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Tunisia v England Match Thread (Merged)


reddogkev

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Currently having a post match celebratory beer in a sports bar about a mile from the stadium. Above all, a huge sense of relief tonight. Great, great celebrations at the end with that winning goal just in front of us  

The ‘Harry Kane doesn’t score in tournaments’ brigade really won’t be happy tonight, though...(and the ‘England are definitely going out at the group stage’ brigade are probably getting a bit twitchy too...although nothing is guaranteed and I wouldn’t put it past us to make heavy weather of the Panama game on Sunday). 

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Ratings (whole numbers, 6 is earning his corn)

  • Pickford: 6 - nothing to do
  • Walker: 6 - decent enough.  Very harsh penalty imho.  Would like his to venture forward into that space a bit more to create room for Trippier 
  • Stones: 7 - assured passing from the back, great header for the opener
  • Maguire: 7 - looked good coming forward, won Good headers from set-pieces and the final one led to Kane’s winner.  My only concern is down the side of him against Good movement, but all our defenders suffer from that.
  • Trippier (Trippiay): 7 - goid at both ends, looks confident and not afraid to play that first time pass
  • Lingard: 6 - poor finishing let him down. But decent game
  • Henderson: 8 - very good game, some lovely passing (forward) and kept us going in second half
  • Alli: 5 - 7 first 35 minutes, 4 afterwards, found down to a 5.  Can only assume he took a knock as he was going through motions second half.  Taken off far too late.  Place in doubt / under pressure
  • Young: 6 - effective first half, but let down but the poor energy and movement of Alli second half.
  • Sterling: 6 - effective first half, but seems to press at 50% in second half...looks like he’s trying but doesn’t cover the ground.
  • Kane: 8 - two goals, his finishing is great.  Looked sharp first half, but movement poor in second.

Subs:

Rashford and Loftus-Cheek did themselves no harm and will come into contention for Panama.  Dier-to waste time only.

For me, despite still dominating second half posession we carried Alli, and this had impacts all over the park.  Stopped Young’s space, meant Kane isolated, and marked easily, etc etc.

We thoroughly deserved the win.  Glad we got it.  Big weight lifted.

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I'd like to see Rose instead of Young for the next game, get a left footer out there. 

Loftus Cheek is an interesting one, could he bridge the gap between Henderson the DM and the 3/4 attackers? In place of Lingard or Ali who are perhaps too similar to both play.

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20 minutes ago, Red Right Hand said:

Feel free to comment on Henderson`s performance tonight @Davefevs, you`ve waited long enough to have a gloat!

No gloating.  People get carried away with media snippets or stats and don’t actually watch the performance, or purely watch what happens when he has the ball.  He does lots.  I think had he not had the Champions League final and therefore missed the friendly against Nigeria he maybe been captain.

My opinion, FWIW, is that we regain the ball quicker when Henderson plays.  An England side playing Chase-ball is not good to watch, so he is important in that.  We dominated possession against a team whose penalty knocked the stuffing out of us a bit.  It was one of his more influential performances.  A midfield two of Dier and Henderson gives us too much space between the midfield and attack.

I do think Delph and RLC are really pressing Dele Alli for his place.

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We will beat Panama no problem so definitely going to qualify (can’t see Belgium losing to Tunisia), the last 16 should be straight forward as well.  Once you get to Qtrs it’s anybodys guess really!  Thought we dominated tonight, Tunisia killed the game second half so deep but we kept creating and fully deserved the win, to be honest it’s not a huge difference winning the group or coming second as Qtrs will be tough regardless

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1 hour ago, downendcity said:

After the non awards of penalties for the 2 incidents where Kane was wrestled to the ground, someone should be raising questions with FIFA as to the purpose of VAR and how it is being applied. They should also question the people operating VAR as to why they did not alert the ref to the incidents in question.

These were exactly the incidents that the calls for technology were made and now it is up and running if this is the way it is to be applied who can have any confidence in it?

My guess would be that the officials in charge of VAR were probably being held at gunpoint in their Scania truck by a Russian mob :fear:

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18 minutes ago, BCFC11 said:

My guess would be that the officials in charge of VAR were probably being held at gunpoint in their Scania truck by a Russian mob :fear:

This is pretty much not far from the truth

draw the Germans and if you think we get harsh decisions wait to see what they get

the Russians what give the krauts the steam off their pi&£

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30 minutes ago, BRISTOL86 said:

The sort of game we would have drawn or lost before. Well done. We and Belgium will both be on 6 heading into the final game. Winner takes all. 

Not necessarily, I can see Tunisia coming out of their shell v Belgium. They have to as their only chance of progression is to win their next two games. Totally different scenario to their first match v England. Had they got a draw tonight they'd then be after one v Belgium with the same tactics. But it has all changed now.

We might then get to see why they are ranked the best team in Africa. We sure as Hell didn't get to see it tonight!

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4 minutes ago, B block said:

This is pretty much not far from the truth

draw the Germans and if you think we get harsh decisions wait to see what they get

the Russians what give the krauts the steam off their pi&£

It would honestly not suprise me one jot if that was the case. Russians are bent as **** and will do whatever it takes to gain an advantage anywhere, anytime.

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Our game with Belgium is the last of the group stages right? If when we go into the last game against Belgium level on 6 points and Mexico have won their group anyone anticipating some awful defending to try avoiding Germany? :ph34r:

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1 hour ago, North London Red said:

City flag at the game tonight, pic taken about 30 mins before kick off. 

799BC227-F454-4403-BB5E-12A28D95B38B.jpeg

 

Hard to read, maybe if the print was bigger by reducing the amount of letters crammed in - maybe just make it "Bristol" :whistle:

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12 minutes ago, hodge said:

Our game with Belgium is the last of the group stages right? If when we go into the last game against Belgium level on 6 points and Mexico have won their group anyone anticipating some awful defending to try avoiding Germany? :ph34r:

Southgate could  make a late call up of city's defence to help out then!

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24 minutes ago, hodge said:

Our game with Belgium is the last of the group stages right? If when we go into the last game against Belgium level on 6 points and Mexico have won their group anyone anticipating some awful defending to try avoiding Germany? :ph34r:

Might be Sweden who get through yet.

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I thought we deserved it tonight, the ref and Tunisia did their best to spoil the game but thought our attitude was excellent to keep plugging away.

Some wobbly moments at the back in the first half but we know that's not our strength, and whilst Maguire and Stones will make mistakes they offer an attacking threat that most CBs don't. Maguire looked like a CM in the second half at times. 

Like most I'd have gone for Rashford over Sterling and after tonight I think that will be the case against Panama. Thought Young was slightly disappointing as someone with his experience should know better than to keep giving free kicks away. 

Kane is like a magnet in the penalty area, his instinct for where the ball will end up is unreal at times. 

Great start, well done England. 

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4 hours ago, RUSSEL85 said:

Sterling looks good with a top class team around him. 

most half decent players would, what I saw tonight made me think a half decent player from the championship would have made more of the chances he was given, what is it 2 goals in 40 games for England come on  if you were a fit 25 year old at league level I bet you would fancy yourself to better that, I know I would.

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4 hours ago, downendcity said:

... and from the moment the referee decided he was going to give absolutely nothing to England.

with the benefit of hindsight and knowing the end result, at the time I said exactly the same thing, thank god for the fact even he could not find any fault with our winner, though I bet he would have liked to.

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3 minutes ago, pillred said:

with the benefit of hindsight and knowing the end result, at the time I said exactly the same thing, thank god for the fact even he could not find any fault with our winner, though I bet he would have liked to.

VAR showed that the refs watch was running slow sp the game should have finished before Kane's winner - it's a draw!

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1 hour ago, hodge said:

Our game with Belgium is the last of the group stages right? If when we go into the last game against Belgium level on 6 points and Mexico have won their group anyone anticipating some awful defending to try avoiding Germany? :ph34r:

Assuming Brazil win their group and Germany finish second in theirs, the winners of our group will most likely play Germany or Brazil in the last 8 (after Poland/Colombia in the last 16).

The runner up in our group would likely play Poland/Colombia in the last 16 and either Mexico or Serbia in the last 8.

So, what tactics against Belgium?

 

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I think Southgate has found a formation that suits us but I disagree with his selections. I would swap Rashford for Sterling who flatters to deceive at every opportunity and hasn’t got the ability to play centrally. I would bring in Loftus-Cheek for Lingard and Rose for Young. As good as Trippier was last night, Walker is wasted in the back 3 and I think Dier would be perfectly suited to his role. If we get through the group, I feel the team we started with last night will be too open against better quality opposition. I also felt  sorry for Maguire having to play on the left of the three but we don’t many options there. 

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7 hours ago, handsofclay said:

Not necessarily, I can see Tunisia coming out of their shell v Belgium. They have to as their only chance of progression is to win their next two games. Totally different scenario to their first match v England. Had they got a draw tonight they'd then be after one v Belgium with the same tactics. But it has all changed now.

We might then get to see why they are ranked the best team in Africa. We sure as Hell didn't get to see it tonight!

It’d be a nice nerve settler knowing whatever happens vs Belgium, we’re through. Tunisia are going to have to be a hell of a lot better than last night to get more than 3pts from this group, Belgium won’t need as many chances as England to find the back of the net. 

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Sterling may not have had the best game last night, but I hope Gareth plays him against Panama where he could hopefully get a goal or two & gain confidence from it. If we had him & Kane firing we could do some serious damage. 

I love the shite that comes out about him only looking good because of the players around him. If he’s not on Man City’s level, with all the money they’ve got, they could easily go out and replace him, but they don’t. I think i’ll trust Peps opinion on a player!

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