There will be a lot of plates being smashed tonight. @Mod You're right the second goal was pure comedy.

4 minutes ago, Mod said:

England's defending on that second goal was pure comedy!

I f**king know, it was Laurel and Hardy defending, falling over each other !

Pickford's walk about in the first half was hilarious too, Colwill saved his blushes!

 

I'm glad Pickford does not play for us, too small and his punches could go anywhere.

Yep he was caught in possession outside his box trying to be too clever........

Others, Palmer was generally good yet should have scored not alone there Watkins and Gordon could have too.

Greece worked hard and closed down effectively the space between defence and Pickford and our back 4 effectively too. 

Slightly lucky with the 2nd, it reminded me of Vialli in Tromso in the snow the ball bounced off our defender back into the run of the attacker. 

Defensively we lack a bit of guile just look at that foul on Madueke to knock him off the ball in the box without even trying to play the ball.

An unholy mess. We looked like a testimonial team slung together for entertainment instead of result. We have an embarrassment of riches in attacking midfield and picking the three to start, getting them then to produce their club form is incredibly hard. One thing we did learn tonight was that they can’t all fit in on the same pitch at the same time. Balance is key in a team, tonight we had none.

1 hour ago, charierre said:

An unholy mess. We looked like a testimonial team slung together for entertainment instead of result. We have an embarrassment of riches in attacking midfield and picking the three to start, getting them then to produce their club form is incredibly hard. One thing we did learn tonight was that they can’t all fit in on the same pitch at the same time. Balance is key in a team, tonight we had none.

Maybe I'm missing something but I feel this could work.

James*-Stones-Colwill-Lewis

 ----------Rice-Bellingham-----------

Saka-----------Palmer------Gordon

-------------------Kane----------------------

*if fit

Then in possession invert Lewis and push up Bellingham to create the box midfield. But ofcourse that means sacrificing Foden which bizzarely no England manager seems to be willing to do.

Anyone know what formation he was playing or he just wanted to get all then players the media wanted him to play on the pitch. 
 

The English football media will continue to undermine the national team. They put far too much pressure on managers to play certain players.

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

Anyone know what formation he was playing or he just wanted to get all then players the media wanted him to play on the pitch. 
 

The English football media will continue to undermine the national team. They put far too much pressure on managers to play certain players.

I saw the gfx at the beginning and it showed 4,2,2,2 but it didn't look like that during the game. More like 4231, 433 and even 424 at times. They seemed all over the place, which I don't mind if they are used to it but they didn't look like they were used to it at all, tbh.

I didn't like how palmer was further back with rice instead of bellingham.

Only when bellingham was further back did he actually see the run, and make the run, that led to the goal.

Like above I think bellingham should have started next to rice. Palmer as a 10, gorden left and saka*/noni right, and cf up top, watkins or kane.

*Is it my bias or is saka over rated? 

I think noni did more on the right in his extremely short cameo than saka did (before noni being moved to the left).

Colwil was very good btw. For the 2nd goal, Lewis was out of position and in his way. Lewis tried to do too much and be everywhere!

Also the 2 cf idea when solanke came on was rubbish. Pushing palmer out to the right while foden stayed in the middle was equally rubbish!

Palmer needs to be the 10.

It ain't fkn rocket science!

Foden is the 10 sub/alternate (start one or the other) and bellingham is an 8. 

Edited October 11, 20241 yr by Simplymo

The current City and Chelsea tactics fit England perfectly. Colwill, Palmer, Madueke, Stones, Walker, Foden, Grealish, Lewis already play the inverted full back tactic. Others like Rice, Saka and Bellingham could slot in perfectly.

                               Kane

Grealish Bellingham Palmer/Foden Saka

                        Rice TAA/Lewis

                  Colwill Stones Walker

Otherwise it is impossible to have all the star players on the pitch at the same time w/o distrupting the whole balance of the team. 

 

Not sure why Grealish is not in the squad?

3 minutes ago, strider6004 said:

Not sure why Grealish is not in the squad?

cus he's sh*te

Such a lack of common sense when trying to cram all of these players in together. Ironically, I think Carsley stumbled into the correct set up for the forwards by the end of it (albeit wrong personel) but the decision to have both Trent and Lewis inverting was a wild mistake. 

The starting lineup had a formation that had Trent, Lewis, Rice, Palmer, Foden and Bellingham constantly looking to find space in central areas. 

I dont mind the idea of one of Trent or Lewis inverting, but they have to take turns. They can't both at the same time. And neither should be inverting when you are playing a false 9, as it is naturally condensing the area of the pitch you are trying to fill, hence removing the need for you to fill it. 

Someones going to have to make a call on Foden and Palmer at some point. And from their impact for England, it has to be Palmer that plays. 

T Rex
Trent - Stones - Levi - Anyone fit
Rice - Bellingham
Saka - Cole - Gordon
Kane

Any competing profiles on the bench and just pick the best in form team. 
 

I know they're the best team in the country but i'd play as few City players as possible. Pep's system sucks all life out of players and they're a shadow of what they could be. 

 

42 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I know they're the best team in the country but i'd play as few City players as possible. Pep's system sucks all life out of players and they're a shadow of what they could be. 

 

Foden certainly looks lost outside the MC programmed machine.

2 hours ago, dermott said:

Foden certainly looks lost outside the MC programmed machine.

Look at KDB for Belgium. 

Won't forgive that ginger twat for being absolutely anonymous against France in 2018 whilst Hazard was having the performance of the tournament. 

7 hours ago, Argo said:

Maybe I'm missing something but I feel this could work.

James*-Stones-Colwill-Lewis

 ----------Rice-Bellingham-----------

Saka-----------Palmer------Gordon

-------------------Kane----------------------

*if fit

Then in possession invert Lewis and push up Bellingham to create the box midfield. But ofcourse that means sacrificing Foden which bizzarely no England manager seems to be willing to do.

You think Carsley has the tactical aptitude to implement that successfully?

The conundrum I find with this current England team is that you have no DM. Rice isn't a deep lying playmaker to dictate play nor is he a defensive midfielder. 

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You think Carsley has the tactical aptitude to implement that successfully?

The conundrum I find with this current England team is that you have no DM. Rice isn't a deep lying playmaker to dictate play nor is he a defensive midfielder. 

Probably not but let's hope last night means they won't do the kneejerk Ole esque full time appointment regardless of what happens in the next three games.

Regarding the Rice point, that's what I'm thinking/hoping inverting Lewis would mitigate.

All I know is Southgate would have never lost that match.

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

You think Carsley has the tactical aptitude to implement that successfully?

The conundrum I find with this current England team is that you have no DM. Rice isn't a deep lying playmaker to dictate play nor is he a defensive midfielder. 

This is what Southgate said and people laughed cause he mentioned Phillips. England have no DM at all, the only one close to making it is Wharton but he's having a shocker so far.

6 hours ago, strider6004 said:

Not sure why Grealish is not in the squad?

injured and in the squad

1 hour ago, Remodez said:

This is what Southgate said and people laughed cause he mentioned Phillips. England have no DM at all, the only one close to making it is Wharton but he's having a shocker so far.

It's incredible. 

LB and DM are such glaring holes in this England team. 

8 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

It's incredible. 

LB and DM are such glaring holes in this England team. 

LB isn't even that bad, there's still decent prem players you can get to fill in. For DM there's just no good option. 

Looks OkI sort of think that England aren't very good, certainly for decades our record at tournaments has been shocking until fairly recently but still without winning anything.

Personally, I'm sick of having to watch re-runs of the 1966 World Cup final as the only trophy we've ever won.

Then we had to watch the admittedly brilliant Beckham free kick against Greece as if it was a trophy win , but which actually earned us just a draw, and it was only Germany's unexpectedly draw against Finland the same night that meant we qualified. 

We've come close several times, but we're not a patch on most of the trophy winning teams I've seen over the years.

 

 

 

Thank god the international break is over.  What is this tournament anyways? Stick with the euros and the World Cup. Don't worry too much about how you play in qualifying, it really does not matter, just qualify AND once you are at the tournament, play all-out tournament football. Good Tournament football is really very different to how you would play in these other games.

51 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Thank god the international break is over.  What is this tournament anyways? Stick with the euros and the World Cup. Don't worry too much about how you play in qualifying, it really does not matter, just qualify AND once you are at the tournament, play all-out tournament football. Good Tournament football is really very different to how you would play in these other games.

I hate the international break because it fks up the flow and vibe every time you get into the club games. But they need these games to help get used to playing together (in theory).

I was keen for Gordon to get into the team yet that opening goal by Grealish was superb.