I know it’s an experimental team and a new formation, but England are very dull this evening. Now to start the traditional ‘ we’ll be better against teams that actually want to play’ theory, which is great until they beat us in tournament football. Huddle starting it now, essentially saying we should play deep and ‘draw teams on to us’ then get them on the counter in Russia next year.
If you want to see a real World Cup hero tune in to BBC 1 tonight at 10.30. To those who grew up in the 60s this man was the real deal and how England could do with someone of his quality and stature now, was my first football hero and was simply one of our greatest...
1-0, about bloody time. This Northern Ireland side is absolutely dreadful, they are a nothing team with no attacking ambition. I have defended them because there are mainly championship and league one players in their team and they are getting as much as they can out of what they got. But tonight they have nothing to lose, a draw doesn't mean anything, while a win could give them a better chance of being seeded in the playoffs. Still no attacking intent shown, before going behind. The own goal perfectly sums up NI, awful.
Alli was terrible again today. I really don’t see anything in his game that makes him anywhere near good enough to warrant an apparently cast iron place. His attitude stinks, he shows no traits of a team player, and the only accurate passes he made were all backwards. Our chances of a good run at the finals would be improved if he picked up an injury.
They have been dull in the last few games of qualifying, but they played very well in a friendly away in Germany. Hoddle has a point about England being a good side to play on the counter attack with the pace up front at our disposal. England are on a hiding to nothing with a lot of fans. One of the reasons for this is social media which has made fans even more tribal, leading to the likes of Sterling probably hating the thought of playing for his Country. This directly correlates with the players seemingly playing with fear when they pull on the England shirt. Everyone should try getting behind them instead of constantly knocking them. When they play their next two games against Brazil and Germany I guarantee that there will be comments along the lines of "they only did well cos it's a friendly" or "see, they were ****".....they can't win. For what it's worth, I quite like Southgate's approach, although if he really is going to play 3 at the back, I would leave out Delle, who I don't think is contributing much and, with everyone fit, would lose out to Lallana in my best side in a 3-4-3. With everyone fit, I still believe England can give anyone a game if only people would get off their backs for a while. Also, there are very promising signs from the younger age groups which is encouraging. Lastly, some of the knockers should have a look around at some of the major Countries who are really struggling to even qualify for the World Cup.
On the technical side I agree 3 at the back is the way to go. The big question on that for me is do we really have genuine international class wing backs? On the emotional side the real issue is the national team have given us nothing to get behind since 1996. We used to thrive (or at least perform with real heart) in adversity - Mexico, Italy. Now we don’t seem to have the extra gear, or added lungs that the shirt and adversity should bring. To be fair to the current bunch, of whom only Kane has real world class potential in my view, we have had much better squads that have not performed, especially in tournaments. I think you are right that the fear element plays a big role, and that there is a vicious circle in play where criticism builds more fear. The only way this will be broken is a stirring performance (not even a win) against one of the big countries - Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Argentina (if they get there) in the knock out stages of a tournament. We need to feel proud of the national team again, and I am struggling to remember when I last felt that. Probably the 5-1 win against Germany. Did you watch the Bobby Charlton programme last night? What a great man, and what an amazing career. And what a contrast to the game today.
Recorded the Charlton programme. Looking forward to watching it as he was one of our greatest ever players imo.
Different class, as is often said these days, we'll never see his like again. Also, what an immense loss to our game was the passing of Duncan Edwards a true colossus of a player who hadn't even reached his prime, everyone I know who saw him play in the 50s said he was destined to be a legend...
I wouldn't usually mind what happened, but the Welsh were so cocky during the Euros and visibly revelled in England's defeat to Iceland, so I'd like to see them lose.
Yeah, I'm only supporting Wales because my mum was Welsh. Shame they couldn't both qualify. It could get a bit tasty, I think.
