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

Well our plan to finish second is going well....or even 3rd.

 

Don’t tell him, Pike

 

I agree that we should never expect Scotland to be a walkthrough, they have some decent players as we know. I think it was England’s total inability to present any kind of challenge that was frustrating.

I know that it will not have been the intention, but it appeared we were content with the draw and just didn’t put any real pressure on them, which has been a theme with England since Covid hit, prior to that we were much more entertaining and free flowing.

It all felt a bit Saints-y and I have more than had my fill of that dross for a season.

 

“Reece James saw more of the ball than any player on the pitch with 93 touches. He also completed 98.8% of his passes. That's a game high by some margin”

Because 92 of his passes were backwards and the one he didn’t complete was one of our crosses that didn’t beat the first defender

Not specifically criticising a promising young right-back. Just an indication of our safety-first keep-ball approach

Come on England

 

International football is all about
1) being patient and organised
2) picking / creating your moment as a team to strike decisively

We’ve mastered 1 well, but we’ll need to improve on 2 in the knock outs which in my humble opinion will require Grealish, Mount and Foden to be on the pitch at the same time

Alternatively we could play all our right backs and confuse the opposition?

 

I agree there, trying to be objective (without Saints glasses on) what did Rice and Phillips for that mater offer that JWP couldn't in that match, and without the massive set piece threat? Does seem silly, why not play the percentage game?

 

Agree with pretty much all of that.

I do think Gareth is trying to hard to protect our weaknesses (defence) than play to our strengths. I'm sure if he went the other way and we lost games 3-2 fans wouldn't be happy either mind.

If you can keep clean sheets you've got a good chance so I do kind of see the logic. Not sure it'll work against the better sides but I do think we could be dangerous on the break too.

I do think a lot of people expect too much though. We're simply not good enough to dominate in every game we play, and as Susan said that's less common in international football anyway.

Oh well. On to the Czech, reckon the players will be buzzing to get out there again and get this one out of their system.

 

Also an indication of stats being nonsense imo.

 

But I’d be happier to draw 2-2 than 0-0
Although I accept that implies an inability to control a game, but there’s the balance you need, try and control the game but at least take some chances to win it as well

I blame the press. England operate in a climate of fear

 

It seems to be a perennial problem with England that the manager sets the team up to not lose rather than win, going back to Hodgson, Sven, etc... But I don't get it, does it ever work? How many tournaments have we won or even got to the semi finals by playing ultra conservatively? If we get to the group stages, we just get knocked out on penalties. Similarly with Portsmouth, we had the same issue with Kenny Jackett and going way back with Paul Hart... Both of them achieved little success overall (I don't count the ****ty efl trophy as success)... Will these managers not get into their head that ultra conservative play doesn't work? Maybe if you're Iceland or Malta or Burton Albion v Man United, then yes you can get it to work work, but otherwise....

 

Yeah but it depends on how the 2-2 is gained as you allude to. If we threw away a two goal lead it'd be 'How arrogant of Southgate to keep attacking given how poor our defence is' etc

Agree completely on your last no point. No matter who the manager is they'll never please everyone and there'll always be those all too willing to stick the boot in no matter what they do.

I actually felt Gareth was his own man for the first couple of years which was a big part of why he did so well. He seems to have reverted to type of the standard England manager being influenced by outside voices in the past 12 months or so though which is the big worry imo.

 

I work in an industry that demonstrates its value by stats, but to get the whole picture you have to measure outcomes too

If we want to go down the stats path then passes need to be graded as well as counted. A high pass completion rate is often indicative of a lack of endeavour. I’d rather see some players with 50%, but an actual assist ... obviously

 

Although if you’re 2 up you can then consider bringing on a more defensive player and hold on. We’re all more accepting of being boring when we’re 2 up

Likelihood is more that you’re 1 up though and that’s a harder call

 

We effectively play with 10 men each match. I'm not blaming Kane at all, he hasn't been given a chance, but the style England are playing there is absolutely no point in having him on the pitch (apart from penalties).

Same can be said of Rashford yesterday. Fresh legs came on to do what? Walk slowly about the pitch waiting for the ball.

Contrast that to Che Adams, not even the best striker at Southampton, who was awesome for Scotland last night. If he could calm down a little when shooting we'd have been in big trouble.

 

Given that the Czech Republic game is sort of a free hit, in that it is pretty much impossible we won’t make the Round of 16 and 2nd/3rd wouldn’t give us a worse route, I’d like to see us go for it a little more in an attacking sense and give some other players a go e.g Sancho, Bellingham and Grealish.

If it doesn’t work out then fair enough we can revert to safety first in the next game.

 

We dont need rice and phillips against a team we are stronger than. We needed a more forward thinking player to link defence and attack.

With sancho grealish foden etc you just need that link player and rice and phillips are not that player

 

In fairness to James, he was up against Robertson and Tierney on Scotland`s left. I did wonder if KWP would have been a better option than James. Ings would have been a better option than Kane too.

 

It’s odd that KWP never gets mentioned in any England discussion.

 

Agreed, should have dropped mount back to Philips role and brought Grealish in from the start:

Mount rice
Rashford foden grealish
Kane

Oh well, a point is a point I guess.

 

Most agree that things didn't quite go to plan last night. With Kane ineffective and Sterling not a lot better I was wanting them off long before they were subbed. Would it be to big a shock to leave both out of the Czech match? I think not, Kane in particular looked completely out of sorts. No need for Maguire to start either.