***England V Czech Rep 22/06/2021***

[Airfixx]

If, buts and maybe's. The facts are we haven't conceded a goal yet. Over the three games Pickford hasn't had more than a handful of saves to make. We obviously will concede at some point now we're facing the best sides, but that's so obvious that it's barely worth mentioning.

You can say the exact same thing about the Italian defense, the Spanish defense etc.

I responded to a comment about how few saves Pickford has made; my point was all the most dangerous chances were put wide over over.....

It IS worth noting.

 

[Beech]

Why?

...Momentum.

....To prove to the lads that they do indeed have it in them.

...To send a message to other teams.

Did you hear Gary after the match? He said we went 3 in MF to ensure we didn't get over-run.... He evidently didn't think CZ had the handbrake on and posed little concern.

We've not lost, haven't conceded and finished top of a decent group despite not playing at the level we should be capable of yet. If that's not decent enough momentum I don't know what is.

Face it, you're one of them that won't be content unless you see three or four goals a game.

 

[Beech]

I responded to a comment about how few saves Pickford has made; my point was all the most dangerous chances were put wide over over.....

It IS worth noting.

So what. That's football. They created a couple of decent chances because they have a pretty good team. That's why they've beaten some top sides over the last couple of years. Because without being anything like among the favourites, they are actually pretty good. As are Croatia. Very few teams will play them and dominate for the whole of the 90 minutes, or win by a few.

 

[Jenny Talia]

Why?

...Momentum.

....To prove to the lads that they do indeed have it in them.

...To send a message to other teams.

Did you hear Gary after the match? He said we went 3 in MF to ensure we didn't get over-run.... He evidently didn't think CZ had the handbrake on and posed little concern.

Gary Neville is a wanker mate, it's not a secret.

 

[Airfixx]

So what. That's football. They created a couple of decent chances because they have a pretty good team. That's why they've beaten some top sides over the last couple of years. Because without being anything like among the favourites, they are actually pretty good. As are Croatia. Very few teams will play them and dominate for the whole of the 90 minutes, or win by a few.

I was talking about all 3 matches: hence the general point about better strikers.

I'm not saying anything outrageous here mate..... You doth protest too much.

 

[Airfixx]

We've not lost, haven't conceded and finished top of a decent group despite not playing at the level we should be capable of yet. If that's not decent enough momentum I don't know what is.

Face it, you're one of them that won't be content unless you see three or four goals a game.

You're still taking for granted a "level"/"gear" we have yet to experience.....

Lazily pidgeon-holing me like that is a silly over-reaction to the reasonable point I am putting to you.

 

[Notabadsquad]

Kane


Well teams generally only go up a gear when they really need to. We didn't need to against Croatia or against these tonight. There's no getting away from the fact that it was a poor performance against Scotland but there aren't many teams in the competition that haven't had a dodgy game in the group stage. France have. Germany have. Portugal have. Spain have hardly shone...

I would have liked us to play at a higher tempo tonight in the second half, don't get me wrong. But at no point did I think we weren't not going to win the game. The players did enough. If this was an old Germany side everyone would be complimenting them on how efficient they are and that they will step it up when they really need to. Pretty sure our guys will know as much as you or I myself do that they'll now need to find an extra gear or two.

Fair post.

It presumes we can and will get better but it could happen.

No team has yet looked invincible but 3 or 4 teams have also definitely looked bettee than we have.

We do possess a surplus of sparky players though, so it may just need a fuse.

 

[Rat Catcher]

only just won ,but i suppose that was enough. have to be honest only watched last 20 mins, I just find england so boring to watch.

 

[Gmspurs]

So who do we fancy - France, Germany or Portugal?

Which of those would we give a good game to?

I'd like Germany even though I think they're probably the hardest for us....

But England v Germany at Wembley..... Doesn't get any better than that.

 

[Ginolaflair]

saka and grealish just brilliant

Saka was good in 1st half but not much after that. Apart from some fouls and the cross for the goal, grealish pretty anonymous....definitely not brilliant

 

[Beech]

So who do we fancy - France, Germany or Portugal?

Which of those would we give a good game to?

I'd like Germany even though I think they're probably the hardest for us....

But England v Germany at Wembley..... Doesn't get any better than that.

I'd fancy us more against Portugal, especially if they defend anything like how they did against Germany. We have a chance against anyone if we play well. In football anything can happen in one off games. We'll need to give our best performance of the tournament so far if we are to progress, but nobody can see that we've played anything like to the best of our ability yet.

 

[Xxx]

Do not want Germany.. sorry but them losing to France was the worst possible thing! Made them wake up and they looked crazy good!

 

[Beech]

Do not want Germany.. sorry but them losing to France was the worst possible thing! Made them wake up and they looked crazy good!

They were much better than they were in their opening game but Portugal's back line certainly helped them. They were hopeless, and Germany took full advantage.

 

[bunburyist]

It's not strange at all really. Kane obviously isn't at the level we know he can play at yet. Foden is yet to really shine and produce a standard Man City performance. Same goes for Sancho, if he's actually given a chance. But basically if these players find their usual club form then England will create more and play better. The better sides will give England opportunities to counter attack as they'll be trying to win the game more than sides like Croatia and the Czech's did too. Obviously the chance of England conceding goes up too against the better sides. But take the game last night into consideration - The Czech's were more concerned in the second half about stifling England's attack than they were of actually attacking and getting back on level terms. They barely created a thing in the second 45, same as England.

In my opinion, I feel like we've been content to be doing just about enough. You don't get extra points for scoring more goals or creating more chances in the group stages. Plus if England had been winning games by a few the expectation would have gone through the roof which is never a good thing. There's no middle ground with idiotic England supporters. It's either "It's coming home!" or "We're fucking abysmal, mate!".

Other Nations get applauded for being efficient, for winning games and qualifying rather comfortably when not being at their best and/or expanding more energy. Not England. Our fans riot if we're not beating sides 3 or 4 if they're not one of the top countries in world football.

It does seem a bit of an England thing to play at the level of the opposition, be it San Marino or Brazil. By quality of players, we should have put 3 or 4 past both Scotland and the Czechs.

 

[Xxx]

I said at the beginning of the tournament that I expect England to play better, to create more, when we play the better sides. Simply because the better sides will generally leave more space to be exploited by committing more of their own men forward. Now that we're about to play one of France, Germany and Portugal the proof will soon be in the pudding.

I really hope so.. I get your point and get why the set up gets the results. I really want to see us being the threat though.. I want others to fear us and have to drop an attacking talent in favour of defence!
We shall see what is what next game... only a week to go!

 

[Beech]

It does seem a bit of an England thing to play at the level of the opposition, be it San Marino or Brazil. By quality of players, we should have put 3 or 4 past both Scotland and the Czechs.

We're capable. We beat the Czech's 5-0 (or 4-0, I can't remember) the last time we played them at Wembley prior to last night. But they're a better team than they were then and have had some really good results over the last year or two also.

There's no getting away that the performance against Scotland was poor. But every side either at club level or internationally has a bad game, better sides than England, at some point. The other two games were pretty comfortable wins in solid performances. I don't believe for a moment that Southgate and all the players think the performance level they've given so far will be enough to go through in the next round.

 

[Beech]

I really hope so.. I get your point and get why the set up gets the results. I really want to see us being the threat though.. I want others to fear us and have to drop an attacking talent in favour of defence!
We shall see what is what next game... only a week to go!

I want that too. That's why I keep saying we should never be playing Rice and Phillips together, It's not required against the sides we've played in the group stages, and against the better teams it just won't be good enough.

I just think the reaction to how we've topped the our group and the solid but certainly not spectacular performances is over the top by some. It seems people think we have a right to just turn up and beat sides by 3 or 4. Despite the fact that very few teams beat either Croatia or the Czech's ever by such a margin.

 

[fogueres]

 

[Yorkshire_Spurs]

Saw an Opta stat that England have progressed the ball upfield 0.98 meters per second on average... which means nothing as a stat... however it is the slowest of all the countries involved who have completed 3 group games.

Is this the manager, the players, no idea but it is a tough watch at times.

 

[Ginolaflair]

I thought Saka was the bright spot in the game. His control was excellent, and it was his driving runs that got us on the front foot when we attacked. He was my MoM yesterday. I felt the 2nd half was tepid because we didn’t get the ball to him enough, the same for Grealish really.

Exactly.