Tonight's football thread

[Graham Breeze]

Wolves. Boy and man.

-

[Stagger]

Thoughts on England?

[Travs]

I don’t think you can knock them after one poor result. We’ve generally performed well in the (albeit very weak) group.

However I still don’t get on the England hype-train...

Small margins... but for the width of a post in the penalty shoot out vs Colombia in the World Cup, we’d have probably been out and Southgate sacked. It was a stroke of luck, but does show what a bit of continuity can bring.

[Witton Park]

Thoughts on England?

Pickford - flapper who would make me nervous if a defender.
Trippier - OK
Keane - Everton struggling one place above relegation, he's personally made some errors this season for club and country. Can't work out how he is current NO2.
Maguire - he's a very good player, probably our best at the moment in this position, so has to play even if he's not playing as well as last year at the moment.
Rose - He isn't even Tottenham's best left back. Can't understand why Chillwell didn't play.
Rice - over rated - probably gets more credit than is warranted because he plays the "West Ham way".
Henderson - hard to knock, as he's a grafter and plays for probably the best club side in Europe at the moment, but he should be doing the Rice job and allowing us to play a more possession based player like Barkley, Lallana or even Foden.
Mount - he looks a really talented lad and deserves to be in the squad. But he was in the Championship last season, and to be propelled in to the starting lineup on the basis of a handful of decent performances for Chelsea is probably too early.
Sancho - scratching my head a little with this one.
Sterling - has to be in. Probably the best English player of the last 12 months.
Kane - our best striker, but looks a little out of sorts.

I think the spine of our defensive unit looks vulnerable. Pickford, Keane, Maguire, Rice.

We let in 3 against Kosovo.

But when you look at the bench on Saturday there isn't much there.

An out of form Rashford is the only player who I'd consider top class when he's at it.

Our central defensive options are threadbare. Why isn't Tarkowski in the squad?

Our midfield seems to be just defensive workhorses, especially once Maddison pulled out. But even he is untested at International level.

When the side was playing well, we played with 3 at the back. Usually Maguire, Stones, Walker. Right through the World Cup.
Wingbacks pushing on and getting some quality crosses in.

Too much football perhaps? When you consider 4 of our top clubs filled the European Finals so had extended seasons, which also meant 2 of them in the Super Cup, so we have some key players missing through injury, some other key players struggling for form following injury,

[Llani Boy]

I think Travs hit the nail on the head with that word "hype".

As usual England players believe all the "hype" and think that they are better than they are.

Unless they change their tactic of playing out from the back and fannying around with the ball near their own goal they are going to get hammered when they meet a half decent team.

[Travs]

I think we are a vast improvement on a few years ago, no doubt about that. But all the way through the World Cup my thought was that the first “world class” team we come up against were going to knock us out... and I guess it was proved against Croatia...

Then the Nations League... again performed brilliantly, I don’t think many can argue with that... but I still can’t see that as a proper tournament.

Next Euros will be the barometer... I'd suggest it’s a harder tournament than the World Cup to progress. Although lord knows what UEFA will do with the format, is it still 16 teams? (Which makes for a high quality competition..... 24 or more will just dilute it).

[Witton Park]

I think Travs hit the nail on the head with that word "hype".

As usual England players believe all the "hype" and think that they are better than they are.

Unless they change their tactic of playing out from the back and fannying around with the ball near their own goal they are going to get hammered when they meet a half decent team.

I think that's a little unfair. We rank 4th in the world of performances in the last couple of years.

Some of the players that have been key to that are not available or in favour at the moment.

Stones, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli, Lingard, Lallana, Eric Dier - I'm not hyping these guys up. I have often looked at Dier for example and wondered why he's so highly rated, but he did seem to shield the central defenders more effectively.
I also think the 3 5 2 formation Southgate used to play with suited us better, having attacking wing backs getting forward. I'm not sure why he changed.

[Stagger]

Have watched the last 25mins of England's game last night, I never want to Kane be in the same sentence as world class.
Good, yes.
World class NEVER.

[Llani Boy]

Have watched the last 25mins of England's game last night, I never want to Kane be in the same sentence as world class.
Good, yes.
World class NEVER.

Correct Stagger. That's the problem with England players in general, they ALL think they are world class.

Whilst talking about last nights match I'm not surprised that the England players did not walk off because they were winning. Call me cynical but if they were 3-0 down they would have been off quicker than you could say Jack Robinson!
This morning all the press/pundits/players jumping up and down about the Bulgarian fans behaviour but the reality of the situation is that, whether we like it or not, in most Eastern European countries they are not very fond of black people.

What the answer is I do not know and neither do UEFA/FIFA by the looks of it.

What I do know is that England will be turning up for the World Cup in Qatar, providing they qualify, and turning a blind eye to the fact that the stadiums are being built by slave labour, many of whom have died. Their idea of human rights, gay rights, women's rights is also different to ours but never mind as there is a lot of money to be made.

Greg Clarke, the chairman of the FA was huffing and puffing this morning, but lets not forget that it was not too long ago that John Terry lost the England captaincy for his racist behavior.

We know what is going to happen when visiting certain countries so we should get off our high horse and either accept their rules/customs/behavior or don't bother going rather than feign outrage/offence when it happens.

[Derby Tup]

‘We know what is going to happen when visiting certain countries so we should get off our high horse and either accept their rules/customs/behavior or don't bother going rather than feign outrage/offence when it happens’

God help us