I get what you're saying and as an attacking force, we continue to be 'limited'. Sterling, Lingard and Dele really haven't shown us too much and ast night they were poor. Frankly, we're performing at the ragged edge of our powers. If Trippier and Maguire hadn't shown up, it would be The Harry Kane Show. However, at the back we looked very decent in retaining possession and defending what Colombia were able to throw at us but Trippier is pretty much the only one servicing Kane up front. Sweden aren't as good as Colombia. That doesn't mean they can't beat us but we can go into that game with every confidence and we'll get a lot more chances to attack. I wouldn't expect HK to be dropping so deep in that game and it's a chance to right some significant attacking failings and get some zip into those 3 or discard one or more of them. It's up to the three behind him to 'up their game' and give him some service and earn their places. If we have to play Sterling, please can we play him wide and get Dele to play nearer to HK. However, if we win by one going in off Kane's arse, it won't matter. Every game is a one off and the hope is that we have one or two good performances in us and that we haven't had them yet. In 1990, we didn't play well until the semi-final and should have won that. Had we done so, I'm sure that we would have won the whole thing.
Really? Really? He hasn't shown anything in 3 games now at this WC, even if you ignore the totally know of goals. He's been knocked off the ball too easy and is not coordinating movement with Harry - in fact I think half of the probs around HK in the 2nd half and extra time yesterday were a direct result of this. He's had so many chances now I can only assume that he is the one 'sponsors choice' that Southgate couldn't budge. Dump and be damned!!
Vardy just checking to see if he has any balls, cos he sure as hell didn't play like he had any last night
It was fantastic that Spurs held their nerve so well in the shootout. I thought Trippier was especially cool. He took his kick before Ospina wanted him to. Kane did as well as (almost) always. I could feel Dier battling to keep himself calm, but he gauged it perfectly, doing just enough. I loved the way he tried to deflect credit from himself in the interview afterwards. England at this point are held together by paper clips and chewing gum. Kane, Trippier and Maguire are the only ones who are playing well. But the team have cleared a couple of big hurdles they fell at in the past, and we ought to be happy with that. Oh, and I ought to give Southgate some credit. He's made a number of good decisions, beginning with (arguably) merit-based selections, and has seemed well organized and in charge. It looks like he's coaxed an iffy team into having a good tournament with a big helping hand from dumb luck...by grasping that Spurs are his main hope.
I said on the PL board that both of them cannot play in this team. So we have to assume as you said that Southgate is "ad-blocked" on Sterling.
This is spot on. We're not a great side. I don't think we're even a good one. We've got some defenders with mistakes in them, no midfield, some attacking midfielders that turn up once in a while and a very inexperienced goalkeeper. We do have a really top striker who has become captain, leader and saviour, a bloke that can cross the ball beautifully, some aerial ability, a degree of heart and doggedness and a style of play that all concerned are committed to. We've had far better players and done far, far worse and looked bereft of any clue with no heart to back it up. We've had some luck and when that seemed to have run out, enough of the players have kept their nerve, as they did in Extra Time last night. Southgate's done a bloody good job so far and just being the manager who buries the penalty shoot-out hoodoo, by being methodical and prepared, gets him huge kudos from me. If he can continue to wring wins out of this group and get us beyond the next round, then he deserves a ****ing Knighthood, no matter how much of it is based on good fortune and Harry Kane.
I know it's a compliment rather than a real request but I don't wan't anybody getting a knighthood least of all do I want leaders from a working class game joining the establishment and the likes of Boris Bloody Johnson and Rees Mogg and their ilk.
I'm a Republican too......so, Medal of Honour or something..............but it should have been Sir Bill Nick.
He doesn't need recognition from a bunch of weedling politicians he is loved by the people. Mr. Bill Nick will always be remembered with love and respect.
I don't know what he's done, but the team spirit seems a lot better than it usually is. Having everyone on the same page and pulling together is a massive part of international football now, I think. Actually practicing penalties may sound like doing the basics, but credit to him for doing it when others haven't.
Even though they're Goons, this is still great: Gary Neville looks like he's put on Groucho Marx glasses at the end when he nicks Ian Wright's, though.
There was a rationale mooted for many years - by some significant football 'names' - that practicing penalties was pointless as it was impossible to recreate the tension / pressure in a training environment. Total bollox - as anyone with a military or similar background will testify: the whole point of training a discipline is so when the pressure is on and the brain is scrambled, you (hopefully) instinctively revert to the method trained. Thankfully it seems we at least now have a coach with a brain!
two of whom you would not have expected to front up in the first round of takers *** , let alone score them so well *** perhaps during the penalty practice by Southgate, they should themselves to be in the best 5 of those who were still on the pitch.
That 'logic' was always completely ridiculous. If that's the case, why practice any skill? If it's different in a competitive situation, there's no point, right? Strangely, those nations that didn't leave it to chance and didn't give penalties to players that had never taken them before, kept on beating us. Go figure...... It's amateurish and reflects our traditional approach to international football......pick injured players and ones in no form or who should have packed it in years ago, turn up expecting to breeze it, play poorly, lose to someone better prepared, blame bad luck or show total surprise and go home to repeat again in 4 years time. . Southgate's willingness to do something professional, to create a way of playing that tries to get the best out of our limited resources and work to a plan, is such a laughably huge progression. It's day to Roy Hodgson's night, as Mauricio Pochettino is to Tim Sherwood and AVB.