| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. 22:07 - Jun 16 with 6899 views | TheBoyBlue |
Back to Pickford, hoof up the pitch, Serbia get it back, we're under pressure again.
Also, surprisingly poor game management for the players we have.
But a win's a win!
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| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 11:47 - Jun 17 with 1048 views | Ftnfwest |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 09:12 - Jun 17 by Europablue |
We mostly looked in control at the back, but at one nil, you are only a great finish or some bad luck away from a draw. I didn't like that we were inviting pressure, but Southgate said that the team were exhausted so dropped back. There were a few hairy moments playing it out from the back, so I suppose it's playing the percentages hitting it long, but hitting it long should be a pass to a particular player in space or a last minute tactic to wind down the clock. From the TV I couldn't see what Kane was doing in the first half, but if his runs were creating space and the defenders were distracted by focusing on him, then he was doing his job. It was clear that the game plan from Serbia was to boot us about and try and stop us from creating anything. They are a decent well-organized team. Like with Ipswich this season past, there are sometimes those teams that largely negate what you do.
I can forgive an unconvincing slow start that results in an opening game win, which is only the second in the Euros. I'm backing the team and even Southgate, who I'm skeptical of. |
Yes i was thinking even early in second half they looked heavy legged. Denmark should be a bit more open and more of a game to play TAA in midfield if you're going to (not convinced myself) but not last night against a side that's basically 10 midfielders and a keeper as eastern euro teams tend to be. Left Rice with too much to do. You need two holding midfielders in a 4231 and that releases your best player at nr 10. Would probably keep Foden in for another game but his chances are running out a bit. |  | | |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 11:54 - Jun 17 with 1024 views | Europa |
On the other hand, Croatia's game plan looked similar to Ipswich's and they came undone fairly quickly against a quality side. Looking ahead to the Premier League, that worried me a bit. |  | | |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 11:59 - Jun 17 with 1017 views | weepingx2018 |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 07:55 - Jun 17 by NthQldITFC |
I rarely watch footy other than ITFC, but I don't think I've seen a less mobile or involved centre forward than Kane last night. I know he's a very good finisher and highly effective in the box (at least I think he is) but honestly, in the build up play and in terms of putting pressure on their defence last night (not that we pressed in any way) it was like playing with ten men. |
i say drop kane & put jude up front with wharton in midfield | | | |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 13:04 - Jun 17 with 957 views | OldFart71 |
The whole idea of Harry kane staying high up the field was to engage their defence that's why Pickford was launching the ball second half to relieve pressure on the defence. What would people be saying if like Sebia who were overrun first half and then didn't put in some sort of shift second half. As some chap said on the radio last night people tend to believe we should steam roller teams like Serbia, but they have players who play for top European sides. Gone are the day's when if you didn't put more than half a dozen goals past a lesser team you were deemed a failure. We won, we move on. | | | |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 13:15 - Jun 17 with 942 views | stonojnr |
It's the style of play that people are noting, a win is a win of course, but this the classic England tournament style, beat a few teams that by rights according to ranking we should, of course no easy games at this level, bar Germany v Scotland, but first team we come up against who'll have abit of clue how to play football, and we'll be stumped.
Yes Serbia stepped up 2nd half, but we were just punting long balls to 50/50 challenges, midfield couldn't get a grip and it turns into defend a 1 goal lead.
That's not really the way alot of successful teams play anymore. And we know alot of the players in the team can cope with that style of play because that's how they play for their clubs, who win trophies as a result. | | | |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 23:10 - Jun 17 with 827 views | TheBoyBlue |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 09:03 - Jun 17 by textbackup |
Honest truth, even my wife said ‘why does the England keeper wack it up to only one person when he’s being marked… Ipswich do loads of passes don’t they’
Nearly the exactly word for word. I smiled.
She also thought we were playing Syria |
Love it!
In all seriousness, I don't know if Pickford goes for that option because Dyche encourages at Everton. I haven't watched them closely over the last couple of seasons so I might just be reverting to stereotypes here, but he just doesn't seem at all confident knocking the ball around at the back. | |
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| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 01:17 - Jun 18 with 797 views | Vic |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 23:10 - Jun 17 by TheBoyBlue |
Love it!
In all seriousness, I don't know if Pickford goes for that option because Dyche encourages at Everton. I haven't watched them closely over the last couple of seasons so I might just be reverting to stereotypes here, but he just doesn't seem at all confident knocking the ball around at the back. |
No, of course he doesn’t. If that’s what it was Southgate and the captain would soon get the message to him. It was part of a tactical plan. Not sure what it was but it didn’t really work. I’m a strong defender o& Southgate and he has a very strong tournamen5 record so I don’t tget the criticism that comes his way. But even I think that with the players we have we should be imposing ourselves on other teams a bit more than we do. Sure Serbia changed tactics in the 2nd half but we should have been good/astute enough to have sussed than out and changed things around to have snuffed them out again and get on top. Player for player we are better than them so we should not play a whole half on the back foot. |  |
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| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 03:51 - Jun 18 with 759 views | Exiled2Surrey |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 11:47 - Jun 17 by Ftnfwest |
Yes i was thinking even early in second half they looked heavy legged. Denmark should be a bit more open and more of a game to play TAA in midfield if you're going to (not convinced myself) but not last night against a side that's basically 10 midfielders and a keeper as eastern euro teams tend to be. Left Rice with too much to do. You need two holding midfielders in a 4231 and that releases your best player at nr 10. Would probably keep Foden in for another game but his chances are running out a bit. |
The heavy legged comment is interesting. One of the issues for the players will be that their fitness will deteriorate during the course of the tournament. Maybe the England fitness coaches have a plan and who knows whether our strategy is to go into the early games on the back of a heavier programme of training than the other teams (particularly those who will be more focused on the group stages), with a view that we will benefit from that drop off in load, peaking later in the tournament while other teams see their fitness levels drop off. | | | |
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| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 04:26 - Jun 18 with 740 views | itfctilidie |
| You can see why McKenna has us playing the way he has. on 08:46 - Jun 17 by Vic |
I hear what you say but I'm not sure about this being the most talented generation for decades. I remember the squads with Brooking, Hoddle, Robson, Keegan, Butcher, Owen, Fowler through to the so called 'golden generation' or Beckham etc. All pretty much perennial underachievers who put together were better for club than country. Bottom line is that Southgate has done consistently better than any of the other managers bar SBR. History will be kinder to him than many are today. |
I would throw into the argument that when the likes of Brooking, Hoddle, Robson etc were playing the quality of opposition was much higher. Look at Germany last 8 years for example - they were dominant up to then, Brazil as well. Italy failed to qualify for a tournament which never would have happened back in the day as well.
So in my opinion, Southgate has had the perfect storm - a very talented bunch of players, whilst other countries talent pools have dropped off.
We will never know whether any other manager could have achieved what Southgate has or more, however I am of the opinion there are plenty of managers out there who would have matched or exceeded Southgate.
Another factor is, the knockouts have been very friendly to Southgate, whereas back in the day we have come up against formidable foes in early knock outs. |  | | |
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