kevinhectoring

We were made to look pedestrian by the way Slovakia set up when we had deep possession. Very disciplined, energetic and organised. And GS did nothing to counter that oh except to allow his backs to give possession away by playing long balls from time to time. And up front we look pedestrian in part because Kane is well past his energetic best, because Foden can’t play with him and because Saka is doing a passable impression of Grealish at his most pointless and ineffective. Palmer changed that. And as Slovakia inevitably tired we played more effectively through their midfield

Disaster. Now Kane will start again

Who’s playing ?

Nah. Difficult pitch, wrong choice having won the toss and we only have one world class spinner. India have about 20 We all love Jos Buttler but the chances of him captaining a team that wins a major tournament are slim

Oh I hope he sticks with Foden. The courageous move would be to drop Kane though I don’t think he will. As we saw against Croatia last time, he gradually looks more and more worn out as the tournament progresses. Very surprising to see him get a full 90 mins last game

Thing is, Southgate is so flaccid he’s beginning to select the squad according to a sort of national consensus. I think we’ll therefore see Mainoo start next game and we’ll see a lot more of eg Palmer and Gordon. That team could really do things

Don’t say you bet on election dates

Nah. Loads of people in this county have a little flutter on England, as well as putting flags on their houses and cars. Just because. The bookies odds reflect the weight of money on England. The burgers of eg Slovakia don’t have the same amount of cash and nor are they bombarded with sports betting ads and nor do they have access to the platforms. It’s not a pure process

Plenty of arrrr ! moments. And grrr!! moments. and ffs !! moments. It was the ahhh ! moments that were few and far between

I was thinking of this yesterday. imo Gerrard was far from woeful tactically as surely his club career testifies. The problem was that the combined presence of Lampard and Gerrard ( our two best players for years) threw out the balance of the midfield. Butt was a great foil. If Southgate plays TAA and Bellingham in their best positions he has the same problem. (Bellingham is just beautiful to watch but I thought yesterday we’d have been better off without him 😞 )

Gallagher had a header which was a good chance but sadly his head missed the ball James Collins would have made a better fist of it

If it’s coming home we might not let it in

We fool ourselves. Our talent comprises 3 who would walk into a world XI (Foden, Bellingham, Walker), one who is brilliant only if the system is designed to accommodate his prodigious gifts (TAA), and a large bunch of excellent players who wouldn’t quite get into the French, German or Spanish sides

Siouthgate should be managing the England’s women’s team. He could lecture them empathetically on what they feel about the press coverage, the crowd reactions, the nation’s expectations and they would listen attentively and respond. He does that with the men and they think he’s weird and confusing

Depends a bit on what is meant by connection. Absent a formal connection a Middle Eastern owner might be able to persuade eg another ME entity to overpay for sponsorship. Through family pressure or political pressure or croneyism. And behind the scenes there might be a balancing payment made to compensate them.