I think Southgate got it right on the night and they got the result they wanted.....I think they would have prefered a draw but that is the risk you take.....But at the end of the day it is what it is.....Now England can prepare for Columbia who are a good team but are very beatable and then the Swiss ......I think England have a very realistic chance of getting to the final.......It was not a bad day at the office it was a tactical day at the office imo..
The only thing it demonstrated was that Belgium 2nd XI is slightly better than England 2nd XI. What a strange game to have to manage. Both managers played all the players who haven't yet played yet (apart from the 2nd and 3rd string keepers). Pickford still doesn't look entirely convincing. TBH I don't think it mattered to either Belgium or England whether they won, drew or lost. Watched Colombia earlier against Senegal and they weren't great. Japan are hardly the fancied team in the round of 16. Belgium and England should both fancy their chances of progressing. Not sure that Brazil will beat Mexico either. No surprise that Phil was backing Belgium . It's a pretty open competition and I think we'll see a few surprises in the RO16.
“Marcus] Rashford's dropping in, but can we get [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek in that little number ten position and then who picks him up, the back three or the midfield.” Apparently, Ryan Giggs’ use of the pronoun ‘we’ when referring to England has raised a few eyebrows.
Why would I support such an over hyped, over the top, plain boring team such as Ingerland? When I can support a cracking progressive team like Belgium, with a far superior manager and coaching staff, Columbia should see off Ingerland, and silence all the hype!!.......
Yes, Belgium are one of the favourites and rightly so. But neither Belgium or England have had a decent test yet in this competition (1st XIs). And a similar Belgium team managed to lose to Wales in the last Euros. I do think this England team shows a BIT of promise though. I dare say you will be dancing naked round north Gower when they lose though.
Someone is believing all the media hype I see, to be fair they played well against a l1 and a l2 side, they issue will be when they come up against any side with a tidy front line as a back 3 of walker, Stones and Maguire is going to get roasted.. but listening to the media it just puts you off ingerland it is nauseating to listen to. as for Belgium losing to Wales they did, but not under the manager that is there now. They look a totally different side under Roberto.
I've followed England through enough major tournaments not to believe any media hype actually. As I said, they haven't had a test yet. May lose to Colombia, maybe not.
In my humble opinion, neither Belgium nor England can be judged properly yet ...... Tunisia and Panama are as you say League 1 and/or League 2 standard, and when England & Belgium played each other, it was basically two second teams facing each other. Both could be over-hyped - we will have a better idea after they’ve played the Japanese and the Colombians
Belgium look a far different proposition under Martinez, and if he can get the second team moving the ball the way they did last night against England, what will his first team achieve? Martinez achieved a miracle with average players at best here in Swansea, what will he now achieve with top quality players? There is no getting away from who played the beautiful game last night, England were lucky to losse by just one goal. Englands first team would have not done much better last night either........
Yes Rashford did miss a sitter, Fellaini missed a sitter too, and there where two other goal mouth scrambles and panic as England tried to clear their lines, which Belgium should have buried, England had a good goal threat in Vardy, but he looked subdued last night.
Taff sorry cant say that he wouldn't of missed it, I have seen him miss some sitters this year and who would have said Messi would miss a pen. Probably wouldn't have is the best we can say.
England Will beat Columbia no problem at all and i can see them reaching the semi's and maybe the final, They could have beaten Belgium if they really wanted too but that would not be beneficial to them and Southgate and the fans were the more happiest at the end of the game......Well thought out tactics by Southgate....
