UEFA Euro 2020 Round of 16 ** spoilers ** [26th - 29th June 2021]

I'm not a Southgate fan at all and I detest 5 at the back and such negative tactics, however I didn't see much difference how we played compared to Belgium the other day who also won, it was barely spoken about how they played and the calibre of their team.
As Robbo mentioned its a results business. I'm sure we will all take wins over entertainment when it comes to National football.
 
Played the same formation as Germany didn’t we?

Only change I’d make (because I’m biased) is White in for Rice as a CDM, as he’ll make those runs forward that we seem to need based on last night. Or Henderson for Rice, I dunno, I’m just not that convinced by him.
 
The issue when you are limping through games is that usually you eventually limp out of a game. There have been very very very few teams winning major tournaments without playing really well at times. There is is a reason you can still be annoyed after winning games and its because you know that the sort of performance you just saw is not going to be enough to take you to the title.

If you could have won 3-0 and won comfortably by playing better football and starting with a better choice of players then is a 1-0 win good? Yes you need to be able to win in scrappy games when you are sub par but when you have nothing else but narrow wins to your name then its hard to see where the team is going. I hope I am proved wrong but I still don't think we won because of Southgate yesterday and I still think that against better sides who turn up against us we will really struggle.
 
chroniclard said:
Havertz, Neuer, Muller, Kroos, Werner, Kimmich, Sane, Reus, Hummels, Goretzka, Gnabry....bang average the lot of them. :cry:
Click to expand...
well Werner certainly is. They did us a huge favour leaving him on for 60+ minutes last night. He might have been good in Germany before but he's been woeful this season for Chelsea by comparison!
 
Sui said:
Played the same formation as Germany didn’t we?

Only change I’d make (because I’m biased) is White in for Rice as a CDM, as he’ll make those runs forward that we seem to need based on last night. Or Henderson for Rice, I dunno, I’m just not that convinced by him.
Click to expand...
with him and Philips on a yellow, and yellows getting cancelled after next game I'd play Henderson AND White (if white can play CDM - I thought he was more of a centre back?) or better still, having seen Ukraine last night, Henderson and an attacking mid like Mount or have Grealish and Saka in mid as part of a 4-3-3 behind Sterling, Kane and Foden. Ukraine look shaky if you keep them pressed into their end and hit them with pace and crosses in.
 
fez said:
The issue when you are limping through games is that usually you eventually limp out of a game. There have been very very very few teams winning major tournaments without playing really well at times. There is is a reason you can still be annoyed after winning games and its because you know that the sort of performance you just saw is not going to be enough to take you to the title.

If you could have won 3-0 and won comfortably by playing better football and starting with a better choice of players then is a 1-0 win good? Yes you need to be able to win in scrappy games when you are sub par but when you have nothing else but narrow wins to your name then its hard to see where the team is going. I hope I am proved wrong but I still don't think we won because of Southgate yesterday and I still think that against better sides who turn up against us we will really struggle.
Click to expand...
Strong argument to say save your big performances for the big games. They never looked in danger last night, stopped Germany’s main threat their wingbacks I’m struggling to see how we could have performed better if you exclude the first 10 mins.

They pushed forward, cb’s were brave coming out to win possession back everything you want to see if you’re committed to 5 at the back. I’m not 5 at the back either but they played the correct way last night to extract the most from the way they were set up which is all you can ask.
 
It will be interesting to see how Ukraine line up against England, it seemed they had a lot of walking wounded and non-walking wounded by the end of the game last night.

Yarmolenko looked pretty upset when he went down, so maybe he knows he's done?
 
By and large international football is rubbish. You might get the odd performance here or there or the odd side (France '98-00, Spain '08-12) that perform at a consistent high level but mostly it's crap. It's to be expected though - how can you expect a side that plays together just a few times per season, often with different players available to them, to perform like a top quality side? It's just not going to happen. You can try to be the best side you can be or you can try to be Stoke and ride your luck.

Southgate's taken the decision to try to ****house his way through the competition and it might work. It worked for Greece and Portugal in the past. To win an international tournament you don't have to win a game in 90 mins, you just don't have to lose and setting up not to lose is the easiest thing in football. You need to be clinical with the chances that come your way and you're going to need a bit of luck. The problem with this tactic is if you do lose, you're going to get hammered for it.

Yesterday could have gone either way. Germany had as good chances to score as we did (I'm think the xg was near identical) but they fluffed theirs and we took ours. If we can scrape our way to the Euros then Southgate will be knighted and get the Utd job when they sack Ole in January but if we go out to an 85th minute winner to Ukraine then the tabloids will have his face on a dartboard on their front page.
 
I didn't even think the team selection was that ridiculous considering we were playing Germany, it's a bit odd to play 3 CBs and 2 DMs but Gosens was never really a threat like he was earlier in the tournament, you could argue even that booking in the first 10mins was ironically showing that the system was working, in that we had two players tackling the opponent before he gets in the box.

I'm inclined to agree with the post earlier about maybe resting at least one of the DMs on a yellow.

Kane's form is a worry but the problem is we don't really have anyone of that calibre to replace him, ultimately in the final we aren't going to want to go with Rashford or DCL through the middle, so we need to use the next two games for Kane to find some form. Unless he's tired and needs a rest of course.

Finally we need to be wary of the away game, they will have got used to playing at Wembley, not having to leave England etc. Now playing away, due to quarantine rules hardly any English fans will be there (needed to have travelled before the game last night), you never know there might also be a bit of 'boys on tour' going on, first away day in a while so breaching curfew, sneak a few italian models into the hotel etc.

Hopefully the management will sit down with the team and say "this is maybe a once in a lifetime opportunity, don't **** it up by doing anything silly and getting half the squad put in isolation, stick to the protocols and when the tourney is over you can let your hair down".
 
Last edited:
HangTime said:
Kane's form is a worry but the problem is we don't really have anyone of that calibre to replace him, ultimately in the final we aren't going to want to go with Rashford or DCL through the middle, so we need to use the next two games for Kane to find some form. Unless he's tired and needs a rest of course.
Click to expand...
He didn't really get any service until Grealish came on. His general hold up play was good and he's now been involved in 3 goals but he's clearly being asked to drop deeper to help protect the defence when we don't have the ball. I'm not sure he needs a rest but if players like Sterling, who was absolute trash yet again, aren't going to pass to him I don't know what the answer is.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
He didn't really get any service until Grealish came on. His general hold up play was good and he's now been involved in 3 goals but he's clearly being asked to drop deeper to help protect the defence when we don't have the ball. I'm not sure he needs a rest but if players like Sterling, who was absolute trash yet again, aren't going to pass to him I don't know what the answer is.
Click to expand...

Sterling? Trash? v Germany? MOTM performance.....
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Yeah, his goal has yet again made people forget that he's an International player that can't or won't pass the ball. Absolutely fantastic at dribbling in to players and constantly losing possession, passing the ball not so much. Very easy to see why Pep wants rid of him tbh.
Click to expand...

Had a great match overall. Yes he often runs into blind alleys, often doesnt take an easy pass and can be frustrating but he is doing exactly what we need.
 
I thought it was a decent game, 7/10 good entertainment. I'd like to see something more exciting but I couldn't say it was terrible or ground out.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
Yeah, his goal has yet again made people forget that he's an International player that can't or won't pass the ball. Absolutely fantastic at dribbling in to players and constantly losing possession, passing the ball not so much. Very easy to see why Pep wants rid of him tbh.
Click to expand...

Yeah, people are gushing about him because he buzzes around the pitch and dribbles at people and ignore the fact that he never looks to pass and move. Hes always trying to beat a man and takes 3 touches before the thought of passing even occurs to him. All of his contributions have basically been scoring goals by getting on the end of something rather than creating for others.

Don't get me wrong, I think he has been one of our better players but I honestly think we would have been better off without him a lot of the time. Grealish has been involved in 3/4 goals in this tournament and has barely plaid a full game worth of minutes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom