Rammy03

Russia have been very disappointing

Thank God

50 minutes ago, ziggyram59 said:

Yes without a doubt, obviously got to fancy France as a strong contender. Think England might go out in last 16 if they win there group because they meet 2nd in group F which could be Germany or Portugal. 

We have to beat a 'big nation' at some point. This could be the year

2 hours ago, Alpha said:

England would ask far more from Italy though. We've only seen how good Italy are going forward. Their left side has had total freedom and even though Spinazzola or Insigne could be MotM they were wasteful.

Turkey couldn't even make a decent set piece. 

Exactly I'm not sure whether Italy were that good, Turkey were so poor. Didn't create a single chance all game. No idea what to do when they had the ball. Couldn't defend either. Just awful. Italy's centre backs had literally nothing to do all game. Turkey didn't expose their lack of pace in midfield or defence. When Italy face a team who can actually play, we will see. They're a good side no doubt but there's no reason why England couldn't beat them.

1 hour ago, Bald Eagle's Barmy Army said:

For weeks we've been told there's nothing in the data to show that we need to keep restrictions going.

Yes cases have risen but they always would do when hospitality opened indoors but people going into hospital is still flat and below what the models were expecting 3 days before an announcement on the 14th June. 

Any other than lifting restrictions on the 21st June and people will be even further than the end of their tether 

Let's just stop all this BS and get on with our lives.

Sick of this pathetic government. We've had both jabs now let us live.

18 hours ago, TheAllestreeRam said:

Our problem is with recruitment but we are trying to solve it with the academy, where as I think fixing the recruitment is the answer rather than gambling on consistently producing great players in decent numbers consistently to pay the bills and get us promoted, it would be great to be wrong though. I guess it depends on where you want to make your gamble. 

Totally agree. The academy players have been pushed forwards over the last two seasons because of our failings in senior level recruitment. It's no coincidence that Mel said he wasn't putting any more money in, we started seeing loads of academy players in the team. We need to address the recruitment problem properly otherwise we will never get anywhere.

48 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

All valid points.

However, I'd argue the players we've got at our disposal now are much better than we had a year ago.

• Grealish has by all accounts been outstanding this season and has managed to force his way into international contention.
• Foden has had his breakthrough season and is now recognised as a world-class talent.
• Bellingham has obviously developed massively due to his age, but also due to going from the Championship to the Champions League.
• Mount has stepped up his game to become one of the best in the Premier League.
• Chillwell and Shaw are both regarded as being in a better place than they were a year ago.

Yes I'd agree with that. I think we've got some fantastic attacking players. We now have the level of creativity required. I just worry about us as a unit. It's looked a bit disjointed. Hopefully we can establish a starting side and get playing with fluidity.

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

Yep! Will Southgate have the guts to go for it? Could be his only really chance...

I hope so. Our best players are attack minded. Let's just play to our strengths rather than playing more defenders to compensate our lack of serious quality at the back. Doing that will almost certainly kill our chances. 

We should be able to outscore any team on our day. That's the way we've got to play.

I can't complain if England go out of the tournament having really gone for it but just getting picked off at the back. You can imagine the outrage if we go out having played 5 at the back with two defensive midfielders.

16 minutes ago, Gaspode said:

Really can't see us getting out of the group stages...

I don't know if you're joking or not.

But come on, even though as England fans we like to he pessimistic, we are getting out of the group. Remember that only 8 teams will get knocked out. Eight. 4 out of the 6 teams who finish third will make it through.

It is almost impossible for England to not make it to the last 16 in this tournament.

5 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Most teams are lucky if they’ve got one game changer, we’ve got half a squad full of players who could create that goal out of nowhere

But you've got to play these players in a team and formation which allows them to do it. We can't play 5 at the back with two defensive midfielders.

7 hours ago, Jourdan said:

The problem we have is that we have been too experimental. We have given out caps too freely. We’ve not really zoned in on who we are and what we are good at. We’ve not focused on building partnerships and a sense of identity and structure.

I've been thinking exactly this.

Had the euros happened last year like they were supposed to, I would have been more confident because we had an identity  and more of a recognised  starting eleven. And let's not forget we were actually playing well. We beat Spain and Croatia after the world cup and demolished the likes of the Czech Republic and Montenegro 5-0 and 7-0 respectively. 

Since then we've brought many more players into the squad and played so many different teams and formations to the point where nobody knows what's happening. Now we're scraping past teams like Romania. We looked very poor in the recent Nations League, finishing 3rd behind Denmark.

We have more questions than answers. 

Norwich have been able to do it quite successfully over the last few years but they recruit really well on the senior front and so are able to create a genuinely good team. 

Worried me for a second there

3 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

I don’t see your point. “They are squad players.” Yes they are. What’s you’re point? They’re not likely to be in the staring 11. There’s a fair few that will probably never kick a ball, unless we’re clear in the group after 2 games. 

some are mediocre, no doubt, but we do have probably the deepest squad of 26 in the whole tournament. Our starting 11 might not quite be the best, but our squad is up there with the best. 

My starting 11 would be something like

Rashford               Kane               Sterling

Grealish                 Rice             Mount

Chilwell      Maguire      Stones        Walker

                             Pickford

I have tried to get our best players into a side. I appreciate Rashford is out of sorts but you could easily put Sancho or Foden in there. My point is that I would be concerned if the likes of Coady or Phillips are playing because I don't think they're good enough to win the European Championships. 

20 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Pretty controversial to say White, Saka, Bellingham aren't up to it at this level. White played well in his few England appearances, I thought Bellingham was our best player in his start the other night and looked good when he came on vs Romania, and Saka scored and played pretty well as well as playing well this season for Arsenal. 

White has played well but we gave away a lot of chances. Johnstone made some terrific saves. Bellingham did okay, Saka did well for Arsenal who had a shocking season. Phillips hasn't pulled up any trees in an England shirt. I'm just saying at the elite level, these players are average. There's a lot of mediocrity starting to creep in and people are accepting it. They may be ready to start in major tournaments in a few years time, but not yet in my opinion. They are squad players. I want us to field a side that I know will compete with the world champions. 

57 minutes ago, Rample said:

Last couple of friendlies are the first time I've watched a full England match since Croatia, and first time I've paid any attention to a few players as I don't really follow top flight football much these days.

For saying we are somewhat of a favourite, far too many players look off the standard to be playing at top tournament level.

Thankfully a lot of the players who played in those friendlies will not be playing in the tournament, at least I'd hope not. 

Mings, Godfrey, White, Coady, Phillips, Saka, Bellingham, Ward Prowse are all not up to this level at the moment and shouldn't be playing. 

56 minutes ago, uttoxram75 said:

I just assume Southgate will err on the side of safety like every England manager since 1970 and we'll lose. We just never seem to have a manager with the gonads to go for it when it matters.

 

 

Blame the FA for appointing the managers. They are clueless

51 minutes ago, DCFClks said:

I'm not sure how you've interpreted Cocu's quote as calling him lazy, it probably has more to do with the fact he isn't a big target man, which was what they wanted at the time.

I interpreted it as, the club is a bad state financially and so we have to ship out players. Which I believe is a factor in why we got rid of Malone, Bennett, Zoon etc. We never replaced them either.

50 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

German U21s looking a bit good against the Dutch. Two up after only 8 minutes!

England U21 would be there if they had a competent manager

I would've taken Ward prowse over saka 

Find all the meltdown over who hasn't been picked hilarious. These players were hardly going to make a difference anyway. As long as he selects the likes of Grealish, I'm happy. 

45 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

You'll be needing to take some punts then mate. Any player even from a lower league who demonstrably shows all those qualities will probably be beyond us. 

Sort of ollie Watkins styleee. 

We should demand better recruitment then. There are ways to do it without significant funds. 

18 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

What are you expecting bud? Genuine question... 

Not expecting much but that doesn't change my opinion on those players. I want us to be signing players with potential who not only have the ability but have the right character to go on and play at a higher level. Of course sometimes you need the odd experienced pro for free on a 1 or 2 year deal. But those players listed above, no thanks.