Was in the toilet when Bellingham scored. Could tell from the roar that we'd equalised, and the guy next to me grabbed me and started celebrating with me! We'd both finished our business thankfully.
One of the stranger goal memories I'll keep
What were you doing in the khazi in the last minutes of the game? (And I don't mean "number 2")
Or had you already resigned yourself to the fact we'd lost and thought you'd get in early before the rush?
When they showed the pundits in the studio as the goal went in I couldn't believe that Ian Wright wasn't watching and had his back to the screen. It's his job to watch the game ffs!
Buzzing this morning, we are absolute dog shit for most of the game but we won. This has got a feeling of Greece and Portugal about it. Showed great character to score two goals in two minutes, I couldn’t care less about the opposition.
With the injury and suspension I hope it reverts to a back 3. Saka can definitely do a job in that left role and gives us balance.
Yup, Greece, Portugal, Denmark.... all stunk it up and won - I'd take that than glory football and losing gallantly..... BUT..... it is inexplicable how Southgate can't see that moving Bellingham back and pushing Foden to 10 gives everybody a better chance of actually effecting the game properly.
Pickford
Walker Stones Konsa
Palmer Rice Bellingham Mainoo Saka
Foden Kane
If you were going to play that formation then why would you put Palmer as a wing back instead of Trent? And Foden up front instead of a natural striker?
Personally i think the solution is much simpler given that Southgate clearly isn't going to drop Bellingham further back. Foden, Saka, Trippier, Guehi out, Gordon, Palmer, Gomez, Konsa in.
I would play Palmer and Saka as wing backs who can attack rather than defend first and foremost and play in their half, with pace and urgency. I wouldn't play them both as wing backs against Spain, but Switzerland... yes
And Foden would still be a "10" like Deli Ali was with Kane.... so him and Bellingham are able to interchange more easily whilst killing our width. Nobody has got close enough to Kane, highlighted by the fact that in the group games Bellingham had only passed to Kane TWICE
I have tickets to the quarter final in Dusseldorf on Saturday so had completely resigned myself to the fact that I would be going to see Slovakia v Switzerland.
When Bellingham scored I went fucking mental.
Still though, very worried about what we will see next Saturday... And then there's the football!
I'd given up when it went into the 90th minute and when Toney came on in the 92nd, the mix of anger/amusement (has he only just seen we need a goal?) was huge. But it somehow worked, and the bar went wild. A lot of banter about Southgate's great management when the 90 minute whistle went, and again when kane hit the winner. But he had the entire second half to shake it up and did the minimum possible. So while I'm happy we have another game on saturday, I'm going to call it dumb luck. He may well hit a plan that sees us go all the way, but that change was an outlier which he would probably happily forget.
We then also just totally sat back for the rest of extra time instead of looking to put the game to bed. All the initiative and momentum was with us, they'd made most of their subs and still we just sat on the lead inviting pressure. Southgate is never going to change so we just have to see how far it takes us.
Extra time summed up Southgate's management style. Take the lead, then sit back, rather than going for a 3rd to kill the game off, which is what Spain did.
I think Southgate would be much happier managing a smaller country or team, with hard working but limited players, and organising them play smash and grab tactics, where you nick a goal from a set piece then stifle the game.
Totally this. Spain have a very young team, but they play with a flair and a desire to get forward and score that is frightening. None of the ponderous 1 pass forward/3 passes back that England delight in. Our best moments against Slovakia came when we were taking people on, and passing into space behind their defence. Some of the worst were in the second half of extra time where Slovakia knew we weren't serious about going forward and kept robbing us in the middle of the pitch. having just watch Slovakia lose the game by attempting to defend ultra deep, it was infuriating that we tried the same old technique which offesr no out-ball but considerable risk as the entire game ends up being played in our half. I'm not worried about Spain yet - we have to get past a talented Swiss team first, but someone really needs to pick up Southgate and give him a good shake until he realises you can win games by scoring more than one goal.
Buzzing this morning, we are absolute dog shit for most of the game but we won. This has got a feeling of Greece and Portugal about it. Showed great character to score two goals in two minutes, I couldn’t care less about the opposition.
With the injury and suspension I hope it reverts to a back 3. Saka can definitely do a job in that left role and gives us balance.
Yup, Greece, Portugal, Denmark.... all stunk it up and won - I'd take that than glory football and losing gallantly..... BUT..... it is inexplicable how Southgate can't see that moving Bellingham back and pushing Foden to 10 gives everybody a better chance of actually effecting the game properly.
Pickford
Walker Stones Konsa
Palmer Rice Bellingham Mainoo Saka
Foden Kane
If you were going to play that formation then why would you put Palmer as a wing back instead of Trent? And Foden up front instead of a natural striker?
Personally i think the solution is much simpler given that Southgate clearly isn't going to drop Bellingham further back. Foden, Saka, Trippier, Guehi out, Gordon, Palmer, Gomez, Konsa in.
I would play Palmer and Saka as wing backs who can attack rather than defend first and foremost and play in their half, with pace and urgency. I wouldn't play them both as wing backs against Spain, but Switzerland... yes
And Foden would still be a "10" like Deli Ali was with Kane.... so him and Bellingham are able to interchange more easily whilst killing our width. Nobody has got close enough to Kane, highlighted by the fact that in the group games Bellingham had only passed to Kane TWICE
Palmer has never played wing back in his career and he's also left footed and loves to cut in. I've always felt that our surge of talented wingers has had us change our shape for the worse, I like the 352 with Walker as recovery pace at RCB, but putting Palmer in a role he's never played - he's played there less than Raheem Sterling of all people has - where he's supposed to keep the width would be a hell of a choice. Also, some of the biggest threats from Switzerland come from their talented wide players, putting two wingers in at wingback would be just inviting them to have a free run at our defence. I'd be nervous of Alexander-Arnold up against Vargas, rather Trippier there if he's fit, but definitely not playing an inverted winger/10 at right wingback.
We have really struggled to beat 2 countries with populations of 6 million. Next we are playing a country with a population of 8 million and have to beat them. Is there anything that suggests we can improve enough to contest a big country if we ever get to play them, Germany, Spain or France? Because I have seen nothing to suggest we will.
Are you being serious lol!... thinking the overall population has an impact on the game?
We should have a bigger pool of better players to pick from. There are exceptions but the countries with large population do win more. Brazil, Germany, France, Italy, Spain Argentina.
Yeah but you still only need 26-players...
I mean going by the World Population; Spain - Argentina are 33rd and 34th respectively. Sorry I cant think of a more terrible take, its genuinely laughable
What about the difference between males / females in those figures? - Age brackets?
Am actually hoping I'm being whooshed!!
No whoosh intended. To take it to another extreme would you expect San Marino to be able to pick 26 capable players or even Scotland with about 4 million to pick from?
If you had said where football is the number 1 sport then the size of the population does count. Indian probably have less pro footballers than Iceland.
The countries with the largest amount of footballers with a gateway from kids, academy to semi pro to professional footballers should in theory produce the goods but football isn't an exact science.
Nations according to a Fifa report from 2023 with the most professional footballers in the world:
All the people who are saying that the players must take responsibilty for the performances need to ask themselves a case in point. Walker every single week brings the ball forward and makes runs into the opponents half trying to create chances, how many times has he ventured past the halfway line ? John Stones pops up in midfield every week ? this has to be instructions from the management, all the players must be being told to concentrate on defending first, this is fine when playing a top team but jesus we have been playing minnows so far and it is just beyond contempt how we are setting up. When we went 2-1 up early in extra time then its right lads all back behind the ball rather than just playing and extending the lead. Total and utter madness and I honestly hope that the idiot doesnt manage to luck his way to another semi final or final and then get beaten by the first decent team we play as the FA might reward his failure by extending his contract and we go again with this shite. Someone on Talksport said this morning the biggest danger to England getting beaten in this competition is Southgate and imo never a truer word been said
Positioning and how we setup is definitely down to Southgate... But player inability to pass the ball, just a couple of yards, is definitely down to the individuals... and they cant be absolved of any blame, especially had we lost yesterday.
Trippier, might be on the wrong side - But its HIS hospital ball back to Guehi that let Slovakia score, and put us in the mess in the first place, don't care how out of form you are... that's the basics... Same with with moment in the second half, where Pickford almost got lobbed. Instead everyone is acting like its the first time he's ever played out on the Left
It all came from the most simple of throw ins, and two of our players switching off in the centre circle. There is so much hatred towards the Manager, that people are blinded by these basic failures from individuals, its not just been from the starters either... its all of them!! - Southgate is getting moaned at for not dropping players out of form, like Trippier... But he got bloody moaned at after for leaving players at home who were out of form... How do you ever win, trying to get that type of fan onside? - So in the same regard can understand the "them vs us" culture we're seeing in Press Conferences.
England Manager job, remains a poisoned chalice, and until the micro-analysis from all corners stops, why would a high profile Manager take the risk of ruining their reputation by going there? - Regardless of the money we throw their way.
Trippier is too big a compromise at left back. Not his fault and bringing Luke Shaw who hasn't played since January is bewildering unless you try to understand Southgate. He has a nostalgia for players who have done it for him in the past. It might be why he is loved by so many of the players but I think and always have is that a football manager needs to be ruthless.
In the modern game, the full backs are attacking options and whilst not ideal, considering the options we have to look at Gomez and Saka. Personally, I would go with Saka there which frees up his spot for Palmer. Mainoo did ok I thought and should keep his place. I appreciate the opportunity to experiment with formations has probably passed. Slovenia was probably it in this tournament. But by injecting some attacking options into defence, it could improve us with Southgate's chosen formation.
Even if we were lucky enough to win it, which is possible but feels genuinely unlikely, I will be pleased to see Southgate go. It is bad enough not enjoying watching Charlton but add England to that and it is a bit shitty. Especially with the quality of players we have.
Uefa are investigating England midfielder Jude Bellingham after he made a gesture following the win over Slovakia at Euro 2024.
European football's governing body says Bellingham broke the rules regarding "the basic rules of decent conduct".
Bellingham was seen making a crotch-grabbing gesture after England's 2-1 extra-time win on Sunday.
The Real Madrid player denied it was aimed at England's beaten opponents, saying on social media that it was an inside-joke directed towards some close friends.
Was in the toilet when Bellingham scored. Could tell from the roar that we'd equalised, and the guy next to me grabbed me and started celebrating with me! We'd both finished our business thankfully.
All the people who are saying that the players must take responsibilty for the performances need to ask themselves a case in point. Walker every single week brings the ball forward and makes runs into the opponents half trying to create chances, how many times has he ventured past the halfway line ? John Stones pops up in midfield every week ? this has to be instructions from the management, all the players must be being told to concentrate on defending first, this is fine when playing a top team but jesus we have been playing minnows so far and it is just beyond contempt how we are setting up. When we went 2-1 up early in extra time then its right lads all back behind the ball rather than just playing and extending the lead. Total and utter madness and I honestly hope that the idiot doesnt manage to luck his way to another semi final or final and then get beaten by the first decent team we play as the FA might reward his failure by extending his contract and we go again with this shite. Someone on Talksport said this morning the biggest danger to England getting beaten in this competition is Southgate and imo never a truer word been said
To be fair, that was absolutely the right call from Southgate. The players were absolutely spent and our shape was completely insane based on the subs we'd made. Fine when you're desperately chasing an equaliser, not sustainable for 30 more minutes. We'd brought Eze on for Mainoo, moved Saka to left back and brought Toney on for Foden. After a little while we had Saka and Eze as wingbacks and Kane and Bellingham were both dead. We brought Konsa on to play LWB allowing Eze to leave his emergency defender position and put Gallagher on to chase and harry every ball because the rest of the team couldn't do it anymore. Palmer, Toney and Eze stayed high so that they could counter and we did nearly create a goal for ourselves but Toney fired over. Slovakia had been completely busted from about 60-odd minutes, their high press had exhausted them and all they could do was toss in high balls against an England defence with good shape. We headed them clear, saw them out or let Pickford gobble them up. They had one chance after we took the lead and that was before we'd made the defensive changes. Formation all over the shop, players out of position, two men completely out on their feet, it was good game management at the end from Southgate for about the first time this tournament.
I know what this team is missing; it's England flags on cars. There are usually loads, but I haven't seen any this tournament. What's going on? Was it just a fad that's run it's course? Are people worried that they'd be misidentified as Farridge Fans? Or, is there just not the level of excitement about this team?
I think I have the answer to this. Our flag of St George is also the Crusaders flag used in the 12th Century onwards, perhaps we are worried about upsetting our Palestinian and Muslin friends in this Woke and Political age!
I know what this team is missing; it's England flags on cars. There are usually loads, but I haven't seen any this tournament. What's going on? Was it just a fad that's run it's course? Are people worried that they'd be misidentified as Farridge Fans? Or, is there just not the level of excitement about this team?
I think I have the answer to this. Our flag of St George is also the Crusaders flag used in the 12th Century onwards, perhaps we are worried about upsetting our Palestinian and Muslin friends in this Woke and Political age!
I finally cottoned on to what you’re talking about.
All the people who are saying that the players must take responsibilty for the performances need to ask themselves a case in point. Walker every single week brings the ball forward and makes runs into the opponents half trying to create chances, how many times has he ventured past the halfway line ? John Stones pops up in midfield every week ? this has to be instructions from the management, all the players must be being told to concentrate on defending first, this is fine when playing a top team but jesus we have been playing minnows so far and it is just beyond contempt how we are setting up. When we went 2-1 up early in extra time then its right lads all back behind the ball rather than just playing and extending the lead. Total and utter madness and I honestly hope that the idiot doesnt manage to luck his way to another semi final or final and then get beaten by the first decent team we play as the FA might reward his failure by extending his contract and we go again with this shite. Someone on Talksport said this morning the biggest danger to England getting beaten in this competition is Southgate and imo never a truer word been said
To be fair, that was absolutely the right call from Southgate. The players were absolutely spent and our shape was completely insane based on the subs we'd made. Fine when you're desperately chasing an equaliser, not sustainable for 30 more minutes. We'd brought Eze on for Mainoo, moved Saka to left back and brought Toney on for Foden. After a little while we had Saka and Eze as wingbacks and Kane and Bellingham were both dead. We brought Konsa on to play LWB allowing Eze to leave his emergency defender position and put Gallagher on to chase and harry every ball because the rest of the team couldn't do it anymore. Palmer, Toney and Eze stayed high so that they could counter and we did nearly create a goal for ourselves but Toney fired over. Slovakia had been completely busted from about 60-odd minutes, their high press had exhausted them and all they could do was toss in high balls against an England defence with good shape. We headed them clear, saw them out or let Pickford gobble them up. They had one chance after we took the lead and that was before we'd made the defensive changes. Formation all over the shop, players out of position, two men completely out on their feet, it was good game management at the end from Southgate for about the first time this tournament.
Yep cant argue with any of that, I could see lots of my mates in WhatsApp groups getting wound up about it but it was absolutely the right thing to do then, it was playing the situation in front.
For what its worth as maddening as we are in this tournament its giving me signals of Germany in 2002. Looked utter shite the whole way to the final, then its one game.
My problem with Southgate is him filling squad places up with form players and then not giving them a game. Besides that, all of our games so far have been screaming for people who take us up the pitch directly with the ball. Like Stirling and Grealish. The lack of a left back is lunacy but I'll give him a break there as someone clearly told him Shaw would be fit and he is far and away our best left back but not taking a left footed centre half is stupid as that kills us is we were to rely on playing 3 at the back, like if the current setup wasn't working.....
Guehi being out I hope doesn't mean Dunk plays but he is probably the next cab off the rank even though Tomori has had a great season in Italy. Maguire is a big miss for England.
Also, I dont watch much La Liga but I bet Bellingham isn't spending the whole game ahead of the ball, we have needed an extra body in the centre and I think he needs to go a lot deeper and trust in the pace of the wingers to stretch teams if we need an out ball. Him being closer to Rice and whoever wins the dice roll to play next to him would enable us to play the gorgeous quick passes and one twos we can play and slice teams up
Phil Foden is the clear issue that England have - so why hasn't anyone else seemed to notice?
It seems cruel to blame Phil Foden for the England performance against Slovakia. But it was fitting that as soon as he was taken off, some 95 miserable minutes into the action, the Three Lions put the ball in the back of the net.
Usually, it's a player on the bench that everyone has a clamour for – whether that's Jack Grealish in 2021 or Foden himself in 2022. Yet it seems like everyone has a clamour for Foden to be the difference-maker again this year, despite the Player of the Year starting every game so far. He's the catalyst. He's the main man. He's the one player that pundits are pointing to as England's star player. Unlock Foden, and it'll all click, they say.
“We need to find a way to get the best out of him,” Micah Richards cried after the 1-0 win over Serbia, calling for him to have a freer role. “We can't make the same mistakes with Foden that we did with Paul Scholes,” Gary Neville warned ahead of Euro 2024, insisting that the Manchester City man should be playing centrally. Scholes himself reckons Foden will “win you games”.
Am I missing something? Seriously?
I believe it was Johan Cruyff who said something along the lines of football being a simple game – but simple football being the hardest thing there is. This might be the only time this summer that you'll see the Dutch great's name in the same sentence as Southgate's – but the England boss was onto something when he kept things straightforward and selected players based on who fitted each role.
He always picked profile over personality. None of this Gerrard/Lampard nonsense: Jordan Henderson was boring but effective in midfield. Harry Maguire at the back, despite the temptation to slot in more popular centre-backs. Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling wide, however flashy the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish were.
Yet somewhere down the line, Southgate went all Harvey Dent and forgot his core beliefs. A frontline of Foden, Saka and Kane, with Bellingham behind, may be an A-list option: but it has no runner. They all want the ball to feet. No one to stretch a defence.
It means that England are playing in front of every defence they face and never behind. It means that a team like Serbia can pen England in, Pickford lumping the ball up to Kane with no threat of the captain playing in either of the wingers beside him, because there's no threat on the counter.
So since Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling aren't in the squad, you need either Anthony Gordon or Ollie Watkins in there. You're not dropping Kane, despite BBC pundits turning on him at half-time against Denmark. Saka is England Men's Player of the Year for the past two years. Bellingham has transformed the press and has been fantastic for England since his introduction. Foden, meanwhile, has been patchy at best for England. It shouldn't have to be any more difficult than that.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was never granted column inches or post-match analyses on how England could have built the team around him (and it was much easier to do so, given the presence of Henderson). Yet there's an incessant rewriting of what Foden does, what he can do and what he should do for England.
The idea that he should be England's most important player is just that: an idea. He never has been – and it takes moving everyone else around (taking Bellingham out of his best position, perhaps Saka, too, asking Kane to work for Foden rather than the other way around), just to make it happen. To paraphrase Jesse Eisenberg's character in The Social Network, if Foden was England's best player… he'd have been England's best player any time you've seen him in the past four years.
Do any of these pundits actually watch Foden? He isn't a player you give a ‘free role’ to: he's a master of adapting his game based on the mission, with Guardiola tasking him with whatever's needed, not just handing him the keys to the machine. When he's played on the left for City, actually, he's been a touchline winger: not cutting inside – and especially not with a right-footed left-back behind him.
He doesn't playmake like De Bruyne, anyway: he receives, turns (better than pretty much anyone in the world, may I add), carries the ball, and shoots. Do England need that so badly that it's worth disrupting the balance? No. They need a runner. The question should be which of Foden, Saka or Cole Palmer you pick, alongside Bellingham and Kane: not how you get two of the three in your team and simply get by without the all-important pace in behind.
In fact, I'm beginning to question why there's such a clamour to build around Foden, at all. Is it for England's benefit, exactly? Or is it for Phil Foden's? Spain are leaving Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres out for Fabian Ruiz. Germany are leaving one of Leroy Sane or Florian Wirtz on the bench and playing Robin Andrich. Did we learn nothing from the Golden Generation? It really is English arrogance to rock up with two No.10s and no sense of balance – just because they both had really good seasons – and expect to steamroll your group.
Time and again though, England fans, pundits and would-be managers bend over backwards trying to get all their favourites in the one XI. I love Foden. He may well have been the best player in the world last season. But history is littered with all-time greats who had to sit on the bench: including Foden in City's Treble-winning season. Is it just me? Or is it obvious that he has to sit out again?
That's bang on the money. I've been saying it from the start. He's a follower not a leader. But everything was going through him. Corners , free kicks. He was tasked with being the main attacking fulcrum. And it's just not his game
I've no doubt of his ability but he's a complimentary player. A bit of a luxury. But in this barran spell we need a shape and players that can command their areas of the pitch.
Stirling was used more centrally and really effectively, he terrifies defences as he runs behind them and he runs at them, quickly. Saka and Foden do not. Doesn't make them bad players but I think we can have one.or the other not both.
The way England are set up currently reminds me of us under Karl Robinson. 2 holding players then a huge gap before 3 totally forward minded players and a centre forward. We need to be more compact than that
That article on Foden is pretty accurate. I said after the Denmark game that Kane has always thrived when he has someone with pace running off him, Son, Sterling, Sane etc. Foden doesn't do that, it's not his game at all. Do i think he should be in the team? Yes. But if he's going to play he needs to be inside, with Bellingham sat a bit deeper, but that clearly doesn't look like it will happen.
Southgate is guilty of trying to pick all his best players rather than his best team. If he insists on having Bellingham as the '10' then we would be far better suited to having Gordon on the left, or even Rashford. There is no natural width or pace on our left side at all, so we are very easy to defend against. It has to change, but i have no confidence it will.
That's bang on the money. I've been saying it from the start. He's a follower not a leader. But everything was going through him. Corners , free kicks. He was tasked with being the main attacking fulcrum. And it's just not his game
I've no doubt of his ability but he's a complimentary player. A bit of a luxury. But in this barran spell we need a shape and players that can command their areas of the pitch.
When De Bruyne was injured for the first half of last season, Foden was the focal point of City's attack for 5 months so i don't think we can say that isn't his game. For me the issue isn't Foden, it's where we are playing him, same as when we decided it would be a good idea to stick Scholes out there.
Comments
Or had you already resigned yourself to the fact we'd lost and thought you'd get in early before the rush?
When they showed the pundits in the studio as the goal went in I couldn't believe that Ian Wright wasn't watching and had his back to the screen. It's his job to watch the game ffs!
And Foden would still be a "10" like Deli Ali was with Kane.... so him and Bellingham are able to interchange more easily whilst killing our width. Nobody has got close enough to Kane, highlighted by the fact that in the group games Bellingham had only passed to Kane TWICE
When Bellingham scored I went fucking mental.
Still though, very worried about what we will see next Saturday... And then there's the football!
I'm not worried about Spain yet - we have to get past a talented Swiss team first, but someone really needs to pick up Southgate and give him a good shake until he realises you can win games by scoring more than one goal.
Trippier, might be on the wrong side - But its HIS hospital ball back to Guehi that let Slovakia score, and put us in the mess in the first place, don't care how out of form you are... that's the basics... Same with with moment in the second half, where Pickford almost got lobbed. Instead everyone is acting like its the first time he's ever played out on the Left
It all came from the most simple of throw ins, and two of our players switching off in the centre circle. There is so much hatred towards the Manager, that people are blinded by these basic failures from individuals, its not just been from the starters either... its all of them!! - Southgate is getting moaned at for not dropping players out of form, like Trippier... But he got bloody moaned at after for leaving players at home who were out of form... How do you ever win, trying to get that type of fan onside? - So in the same regard can understand the "them vs us" culture we're seeing in Press Conferences.
England Manager job, remains a poisoned chalice, and until the micro-analysis from all corners stops, why would a high profile Manager take the risk of ruining their reputation by going there? - Regardless of the money we throw their way.
In the modern game, the full backs are attacking options and whilst not ideal, considering the options we have to look at Gomez and Saka. Personally, I would go with Saka there which frees up his spot for Palmer. Mainoo did ok I thought and should keep his place. I appreciate the opportunity to experiment with formations has probably passed. Slovenia was probably it in this tournament. But by injecting some attacking options into defence, it could improve us with Southgate's chosen formation.
Even if we were lucky enough to win it, which is possible but feels genuinely unlikely, I will be pleased to see Southgate go. It is bad enough not enjoying watching Charlton but add England to that and it is a bit shitty. Especially with the quality of players we have.
Please just no!
St Georgian
For what its worth as maddening as we are in this tournament its giving me signals of Germany in 2002. Looked utter shite the whole way to the final, then its one game.
My problem with Southgate is him filling squad places up with form players and then not giving them a game. Besides that, all of our games so far have been screaming for people who take us up the pitch directly with the ball. Like Stirling and Grealish. The lack of a left back is lunacy but I'll give him a break there as someone clearly told him Shaw would be fit and he is far and away our best left back but not taking a left footed centre half is stupid as that kills us is we were to rely on playing 3 at the back, like if the current setup wasn't working.....
Guehi being out I hope doesn't mean Dunk plays but he is probably the next cab off the rank even though Tomori has had a great season in Italy. Maguire is a big miss for England.
Also, I dont watch much La Liga but I bet Bellingham isn't spending the whole game ahead of the ball, we have needed an extra body in the centre and I think he needs to go a lot deeper and trust in the pace of the wingers to stretch teams if we need an out ball. Him being closer to Rice and whoever wins the dice roll to play next to him would enable us to play the gorgeous quick passes and one twos we can play and slice teams up
Am I going mad or is Phil Foden England's obvious problem right now?
Phil Foden is the clear issue that England have - so why hasn't anyone else seemed to notice?
It seems cruel to blame Phil Foden for the England performance against Slovakia. But it was fitting that as soon as he was taken off, some 95 miserable minutes into the action, the Three Lions put the ball in the back of the net.
Usually, it's a player on the bench that everyone has a clamour for – whether that's Jack Grealish in 2021 or Foden himself in 2022. Yet it seems like everyone has a clamour for Foden to be the difference-maker again this year, despite the Player of the Year starting every game so far. He's the catalyst. He's the main man. He's the one player that pundits are pointing to as England's star player. Unlock Foden, and it'll all click, they say.
“We need to find a way to get the best out of him,” Micah Richards cried after the 1-0 win over Serbia, calling for him to have a freer role. “We can't make the same mistakes with Foden that we did with Paul Scholes,” Gary Neville warned ahead of Euro 2024, insisting that the Manchester City man should be playing centrally. Scholes himself reckons Foden will “win you games”.
Am I missing something? Seriously?
I believe it was Johan Cruyff who said something along the lines of football being a simple game – but simple football being the hardest thing there is. This might be the only time this summer that you'll see the Dutch great's name in the same sentence as Southgate's – but the England boss was onto something when he kept things straightforward and selected players based on who fitted each role.
He always picked profile over personality. None of this Gerrard/Lampard nonsense: Jordan Henderson was boring but effective in midfield. Harry Maguire at the back, despite the temptation to slot in more popular centre-backs. Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling wide, however flashy the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish were.
Yet somewhere down the line, Southgate went all Harvey Dent and forgot his core beliefs. A frontline of Foden, Saka and Kane, with Bellingham behind, may be an A-list option: but it has no runner. They all want the ball to feet. No one to stretch a defence.
It means that England are playing in front of every defence they face and never behind. It means that a team like Serbia can pen England in, Pickford lumping the ball up to Kane with no threat of the captain playing in either of the wingers beside him, because there's no threat on the counter.
So since Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling aren't in the squad, you need either Anthony Gordon or Ollie Watkins in there. You're not dropping Kane, despite BBC pundits turning on him at half-time against Denmark. Saka is England Men's Player of the Year for the past two years. Bellingham has transformed the press and has been fantastic for England since his introduction. Foden, meanwhile, has been patchy at best for England. It shouldn't have to be any more difficult than that.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was never granted column inches or post-match analyses on how England could have built the team around him (and it was much easier to do so, given the presence of Henderson). Yet there's an incessant rewriting of what Foden does, what he can do and what he should do for England.
The idea that he should be England's most important player is just that: an idea. He never has been – and it takes moving everyone else around (taking Bellingham out of his best position, perhaps Saka, too, asking Kane to work for Foden rather than the other way around), just to make it happen. To paraphrase Jesse Eisenberg's character in The Social Network, if Foden was England's best player… he'd have been England's best player any time you've seen him in the past four years.
Do any of these pundits actually watch Foden? He isn't a player you give a ‘free role’ to: he's a master of adapting his game based on the mission, with Guardiola tasking him with whatever's needed, not just handing him the keys to the machine. When he's played on the left for City, actually, he's been a touchline winger: not cutting inside – and especially not with a right-footed left-back behind him.
He doesn't playmake like De Bruyne, anyway: he receives, turns (better than pretty much anyone in the world, may I add), carries the ball, and shoots. Do England need that so badly that it's worth disrupting the balance? No. They need a runner. The question should be which of Foden, Saka or Cole Palmer you pick, alongside Bellingham and Kane: not how you get two of the three in your team and simply get by without the all-important pace in behind.
In fact, I'm beginning to question why there's such a clamour to build around Foden, at all. Is it for England's benefit, exactly? Or is it for Phil Foden's? Spain are leaving Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres out for Fabian Ruiz. Germany are leaving one of Leroy Sane or Florian Wirtz on the bench and playing Robin Andrich. Did we learn nothing from the Golden Generation? It really is English arrogance to rock up with two No.10s and no sense of balance – just because they both had really good seasons – and expect to steamroll your group.
Time and again though, England fans, pundits and would-be managers bend over backwards trying to get all their favourites in the one XI. I love Foden. He may well have been the best player in the world last season. But history is littered with all-time greats who had to sit on the bench: including Foden in City's Treble-winning season. Is it just me? Or is it obvious that he has to sit out again?
I've no doubt of his ability but he's a complimentary player. A bit of a luxury. But in this barran spell we need a shape and players that can command their areas of the pitch.
The way England are set up currently reminds me of us under Karl Robinson. 2 holding players then a huge gap before 3 totally forward minded players and a centre forward. We need to be more compact than that
Southgate is guilty of trying to pick all his best players rather than his best team. If he insists on having Bellingham as the '10' then we would be far better suited to having Gordon on the left, or even Rashford. There is no natural width or pace on our left side at all, so we are very easy to defend against. It has to change, but i have no confidence it will.