England men's fixtures omdt.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Jim said:

 

We might beat Germany? Maybe 50/50 against Portugal? No chance against France.

 

Agree with that, could do with France and Hungary winning tomorrow! 

[FreshOwl]

Surprised how annoyed everyone is on here tonight 

 

second wasn’t as good as the first but much improved overall 

 

you can’t forget the Czechs had a lot to play for too and pressed like crazy 

 

apart from Denmark & Holland last night we’ve not seen many hamerings 

 

how do you think Portugal fans feel shipping 4 to Germany? All at sea their defence 

 

saka has to start next match, as does Grealish. Always confident we might create a moment with those 2

hopefully Henderson in for rice too 

let’s see what happens! 

[Burnsie]

31 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

Surprised how annoyed everyone is on here tonight 

 

second wasn’t as good as the first but much improved overall 

 

you can’t forget the Czechs had a lot to play for too and pressed like crazy 

 

apart from Denmark & Holland last night we’ve not seen many hamerings 

 

how do you think Portugal fans feel shipping 4 to Germany? All at sea their defence 

 

saka has to start next match, as does Grealish. Always confident we might create a moment with those 2

hopefully Henderson in for rice too 

let’s see what happens! 

England win 4-0 and it's only the Czechs.

 

Would like to see hendo in the next game, but I bet it's hendo and rice. Kane better this game. Rashford didn't do much to press his case for more time. 

[Bannofan]

That was a tale of two halves wasn't it?

 

Looked like we might get 3 or 4 after the first 20 minutes, and the whole first half was really good watch, which makes a change. Saka and Grealish really impressive,  even Kane looked a lot better and was unlucky not to score.

 

Second half was just classic foot of the pedal stuff..sideways and backwards passing, really not good.

 

I still don't think our defence will cope when facing better teams either. 

[MF TAZ]

We play next Tuesday 5pm at Wembley

[new zealand owl]

4 hours ago, mcmigo said:

Have to say Stones has been excellent all tournament.  Very , very good player now , not many other centre backs I would want back there in world football.

Yep was thinking the same. Tempted to put him just short of the world class category, if there is such a level!

 

Another great performance by stones and good to see maguire play well too. Walker solid defensively but doesn't offer much the other way. Pickford assured again.

 

Its just that central midfield, Rice was poor and doesn't look up to it at this level. I like Phillips but he's desperate for a world class midfielder alongside him.

 

 

[edmontonowl]

Stones has looked OK but he's not been under much pressure in these 3 games.

 

Disappointed in Shaw. doesn't seem to have it at this level. Or at least he should be given a freer role down the left. Prefer Trippier

 

Walkers experience and speed make him 1st choice on the right.

 

Saka looked good

 

Phillips was too deep and looked lost at times.

 

Grealish drove us forward

 

Overall, though a poor game by both sides

[TheEnchanter]

11 hours ago, Jim said:

I think we’re playing very pragmatic football at the moment. We’ve got to find some more creativity and fluidity or else it won’t be long before we’re out.

 

Its mad how pragmatic we are with the creativity of Sterling, Sancho, Grealish, Foden, Saka, Mount etc. Absolutely mad. If these we all Germans or Dutch or whoever they'd be playing creative attacking football. 

[Jim]

5 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

 

Its mad how pragmatic we are with the creativity of Sterling, Sancho, Grealish, Foden, Saka, Mount etc. Absolutely mad. If these we all Germans or Dutch or whoever they'd be playing creative attacking football. 

 

Totally agree. In qualifying we were anything but pragmatic but he’s definitely changed tact in the last 12 months. My theory is he doesn’t have confidence in his back four so feels he needs to shield it with 2 defensive midfielders. Makes us more solid but we lose a bit of attacking thrust at the other end. 

 

I also feel that he doesn’t know where to fit the likes of Sancho, Foden, Grealish in the same 11. I’d always pick Rashford but as good as I think he is and can be, he like a few others in the current squad/frame will not fulfil their undoubted potential at this level under the current manager.

 

I think Frank Lampard would be a far better fit for this job or even Steve Cooper who worked with a fair few of these players at youth level and had success with them.

[FreshOwl]

12 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

 

Its mad how pragmatic we are with the creativity of Sterling, Sancho, Grealish, Foden, Saka, Mount etc. Absolutely mad. If these we all Germans or Dutch or whoever they'd be playing creative attacking football. 

Pragmatic teams usually win the tournaments. That’s what Southgate has seen and is trying to emulate 

[TheEnchanter]

1 minute ago, FreshOwl said:

Pragmatic teams usually win the tournaments. That’s what Southgate has seen and is trying to emulate 

 

True and it's coming at a cost of having much creativity at all against the better teams. We will see, his biggest test ever is soon when we play a team that will be favourites to beat us. 

[Ellis Rimmer]

2 minutes ago, Jim said:

 

Totally agree. In qualifying we were anything but pragmatic but he’s definitely changed tact in the last 12 months. My theory is he doesn’t have confidence in his back four so feels he needs to shield it with 2 defensive midfielders. Makes us more solid but we lose a bit of attacking thrust at the other end. 

 

I also feel that he doesn’t know where to fit the likes of Sancho, Foden, Grealish in the same 11. I’d always pick Rashford but as good as I think he is and can be, he like a few others in the current squad/frame will not fulfil their undoubted potential at this level under the current manager.

 

I think Frank Lampard would be a far better fit for this job or even Steve Cooper who worked with a fair few of these players at youth level and had success with them.

Steve Cooper is a good manager and deserves a PL gig I think but not England yet

 

Lampard no way. He was struggling to get the future European champions playing well. 

[Ellis Rimmer]

4 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

Pragmatic teams usually win the tournaments. That’s what Southgate has seen and is trying to emulate 

Be pragmatic against big teams then. What’s point against Czechia? 

[FreshOwl]

5 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

 

True and it's coming at a cost of having much creativity at all against the better teams. We will see, his biggest test ever is soon when we play a team that will be favourites to beat us. 

I think if we go gung-ho against the better teams we get ripped apart. 
 

Can we match the intensity of Germany, France, Portugal? Absolutely not. 
 

We barely passed it around the back four comfortably against the Czech Republic 

 

We have good attacking options, but our holding midfield options are nowhere near good enough, and are why we opt to go long in a lot of our passages of play 

 

Rice & Phillips against Portugal, Germany or France is a complete mismatch 

 

Henderson has to come back in 

Edited June 23, 2021 by FreshOwl

[Jim]

5 minutes ago, Ellis Rimmer said:

Steve Cooper is a good manager and deserves a PL gig I think but not England yet

 

Lampard no way. He was struggling to get the future European champions playing well. 

 

You don’t have to be a good club manager to be a successful one at International level? I mean Southgate has done better at this level than he ever did at club level?

[HIGHERSTATE]

I feel like his pragmatism is coming against creating any actual buzz around the tournament.

 

Any casual fan either gets too excited or just become very cynical nowadays.  And 90 percent of people I speak to now thinks its all over for us next week unless its Hungary.

 

Spose thats the reality of it and hes got to do what he can.

[Bannofan]

4 minutes ago, FreshOwl said:

I think if we go gung-ho against the better teams we get ripped apart. 
 

Can we match the intensity of Germany, France, Portugal? Absolutely not. 
 

We barely passed it around the back four comfortably against the Czech Republic 

 

We have good attacking options, but our holding midfield options are nowhere near good enough, and are why we opt to go long in a lot of our passages of play 

 

Rice & Phillips against Portugal, Germany or France is a complete mismatch 

 

Henderson has to come back in 

 

I think Rice has been exposed for being incredibly one dimensional in this tournament. 

 

For me ( Clive) I think he is behind Bellingham, Henderson and Phillips in the pecking order for that position, and quite frankly he doesn't even offer the versatility and maturity of Eric Dier. 

 

My mate always says Englands problems start when they try and do things that are not in the DNA of English footballers,  and for me that is when they try and pass it about in defense and midfield looking for an opening.  We have always been pretty rubbish at that, and you just wait for the inevitable long pass or knock back to Pickford to launch.

 

We would be better getting in forward as quickly as possible with the excellent runners and attackers we have, not waiting for the opposites to set themselves and close down any spaces. 

 

It may not lead to much possession, but it plays to our strengths. 

 

Anyway, what do I know!

[Ellis Rimmer]

24 minutes ago, Jim said:

 

You don’t have to be a good club manager to be a successful one at International level? I mean Southgate has done better at this level than he ever did at club level?

I’ve seen nothing on Lampard to make me think he deserves to be in the frame and his international career, how he carried off makes me think he would be ill suited for that job too

[The only way is S6]

12 hours ago, fudge27 said:

Henderson does add more forward thinking then Rice, as does Maguire to Mings. 

 

Be interesting to see the line up for the knock outs. 

 

For me Bellingham needs to play

 

Two positives from last night, Maguire and Henderson coming through it.

He took them as a bit of a gamble.

On paper, that puts us at full strength come the R16 match next week.

Secondly, another clean sheet. Boring as hell, but it's no mean feat.

Walker & Stones, clubmates, Maguire & Shaw clubmates. A good experienced 4, with Pickford behind & Henderson in front.

I'm totally fed up with how we play but wouldn't write us off just yet. 

Love how, in commentary last night, the word pragmatic was used to describe our attitude, & it's in nearly every post this morning! 

I thought he was a Croatian winger.

 

 

[FreshOwl]

My team next game 

 

Pickford 

 

Walker 

Stones

Maguire

Shaw

 

Henderson

Bellingham

 

Sterling

Grealish

Saka

 

Kane