England v USA – Fri 25th Nov, 19:00 | Group B | World Cup 2022

[Revolver]

My concern for Phil is that the clamour for him to be in the team will be so great that even the clueless Southgate has to pick him.

Pressure on Phil leads to a poor game and clueless feels vindicated.

Don’t care so much for England but do about Foden and any effect on his career. (Which hopefully is minimal as his club manager recognises talent)

 

[Grassland Blue]

Our best chance against Wales is if Southgate wears a rainbow waistcoat on Tuesday and is refused entry to the stadium

A game that should be worth watching, but with dull Darren in charge and only needing to draw, I wonder what will happen...?

 

[Crooked_rain]

Southgate’s press conference says it all

He keeps talking about the pressure put on England by USA. England should be the one piling pressure on them. Look at the players sat on the bench that could run them ragged. England soaked up pressure because they invited the pressure. Why doesn’t he see that?

He said he knows the way USA play, so why let them? Put players on that put them on the back foot, they’re sat right there next to you on the bench.

That’s the reason we lost the euro final too. First 20 minutes we had them all over the place, running at their old defence. Then he tactically puts the breaks on and invites pressure.

Sadly Southgate’s idea of “pragmatic” means you always have to be safe. Sometimes the pragmatic/sensible thing to do in football is being more assertive.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Southgate is not starting (or bringing on, in yesterday’s case) the player in the England squad with the highest goal contributions in their domestic league this season, and who has the second highest goal total in their domestic league this season (behind Kane). And who has played False 9 many, many times, which is very similar to CAM/CM.

His excuses are nonsense.

Can only assume Phil is on the naughty step for some reason, because surely not even waistcoat could be this stupid (and self-destructive) otherwise.

But he is

 

[Saddleworth2]

It definitely wasn't a classic that and was one of the most boring games I've endured for a while!

However, I thought it would be a hard game. This world cup is showing that the "minnows" are growing. Saudi Arabia beating Argentina, Canada outclassing Belgium, Netherlands held by Ecuador, Iran beating Wales etc. There are no poor teams at World Cups now.

The US set up to make it difficult to breakdown. They plenty at a high tempo and constantly pressed. It worked well enough. We just couldn't get into the game really and it's incredible how the team that beat Iran struggled so much.

Mount, Kane, Saka and Sterling offered nothing. I'd have been tempted to haul the lot off and bring Foden, Grealish, Wilson and TAA on to get players on who can play with the ball.

I get the feeling that we knew a draw was good enough and decided not to take the risk of a counter and 1-0 loss.

At the end of the day, we will qualify and that's the first part of the job done. It wasn't pretty or exciting, but we just have to get out of the group, which we've done essentially.

USA were better all over the pitch for long periods. That could have been an excellent game if England had even attempted to go blow for blow with them. As soon as it was obvious we faced a threat we took two steps back. We have the players for gods sakes. The threat from our midfield was non existent yet Phil doesn't get a kick? 4 players from the Champions of England and three of them on the bench. England have form folding the first decent team they face and yet here was a half decent team and we looked frightened of them. The manager instils cowardly tactics and no wonder that is reflected in the teams performance.

 

[flook]

Southgate has been done to death so I'll ignore him as we all know the score, 2 stand-out things for me were the total lack of movement from anyone when we had the ball at the back, and the fact that Englands MotM was old slabhead himself

 

[toffee balls]

Southgate’s press conference says it all

He keeps talking about the pressure put on England by USA. England should be the one piling pressure on them. Look at the players sat on the bench that could run them ragged. England soaked up pressure because they invited the pressure. Why doesn’t he see that?

He said he knows the way USA play, so why let them? Put players on that put them on the back foot, they’re sat right there next to you on the bench.

That’s the reason we lost the euro final too. First 20 minutes we had them all over the place, running at their old defence. Then he tactically puts the breaks on and invites pressure.

Sadly Southgate’s idea of “pragmatic” means you always have to be safe. Sometimes the pragmatic/sensible thing to do in football is being more assertive.

Bob on that .
We are so blessed to follow the club we do - we have learnt together how to win.

Southgate and his England set up haven’t.
Gareth , the number one lesson to learn from is that you have to be brave to land trophies.

Grow some balls pal , you literally have nothing to lose.

 

[give it to gordon]

My concern for Phil is that the clamour for him to be in the team will be so great that even the clueless Southgate has to pick him.

Pressure on Phil leads to a poor game and clueless feels vindicated.

Don’t care so much for England but do about Foden and any effect on his career. (Which hopefully is minimal as his club manager recognises talent)

He wont start Phil, he cant start Phil that would show weakness in his leadership. Southgate cant be seen to be giving in to the pundits, the press/media etc.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I'd build the team around Foden, Grealish and Maddison. All technically excellent players and still young.

and Bellingham. A midfield of Bellingham, Foden, Maddison would be miles ahead of what we are playing at present. Tell Kane to stop dropping so deep. Play Grealish and Sakho wide. John Boy at CB spraying the ball around. What could possibly go wrong.

 

[BillCarlisle]

Southgate has been done to death so I'll ignore him as we all know the score, 2 stand-out things for me were the total lack of movement from anyone when we had the ball at the back, and the fact that Englands MotM was old slabhead himself

Compared to what we watch at the Etihad, last night was like watching a different sport altogether.