England v Netherlands

Quoted from Mallyner

Double Dutch?  

I like Gordon and he goes past defenders very well, but from what I have seen of him, his crosses are reminiscent of similar players we have had.

I agree with playing Gordon. think it’s time to use some of our musical youth and go past the Dutchies on the left hand side

Where do they get Dutch from then? Anyone know.

We're English as we're from England and the sweaties are Scottish as they're from Scotland so we're do they get Dutch from then.

I thought we played better against Slovenia then we did in the group games and better against Switzerland than against Slovenia. So we are gradually improving. So maybe we are playing our way into the tournament. The subs who have come on have mostly done well, so plenty of options from the bench.

I hope Shaw starts on Wednesday because he gives us better balance on the left.

We are hard to score against and have players like Saka and Bellingham who can pop up with the occasional bit of magic. So we have a chance against anyone. I certainly think we can beat Holland if we take our chances. Not sure we could beat Spain, but I do think we have a good chance of reaching the final.

Spain have been comfortably the best team in the tournament.

France and England have been poor, no two ways about it. But they could both make the final

funny how football works

Quoted from Les Brechin

Where do they get Dutch from then? Anyone know.

We're English as we're from England and the sweaties are Scottish as they're from Scotland so we're do they get Dutch from then.

Are you sitting comfortably?:

Dutch and Deutsch (as in Deutschland) means 'of the people' and the Dutch were originally known as 'the people of the lowlands or lower people'. A variant of this for some time was 'Nederduytsch'. This was shortened to 'Dutch' in the mists of time. It's also a bit of a hangover of the English as we are generally the only people who call the Netherlands 'Holland' , the people 'Dutch' and the language 'Dutch'. People from The Netherlands call their language 'Nederlands' and refer to themselves as coming from The Netherlands.

Holland is a part of The Netherlands and is a bit like calling the UK England.

The Netherlands is the 'lower people' when compared to what is now Germany as the Dutch are a Germanic people but come from lower Germany (historically!)

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

Are you sitting comfortably?:

Dutch and Deutsch (as in Deutschland) means 'of the people' and the Dutch were originally known as 'the people of the lowlands or lower people'. A variant of this for some time was 'Nederduytsch'. This was shortened to 'Dutch' in the mists of time. It's also a bit of a hangover of the English as we are generally the only people who call the Netherlands 'Holland' , the people 'Dutch' and the language 'Dutch'. People from The Netherlands call their language 'Nederlands' and refer to themselves as coming from The Netherlands.

Holland is a part of The Netherlands and is a bit like calling the UK England.

The Netherlands is the 'lower people' when compared to what is now Germany as the Dutch are a Germanic people but come from lower Germany (historically!)

You learn something everyday!  

Quoted from Hagrid

Spain have been comfortably the best team in the tournament.

France and England have been poor, no two ways about it. But they could both make the final

funny how football works

You're not wrong.  At least , we've scored from open play.  In fact when we get it on target we score.  In the last two games, we've had three shots on target and three goals, haven't we?

Quoted from Mayaman

You're not wrong.  At least , we've scored from open play.  In fact when we get it on target we score.  In the last two games, we've had three shots on target and three goals, haven't we?

Yes indeed, 2 wonder strikes.

France have been even worse, 3 goals, 2 own goals and 1 from the penalty spot

Can see it being an England versus France final. Two teams who have offered little offensively but are also very stingy at the other end and can ultimately rely on individual moments of quality. I weirdly feel confident ahead of the Netherlands game, although I'm not sure why.

Quoted from OddShapedBalls

We really, really need a natural left-sided player on the left so I'd go with Shaw over Tripper, and in all honesty Kane seems to want to play defensive mid and has offered nothing aside from 1 header all tournament.  Southgate won't bench him, but I would, and have either Toney or Watkins start up front then bring Kane on after 60 mins to see the game out.

Kane's done bloody well to score two goals from that one header.

Kane has looked a little sluggish and, dare I say, tired this tournament but remains one of our best players. He's one of the best passers in the team as well as the best goalscorer we've ever had, and we're just not using him properly. He's scored a hatful for Bayern this season and got loads of assists as well, but the difference for England is that he doesn't have Musiala and Sane bombing up and down the line to create space and chances for him. Saka is a really good player and is quick, but beats men by slowing the ball down then attacking and this gives defences the chance to get back and settle themselves. We've simply had no attacking threat on the left and I'd say this remains true when Eze has come on as he's looked to cut inside every time as well. Bellingham is just roaming around aimlessly, beating a player here and there but there isn't any discipline in his play and we're moving the ball so slowly (admittedly, against well-organised defences) that Kane is always marked by one or two players even when we get the ball into the box.

It has worked so far, to a degree, and Southgate is never going to change it at this stage, but I can't help but think that we're in the semis as much by luck as judgement. We really huffed and puffed after going behind against Slovakia and the better teams are likely to punish us if we're chasing the game for more than an hour. Slovakia were happy to mostly sit back after getting their goal, but any one of Netherlands, France and Spain would counter us with pace and I'm not sure we would be able to hold them off if we fall behind.