For some reason a whole section of Twitter is angry that Trippier is starting Unsurprisingly they all seem to be Saltypool fans...
England look a bit short of something in midfield, ultimately I suspect that Henderson and Rice are too similar and that pairing one of them with someone like Winks might elicit more movement. I would say that, though.
Trippier still looks crap to me and all the commentators think the sun shines etc. Too many England passes going astray.
Roy Keane just summed it up - the midfield pivot might as well be sat in the studio and a few others have been poor as well. Need more movement and directness on the ball in midfield. Defence look worryingly vulnerable from set pieces too.
While I'm on a roll. Sterling is much improved in the last year now that Pep has taught him the art of diving and how to carry out nasty tackles while looking innocent.
Balance of the team all wrong really and England never got into the game. You can get away with playing a limited set of CMs when you’re playing 3 at the back with CBs good on the ball, but when you only have two and one of them is Michael Keane then they’re not going to carry the ball out and it’s not going to work.
Hard to find the words to describe how awful Henderson was. Also the instant the Czech player went down in injury time I said "this time isn't going to be added on", and it wasn't. Why does added time never seem to get time added?
Defence all over the place. Holding midfielders not doing their job. No creativity in midfield. Nobody able to control the ball and dictate play. However potent the front three look against poor teams, there's little to suggest England are among the favourites. How long before the PL is back?
Keane, Henderson, Rice, Rose, Mount and Sancho were all poor tonight. Rice and Henderson together in CM was painful viewing, Mount and Sancho struggled to get involved and if we can`t find a better centre half than Keane we are in trouble when it comes to the big games.
Rice is more or less a carbon copy of Dier so it’s no surprise he and Henderson looked poor together, zero creativity. If England had a Modric/ KdB/ Fabregas type in that middle of the park, we’d look ten times better. I don’t really blame Southgate for playing them though because there aren’t many/ any better other options: Barkley - a stepover or two isn’t creativity. Winks - will keep possession in own half but can’t create. If RLC could get fit he might provide a bit of life but he seems like he’s going down the Wilshere route of becoming best friends with the physios. Dier - older Rice (albeit I think better when fully fit). Shelvey - can’t seem to get in the Newcastle side which says it all. Longstaff(s) - not seen enough to judge. Cook - showed some early promise but has only recently returned after being out for roughly a year. Hughes - seems to be losing his place at Watford. None of those fill you with any real excitement other than a fit RLC.
