The Official Euro 2020 thread....
Discussion
JmatthewB said:
Grealish and Foden could never play together in the middle. Both are creative attacking midfielders, playing them together would mean one would have to help shield the defence which would be a waste of their abilities. Akin to when we tried to play Gerrard and Lampard together for years. To get the most out of your forwards players you need a defence minded midfielder to be the 'water-carrier' and do the ugly stuff that nobody appreciates. France have Kante, Spain have Busquets, Italy have Jorginho.
I'll be unpopular and stick with Sterling and Kane. Sterling has the habit of being involved in most of our goals so stays in the team, and if we only get one clear chance against Germany I'd want it to drop to Kane.
Agree with all of that, you simply can't shoehorn your 10 best outfield players into a formation and expect that to work, you need a proper team structure. We have actually had the opposite problem, with two defensive midfielders getting in each others way and creating confusion. I'll be unpopular and stick with Sterling and Kane. Sterling has the habit of being involved in most of our goals so stays in the team, and if we only get one clear chance against Germany I'd want it to drop to Kane.
Sterling for me was our standout player in 2018, we were better with him on the field creating problems for the opposition defence and things usually started going awry once he had been substituted.
I'm not sure what expect from England, a lot of criticism is based on not having scored loads of goals. This is all well and good, but the same people would simply then criticise the standard of the opposition if we did. The problem is that a lot of casual football supporters equate goalscoring with success, which is conceptually correct but doesn't tell the whole story. Portugal have scored a lot of goals (7) but conceded 6 in doing so, conversely we haven't conceded yet, something only Italy have managed.
I'm not saying we're going to win this but I do wonder what people think Southgate could possibly do better. A lot of the criticism comes from armchair experts, especially if they like or dislike a player based on club allegiances, see Raheem Sterling or Jordan Henderson. Engerland fans seem to love the next big thing, so you end up with a blind insistence on playing certain individuals, Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish etc without knowing whether they are in form or fit into the established team structure.
Short Grain said:
Kane shouldn't even be on the bench given his form so far. He should go home, oh hang on, he will be very soon
Bit much but we all have an opinion. The main issue is surely that England aren't exactly overflowing with in form strikers are they? Rashfords in the same terrible form as Kane these days (and everyone plays him as a winger anyway), DCL had a terrible end to the season and they left everyone else at home, Bamford, Watkins, Greenwood etc.
You play with what you've got and who's playing well. Maybe Kane comes good against the Germans but probably not and it creates a lot of limitations up front.
brake fader said:
Great chance now to get to the final, i would put Trippier back in he has a cracking free kick and can fire a good cross in, a set piece could be the key for getting through.
Stones or Maquire to bang in a header. Ultimate squeaky bum time
There’s a small matter of getting past Germany. They usually beat us.Stones or Maquire to bang in a header. Ultimate squeaky bum time
We normally lose to the Germans on penalties.
This must mean we normally draw.
We’ve apparently got two of the best players from the Bundesliga in our squad which, whether we use them or not, means they aren’t in theirs.
It’s therefore not a huge stretch to say that on this occasion we might win the match before the penalty stage is it?
This must mean we normally draw.
We’ve apparently got two of the best players from the Bundesliga in our squad which, whether we use them or not, means they aren’t in theirs.
It’s therefore not a huge stretch to say that on this occasion we might win the match before the penalty stage is it?
brake fader said:
Great chance now to get to the final, i would put Trippier back in he has a cracking free kick and can fire a good cross in, a set piece could be the key for getting through.
Stones or Maquire to bang in a header. Ultimate squeaky bum time
Shaw and Walker have been pretty good I'd argue. Stones or Maquire to bang in a header. Ultimate squeaky bum time
He might makes some questionable decisions off the field but Walker (along with Henderson when he came on) seems to do a lot more 'captaining' than Kane does.
Germany were far from imperious against Hungary last night. England will feel like they can probably get a result from this fixture. I f they can't then best luck next time, we'll inevitably have to play someone good/or who has beaten us in the past in order to progress in an international competition.
Funny how no one thought beating Croatia was a decent result, seeing as they also have a recent history of international success.
Funny how no one thought beating Croatia was a decent result, seeing as they also have a recent history of international success.
greygoose said:
Germany are inconsistent, if they play like they did against Portugal then we will lose but they didn’t look that good in their other games, sadly England haven’t looked too bright either. Kane seems unfit but Southgate won’t drop him.
A pattern's emerged from their three games so far: bad - good - bad... 
JmatthewB said:
England haven't scored more than once in six games but have only conceded one goal in their last nine games.
I reckon it's down to personalities, all the strong characters in the England team are in defence, as you move up the field there seems to be an increasing lack of character. Kane is a total personality vacuum and a really odd choice as captain, Sterling seems to live in his own world. Anyone with a bit of flair is left to their own devices. In the absence of any joined up thinking or intelligent movement at the top end of the pitch it's easier to defer to the defence who then prat about with it on the wrong side of the halfway line before they give up looking for options and let Pickford hoof it to the opposition in best Sunday league style. Defence is great and everything and I'm sure a lot of teams envy England in that respect but it can only carry you so far in a tournament, as we are about to find out if we persist with this mindset.
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