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We do press but only in chosen moments and chosen areas of the pitch.
Who knows what lies ahead but with Italy pressing like maniacs their players are already starting to look like they are paying for it, with injuries to already to Chiellini (who missed games with a hammy) and last night Spinazzola injured and is out of the tournament. They dropped deep for the last 20 against Belgium, maybe by design to defend the lead by maybe also because they were (they looked it) knackered.
What's more important is how we've been able to play out through an oppo press from the back, both with long and short balls, Pickford and Maguire with the long balls, with Rice and imparticular Phillips progressing through the middle (didn't work vs Scotland) and/or via fullbacks.
We pressed very high and hard for the first 20mins against Croatia.
TDLR we have a variety of ways to play, this is dictated by who we are up against.
Leaked team for tonight, the starting 11 apparently will be:
Pickford
Walker
Maguire
Stones
Shaw
Rice
Phillips
Mount
Sancho
Sterling
Kane
Be very surprised to see Sancho suddenly in when you have the likes of Foden and Rashford. Looks like Southgate will again use Grealish as a potential super-sub.
Pickford
Walker
Maguire
Stones
Shaw
Rice
Phillips
Mount
Sancho
Sterling
Kane
Be very surprised to see Sancho suddenly in when you have the likes of Foden and Rashford. Looks like Southgate will again use Grealish as a potential super-sub.
Competition must be pretty fierce for those AM roles....
Mounts absence would have done the rest a favour. Meanwhile, Gary must have been unimpressed by Foden given his complete lack of involvement since game 2 and Rashford was a ghost when brought on. Hopefully Sancho's complete omission during the initial games has lit a fire under him.... Him ripping it up and announcing truly 'announcing his arrival' tonight would be amazing!
Gotta feel for Saka though, but perhaps these injury rumours are true.
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Foden hasn't made the impact yet he's capable of but he wasn't bad in either game by any means . He just wasn't involved a lot, but that's more down to the team and tactics than Foden himself. But Southgate does look pace up top and Foden, while not being slow, he's certainly no Saka, Sancho or Rashford etc, and that will probably count against him.
Personally, I think people are still getting a bit carried away with Foden.... He's still got a fair bit of growing to do. It's a bit different being part of a well-oiled and meticulously drilled City team(*) compared to being looked upon to have an impact as a key player at international level.
(*I don't watch every City match, but I am sometimes underwhelmed by him when I do.)
He's definitely nowhere near his max potential obviously. I think he's one of them players that can spend periods not really in games but then can produce something wonderful that changes games. I think down the line he will play more centrally in the middle of the pitch and won't be a part of a front three. But he'll be competing with Mason Mount probably.
100% going to be a much tougher game than people imagine. Might get a bit scrappy, but ultimately they lack that special magic - Ukraine.
Must not be too arrogant.
Must not be too arrogant.
I haven't seen many people saying it won't be to be fair? We have the players to beat them pretty comfortably but that isn't likely to happen in a Quarter-final. Like Scotland, they'll be playing the game of their lives. We must match them in effort and spirit and then let our extra quality do the talking.
They'll be up for a scrap.... Look no further than the Holland & Sweden games.
Any decent stream?
Any "Gary is negative" memes aside; Saka showed what it is to be pro-active in that position; so Sancho really he has no excuses for playing it safe.
It's go time!
Nearly beer o clock
Foden on a yellow and Saka with a knock, Sancho in seems fine. Grealish off the bench for Sancho in the 65th.
I get that you should play your best players in knockouts regardless of cards, but I think playing both Phillips AND Rice on yellows is risky. A Henderson-Bellingham midfield will not provide nearly as much cover, may even necessitate a back 3 if that happens.
Cart before the horse and all that, but it's still something to at least consider.
I get that you should play your best players in knockouts regardless of cards, but I think playing both Phillips AND Rice on yellows is risky. A Henderson-Bellingham midfield will not provide nearly as much cover, may even necessitate a back 3 if that happens.
Cart before the horse and all that, but it's still something to at least consider.
If you bring Henderson into midfield for one of them there won't be any drop off in quality. I've said before or something along the likes that you could genuinely make 5 or 6 changes to the England side and the quality wouldn't dip whatsoever. We haven't always been able to say that.