The one consistent thing in this tournament has been flopping. A huge amount of it has been going on in every game with faces being held and a lot of rolling about.
Solid win. Good start, then faded badly. couple poor performances. Foden anonymous all game and surprised didn’t come off much earlier for someone like Gordon to use his pace to stretch the game for TAA to use his passing. Mentioned earlier that TAA had no real out ball as no pace up top really. Kane was funny one. Did right thing staying up as didn’t need him to drop deep but just looked bit unfit or something. Balls into him weren’t really sticking but had 1 chance and was a brilliant save. Will play worse and win play better and lose. Important to get just get the 3 points, clean sheet and move on. Beat Denmark and all good
Most have pinned their colours ro the mast pre game demanding Bellingham beside rice and someone like Palmer in (thsts make 3 central 10s then) They will vilify someone at somepoint. They always do.
What it has proved is Southgate still doesn’t have a clue how to change a game for the better, be it substitutions or even formation change.
Most of them seem to have played for rivals of us, funny that Only really Neville, from a rival background, backing Trent pre-game
I'd agree. Don't play a passer if you offer no runs behind to pass to. Saka OK but yeah kane and foden we static and needed a runner in there to drive the team on. However kane climbed all over his man for thst header and had both hands on so I'd be shocked it thst wasn't reviewed if it went in. A lot of the players looked tired and leggy so you'd wonder if thry were ran about in training stupidly after a long season or what?
If you play both foden and Bellingham (and I would) then you have to find the means to accommodate both centrally.
I think I saw one single pundit on the BBC say trent as well but both sky and the BBC asked about 10 or 15 pundits and the vast majority had Bellingham at 6 as if he'd ever played that role.
Good first half, very poor second and some very questionable changes. Not the greatest of starts but three points is three points
Yeah bring on defensive players with 20 mins to go and you’re essentially saying we’re going defensive here and shutting up shop. Just invites pressure on. Id have gone Gordon for foden and let TAA ping balls behind the RB get him running backwards with Gordon. I bet he never thought he’d have such an easy game against foden who wanted to be anywhere bar wide left which against back 5 and trippier unable to use his left foot so always closed off isn’t ideal. Didn’t mind the Gallagher coming on for bit of energy but prob would have gone Bellingham as he faded massively. Ran out of room and steam a bit.
Briefly looked at sky ratings. 7 the lowest and 8 and 9s all round. This is classic engurlund reporting with the massive over reaction to a loss baked in, completely with scapegoats. Why? Simple. There's folk who will only want to know England won and won't hear a word about how shaky tha was. How could 9 rated Bellingham possibly anything but betrayed by some **** who should be vilified? Thst sort of thing. In reality there were plenty of 6s in that performance with bags of improvement possible. Southgate took taa and Bellingham off to try pack the centre and hang on bit would not say remove foden or kane and put a bit of pace on to at least worry sepia with pace... just for example.
The BBC did a fans rating out of 10 https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c0jj2ql7ej4o#England Amazing this only gave rice a 6.98 out of 10 when he was holding the thing together. Not shocking that of the starters trent was 5.84 with only kane and foden worse. Gallagher ran about like a headless chicken and got a higher rating. This is exactly why I am predicting the scapegoat will be trent. Not the lb who is not a lb and looks not match fit. Not the forward with no pace Not the lw who is not an lw and gave no width. If we concede it will be down to trent and if we fail to score it'll be down to trent not providing creativity.
Unlike my previous comment which wasn’t an example of irony at all, England, on paper, one of the best, playing like one of the worst. Harry Kane though eh, what a player.
If I were rating Pickford, 6. Didn't have alot to do really. Did most of his stuff well. Still looks like he makes the defence nervous when dealing with crosses. Trippier, 4. Did **** all, barely noticed him on the pitch. Too defensive, provided nothing to the attack. Walker, 6. Decent 1st half, one good attacking moment. Mediocre 2nd half, again nothing going forward, nothing for the attack to work with. Stones & Guehi, 6. Good enough, but not dominant. Rice, 7. Solid in holding, again much like the rest of the team didn't get forward enough. TAA, 5. Had one moment that everyone seems to be picking on, other that didn't do much wrong, but very much a middling game. Saka, 6. Again a good 1st half, but as soon as the Serbian defender got 'tough' with him he wimped into his shell. Foden, 3. ****. Did less than nothing. Can't even remember his name being mentioned. Bellingham, 8. Looked quality but faded having to carry the whole attack on his own. Kane, 4. Other than 1 shot wasn't in the game. Not sure it was really his fault though, the rest of the team gave him nothing to work with. Not going to do the subs as none of them did anything of real note other than just run around like headless chickens. I'd blame Southgate, too many of the players are restricted to defending, the Fullbacks especially. Very much reliant on Bellingham for the attacking play.
