We have no left hand side, we really need a left-footed player on the left rather than Young (poor Bertrand!), it gets too congested otherwise. The right was far more productive and Trippier excellent. Loftus-Cheek did well too. Some good, some bad, at least we created chances, I just don't think we have a good enough defence. Still many better teams have not won their opening game and a win is a win .
Ryan has to bear a large part of the blame for his own omission with some pretty poor performances last season, particularly when Southgate was watching.
3 points Job done Next No tournament is won or lost on the first game. Probably good we didn’t jump them. I’d be happy if we limped to a win against Panama, qualified and then grew from the knockout stages on. It’s always about how you finish the tournament, not how you start it.
Winning the first game may not be crucial to get out of the group stage, but it blooming helps. Three points to us, but depriving Tunisia of a point is of equal importance. Very easy to lose out to the third best team if you drop points you should win. England win all 3 games...brilliant, but Belgium win all the games and we beat Panama and we are home and hosed. Also good to hear that the tournament is going well from the fans point of view...good behaviour combined with low level policing. I think we were all expecting a poor welcome....based on GB-Russian tensions, but the people of Volgograd seem to have taken England to their hearts....apparently because the EPL is so popular there.
England winning is wonderful for our awful Government! They can slip something through under the radar!
