Have to admire the tower of the town hall, especially by mid-15th century standards... please log in to view this image
It might be the camera angle, but it looks like the cross going in went out of play. I guess the Slovakia coach can't add that to his list of conspiracy theories then...
Good game, the U21s. In terms of Spurs interest, Onomah had a very good game, scored a belter and played some very incisive passes through midfield including the key pass for the 3rd goal. KWP put a strong shift down the left from LB. Otherwise, I like the look of the forward players, particularly Leicester's Gray who looked pacy and tricky - two qualities we lack which justifies the link with us. Lewis Cook looked very tidy in midfield - great pairing with Onomah - and Joe Gomez looks steady too. Lookman, who we've also been linked to, came on for the end but didn't see too much of him tbh. Why can't the senior side play with as much invention and pace and tempo?
Portugal for runners up in group B? How many best placed 2nd place teams automatically qualify? Also, will this be a World Cup without the 2 previous finalists of Argentina and Holland? No matter, England still won't get out of their group.
Ouch! That is seriously tough..... Such a shame we got a piss easy group and have qualified. Our lads could have had a nice easy summer off for once.
Shame about Holland A team I would root for after England make their usual early exit. The RVP goal (assisted by Blind) was a highlight last time
Our glorious leader, Gareth Southgate, is bleating on about a load of rubbish as usual...........from the BBC England manager Gareth Southgate says his squad does not contain "big players" because of their lack of success in Europe. "Are they big players until they win? We are talking about big players because of transfer fees, because they are playing in the Champions League. When we're in semi-finals, finals, winning trophies, then we're big players. Until that point, we have it all to prove." "We can't consider ourselves big players, big players are Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Manuel Neuer. You could go on. That is what big players are. Sure, we don't have fantastically experienced, skilled and hugely successful senior players. We've got Cahill, Hart, Vardy, Bertrand and Defoe but England's best performers in World Cups are, so often, the total novices.......Peters, Hurst, Ball..........Lineker and Beardsley in '86..............Gascoigne and Platt in '90.....Owen in '98. We had the 'Golden Generation' who nearly all won Champions League medals and would have been considered 'big players'. We did no better and possibly worse than teams that had very few 'big players'. Stop picking out of form players and putting them in the wrong positions and playing those at big clubs like Sterling, Sturridge and Oxlade Chamberlain. Get 3 at the back so we can release our wing backs and make the most of what we have got, you idiot. Nobody expects you to win it. Most of us accept we'll be out at the last 8 and probably, before that. Form a team that has the heart and bravery to put in a performance and will try and give it a go and you'll have done a pretty decent job. In the meantime......Shut the **** up.
All the England players look better at club level because they have better players around them. Harry Kane looks the best player in an England shirt, but even he looks a shadow of the player he is at Spurs. England don't produce technically gifted, skilful players capable of matching the world's best. Size, strength, raw athleticism are still the criteria which see English players progress. What chance would Messi have had as a young player competing on some paddy field in the wind and rain in an English winter? We don't develop enough players with the required skills to compete at an elite level? And without wishing to sound racist, we don't produce physical specimens to match the natural athleticism of players from some other nations either.
I don't think the PL teams play English players out of charity, that isn't their MO. Sure they keep a few dodgy ones in the squad who get the odd game (and are often inexplicably picked for England) but the ones in the first team are good players, or they wouldn't be there. As for not producing world class players, firstly I agree with Brian above that the "best" players often don't do well at tournaments and secondly what about Bale? The fact that he's Welsh is irrelevant, he was brought up in Britain so effectively the same system as the English players.
What a pathetic load of excuses that is. Really sounds like the man to motivate the side and compete, doesn't he? He's picked a bunch of players that have already done it at international level as examples. Apparently they couldn't win anything before they did either, because they hadn't won anything at international level. In order to win an international trophy, you have to already have won an international trophy. Idiot.
Southgate should just call a spade a spade. There are insufficient quality England players in all positions, that are playing in the top leagues. And those in the PL who could possibly make the grade at international level, are sometimes stifled by the selection policies of their club manager.
