At times PLT has defended some aspects of the national team to the point of being a bit daft. Joe Hart. I have to agree with him though about all this England bashing nonsense. Some big nations have either lost or drawn against some pretty average( on paper) teams in their opening games yet some( so called) Englishmen take delight in slating our boys after a good start to the tournament. All this club before country smacks of trying to sound like a Man Utd or Liverpool fan. It really isn’t that difficult to want both your club and country to do well. Honest.
Thought it was a good solid if slightly nervy performance by England. Dont forget Tunisia are a half decent side ( drew with Portugal 2-2 in pre tournament game after being 2-0 down and Spain only just beat them 1-0 with an 84th minute winner). Tournament football is totally different from qualifying games and priority is to get points on the board early, take the pressure off and ease into the tournament which England have done. Yes there were some nervy moments during the game due to inexperience and possibly the magnitude of the event but no one team can boss a game for the full 90 minutes ( just ask Brazil, Germany, Portugal, Spain & Argentina). The opposition are always going to get chances and have periods of possesion, the key is to minimise their chances when they do which mostly England did. This is still a young team who are gelling together nicely a a half decent unit, okay we dont have the experience in the squad like previous tournaments but what we do have is a no fear way of playing and when we hit the right notes we can give anyone a run for their money. The lads will have got the tournament nerves out the way now and have a solid platform to build upon, hopefully we can beat Panama, which will boost confidence immensley and settle in to the job when the tougher games come around. This is a team for the future and Southgate is doing a good job o putting the building blocks in place, he may well find out who is and isnt capable of performing to the standard required and hopefully he has the balls to make changes if neccessary. Good solid start and a confidence boosting result,more of the same please next time.
It’s probably not difficult for most, particularly those that get carried away after an incredibly unconvincing win against a very poor side. I just aren’t bothered by a team filled with players from clubs around the country that mean absolutely nothing to me. I’d rather watch my lads team play if I’m honest. It’s guaranteed to be more interesting and mean a hell of a lot more to me. Then you have international players (Not just England) playing for a country that they qualify for on a residency basis only. Totally wrong. Oh, and the hooligan element.
2 goals 2 clear pens not given 4 should of scored chances Tunisia only chance a pen Could of easily been 5 or 6-1. And people at work saying we are ****. We are not great or **** but **** me some people are painful.
So why bother posting on this thread then? Stop being a miserable negative git just for the sake of it.
Before the game , the general feeling seemed to be not much expected of this English side just be happy to get out the group , let's just get behind them and see what happens . As the game went on tho you could sense the negativity growing . Even the commentator saying you go rate the players online , I don't expect you will give high ratings . I just thought **** off. Why can't we look at the positives? First 25 minutes we looked as dangerous going forward as we have for a long time , we have a striker who can score in a World Cup. We kept going despite being robbed of 2 clear penalties and having a debateable one against us . And barring a very unlikely catastrophe on Sunday we will actually be qualified after 2 games for first time I can remember . I'd rather think like that then analyse every misplaced pass , and i am usually one of the national teams biggest critics .
Not very often you see something like this, from the match report of our game, in Der Spiegel... please log in to view this image
Btw I swapped over so I had English commentators for this game, Martin Keown and someone else. Keown....jesus christ. The moaning....constant moaning, especially during the second half. Went on and on about how **** Tunisia were "Expected a talented team". Their man man is heading for League One, how good can they be..... And it's not like English created chance after chance in the second half (altho you should've been up by a couple after the first) It was more like having an old and bitter supporter (which I guess he is) as the expert than anything else.
My only regret is not watching with the 5 Live commentary, I would've loved to hear Waddle have a mental breakdown on air.
We beat a team, albeit with a late goal, 9 places below us in the rankings. France beat a team, with a late goal, 35 places below them, Germany lost to a team 14 places below them and Argentina drew with a team from a country with a smaller population than greater Hull who are ranked 17 places below them. Only in this country do we, after a win, have moaning, miserable twats going on about how ****e we are.
Yep that was Keown. He was pretty useless and threw in these words to make it sound like he knew what he was talking about. Could do better.