Engerlund vs Malta

[redkev]

2 hours ago, MarcusX said:

I’ve been to almost every home game for the last few years now and that’s probably the worst performance since Hungary battered us at Wolves.

I’ll caveat it by saying, dead game, already qualified and got the win. That’s all that really matters.

No team plays brilliant every game, even Man City have bad games and get wins - I feel the criticism is harsher when England do it, maybe because the games are less regular?

All that said, I think Southgate got loads wrong tonight. Tomori at left back seems bizarre. He’s never played there and he’s right footed - at least put him RB and trippier LB if that’s the experiment you want to do.

Henderson doesn’t need to be there any more. I don’t think JWP is good enough, but for this game it’d have been worth trying him. Why play rashford when he’s so out of form? Could have started Palmer.

It was a very well drilled Malta side to be fair, and it was only when the likes of Saka, Rice and Palmer came on that we started to pull them apart a bit.

No panic though, a full strength side would have demolished them. Watching that and saying we’ve no chance at the World Cup (what about the Euros first?) is just silly.

God how do you put up with all the screaming brats running around with their Beckham / Rooney shirts on ,then that bloody Mexican wave .  

[DaveInSA]

We’re not where we need to be.

and Henderson.

all you need to know.

I place no emphasis on qualifiers anyway. The main thing is making it. Business end of tournaments is where you win or lose.

[CliftonCliff]

It was a really mediocre performance, but the overreaction is wearying. For one thing Malta were actually quite a bit better than their ranking would lead you to expect: very disciplined and organised. But in general these qualifiers against low-ranked sides are a bit of a nightmare. If you thrash them it gets dismissed because of the inferior quality of the opposition and if you struggle you get the kind of response we’ve seen on this thread. Patched up team, semi-meaningless game: an underwhelming outcome was almost inevitable. I can’t be the only one who was expecting something of the sort. Reserve judgment for the tournament proper. Last two or three we haven’t been too shabby.

[Open End Numb Legs]

Unfortunately that is the sort of outcome that happens when the job is done early. I am grateful we have qualified without stressing about it, in a group that could have turned out differently with Italy and Ukraine.

Of course we need to improve but last night was just a formality. I feel sorry for fans who paid £££ for tickets if they were hoping for something spectacular but I think we all know that a match is more memorable when there is something important hanging on it.

[And Its Smith]

Imagine a team of England players that are 100% comfortable on the ball, 1-11.  Can’t see it happening but would love it see if it worked

                   Pickford

Walker. Stones. Colwill. Lewis

        Trent.  Rice.  Jude

        Saka.  Kane.  Grealish/Foden 

[North London Red]

5 hours ago, sticks 1969 said:

Are you going on Monday ? If so I’ll try and catch you for a drink and chat 

Yes. Currently at Heathrow about to fly to Basel, and then flying from Basel to Skopje tomorrow morning. Looking forward to it; I’ve been to Skopje a few times before (the Peter Crouch game in 2006, and a few trips with work). 

[Will Rollason]

They, Malta that is,  were WAY better than any of us expected. Every time I thought they'd break down they didn't. They also got themselves up the pitch really well. Yes we lacked creativity and yes it should have been 4-0 but fair play to them.

I would have had Palmer on from the start perhaps. 

[alexukhc]

Could be worse could be Welsh

[The Coach]

Line up is go for Euros. With Bellingham in that number 10 role behind Kane, and Colwill to partner Stones 

 

[Markthehorn]

1 hour ago, alexukhc said:

Could be worse could be Welsh

That hope for Wales after their win v Croatia soon dashed with a draw in Armenia..

 

[MarcusX]

6 hours ago, Alex_BCFC said:

I’m on 36 caps so snuck into the cut off as I was on 32 at time.

Keep going to every home game and applying though / I got Bulgaria and Germany in ballot against the odds and then once you get to those kinds of games you’ll move right up. 

Nice one cheers, I'll keep trying. I've got 16 so some way off that, but there's been a couple of games early on someone else got the tickets and I stupidly didn't claim the caps

 

[MarcusX]

6 hours ago, redkev said:

God how do you put up with all the screaming brats running around with their Beckham / Rooney shirts on ,then that bloody Mexican wave .  

I had a Beckham shirt on 

But, if there's 2 things I f****** hate it's paper aeroplanes and mexican waves 

1 hour ago, The Coach said:

Line up is go for Euros. With Bellingham in that number 10 role behind Kane, and Colwill to partner Stones 

 

I think at the moment front 4 picks itself, although Saka's having a downturn in form recently I'm sure he'll come back.

We could do with a better left back option materialising. Rico Lewis perhaps. Trippier does a job for now, but isn't the ideal answer.

Still not sure about Trent in midfield, he's got a good range of passing but a bit of a luxury player off the ball. Maddison is an option.

Centre Back is the interesting one. Big 4 months for someone to stamp their place on that position, Colwill perhaps like you say. It's still Maguire for me at this moment in time

[steviestevieneville]

22 hours ago, Harry said:

Not just that. 
We’ve got 3 centre backs, 2 right backs and 2 workhorse midfielders in a team playing at home against what can only be described as a collection of non-league players. 
 

Oh, and I haven’t seen much of Chelsea this season but is Conor Gallagher’s first touch always this bad! 

Lots of people think we’re favourites for the euros . Our front 6 is possibly the best about . Apart from that we seriously lack any quality or depth at centre back , John stones aside. We’re ok at left back if they’re fit & an abundance of talent at right back . You do wonder what happens in midfield if rice gets injured though . Henderson is past his best , Philips not getting any minutes at all. 

[alexukhc]

2 hours ago, Markthehorn said:

That hope for Wales after their win v Croatia soon dashed with a draw in Armenia..

 

Tidy

[maxjak]

France are currently showing how to put a low grade side to bed?   H-T 7-0!

[Wrongagain]

Best moment of the game- Rice’s goal - great shot only for Kane to try and get something on it while offside - big headed ***

[Markthehorn]

1 hour ago, maxjak said:

France are currently showing how to put a low grade side to bed?   H-T 7-0!

France won 14-0!

Doesn’t help Gibraltar had a man sent off after 18 minutes.

[maxjak]

31 minutes ago, Markthehorn said:

France won 14-0!

Doesn’t help Gibraltar had a man sent off after 18 minutes.

Thought they should have declared at 10-0  Ha!

[Ziderarmy]

Trent isn’t a midfielder.

last night we had

3 centre halfs

2 right back

1 defensive midfielder 

playing against Malta. Bore off Southgate. Add a keeper and we had 7 defensive players and rashford (woefully out of sorts) and Gallagher (looks like he won a place in a raffle) its embarrassing 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Ziderarmy

[maxjak]

On 17/11/2023 at 22:05, Charlie BCFC said:

Far from the worse player on the pitch for me, awful game but 3 points and we’re already through

Wish Henderson would hop on a camel and get lost in the desert?

[handsofclay]

3 minutes ago, maxjak said:

Wish Henderson would hop on a camel and get lost in the desert?

I think that would be unfair on the camel

[Super]

8 hours ago, Markthehorn said:

France won 14-0!

Doesn’t help Gibraltar had a man sent off after 18 minutes.

Complete waste of time. Stick these lesser teams in another group and have them qualify to go into these groups. 

[Major Isewater]

7 hours ago, maxjak said:

Wish Henderson would hop on a camel and get lost in the desert?

Isn’t there a big risk that he would fall off? It’s hard enough just riding a camel but hopping on one .

[bpexile]

1 minute ago, Major Isewater said:

Isn’t there a big risk that he would fall off? It’s hard enough just riding a camel but hopping on one .

[Markthehorn]

9 hours ago, maxjak said:

Thought they should have declared at 10-0  Ha!

Yes rather than bring on their record scorer !

https://www.flashscore.com/match/zFxmia5t/#/match-summary/lineups

Some team can improve obviously  and get competitive but Gibraltar do have that San Marino feel to them .

1 hour ago, Super said:

Complete waste of time. Stick these lesser teams in another group and have them qualify to go into these groups. 

 

[redkev]

9 hours ago, Ziderarmy said:

Trent isn’t a midfielder.

last night we had

3 centre halfs

2 right back

1 defensive midfielder 

playing against Malta. Bore off Southgate. Add a keeper and we had 7 defensive players and rashford (woefully out of sorts) and Gallagher (looks like he won a place in a raffle) its embarrassing 

I couldn’t believe the total unbalance of the side when I seen it , playing a poor side or not , it wasn’t as if it was an experimental side it looked and played like a team just thrown together . I thought Tomori at left back or left of a back 3 whatever system we played was awful , I know shaw & chillwell are currently injured ( which they both seem to be an awful lot ) but surely we have another left back somewhere in the country who is good enough to play there just add balance , I thought the set up of the side was a joke , as for Rashford ( whom I rate when on form ) being picked over sterling on current form is scandalous 

[Mattredrobin]

This game was my 1st visit to watch England. Was really looking forward to seeing some of our best players play. Also my sons first ever trip to Wembley. Finding our seats and seeing his face when he 1st saw the size of it was about as exciting as it got I'm afraid. The Mexican wave and paper aeroplanes were more exciting than the game.

Not one player for England stood out for me where I thought wow. I did get what Southgate said after that players won't always play to their maximum against these sort of teams, whilst a little arrogant. It's true. But why didn't he give other players a chance who haven't had many caps. They would've have been chomping at the bit to play and would've wanted to impress, also on a side note I thought Malta looked decent passed the ball around nicely, sadly for them they'd still be there now trying to score just had no end product. 

Hoping to sort tickets for the game against Brazil so hopefully get to see a more exciting game. 

 

[Harry]

On 17/11/2023 at 20:03, Harry said:

Not just that. 
We’ve got 3 centre backs, 2 right backs and 2 workhorse midfielders in a team playing at home against what can only be described as a collection of non-league players. 
 

Oh, and I haven’t seen much of Chelsea this season but is Conor Gallagher’s first touch always this bad! 

 

10 hours ago, Ziderarmy said:

Trent isn’t a midfielder.

last night we had

3 centre halfs

2 right back

1 defensive midfielder 

playing against Malta. Bore off Southgate. Add a keeper and we had 7 defensive players and rashford (woefully out of sorts) and Gallagher (looks like he won a place in a raffle) its embarrassing 

Good Sir - you wrote almost word for word what I’d wrote 2 days ago. 
I like it. 

21 minutes ago, redkev said:

I couldn’t believe the total unbalance of the side when I seen it , playing a poor side or not , it wasn’t as if it was an experimental side it looked and played like a team just thrown together . I thought Tomori at left back or left of a back 3 whatever system we played was awful , I know shaw & chillwell are currently injured ( which they both seem to be an awful lot ) but surely we have another left back somewhere in the country who is good enough to play there just add balance , I thought the set up of the side was a joke , as for Rashford ( whom I rate when on form ) being picked over sterling on current form is scandalous 

This was one of my beef! Trippier has filled in at left back a number of times. If he’s the backup plan for left back then why not play him there v Malta? Why stick poor old Tomori out there when he’s never gonna be the cover for that position. 
I heard lots of criticism of Tomori, saying he kept turning backwards all the time. Poor bloke was a right footed centre back playing left back. He’s not gonna be swazzing balls down the channel with his left peg is he!! 
 

Amongst many odd selection decisions, this was the worst. If Trippier is the back up left back if there no Shaw or Chilwell, then bloody play him there! 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Harry

[North London Red]

4 hours ago, redkev said:

Rashford ( whom I rate when on form ) being picked over sterling on current form is scandalous 

I have a hunch there’s more to the story about Sterling returning to the U.K. during last year’s World Cup than has been let on. Southgate has barely picked him since. 

There might be nothing in it, but to continually not pick him when his club form has been decent seems odd. 

[Ziderarmy]

46 minutes ago, North London Red said:

I have a hunch there’s more to the story about Sterling returning to the U.K. during last year’s World Cup than has been let on. Southgate has barely picked him since. 

There might be nothing in it, but to continually not pick him when his club form has been decent seems odd. 

He returned home as his house had been burgled and didn’t it turn out that the family were all out at the time so I’m no danger etc? 

5 hours ago, Harry said:

 

Good Sir - you wrote almost word for word what I’d wrote 2 days ago. 
I like it. 

This was one of my beef! Trippier has filled in at left back a number of times. If he’s the backup plan for left back then why not play him there v Malta? Why stick poor old Tomori out there when he’s never gonna be the cover for that position. 
I heard lots of criticism of Tomori, saying he kept turning backwards all the time. Poor bloke was a right footed centre back playing left back. He’s not gonna be swazzing balls down the channel with his left peg is he!! 
 

Amongst many odd selection decisions, this was the worst. If Trippier is the back up left back if there no Shaw or Chilwell, then bloody play him there! 

Great minds think alike. Shame the manager doesn’t “think”