IlsonDerby Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 England had an identity last night. Every player who came on knew what they were supposed to be doing and his decision to play players with experience of playing full back in the CB position as they had experience of defending the flanks (when WBs were marauding) was an excellent decision. It wasn't all 'sideways and backwards' as some would have you believe. It was 'forwards through the lines' or 'wide using wing backs' and then if nothing was doing they were going backwards and regrouping and starting again, it was intelligent. Paul Clement had us playing sideways and backwards, the England performance certainly wasn't like that. If we play like that at the world cup then at least we're coming home empty handed because the players are not good enough rather than because we played p*ss poorly and I can accept that. Imagine if an England manager had attempted to create an identity and way of playing with the players available in the early 2000s rather than just shoe horning in the so called best eleven... what a waste of a talented pool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 4 hours ago, rynny said: And it wasn't our strongest team out there. Very experimental, Walker at CB, Rashford and Sterling up front, Ox and Lingard as CMs, Gomez starting. There are lots of positives to take from the performance. You say they had double the amount of shots as us, most were long range efforts and the only had 1 half decent chance. My main issue lies with the fact that I didn't see many goals or creativity in that side. We scored one goal, but other than that didn't look like scoring at all to me. It almost seemed like we were playing 6 at the back with that formation, and I really wasn't a fan. Clearly others disagree with me here, however I was distinctly underwhelmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 8 minutes ago, Andicis said: My main issue lies with the fact that I didn't see many goals or creativity in that side. We scored one goal, but other than that didn't look like scoring at all to me. It almost seemed like we were playing 6 at the back with that formation, and I really wasn't a fan. Clearly others disagree with me here, however I was distinctly underwhelmed. You add Kane, Alli, Wilshere and Lallana to the team and the creativity and goals is increased. It isn't going to be enough to win the world cup, it probably isn't even enough to reach the semi finals, but it is going to be a hell of a lot better than the Euros 2 years ago, the last world cup, and we finally look like a team, not just a group of players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 2 minutes ago, rynny said: You add Kane, Alli, Wilshere and Lallana to the team and the creativity and goals is increased. It isn't going to be enough to win the world cup, it probably isn't even enough to reach the semi finals, but it is going to be a hell of a lot better than the Euros 2 years ago, the last world cup, and we finally look like a team, not just a group of players. Honestly, I thought we looked better going into the last euros than this worldcup. I was impressed when we won 3-2 in Germany. Beating an extremely weak Dutch side is nothing to write home about. Thing is, adding 4 players is changing a pretty high proportion of the squad tonight anyway, so it'll look completely different taking 4 players out and putting 4 new in. It's almost changing the entire attack of last night! Although, I'll happily see Wilshere in there instead of Henderson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 2 minutes ago, Andicis said: Honestly, I thought we looked better going into the last euros than this worldcup. I was impressed when we won 3-2 in Germany. Beating an extremely weak Dutch side is nothing to write home about. Thing is, adding 4 players is changing a pretty high proportion of the squad tonight anyway, so it'll look completely different taking 4 players out and putting 4 new in. It's almost changing the entire attack of last night! Although, I'll happily see Wilshere in there instead of Henderson. The issue with England is we try these different things in the friendlies leading up to the game then revert back to the same tried and tested that always fail with. Hopefully Southgate is brave enough to stick with this formation. How much more improved will we look with Kane instead of Rashford/Sterling, Alli instead of Lingard, Lallana instead of Ox and Wilshere instead of Henderson, you could even have add Dier as well and have your attacker and midfield as either; Dier Wilshere Alli Lallana Kane or Wilshere Dier Lallana Kane Alli It gives a lot of flexibility to the attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 2 minutes ago, rynny said: The issue with England is we try these different things in the friendlies leading up to the game then revert back to the same tried and tested that always fail with. Hopefully Southgate is brave enough to stick with this formation. How much more improved will we look with Kane instead of Rashford/Sterling, Alli instead of Lingard, Lallana instead of Ox and Wilshere instead of Henderson, you could even have add Dier as well and have your attacker and midfield as either; Dier Wilshere Alli Lallana Kane or Wilshere Dier Lallana Kane Alli It gives a lot of flexibility to the attack. That looks substantially better I have to admit. However it's unrecognisable from the squad last night. I did think last night, we had a few chances which we didn't take because we didn't have any centre forwards on. From a header for example, that went to the backpost, which I imagine Kane would have gambled on, but Rashford didn't and therefore it came to nothing. I think he can make a big difference. Our defense was solid enough if not tested, I just want to see more cohesion going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Just now, Andicis said: That looks substantially better I have to admit. However it's unrecognisable from the squad last night. I did think last night, we had a few chances which we didn't take because we didn't have any centre forwards on. From a header for example, that went to the backpost, which I imagine Kane would have gambled on, but Rashford didn't and therefore it came to nothing. I think he can make a big difference. Our defense was solid enough if not tested, I just want to see more cohesion going forward. I think that is why they started last night, give those players who are in the squad to give them a chance to stake a claim for a spot in the first 11. I think the team against Italy will be closer to the first game at the world cup than last nights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 4 minutes ago, rynny said: I think that is why they started last night, give those players who are in the squad to give them a chance to stake a claim for a spot in the first 11. I think the team against Italy will be closer to the first game at the world cup than last nights. I hope you're right. I kept finding we had quite similar players going forward, the likes of Rashford, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sterling all play in a similar way, they will try use their pace to get round a man, but all 3 lack in end product. Lallana and Alli add more balance in styles of play for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistoldPete2 Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Andicis said: My main issue lies with the fact that I didn't see many goals or creativity in that side. We scored one goal, but other than that didn't look like scoring at all to me. It almost seemed like we were playing 6 at the back with that formation, and I really wasn't a fan. Clearly others disagree with me here, however I was distinctly underwhelmed. There was a lack of cutting edge. But we did have an obvious penalty not given , would have been given if VAR was available. Poor crossing a problem, a bit like watching Derby. I would still prefer Kyle walker at full back as he is a good crosser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 4 minutes ago, PistoldPete2 said: I would still prefer Kyle walker at full back as he is a good crosser. I actually think Trippier has better delivery than Walker, but I still want to see Walker play right back as I feel his pace offers something. 5 minutes ago, PistoldPete2 said: There was a lack of cutting edge. But we did have an obvious penalty not given , would have been given if VAR was available. Poor crossing a problem, a bit like watching Derby. I agree. We should have had a penalty, but all in all we were pretty poor in the final third. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van der MoodHoover Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 Alli was rubbish when he came on last night. Why is he one of the players to come in and save us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Portugal lost 3-0 to the Dutch tonight. Maybe our performance wasn't as bad as I was making out? Seems hopeful, but I don't want to draw too many conclusions from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gritstone Ram Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I know the feeling was positive after Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scarlet Pimpernel Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 10 hours ago, Andicis said: Portugal lost 3-0 to the Dutch tonight. Maybe our performance wasn't as bad as I was making out? Seems hopeful, but I don't want to draw too many conclusions from that. Apart from the final ball and movement in the box it wasn't bad at all, it was very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuespachRam Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 7 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said: Apart from the final ball and movement in the box it wasn't bad at all, it was very good. Some people, just like the English media are only interested in beating the national team down. They were decent against Holland, not world beaters but not bad at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van der MoodHoover Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 25 minutes ago, MuespachRam said: Some people, just like the English media are only interested in beating the national team down. They were decent against Holland, not world beaters but not bad at all. Apart from Sterling. He was awful. Terrible. Should be boiled down for glue. Not fit to wear the shirt. Second touch is a tackle. Utterly brain dead. and Henderson....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViewsFromTheMiddle Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyinLiverpool Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 So who wants to be first to moan about the team? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rynny Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 4 minutes ago, AndyinLiverpool said: So who wants to be first to moan about the team? Me, friggin' Lingard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsnip Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 What's with Slaven's scalp anyway? Is it some elaborate comb-over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.