Serbia v England - Sun 16th June, 20:00 | Euro 2024 Group C

[SebastianBlue]

He’s basically fulfilling two roles though. I don’t get how you don’t see that? Bellingham is going deep to get the ball and Phil is left trying to stay inside, it didn’t work and that’s on Southgate but he won’t realise that

Not only that, but Foden was responsible for covering the LW/LM/LB area because Trippier has no pace and is defensively suspect. Having Arnold in midfield and Bellingham roaming around position-less didn’t help. Foden was by no mean at his best more generally, but he was not “anonymous” or “shite”. So many factors were conspiring to make a good performance very difficult. He was absolutely wasted in that role tonight and a standout performance was always unlikely under the constraints placed on him by Southgate (as has been the case many times). One of the reasons Bellingham can stand out is because he is given a free role and everyone else works to cover the issues that arise from it.

It’s just frustrating at times on here. So many have such a simplistic perspective on football, which is surprising coming from blues given Pep has been around for so many years. You would think their awareness and analysis would have become more sophisticated by now.

 

[jaiguruKun]

Plenty of people on Twitter quite rightly talking about Grealish. Huge mistake by Waistcoat to not take him.

Yeah especially when you consider Watkins and Toney are very unlikely to be needed and Bellingham can play as a striker as well if needed. Weird.

 

[RayCTID]

He has. He hasn't got the defensive nouse, the tackling ability, the awareness or the unselfishness to play there.

We have exploited his lack of passing ability

 

[jaiguruKun]

Watching that game and your subsequent posts since doesn’t make me angry. Incredulous maybe but not angry.

He's an England fan.
It's a bit like when City scrape a win, relief is the overriding emotion.

 

[BlueHammer85]

The people that slag Foden off don't watch him every week

won't hear it from me.
the boy is class and thought his work rate was good, won us important free kicks taking players on.
It's the opening game, one bloody match. the scrutiny on young players like him is a joke.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

i know this isn't popular, but TAA does give us something different - there's not many players that have the range of passing he does, he can create and score and set pieces are a major factor in tournaments. I would stick with him in the centre midfield role where we lack options.

The best thing he did was go down the right of Saka and put a good cross into the box. Who would have thought that his best moment involved doing something in the position he's played his entire career? If his attacking threat is so vital to the team, then don't be such a pussy and play him instead of Walker. But waistcoat will never do that, because even in a tournament where it's harder to fail to get through to the knockout rounds than get knocked out, he's still ridiculously cautious and Walker is by miles the better defender.

Hell, you could even play him alongside Walker by having a back five, and have Stones come into midfield with Rice like he has for City. But TAA in midfield is an accident waiting to happen and I simply don't see this incredible range of passing that we keep hearing about. I see the odd long-range pass that any competent PL midfielder should be able to pull off nowadays. And his free kicks were pretty shit today too. Did he actually hit an England player or get a shot on target at any point?

 

[mrbelfry]

As poor as I have seen him tonight.

Yeah he wasn't good but he was far from the worst player

 

[Franny 1234]

Phil and his captain were invisible first half but they both grown into the game winning free kicks on a regular basis.
3 points is all that counts. Let's build on that Gallagher impressive sub performance too.

 

[Brendan110_0]

i know this isn't popular, but TAA does give us something different - there's not many players that have the range of passing he does, he can create and score and set pieces are a major factor in tournaments. I would stick with him in the centre midfield role where we lack options.

England can do without a quarterback with a 40% completion of passes.

 

[bluwes]

He has. He hasn't got the defensive nouse, the tackling ability, the awareness or the unselfishness to play there.

So what’s he doing in the pitch

 

[madloaf]

We have exploited his lack of passing ability

Who? City? I'm not sure we have, we've exploited him as a defensive liability and the scousers tactical process - but he's a great kicker of a ball - he's just got a lot of other things that aren't very good at all.

 

[burning blue soul]

If Bellingham was in the Arnold role and Phil in the CAM, we’d click far more.

FUCK OFF!!! ;)

 

[bluwes]

Phil and his captain were invisible first half but they both grown into the game winning free kicks on a regular basis.
3 points is all that counts. Let's build on that Gallagher impressive sub performance too.

The performance that Jack could have given us

 

[RayCTID]

Who? City? I'm not sure we have, we've exploited him as a defensive liability and the scousers tactical process - but he's a great kicker of a ball - he's just got a lot of other things that aren't very good at all.

Yes City. He can kick it long and can cross the ball and has pace but that is it.

 

[Franny 1234]

The performance that Jack could have given us

Similar to be fair.

 

[Lauz9888]

I think TAA's a decent attacking right-back (although I prefer Walker or a fit James) but far from convincing as a midfielder. Playing in central midfield isn't just about spraying a few long passes around and making the odd tackle. You need 360 degree vision and specific positional awareness that takes years of learning. Whatever your talents as a right-back, it's not a straightforward transition.

If Southgate refuses to do Bellingham next to Rice and Foden in the 10, I'd play Gallagher next to Rice. He's not particularly inspiring but he knows the fundamentals of the position well, so is less of a risk of a goal-conceding fuck-up.

 

[The Black Shed]

First clean sheet of the tournament: tick

A great array of attacking talent, five goal attempts: untick

 

[Phil1]

He's an England fanboy

That he is. The thing is he gives out that we don’t support the national team enough but he’s the polar opposite and so there’s no middle ground. His head is in the clouds.

 

[bridgeno1]

Who'd have thought that lumping the ball high to Foden who was being marked by 6'3 centre halves wouldn't play to his strengths???

Most important thing was the 3 points. We take them and move on.

 

[stan bowles]

You give this team to Pep, and it would be a historical national team and we all would be watching great football. How can you have such good players offensively, and yet Switzerland is more entertaining to watch...

You have a top 3 City player and POTS, a top 2 RM player (and contender for Ballon d'Or), arguably the best 9 in the world, maybe the best right winger in the world, a top 5 DM, even TAA can be good in the midfield.

Pickford would be nowhere near a Pep team. If Joe Hart couldn't cut it trying to play Pep ball then Pickford certainly wouldn't be playing.
if England produced that hoof ball nonsense under Pep, he'd have the team still out on the pitch until midnight doing playing out from the back drills. Anyone who couldn't do it would be dropped.