We can relax for once whilst watching this World Cup friendly   8)

It's quite competitive so far for a friendly

What a boring tacticless match so far.  If it keeps on like this I think I'll go and watch the bloke next door fishing. It might be both teams reserves but I thought we were going to keep the impetus going. First 2 games had excitement but why have they been told to play to the pace of Dier.

Forget keeping the momentum going, let's change, try for second and slide out quietly in the last 16.

I know it's nice to be able to sit back, relax and enjoy but......zzzzzzz!

Poor defending by us but it could mean we avoid Brazil in the quarters so I'm not too bothered

Seem to be slowly reverting back to a long ball team.

i know its our reserves effectively....and we are through already .....but have we actually managed to threaten their goal or force their keeper to make a save of note yet ?

Bloody good thing Belgium aren't actually trying

Quoted from moosey_club

i know its our reserves effectively....and we are through already .....but have we actually managed to threaten their goal or force their keeper to make a save of note yet ?

Nope. Our B team is being humiliated and humbled by their B team lol. The fact everyone was suggesting before this that we take the easy way out anyway shows how weak England really is. Any half decent team will do this to even our A side. Completely contained, turned the three lions into the three sheep.

Out of interest what makes a studio "expert". There all sat there saying Belgium aren't trying and are happy to lose, then oops Belgium score, but none of them will say at the end they got it wrong. It was just the same in the Germany v Sweden game when they again were giving the Germans the last rites, only for Kroos to score. Thank goodness my telly has a mute button.

Some decent play this half but extremely poor final ball. Very much a work in progress but then we knew that anyway.

Some bloody awful corners too.
Rushford should have buried that one.

Are Belgium going to gift us a soft equaliser?

Quoted from Kris2

Nope. Our B team is being humiliated and humbled by their B team lol. The fact everyone was suggesting before this that we take the easy way out anyway shows how weak England really is. Any half decent team will do this to even our A side. Completely contained, turned the three lions into the three sheep.

three sheep on the shirt
Jules Rimet still bleeting

Quoted from buckstown

Are Belgium going to gift us a soft equaliser?

I think they might try but we'd probably miss (and not deliberately either) ;)

I do wonder about the bookings for chopping down Rose. Looked a bit pre-meditated to me.

Otherwise poor miss from Rashford from our one bit of really good play.

Looks like two teams who aren't that bothered about winning but they have been slightly less not that bothered than us.

Januzaj is in for a bollocking I reckon

I don't think we've been humbled and humiliated but I am wondering if Gareth (Mr. Goody two shoes) is a bit sneakier than we give him credit for?

Quoted from Ipswin

Januzaj is in for a bollocking I reckon

I reckon Rashford will get another chance and deliberately try to miss it.......and score.

Quoted from buckstown

I don't think we've been humbled and humiliated but I am wondering if Gareth (Mr. Goody two shoes) is a bit sneakier than we give him credit for?

the attempts on target tally would verify that

Dier is awful, so one paced. Nobody has been a star but Stones and Maguire the two better players for me

Every time Dier has passed the ball it has gone behind his man. He's an OK defender but not up to the job in midfield.

Well, all that told us was Belgium's 2nd 11 can beat our 2nd 11 without breaking sweat.
Poor stuff indeed.

Looking for positives....Delph & Dier might not get on the pitch again in this tournament.

Belgium rip Japan a new bottom hole and we go out without a whimper against Columbia.
I might be wrong.

Southgate may have slipped up there!
Interviewer, "If you really wanted to try and win the game you'd have brought on Harry Kane."
Southgate, "Yes, of course!" 😁

So we beat Tunisia and Panama and suddenly we're talked of as potential winners, I think after tonight a bit of reality is required.

Lame. They best beat Colombia now otherwise the highlight of a promising world cup is going to be hammering Panama.

So the Belgian reserves beat the English reserves? Is that much of a shock?

Quoted from GYinScuntland

Belgium rip Japan a new bottom hole and we go out without a whimper against Columbia.

I think we'd have ripped Japan a new anus too but I didn't fancy us against Brazil whereas Belgium might well do 'em

As far as we are concerned I give us more chance us against the Swiss or the Swedes in the quarters but if Columbia play like they did against the Poles we're stuffed

Six of one and half a dozen of the other really

Quoted from Badger57

Southgate may have slipped up there!
Interviewer, "If you really wanted to try and win the game you'd have brought on Harry Kane."
Southgate, "Yes, of course!" 😁

I thought he said "needed"

Quoted from Maringer

Every time Dier has passed the ball it has gone behind his man. He's an OK defender but not up to the job in midfield.

Was Dier actually playing?

Belgium will think that they are capable of beating Brazil.  England not so confident in beating Brazil.

Mexico might spring a surprise anyway.

I will take England’s draw.  The rest is up to them.

IMO it was two teams trying to not win without looking like they were not trying to win, Dier isn't up to a midfield role, probably would be OK in a back three, but my real worry is Pickford, i think he is a howler waiting to happen, would much prefer Butland or Pope, nowadays with the ball moving around a lot in the air you do not win tournaments with a dodgy keeper and he looks decidedly dodgy to me.

Quoted from petethemariner

IMO it was two teams trying to not win without looking like they were not trying to win, Dier isn't up to a midfield role, probably would be OK in a back three, but my real worry is Pickford, i think he is a howler waiting to happen, would much prefer Butland or Pope, nowadays with the ball moving around a lot in the air you do not win tournaments with a dodgy keeper and he looks decidedly dodgy to me.

Pickford for me is the best of the bunch, although he hasn't looked safe.

Think the back 3 that started the tournament are first choice.

Need to get Lidgard in behind Kane but although that is our best line up I just feel we are a little short of moving towards the latter stages. Some will say we are crap, Southgate has got it all wrong but IMO he has done the best he can with what he has available.

Quoted from oldun

Was Dier actually playing?

Every time I see him I actually seethe .I have never thought that he knows how to play football. He has never been taught how to run correctly-the only player I know to run on his heels Absolutely overrated shite.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

England not so confident in beating Brazil.
.

I'm not so confident of beating Colombia!

With respect though cloudy, 'he hasn't looked safe' is the root of the potential problem, defenders need to know they have someone reliable behind them, otherwise it impacts on their own performances, we are very light on the goalkeeping front and to be honest and if you go on last seasons form, Nick Pope is the best of the three, although completely untried at this level i admit.
The value of a quality keeper is best shown by Jan Oblak at Athletico Madrid, best keeper in the world by a long way IMO, although sadly not able to show that at the world cup.

Soft goal to give away and teams know they can score against us - Panama did
Friendly or not we missed 2 good chances, Vardy & Rashford and we still don't know how to put games like this away
Not good enough, sorry.

The most disappointing thing for me was that not one of the reserves gave a performance that shouted ' pick me' whereas IMHO Martinez has been given a few selection bproblems with a lot of their second X1 making a case for being first choice

Quoted from petethemariner

With respect though cloudy, 'he hasn't looked safe' is the root of the potential problem, defenders need to know they have someone reliable behind them, otherwise it impacts on their own performances, we are very light on the goalkeeping front and to be honest and if you go on last seasons form, Nick Pope is the best of the three, although completely untried at this level i admit.
The value of a quality keeper is best shown by Jan Oblak at Athletico Madrid, best keeper in the world by a long way IMO, although sadly not able to show that at the world cup.

We just don't have a top quality keeper so the best Southgate can do is pick the one he feels is the best, trust him and try and build his confidence. It isn't going to turn him in to Lev Yashin overnight but  he will be better for the experience

Quoted from Cloudy

We just don't have a top quality keeper so the best Southgate can do is pick the one he feels is the best, trust him and try and build his confidence. It isn't going to turn him in to Lev Yashin overnight but  he will be better for the experience

Fair comments, he might come good, i hope he does in this tournament, but IMHO  he isn't the best of the three options we have, however i will be delighted to be proved totally wrong!

Basic goalkeeping would be to go with your right hand if the ball is going to your right, Pickford went with his left. Other teams will also look at how many times he pushed the ball out in front of him. It's got to be a worry.

Took myself off to water the garden for the second half. Think I saw more excitement on the grass. Bloody bitey, tiny flying things made it feel like Volgograd or St Pete's though.

I hope they tell Delph not to rush back.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Basic goalkeeping would be to go with your right hand if the ball is going to your right, Pickford went with his left. Other teams will also look at how many times he pushed the ball out in front of him. It's got to be a worry.

You make a valid point, but if you look at his positioning as the striker took the shot it was a yard too near to has near post and although it would be very  harsh to blame him for an excellent strike, the ball  did not go in under the angle of bar  and post.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Basic goalkeeping would be to go with your right hand if the ball is going to your right, Pickford went with his left. Other teams will also look at how many times he pushed the ball out in front of him. It's got to be a worry.

In fairness, most goalkeepers I've played with are coached to go with their 'top hand' when diving for shots going to the top corners. Watching the likes of De Gea, he tends to do the same and I'm sure nobody can argue with his technique.  

Plenty of top ex-keepers or guys in the profession on social media saying Pickford right to go with that hand. Further reach extending that arm. I'm inclined to go with their view to be honest.

If anything Rose was at fault for allowing the left footed winger to cut in onto his left foot so easily.

Seeing criticisms of Delph, Dier and Maguire in various forms tonight.

Dier merits the criticism for me. Plays facing his own goal and never knows what's behind him. Thus always plays the ball backwards and doesn't open up his body to receive on the half-turn. Henderson is guilty of this too much for my liking but far less so than Dier, who maybe is starting to look like the centre-back playing in midfield that he really is.

Delph, different to Dier above. Delph does check his shoulders and knows what's around him before he receives the ball. Let's it roll across his body or turns with the ball regularly. Would be better as the pivot midfielder than Dier. Don't see what he did wrong.

Maguire was good in possession and broke Belgian lines by breaking forward with the ball himself. Settled in when he came on and helped us play our from deep in our half a couple of times. But driving runs forward could be key in future games.

I thought Jones was awful. Such a one-dimensional player with the ball. Doesn't see a pass other than one that's right in front of him. No peripheral vision or awareness of what's around the pitch, or technical ability to move his feet and play a ball quickly that isn't a basic 10 yard roll to someone coming towards him.

Was never going to be a full blooded game but thought we rolled over too easily.

Looking forward to seeing the first XI back next week.

Quoted from forza ivano

The most disappointing thing for me was that not one of the reserves gave a performance that shouted ' pick me' whereas IMHO Martinez has been given a few selection bproblems with a lot of their second X1 making a case for being first choice

Really apart from the goal they were average and only slightly better than us, don't let annoyance cloud your judgement, it was a match where players on both sides were second to the bench

Belgium won the battle but surrendered the easier route to the final, not sure if it's what they wanted lol

At least the red tops aren't getting carried away  ;D

[Tweet]1012495903389831168[/tweet]

Midfiled - Loftus Cheek has been the only midfielder to really merit a starting place for me. Dier was aweful but feel Delpth was ok but looked aweful as he had Dier next to him.

Defence - Start with what we had against Panama. Jones needs deporting.

Attack - As we were for Panama. Not seeing what the rage is about Rashford. just doesnt do it for me, i do rate Sterling a lot more.


Keeper - Meh, what can you do if they are all below world class standard.

I don't think the keeper had a chance with the goal which was just struck too well. I would generally prefer to see Rose play ahead of Young, but he's not played a huge amount in the last year or so and his defending for the goal perhaps shows why he's not the pick at the moment.

Belgium looked a bit average (Batshuayi as anonymous as always) but they still looked better than us. I tend to think that the Hazard who played yesterday wouldn't be in the team if it wasn't for his name. Big disappointment for me was that we didn't create many opportunities and didn't really look like we were trying hard enough - too often, just one or two in the box when we had got in behind the full-back. I think Loftus-Cheek is the only attacking player to do himself much good from that performance.

The game was a dead rubber and was never going to be exciting . When did England last have a dead rubber in a World Cup ? Id take that every 4 yrs

Quoted from supertown

When did England last have a dead rubber in a World Cup ?

The Costa Rica game 4 years ago ;)

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Took myself off to water the garden for the second half. Think I saw more excitement on the grass. Bloody bitey, tiny flying things made it feel like Volgograd or St Pete's though.

I've been to London,admittedly Trafalgar Square,and I didn't see any grass in gardens  :)

Nobody even mentioned Batshuayi having a nightmare moment after the goal? 😂

Interesting piece about Pickford by a former keeper: https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/gary-neville-jordan-pickford-england-v-belgium/

Belgium obviously wanted to win the game. I thought they would play for a draw to get the easier route to the final.

Fact is that I think Belgium believe they can beat Brazil, or anyone else for that matter, and so don't care which half of the draw they ended up in. With the players they have they shouldn't need to fear anyone. Assuming they both come through the next round it is going to be one hell of quart final and I wouldn't bet against the winner to go all the way.