Jordan Henderson ran 10.06km against Panama, 1km more than any other player on the pitch, in 32-degree heat.
He completed 91% of his 72 passes attempted, won all four of his aerial duels and wasn't dispossessed once.
He's done very well so far. No complaints from me at all. Looking like he's taken his game up a level.
I have never rated Henderson. Delighted to see him playing so well. He seems like a real leader on the pitch. Calling the huddle before the well-worked free kick goal against Panama, and I caught him telling Trippier to calm down during the Tunisia game, when Trippier was having a bit of a mad spell. He gives the team a spine and we'd be a lot weaker without him.
I agree that the only change i'd like to see is rashford on for sterling. Sterling might be a good player to bring in in the knockouts, specifically if we've gone to extra time, his quick footwork could unlock tired defences.
I'm happy with the undulated happiness surrounding the national team currently. We've played two weak teams and beaten them deservedly and convincingly. What were the players meant to do against Panama? Not score, they dipped their bread and good on them
Belgium is going to be a different proposition but nobody attacks or makes use of a set play like we have so far and I think that will give us a few more goals to celebrate and the millenials to not live in the moment and video everyone going apeshit when we do get a 98th minute winner against Japan in the next round
Looking forward to our set pieces against the bigger teams
From now on our opponents will be no mugs and will have scouted our set pieces in depth and will be training properly over the coming days to counter them accordingly - At the same time I dont expect Southgate to be naive enough to expect them to continue to work they way we've put the ball in the box so fully expecting them to be varied
True, but Spain just couldn't handle Morocco last night - I think we'd cause them a few problems.
I'm happy with the undulated happiness surrounding the national team currently. We've played two weak teams and beaten them deservedly and convincingly. What were the players meant to do against Panama? Not score, they dipped their bread and good on them
Belgium is going to be a different proposition but nobody attacks or makes use of a set play like we have so far and I think that will give us a few more goals to celebrate and the millenials to not live in the moment and video everyone going apeshit when we do get a 98th minute winner against Japan in the next round
Looking forward to our set pieces against the bigger teams
From now on our opponents will be no mugs and will have scouted our set pieces in depth and will be training properly over the coming days to counter them accordingly - At the same time I dont expect Southgate to be naive enough to expect them to continue to work they way we've put the ball in the box so fully expecting them to be varied
True, but Spain just couldn't handle Morocco last night - I think we'd cause them a few problems.
When we had Beckham in the side we got tons of goals from set pieces and corners. Nobody is going to say Trippiers delivery is Beckham class, he's getting the ball in the right areas though and that is something we have lacked since on a consistent basis since Becks retired.
Continental centre halves and defenders in general don't like defending dead ball deliveries, it's probably why they go mad for all the soppy wrestling. English players thrive off them and now we have some players who not only want to attack the ball but are good at it too we have a genuine game breaker
Trippier may not have the same quality at goal-bound free-kicks as Beckham, but his corners are excellent - certainly a big difference to Ashley Young, whose delivery is poor.
Another thing to note, is that we have some really big lads to hit with set pieces, with (Walker, Stones, Maguire, Loftus-Cheek, Ali and Kane) all being over 6ft tall, which is a lot to defend against in a crowded space.
If you watch closely at Engalnd's movement on set plays - they are very clever at blocking and making decoy runs etc - the first goal against both Tunisia and Panama was exactly the same routine, in getting Stones isolated in and around the penalty spot.
If we can defend at the other end well enough (which will be our biggest test), then you can see us scoring enough from set plays to worry most teams.
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Continental centre halves and defenders in general don't like defending dead ball deliveries, it's probably why they go mad for all the soppy wrestling. English players thrive off them and now we have some players who not only want to attack the ball but are good at it too we have a genuine game breaker
Another thing to note, is that we have some really big lads to hit with set pieces, with (Walker, Stones, Maguire, Loftus-Cheek, Ali and Kane) all being over 6ft tall, which is a lot to defend against in a crowded space.
If you watch closely at Engalnd's movement on set plays - they are very clever at blocking and making decoy runs etc - the first goal against both Tunisia and Panama was exactly the same routine, in getting Stones isolated in and around the penalty spot.
If we can defend at the other end well enough (which will be our biggest test), then you can see us scoring enough from set plays to worry most teams.
True. Will we be able to create more from open play going forward?