Soldato
Yeah i know, obvs. It's just looking at the last 10 matches on fbref, Foden has played there once, he's been played off the wing.
UEFA Euro 2024 Group C ** spoilers ** (Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, ENGLAND)
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Yeah i know, obvs. It's just looking at the last 10 matches on fbref, Foden has played there once, he's been played off the wing.
Same England under Southgate, take the lead then sit back and invite pressure, no coordinated pressing high up the pitch and even when their players are 10 yards from our 18 yard box.
No fluidity in possession and the players look like they only just met today. Foden going from the best midfielder in the prem to looking like a Sunday league player.
No fluidity in possession and the players look like they only just met today. Foden going from the best midfielder in the prem to looking like a Sunday league player.
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Euro'92 squad was pretty poor, Lineker had already gone to Japan and about to retire, no Gascoigne or Platt, just before Shearer really took off. We had the likes of Carlton Palmer in there who could trap a ball further than I could kick it, Tony Daley who could beat a man down the wing but hopeless at crossing, and it was that annoying period where Chris Woods was inexplicably preferred to Seaman in goal.
I would disagree that we have the best squad 'by some margin' at the moment however, I don't need to look any further than the defence compared to 20 years ago to say that. No LB can compete with prime Cole, and we used to have to choose who to bench out of Sol, Rio and JT at CB, all of whom were better than what we have now.
As for today's game, I thought Foden was underwhelming. Bowen impressed me with his cameo. Stones looked pretty good for someone coming back from injury. Not sure what to think about Kane, I don't think his teammates did him any favours and they seemed to mark him pretty well in general.
Soldato
I think we have had squads in the past as good as this that managers have struggled to get a tune out of. Foden had to start but looked completely lost, he doesn't seem to know what to do with him.
Bellingham will get all the headlines tomorrow but Rice was MOM for me. Dull and frustrating game but job done, 3 points and a clean sheet. Nice little warm up.
Bellingham will get all the headlines tomorrow but Rice was MOM for me. Dull and frustrating game but job done, 3 points and a clean sheet. Nice little warm up.
Soldato
Problems with England:
. If you are winning 1-0, you don’t sit back. You should be focused on getting the score to be 2-0. It could have been easily be 1-1.
. We play boring football
. You can’t have two players trying to play the same position. Hence why Foden looked out of place. Sub him with Cole Palmer. There was a similar situation in the early 00s with Scholes, Lampard too
. If you are winning 1-0, you don’t sit back. You should be focused on getting the score to be 2-0. It could have been easily be 1-1.
. We play boring football
. You can’t have two players trying to play the same position. Hence why Foden looked out of place. Sub him with Cole Palmer. There was a similar situation in the early 00s with Scholes, Lampard too
Soldato
I mean...
Sitting back with players like we have who are from attacking teams that don't play that way is just asking for trouble. We were lucky to win.
Keeping players on in a game that's not seeing them involved, well, I just have no idea why Kane was on for 90 for example. The game was not playing for him, he doesn't run in behind. Watkins should have been given a go, it suited him far more than Kane last night.
You can be damned sure Klopp or similar would have no problem subbing players in order to attack.
It's so depressing.
Sitting back with players like we have who are from attacking teams that don't play that way is just asking for trouble. We were lucky to win.
Keeping players on in a game that's not seeing them involved, well, I just have no idea why Kane was on for 90 for example. The game was not playing for him, he doesn't run in behind. Watkins should have been given a go, it suited him far more than Kane last night.
You can be damned sure Klopp or similar would have no problem subbing players in order to attack.
It's so depressing.
Southgate always struggles with subs, his plan B's are awful. Tactically and mentally inept. Losergate.
I thought it was fine to be honest. You're rarely going to get it all your own way across 90 minutes and the Serbs are strong, physical and committed opposition with some very decent players.
They didn't really have many opportunities, an xG of .27 is a decent return from our perspective, and we were an excellent save away from a more comfortable 2-0 win.
Didn't think Kane had a very good game, and Foden had a particularly poor one, but good performances from Guehi, Rice, Saka in the first half, and of course Bellingham. All encouraging.
I still think Southgate is a fairly timid manager and felt that we were protecting the lead rather than attacking it, but that's easier said than done. Just because you don't want to not be sitting deep doesn't mean you can just change it like that... there's another team that has a say in proceedings.
Quite amazed he kept Foden on for so long given how bad he was and thought Palmer or Eze would have done a much better job of holding of holding on to it. But that's a minor quibble and I reckon we've got the more difficult of the group games successfully out of the way with a solid win.
They didn't really have many opportunities, an xG of .27 is a decent return from our perspective, and we were an excellent save away from a more comfortable 2-0 win.
Didn't think Kane had a very good game, and Foden had a particularly poor one, but good performances from Guehi, Rice, Saka in the first half, and of course Bellingham. All encouraging.
I still think Southgate is a fairly timid manager and felt that we were protecting the lead rather than attacking it, but that's easier said than done. Just because you don't want to not be sitting deep doesn't mean you can just change it like that... there's another team that has a say in proceedings.
Quite amazed he kept Foden on for so long given how bad he was and thought Palmer or Eze would have done a much better job of holding of holding on to it. But that's a minor quibble and I reckon we've got the more difficult of the group games successfully out of the way with a solid win.
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Soldato
Any other manager and I'd say a fairly low intensity 1-0 win to start out a tournament is not bad, but we've seen enough of Southgate to know that this is his level and we aren't going to go through the gears as the tournament progresses. Same old story: decent start, unable to react to changes in the game and awful subs. On top of that, starting Alexander-Arnold in midfield was an unforgiveable decision. Foden was awful too. Not entirely his fault as the England setup is very different to City but his style just doesn't work in Southgate's tactics.
I thought Kane did well for what little service he got but there were a couple of balls across the box where I was surprised not to see him get on the end.
I thought Kane did well for what little service he got but there were a couple of balls across the box where I was surprised not to see him get on the end.
This is my worry with Kane - he has a tendency to drop back, so often when the ball comes into the box ... he's not the furthest one forward.
England now have a strong team setup behind him, so we need him to be a true 9, not a false 9.
You saw that a few times in the game yesterday, but also interestingly Kane didn't really get into the game until he started to drop back.
Soldato
It made sense insomuch as England showed no attacking intent at all in the second half, so he probably thought he'd drop back and at least make himself useful.
Soldato
He does drop back a lot when the team is under pressure, no doubt about that and he’s not the quickest, that’s why you need lively attacking players to allow you to get back up the pitch which is why it’s even more strange he didn’t bring on Gordon or Palmer. Grealish obviously not an option. Had England conceded and were looking for a winner in the last ten then you want Kane on the pitch.
Soldato
I think some of you need to take a step back. So much negativity. It's the first game, against a physically strong team. Why do people expect magic in the first game?
Sure Serbia looked better in the second half, but really created little clear chances, even the Pickford save was a half chance at most.
You all need to relax.... (this is coming from an Italian fan). They would have learned from the game, the heat, how people will play against them...chill!
Sure Serbia looked better in the second half, but really created little clear chances, even the Pickford save was a half chance at most.
You all need to relax.... (this is coming from an Italian fan). They would have learned from the game, the heat, how people will play against them...chill!
Caporegime
Some signs that Southgate has learned from the last tournament he fluffed by being massively negative and trying to sit on a 1 goal lead. A 1 goal lead is never solid. You can talk as much as you want about the result but a moment of magic or madness and that ends a draw and its a really bad result.
People aren't expecting the world, they just don't want to watch England limp through another tournament only to be bitten by our complete lack of ambition. We don't have a team built to defend.
Caporegime
The takeaway for me from that game is that we have no attacking threat from the left.
Trippier + Foden on the left does not work. Foden has the licence to come inside and he does so at every opportunity. When Trippier has the ball he has no outlet on the left so he cuts inside and BACKWARDS all the time. The team ended up unbalanced and everything that was good went down the right side with nothing on the left or middle for that matter because Foden wasn't on it last night either.
I think if Shaw isn't playing then Gordon needs to play to address the balance in the team. If the argument is Foden is too good to get dropped then he will have to play in the middle....where? Then TAA needs to be dropped to make space and Bellingham a little deeper into the box-to-box role.
Trippier + Foden on the left does not work. Foden has the licence to come inside and he does so at every opportunity. When Trippier has the ball he has no outlet on the left so he cuts inside and BACKWARDS all the time. The team ended up unbalanced and everything that was good went down the right side with nothing on the left or middle for that matter because Foden wasn't on it last night either.
I think if Shaw isn't playing then Gordon needs to play to address the balance in the team. If the argument is Foden is too good to get dropped then he will have to play in the middle....where? Then TAA needs to be dropped to make space and Bellingham a little deeper into the box-to-box role.
Soldato
I bet Southgate puts his phone on low power mode when the battery is at 95%
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Soldato
haha good one.. using that,
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Soldato
I think he choices were OK actually. Serbia had what, 1 chance on goal?
I didn't think all the subs were that bad? I'm not sure I'd consider them defensive subs...maybe I'm wrong.
What we learnt:
- It's clear Foden can't play with Bellingham
- However, Bellingham can't be expected to do it all, I don't recall seeing him on the ball much in the second half (happy to be corrected)
- England will need to work out how to deal with teams setup for the counter, Iceland and Serbia nearly proved this.
- England might have a weakness against bigger teams and set pieces e.g. Serbia.
- They worked out Saka, should have been subbed sooner
- Stop Pickford kicking long, keep the ball more (even in the dying parts of the game) - no top team does this.
- Kane has always struggled against big defenders, so he comes deeper to get the ball. So although Kane is an outlet, without runners or someone close its pointless.
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Caporegime
Serbia had a few moments which were very close to being good chances. Chances that a better team would have made more of. Thats where stats fall down. You put in a cross and it misses everyone and thats not considered a missed chance because the attacker was a hairs breadth away from connecting. They were on top in the second half for most of it.
This idea that teams can magically transition between styles of football, effort levels and just do enough to beat whats in front of them is generally a myth. Did last nights performance give you any reason to think that we will do well in this tournament? Did we look anywhere near the level of the better teams this year?
I would love to be wrong but under Southgate we are just a negative team that is more concerned about not losing than winning. Last Euros I would say that many of the traditionally top European teams weren't quite at the races. This year I think its going to be a lot harder and last night didn't do anything to make me confident.
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