Pretty even game but we edged it and dealt with their attacks well. Thought Mings was very good but not keen on trippier at left back still.
Also felt Grealish should have been doing the job Phillips did (and did well) as we would have had more of those chances created and it would have helped link with Kane better and help us edge a 50/50 possession game. Didn't need both Rice and Phillips tbh.
Kane was isolated and completely ineffective. Foden similarly couldn't get in the game but was very bright early on.
A win is a win though and it's definitely coming home now.
I dont think we can mess about in any of our group games we need to build a team with confidence of winning because unfortunately due to the draw whoever we play in the next round will be a major team. Stick to a team that has some continuity and knows whatever system Southgate wants to play
Played him in a different position, a bit more offensively, so he's not tripping over Rice like they have done before.
Thought we were shaky after our opening 20 minutes right up to our goal (which at the time was against the run of play). Once we scored we seemed to grow in confidence and other than a few half chances we were never in trouble.
Walker and Trippier played because of their defensive ability and on the whole they stopped Croatia's wing play so job done. Phillips did excellent and picked his moments well to travel forwards with the ball.
Sterling up front was our best player stretching the play and finding those little gaps to run into.
Kane I thought was poor and wasn't really in the game other than a couple of short passes to Sterling. Foden started brightly but then faded.
Do I think this Croatia team are good? Probably not. But being able to go out, get a clean sheet and win the opening game is a big positive.
Southgate was proven right. We dominated from start to finish, bar a 10 min spell mid way through the first half, when we were catching our breath.
We've got a solid look about us. I can understand the need to protect our defence who aren't exactly the best individually.
Phillips was MOM and very under rated by many. I thought that everyone played their part. Mings and Stones especially were very solid. Trippier and Walker too. Walker looked a bit dazed in the first half, with some wayward passing. I don't know if the heat got to him on that side. Pickford was also solid. Rice played well as did Mount & Sterling. Foden started off very well and also did a lot of chasing before being subbed. Kane looked a bit lack lustre, but was fine and never really had a chance.
I wasn't concerned about us conceding and that is almost unheard of for England. Really impressed. Tomorrow is another day.
Bizarrely, the so called DCM Phillips was everywhere including attacking the Croatia box leading to the goal, a cracking shot in the first half and getting caught off side ! Plus his non stop work when Croatia had the ball was excellent. In modern football you have to work so hard when you don't have the ball and Rice does the work and protects Stones and Mings.
Superb work by Bellingham when he came on. Seeing Jude get 5.83 on BBC rater makes you realize there a lot of folk who know Jack shit about football. Young Jude was a great sub and won tackles straight away which stopped Croatia forcing England back.
Because Croatia had no pacey right sided player we got away with playing Trippier at LB. Doing it again would be an insult to Shaw and Chilwell and just negates any overlapping down that side. Trippier was efficient today but will be a major negative going forward if he is played out of position again.
Good start. Players know they only need a point to progress which should make the remaining group games less pressured. I think it was impressive because Croatia looked decent on the ball but we prevented any real threat from them. Pleased for Sterling. I did say on here that the relative break he has had this season could be a bonus for England if he finds form which we know he is capable of.
Got to say, I haven’t watched any intl football in 3 years, and I know Croatia came into this off the back of 2 wins in 9, but I expected a lot more from them. Perhaps they are now entering that phase where the legend and talents like Modric aren’t as effective as they once were, and they haven’t got anyone stepping in as yet. I’ve always found them to be a really decent side, but today they had the look of Bulgaria or Norway about them. A team we would dispatch of in the qualifying rounds. They aren’t to be underestimated if they get through with us, but they’ve got a lot of work to do
A good performance and a deserved win. Sterling, the Yorkshire Pirlo and Mings played particularly well and although Kane was a bit off the pace, he'll come good. No better time to do so than against Scotland on Friday.
We have plenty of high quality, inter-changeable players in attacking areas and I'm sure that Grealish, Sancho and Rashford (who got on today) will get run-outs in the next two games. Things often evolve during the course of a tournament, as, for example, they did back in Italia 90.
Central defence and the goalie do slightly worry me in relation to the top sides but the team did well today and Rice and Phillips provided a very effective shield. Tougher tests lie ahead but 3 points and an excellent start.
Horrified witnesses saw the spectator fall around kick-off time and plunge towards the seats and concrete below.
A spokesperson from Wembley stadium confirmed the person had been taken to hospital in a serious condition.
One England fan said: “We saw his legs go over the barrier and then he fell and hit the ground and didn’t move.
“It seemed to take staff ages to get to him. One guy near us who saw the whole thing was crying his eyes out.”
Another England fan said: “I didn’t see it but spoke to some of the guys who did at half time. They were traumatised. He fell from the balcony towards the seats and the concrete.
“I think it happened around kick-off otherwise I would have noticed. That bit of seating was cleared.”
A Wembley stadium spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a spectator fell from the stands just after kick-off in the match between England and Croatia at Wembley Stadium.
“The spectator was given on-site medical attention and was then taken to hospital in a serious condition.
“We will continue to work with UEFA to ensure the matter is fully investigated and we are continuing to monitor the situation.”
England won the grudge match against Croatia with Raheem Sterling, recently made an MBE, scoring his first England goal at a major tournament at Wembley - the ground he dreamed of playing in as a local child.
Neeld Crescent, where he lived for five years, is within sight of the national stadium - with Mr Sterling also having a tattoo of the famous arches on his arm.
England manager Gareth Southgate insisted Sterling’s England record meant the Manchester City forward deserved his starting spot.
Southgate told the BBC: “Raheem has had this hex in the tournaments and not being able to get the goal, I felt he was dangerous all day, right from the start he was a thorn in their side. I’m really pleased for all of them.
“He is a good player, his goal-scoring record suggests we should have faith with him.”
The Danish football federation said the former Tottenham player is “stable” and set to remain in hospital.
In a statement on Twitter, the Danish FA said: “Latest news: This morning we have spoken to Christian Eriksen, who has sent his greetings to his teammates.”
After it was later confirmed Eriksen was stable, his team-mates agreed to resume the fixture in Copenhagen, with Finland claiming a 1-0 win thanks to Joel Pohjanpalo’s 59th-minute goal.
I think Southgate maybe always had Trippier pencilled in to play left back. Thinking back to Southgate’s original squad announcement when asked about taking 4 right backs he was saying about Walker can play in 3 and TAA as a wing back and “Trippier played left back against Denmark recently “ so we have lots of options
I suspect Southgate thought where Croatia could beat us was through the midfield so wanted a solid defence and didn't want players bombing forwards where a killer pass could catch us out. He may change that against Scotland especially because we have the cushion of three points already. I wouldn't have done that but we won and won well despite it only being 1-0 so that vindicates his choices.
Thought Kane was totally ineffective today. That’s not to say he will be again but today he was poor.
Not at his best today but he's so much more than just goals. When he won that free kick toward the end of the second half was classic Kane. Slowed everything down and got Croatia on the back foot.
Comments
Indeed probably our least effective player
Also felt Grealish should have been doing the job Phillips did (and did well) as we would have had more of those chances created and it would have helped link with Kane better and help us edge a 50/50 possession game. Didn't need both Rice and Phillips tbh.
Kane was isolated and completely ineffective. Foden similarly couldn't get in the game but was very bright early on.
A win is a win though and it's definitely coming home now.
We played two DCM to nullify Modric and it worked.
Scotland will set up differently so more likely to see Grealish on to run at them.
Southgate has been building this squad for a while, give him some credit.
Played him in a different position, a bit more offensively, so he's not tripping over Rice like they have done before.
Thought we were shaky after our opening 20 minutes right up to our goal (which at the time was against the run of play). Once we scored we seemed to grow in confidence and other than a few half chances we were never in trouble.
Walker and Trippier played because of their defensive ability and on the whole they stopped Croatia's wing play so job done. Phillips did excellent and picked his moments well to travel forwards with the ball.
Sterling up front was our best player stretching the play and finding those little gaps to run into.
Kane I thought was poor and wasn't really in the game other than a couple of short passes to Sterling. Foden started brightly but then faded.
Do I think this Croatia team are good? Probably not.
But being able to go out, get a clean sheet and win the opening game is a big positive.
The challenges come after the group stage.
We dominated from start to finish, bar a 10 min spell mid way through the first half, when we were catching our breath.
We've got a solid look about us. I can understand the need to protect our defence who aren't exactly the best individually.
Phillips was MOM and very under rated by many.
I thought that everyone played their part.
Mings and Stones especially were very solid.
Trippier and Walker too.
Walker looked a bit dazed in the first half, with some wayward passing.
I don't know if the heat got to him on that side.
Pickford was also solid.
Rice played well as did Mount & Sterling.
Foden started off very well and also did a lot of chasing before being subbed.
Kane looked a bit lack lustre, but was fine and never really had a chance.
I wasn't concerned about us conceding and that is almost unheard of for England.
Really impressed.
Tomorrow is another day.
Plus his non stop work when Croatia had the ball was excellent. In modern football you have to work so hard when you don't have the ball and Rice does the work and protects Stones and Mings.
Superb work by Bellingham when he came on. Seeing Jude get 5.83 on BBC rater makes you realize there a lot of folk who know Jack shit about football. Young Jude was a great sub and won tackles straight away which stopped Croatia forcing England back.
Because Croatia had no pacey right sided player we got away with playing Trippier at LB. Doing it again would be an insult to Shaw and Chilwell and just negates any overlapping down that side.
Trippier was efficient today but will be a major negative going forward if he is played out of position again.
Thought Mings and Philips were excellent and Rice went about his business well.
Goes to show that TEAMS win tournaments.
We have plenty of high quality, inter-changeable players in attacking areas and I'm sure that Grealish, Sancho and Rashford (who got on today) will get run-outs in the next two games. Things often evolve during the course of a tournament, as, for example, they did back in Italia 90.
Central defence and the goalie do slightly worry me in relation to the top sides but the team did well today and Rice and Phillips provided a very effective shield. Tougher tests lie ahead but 3 points and an excellent start.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/fan-seriously-injured-after-falling-from-a-stand-at-england-game/ar-AAL0b4e?li=BBoPWjQ
Horrified witnesses saw the spectator fall around kick-off time and plunge towards the seats and concrete below.
A spokesperson from Wembley stadium confirmed the person had been taken to hospital in a serious condition.
One England fan said: “We saw his legs go over the barrier and then he fell and hit the ground and didn’t move.
“It seemed to take staff ages to get to him. One guy near us who saw the whole thing was crying his eyes out.”
Another England fan said: “I didn’t see it but spoke to some of the guys who did at half time. They were traumatised. He fell from the balcony towards the seats and the concrete.
“I think it happened around kick-off otherwise I would have noticed. That bit of seating was cleared.”
A Wembley stadium spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a spectator fell from the stands just after kick-off in the match between England and Croatia at Wembley Stadium.
“The spectator was given on-site medical attention and was then taken to hospital in a serious condition.
“We will continue to work with UEFA to ensure the matter is fully investigated and we are continuing to monitor the situation.”
England won the grudge match against Croatia with Raheem Sterling, recently made an MBE, scoring his first England goal at a major tournament at Wembley - the ground he dreamed of playing in as a local child.
Neeld Crescent, where he lived for five years, is within sight of the national stadium - with Mr Sterling also having a tattoo of the famous arches on his arm.
England manager Gareth Southgate insisted Sterling’s England record meant the Manchester City forward deserved his starting spot.
Southgate told the BBC: “Raheem has had this hex in the tournaments and not being able to get the goal, I felt he was dangerous all day, right from the start he was a thorn in their side. I’m really pleased for all of them.
“He is a good player, his goal-scoring record suggests we should have faith with him.”
The fan’s fall comes after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 match with Finland before being treated on the pitch and taken to hospital.
The Danish football federation said the former Tottenham player is “stable” and set to remain in hospital.
In a statement on Twitter, the Danish FA said: “Latest news: This morning we have spoken to Christian Eriksen, who has sent his greetings to his teammates.”
After it was later confirmed Eriksen was stable, his team-mates agreed to resume the fixture in Copenhagen, with Finland claiming a 1-0 win thanks to Joel Pohjanpalo’s 59th-minute goal.
Job done, we move onto the sweaty socks with 2 more points than the minimum needed.
It's coming home. Southgate your the one etc etc.
When he won that free kick toward the end of the second half was classic Kane.
Slowed everything down and got Croatia on the back foot.
"Did a fine job breaking up plenty of attacks in the first half. A lot of them were England attacks, but you can’t have everything."
Could be a difficult match up.
Hopefully see a faster game when we play our last two Group games seeing they'll be at 8pm