Nations League in Portugal

Quoted from Gaffer58

I like both Stones and Barkley but I sometime wonder with them being at Man City and Chelsea if they perhaps can get a bit nonchalant, if they make a mistake at club level then 9 times out of 10 it's not seriousdie to the reams they play for. It was noticeable that Gaudirola ( the city manager) did not have Stones as his starter towards the end of the season.

Pep didn’t play stones for the last part of the season because he knew one mistake would cost the title and stones was the most likely to make it , the lad as just not pushed on like what was expected. We lack a playmaker a real dictator of a game

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Hard to judge how relevant the performance and result were last night.  The team was disrupted and not at its best for a number of reasons.

The midfield did not work as a unit and often did not welcome the ball being passed out to them.  This put greater pressure on the defence and reduced the time and options that they had to play the ball out.  

Stones suffered from these circumstances and made critical errors.  He is too much of a liability as he has done this before.  Maybe why he is not currently in the City first team.

A very good comment was made on the radio last night.  For variety, or if the opposition keep pressurising the defence, get the forwards to press-up to the edge of the penalty area.  The keeper can then kick it long trying to pick them out.  Gives you opponents a different threat to consider.


Man City are good at doing this, with Ederson very effective and accurate.

A wake up call might be no bad thing in the long-run.

England midfield players have not been good at receiving the ball for years unless they are in acres of free space. Jonathan Northcroft in the Sunday Times this morning made the same point about Rice. He completed 54 out of 54 passes but only 3 were to his forwards.  Probably because in the PL if they manage to get a game they  have somebody alongside who can do it. People talk of playing Winks but he is not much better at it.

Henderson occasionally does a defence splitter but he needs time to do it. Barkley can do it now and again but he plays head down.

The best spells of play under Southgate have come generally early in a game before the opposition has settled and sussed this huge midfield weakness. England have managed to turn over possession and release the runners up front and with luck scored. As the game goes on the pattern in every match is no Plan B so as the opposition tighten up on midfield we pass backwards and sideways like we used to. So Stones is in bother then.

It is all very well for the coach to pontificate about young players playing exciting, possession football but if you read Northcroft’s analysis we get our possession turned over increasingly often as the game progresses. OK it was not full strength but the pattern is the same regardless of who plays. Southgate’s football is different to what we have seen from Hodgson etc. but his way is just as one dimensional and he does not seem able to change tack during a game when it happens.

I agree with the idea of having a sudden change of tactic, pushing 2/3 forwards right up on their back line for a minute or two and by-passing midfield with some long diagonals just to make opponents that bit more  wary. Both Man City and Liverpool do this to unsettle opponents and buy a bit of game time.

Dier and Delph together in midfield today does not fill me with optimism!

The trouble is we are all now wanting Henderson to play, he's ok but will not win you many games, granted he is very good at keeping possession, but the majority of his passes are either backwards or square. I assume at Liverpool he gives it to more creative players.

Dier is absolutely 2nd rate-if he ever ran more than 5mph he would collapse. He seems as though he couldn'.t be bothered half the time. If somebody passes to him 9/10 times he will pass the ball straight back to them and then just stand their.-fkng useless passenger.

England score but it's ruled out by VAR  

Frigging VAR is going to ruin our beautiful game.  At this rate it'll become so sterile they'll be playing nurses uniforms!!...hate it tbh..

The England fans are chanting "VAR a load of sh!t"  

Jonathan Northcroft also made the point that De Jong is in a different class.  He can receive and make passes under severe pressure.  This is an invaluable skill.

He completed 100 out of 104 passes.  31 of which were played forward to his front three.  (It is not his fault that they wasted most of the chances created).

England 0 Switzerlan 0 AET

Penalties it is