meltonblue
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 14 May 2013
- Messages
- 6,995
That seems to be the consensus yes. I didn't think he was shit. He wasn't that involved really barring one or 2 decent bursts forward with the ball that had their defence backing off him. Subdued in the main like he's been most of the tournament.
I'm somewhere in the middle with him. The hype around him is pretty gross he's nowhere near as generational as we're being led to believe. I think he's got quality and is capable of being in the right place at the right time with moments of quality like his goal tonight. I also think he's operating at close to his potential because of his physicality at a young age..leads me to think he'll hit his peak pretty early.
Equally I think the hate towards him from some is just wasted energy and clouds the judgement of some when it comes to his own performance and influence on the team. This England side is full of good enough players to take responsibility for their own performances. We're entitled to expect more from every single player in that squad so far in this tournament.
He’s not going to get dropped and he’s one of the few players that’s capable of a match winning moment. His positioning though and how he’s playing in that number ten role is having massive issues both on the rest of the attack and the defence.
He needs a creative midfielder behind him in that role, which we haven’t got, or needs to be a false nine, which he won’t do because he won’t drop Kane. The space between him and the two midfielders though means there’s no link at all. We also can’t press from the front as he’s moving all over the place behind it, there’s no point.
The left back position and him are the biggest reasons we’re struggling generally in games and unless Southgate sorts it out, it really doesn’t matter who plays in the front three roles.