England v Bulgaria

[cannable]

15 hours ago, Andicis said:

So when do we get to criticise Southgate after the World Cup semi? Does he get to use that as a defense forever? 

Thought Southgate cost us that game to be honest and would have taken a hammering had he been any other England manager. 

If I could tell you exactly where Croatia were hurting us after 10 pints then why couldn’t he do anything to stop it? I.E. drop Alli in, shift Lingard and Sterling wide and stop their full-backs overloading us.

[cannable]

15 hours ago, Andicis said:

His side selection today was bizarre, Trippier over Trent Alexander Arnold for one.

Trippier’s been sensational for Atleti 

[TimRam]

Glad Sterling has come good...I was his biggest critic during World cup when he was definately a weak point.

[Andicis]

1 hour ago, cannable said:

Trippier’s been sensational for Atleti 

I think Trent is the best right back in the world currently.

[WhiteHorseRam]

Bulgaria .... Rotherham in disguise. England should have got 10.

[G STAR RAM]

1 hour ago, Andicis said:

I think Trent is the best right back in the world currently.

How many right backs do you watch on a regular basis to come to this conclusion? 

[G STAR RAM]

1 hour ago, TimRam said:

Glad Sterling has come good...I was his biggest critic during World cup when he was definately a weak point.

I will hold my hands up and thought he would never be world class, glad that he is currently making me eat my words. Let's hope he can carry it on to the big stage

 

[Andicis]

12 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

How many right backs do you watch on a regular basis to come to this conclusion? 

Christ on a bike. So I have to watch every single right back to comment on it? That's a ridiculous comment. Am I allowed to say Messi is the best player in the world, or because I haven't watched every single attacker play I'm not allowed to draw that conclusion? 

[Sexydadbod]

1 hour ago, Andicis said:

I think Trent is the best right back in the world currently.

He’s certainly up there, I personally think Kimmich is a bit better because he’s better defensively and his crossing is more consistent, although he’s been playing more in midfield lately. Trent’s crossing when he’s on form is wonderful but on other occasions he tends to overhit it a lot and can be targeted by really quick wingers. Klopp sometimes leaves him out in important games and prefers to play Gomez there for more solidity. But I agree with you on the point that Trent should be the starting right back, he’s the best England currently has.

[Andicis]

1 minute ago, Sexydadbod said:

He’s certainly up there, I personally think Kimmich is a bit better because he’s better defensively and his crossing is more consistent, although he’s been playing more in midfield lately. Trent’s crossing when he’s on form is wonderful but on other occasions he tends to overhit it a lot and can be targeted by really quick wingers. Klopp sometimes leaves him out in important games and prefers to play Gomez there for more solidity. But I agree with you on the point that Trent should be the starting right back, he’s the best England currently has.

I prefer Trent's athleticism, Kimmich is a brilliant ball player though. He feels like he can be exploited if he comes up against a pacey winger. I think England has a wealth of good quality right backs at the moment, with AWB and Trent, both young, and both better than Trippier in my opinion. I can understand why you'd occasionally leave him out due to his age and inexperience, but he has bags of talent and potential there, good at freekicks too. 

[Sexydadbod]

3 hours ago, cannable said:

Thought Southgate cost us that game to be honest and would have taken a hammering had he been any other England manager. 

If I could tell you exactly where Croatia were hurting us after 10 pints then why couldn’t he do anything to stop it? I.E. drop Alli in, shift Lingard and Sterling wide and stop their full-backs overloading us.

Easy to say in hindsight but we probably  didn’t need to play 3 centre backs in that game . 3 centre backs against an aging Mandzukic was overkill and ironically cost us in the end because Walker kept losing his position, like for the Croatia two goals.  I appreciate it would have been difficult to leave a formation that got us to the semis, but Maguire and Stones on their own should have been enough to deal with Mandzukic’s physicality. I’d have played Loftus cheek instead of Alli too, he’s more of an orthodox centre midfielder than Alli who likes to arrive late in the box, it would have been hard to drop Lingard because he was covering so much distance. Rashford and Loftus Cheek for Walker and Alli probably would have been enough to win that match. As you say, there’s no way Vrjsalko would have attacked as much from right back, if he had to deal with Rashford on that side.

[Sexydadbod]

10 minutes ago, Andicis said:

I prefer Trent's athleticism, Kimmich is a brilliant ball player though. He feels like he can be exploited if he comes up against a pacey winger. I think England has a wealth of good quality right backs at the moment, with AWB and Trent, both young, and both better than Trippier in my opinion. I can understand why you'd occasionally leave him out due to his age and inexperience, but he has bags of talent and potential there, good at freekicks too. 

I disagree on that point but agree on the rest. Kimmich pocketed Sadio Mane pretty easily at Anfield for example whereas in the return leg when Kimmich was suspended, Mane ripped Bayern apart. it’s just what you prefer. The way England want to play, Trent and Trippier should be the right backs in the squad in my opinion because they are brilliant going forward. Walker and Awb may be physically stronger, but are a lot worse going forward. I’d play this sort of team

          Pickford

Trent  Gomez  Maguire  Chilwell

               Henderson

        Winks         Maddison

  Sterling   Kane     Rashford

A lot has been made of a lack of quality in midfield , but that midfield would be good, could perhaps change Winks’ and Henderson’s positions. The intensity of Henderson, Winks’ quality on the ball to keep it moving and the killer pass ability of Maddison.

[G STAR RAM]

5 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Christ on a bike. So I have to watch every single right back to comment on it? That's a ridiculous comment. Am I allowed to say Messi is the best player in the world, or because I haven't watched every single attacker play I'm not allowed to draw that conclusion? 

No of course you dont, it's just your opinion.

Just interested to know how much of TAA you have watched and the players that you are comparing to.

His rival for the England spot for example, Trippier, who you dont think should be playing, how many times have you seen him play since he left England?

Nothing personal but I see 'x is the best player' as being quite pointless comments unless you are doing extensive analysis of all players vying for that spot.

[Andicis]

8 minutes ago, Sexydadbod said:

I disagree on that point but agree on the rest. Kimmich pocketed Sadio Mane pretty easily at Anfield for example whereas in the return leg when Kimmich was suspended, Mane ripped Bayern apart. it’s just what you prefer. The way England want to play, Trent and Trippier should be the right backs in the squad in my opinion because they are brilliant going forward. Walker and Awb may be physically stronger, but are a lot worse going forward. I’d play this sort of team

          Pickford

Trent  Gomez  Maguire  Chilwell

               Henderson

        Winks         Maddison

  Sterling   Kane     Rashford

A lot has been made of a lack of quality in midfield , but that midfield would be good, could perhaps change Winks’ and Henderson’s positions. The intensity of Henderson, Winks’ quality on the ball to keep it moving and the killer pass ability of Maddison.

I think I'd prefer Winks as the base of midfield, that's more often where he plays for Spurs, but he really does have good quality on the ball and is a good linking midfielder for England, I think a little bit more progressive than Henderson. Maddison should really be playing, he's too good at opening up defenses to be sat on the bench I think. I'd prefer Sancho on the left to Rashford I think. He's been brilliant for Dortmund this season, and will actually stay wide and create more options to get past defenses. I know Rashford is more of an forward on the wing, but it makes us very narrow, and we could certainly do with more width. Maybe Chillwell can provide that. 

Would you take Gomez over Stones? I know Stones is error prone, but I still think he's half decent. 

I just don't think Liverpool played very well against Bayern in the first leg. It feels like Kimmich is more of a CDM type player to me than a right back.

[Andicis]

13 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

No of course you dont, it's just your opinion.

Just interested to know how much of TAA you have watched and the players that you are comparing to.

His rival for the England spot for example, Trippier, who you dont think should be playing, how many times have you seen him play since he left England?

Nothing personal but I see 'x is the best player' as being quite pointless comments unless you are doing extensive analysis of all players vying for that spot.

I watch plenty of Serie A and the Bundesliga. Can't say I'm a huge fan of La Liga though. Haven't seen Trippier play for Atletico. But is 28, he isn't going to get any better. He's coming off the back of a shocking season for Spurs where he was a liability all year round, whereas Trent just had a brilliant year. I think you should put in the young player with a huge amount of potential, rather than the known quantity. 

It's just my opinion. I have no extensive analysis, because I simply am not that interested in proving the point. I haven't seen a right back I rate more than Trent. 

[TimRam]

1 hour ago, G STAR RAM said:

I will hold my hands up and thought he would never be world class, glad that he is currently making me eat my words. Let's hope he can carry it on to the big stage

 

Works well with Kane. It's a yes from me.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

2 hours ago, Andicis said:

I prefer Trent's athleticism, Kimmich is a brilliant ball player though. He feels like he can be exploited if he comes up against a pacey winger. I think England has a wealth of good quality right backs at the moment, with AWB and Trent, both young, and both better than Trippier in my opinion. I can understand why you'd occasionally leave him out due to his age and inexperience, but he has bags of talent and potential there, good at freekicks too. 

What with Max Aarons and probably others coming up too, you have to think Bogle has no chance of getting an England cap.

[Sexydadbod]

8 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

What with Max Aarons and probably others coming up too, you have to think Bogle has no chance of getting an England cap.

Yep, currently we have Trent, Trippier, AWB, Walker at right back, then the ones just below that like Max Aarons, Reece James, Steven sessengon, Ryan fredericks.  Maitland Niles  and Walker-Peters are starting most weeks for Arsenal and spurs respectively too. Lots of options for now and the future

[Jourdan]

15 hours ago, Andicis said:

Why is the last 15 years relevant. No team from 15 years ago is the same. I look at our squad. We're better than Netherlands, Croatia, Germany and Italy. And we should outperform them based off that. You're basing your whole point off history. History has been and gone. What is now is now. I don't care how we did in the past. If we don't start winning, we've underperformed.

In your opinion, we are better. In your opinion, the past is irrelevant.

Time will tell if we are better than these teams. There isn't much of a basis to go off at this moment. The way we have matched up with some of these teams in competitive games would suggest it's fairer to say we are on a par with these teams. 

We lost v Netherlands in our last competitive game. We are 1-1-1 in recent competitive games v Croatia, for example. We haven't played Germany and Italy recently in competitive football. Let's see how our performance at Euro 2020 compares.

If you want to disregard that these teams have pedigree and have been traditionally stronger than us in the last 15 years and beyond, fine, but it's important to acknowledge that these sides still have plenty of quality to be wary of.

Croatia are perhaps dependent on their experienced players - Perisic, Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic - but always carry a threat. Netherlands are reemerging with a strong core in van Dijk, de Ligt, de Jong, Wijnaldum and Depay. Italy are enjoying a rejuvenation with a good core of young players in Donnarumma, Mancini, Romagnoli, Barella, Pellegrini, Chiesa and Belotti. Germany still have Neuer, Kroos, Kimmich, Goretzka, Reus, Sane and Gnabry to call upon.

I don't think it's as simple as saying we are better than team X, Y, Z and we should be winning tournaments. Football is never that simple, unless you are that much better than the rest, which we are not.

We have so much to contend with. The next European Championships you have France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain who will be looking to win it and you have Netherlands, Germany, Italy and ourselves all building young sides but fancying our chances too. That's before you consider any dark horses that might appear.

Realistically, we have to say let's get to the quarter finals and take it from there.

[Andicis]

4 hours ago, Jourdan said:

In your opinion, we are better. In your opinion, the past is irrelevant.

Time will tell if we are better than these teams. There isn't much of a basis to go off at this moment. The way we have matched up with some of these teams in competitive games would suggest it's fairer to say we are on a par with these teams. 

We lost v Netherlands in our last competitive game. We are 1-1-1 in recent competitive games v Croatia, for example. We haven't played Germany and Italy recently in competitive football. Let's see how our performance at Euro 2020 compares.

If you want to disregard that these teams have pedigree and have been traditionally stronger than us in the last 15 years and beyond, fine, but it's important to acknowledge that these sides still have plenty of quality to be wary of.

Croatia are perhaps dependent on their experienced players - Perisic, Modric, Rakitic, Mandzukic - but always carry a threat. Netherlands are reemerging with a strong core in van Dijk, de Ligt, de Jong, Wijnaldum and Depay. Italy are enjoying a rejuvenation with a good core of young players in Donnarumma, Mancini, Romagnoli, Barella, Pellegrini, Chiesa and Belotti. Germany still have Neuer, Kroos, Kimmich, Goretzka, Reus, Sane and Gnabry to call upon.

I don't think it's as simple as saying we are better than team X, Y, Z and we should be winning tournaments. Football is never that simple, unless you are that much better than the rest, which we are not.

We have so much to contend with. The next European Championships you have France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain who will be looking to win it and you have Netherlands, Germany, Italy and ourselves all building young sides but fancying our chances too. That's before you consider any dark horses that might appear.

Realistically, we have to say let's get to the quarter finals and take it from there.

Why should I have to mention it's my opinion? It's very clearly my opinion, it's a subjective and not a factual argument, therefore I shouldn't have to state it's my opinion beforehand when it's insinuated.

Well there is some basis to go on. How our players perform for their clubs, vs how the players of other countries perform for their clubs. Germany and Italy aren't exactly powerhouses anymore, they're both in the rebuilding phases. England has nothing to fear from either. Croatia is full of aging players who are starting to drop off. Depay isn't good enough up front and is a glaring weakness for the Netherlands. Italy don't have much world class talent within their ranks. Germany have Sane who's injured, Reus who's injury prone, a weak back four, and a midfield sorely lacking. 

France and Belgium have better squads than us, and should rightfully be contenders, but Spain, Portugal and the rest have weaker squads than us. If we're managed properly, we should be getting semis. A quarter final is a step backwards, why should we be happy with that? Isn't Southgate supposed to be progressing?