I hope that last night is the wake up call we needed in many ways.
First, we must take nothing away from Scotland who were brave, aggressive, direct and just better all round, showing that better players does not always make a better team. They had a system and a game plan - we were a pub football team whose coach sends the players out to "enjoy it" or "get stuck in".
There is another reality though, we are just not as good as we think we are. We have great potential in the young players such as James, Sancho, Foden, Mount and Rice but they are not the finished article. We have Harry Kane who at present is a stuttering mess - let's hope that changes. You never know what you'll get from Raheem Sterling, brilliant one day, anonymous the next. And we have possibly the greyest man in football as our coach, seemingly tactically unaware.
The problem with last night - lack of experience. You just cannot play two young, inexperienced holding midfielders, there has to be somebody there to organise them. We were totally overrun in midfield in the second half, disjointed, losing the ball and Rice and Phillips went missing.
During the whole game we were under pressure on the left where Luke Shaw neither defended nor attacked well, not able to link up or find his teammates with a pass - and all of the Scotland attacks were down his side - look at where most of the second half Scottish corners came from - surely Chilwell was the player to play in an attacking sense or Trippier if you want to be ultra cautious. In defence, we lack any type of leadership or authority.
People say Foden shouldn't have come off - and if we had been in control, they would have been right. But at the time he was taken off, we were being overrun, we had no possession and the game was end-to-end. In all honesty, Sterling should have been hooked off too. Mount was the only one of that three behind the striker making any attempt to win back the ball and trying to link midfield and attack.
Where now? We are not a great team and I hope that the supporters, the squad and the media start to acknowledge that now. But we have players who can cause problems and if set up the right way, with better tactics and a little more experience, we can go a long way. Southgate also has to make the tough calls- James was good last night, keep him in - Kane was awful, maybe it's time to "rest" him, do we need two holding players and if we do, is there nobody more authoritative? Is Sancho worth a go? We were fortunate in the warm up games, a little lucky against Croatia and we were even luckier last night.
The Real England
posted on 19/6/21
Big call to sack a coach during a tournament but that might be what it takes.
posted on 19/6/21
Seems like you had your blue tinted specs on writing this and you still managed to get your players name wrong
posted on 19/6/21
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 2 minutes ago
Seems like you had your blue tinted specs on writing this and you still managed to get your players name wrong
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for that - too many beers last night
Deny the comment about the blue tint - think it's quite fair actually. You can't tell me you've been impressed by Shaw in his last two games. And as I say, Tripper defensively and CHILWELL () attacking.
posted on 19/6/21
If it hadn't been for those noisy jocks behind the goal,I'd have fallen asleep !
posted on 19/6/21
All teams, including the cup holders of various tourneys have poor days.
One disappointing performance and suddenly the team is "pants".
I'd rather a slower start and building up the performances like so many top teams do, than the usual brilliant group stages followed by the disappointment in the knockout rounds. .
There are many examples of this, Germany of the past and the current champions Portugal who just sneaked in last time and won it.
I'm expecting England to more than make up for last night in the coming matches. The draw result virtually assured England of progressing to the next round. One more point in the next match might be better than 3 as far as the best pathway is concerned...
posted on 19/6/21
I think most of you are missing the point of the article. He is saying that maybe you all expect too much from a group of players who have no experience and from an uninspiring manager ... but you can still win it with the right combination of luck and good performances and better team selection - which is obvious. Chilwell has just put in the performance of his life in the Champions League final - James is a rock - use the players in form!!!
Also, he is not being arrogant - he has already said that Scotland were far the better team.
My take is similar - you are not as good as you think but the "best" players don't usually win tournaments. The best "team" and the "luckiest" team usually win.
posted on 19/6/21
comment by Eric_Draven (U20260)
posted 6 hours, 59 minutes ago
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 2 minutes ago
Seems like you had your blue tinted specs on writing this and you still managed to get your players name wrong
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for that - too many beers last night
Deny the comment about the blue tint - think it's quite fair actually. You can't tell me you've been impressed by Shaw in his last two games. And as I say, Tripper defensively and CHILWELL () attacking.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric,
Classy response to a typical England arrogant and sarcastic boor! Without a doubt: England managed to gain a draw, however, Scotland won the battle!
posted on 20/6/21
comment by Eric_Draven (U20260)
posted 1 day ago
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 2 minutes ago
Seems like you had your blue tinted specs on writing this and you still managed to get your players name wrong
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for that - too many beers last night
Deny the comment about the blue tint - think it's quite fair actually. You can't tell me you've been impressed by Shaw in his last two games. And as I say, Tripper defensively and CHILWELL () attacking.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shaw hasn’t played the last two games though
I thought he was pretty good tbh, was always going to be a struggle for him attacking-wise when Sterling kept wasting possession when he overlapped.