Not rotating is an interesting concept, as in trusting his players wont be knackered come semi-final and final...
link says page doesn't exit. But if there's any English out there: are you satisfied the way this team is performing? To me, they seem very underwhelming, lacking varety with it's inevitable, get-the-ball-to-it's lone-striker(who apparently is the only one who's allowed to take the final shot. Though she's their best, Beth Mead would be more potent on the right. It's bad enough that team captain, Houghton can't defend, but Millie Bright is a walking disaster at CB, the J fwds will be well advised just aim their shots at Bright's legs;as 3 of them deflacted for on goals at last year's SBC. But the biggest stinker is not starting Rachel Daly. She has the capacity to dominate the playing field ahead of her, much like Ertz & Lawrence do for their respective squads, The way she usesher physique to take control is so much stronger than the rather weakish physical attributes of the mid starters.
Mead is a bit more effective on the right--but Parris plays on the right and Neville is not going to move her, and Mead was good last game on the left. A few of her decisions early in the game were questionable, but in the balance she played well. It sounds like Duggan, who has apparently had a knock, will play today--I assume on the left--and Mead will sit and probably enter the game in the 2nd half. As for Daly, I'd like to see her at left outside back. She is a little more dynamic than anyone else at that position, I think. We may see her today.
Using the official ratings, England (rating 2049) has a smallish 58 point advantage and expected win pct of roughly (.583) over Japan (1991). Using 2018-2019 performance ratings heading into the World Cup, England vs Japan is a toss-up; England's performance rating 1993 vs Japan's performance rating 1989 Japan of course was stymied by much lower-rated Argentina (1626). England won't play Japan the same way but can they learn something useful from Argentina's approach? Will they force Japan's attack to play out wide - where Japan seems weaker at playing crosses and driving to the endline - rather than try to combine in front of the 18-yard box? *** Scotland (rating 1812) has a 186-point advantage and expected win pct of roughly (.745) over Argentina (1626) Using the 2018-2019 performance ratings heading into the Cup, Scotland's (performance rating 1874) advantage grows slightly to an expected win pct of (.779) over Argentina (perf rating 1655) Obviously, with both sides needing a win, this could be a quite interesting match. I'm a big Kim Little fan so I'm hoping this is her World Cup match to shine in.
Group D: 9+4 (+5-1) D1.England (vs. 3BEF) 4-1 (+2-3) D2.Japan (vs. 1E Netherlands or Canada) 2-1 (+3-4) D3.Argentina 1-2 (+5-7) Scotland Four best 3rds: 6+3 (+6-3) C3.Brasil 4=0 (+1-1) B3.China PR 3-2 (+2-4) A3.Nigeria 2-1 (+3-4) D3.Argentina ~~~~~~~~ E3 will have 3 or 1 pt F3 will have 3 or 1 pt
I have so much to unpack. But my big takeaway is that the VAR foot on line rule is stupid. Also, why didnt Scotland park the bus after going up 2 or 3 nil??? It was like they thought they needed to win 7-0 to advance
To be entirely fair to them, since the best they could have done was 3pts, it was going to come down to GD. So going for an onslaught probably seemed better than tentatively protecting a lead. That said, any win would've put their GD above Nigeria, and none of the teams in E or F seem likely to come up to -1GD or better, much less both, so running up the score probably wasn't necessary. Probably.
Exactly! They should know going in... or even in the moment that 3-0 is more than enough based on the quality of the other teams left to play.