England squad

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Shotgunofmichalebrow said:
No Bellingham brave.
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Probably should have Bellingham over Maddison to be fair, maybe play Bellingham over Rashford and give him a free role like Dele. I just don’t like how poorly coached we are in terms of attack and I don’t think in that case Foden, Saka etc balances well, we need another passing AM somewhere, perhaps Kane can just take that role up again and play really deep.
 
RicharliSon said:
Watched a different game than me. England created more, played the better football, had far more possession (64%) and also gifted Belgium their two goals. They were a threat on the counter but we're always going to be with Doku playing off Lukaku. Once Stones went off, we were without our entire back four.

Belgium had their moments, but if England could remember how to defend properly it would have been a comfortable win.
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Looked like the players were freestyiling and playing off instinct rather than having a set gameplan to break Belgium down, I guess when you have quality players on the pitch they can produce magic and individual brilliance but when you come up against an organised defence then you will struggle. Our rest defence was also pretty poor.

Look I expect with a full strength team with Shaw, Stones, Walker/Trippier, Saka, Rashford, Kane all being back England can get pretty far in the tournament under Southgate, the problem lies when we will face quality organised opposition, that's where I think we'll come unstuck.
 
Shadydan said:
Looked like the players were freestyiling and playing off instinct rather than having a set gameplan to break Belgium down, I guess when you have quality players on the pitch they can produce magic and individual brilliance but when you come up against an organised defence then you will struggle. Our rest defence was also pretty poor.

Look I expect with a full strength team with Shaw, Stones, Walker/Trippier, Saka, Rashford, Kane all being back England can get pretty far in the tournament under Southgate, the problem lies when we will face quality organised opposition, that's where I think we'll come unstuck.
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As Southgate is here for the tournament we need to accept that and hope he plays a set of plays that works for that. For me I rate Foden better than Saka or Palmer but in an uncoached team I feel you don’t get the best out of what Foden does and might be better playing more pace in Saka/Palmer.
 

View: https://x.com/skysportspl/status/1772905324103512212?s=46&t=Gc6HrWVZT0mtSXU7r8ZBIQ

Do It Episode 3 GIF by Star Wars
 
Tomo said:
As Southgate is here for the tournament we need to accept that and hope he plays a set of plays that works for that. For me I rate Foden better than Saka or Palmer but in an uncoached team I feel you don’t get the best out of what Foden does and might be better playing more pace in Saka/Palmer.
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I'm gonna go ahead and say it. We need a Raheem Sterling type back. He suited Southgate ball because its all so fucking static and we have too many players who are looking for the quick one two's and to play smart, incisive football round the box but the movement isn't always there and the relationships aren't either.

Sterling was annoying as fuck but his head down and run through people approach made stuff happen for England. It's why I love Bellingham now and don't find him frustrating at all, in this setup you NEED players who try things because otherwise you end up with what we had vs Brazil which was utterly dreadful final third play that was never going anywhere.

Partly why Gordon looked good as well. He's not totally in the Sterling mould but he wants to just attack his fullback and get shots off. Even Bowen showed that a lot, aggressive wingers thrive in this setup because they suddenly pull very comfortable defences out of position.
 
Deuterz said:
I'm gonna go ahead and say it. We need a Raheem Sterling type back. He suited Southgate ball because its all so fucking static and we have too many players who are looking for the quick one two's and to play smart, incisive football round the box but the movement isn't always there and the relationships aren't either.

Sterling was annoying as fuck but his head down and run through people approach made stuff happen for England. It's why I love Bellingham now and don't find him frustrating at all, in this setup you NEED players who try things because otherwise you end up with what we had vs Brazil which was utterly dreadful final third play that was never going anywhere.

Partly why Gordon looked good as well. He's not totally in the Sterling mould but he wants to just attack his fullback and get shots off. Even Bowen showed that a lot, aggressive wingers thrive in this setup because they suddenly pull very comfortable defences out of position.
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What's wrong with Rashford?
 
Shadydan said:
What's wrong with Rashford?
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He is an absolutely A class lazy prick off the ball at times. Properly bad. And Sterling was a much better dribbler in tight spaces.

I do think Rashford might have to be in though ... he actually provides runs in behind and he will take players on and get shots off. Foden just isn't it in this setup, he's looking for clever interplay which isn't there.
 
RicharliSon said:
Watched a different game than me. England created more, played the better football, had far more possession (64%) and also gifted Belgium their two goals. They were a threat on the counter but we're always going to be with Doku playing off Lukaku. Once Stones went off, we were without our entire back four.

Belgium had their moments, but if England could remember how to defend properly it would have been a comfortable win.
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We were by a mile the better side. People have weird goggles on when it comes to England.

Our issue was mainly wanky defending and wanky goalkeeping. I fucking hate that we basically have no actual competition to Pickford. He's always been alright in tournaments but he's nowhere near good enough to be a nailed on starter.
 
Richard Arlison said:
Good enough to think he's England's starting 6 at the Euros?

Mainnooo
Rice Bellingham
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Against crap nations but he's a bit weak defensively and I don't trust Southgate enough to think he's gonna set us up properly out of defence, last night Belgium were cutting through us a little too easily.

That position next to Rice is going to be a minor problem area for the time being, it's such a hard position to fill.
 
Shadydan said:
Looked like the players were freestyiling and playing off instinct rather than having a set gameplan to break Belgium down, I guess when you have quality players on the pitch they can produce magic and individual brilliance but when you come up against an organised defence then you will struggle. Our rest defence was also pretty poor.

Look I expect with a full strength team with Shaw, Stones, Walker/Trippier, Saka, Rashford, Kane all being back England can get pretty far in the tournament under Southgate, the problem lies when we will face quality organised opposition, that's where I think we'll come unstuck.
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Defensively we were woeful, but it was to be expected with who we had missing and who we had out there. Dunk is bang average. Gomez nothing more than a versatile player. Chilwell having a terrible season and out of form. Konsa did his best but looked like a centre-back playing at right-back... Belgium aren't great and were obviously missing their best player, but they still have an attack that will cause anyone problems. Especially a patched up back line.

I prefer to focus on the positives. Over the two games we had more possession than both Brazil and Belgium, a far cry from what would have been the case with previous England sides. We now know how to keep the ball, which should mean we don't run out of steam as as we did against Croatia back in 2018. Mainoo, despite the crazy hype, looks a star in the making and a massive find in midfield for the upcoming Euros. If Kane is missing for a game or two, Toney looks more than capable of giving us a presence up front in his absence. It would have been nice to win at least one of the games but nothing I saw made me think we aren't capable of having a great tournament just as long as we get something like our best defence out there, and despite of Southgate.
 
Shadydan said:
Against crap nations but he's a bit weak defensively and I don't trust Southgate enough to think he's gonna set us up properly out of defence, last night Belgium were cutting through us a little too easily.

That position next to Rice is going to be a minor problem area for the time being, it's such a hard position to fill.
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Should have been Kalvin Phillips but he ruined his career going to City
 
Richard Arlison said:
Phillips was our best CM at the last Euros tbh

He was really promising but has turned to absolute shit.
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Yeah but he's not the kind of player that should play next to Rice, doesn't have that forward pass or burst of speed.

Mainoo is fine, he just needs to mature - Curtis Jones I think would work there as well.
 
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