Spain v England ... Match Thread

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Opta stats recorded the highest ever accuracy stats for a midfielder at a European Championship of 133 completed passes out of 138 passes (96%). (Reported by The Times).  

This was for Kobbie Mainoo and BEFORE the Netherlands game. Not many of these were forward passes.  But last night they were.  And driving runs again. A player virtually unknown 6 months ago.

Mainoo has done well, but has tended to fade badly in the last quarter of the game or so. He's only a young lad, so that can be forgiven. He'll need to be right on his game against the Spanish midfield who are all very experienced and talented operators. Expect Rodri to boot Mainoo up into the air in the first 5 minutes of the game and getting away with a ticking off.

Olmo is the one I'm worried about. He's been excellent at arriving in the box at the right time and is a very clever player.

I think there's one area for real optimism:

The Dutch try to play in the same way as Spain, attacking quickly down the wings and getting the ball into the middle quickly to generate chances (they are nowhere near as good at it as Spain).

England did really well in neutralising this last night. They kept the Dutch pinned in their own half for long periods of the game and stopped them feeding the wings with a lot of tackles around the halfway line.

When the Dutch did get a chance to hit us down the wings we generally marked them closely and stopped the ball going into the danger areas. When they did it well they scored or there were a couple of excellent last ditch tackles (Kyle Walker's late in the game was a brilliant challenge)

If we can do the same against Spain we have a chance of disrupting how they want to attack.

I think England could certainly look to target Spains Left hand side

Laporte ( as Poojah said) is playing in Saudi
Cucurella has previously been torn apart by Saka- although he has been fantastic at LB for them this tournament but im sure it'll be in the back of his mind

We absolutely schooled the Dutch in the first half yesterday. Our link-up play was a joy to watch and exactly what we've called for all tournament.  It was only when the Dutch changed formation and set about stifling us rather than trying to beat us that the game became drab in the second half (much like the majority of this tournament).

For all the bells and whistles that Spain have around them, they resorted to just digging it out in the second half against France.  They've looked exceptional in patches and then, just like everyone else, turgid at other times.  Rodri is a great player but you look at our overall quality in midfield and I don't think it's unconceivable that we dominate them in the heart of the pitch.

Key battle will be down the flanks.  Their wingers are electric and it'll be interesting to see just how deep they manage to push out wingbacks back.  Delighted to see Walker back to something like his best last night and ready for a point when he might just be that x-factor on the right hand side of the back three with his pace and reading of the game.

Written that Bellingham turns it on big time against his hosting country.  

Quoted from Hagrid

Whilst I of course hope you're right with the last point Poojah, Im not sure Spain have far more to worry about.

Their 2 wingers are superb, and they have ( in my opinion) the best in his position in world football with Rodri.

They've won all 6 games, they've got De Normand and Carvajal back in the back line too.

I cant see Spain changing their style, they'll look to the wingers, and I think Shaw has to play, show Yamal on his right foot

Whilst they may have Rodri who I believe is the standout player in world football right now, but we also have the best players in the world in positions. Kane has had a poor tournament but is the best 9 in the world, Foden is the best 10 in the world, Walker the best right back in the world and Stones has looked as good as ever, Saka is electric on that right hand side and will give Cucurella a torrid time and I assume Shaw will start aswell giving us a lot more natural width on the left pushing Yamal back to help out Carvajal. Guehi has been my stand out of the tournament, dealt with everything that’s come his way, although you miss Maguires aerial ability from set pieces it means you aren’t overly reliant on Walker staying back as Guehi is absolutely rapid allowing us to keep our width both sides.

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

Whilst they may have Rodri who I believe is the standout player in world football right now, but we also have the best players in the world in positions. Kane has had a poor tournament but is the best 9 in the world, Foden is the best 10 in the world, Walker the best right back in the world and Stones has looked as good as ever, Saka is electric on that right hand side and will give Cucurella a torrid time and I assume Shaw will start aswell giving us a lot more natural width on the left pushing Yamal back to help out Carvajal. Guehi has been my stand out of the tournament, dealt with everything that’s come his way, although you miss Maguires aerial ability from set pieces it means you aren’t overly reliant on Walker staying back as Guehi is absolutely rapid allowing us to keep our width both sides.

I don't think Kane is the best No.9 in the England squad, let alone the world. He's ponderous and has convinced himself that he is some sort of creator/scorer and that he should be everywhere on the pitch.

He would be a lot more effective if he stayed up front and formed the point of the spear.

PS I know many disagree with me about this but look what happens when England use a striker who's quick, full of movement and wants to spend his life in the penalty box!

PPS Although he's generally a useless lump, when he came on Weghorst created absolute chaos. I bet our defenders were dreading going into challenges against him.

Quoted from BobbyCummingsTackle

I don't think Kane is the best No.9 in the England squad, let alone the world. He's ponderous and has convinced himself that he is some sort of creator/scorer and that he should be everywhere on the pitch.

He would be a lot more effective if he stayed up front and formed the point of the spear.

PS I know many disagree with me about this but look what happens when England use a striker who's quick, full of movement and wants to spend his life in the penalty box!

I think some of the criticism of Kane has been harsh - perhaps not at his best but he’s been feeding on scraps at times given the defensive approach of most of our opponents so far. With one game to go there’s still a reasonable chance that he goes home with the golden boot, a winners’ medal or, ideally, both.

My bigger concern with him is his apparent allergy to trophies, something he further reinforced at Bayern last season. Would be a great way to break his duck, though.

Quoted from Poojah

I think some of the criticism of Kane has been harsh - perhaps not at his best but he’s been feeding on scraps at times given the defensive approach of most of our opponents so far. With one game to go there’s still a reasonable chance that he goes home with the golden boot, a winners’ medal or, ideally, both.

My bigger concern with him is his apparent allergy to trophies, something he further reinforced at Bayern last season. Would be a great way to break his duck, though.

I agree with feeding on scraps but I think we've been crying out for someone to run the channels, push the defence back and be in the danger area when the ball arrives. Kane hasn't done that. He's not playing like a No.9 and it just doesn't suit his style, speed (or lack thereof) or skill level. At one point last night we were camped on the edge of their penalty area looking for the target in the box, he popped up on the left side looking to a play a cross in - he should be in the middle on the end of crosses.

Watkins comes on and straight away he's running the defenders, stretching the defence and scores a goal out of nothing.

I am not anti Kane, his record is amazing. I just want him to play to his strengths and lead the line.

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

Whilst they may have Rodri who I believe is the standout player in world football right now, but we also have the best players in the world in positions. Kane has had a poor tournament but is the best 9 in the world, Foden is the best 10 in the world, Walker the best right back in the world and Stones has looked as good as ever, Saka is electric on that right hand side and will give Cucurella a torrid time and I assume Shaw will start aswell giving us a lot more natural width on the left pushing Yamal back to help out Carvajal. Guehi has been my stand out of the tournament, dealt with everything that’s come his way, although you miss Maguires aerial ability from set pieces it means you aren’t overly reliant on Walker staying back as Guehi is absolutely rapid allowing us to keep our width both sides.

Aren't we effectively playing the same way as Spain did at the back end of their golden period ?

Pretty sure when they had Xavi,Ineiesta ,Busquets etc it was a hybrid 4-6-0  approach with Fabregas/David silva as a false 9  much like Kane is doing dropping in a lot of the time making it a not so fluid 3-7-0 / 4-6-0  and knocking it sidewards and backwards for large spells and grinding out  wins like they did at the time  . Because it was them it was deemed some sort of masterpiece and artwork now we are doing it , it's deemed turgid and boring by many - I don't particularly enjoy that style of football but fans need to look at it with a bit of balance sometimes

Quoted from LocalLadGTFC

Whilst they may have Rodri who I believe is the standout player in world football right now, but we also have the best players in the world in positions. Kane has had a poor tournament but is the best 9 in the world, Foden is the best 10 in the world, Walker the best right back in the world and Stones has looked as good as ever, Saka is electric on that right hand side and will give Cucurella a torrid time and I assume Shaw will start aswell giving us a lot more natural width on the left pushing Yamal back to help out Carvajal. Guehi has been my stand out of the tournament, dealt with everything that’s come his way, although you miss Maguires aerial ability from set pieces it means you aren’t overly reliant on Walker staying back as Guehi is absolutely rapid allowing us to keep our width both sides.

It’s all about opinions but I don’t think walker is the best right back in the world, and before last night I think stones has had a mare of a tournament (although both were a lot better last night). A full back has to have the ability to go forward and be an attacking force in modern football and walkers distribution is pretty horrendous. Think he is much better as the right hand man in a back 3 like last night which suits him better.