FIFA World Cup 2018 - GROUP G [Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England - 18/23/24/28 June] **spoilers**
- Thread starter Cosimo
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We looked amazing until Dele got injured and we lost our creative spark - Tunisia were right, Dele was our most damaging player. In the opening half, he was intrinsic in all of our best moves. He made runs behind and played in Lingard and Sterling.
Kane scored a shedload at spurs playing alone up top. Sterling cramps his space and does nothing; we need someone playing wider and running behind the defence (a bit like Son does). Rashford would be perfect for that and should start over Sterling. Although Lingard fluffed his lines tonight, I thought he did well and played some intelligent passes.
I hope Walker starts carrying the ball out of defence more. The whole reason for this back three is to allow the defenders to carry the ball out of defence; we should try it more often if we are going to set up for it. Maguire looked shakey on the ball- I’d drop Cahill in and ask Stones to play the ball out on the left side, with Walker on the right of the three.
Kane scored a shedload at spurs playing alone up top. Sterling cramps his space and does nothing; we need someone playing wider and running behind the defence (a bit like Son does). Rashford would be perfect for that and should start over Sterling. Although Lingard fluffed his lines tonight, I thought he did well and played some intelligent passes.
I hope Walker starts carrying the ball out of defence more. The whole reason for this back three is to allow the defenders to carry the ball out of defence; we should try it more often if we are going to set up for it. Maguire looked shakey on the ball- I’d drop Cahill in and ask Stones to play the ball out on the left side, with Walker on the right of the three.
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And his arm was swinging round at head level because...
It wasn't.
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Well for 20 minutes we were, rest probably not, could have easily been 3 or 4 up at half time too.
Because his biceps are as big as footballs so that's the normal resting position of his arms.
The replay does clearly show that he's virtually standing still, and the Tunisian guy runs up and plants his neck into his arm.
If I hold my arms up and you run fell pelt into them... then you're a daft bugger. Or you're looking for a pen. The way he drops like a sack of spuds screaming "mama" and clutching his hair extensions seals the deal.
Sterling was worse than awful. He was breaking down every England move and giving the ball straight to the opposition. Should have been wearing a white shirt.he was awful though.
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We've never been great against teams like Tunisia that sit back and spend a lot of time defending. Getting a win (albeit a bit scrappy) is a good result for us.
Against a better team people like Sterling will have more space and that's when he's most lethal. We've got a decent amount of pace in the team and I don't see us getting hammered by a good team. Speaking of which no one has looked that great, based on first games I don't see a team that'll comfortably beat us other than maybe Spain.
Loftus-Cheek looked good when he came on and I was pleased with Rashfords cameo, getting out of this group shouldn't be a problem.
Against a better team people like Sterling will have more space and that's when he's most lethal. We've got a decent amount of pace in the team and I don't see us getting hammered by a good team. Speaking of which no one has looked that great, based on first games I don't see a team that'll comfortably beat us other than maybe Spain.
Loftus-Cheek looked good when he came on and I was pleased with Rashfords cameo, getting out of this group shouldn't be a problem.
Sterling is most lethal when he's raising the blood pressure of England supporters
But the ref had already blown up, so the VAR team had plenty of time to look at them.
It was a penalty. I didn't think so at first, but the replay shows he caught their player with his arm. Did he mean to? No. Was their player creative in getting fouled? Yes. But an arm across the face, in the area and metres away from the referee is most likely going to be a penalty.
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First 20 mins we were great.
Then we deflated, but.....
the first game is always so nervy for all team - look at the big hitters so far.
Brazil - draw
Argentina - draw
Spain / Portugal - draw
Germany - Lost
I'm taking positives from the game and that is we didnt give up, even towards the end we played with passion, the play style was slow at times, but to be honest seeing those midges flying about I wouldn't want to play with them.
Then we deflated, but.....
the first game is always so nervy for all team - look at the big hitters so far.
Brazil - draw
Argentina - draw
Spain / Portugal - draw
Germany - Lost
I'm taking positives from the game and that is we didnt give up, even towards the end we played with passion, the play style was slow at times, but to be honest seeing those midges flying about I wouldn't want to play with them.
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Watching it back on the highlights, Kane’s winner was a much better finish than I first thought. Very clever.
lol what
We did unlock the defence on numerous times, its just the finishing was poor, Kane got two goals at his first world cup hardly a shocker!
Excluding the first 10-15 minutes we spent the entire time playing the ball amongst the defence, slowly, getting nowhere!
As for Kane, do you honestly think 2 shots in 90 minutes is a good return against opposition of that quality?
Yes scoring from those 2 chances is great but I watched him a lot in the 2nd half while England were attempting to break the Tunisians down and he was just stood still - you can say its all about the service but no movement doesn't give the midfielders much of a target to ping passes into!
I thought the midfield were very good but there was nothing in front of or behind them for the majority of the time.
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Yes 2 goals is a good return... The system that we play means that Kane should be one of the more static players in the side along with the holding midfield... Everyone else i.e the 3 CBs, the 2 wing backs, the 2 attacking midfielders and the second forward (Sterling) is expected to be far more dynamic and fluid... Basically the system is designed to carve out chances for Kane via crosses, through balls, and central creativity/pressure along with general dynamism and movement from the rest of the team. You create a chance for Kane and odds on he will put it away which is exactly why he is in the team and why we play that formation
Our worse players tonight were Sterling by a mile, Ali after he played injured for most of the match, Young as he has clearly lost his ability to beat a man which is why he is in the team as his defending is bang average.
Lingard did some great things but his finishing is bobbins but we probably don't have any other options.
Repalce Young for Rose, Sterling for Rashford, Against a better team (Belgium) put Dyer in for Henderson, Hopefully Ali recovers else you gamble on Loftus....
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double post
I thought it was a very fair rugby tackle, not high, arms well wrapped around opponent, nothing a rugby ref would have blown for.
In football however its a clear penalty, and verging on a deliberate professional foul needing a red card.
Hopefully the team do not go out against Panama thinking, "this will be easier than Tunisia" and back off slightly.
They need to go out even more aggressive and keep the aggression up for the full 90 minutes and not ease back through a chunk of the second half again, then we should get a comfortable win, and get closer to Belgium on goal differnec
Then we shoudl be ok and get through the group even after a right royal stuffing by Belgium, which is now a forgone the way Belgium played the other night.
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Sterling is being hung out to dry for me. As a Liverpool fan theres nothing id like to do more then bash Sterling however Kane didnt help him out at all last night. His movement when we were breaking was absolutely awful, no one gave Sterling any options half the time and he was constantly having to pass it back or make something of nothing which ultimately means he lost the ball.
As for Dier coming in for Henderson...why? Henderson played well.