Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
Like I said earlier on this thread; a win's a win. Tournament football is about the results, and if we do nothing but 1-0 borefests on the way to winning it, we'll all be out celebrating it without a care for the performances.
No shots on goal from the 26th minute, against the Czechs, is pretty dull though. It's friendly levels of intensity.
Knockout football is never boring though, so I imagine most of those complaints will.be done with from now onwards.
It will be 100% hypocritical but expected, considering the majority on CL aren't interested in winning games in a steady controlled manner and would have preferred to be out already, as long as we had inspiring goal scoring defeats.
It's been said that they would rather lose playing attacking football, than win playing as a solid unit and Southgate should be sacked even if we win the tournament.
Presumably the English supporters that would rather support Scotland are still thinking this now?
Only a few of us should be celebrating any success, if people are good to their word.
The whole of my lifetime supporting England we have played more open football and we've won nothing.
In any previous tournament the likelihood is we would lose in the next round to France, Germany or Portugal. So if we do lose it will be expected, but Southgate is attempting something different and whilst not expecting us to win, I just hope his different approach may come up trumps.
NB I preferred watching Chris Powell's Charlton winning the league with plenty of 1-0 victories as opposed to last season's home defeats shipping 2,3,4 games and finishing 7th.
Thought Saka was outstanding, very exciting to watch, ball sticks to his feet.
Grealish looked dangerous.
Kane ascended from a 3/10 performance to a 5.5/10 performance. A minor improvement but that's three games he's been sub-par now. No doubt we will make it four. Just because.
Thought Southgate made a wise tactical change by bringing on Bellingham. That extra man in the middle stopped the Czechs from having so much of the ball.
They never really threatened and thought we looked comfortable throughout. With a bit more composure on our final ball, it could've been 3 or 4.
The most bizarre thing last night was bringing on Rashford for Sterling rather than Sancho.
He'd already had a look at Rashford in the previous game and is clearly out of sorts. Why not give Sancho a run out for more than 5 minutes to see what he is capable of?
The most bizarre thing last night was bringing on Rashford for Sterling rather than Sancho.
He'd already had a look at Rashford in the previous game and is clearly out of sorts. Why not give Sancho a run out for more than 5 minutes to see what he is capable of?
Thought the same thing. Rashford looks devoid of any confidence.
We are like the Manchester United of International football.
Actually think it’s more a Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace
We are through and certainly can’t argue with the results. No one can argue either that it’s fairly uninspiring to watch.
Now it gets serious though. We have to step up from what has been shown not just in this tournament but in the last year. The pre-tournie friendlies, the Poland game, the one sided Belgium game, the Denmark defeat at Wembley and indifferent showings in Iceland and Copenhagen etc.
It’s not been great for a while, we have no settled identity of a team in terms of personnel and formation, and we are going into the knock out stages of the first major for 3 years (and what the last 3 years should have been building towards) not having a Scooby what our best team is.
Southgate has a lot of similar standard talent at his disposal which I accept makes it hard, but I’ve not got huge faith in him bringing out the best of them. Appreciate that’s a negative and no one hopes I’m wrong than me. If you want to balance it with a positive, Not knowing how we will play and who will play it may well give us an advantage if those picked turn it on.
I fear though us playing against a quality side who are much more settled in their formation and personnel
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
Please don't contaminate this thread with rational, well-considered opinion!
We are like the Manchester United of International football.
Actually think it’s more a Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace
We are through and certainly can’t argue with the results. No one can argue either that it’s fairly uninspiring to watch.
Now it gets serious though. We have to step up from what has been shown not just in this tournament but in the last year. The pre-tournie friendlies, the Poland game, the one sided Belgium game, the Denmark defeat at Wembley and indifferent showings in Iceland and Copenhagen etc.
It’s not been great for a while, we have no settled identity of a team in terms of personnel and formation, and we are going into the knock out stages of the first major for 3 years (and what the last 3 years should have been building towards) not having a Scooby what our best team is.
Southgate has a lot of similar standard talent at his disposal which I accept makes it hard, but I’ve not got huge faith in him bringing out the best of them. Appreciate that’s a negative and no one hopes I’m wrong than me. If you want to balance it with a positive, Not knowing how we will play and who will play it may well give us an advantage if those picked turn it on.
I fear though us playing against a quality side who are much more settled in their formation and personnel
We will, of course, find out on Tuesday as this is likely to be France or Germany (I would predict both will win tonight so more likely the latter).
If you had asked either before the tournament if they would see playing England at Wembley in front of 45,000 in the round of 16 as a good draw, I would guess both would have said they would rather not. I would imagine that is still the case.
Most teams that go on to win tournaments start slowly and build momentum - I still believe England will go deep into the tournament, maybe just falling short.
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
But can you see us getting a result against France playing like that? They have players that make things happen from back to front. I know we do also have some quality players but from 3 games I can't say we saw much of them. Saka did shine last night though but will he be in the next starting line up? I doubt it. Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
But can you see us getting a result against France playing like that? They have players that make things happen from back to front. I know we do also have some quality players but from 3 games I can't say we saw much of them. Saka did shine last night though but will he be in the next starting line up? I doubt it. Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
So many hypotheticals there though, if I'm honest I don't know if it will work against France but what I would say is look at how they conceded against Hungary, huge space in behind their back line. They are without doubt the favourites however I'm unconvinced by them defensively (queue them winning 3-0 tonight). On the Czechs having a couple of shots, of course, teams will take shots but it's all about keeping these to a minimum. I know it has it's flaws as a stat but xG against in total across the 3 games is 1.3, I could be wrong but I think only Italy have better. Could we do more offensively? Probably (well definitely for the Scotland game) but we have hit the woodwork in all 3 games as well ( something that won't show up in your shots on target).
I think we have to have a little trust in how he has set the team out to play, the players certainly seem to have bought into it. Southgate is damned if he does damned if he doesn't, say we went out and beat these teams comfortably but also conceded a few, there would be people saying "well can it work against France?". I think he's aware of how many view this style and that if we do go out in the next round there will be massive calls for him to go so it is also a gamble on his part. Compare with Mancini and although they've looked spectacular going forward if they went out in the next round I doubt there would be the same calls from the Italians.
I get it though, we all think we're managers and know better than whoever the current manager of our team is. As I've said before, football is a results business and even more so at international level, let's judge him after we see how far we go because to be honest I doubt there would be anyone moaning if we play like this and get to the final (actually there probably would be but you get my point).
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
But can you see us getting a result against France playing like that? They have players that make things happen from back to front. I know we do also have some quality players but from 3 games I can't say we saw much of them. Saka did shine last night though but will he be in the next starting line up? I doubt it. Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
Passing the ball round at the back as we did invites pressure and we didn't look overly confident doing it. If put under pressure I can see us gifting a goal.
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
But can you see us getting a result against France playing like that? They have players that make things happen from back to front. I know we do also have some quality players but from 3 games I can't say we saw much of them. Saka did shine last night though but will he be in the next starting line up? I doubt it. Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
So many hypotheticals there though, if I'm honest I don't know if it will work against France but what I would say is look at how they conceded against Hungary, huge space in behind their back line. They are without doubt the favourites however I'm unconvinced by them defensively (queue them winning 3-0 tonight). On the Czechs having a couple of shots, of course, teams will take shots but it's all about keeping these to a minimum. I know it has it's flaws as a stat but xG against in total across the 3 games is 1.3, I could be wrong but I think only Italy have better. Could we do more offensively? Probably (well definitely for the Scotland game) but we have hit the woodwork in all 3 games as well ( something that won't show up in your shots on target).
I think we have to have a little trust in how he has set the team out to play, the players certainly seem to have bought into it. Southgate is damned if he does damned if he doesn't, say we went out and beat these teams comfortably but also conceded a few, there would be people saying "well can it work against France?". I think he's aware of how many view this style and that if we do go out in the next round there will be massive calls for him to go so it is also a gamble on his part. Compare with Mancini and although they've looked spectacular going forward if they went out in the next round I doubt there would be the same calls from the Italians.
I get it though, we all think we're managers and know better than whoever the current manager of our team is. As I've said before, football is a results business and even more so at international level, let's judge him after we see how far we go because to be honest I doubt there would be anyone moaning if we play like this and get to the final (actually there probably would be but you get my point).
Good post. I think he will change the formation against Germany or France. He will go with 3 centre backs - with Walker moving across. Trippier will come back in on the left and James on the right - this is why he picked the squad that he did - it’s adaptable. I think a lot of people just saw 4 (now 3) right backs and don’t really think about the bigger picture.
As you say it’s a results business - I couldn’t give a shit if we don’t score loads of goals, and if Kane doesn’t score them so be it. And again, nobody will be moaning about negative tactics if we go all the way. Judge the manager at the end of our participation.
Watching England divides CL and I imagine the Nation:
Our game management is so different to Italy, Belgium, France or Germany who continue to probe for more goals even when they have the lead.
They know even a poor team can get lucky and score. So they try and put the game to bed, England should have done that in the first half when they were playing well. I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
But 6 inches to the left for Sterling and 6 inches to the right for Kane we could quite easily have been 3-0 up at half time. Yes the game changed in the second half, partly because England were happy to sit on the lead and partly because the Czechs sat deeper, presumably they were hoping that losing 1-0 and Croatia only winning by 1 would be enough for second in the group. Had they pushed on to try for an equaliser the space in behind would have been there again for England to exploit. As it was we were happy to just to control the game.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
But can you see us getting a result against France playing like that? They have players that make things happen from back to front. I know we do also have some quality players but from 3 games I can't say we saw much of them. Saka did shine last night though but will he be in the next starting line up? I doubt it. Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
I think France are best avoided They weren't great against Hungary to be fair but it feels like they have a few extra gears.
We have done the job and won the group,albeit not the strongest group,but these games still have to be won.My main concern is that in all of our games,the opposition had at least one guilt edged chance to score,Ronaldo,Benzema ,Immoble and their mates will not be so generous.
Lots of positives from the game and a clean sheet. Be interesting how we set up for the next game.
Things to work on
Sterling with another goal and decent shift but for me he didn't keep the ball like Grealish and Saka he lost it on more then one occasion cheaply also caught offside.
Walker can be solid but looks to have a couple of big errors in him every game and was scared to play forward.
Set pieces very wasteful need to work on our routines they was all dealt with very easily by the opposition want to make the most of them as it could be the difference.
Results or performances aside I believe the current squad of youngsters available is the best England have ever had for many years. I think the future is very bright for England if and only if the manager is able to harness their collective talents.
Lots of positives from the game and a clean sheet. Be interesting how we set up for the next game.
Things to work on
Sterling with another goal and decent shift but for me he didn't keep the ball like Grealish and Saka he lost it on more then one occasion cheaply also caught offside.
Walker can be solid but looks to have a couple of big errors in him every game and was scared to play forward.
Set pieces very wasteful need to work on our routines they was all dealt with very easily by the opposition want to make the most of them as it could be the difference.
Would not be surprised if we play a back 5. Shaw, Maguire, Stones, Walker, Trippier/James. Add Kane, he can't be dropped. Pickford is a certainty as well I'd say. 4 remaining players- I wouldn't like to guess but I will anyway. I think Grealish has to start and I think Southgate likes Sterling a lot. So two more could be Rice and Philips again but I doubt it with a back 5.
Not the best form . However, would you prefer he's dropped for Calvert Lewin or Rashford?. Surely Kane will start. We don't have great options and he is world class in my opinion.
Not the best form . However, would you prefer he's dropped for Calvert Lewin or Rashford?. Surely Kane will start. We don't have great options and he is world class in my opinion.
What's the point in being world class when you're playing absolute tripe, though? I'd much rather have someone up there who was contributing. At least the ball would stick to DCL.
Not the best form . However, would you prefer he's dropped for Calvert Lewin or Rashford?. Surely Kane will start. We don't have great options and he is world class in my opinion.
What's the point in being world class when you're playing absolute tripe, though? I'd much rather have someone up there who was contributing. At least the ball would stick to DCL.
He just needs to get a goal and people will shut up. He hasn't been tripe as you say but yeh not in the greatest form. I just don't believe the alternatives are great either
Not the best form . However, would you prefer he's dropped for Calvert Lewin or Rashford?. Surely Kane will start. We don't have great options and he is world class in my opinion.
What's the point in being world class when you're playing absolute tripe, though? I'd much rather have someone up there who was contributing. At least the ball would stick to DCL.
He just needs to get a goal and people will shut up. He hasn't been tripe as you say but yeh not in the greatest form. I just don't believe the alternatives are great either
He played similarly badly at the last Euros, didn't score any goals and we went out to Iceland.
Don't see why any club or international team should persist with a player who's so clearly out of sorts. The ball is not sticking up top for us, he's really offering nothing. Get someone else on. But I know we won't.
Comments
I remember Curbs always said 2-0 is a difficult score to defend but I think 1-0 is even harder.
It's been said that they would rather lose playing attacking football, than win playing as a solid unit and Southgate should be sacked even if we win the tournament.
Presumably the English supporters that would rather support Scotland are still thinking this now?
Only a few of us should be celebrating any success, if people are good to their word.
The whole of my lifetime supporting England we have played more open football and we've won nothing.
In any previous tournament the likelihood is we would lose in the next round to France, Germany or Portugal.
So if we do lose it will be expected, but Southgate is attempting something different and whilst not expecting us to win, I just hope his different approach may come up trumps.
NB I preferred watching Chris Powell's Charlton winning the league with plenty of 1-0 victories as opposed to last season's home defeats shipping 2,3,4 games and finishing 7th.
Grealish looked dangerous.
Kane ascended from a 3/10 performance to a 5.5/10 performance. A minor improvement but that's three games he's been sub-par now. No doubt we will make it four. Just because.
Thought Southgate made a wise tactical change by bringing on Bellingham. That extra man in the middle stopped the Czechs from having so much of the ball.
They never really threatened and thought we looked comfortable throughout. With a bit more composure on our final ball, it could've been 3 or 4.
He'd already had a look at Rashford in the previous game and is clearly out of sorts. Why not give Sancho a run out for more than 5 minutes to see what he is capable of?
We are through and certainly can’t argue with the results. No one can argue either that it’s fairly uninspiring to watch.
Yes I agree defending a 1-0 lead is risky but the way it has been done is different, teams of the past would just retreat, get men behind the ball and try and hold on. This tournament has been different seeing out games in a controlled way. In the Croatia game after we scored Croatia managed 0 shots on target, in the second half last night the Czechs had 0 shots on target. Those are not indicative of a team hanging on.
We should be flying, playing in front of our own fans again... I think the players don't respect the badge, at least too many don't.
If you had asked either before the tournament if they would see playing England at Wembley in front of 45,000 in the round of 16 as a good draw, I would guess both would have said they would rather not. I would imagine that is still the case.
Most teams that go on to win tournaments start slowly and build momentum - I still believe England will go deep into the tournament, maybe just falling short.
Also in the first half the Czechs had a couple of shots that were poor, quality strikers may well of tucked them away and on another day so might of they. We had, according to the BBC, 3 shots on target to their 1 shot on target in 90 mins of football. Compare that with any of our rivals, in their last group games, to me it says we are less than an average side, unless we have hit upon a tactic others have passed up on. We may well of not been hanging on in the sense of the other team peppering our goal with shots but we did like giving the ball back to then cheaply, do that against quality and you are picking the ball out of the net.
I think we have to have a little trust in how he has set the team out to play, the players certainly seem to have bought into it. Southgate is damned if he does damned if he doesn't, say we went out and beat these teams comfortably but also conceded a few, there would be people saying "well can it work against France?". I think he's aware of how many view this style and that if we do go out in the next round there will be massive calls for him to go so it is also a gamble on his part. Compare with Mancini and although they've looked spectacular going forward if they went out in the next round I doubt there would be the same calls from the Italians.
I get it though, we all think we're managers and know better than whoever the current manager of our team is. As I've said before, football is a results business and even more so at international level, let's judge him after we see how far we go because to be honest I doubt there would be anyone moaning if we play like this and get to the final (actually there probably would be but you get my point).
I know noddy was at the game.
Things to work on
Sterling with another goal and decent shift but for me he didn't keep the ball like Grealish and Saka he lost it on more then one occasion cheaply also caught offside.
Walker can be solid but looks to have a couple of big errors in him every game and was scared to play forward.
Set pieces very wasteful need to work on our routines they was all dealt with very easily by the opposition want to make the most of them as it could be the difference.
Shaw, Maguire, Stones, Walker, Trippier/James.
Add Kane, he can't be dropped. Pickford is a certainty as well I'd say.
4 remaining players- I wouldn't like to guess but I will anyway. I think Grealish has to start and I think Southgate likes Sterling a lot. So two more could be Rice and Philips again but I doubt it with a back 5.
Kane stats from the group stage.
Grim.
Surely Kane will start. We don't have great options and he is world class in my opinion.
I just don't believe the alternatives are great either
Don't see why any club or international team should persist with a player who's so clearly out of sorts. The ball is not sticking up top for us, he's really offering nothing. Get someone else on. But I know we won't.