Off Topic International Break Thread

As I was saying before the game, Mings and Sterling were astute picks.

 

I am reading that Kane was quiet and was substituted. Quiet as he was in the last world cup? The question that should be asked is WHY? could it be anything to do with Stirling?

 

Wimp!

 

Yeah, got that wrong. Philips was excellent today.

 

There was 3 real chances. Sterling scored, Foden hit the post and Kane missed. Kane's was the more difficult as he's sliding in at full pace trying to get to a ball that was high for what he needed to do to get there. Took a whack from the post for his troubles too.

Other than that, there was a handful of half-chances for both sides.

Sterling spooned a couple but he's a threat and in a quicker game he and Kane might have linked up more but they compliment eachother regardless as Kane can drag defenders away from goal(as he did with the goal) to create space and Sterling can take advantage of the space. It's not dissimilar to what we saw from Kane and Alli early on. It's the midfield that concerns me about England, as it usually does, we can play long balls but there's not much in the way of quick interchanges, or switching up the tempo.

As for match reports, I expect you'll be better off looking abroad knowing what the media in England are like. We'll be peerless invincibles until we're knocked out and everyone's ****

 

Thanks NKNG How did Mount do?

 

No IMO Kane was poor, we didn't play to his strengths, but he was on the periphery if I was rating players he would rated lowest of the starters, but he may come alive against Scotland where the game will more like a premier league match.

 

He has been poor in a number of England games and as one the worlds most successful scorers you have to look beyond him for the reason IMO, and I remain unconvinced by Southgate and his negative tactics. Sounds like Croatia didn't offer a great deal and yet we only managed 3 shots which is not impressive with the attacking talent available to us. But as I didn't see the game I will reserve my judgement on this team until I do.

 

Harsh couple of statements on Raheem Sterling and dare I say inaccurate too.

 

Maybe they are as I was not able to see for myself but one goal in tournaments is not a good return for a striker.

 

The really harsh statement is posed as a question not a statement. One goal is not going to change my view of him, let's see how he does in the tournament.

 

13 goals 6 assists in his last 17 games for England. He’s not been great for Man City this season but for England he’s an important player.

 

He was fine, like most. My main criticism is shared between him Phillips and Foden, in that there was lots of willing runs up the pitch, very little in the way of back to goal, making yourself available. Maybe Croatia have hit the end of their cycle with this team, maybe their manager just got things wrong on the day, I wasn't impressed though and think we'll be in for a tough time when we meet a side that can play through us and press us unless we can start varying it up a bit. I'll be interested how we fair against more defensive and counterattacking sides too when we meet Scotland and the Czechs, it might be a case of the quality counts in the end, but I don't feel that confident at the moment.

 

Friendlies against OUTER MONGOLIA hardly count

 

Other than France, I feel a lot of teams are either at the beginning of a new cycle or at the end of an old one, this is why I feel confident England can get far in the tournament even with their weaknesses.

 

He’s not a striker?

I agree though that it’s surprising it’s taken him this long to score at a tournament. He’s reliable for England usually, and has a good record in terms of goals and assists since the last World Cup.

The issue that this England team have is keeping the tempo up and getting the movement from the midfield and forwards right. At times it looked very static and slow, granted it looked very hot out there and it’s the first game of the tournament so they might be playing their way into it. We’ll have a better idea of if they can step it up after the group stages.

 

Seriously I could see the point of playing him if he was a disrupter that enabled Kane and Rashford to capitalise but he doesn't do that he wasts position after position and misses more than he scores. I could score goals for Man City with the chances they create and now he is often a sub. what does that tell you.

 

If he is not a striker then what is he? Am I getting him wrong? Is he an attacking midfielder? That's even worse if he is.

 

Well he plays on the wing, if that answers your question. We need him, Rashford or Sancho in the team if you’re going to play Foden, Mount or Grealish wide, someone needs to be in the team who has the pace to get in behind playing off Kane. That didn’t happen so much today because Croatia are a very well organised team who dominate possession and England played in quite a pedestrian manner at times. I’d look for him and Kane to interplay more against the likes of Scotland which will probably be a faster game.