England v Belgium | Friendly | Match Thread

I quite enjoyed watching us going forward last night. I thought mainoo was a positive addition, the more him Bellingham Rice and Foden play with each other the more of a problem they will be. Once you throw Saka and Kane back in the mix I think it will look good. Bowen, while unlikely to start is a underrated footballer for me,

Defence was a problem, but it was a makeshift and the 4 had never played together before and had to apapt to unexpected in game changes that took a while. I thought Gomez had a torrid time against Doku & Dunk had a stinker of a first half (but did settle 2nd).

I expect Walker and Shaw (if ever fit) will slot in at full back & the argument will be who should partner Stones (I suspect Maguire). My claret and blue tinted glasses firmly believe that Konsa should partner Stones, he's fantastic one one one and physically solid. He hasn't set the world alight in the last two friendlies but with some pretty poor performances around him & being thrown around a couple of positions at short notice I didn't think he disgraced himself. If you put him in a proper back 4 next to Stones I honestly believe we'd reap the rewards.
 
Blue and true said:
You can't admit to never watching Madrid play and then say you've never seen him have an incredible game. Not really a fair assessment, is it? It'd be like a Madrid fan saying they don't think Foden is an incredible player but never watching City.

I don't think he was brilliant tonight, but then none of the England players were. An easier way of ending the debate, name five midfielders in the world who are currently better than him?
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AM or DM?
 
b6_brum said:
I quite enjoyed watching us going forward last night. I thought mainoo was a positive addition, the more him Bellingham Rice and Foden play with each other the more of a problem they will be. Once you throw Saka and Kane back in the mix I think it will look good. Bowen, while unlikely to start is a underrated footballer for me,

Defence was a problem, but it was a makeshift and the 4 had never played together before and had to apapt to unexpected in game changes that took a while. I thought Gomez had a torrid time against Doku & Dunk had a stinker of a first half (but did settle 2nd).

I expect Walker and Shaw (if ever fit) will slot in at full back & the argument will be who should partner Stones (I suspect Maguire). My claret and blue tinted glasses firmly believe that Konsa should partner Stones, he's fantastic one one one and physically solid. He hasn't set the world alight in the last two friendlies but with some pretty poor performances around him & being thrown around a couple of positions at short notice I didn't think he disgraced himself. If you put him in a proper back 4 next to Stones I honestly believe we'd reap the rewards.
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Starting to think England should move to a back 3 (Walker, Stones,Maguire) with Rice and Mainoo in middle and Bellingham and Foden given free roles off Kane. Wingbacks probably Trippier and Chilwell as it stands.

Would work quite well and cover up the back 4 frailty which is obvious.
 
BlueMoonz1977 said:
Think i have just heard, correct me if wrong, but was mainoo made motm as well last night!
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Thankfully, the late equaliser made them forget to announce such trivialities. I don't know if he got the award. He played well though, but not as well as Foden. The commentary team were certainly emphasising his positive contributions, and downplaying his mistakes.

I thought former golden child Bellingham showed quite a lot of petulance. He linked up very well with Foden, and occasionally with Mainoo too.

Edit to say Bowen and Gordon both looked good in these two games. Bowen probably my MOTM against Belgium.
 
Paladin said:
Thankfully, the late equaliser made them forget to announce such trivialities. I don't know if he got the award. He played well though, but not as well as Foden. The commentary team were certainly emphasising his positive contributions, and downplaying his mistakes.

I thought former golden child Bellingham showed quite a lot of petulance. He linked up very well with Foden, and occasionally with Mainoo too.
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I’d be fucking shocked if he didn’t get the award after listening to the two commentators for 70 odd mins.
It was cringeworthy.
 
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Waiscunzt comments are like those of a teenager. He's a prick of a man, I will be very surprised to see him at the ground on Sunday.
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So he states there was no risk for injury playing him twice in four days, then says that was because he hadn’t played for two weeks.

I wonder why that was?
 
eastmanc said:
Problem is when push comes to shove will the waistcoat have the guts to play a three of Rice, Bellingham and Phil. I doubt that he will.
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The thing with waistcoat is he would probably do it in a group game that we should win, but he would shit himself and change against a good side and change if.

That's what he used to do. He would play 4 at the back in easier games then switch to a 5 against good sides, leaving us completely disjointed in midfield.

I completely understand you have to tailor your tactics somewhat, and be careful against a good side, but waistcoat used to just switch from a positive style to a negative style against good teams, hence the struggles of actually beating these highly ranked teams.
 
Falcao said:
Starting to think England should move to a back 3 (Walker, Stones,Maguire) with Rice and Mainoo in middle and Bellingham and Foden given free roles off Kane. Wingbacks probably Trippier and Chilwell as it stands.

Would work quite well and cover up the back 4 frailty which is obvious.
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We used to do the 5 at the back in 2018 up to 2021 against good teams. It's not a bad tactic the way you put it but you need the right players to do it.

The reason Southgate stopped doing it was he got criticism was it made us negative and we were getting overrun in midfield by good teams.

I do think it could work better with today's team though. You definitely need players with a lot of energy to cover a lot of the space between defence and attack. The problem before is we were using players like Henderson, or players like Mount who would go missing.

I do think we could use that system better today. Southgate has been pretty much strictly 433 since after the last Euros though. I'm not sure he would revert back now.

I'd imagine he would use Arnold as a right wing back though. Less defensive duties than a strict right back and probably considered better on the ball than trippier in advanced areas and with his passing.
 
Not long home from Wembley, was stood at the game last night clapping and fretting like fuck when John Stones went off same as I was doing Saturday v Brazil when " You'll never beat Kyle Walker"exited early, it was like groundhog day as we dropped defensively big time.
Ended up ok the belgium number 7 looks half decent and luckily KDB not on duty.
Was a top top performance by Foden maybe not seen on the screen but he just wants the ball all the time and proper screams for it and gets kicked to fuck by opposition just like week on week out but he carries on. Was a laugh being in there when we got the injury time equaliser and still being there.
 
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