Match Day Thread England v Scotland 18/06/2021 20:00 ITV

In fairness, on your first point I'm the complete opposite which may explain our difference in our opinion. That last bit wasn't aimed at you either btw.

I've said before that I don't think Gareth is particularly good and quite clearly has his limitations. I do think though that he's generally done pretty well and has done enough to earn our support until it goes wrong at least (which I'm sure it will at some point).

 

Not unlike Saints, I actually do think we'll look better against the better teams mind you.

 

Spain lost a match to Chile at the 2010 WC.

Not suggesting we'll win it, or even if we come close, but if we make the quarters and lose to a better team then this result in isolation is irrelevant imo.

 

Yes, you are absolutely right there.

 

I mean as much as I am slating, Portugal had an awful crack at the group stage in 2016 and were saved by the best third place rule… So anything is possible.

I just hate how poorly England seem to utilise their assets.

 

Anyone have comments on this?

I'm honestly not looking for an argument here but I'm genuinely baffled as to why that side is given almost god like status but 2018 is seen as lucky and almost degraded

It's pretty much the same init, we didn't really beat anyone? Why such the difference in view?

 

I do to an extent. I think we'll look better against sides who give us more space but against the absolute best our midfield will be shown up for what it is. Which is bang average.

No manager is gonna change that fact either imo. And Prowsie certainly ain't the answer either.

 

Because it was a long time ago, and people get nostalgic. Bobby was a good club manager too, so is widely regarded as having some quality. Gareth essentially lucked into the England gig.

 

No, he’s not. But set pieces goals (and moreover goals that a delivered from set pieces, as it were - corners, wide FK etc) are a critical part of international football, and we saw again tonight what a disadvantage not having someone good at set pieces is.

I don’t think you lose an awful lot in open play with JWP instead of Rice, but you gain a critical advantage in set pieces. For me it was a short sighted decision.

 

Agree on both points. I was supposed to add that I wondered if it was down to Sir Bobby's overall reputation but forgot lol.

When you look at the results though they are remarkably similar. I didn't realise how much so until fats pointed it out a couple of years back. I'd definitely say that squad was better too.

 

I honestly don't think it'd make a huge difference. We also delivered a cracking set piece to Stones early on who fluffed it.

Doesn't matter who takes the set piece if a player isn't gonna get a free header on target from 10 yards.

Fact is if that goes in we probably go on to win comfortably. Fine margins...

 

On a positive note if Scotland can beat Croatia it'd be class to see all 3 home nations in the ko rounds.

Also hard to not be pleased for them in a way when you see how much it means to them.

 

Well that was all incredibly civil. Give me a shout when there's some VAR controversy @tomw24


Night all x

 

There's something too cautious of England can only score three goals in four games against Scotland, Romania, Austria and Croatia. The Czech Republic striker has three in two games against the same opposition.

Having said all this I do think a lot of players are jaded from a whole year of constant football. I may consider rotating to get competition for places going into the knock out.

 

My take:

Scotland are a decent team now, and I don’t think they were given enough respect before the game because a) they had a bad first result, and b) ‘It’s Scotland!’

They are not a D grade Euro team any more, but rather a C grade one, along with the likes of Sweden, Slovakia etc. Getting a 0-0 against any team in that category is frustrating, but not the disaster some make it out to be.

International football is often such a slow pace, and weaker teams sit so deeply. I was slagging our attacking players off too, but at the same time staring at the TV wondering to myself what the f*ck can they do? It was a very good defensive display by Scotland.

That said our right hand side was so stagnant. No overlapping runs from James. He seemed nervous.

We are still in a very good position, in that we can play an experimental team against the Czechs (Grealish, Rashford, Bellingham), and not worry too much about the result. With the pressure off we will play better football (although I said the same before last night’s game).

 

Bobby Robson may be a national treasure now, but during his time in charge he was derided, bullied and ridiculed by the press just like every other England manager; including, at times, Sir Alf Ramsey.

 

Same old boring England.

Really not many positives from that game. Got outworked and outplayed by Scotland, just seemed like England didn’t have a clue how to deal with their intensity. Pathetic performance to be honest.

 

Same old England fans with their shameful sense of entitlement, and lack of respect for our opponents.

 

Well this all got a bit emotional last night
Can I speak for up for the middle ground?

I’m not a social media ****, I always support England and live in hope of them winning and entertaining me and they do do that at times. I have no idea how well we’ll do in this tournament and my head and heart are always in conflict about our chances

I was pleased GS got the job and he does well in many regards, but I believe we were too slow and conservative in this game

Part of the problem is the team and manager always have a mob of baying journos and social media ****s waiting to slag them off if they don’t play up to the world beating standards expected of them

We play with too many defenders on the pitch. I want us to score more goals

Come on England

 

I agree with all of that tbf.