They call him the Yorkshire Pirlo in Leeds
When he played for Leeds against Everton this season it was like seeing Scholes back on the pitch
England - Euro 2021 Discussion | FA chairman: Southgate to be offered new contract until Euro 2024
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They call him the Yorkshire Pirlo in Leeds
When he played for Leeds against Everton this season it was like seeing Scholes back on the pitch
Rice was genuinely completely anonymous, I’m not sure the commentator even mentioned his name tonight.
Now I’ve said this he probably didn’t even play.
He plays for Villa.
I think Sancho is a bigger talent and a far more established player. He has more tools to his game right now. I'd play him over Foden who did very little today barring one shot
At one point, I wasn't sure he was playing. We need someone better on the ball and not a truck infornt of our back 4.
Put it this way, that performance didn’t convince me that I wanted him at United
I definitely don't want him at United. We need players who can pass the ball. We already have Fred and Mctominay who can't. Phillips looked the better player of the two.Put it this way, that performance didn’t convince me that I wanted him at United
Yeah I agree with you, though I'm not sure it's a good thing overall that he's the one who stood out the most, given the attacking talent we have available.
Has anyone made the "Southgate should stop winding people up" thread?
Sterling is so underated. He'd been an integral part of two title winning teams often scoring loads of goals in those seasons. He's been a superb player for City whose had a dip in form recently. He's far more established and proven, than the likes of Foden, Mount and Grealish. Didn't surprise me than he was miles better than Foden and Mount today with the former being quite average and one note while Sterling was dynamic and a threat.
Should goalposts be made of rubber?
Gary Neville waxing lyrical about Southgate on ITV
Doesn't surprise me. Most of the pundits are blowing smoke up his arse.
what Should he have said?
I think a lot of people have underestimated the result today.
I'm of the opinion England were fine today and that you can do a lot worse in tournament football than to set up a solid, conservative team, but I didn't see much to mark Southgate's management out today. He had Trips doing nothing special, absolutely zero overlapping and Kane dropping deeper than Jacques Cousteau to no effect, so the way the pundits seem to be hailing a masterclass has got me scratching my head a bit.
He was pushed down the pecking order in many people's line-ups because his form for City had almost fallen off a cliff in 2021. I hear you about his experience and being established. I think there is something to be said about his mental strength, but I don't think he was being underrated as such. Other players just come into the tournament in much better form and most people preferred them. Pleased for him though. He played better today than he has for City at any point this year.
Exactly. It was hardly an inspiring performance to give the nation hope we can go far. It was a rather boring performance.
Will Grealish start a game (a non dead rubber) at this Euros?
My guess would be no.
Personally, I think he should be ahead of Mount... Nothing against Mount but Grealish is just a better player.
There was a moment in the second half where Mount turned, went on a run, got fouled and the commentary team wet themselves over it, and I'm thinking... Grealish does that 3 or 4 times per game.
My guess would be no.
Personally, I think he should be ahead of Mount... Nothing against Mount but Grealish is just a better player.
There was a moment in the second half where Mount turned, went on a run, got fouled and the commentary team wet themselves over it, and I'm thinking... Grealish does that 3 or 4 times per game.
Watched the first 20 minutes and England were all over Croatia just like the SF, excellent pressing and a few chances to score.
Only turned back a few times after as got engrossed in French open final given how the first two sets went but seems things went a bit flat and some of England's flaws were apparent?
Still that's a decent win in the end and a clean sheet. Croatia aren't the same force as three years ago but still have good players in final third but didn't seem to create much so good nulification of tier b nation from much criticised defence.
Only turned back a few times after as got engrossed in French open final given how the first two sets went but seems things went a bit flat and some of England's flaws were apparent?
Still that's a decent win in the end and a clean sheet. Croatia aren't the same force as three years ago but still have good players in final third but didn't seem to create much so good nulification of tier b nation from much criticised defence.
Think Southgate got a bit spooked about the Croatia midfield today...he should be starting v Scotland I think.
There was a Villa player in the starting eleven tonight. Admittedly he shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, but there you go.
If not the Villa player, it would have been Coady. Same thing goes for Kalinga Phillips, either an unfit Henderson or a 17 year old Bellingham. England has competition in the attacking places, as a result, he wasn't picked.
Sancho obviously should be starting ahead of Foden, but the hype around Foden is unreal. No question Grealish should be ahead of Mount also.
Rice is everything his doubters think he is, a Morgan Schneiderlin copy.
Lingard just seems like a properly properly great lad. Such a shame so many of the Utd fanbase have it in for him.
I was definitely wrong about Phillips, he was incredible. Still don't believe in this 'Southgate's choices have been vindicated!' stuff though. Croatia were so poor. That game was there for the taking and after the goal our midfield was popping it about nicely, in complete control. No no no! We cannot have that! Gareth steps in, takes off Foden and Kane and leaves us with Sterling and Rashford on at the same time and we literally never got the ball back after that. Trippier did ok, but what because we won 1-0 it was now the 'right' choice to not field an actual quality LB?
I get it's the first game, it was hot, but we should be doing better if Croatia are gonna be that poor. You're not safe at 1-0 up, one mistake away from dropping 2 points. I'm not just being negative for the sake of it, its just painful watching when we do actually have the players can keep the ball for long time now, we saw it after the goal.
I get it's the first game, it was hot, but we should be doing better if Croatia are gonna be that poor. You're not safe at 1-0 up, one mistake away from dropping 2 points. I'm not just being negative for the sake of it, its just painful watching when we do actually have the players can keep the ball for long time now, we saw it after the goal.
Said before but if southgate doesn't go with wide players that can get behind the defence like sancho, sterling or rashford, then you have to wonder if it would be better playing without kane up top because his way of playing is not going to be as effective with attacking players that look to drop in the midfield area looking for the ball much like kane does.
And people should maybe start asking themselves why this is the case. Call me biased if you want but having seen so much of him at both Club and Nation level, they just don´t feel like the same players and I don´t just mean the sheer quality of the performances.
The biggest differences are his approaches to the game. Some differences are of tactical nature like far less roaming on the field (the offensive midfielder at Dortmund interchange positions a lot to be less predictable) but others are harder to explain. While at Dortmund he always played with the desire to make as much of an impact on the game as possible, in the majority of the England matches he played like someone who tried to make as few mistakes as possible. You can also see this in the offensive stats all across the board (shots, key passes, dribblings), not just the successful ones but also the attempts. If you would just watch games in the English shirt, you would not think that he is a skilled dribbler with strong close control, a whole lot of trickery and a very good eye for the final pass as he brings himself in so few situations where he can actually show that.
If you stip away his often times unpredictable style and strengths in key passing and 1v1, the creative footballer Jadon Sancho starts to look fairly ordinary really fast.
I don´t know why Sancho plays with such a small amount of confidence for England. If I would have to take a guess, he looks like a player who does not feel backed by his coach and harmstrings hiimself as a result. Looking at his match history with England and how a drop from the starting line up after a single mediocre game was not a rare occurance there might be something to it. You can´t build up a young player if you don´t allow him to make mistakes. Maybe Southgate does not feel the need to do that given the quality in the English offensive department and will be proven right with good results largely without Sanchos influence. Maybe it will backfire and not utilising Sanchos qualities to its fullest extend will leave them short of offensive edge. Only time will tell.
Same, was one of the better players. I was fuming that he started Phillips and Trippier, and kind of Sterling. It paid off today but how sustainable is it? Phillips in particular had a good game.
I'm not really sure what people wanted in regards to Phillips' position? The alternatives are a not even half fit Henderson or fresh-out-of-diapers Bellingham.
So I missed the game today but is it fair to say we're doing what we always do? Winning early matches without being massively convincing, while the media build up ridiculous expectations leading to abject misery when we inevitably go out in the quarters/semis?
Phillips played well no doubt about it. He's a DM though, and he was higher up the pitch than Kane at times today. For me it's Phillips or Rice. Not both together. It worked today but is it going to work all the time? Bellingham for sure, or drop Mount a bit deeper and get Grealish into the team for me.
I like shutting down England as much as the next hater. But the performance today is exactly what you need to do in a tournament. Start slow. Eek out games. Don't read anything into the performances until the last 16.
Phillips had a great game today but against Scotland and Czech Republic you feel England should only have either him or Rice as DM and play 4 attacking players behind Kane.
Exactly this, he is DM. He was played as a safety net against the Croatia midfield today but when you have more creative players on the bench, it makes sense to play them.
We did well but its getting overblown a tad. Some weird selections and Croatia were awful. Not sure what Southgate's actual preferred 11 is.
Well, it was the first time EVER that England has won an opening game in a Euro tournament. So in fact this was the most inspiring and hope-giving performance the Three Lions have ever given you.
You'd think that'd be enough to be considered okayish, but England fans will be England fans.
Not that I'm not an England fan too, but you know what I mean.
Well, it was the first time EVER that England has won an opening game in a Euro tournament. So in fact this was the most inspiring and hope-giving performance the Three Lions have ever given you.
You'd think that'd be enough to be considered okayish, but England fans will be England fans.
Not that I'm not an England fan too, but you know what I mean.
i don’t think a selection of caftards is a good indication of England fans.
everyone I know thinks it’s a really good result, gives us something to build on - and we’ve got players who can come into the team and perhaps improve in.
great start.
this place, as we’ve seen when United play is always negative. It’s not indicative of England fans.
We've never won our first game at a Euro Championships before today so it's most definitely not "doing what we always do"!