I think Stones has been pretty much faultless so far - he's turning into the superb defender and reader of the game that was always in there; gone are the silly Cruyff turns in the last third and just rock solid defending. Kudos to Shaw also, come back from a career ending injury and is now looking better than the hot young prospect that was he at Southampton.
Very true…and did any of us really think Harry McGuire would become an England regular, much as we loved him? (Puts tin hat on and retreats..)
Watched him every week and never rated him!! He use to make a lot of mistakes and positional play wasn't great, Steve Bruce who know a bit about that role bought him, but there were long periods he wasn't in the first team, Fantastic how he has developed.
It is.. doesn’t do as many of his runs out of defence now. Seems like he has improved his positional play and seems a lot more disciplined these days….and lighter.
I did think we would win, but I never expected such a dominant performance. I did momentarily think, I hope we haven't peaked too early, but really we did seem to still have room to get better. Just wonderful to watch, and to have a game without the stress of it being on a knife edge was a welcome relief. If we continue to play like this then we will be hard to beat. Roll on Wednesday.
I can’t believe the face value of the tickets. I appreciate it’s a massive tournament and not going to be cheap , but my mate has a spare for the semi and the final , and has asked me if i want to go but I just can’t afford it. The final one is up in the gods at nearly 400 quid, my Mrs would shoot me if I spent that on football as much as I’d love too .
I was on the UEFA ticketing portal when tickets apparently went on sale at 11pm Tuesday but there was nothing on there.
Sadly it;s totally believable the way the ****s in charge of football continue to squeeze every last penny out of fans. That's why we see more and more corporate ****ers at the big games. Whey when faced with massive demand would you jack up the price so much? Is it because you're ****s? What's wrong with a 1st past the post online system of the tickets at a normal price open to England members?
Perfect game for this stage of the tournament wasn't it. We were tested, but came out of it with flying colours. Just looked very solid. Kane showed he has got going again, which is probably needed if we are going to win it. Also showed doubting supporters that Gareth's 'slightly cautious' ethos does actually provide the base for others to 'play' which we need to win a tournament. Managed to wipe yellow cards. lots of players got game time, etc. Can't think of any negatives from last night. I liked that there was no over celebrating after the game, seems like they feel they are on a mission and the job isn't accomplished yet.
I was impressed that straight after the game, Southgate was talking about the players not playing and hoped they were ok. To be that composed and aware was really impressive , he is a class act really . I was unsure when he first got appointed but he hopes he stays in the job for a while, feels like he could really build something with these young players .
Yes, I thought that was noticeable, Denmark was celebrating as if they had won the thing, whereas we were much more measured in our reaction to our win.
The thing that struck me about last night wasn't just the performance .. it was the attitude of the players after the game in their interviews.. no getting carried away .. all very focused.. and all singing from the same song sheet .. kudos to Southgate for developing this kind of mentality within the camp. Denmark will be a tough game, let's not kid ourselves and they do seem to ha e a bit of a hoodoo over us recently .. but .. and it's a nervy but .. I'm confident'ish' of going all the way. As for the other semi they can batter lumps out of each other .. go to extra time pens sudden death pens have 3 each sent off and still be taking the pens after midnight for all I care.. whisper it softly peeps .. but dare I say it 'its coming home !'
He might not have the fanciest managerial record but, think these things are often a matter of circumstance. Manager who can understand his players and everyone working together well. A good team must almost manage itself. He’s been around the England set up a long time and worked his way through the ranks, knows it inside out. Knows the talent in the youth teams and has seen it all blossom. Not only that he’s a thoroughly decent and grounded chap, not a buffoon like McLaren or a dictator like Capello. I can’t think of a better man for the job.
