England v Belgium thread

Pickford is another worry. I've no idea why people say he's good on the ball, his distribution has been really bad and he's made a meal of everything he's had to save. 1 position we could have done with trying out a different player tonight.

 

Plus, he's small. Modern goalkeepers aren't small. If he was bigger, he might well have saved that Januzaj goal, especially with his correct hand. There are too many issues but it's probably too late to change horses now.

I'd probably have gone for Pope but we don't have a stand out choice, more's the pity.

 

Difficult to draw any conclusions from that game - except the obvious.
We don't have many skilful players; we're all huff and puff.
Other teams are better at keeping the ball and passing it about.
Twas ever thus.
I think the point about the draw is valid though. Our next two opponents will be tough, but they aren't world beaters. If we break the habit of the last quarter of the century, we might scrape through to the S-F. It's not impossible.

 

Our chances of getting past Brazil are minimal. A chance to play teams like Columbia and Spain/Switzerland for a semi-final place is something that comes up once in 28 years. Maybe we'll blow it but it's a chance............a chance is more than we've had for half of my life........and I'm getting old.

 

Joe Hart or it's not coming home.

It's much of a muchness really, same as at centreback, Stones, Walker and Maguire just fit the system a bit better, there's no outstanding candidates like we have in attack with Sterling, Kane, Rashford, Vardy, Lingard and Alli.

 

Hopefully we've finally confirmed that RLC is two bob after the last couple of starts he's had. He'll come good with time but people have massively overhyped him for very little prior to now.

 

RLC flattered to deceive at times, Rashford is an enigma and is over-hyped, Vardy chased and harried but didn't have a shot all game, Delph looked out of his depth at this level and Dier had one of his 'strolling around' afternoons that we saw a few times last season.

Rose did ok other than their goal and Maguire looked assured although his arseing around at the back will all end in tears. TAA will no doubt get lauded as a WC debutant teen, but he fell a long way short of Tripps on all fronts and his set pieces were ****. Is he angling for a move to N17??

But it matters not a jot as long as we manage to progress through the next 2 games.

 

Comic genius!

 

Alright, I wasn't planning on opening at the Astoria with it

 

We've got a few good players, a number of so-so players, some dross and head and shoulders above them all, Harry Kane and Kieran Trippier's crossing. Both are exceptional. Whatever happens in this tournament pretty much relies on them. Without them, we'd have struggled to get out of the group.

 

I think Lee Dixon might be interested in making it a foursome, too

 

Saltypool-loving BBC are so predictable...

As expected, McNumpty also singled out Dier for criticism:
'He struggled, particularly in the first half, looking off the pace and giving away cheap possession. He did nothing to threaten Henderson's status as Southgate's main midfield pivot' Never saw that coming!

and in equal measure!

 

Rose actually did pretty well, apart from gettng totally suckered by Januzaj, which deserved to lose it for him. There wasn't a single player that played well. Not one. TAA played as badly as everybody else.

I'd have given it to Salah, myself...........or Henderson.

 

I don't really want to agree with McNumpty but I have to say that IMO Dier has had a poor season and been a shadow of the player I was predicting as future England captain. He did struggle and he did giveaway possession. What has happened to Dier?

 

I thought Rose played well - so much more direct than Young and got us free kicks / them booked - not to be underestimated. I don't have much hope that Young would have stopped that goal either (and maybe a better keeper would have saved it anyway). On the other side I thought TAA was absolutely awful and thoughts of him as man of the match are beyond ludicrous.

 

The current England set up plays to his weaknesses. If we played 4 at the back, leaving him to drift between centre half and defensive midfielder, then you'd see the best of him. With a back 3, his role is to be a progressive passer and move the team forward. That's not what he does best and at world level, he's struggling.

The role suits Henderson more but if we progress in the tournament, his lack of positional discipline will find him out too. The one player that England have that perfectly suits that role is Winksy. It's where he played against Real Madrid in both games and he was sensational. It's a real shame that the kid's been out injured most of the season. He would elevate our team considerably in keeping the ball and managing a game.

 

Makes sense Brian, good post

 

I actually thought Delph played well and was one of our better players, looked comfortable on the ball. Trent Bridge-Gordon-Alexander-Armstrong was ok but wasn't exactly up against it. Would be found out against a team that is a bit more physical and actually tried. All we really found out is that we have just the one attacking threat in Kane and everybody else is completely gash. And all our defenders just panic as soon as anybody runs at them.

So having played three matches and pretty much everybody having had a little go, I'd start from now on with:

---------------------- Pickford ----------------------

------- Walker ---- Stones ---- Maguire -------

Trippier -------------------------------------- Rose

------ Lingard ---- Henderson ---- Delph -----

--------------------- Alli ------------------------------

------------------------ Kane ------------------------

Basically as none of our attackers can hit the target just stick Alli off Kane and see what happens. I also went with Henderson over Dier as Eric was really sloppy yesterday and then when it all goes tits up he won't be the scapegoat (neither will Henderson because he plays for Liverpool........).

 

I hear ya............

 

I never said that

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! although?