This. The manager has made mistakes but it’s not all on him. The players need to be a lot better too.
Agreed, but I focused the comment on Rice as Spurf had suggested he looked disinterested. With the possible exclusion of Walker and Pickford, noone else added anything to what was an object performance.
Well there's five blokes who are going to be recreating the ending of Spartacus by the end of the month...
But he's an experienced, feet on the ground, international professional footballer. An object lesson in how to play above your level - a lesson which the England team would do well to learn.
True but Waistcoat isn't new to the job. This is his eighth year in the job and I ask you to name more than two or three performances at four major tournaments under his management that have really impressed you? And Panama doesn't count. That's my biggest concern, we've more stumbled our way to 'success' than anything else, and that comes down to a manager who hasn't got a clue what he is doing, who happens to be blessed with enough good players that they can bluff their way through most games, but the wheels come off as soon as they come up against anyone with quality. At the last Euros, Italy worked us out within 10 minutes and we were barely in the game from then on. Southgate had the quality to respond, but didn't know how to. Yesterday was just more evidence of that, starting with the same problematic formula that didn't work against Georgia, then just throwing players on at random in desperation. As I said last week, give this group to someone like Ancelloti and we'd already have a trophy.
I think it’s down to being better coached too. The whole Denmark team seem well gelled and structured, ended up being the better side throughout the game, this despite England having a better player in almost every position on the pitch. Even watching some of the lesser nations in this tournament so far, there’s been genuine signs of players following their manager’s tactics and players working in cohesion. 8 years into big nose’s reign and I still can’t figure out how he tries to play, whilst a single player rarely plays well in multiple matches under him.
Remember how numerous reputable sources, including Alasdair Gold and Fabrizio Romano, poured cold water on us and Weston McKennie the other day? Football BSider didn't, as they're running the story again
Slovaks deservedly lead. Decent header. Liking their tactics as well in general, at one point there were 7 players pressing in the Ukraine half. Pretty much just going full on “**** it” mode.
Got this on in the background but you can see the contrast to England in both teams. Midfielders buzzing around, showing for the ball when they try and play out. Helps when you have players who actually understand the position in those roles, rather than a player who is there just to ping 40 yarders, as if nobody else in the team can do that anyway.
I don’t know if they’ll be able to sustain it over 90 mins but their pressing is so impressive, constantly 7 players in the Ukraine half closing down. Then when they win and have the ball there’s genuine cohesion and intent. It’s a far cry from what we have.
The pressing is impressive. I don’t think doing it to that extent, or like Austria do as another example, is necessary throughout a game (like it is in elite club football) if you have a substantial player quality advantage in international football. But it’s a great weapon to have and it’s making for a nice open game as both teams are able to play out of the others’ press too. The movement off the ball in midfield is the best thing to see for me, after the ****e we saw yesterday. It was like the dark old days, the pre-Southgate wilderness years.
TBF Ukraine have created a few chances. Just a shame that Mudryk has brought his Chav goalscoring boots to the competition!
All the usual excuses for poor international performance don't work either. Long hard season? Who hasn't and the German teams were represented in two major European finals which means more games. No time together? How many International Breaks have we had? They have plenty of time to learn to play together or at least for Southgate to pick a team that has. He described TAA's position as an experiment! An experiment, during the tournament? Surely he should have sorted all these things BEFORE the tournament started. How many friendlies were there? Left back is an issue. Why? Dan Burn and Tyrick Mitchell were available I think. Playing people in their position should surely be a basic requirement for a team that is not playing together as much as a club team. We can all pick players but to build a TEAM is the name of the game.
Yeah last ten minutes they got back into the game. That Mudryk run through the middle and subsequent shot into Row Z was a perfect summary of his time at Chelsea so far, bloke’s a gift lol.
He didn’t use the warmup games or the nearest international break very well at all, which has set us up on the back foot.
Slovaks have tired a bit, coupled with Ukraine getting more into the game. Hoping they get a second wind, really enjoyed their style and approach. Be fantastic to see them get 6 points from this group too. Especially if Radu and the Romanians can topple the Belgians tomorrow.
