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

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Rico can do that job for sure but it's hard to see him breaking into the England squad again unless he starts getting more game time at City. Let's see what the new season brings.

I don't think Rico really kicked on last season from the season before

You've answered your own question. Given the extremely limited amount of game time he's getting in league games, it's difficult to see how he could kick on. Still less, break into the England squad.

 

[FromPollockToSilva]

Which indicates either Rice is scared of making a mistake passing forward in the England team or Southgate has instructed him to seldom do it.

Either way, there is a problem.

I also wonder about the average pass distance for those passes in to the final third—my gut would have Rodri’s average much higher than Rice based on his role and how we play versus Rice’s role and how Arsenal plays. That is, Rice made far more 15 yard forward passes from just inside the middle third of the pitch than Rodri did.

Rice was third the season before too, while playing for a David Moyes team. Which is really damning for Southgate

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

And Rice is shite scared of making a forward pass.

That was the most frustrating thing for me. Time and time again he would receive the ball with no pressure, turn to look down field, see at least one (if not more) channels to pass the ball through to a waiting forward player in a decent position, but instead choose to play the ball sideways or backward.

Only when the wingbacks or the forward players dropped deep did they regularly get the ball off Rice; Mainoo (and at times Foden) had to do all of the progressive passing, which he thankfully did very well.

I understand that Rice isn’t meant to play the Rodri role in the England side, nor is he meant to be the deep-lying playmaker, but he can at least pass the ball forward once or twice a match, surely!

Rice is too passive and doesn't seem to have much direct influence on matches. He's a solid player but nothing special in my view.

 

[Vienna_70]

BBC Yorkshire went to John Stones' school and Peniston Church FC, where Boulders played as a junior.

The strange thing was, none of them mentioned that he is a dirty oil cheat.

;-)

 

[Gaylord du Bois]

Just you wait until @BlueHammer85 has seen some of these posts. Just you wait. He won't stand it, I tell ya.
Although, he could possibly be having a day off, due to the fact that he took last nights win, extremely personally .

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Great to see all the city England flags in the crowd. Know a few that went over

 

[SebastianBlue]

Just you wait until @BlueHammer85 has seen some of these posts. Just you wait. He won't stand it, I tell ya.
Although, he could possibly be having a day off, due to the fact that he took last nights win, extremely personally .

I responded to one of his posts last night with a respectful inquiry about whether he understood that England have progressed in spite of Southgate, not because of him.

He responded telling me to get fucked.

I can only imagine how bad his head is aching today.

 

[mexico1970]

I responded to one of his posts last night with a respectful inquiry about whether he understood that England have progressed in spite of Southgate, not because of him.

He responded telling me to get fucked.

I can only imagine how bad his head is aching today.

Ohhhh get fucked.


;-)

 

[Idesofmarch69]

Oh I see, my bad, it's British when it fucking suits, I get it now

No, it's British all the time, albeit with regional variations.

On an unrelated matter, how would you assess the impact of Brexit?

 

[normskih]

Potentially, he's a good player. I think at international level, Mainoo is learning things he won't have been coached yet, or won't have experienced very often given United's CL failures.

Then he’s a quick learner and I’ve been impressed in what I’ve seen of him and I’ve seen more of him in the last three months, the FA Cup Final and England matches, than I have seen in any of utd matches. Mainly because I don’t watch them unless a) we are playing them or b) they’re getting beat.