World Cup 2018 | 18th June | England vs Tunisia Match Thread

I'm With Stupid said:
I think it's more that we play to his strengths. His best attribute is his movement off the ball, which no-one in an England shirt is capable of finding.
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I think it’s a little of both (see my, your, and others previous points about the system not suiting him).

I’ve said this many times: I think Raheem playing for England is in almost every way the worst of all worlds for him and has the potential to hurt his career on the whole, as strange as that may sound. Every time he comes back from England duty it is a process to rebuild his mindset.

Bozo said:
I think Sterling struggles with pressure. He plays for England the same way he plays for us whenever we play Liverpool. We know he's capable, which is why it's so frustrating to see him struggle at national level.
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I think the Liverpool situation is very similar to the England one, though, which is why he performs similarly. Apart from those two situations, he actually handles pressure fairly well, especially for someone still fairly young. I wish I had his grit when I was that age... to constantly be scrutinised, criticised, and scapegoated by literally millions of people and still perform at a very high level is absolutely inspiring.

His responses during the post match interview today were mature, thoughtful, and contained, something I would have struggled to do in that same situation when I was his age. And I’ve actually always been the more serious person of my group of mates—but I know I still was much more impulsive and reactive than Sterling is now.
 
feedmpenzaandhewillscore said:
4-3-3 get people playing to their strengths, Walker is never a centre back and should be bombing on the right with Sterling in front of him. Have Vardy and Sterling either side of Kane.
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Even if Southgate decides to go with Trippier, I have no problem with that. But I certainly agree 4-3-3 is the way to go.
Saying that, Southgate will not be changing anytime soon. So we'll have to get used to it.
 
Graceyboy said:
I’ve just had this debate with some mates. He wasn’t bad tonight, but he isn’t right for that pivot role. He’s not comfortable with the ball at his feet. He got praise tonight for what he did, but not get pulled up and criticised for what he should of been doing. But to be fare, because Alli and Lingard were poor he ended up trying to do everything.
He can’t dictate the pace of a game. He isn’t good enough at keeping the ball. The link between Him and the forward line was so shit, it made Kane and Sterling look crap.

I’d have Delph as the pivot, loftus cheek and Sterling in front of him and Kane and Vardy in front of them.
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He hit 2 great passes in the first 25 minutes then reverted back to type. No good under pressure, fake hard man and always passes back to where it came from but at head height creating more problems.
 
Graceyboy said:
I’ve just had this debate with some mates. He wasn’t bad tonight, but he isn’t right for that pivot role. He’s not comfortable with the ball at his feet. He got praise tonight for what he did, but not get pulled up and criticised for what he should of been doing. But to be fare, because Alli and Lingard were poor he ended up trying to do everything.
He can’t dictate the pace of a game. He isn’t good enough at keeping the ball. The link between Him and the forward line was so shit, it made Kane and Sterling look crap.

I’d have Delph as the pivot, loftus cheek and Sterling in front of him and Kane and Vardy in front of them.
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Yeah I suppose he is having to close down gaps because of the two beside him, can't help always looking what's behind you. I was just not buying the "he was exceptional" line of thought because he wasn't and against better teams it will be even worse.

I do think Delph is a lot more confident with the ball at his feet and his first touch is far better, playing with KDB week in week out he might be able to get his head up and find the passes sooner, hopefully starting off more promising attacks.

He at least deserves some minutes there but I can just see Dier getting that chance instead when he's a worse version of Henderson, perhaps with a better tackle and the odd long range goal in him.
 
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So far all European teams who have played non Europeans countries have not lost with the exception of Germany.
 
Okay so I've calmed down from the initial shock of us winning that game.
Up until the penalty we were excellent, high pressing was good passing was crisp. Then after the goal we weren't as sharp as we were but largely remained in control up until half time.
Second half was a repeat of the Iceland game, utterly dreadful. No penetration in the second half and went from side to side with no idea how to break them down and our pressing dropped off a cliff.
If we have any ambitions of going far in the tournament we need to play how we did in the first 30 minutes more consistently
 
SebastianBlue said:
I think it’s a little of both (see my, your, and others previous points about the system not suiting him).

I’ve said this many times: I think Raheem playing for England is in almost every way the worst of all worlds for him and has the potential to hurt his career on the whole, as strange as that may sound. Every time he comes back from England duty it is a process to rebuild his mindset.
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Im not trying to do Sterling a disservice but at City he has KDB/Silva sliding the balls behind the fullbacks so typically he utilises his blistering pace and then solely has to focus on the cross (not an easy skill) but much simpler than being asked to be a crucial aspects of a moves development and responsible for creating space which as City is done by others. Its a similar story for Sane also.

We get the best out of those two where as England with there limited midfield are unable too. Case in point how many passes did you see tonight slipped inside the fullbacks in comparison to a City match. Its like watching a different game.
 
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