of course who knows if that is still a thing. I maintain, though, that between Sterling, Allie, Lallana, Rashford, Lingard, Wellbeck, Kane, Wellbeck, and Sturrdige England have a lot of quality in that "front four." To me, if coached well, and if they can find players capable of linking the midfield/defense with the attack they should be good enough to be better at breaking teams down. I thought Hodgson's biggest failure in the Euros was playing Rooney deep in midfield and thereby removing a player who could tactically/positionally link midfield and attack with one who tried to do it with largely pointless diagonals.
The best option in my opinion would probably be a 4231 with Henderson and Dier as the holding 2, then a 3 of Lallana, Alli and Sterling behind Kane or maybe Sturridge (if he can remain fit for longer than 2 weeks).