Netherlands v England - Wed 10th July, 20:00 | Euro 2024 Semi-Final

[Skrastins]

Best England performance i have seen in a very long time. Foden in the middle is the answer. He and Saka made things happen.
Jude was misfiring as he wanted to be a hero again, and he also is the new Henderson.
Also Kane dropping often in midfield helped with possession

 

[Paul1970]

England will win it as in all my years I’ve never seen a luck what they are having . In six games I hey have turned up in probably 90 mins total . Got one of the worst pen decisions I’ve seen go for them and won these gane they didn’t deserve to in the 95 min and another in the 90 . Got dominated by a Swiss team who hit the bar in extra time and should have won but somehow they are now once again winning he best team in the world again and Southgate could get a knighthood ha ha .

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

Spot on. Kane wouldn’t have scored that goal as he’d have still been fannying about 10 yards outside the box. We’ve been crying out for Watkins movement after about an hour in every single game

Almost the first time we had midfield possession after him coming on and he makes exactly the type of run that Phil or Palmer crave but which previously had been chronically lacking...

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

Best England performance i have seen in a very long time. Foden in the middle is the answer. He and Saka made things happen.
Jude was misfiring as he wanted to be a hero again, and he also is the new Henderson.
Also Kane dropping often in midfield helped with possession

He's not even that. At least Henderson works like a dog...

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

Also, Pickford here :)

View attachment 124956

That is mint!

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

Koeman made the switches at HT to have more players in the middle, closing the gaps between their attack & midfield - that's what gave them momentum in the second half and we didn't became imbalanced due to adding a left footer on the left flank. Shaw in the final rather than Trippier makes much more sense than Yamal.

This and the fact we were playing the second with 9 men (Harry Kawol and the incredible disappearing 10) balanced the second out a lot.
Palmer on at least kept a creative mid on, and Watkins sub was exactly what was needed (much earlier, but still, was just enough in the end).
Sub Bellingham earlier next time if he's still ineffectual, for say, Gordon, and we might just have a chance.

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

Yeah but Foden never has anyone ahead of him to make the pass to.

He would feed Watkins all night because he actually makes runs. What forward pass can he make when Kane doesn't run?

There are so many times where Foden has the ball and looks forward to try and make passes into the box and nobody is there or there's no movement, so he has to play it back to Mainoo or somebody.

England would've made light work of the Dutch tonight in the first half if we had Watkins on.

This!
Not Gonna give Kane too much crap. He's a bit like the latter day cristiano ronaldo. Knows where the goal is, but in this setup, struggles to get into the spaces where he can find/make chances.
At least first half he gives us an extra midfielder and has some capacity (and inclination) to play like that (at the expense of sacrificing forward runs).
Could be the way for the final.
First half Kane to give us some semblmace of control as we learn the game, second after 60 Watkins, Toney ready if we are chasing and need to throw another fwd on.

 

[Ajm1985]

Shaw would get roasted. That first half team would be fine for the final.

Trippier would get roasted and, like he did yesterday, be out of position and stunt the attack. Against Spain, we won't be able to build through the middle so we can't limit ourselves to only having 1 attacking flank

 

[Plays By Sense Of Smell]

FWIW I wasn't being critical of Foden the player (he was the best player in the 1st half). I was critical of some of the things he did in the second half, specifically holding onto the ball for too long (he's learned that from Bellingham). Whether you're a City fan or not surely you can see he wasn't the same force in the 2nd half, his replacement came on, did make the pass early and it set up the winner.

And yes Rice had a shocker. He was very poor for most of the match.

Hmmm, Phil made the gorgeous chance down the right just before being subbed. It's clear those around him were esinple not up to the job rather than him being the problem.

Watkins on and you see an entirely different Emgland going forward.

 

[Ajm1985]

This and the fact we were playing the second with 9 men (Harry Kawol and the incredible disappearing 10) balanced the second out a lot.
Palmer on at least kept a creative mid on, and Watkins sub was exactly what was needed (much earlier, but still, was just enough in the end).
Sub Bellingham earlier next time if he's still ineffectual, for say, Gordon, and we might just have a chance.

It would have been nice to see the subs staggered - Watkins on earlier so Foden gets to play with a runner