What I've just seen by YV and PNP about SG is about right. Although we've done ok to get the draw with France, we need to start beating teams now and its the creative side that was sorely missing which concerns me now, where will the goals come from? The trend for the tournament so far is set pieces and as a Spurs fan I don't feel I'm in a position to comment about them!
Now that we've had the first round of games, which players would we - realistically - like to see at Spurs next season? Let's see if any turn up on the BBC transfer gossip page... I'm going for... * Dzagoev (if we play 4-2-3-1, he could be a great addition on the right of the attacking trio) * Kjaer (although we were linked to him a couple of years ago, but stalled over the fee...) * Lewandowski (pushing the "realistically" tag a bit, but he looks like the striker we need)
Kjaer's up for grabs, as he's stated that he won't play for Magath again, but he'll probably make his move to Roma permanent. They're changing manager this summer though, so it might not happen.
Hmm... Kaboul Kjaer Vertonghen Walker Sandro Modric Parker Bale VDV NEW STRIKER Looks good on paper!
Fair enough, my recollection of the game got a little hazy in the second half I'd have gone with Milner in the centre too.
Too true, England do look fairly dangerous though at set pieces. Should have had loads more free kicks too. Any chance England are suffering from Young's growing rep as a diver?
France look like less than the sum of their parts. I can see why they have trouble scoring. They had all the possession, and played all the attractive football, but didn't create a single good chance from open play. The only one for either team was the open goal Milner missed. England look like they'll need a win from their next game, and that's the trouble. Trying to get a win while parking the bus is iffy at best. Trying to play more positively, well, I just don't see the players with the ability to do it. Granted that France get high marks for closing down, but the fact was England could hardly hold onto the ball for more than a couple of seconds whether they dribbled or passed. While I disagreed strongly with much of his selection, given who he picked I would have played almost the same team as Roy (I would have put Jagielka in for Terry), right down to Young out of position at CM and Gerrard out of position at DM. I think Young didn't work out. Chances are good Roy will shift Gerrard to CM and put Young back on the left--which means we may have a choice between two Liverpool disasters, Henderson or Carrol, depending on how ambitious Roy is feeling. Yikes. Still, few things have been more predictable than England in major tournaments, so if that trend continues they'll finish second, somehow. How's about a 1-0 win over Sweden and a 2-2 draw against Ukraine, edging France for second on goals?
hes got a real phobia about being clouted in the head..ive seen it many times with him where he shys away if he thinks he might get clattered and you can tell with that Greek goal that he took his eye off the ball because a player was coming towards him..... take his protective head gear off and he would be less than half the keeper he is.
Yeah, I was worried we might have seen Jones in midfield, Downing on the left and Carroll up top. Really the team that went out wasn't that bad, the tactics were disappointing though.
I think a lot of people would have taken the draw before the French game. Now suddenly it isn't good enough! I think it was a good result and we played pretty well. Play less "negative" (and we were hardly being Chelski) and we risked losing. You can't lose your first game at these tournaments. This performance was already miles better than anything in South Africa and still there's complaints.
i fully agree,we played well,it was alway's going to be a game where we would have to defend a lot,playing a team unbeaten in 21 games,a draw was a Great result
There seems to be widespread denial that there was a Croatian streaker the other night, even though you could clearly see him run on the pitch - and could see him being bundled down the sideline moments later. [video=youtube;aelWcbhQLMA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aelWcbhQLMA[/video]
Group A's definitely looking like the best group for entertainment so far. I'd go as far as to stay they've had all 4 of the best games up until now.
