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Well we didn't play well, but I still think we did enough to win. We were a minute or so away from doing so. We're far from the finished article but that's what's exciting about this England team. We've now made a semi-final and a final in the last two years and yet I still think there's an absolute ton more to come from us as an attacking unit. Whether Southgate is the right bloke to bring that out is another question. But this England team and squad has a lot of potential.
Reflecting on a somewhat inglorious performance, I think we were set up to do no more than we did. The aim seemed to be just to spend 90 minutes soaking up whatever Poland did and hope for an opening. Maybe it was a deliberate training exercise. It almost came off. Both teams were just very keen not to lose. Dull as hell from us given the talent on display. A football match is no longer a piece of entertainment in itself - certainly not with this manager.
Bit harsh. We were a couple of minutes away from saying its another very professional and decent performance. We were always going to be better in the second half than the first and we were exactly that up until the last few minutes. I definitely agree that we can be much better going forward with the players we have. But all the best teams start at the back and Southgate has made us one of the hardest teams to beat in world football right now. Not even this excellent Italy side that's breaking records could do it over 120 minutes.
We didn't play well tonight really but we're still dissapointed to only draw the game. I think that's a good sign all in all.
Nah... That's what's frustrating.
Gary is our Ole..... He's our ceiling.
Well that certainly is the question if we're in 3rd gear, yet Gary has made no subs and we end up pissing 2 points away.
- Why didn't he force the issue?
- Why didn't he make subs to ENSURE we saw the game out?
In spades.... That's not in question. But we ain't clicking.... There's no relationship with Kane and there's too much mindless dribbling into nowhere. Once again there was moaning about Kane wandering all over the pitch.... The best way to deter that? Fucking get him involved..... Pass to him and move.
Is that fair on Gary? But for a couple of missed penalties could have been the champion?
I don’t disagree. We’re both saying that tactically it’s almost came off. I’m just confessing to have found it a bit dull.
I believe it will come. We should only get better. Certainly in attack. Might take a bit longer than it should ideally but I can't help but think back to a lot of really shite England sides from yesteryear, and the difference between this one and those are like night and day, even if things are far from perfect.
Doesn't that completely ignore the preceding 120mins?
Doesn't that completely ignore the valid criticism about tonight?
He comes up wanting in the tough games (also see Scotland in Euros & Croatia in the WC)......
This sentiment does nothing but muddy that water and redirect completely valid questions and criticism away from Gary.
Wouldn't have even come to pens if we had a decent manager in charge, could see what happened coming a mile off after we scored and stopped playing
What results? What has Poland actually accomplished?
We ain’t clicking? When was the last time we lost a game?
We are tough to beat..... But look at our squad and tell me where our strengths should be.
One thing I’ve noticed with this England team is that there is one weak link in our build up, and that’s Sterling.
Don’t get me wrong, he generally delivers when he’s on the end of something, but so often our forward momentum breaks down when he’s involved in the build up, either by him holding onto the ball too long, dribbling into blind alleys or consistently picking the wrong pass.
Sterling has his merits, but I think what he does badly outweigh those things he does well.
I think we have better than him on the bench, but I can’t see him being replaced, so I think we’ll struggle to convert a lot of our breaks because Sterling seems to be involved so much but fails to deliver in the build up so often.
Don’t get me wrong, he generally delivers when he’s on the end of something, but so often our forward momentum breaks down when he’s involved in the build up, either by him holding onto the ball too long, dribbling into blind alleys or consistently picking the wrong pass.
Sterling has his merits, but I think what he does badly outweigh those things he does well.
I think we have better than him on the bench, but I can’t see him being replaced, so I think we’ll struggle to convert a lot of our breaks because Sterling seems to be involved so much but fails to deliver in the build up so often.
Both he and Grealish did my fucking nut in tonight..... So much so that it largely distracted me from Mount's usual mediocrity.
I thought we were pretty good really, against a team who surprised me by being better than I was expecting. Bit of a brainfart at the end tarnished it but there's no getting away from the fact that this is the most solid and consistent England team I can remember.
I like the bloke and he deserves a lot of credit for the job he's done. But I can't help but feel we're doing well despite of Southgate, and not because of him. He has a fantastic squad. We didn't even have the likes of Foden, Rashford or Greenwood on the bench in the recent games. We have players like Harvey Elliott, Harvey Barnes, Cole Palmer and Tariq Lamptey who will make that next step sooner rather than later. The talent and potential in this squad is insane. I can't help but want a little more than a manager that has made us really hard to beat. We're hard to watch at times, and that shouldn't be the case with all of the wonderful attacking players we have.