[ i tend to agree. Bellingham carries the ball so well that it’s not an issue him picking the ball up deep. We need him on the ball as much as possible and him drifting deep certainly achieves that.
I get you. But this is my biggest frustration with England, not just now, but ever since I can remember: The fans and media in this country are obsessed with players' club form. There is far too much concern with how a player is doing at club level. We pay no attention to the old adage; form is temporary, class is permanent. It's completely different on the continent. In other countries they understand that there is a big difference between international and domestic football. Once a player makes it at international level abroad, that's it, he stays in the squad until his mid-thirties. Look at the likes of Giroud and Griezmann for France. If they were English, no way we would still be picking them for the national squad. Because, you know, club form. - Giroud would have been dropped seven or eight years ago, when he was playing crap for Chelsea. - Griezmann had a poor season in 21-22, and yet in the 2022 World Cup was France's best player when they beat England. This for me is why England will never reach their full potential. Far too much tinkering based on who's the most in-form player for their club. Of course it shouldn't be ignored, but it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all like it is in this country.
Based on this performance I cannot see Belgium getting through (unless they get an equaliser). EDIT: Lukaku just scored EDIT 2: Disallowed.
Why Openda spent so long on the bench only the Belgium coach knows. His pace has terrified Slovakia. Should have been on way earlier.
Very poor from Belgium. Well done Slovakia! With both favourites to finish in the top 2 losing, the group is wide open.
I'd like to point out that France haven't looked particularly impressive tonight. But they're winning. This is very similar to the England game last night.
England weren’t horrid, and they got the job done, which is the key thing in the group games. I think the issue was (it certainly was for me) that you could see repetition of the same failings in game management that have been our undoing since game one under GS, and have prevented us so far winning some winnable titles. It’s like what was happening with Russell, when he refused to change what he was doing, and it was screwing us. Once he learned that you won’t find success against the better teams with that thinking, we improved hugely. GS doesn’t seem capable/to have learned anything from the previous failings, that you need to react quickly and decisively once a game starts going against you. Even if you’re winning.