Englands fixtures in the Nations league

[One Team]

4 minutes ago, Red Army 75 said:

Back to City now, thankfully 

Yep, best thing about the final whistle is that it means the international break is over! 

[BCFCGav]

That was very encouraging. Really enjoyable game, and a bit of optimism going into the WC.

(that’s World Cup not loo).

[maxjak]

13 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Pope. You nincompoop.

Should Pope have saved that?...................."Is the Pope a Catholic"?

[cityexile]

If you are going to play Saka, play him in his natural position.

Edited September 26, 2022 by cityexile

[Kid in the Riot]

Very enjoyable game for a meaningless friendly. 

[stephenkibby.]

Proved one thing, Maguire stepping out from the back with the ball is a liability.

 

[AshtonGreat]

18 minutes ago, cityexile said:

If you are going to play Saka, play him in his natural position.

I thought he did really well

[maxjak]

Quote of the night from Joe  "Only Fools and Horses" Cole?    "Harry dispatched   it with aplomb"...........

Edited September 26, 2022 by maxjak

[MarcusX]

1 hour ago, RedLionLad said:

90,000 crowd and it's like a library

No way there was 90k there tonight (being really pedantic the record is 89 something)

What do you expect though? It’s always sterile for “friendlies”, it’s full of tourists. Picked up a bit after we scored but it’s never gonna reach the Euros levels when anyone can pick up a ticket on general sale

[The Bard]

1 hour ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I'd agree that Shaw is inconsistent and for many he's a marmite player, but his presence in the team tonight has given us better balance and he played the pass of the half to Sterling who should have scored. Being a better balanced side has meant England have played better tonight than against Italy but as mentioned elsewhere the bar was pretty low. 

I'm a big fan of Chilwell and am struggling to understand what Southgate has against him.  Last year he was MOTM in the Champions League Final and then didn't get a kick for England at the Euros. Obviously Southgate thinks Shaw is better but no one can tell me there is more than a whisker between the pair of them.  Really very odd and the sort of thing that makes you realise the manager needs to change as he isn't  best using the talent at his disposal (see TAA).  

[MarcusX]

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Tonight England are playing a game in a friendly competition which they have already been knocked-out/relegated from. Therefore, is this England's most pointless game of football, ever?

I wouldn’t say so, it’s the last game before a World Cup. I’d say the Switzerland / Ivory Coast friendlies at the end of last season were more pointless.

[Kid in the Riot]

Strange how Thomas Hitzlsperger thought Germany were only the better side for the first 20 minutes of the second half, yet reading this thread you'd have assumed Germany had the better of most of the first half too. 

[MarcusX]

1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

Wait for ‘Interesting Gareth’ to throw on...........

 

 

 

Mason Mount

That aged well 

[Kid in the Riot]

1 minute ago, MarcusX said:

I wouldn’t say so, it’s the last game before a World Cup. I’d say the Switzerland / Ivory Coast friendlies at the end of last season were more pointless.

I was being light-hearted/joking. However, it is probably true to say this is the first friendly game England have played having already been knocked out of a friendly competition. 

Having already been relegated, it was a meaningless game, within a meaningless competition. 

Basically Inception 

[cityexile]

34 minutes ago, AshtonGreat said:

I thought he did really well

He did. Playing in a role he knew, not wingback like v Italy.

[grifty]

14 minutes ago, The Bard said:

I'm a big fan of Chilwell and am struggling to understand what Southgate has against him.  Last year he was MOTM in the Champions League Final and then didn't get a kick for England at the Euros. Obviously Southgate thinks Shaw is better but no one can tell me there is more than a whisker between the pair of them.  Really very odd and the sort of thing that makes you realise the manager needs to change as he isn't  best using the talent at his disposal (see TAA).  

I heard Southgate being interviewed and he said Chilwell hadn't played a full 90 mins in 8 months.

[cheese]

48 minutes ago, stephenkibby. said:

Proved one thing, Maguire stepping out from the back with the ball is a liability.

 

Two things.  The second being having Maguire at the back is a liability.

[grifty]

7 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

I was being light-hearted/joking. However, it is probably true to say this is the first friendly game England have played having already been knocked out of a friendly competition. 

Having already been relegated, it was a meaningless game, within a meaningless competition. 

Basically Inception 

Wasn't the Nations League designed so those friendlies against lower standard of opposition don't really occur anymore, so we've just had two 'warm-up' games against teams of equal standard to us and what will be a higher standard of the three teams in our group.

[Alex_BCFC]

Bellingham showed why he will start comfortably ahead of Kalvin-Phillips. 

If Southgate hasn’t realised we need to go and be aggressive and not go the euro 2021 way (defensive) then we have big problems . 

[MarcusX]

1 hour ago, The Coach said:

You can’t take Maguire to the WC based upon his form last year and the fact he isn’t getting game time at Man Utd 

Ive always backed Maguire for England, eg when he recovered his place half way through the Euros.

1 hour ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

To be fair he’s usually served England well. Unfortunately this goes to show that nines times out of 10, out of form or players who aren’t regulars are off the match pace. 
 

Southgate could’ve given him his run out v Italy and then took him back out the limelight. Perhaps for Tomori who we’ve seen little of. 

However I agree with this. If he’s not getting in at club level how can he play at national level? He won’t be “match” fit and up to the pace come the WC. It’s clear his confidence is shot and he needs to be taken out of the firing line. I’d like to have seen Tomori, White, Coady or even Webster get a chance.

1 hour ago, Engvall’s Splinter said:

Surprising what a bit of urgency and forward thinking does. 

Exactly this, we are far too slow in posession and often too “safe”. I thought against Italy that Maguire was quite good at passing forwards and breaking the lines. He didn’t do that tonight and so often we took 4/5 touches for a pass when it could have been 1 or 2 max. When we did do one touch we carved them open.

1 hour ago, Slacker said:

Well.An entertaining game if  nothing else.

Great game to be fair, glad I went in the end. Can’t believe how many people left at 2-0 and even despite the last minute equaliser they missed an entertaining half hour of football.

The result masks another slightly worrying performance (albeit better than Friday). I’m not hopeful going into this tournament, but we showed some fight and some positives tonight that mean we’re not completely down and out.

The group still worries me. Iran won’t be a walkover and Wales will be bang up for it.

At least we can get back to worrying about City for a couple of months now.

[Kid in the Riot]

12 minutes ago, grifty said:

Wasn't the Nations League designed so those friendlies against lower standard of opposition don't really occur anymore, so we've just had two 'warm-up' games against teams of equal standard to us and what will be a higher standard of the three teams in our group.

Yes, but the point is those "teams of equal standard" are performing similarly to us. Our results/performances in pointless end of/mid-season friendlies is the same as France, Spain, Germany etc. So why are some people losing their shit and calling for the manager's head?

11 minutes ago, Alex_BCFC said:

If Southgate hasn’t realised we need to go and be aggressive and not go the euro 2021 way (defensive) then we have big problems . 

Yeah, I mean that approach at the Euros was bloody disastrous wasn't it, Alex? First major final in 55 years, and we were a post width away from winning it. Here's hoping we don't adopt similarly successful tactics, eh? Of course, we can adapt our style of play, but throwing the baby out of the bathwater seems a little extreme after some pre-tournament friendlies.

[Robbored]

4 minutes ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Yeah, I mean that approach at the Euros was bloody disastrous wasn't it, Alex? First major final in 55 years, and we were a post width away from winning it. Here's hoping we don't adopt similarly successful tactics, eh? Of course, we can adapt our style of play, but throwing the baby out of the bathwater seems a little extreme after some pre-tournament friendlies.

No-one can argue with England reaching the Euro final which kinda proves that Southgate’s cautious tactics almost paid off.

However it’s hard to forget the dreary goalless draw against Scotland………that really was like watching paint dry and post match reports were absolutely damming about the style of football.

GS as England manager has never sent his team out to play on the front foot and under him England are so …….… 

England only started to play when the were 0-2 down…………

 

[exAtyeoMax]

1 hour ago, MarcusX said:

No way there was 90k there tonight (being really pedantic the record is 89 something)

What do you expect though? It’s always sterile for “friendlies”, it’s full of tourists. Picked up a bit after we scored but it’s never gonna reach the Euros levels when anyone can pick up a ticket on general sale

They announced it was between 78 and 79k

.

[Alex_BCFC]

1 hour ago, Kid in the Riot said:

Yes, but the point is those "teams of equal standard" are performing similarly to us. Our results/performances in pointless end of/mid-season friendlies is the same as France, Spain, Germany etc. So why are some people losing their shit and calling for the manager's head?

Yeah, I mean that approach at the Euros was bloody disastrous wasn't it, Alex? First major final in 55 years, and we were a post width away from winning it. Here's hoping we don't adopt similarly successful tactics, eh? Of course, we can adapt our style of play, but throwing the baby out of the bathwater seems a little extreme after some pre-tournament friendlies.

Different tournament - different times. Won’t work now - we’ve just seen that over last x games. 

[Davefevs]

This is gonna be the first World Cup in my recollection where I couldn’t tell you what I think England’s best team / squad is (imho).  From 82 onwards (78 we didn’t qualify) I’ve been well into each WC we got to, but over the past 2-3 years I’ve just lost any focus for top flight and international matches.  In some respects I’m quite looking forward to just watching the games for what they are.

[TV Tom]

We still have a decent chance of winning a very open WC but not with this manager

[AshtonGreat]

8 hours ago, cityexile said:

He did. Playing in a role he knew, not wingback like v Italy.

Oh sorry. I misunderstood

[A Horse With No Name]

8 hours ago, grifty said:

Wasn't the Nations League designed so those friendlies against lower standard of opposition don't really occur anymore, so we've just had two 'warm-up' games against teams of equal standard to us and what will be a higher standard of the three teams in our group.

Yes but all European teams. What happens when we come up against the better South American or African sides in the tournaments. Different ball game altogether.

[And Its Smith]

6 hours ago, Alex_BCFC said:

Different tournament - different times. Won’t work now - we’ve just seen that over last x games. 

Two years ago is ‘different times’ ?! 

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Denbury Red said:

Harry McGuire is just a liability!

yet a banker starter for WC according to some on here was good in his day but too slow now and past it much better out there; not a great fan of Mings but takes no prisoners and eats up the ground, Coady? and where is Webster?

Edited September 27, 2022 by gl2