Well done Gareth. Job done, top of league, 3 clean sheets. Maguire got 90 mins in. Henderson 45 mins tonight. Young forwards have all had good game time in the group.
I like Rice and think he's a good player. He's good at what he does i.e. break up play and make short passes to more creative players around him. At West Ham, he has Souček next to him who can carry the ball forward. At England, he has Phillips who passes the ball straight back to him or to the back four. Rice needs Mount and Foden on either side of him in a 4-3-3, not Phillips or even Henderson in a 4-2-3-1.
Yep on reflection it's jobs done, but if we fall at the next hurdle questions have to be asked. Even Italy are playing with a bit more freedom these days.
It says a lot when Harry Maguire, a centre-half, played more passes into the final third than any other England player. It just proves that having two defensive-minded holding midfielders is bad for ball progression and link-up play with the attacking midfielders.
Sorry mate Rice is cack ... too slow and ponderous.. hasn't got a forward pass in him and a bloody liability .. the amount of balls he leaves short to his team mates putting them in trouble is a joke .. Phillips aint no world beater but he has performed better then Rice, especially during this tournament .. in fact against Croatia he was my man of the match. If Henderson is fit I'd be playing him.alongside Phillips if he is playing 2 holding midfielders. But I suspect it will be irrelevant now big H is fit.. I suspect it will be a back 5 for the next game.
Absolutely no disputing the job's done and we have 3 clean sheets.I'm just a bit disappointed that we are slowing the game down and taking our foot off the gas,when we play at pace we look good.We let them come into the game and 'if' they had have snatched an equaliser we'd be playing in Copenhagen. Saka,Sterling and Grealish look extremely dangerous.The shackles need to come off now and we'll see whether or not that brings out the improvement to progress further...For what it's worth,if it's Germany next,I can see us playing them off the pitch.
Good first half. Stagnated second half. Can I just say I’m delighted the piss stained crackheads have been sent ‘hame tae think again’ having done **** all as per.
I don't think the shackles will come off with Gareth. The panel alluded to it, he's done his research and has his game plan. Tournament winners generally are defensive and don't concede many. We'll play 6 defenders and allow the front four to do their bit. Tell you what, whoever is in charge of next tournament can be less cautious wuth the set of young forwards coming through.
They'll be waiting to see who we're up against next Tuesday before making their way to JD Sports for their new adoptive teams jersey...
On a positive note its top of the group unbeaten and no goals conceded. On a realistic note we've played turgid slow football. Played sideways and backwards for the vast majority of our games. The set up tactically has been stupidly cautious and it won't work against the top teams. We've not been allowed to get into our stride and if we go a goal down i don't see us being able to turn the mentality around and play in a positive manner. Said it before, southgate is a great man manager but he is utterly clueless tactically.
Rice is decent at what he does, ie break up the play and recycle the ball to more talented players. But as another poster said, having two of them in there just slows the play down and when the only attacking minded of the three is mount then we look seriously blunt. Foden and grealish either side of rice for me. Although any of rice or Phillips will do. On a side note i have a man utd supporting mate who wants them to break the bank for Rice. Moyes saying over 100 million!? Even before covid decimated prices and with the extra home grown tax you pay for an Englishman hed be lucky to be worth 30 mill in my eyes.
