Match Day Thread England v Bosnia

Lot of young and inexperienced England players in the first half tonight that I thought looked a bit nervy which is completely understandable. Didn't think we learnt much tonight, Grealish did well when he came on and showed why he should be on the plane, Wharton looks a real player, Palmer and Eze showed glimpses but probably didn't do enough (Palmer will be on the plane though)

 

At this stage before a tournament we shouldn't be experimenting with new players. No pre season, need time to gel, need even more time to get up to speed with the philosophy. Nailed on failure when we get to the tournament.

 

I would normally agree about experimenting with new players ahead of a tournament, but I think previously, we were often looking to unearth someone different / searching for an unexpected star. But this time, we don’t need that, we have the best core team in the tournament. It’s more about looking at getting the best 2nd 11, and that seems to be about who pulls themselves into the frame in these games, so basically who has the mentality to rise to the occasion. Eze showed it last night in spades, so I would take him.
But we just have to remember that Southgate is seeing his squad day in day out in training, so it’s not just about performances on the pitch, but about who is going to contribute to making the best overall squad, so whose attitude is bang on, who is gelling with the core team, who is going to contribute to the team spirit - this is a lot of what Southgate has done positively and I completely trust him to make those calls. I just hope he gets them to believe they are the best team there. My only criticism in previous tournaments is that in tight situations near goal against the better teams, we have tended to try to get penalties & create set piece opportunities, when we could have gone for the jugular and scored from open play. I don’t mind a slightly cautious approach as long as it’s a proper strategy to win a game, rather than fear.

 

I think there is about 4 certainties to be dropped.

Trafford, Quansah, Jones, Konsa.

Then 3 of

Shaw if injured, Maguire if injured, Maddison, Gomez, Eze, Bowen and then one of Watkins/Toney.

 

Isn’t James Maddison the best player in the world? Surprised he would be in a list of potential players to be dropped.

 

Eze had a few flashes of brilliance in the first half which made him stand out but it was such a disjointed team performance that a couple of successful, penetrating runs masked an otherwise pedestrian half. (For Eze as well as everybody else).

I thought Bowen looked good. He takes up great positions but in the first half he wasn't been found. After the changes the whole team looked more dangerous and Bowen looked better simply because he was getting the ball in and around the box.

I'd definitely take him.

 

Eze beat his man about 6 or 7 times in the first half and ran towards the box. If his team mates were on his level, this would have created a goal or 2. But they were a yard or 2 behind his thinking, so weren’t prepared to receive the ball from him and lacked any real movement to help eze open up space. On another day what eze did in the first half would have been seen as game changing.

 

Eze was the standout player of the first half but the overall team performance was very lethargic.

Hence we created very little and when we did create the finishing was woeful.

The difference in intent and finishing when Kane and Grealish came on was marked and highlights the difference between our first choice IX and the starting team last night.

Not a surprise and the majority of last nights starting team either aren’t going to go or won’t start in the Euros.

From that respect last night’s game was fairly pointless.

 

Of course it was a disjointed performance Gareth is still experimenting with players, formations and the like.

 

Bowen seemed to get lowly rated by plenty of journalists, but I thought he was one of the most productive players. I can't find any site that has player stats for last night, but Bowen had about three attempts on goal and laid on 2 or 3 chances for others. He would have scored if Konsah hadn't got in the way although Kane stuck it in anyway. Bowen did start a bit slowly, but I'd put some of the blame for that on Konsah who took an age to pass the ball to Bowen by which time he had no room to move. Once he got the ball early he was driving forward and causing problems. I know I'm biased because of the City connection, but I'd like him in the squad as someone who might make things happen if we're chasing a game.

 

I don’t understand why you’d take Maddison to be honest. In every position in attack there’s about 2 or 3 players you’d play ahead of him.

Seems pointless him going.

 

I was parked on the 12th floor of a multi story near the ground and as I already had a 230 mile journey back home I thought I'd leave 5 minutes early to save an hour in a blocked car park - as I was going down the stairs from the concourse the first cheer went up and almost at the car park, the second - oh well, at least I managed to see the **** bit

 

Agreed, he’s very out of form too

 

And a bit of a ****

 

The cardinal sin!

 

Depends whether he's our player or not.

 

England women playing Valterball against the French.

 

Looks like Gareth agrees.