Spain played too deeply against Croatia at 3-1, which allowed them to attack and attack again when the previous attack broke down. It provided Croatia a route to get back in the game. They did better when they regained their lead, but it is a risky game for any side to play. The problem is, when you have earned a lead, it isn't fair, but your opponents will take risks because they have to and you have to respond to that.
I'd play: Trippier, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell Henderson, Rice Saka Kane Sterling
I know i have literally just said we cant play without Mount, Grealish, Foden but would be nice to see pace on the wings to counter them. I'd be happy with Foden instead of Saka but feel Saka offers more coming back and also of the back of the last performance.
Saying all the above Gareth might be having a little headache, not a bad thing we have so much talent just finding the right set up and balance for this game.
Playing with 9 is brave
My mate just said the same, we only need 10
Well chuck Pickford and Mount in just for good measure
Pickford Walker Stones Maguire Saka Rice Phillips Shaw Sterling Kane Saka
Seems like we’d match the Germans up 343.
Its reporting 5 at the back later in the article so I imagine
Pickford Trippier/James Walker Stones Maguire Shaw Rice Phillips Saka Kane Sterling
I think it's probably our best 11 at the moment.
I'm not that keen on Rice (I actually think Henderson played well for 45 mins last week) and would love to fit Grealish in there but I don't know how. Saka deserves the start after the Czech game and Sterlings goals render him undroppable imo.
Grealish for Rice and Foden for Saka are the obvious subs if we're chasing the game
If we are playing five at the back, we surely can't play two holding midfielders as well. I've got an idea, why not play 10 at the back?
It's not really 5 at the back anymore though is it. Trippier and Shaw will (hopefully) spend most of the game in Germanys half.
I dont mind this lineup but I'm not sure you can have a side without Mount, Foden or Grealish. Besides the pace of sterling and Saka there is no creativity, you cant rely on pace or crosses from the wing backs to create every chance. You need someone of creating something on the ball, intricate passing and a bit of vision.
I'd be tempted to to put Saka at LWB and have him further up the pitch in a kind of lop sided 352. It allows you to get one of Foden/Mount in the side in a deeper more central role, they will have to work hard in the midfield but will give us some of the creativity we need centrally without losing pace out wide or width of the wing backs.
Pickford Walker Stones Maguire Trippier Henderson Foden Phillips Saka Sterling Kane
Basically I have listed 2 completely different 11's from 11pm last night to 11am this morning so I have no clue. Given that I watched the clip on Germany's tactics I think we need to go with a back 3 and wing backs so I'm going with this one..... For now.
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defensively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
Pickford Walker Stones Maguire Saka Rice Phillips Shaw Sterling Kane Saka
Seems like we’d match the Germans up 343.
Its reporting 5 at the back later in the article so I imagine
Pickford Trippier/James Walker Stones Maguire Shaw Rice Phillips Saka Kane Sterling
I think it's probably our best 11 at the moment.
I'm not that keen on Rice (I actually think Henderson played well for 45 mins last week) and would love to fit Grealish in there but I don't know how. Saka deserves the start after the Czech game and Sterlings goals render him undroppable imo.
Grealish for Rice and Foden for Saka are the obvious subs if we're chasing the game
If we are playing five at the back, we surely can't play two holding midfielders as well. I've got an idea, why not play 10 at the back?
It's not really 5 at the back anymore though is it. Trippier and Shaw will (hopefully) spend most of the game in Germanys half.
I dont mind this lineup but I'm not sure you can have a side without Mount, Foden or Grealish. Besides the pace of sterling and Saka there is no creativity, you cant rely on pace or crosses from the wing backs to create every chance. You need someone of creating something on the ball, intricate passing and a bit of vision.
I'd be tempted to to put Saka at LWB and have him further up the pitch in a kind of lop sided 352. It allows you to get one of Foden/Mount in the side in a deeper more central role, they will have to work hard in the midfield but will give us some of the creativity we need centrally without losing pace out wide or width of the wing backs.
Pickford Walker Stones Maguire Trippier Henderson Foden Phillips Saka Sterling Kane
The good thing about that team is you can easily switch formations without having to make a substitution.
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
He was there like 5/6 games mostly when Tierney was injured, when Tierney came back he would play in front of him but didn't play the whole season not sure how to find it on transfer market but i thought there was a way to check where people have played mostly. If i am wrong fair play, but i do watch all Arsenal games so unless i have a short memory
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
He was there like 5/6 games mostly when Tierney was injured, when Tierney came back he would play in front of him but didn't play the whole season not sure how to find it on transfer market but i thought there was a way to check where people have played mostly. If i am wrong fair play, but i do watch all Arsenal games so unless i have a short memory
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
He was there like 5/6 games mostly when Tierney was injured, when Tierney came back he would play in front of him but didn't play the whole season not sure how to find it on transfer market but i thought there was a way to check where people have played mostly. If i am wrong fair play, but i do watch all Arsenal games so unless i have a short memory
Thanks i still cant get it to give this season stats. But obviously hes had a few games there, as much as right winger which for me is his best position.
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
He was there like 5/6 games mostly when Tierney was injured, when Tierney came back he would play in front of him but didn't play the whole season not sure how to find it on transfer market but i thought there was a way to check where people have played mostly. If i am wrong fair play, but i do watch all Arsenal games so unless i have a short memory
People saying Saka at LWB is a bold call, i hate it! Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defesively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
They played him there for a whole season and he was the best player in the team.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
He was there like 5/6 games mostly when Tierney was injured, when Tierney came back he would play in front of him but didn't play the whole season not sure how to find it on transfer market but i thought there was a way to check where people have played mostly. If i am wrong fair play, but i do watch all Arsenal games so unless i have a short memory
Thank you i stand corrected. I thought maybe Europa there were a few games i wasn't thinking off. Still maintain its his 3rd position, when we have Shaw & Chilwell i dont think we should go down this route, again what do i know?
Edit. i see that was the season before, so i forgive myself for being wrong. This season he has played left back 3 times
IF we go with the 532/352/343 (however you want to write the same 11 players) it puts a huge amount of pressure on the fullbacks to get forward when we have the ball. Especially with 2 holding midfielders. It will be vital that they push on otherwise the 3 up front will be isolated. It needs to be more like a 5 going forward and leave Rice/Phillips to cover the full back positions.
Trippier and Shaw have both got the ability to play that role but if they don't push forward often enough it becomes that problem of 7 players defending and 3 attacking on their own.
Fancy us tmrw - haven’t seen anything in the German squad that worries me
Oh yeah, that’s what I thought in 1990 by the way……
Back then you were always full of yourself. I'd imagine that now you're older you're a bit more level headed. Will you be wearing something comfy for tonight's match?
Hopefully Philips will be allowed to push forward more to support like he did in the Croatia game. Think he’s much better winning the ball and making stuff happen in their half.
I'm beginning to think I wouldn't make it as a professional footballer. I feel sick just thinking about this game, I can't imagine how I'd feel if I was going to play in it!
It's a single game and could easily go either way. Said it before but we need to play without fear. The Swiss didn't give 2 shits about it being France they were playing last night and we need to have the same mindset against Germany. Do that and we can win this game.
I'm beginning to think I wouldn't make it as a professional footballer. I feel sick just thinking about this game, I can't imagine how I'd feel if I was going to play in it!
When I used to run in races there were times with about a mile to go where I knew I'd stand a great chance of breaking my PB - There was absolutely no chance of me winning the race (I wasnt fast enough), but whenever it happened I'd start getting light headed and experience this weird feeling almost.
Its always left me impressed with professional athletes (in any Sport) as a result and how they're able to put the thoughts of impending victory or whatever to the back of their mind and focus on the job at hand.
Its also another reason why I'm so opposed to the simple view that a player has "bottled" an moment etc.
Fancy us tmrw - haven’t seen anything in the German squad that worries me
Oh yeah, that’s what I thought in 1990 by the way……
Back then you were always full of yourself. I'd imagine that now you're older you're a bit more level headed. Will you be wearing something comfy for tonight's match?
Cheeky git !!
I have borrowed a cardigan from @Henry Irving though
Woke up feeling very sick today. So much has happened over the last few days I don't know whether England are going to sit back hoping for a 1-0 win or whether it's going to be 8-7 with Pickford scoring the winner from a goal kick. This is an incredibly open tournament now, yes we shouldn't write off anybody but let's be honest, this is an amazing opportunity to at least reach the final. Excited and nervous in equal measure for tonight.
Comments
Well chuck Pickford and Mount in just for good measure
Would look something like this:
Pickford
Walker - Stones - Maguire
Trippier Rice Shaw/Saka
Henderson Mount
Kane Sterling
Similar to how we played in the last World Cup. Just Mount playing the Alli role.
Saka is a fantastic player, can do a job defensively but would be an easy target. Personally he suits RW/RM perfect, Better LW than LWB in my opinion. Arsenal have played him there and it just doesn't really work he has the work rate but not the nous and isn't solid enough.
Pre-Tourney i didn't think he should be in squad even with a slight bias as i rate him, same with Phillips just couldn't see them fitting in, but both have made a case its hard to drop them.
The only reason they moved him from LWB is because they bought Tierney and he's also very good at being a winger.
I just worry that we won't have the nous to battle back.
Answer = score first.
Edit. i see that was the season before, so i forgive myself for being wrong. This season he has played left back 3 times
Think we will win but would like to see the shackles removed a little so we can get in behind a slow defence.
I am praying to any god that will that he has divine intervention and tells Harry Kane not to drop so bloody deep!!
Especially with 2 holding midfielders. It will be vital that they push on otherwise the 3 up front will be isolated.
It needs to be more like a 5 going forward and leave Rice/Phillips to cover the full back positions.
Trippier and Shaw have both got the ability to play that role but if they don't push forward often enough it becomes that problem of 7 players defending and 3 attacking on their own.
Will you be wearing something comfy for tonight's match?
Its always left me impressed with professional athletes (in any Sport) as a result and how they're able to put the thoughts of impending victory or whatever to the back of their mind and focus on the job at hand.
Its also another reason why I'm so opposed to the simple view that a player has "bottled" an moment etc.
I am no fan of Southgate, I could forgive the penalty miss but not the profiteering through the adverts after and the fact he’s Palace
At the end of the day he’s trying to get England to a major final and I feel we are better equipped under him than anyone since El Tel in 96 to do so.