Brings back happy memories of when football was good, politics was just background noise. No phones, All day at the pub with the lads for a beer without needing to take out a mortgage and no utter woke nonsense...
god I miss those days
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Match The ENGLAND thread
- Thread starter YidoBuckler
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Brings back happy memories of when football was good, politics was just background noise. No phones, All day at the pub with the lads for a beer without needing to take out a mortgage and no utter woke nonsense...
god I miss those days
You say that; but a lot of those players missing are out cos they aren't fully fit.
.........If a similar such scenario persists; do you just turn up at the WC with a bunch of strangers and no plan B?
Was never going to work so I don’t know what he was thinking. Foden has been dog shit lately again and lost his place in the City team, never mind the fact that he’s not and will never be a 9. I genuinely think we win, or at least don’t lose this game, with Welbeck up front from the start, never mind Harry Kane!
Hmm... How quickly we forget.
View: https://x.com/HotspurLane/status/1925295135211880579
Bang on about Kane, mind you.
Japan could have been out of sight by 55mins.
We were dry humping after the first 10mins...........
Foden: The irony is the false 9 thing would have more chance of working with a couple of interchangeable players either side of him.... Instead we had the wide boys on to suit a more orthodox 9 who'd have been able to get on the end of stuff and physically disrupt their central areas more......
Could have but weren't. Both keepers could have sat in the stands for the first 60 minutes or so really. Japan just looked much more like a unit which was to be expected considering the two teams. Despite losing, I would still more than fancy us to beat them at the World Cup as long as we had something like our best 11 out. Not that it would be easy or anything.
People may think I'm crazy but I would honestly contemplate swapping Kane and Bellingham's positions. Kane is our best playmaker and would be great in the number 10 role. Bellingham, who isn't the most creative for all of his ability, played the 9 role for Real Madrid superbly in his first season and has the ability to get on the end of things. Or they could certainly interchange. Or just take Danny Welbeck who is an absolute handful and plays more like he is 25, not 35.
He isn’t though. Kane has never carried England the way he carried Spurs. England’s success has been built on being a good team, especially tight defensively and capable of moments to win matches. It’s not been built on the ability of Harry Kane the way Spurs were.
I swear we do this every pre tournament. England looks limp in some of these pointless friendlies with half a squad missing and then everyone proclaims we suck. We then proceed to do quite well, making two recent finals.
Also there is no international Europa league. England can’t drop down and avoid the France and Spain’s of this world to pick up a trophy like Spurs did.
It’s really simple tbh. Club football isn’t internationals. Bellingham and Saka are out of form for club but absolutely should and will start for England. We have nobody good enough replace Rice or Kane, nobody.
Rip that core out the side and you’re left with a big black hole.
Completely agree, although some of his decisions over these two friendliest have pissed me off. Why play Foden, who is completely out of form, as a 9? I know Watkins is out of form and hasn’t had his best season but he still knows how to make proper striker runs, runs that stretch the opposition. The decision not to include him or Welbeck was a really poor one.
I don’t think yesterday was as bad as will be made out though, against a good Japan side that are a proper unit. We had chances to at least draw the game when you consider Maguire had an header off the line and then Rogers blazing a shot over the bar when it looked easier to score. We will be fine once we get the big boys back and the proper stuff starts.
Because the backup strikers are really bad and he obviously fancied giving a false 9 a go in case Kane is injured. It didn’t work and he knows that now, he probably suspected it wouldn’t work but friendlies are where you try this stuff.
I have no issue with it. We need to be sharper and more focused for the real pre tournament stuff though.
But they’re not. Welbeck is scoring goals in the PL and is fitter than most 25 year old footballers. You can’t tell me that he wouldn’t have offered considerably more than Foden last night? And although Watkins hasn’t had a good season he’s still more than capable. Even if he’s not scoring his running and movement creates space for others.
Playing Foden as a false 9 was a pathetic decision. It looked terrible before a ball was kicked and it played out exactly that way.
Any back up strikers are no good because they never have any experience of playing in the first team. Harry always plays …..he has always wanted to break records……We know what he can do…..Even if fit he should not have started last night…..
If he cannot try these things now when can he?
The reality of the situation is that we are relying on Kane and are fucked without him and needs to find a solution before the tournament.
Watkins would have likely bombed if he played as well.
There's no obvious solution for the time being unfortunately.
What he should have done is try another genuine number 9. Not shoehorn in an out of form player that isn’t performing in his actual position. Form is generally temporary. It wasn’t that long ago that Watkins was scoring in a Euros semi-final.
He played Solanke against Uruguay, did alright.
He has to keep testing things out, that's what these matches are for
I get that. But we all knew before a ball was kicked that Foden as a false 9 would amount to shit. So it was a waste of time.