Clean sheet win.... and Bellingham is a class apart. But gor all the hupe around our great attacking players, we were good first half and poor second. Surely we should know what we are doing by now? Spain won a world Cup with this tippy tappy stuff, but I don't remember them bring so aimless and then giving the ball away the way we did. I guess we have to hope we are saving all our best stuff for the knock out stages.
I liked Trent barring the one mistake. He sits deeper alongside rice, Gallagher a bit more box to box. Depends on the opposition who to start. More worried by Southgate, never makes a change proactively, and doesn't react well. I thought kane and foden were poor. Bellingham had to do all kanes running for him. Would like to see some pace on that left, maybe Gordon.
"There were just 11 shots between Serbia (6) and England (5) tonight, the lowest of any game at the EUROs on record (since 1980)."
Never mind... 1-0 / 5-1... Still leaves us and Germany (for example) with three points, which is all that matters... Lets be honest, no one would give a shit if we won every game this Tournament 1-0
"There were just 11 shots between Serbia (6) and England (5) tonight, the lowest of any game at the EUROs on record (since 1980)."
Never mind... 1-0 / 5-1... Still leaves us and Germany (for example) with three points, which is all that matters... Lets be honest, no one would give a shit if we won every game this Tournament 1-0
I would say performance still matters though, especially if we want to feel ready for the top teams in the knockout stages.
"There were just 11 shots between Serbia (6) and England (5) tonight, the lowest of any game at the EUROs on record (since 1980)."
Never mind... 1-0 / 5-1... Still leaves us and Germany (for example) with three points, which is all that matters... Lets be honest, no one would give a shit if we won every game this Tournament 1-0
I would say performance still matters though, especially if we want to feel ready for the top teams in the knockout stages.
Can perform really well, but if you don't get the three points, you can forget about the worry of being knocked out by France / Germany / Spain, because you wont even get that far.
I was impressed with Serbia, physical but passing was excellent. Too many small midfield fouls. A good ref stamps on that. Foden stood out in terms of having a bad game. Bellingham was a different class. A great save from Kane. It is important to win the first game and we did.
The main thing I took from that was Serbia could have been out there for weeks and still wouldn’t have scored. One speculative effort and nothing else to really report from them. I feel like the shape of the team is going to be a bit of a problem around Bellingham against bigger teams. He’s very free to roam but it left Trent not knowing where to be and gave Kane nothing to knock the ball down to. Probably could have done with having someone closer to him all game but overall this was the game to try a right back at left back and a right back in midfield because Serbia had nothing. Gallagher in for Trent against Denmark and we’ll look a bit more solid. Foden needs to figure something out but if not Eze or Gordon will benefit. 3 points to start off, good stuff
We won. That's what we needed to do. Really hope Foden can find his Man City form in an England shirt. He is such an incredible player for them, he will come good for England.
BBC doing a very good job of slating Southgate without openly saying it. The whole play not to lose is Southgate in a nutshell
Cesc making a lot of sense, basically saying we've got players too talented going forwards to be playing defensively, and that players need to be given the confidence to want the ball in the big moments etc.
I was impressed with Serbia, physical but passing was excellent. Too many small midfield fouls. A good ref stamps on that. Foden stood out in terms of having a bad game. Bellingham was a different class. A great save from Kane. It is important to win the first game and we did.
I thought they were pretty shite. Didn't have a kick for the first 30 minutes. Ok they switched it at HT (as they had to) but even then they didn't threaten much.
Far too much negativity on here. We need cheering up.
When is Scotland's next game?
Too true...
When footballing times are fraught. Football worries and anxiety are gnawing at you. Doubt and the inevitability of it all are ruining your football experience. Just remember, you are not Scotland!
I was impressed with Serbia, physical but passing was excellent. Too many small midfield fouls. A good ref stamps on that. Foden stood out in terms of having a bad game. Bellingham was a different class. A great save from Kane. It is important to win the first game and we did.
I thought they were pretty shite. Didn't have a kick for the first 30 minutes. Ok they switched it at HT (as they had to) but even then they didn't threaten much.
Their starting tactics were poor but I was looking at the speed and quality of their passing and it was of a higher standard than a few teams I have seen so far.
Certainly squeaky bum time for a lot of that second half but the first game is always a tricky one in these tournaments. We got the win and a clean sheet so I’m not as pessimistic as others on here.
Confident we’ll improve as each game goes by. We build on this and move on to the next.
Thought Phil ‘first touch merchant’ Foden was poor (shouldn’t start against Denmark) and whilst Trent has a wand of a right foot and can unlock defences, defensively he’s a weak link and cannot start against better teams.
Jude, Rice, Guehi and Saka (in the first half) all looked very good.
BBC doing a very good job of slating Southgate without openly saying it. The whole play not to lose is Southgate in a nutshell
Cesc making a lot of sense, basically saying we've got players too talented going forwards to be playing defensively.
We don't have the defence to leave it unprotected.
You can protect a defence in more than one way.
Press harder from the front, players are rushed and the balls the defence have to deal with aren't as good.
You think there aren't ways for teams to bypass that?
The one aspect I always love from pundits, is they'll come up with suggestions as to how teams should play - But forget / ignore that the opposition will analyse that approach, and will find a way to get round it.
For starters, we wont always keep the ball, teams will pass faster to negate the press - What happens when the ball is beyond those attacking players, who dont need to play defensively because they're too good?
BBC doing a very good job of slating Southgate without openly saying it. The whole play not to lose is Southgate in a nutshell
Cesc making a lot of sense, basically saying we've got players too talented going forwards to be playing defensively, and that players need to be given the confidence to want the ball in the big moments etc.
Whether they are being given that....
Thing is, I don’t think we were super defensive today. I think we were just a bit thick. We broke well for the goal and for the chance Walker flashed across the face of goal and then started being a bit stupid. Lots of loose balls not quite where the winger wanted it, knocks upfield not quite close enough to Kane and midfielders getting rushed and giving the ball away. All our chances came from overloads on the wing but we didn’t create those situations enough and kept giving the ball back to Serbia whenever we won it. Hopefully just early tournament rust
Comments
Need a wide outlet that will stretch a defence and get on the end of TAA’s passes. Foden out, Gordon in for me.
When is Scotland's next game?
Trent in the middle is another question mark too.
Spain won a world Cup with this tippy tappy stuff, but I don't remember them bring so aimless and then giving the ball away the way we did.
I guess we have to hope we are saving all our best stuff for the knock out stages.
I thought kane and foden were poor. Bellingham had to do all kanes running for him.
Would like to see some pace on that left, maybe Gordon.
Really hope Foden can find his Man City form in an England shirt. He is such an incredible player for them, he will come good for England.
Whether they are being given that....
If they get second in the group, they might end up against Germany. Would be very interesting to see how that game goes.
Press harder from the front, players are rushed and the balls the defence have to deal with aren't as good.
When footballing times are fraught.
Football worries and anxiety are gnawing at you.
Doubt and the inevitability of it all are ruining your football experience.
Just remember, you are not Scotland!
Confident we’ll improve as each game goes by. We build on this and move on to the next.
Thought Phil ‘first touch merchant’ Foden was poor (shouldn’t start against Denmark) and whilst Trent has a wand of a right foot and can unlock defences, defensively he’s a weak link and cannot start against better teams.
Jude, Rice, Guehi and Saka (in the first half) all looked very good.
The one aspect I always love from pundits, is they'll come up with suggestions as to how teams should play - But forget / ignore that the opposition will analyse that approach, and will find a way to get round it.
For starters, we wont always keep the ball, teams will pass faster to negate the press - What happens when the ball is beyond those attacking players, who dont need to play defensively because they're too good?