Phil - Scapegoats and witch hunts

He kept offering himself for the pass but I don't recollect Rice or Bellingham giving him the ball. It's all very bizarre
Difficult for Rice to pass to Foden as he was 40+ yds away from him most game sat between our centre halves!!
Difficult for bellend to pass to him as he barely got on the ball himself and spent 90 minutes ambling round aimlessly.
Said countless times last night that the instructions are to stay in shape at all costs - to the extent it looked like most stayed in a 10yd square box
 
Phil went straight from the Treble to a Far East tour. Then Super Cup, Community Shield, PL, Club World Cup, FA Cup, CL. Wins the league, then it's the Euros. Two young kids and a pregnant Mrs to think about too. Yeah we know how much they get paid, and it's honour to play for your country but players aren't robots - I think some of them are knackered and it shows. Only natural with the fixture congestion. Then they get thrown together with lads they mostly play with sporadically, with a different manager, in different positions, and the meedja expects them to play like they do for City or Arse. What's hilarious is pundits from previous, worse incarnations saying 'they don't know why England are playing like this'. England have pretty much always 'played like this' with a few notable exceptions. Much worse actually. Except now players like Foden are playing more games at a higher intensity than ever. Always nice to see England do well but I keep my expectations low. Just because we have the best league in the world doesn't mean we're going to be the best at tournament football. In fact the two things can and do collide.
 
Not one fan I spoke to yesterday had anything bad to say about Phil.
The pub was rammed with supporters from all over England and they all new he was out of position.
They mirrored virtually everything said on here
about him and it's amazed me the support we have reference the 115 of some of the brighter non red tops
 
Difficult for Rice to pass to Foden as he was 40+ yds away from him most game sat between our centre halves!!
Difficult for bellend to pass to him as he barely got on the ball himself and spent 90 minutes ambling round aimlessly.
Said countless times last night that the instructions are to stay in shape at all costs - to the extent it looked like most stayed in a 10yd square box
These players are supposed to be top class players and they can't knock a 40 yard ball.
 
Not one fan I spoke to yesterday had anything bad to say about Phil.
The pub was rammed with supporters from all over England and they all new he was out of position.
They mirrored virtually everything said on here
about him and it's amazed me the support we have reference the 115 of some of the brighter non red tops
That's good to know.
 
Phil was the player most likely to score yet the guy still gets criticism and focused on from fans and pundits (bizarre)

Plus the questions of "How do you get the best out of Foden?" Or the "Can Foden and Bellingham play together?" The answer is if Spain can play with Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Fàbregas, Villa and Busquets all play together in the midfield (all make it work) surly we can fit both Foden and Bellingham in this midfield.

It's not rocket science

Play Bellingham next to Rice and put Phil in the middle (easy)
 
Difficult for Rice to pass to Foden as he was 40+ yds away from him most game sat between our centre halves!!
Difficult for bellend to pass to him as he barely got on the ball himself and spent 90 minutes ambling round aimlessly.
Said countless times last night that the instructions are to stay in shape at all costs - to the extent it looked like most stayed in a 10yd square box
Well fot a side who was supposed to stay in shape we looked so disjointed...opoosite of shape. Clinging on again as we always look more fked then the rest. Scrutinise these players in prem and realise that a lot of these are carried by better foreign players tbh. Trossard making Rice look half decent etc
 
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He does. Point is hes literally no worse than anyone else. Whilst ‘jude’ is being lorded as the next puskas , but actually being 5/10, fodwn is being made the scapegoat.
Arnold is also being made a scapegoat whilst also being played out of position, ironically, played out of position and pushing foden out of position too to accomodate.

Southgate hasnt a fucking clue
Agreed and that Bellingham lad believes his own hype..trying to play 6 and 10 at same time like roy of the rovers = does niether and looks average. . Played well for what 32 mins.. thats all i've seen him do for Inger..land and RM. Shite against us
 
Phil was the player most likely to score yet the guy still gets criticism and focused on from fans and pundits (bizarre)

Plus the questions of "How do you get the best out of Foden?" Or the "Can Foden and Bellingham play together?" The answer is if Spain can play with Xavi, Iniesta, Silva, Fàbregas, Villa and Busquets all play together in the midfield (all make it work) surly we can fit both Foden and Bellingham in this midfield.

It's not rocket science

Play Bellingham next to Rice and put Phil in the middle (easy)
Id love Phil to sack off Inger..land. Keep this coming as our int set up is shit anyway
 
I watched the match on the BBC and they were all full of praise for him too. Clearly it was a poor game, but pretty sure every one of them said he was the best player. I remember comments about the team playing better as soon as he's involved, and that he was the only bright spot in the whole game.

He was poor in the first game, even if a lot of that is the usual story about the rest of the team playing as individuals. Last night he was the best player in an average performance - had his shot gone in off the post, instead of out, like the Danish player's, he'd be all over the back pages.
At last a sense of perspective
 
I watched the match on the BBC and they were all full of praise for him too. Clearly it was a poor game, but pretty sure every one of them said he was the best player. I remember comments about the team playing better as soon as he's involved, and that he was the only bright spot in the whole game.

He was poor in the first game, even if a lot of that is the usual story about the rest of the team playing as individuals. Last night he was the best player in an average performance - had his shot gone in off the post, instead of out, like the Danish player's, he'd be all over the back pages.
I should have made myself clear I was talking about the two games he has played and that he seems to be singled out. I also thought he was one of the better players against Denmark and couldn't believe he'd been subbed just after hitting the post.
 
I agree with you, I would just add that no TAA would free up space for Stones to push into midfield in possession. That idiot Ferdinand was getting at Stones last night for not playing the way he does at City, but the midfield was already congested and given England's biggest weakness is defensively, I'm sure he's playing with that in mind.

On Foden, the demands of playing him out wide, but this freedom to move centrally is asking a ridiculous amount of him. When he cuts in and England lose the ball, he's then out of position to help defensively on the left hand side. It doesn't work for any number of reasons and seemingly it's only Southgate who doesn't realise that.

I was pleased to see Foden be a bit selfish yesterday and try and grab the game by the scruff of the neck. When he took that shot from distance after the lovely mazy run, I thought, at City he would probably have played the striker in, but I don't blame him at all for trying to do it himself. He was our biggest threat last night and very unlucky not to score when he hit the post.
Would Southgate free Stones up to push into midfield? That to me seems a bit too ambitious for the waistcoated one, also a bit too complicated for him. Remember this is Gareth Southgate we're talking about here.
 
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Not one fan I spoke to yesterday had anything bad to say about Phil.
The pub was rammed with supporters from all over England and they all new he was out of position.
They mirrored virtually everything said on here
about him and it's amazed me the support we have reference the 115 of some of the brighter non red tops
Nice to hear that they backed him.
 

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