Czech Republic v England | Euro 2020 Group Stage

[Manc in London]

I agree England are playing below potential, but I think the missing link is a creative mid for the build-up, like Kroos or Gundo. Grealish is too far upfront and Rice/Henderson/Philips lack creative quality. You'll need a new Gazza ;)

Indeed, central midfield is the issue. Symptomatic of the slow transition from defence to attack. Southgate tried to fix it by having Kane, Sterling and Grealish come deep to pick up the ball. That worked occasionally but I think we would have more balance if we had just one DM. Preferably, Henderson but he is not 100% fit, alongside Mount and Grealish in those types of games. Maybe Phillips instead of Henderson due to fitness.

As they said on TV post game, we could well end up playing 352 in the next game due to the quality of opposition.

 

[chaddblue]

I think the victory and winning the group disguises just how shit England have been

their 3 games have been 3 of the worst in the competition so far

He’s a poor manager. Will spend a career after this managing teams like west brom and Fulham, never winning anything

 

[ninjamonkey]

Come on FFS. Saka was lively for spells in 1st half but nothing special. Don't get drawn into the hype. Leaving Foden out would be criminal and thats not me being biased .

Saka was undoubtedly the liveliest winger England have had in any of the 3 games so far, that's not buying into any hype that's just watching the 3 games, if you think foden has been better then the blue specs need to come off.

He never actually said anything about leaving foden out either, he simply said Saka was making the driving runs with the ball that we expected foden to make but has yet to do so. All correct.

I think with what we have seen so far and the known quality of players we need the following in the side

Sterling
Foden
Grealish
Saka

Not sure how you get those in a side with Kane Rice Mount and Phillips which waistcoat wanker will almost certainly play.

That would be my front 4 in the next round. I'd drop Kane who is offering the side nothing whatsoever. it's not as if he's just been unlucky, he's constantly looking to get himself involved in areas he has no business being involved and as such is not getting himself in positions for chances to come to him. and if he's not doing that, what does he bring to the side?

Doesn't have the pace to occupy space in behind, workrate isn't particularly good, his hold up play is decent but we're not playing like that and if we were dlc is better at it, he's just doing nothing. This is exactly the reason I'm praying he doesn't come to City, I've been saying for ages, the Kane we've seen for England this euros is far closer to what we would get at City than the Spurs Kane.

Would love to see England go with sterling upfront, foden behind and grealish and saka on the flanks, there's a fluidity about those 4 with all 4 capable of switching into near enough any of those roles and southgate can still stick to his laboured 2 holding midfielders plan and just let those 4 get on with it. Those 4 playing quickly on transition would be very very dangerous

Never ever going to happen though.

 

[Bill Walker]

Did he play better then Foden did in the game against Croatia ?

Imo yes he did

 

[Bill Walker]

Saka was undoubtedly the liveliest winger England have had in any of the 3 games so far, that's not buying into any hype that's just watching the 3 games, if you think foden has been better then the blue specs need to come off.

He never actually said anything about leaving foden out either, he simply said Saka was making the driving runs with the ball that we expected foden to make but has yet to do so. All correct.



That would be my front 4 in the next round. I'd drop Kane who is offering the side nothing whatsoever. it's not as if he's just been unlucky, he's constantly looking to get himself involved in areas he has no business being involved and as such is not getting himself in positions for chances to come to him. and if he's not doing that, what does he bring to the side?

Doesn't have the pace to occupy space in behind, workrate isn't particularly good, his hold up play is decent but we're not playing like that and if we were dlc is better at it, he's just doing nothing. This is exactly the reason I'm praying he doesn't come to City, I've been saying for ages, the Kane we've seen for England this euros is far closer to what we would get at City than the Spurs Kane.

Would love to see England go with sterling upfront, foden behind and grealish and saka on the flanks, there's a fluidity about those 4 with all 4 capable of switching into near enough any of those roles and southgate can still stick to his laboured 2 holding midfielders plan and just let those 4 get on with it. Those 4 playing quickly on transition would be very very dangerous

Never ever going to happen though.

In my opinion it's an awful thought to think that city could pay over 100 million for Kane.
He will be 28 when the new season starts and is already showing signs that he is too slow for this standard of football.
I think Aguero is still better than Kane and we gave him away for free.
It's a great pity that Pep never valued Aguero.
If we pay all that money for Kane plus 300 k a week we are stupid.

 

[ultimateharold]

The annoying thing is Foden was sacrificed against scotland on the right to keep the werld's best left back busy.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

I agree England are playing below potential, but I think the missing link is a creative mid for the build-up, like Kroos or Gundo. Grealish is too far upfront and Rice/Henderson/Philips lack creative quality. You'll need a new Gazza ;)

You mean like Foden

 

[super_city_si]

Yeah won't happen, Rice will play, Kane will play, the back 4 (keeper could be any) currently pick themselves for me, have Philips in front as he is the more creative of the 2, and seems quite good at the darker arts, then the other 5 can be any, so long as there is some balance.

Sadly I think he'll pick 3 at the back, 2 wing backs, 2 DM's, so only 3 proper attacking players next week, one of which will certainly be Kane.

I think this is a certainty. So effectively 7 defensive players on the pitch. Kane, sterling and mount (if available) will be the attack. well have no one who can keep the ball so it will go back to pickford and he’ll hoof it forward where we gift possession to the opposition.
WC semi v croatia all over again.

 

[ROCKET80]

I think England will be the underdog in the next match and that is a helpful benefit.

And that defensive setup could be perfect against FRA or POR, who look for counters and won't get ANY. Walker agrees.

ET and penalties come in as additional options.

Germany though is a bit more adventurous and would even like to play at Wembley, in all respect of course.

England being the underdog historically means we'll lose as England only beat teams that we are expected to beat and sometimes not even then.

In every major tournament we have been involved in since 1966, we haven't beaten a team better or on par with us.

 

[ROCKET80]

Saka was undoubtedly the liveliest winger England have had in any of the 3 games so far, that's not buying into any hype that's just watching the 3 games, if you think foden has been better then the blue specs need to come off.

He never actually said anything about leaving foden out either, he simply said Saka was making the driving runs with the ball that we expected foden to make but has yet to do so. All correct.



That would be my front 4 in the next round. I'd drop Kane who is offering the side nothing whatsoever. it's not as if he's just been unlucky, he's constantly looking to get himself involved in areas he has no business being involved and as such is not getting himself in positions for chances to come to him. and if he's not doing that, what does he bring to the side?

Doesn't have the pace to occupy space in behind, workrate isn't particularly good, his hold up play is decent but we're not playing like that and if we were dlc is better at it, he's just doing nothing. This is exactly the reason I'm praying he doesn't come to City, I've been saying for ages, the Kane we've seen for England this euros is far closer to what we would get at City than the Spurs Kane.

Would love to see England go with sterling upfront, foden behind and grealish and saka on the flanks, there's a fluidity about those 4 with all 4 capable of switching into near enough any of those roles and southgate can still stick to his laboured 2 holding midfielders plan and just let those 4 get on with it. Those 4 playing quickly on transition would be very very dangerous

Never ever going to happen though.

There's a few mitigating circumstances to Foden and Saka's performances.

Foden was singled out as England's biggest threat and as such was often double teamed in both games.

The other factor is that v CR we started with a creative midfielder allowing both Sterling and Saka more space as the opposition could no longer afford to just shut down the supply from wide areas.

I'd be more happy to see in the next game Foden on the left, Grealish central and see Sterling hug the touchline wide right with the three of them being to swap positions throughout the game all behind Kane.

I fear Henderson's name will appear in the starting XI so we're screwed anyway :-)

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Saka? Foden?
Which would you rather have in our team?
I'm pretty cool about Saka being in for England, but, if he's there in the next match in preference to Foden, I'll be leading the lynch-mob chasing the waistcoat wearing waste of space.

It shouldn’t be a choice between the two. Foden is not a right winger, he shouldn’t be playing out there.

All tournament it should have been Foden left and Sterling right. Kane would be more involved in the box if this were the case because we’d have the ball with players loaded in the last third. There’d be more room in midfield for Grealish and Mount and the full backs (like Shaw who likes to run at the box by cutting inside).

Tactically, it’s like he doesn’t know his players and what roles they should play in a system. Everyone’s getting the worst out of Kane, who looks an average footballer in the way we’re playing. He isn’t a quick enough one touch passer of the ball to keep dropping deep and he’s too slow a runner to then get up where we need him after he’s dropped deep, we need him in the box.

England have created almost nothing all tournament so far. We have something like the third least shots and shots on target out of all 24 teams.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

World Cup semi final
Qualify for Euros, top our group unbeaten and clean sheets.

yes. Mr Chappo would certainly be doing a better job.

In the World Cup we played and beat Tunisia and Panama, and lost to Belgium in the Group Stage; played and beat Colombia and Sweden and then lost to Croatia (and Belgium) in the knock-out stages. Not particularly impressive, beat who we should, lost to anyone decent.

In the Qualifiers we had Montenegro Bulgaria Kosovo and Czechia. If we don’t qualify from that we should give up.

So far in the Euros we’ve barely created anything meaningful in three games. We’re playing a system that doesn’t suit our striker and captain, we’re playing our best young player out of position, our passing has been either too slow or too erratic, we spent all Scotland game passing backwards, and playing long balls up to Kane to flick on with a header or long balls into channels is not how any of our forwards play at club level (bar Rashford). It’s been very dull. Not that it has to be exciting to win, but you have to create chances to win and if we’re barely doing that so far.

We haven't conceded a goal yet but we have actually faced more shots than we’ve had ourselves up the other end:

8 shots to 8 v Croatia, on target 2:2
9 shots to 11 v Scotland, on target 1:2
5 shots to 7 v Czechia, on target 3:1
22 shots by England to 26 shots at our goal, 6:5 on target.

This will see us go out against better sides who will take their chances, just like at the World Cup.

 

[Craig]

I thought Grealish played well and so did Saka (at least in the first half). Kane was terrible. He looks totally knackered. No pace and very little movement off the ball. The commentators kept saying no one is creating chances for Kane but he is so flat-footed. It was almost walking football. For me he has been a fantastic goalscorer for years but he looks shot to pieces. He can't be fully fit.

Don’t disagree with anything you say mate apart from I don’t think he is shot to bits. He really looked this flat footed and off the pace during the last World Cup whenever we played anyone other than the 2 pub sides at the start.

 

[Craig]

Did he play better then Foden did in the game against Croatia ?

For me without the blue tints on yes.

 

[BuzLightyear]

Come on FFS. Saka was lively for spells in 1st half but nothing special. Don't get drawn into the hype. Leaving Foden out would be criminal and thats not me being biased .

Both can play. Leaving Saka out would be criminal because he can play any position (3 man of the matches in his 5 England appearances) Phil must also play because he remains our one x-factor player ... we will need that in the next match.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I thought Grealish played well and so did Saka (at least in the first half). Kane was terrible. He looks totally knackered. No pace and very little movement off the ball. The commentators kept saying no one is creating chances for Kane but he is so flat-footed. It was almost walking football. For me he has been a fantastic goalscorer for years but he looks shot to pieces. He can't be fully fit.

He looks like all his injuries have caught up with him, thought the same in his last two performances against City where he was also dreadful.

 

[bluemoon32]

I thought Saka played well, i'd start Foden in the last 16 game but i don't think he'll come back in, i think he'll be on the bench

 

[bluetonium]

Have to agree, Kane was poor. I liked the front three, reminded me of a certain team in blue with their flexibility and forward thinking. I worry now about yesterday's reports that were preparing a bid, unless he's not match fit then he isn't in the same category as the Mbappes and Haalands. On that evidence we'd be better with Grealish or even Saka and persisting with a false 9. Maybe the same is true for England given what is on the horizon.

That is one of France, Portugal or Germany next. I don't want to write off England's chances completely, but they are all more creative than us. Portugal and Germany maybe susceptible to conceed, but can still out score us. I foresee Germany, and England going out 4-2.

Also thought Shaw was dodgy, happy to give away a foul and was targeted by the Czechs as a weak link. Rashford poor too. One run and it went out of play, get him back on sandwich duty.

 

[johnevans]

He looks like all his injuries have caught up with him, thought the same in his last two performances against City where he was also dreadful.

For what it's worth, I agree with you and I really would be concerned (based on what we"re seeing right now) if we are involved in any genuine transfer talks regarding Kane.

And for what it's worth (2), based on the three performances so far, I'd leave Kane out of the England starting XI and have a front three of Sterling, Foden and Saka playing a fluid, false 9 system in front of Grealish and Mount. Sitting in behind would be Rice or Phillips with the back four that started last night.

Kane is the problem with that team right now, given his static play and lack of confidence. His performances do not merit his inclusion.

But I don't see Southgate having the cojones to leave him out, just like many an England manager at tournaments down the years with the 'media star man' of the time (eg Greenwood with the injured Keegan in '82, Robson with Wilkins/Robson in 86 and so on and so on ever since..)

But then, 'what the George Kinnell' do I know about footy..?

 

[Deleted member 77198]

For what it's worth, I agree with you and I really would be concerned (based on what we"re seeing right now) if we are involved in any genuine transfer talks regarding Kane.

And for what it's worth (2), based on the three performances so far, I'd leave Kane out of the England starting XI and have a front three of Sterling, Foden and Saka playing a fluid, false 9 system in front of Grealish and Mount. Sitting in behind would be Rice and Phillips with the back four that started last night.

Kane is the problem with that team right now, given his static play and lack of confidence. His performances do not merit his inclusion.

But I don't see Southgate having the cojones to leave him out, just like many an England manager at tournaments down the years with the 'media star man's of the time (eg Greenwood with the injured Keegan in '82, Robson with Wilkins/Robson in 86 and so on and so on ever since..)

Yeah good suggestion!

Ive said it’s been our tactics that have hindered Kane but having read your post you raise a good point about Kane being the problem.

That front three exited me as soon as I read it!