For whatever reason Loftus Cheek has been very disapointing in this tournament . Damien Duff was puring about him in the build up to the tournament calling him a rolls royce type player. When ever I have seen him for Crystal Palace he has looked impressive he can dribble, power past players, dribble , pass, vision . Do everything but score which he might still add to his game . I would rate him higher than barkley or pogba.
Yeah, he needs to step up and show his ability, we know what he’s capable off, just want to see it but tbf he’s not being played in his favourite position.
In fairness, Sterling was causing the Columbian defense problems with his runs in the first half . In the second half he went missing . I was wondering if he had been substituted during the game.
He plays on the right side of midfield for Crystal Palace . A lot of people believe his best position is as a central midfielder . Correct if I am wrong but didnt Loftus Cheek play very far forward ahead of the ball like Ali against Belgium and Tunisia ie not in a midfield position.
I think they struggled to break Columbia because they had no ball playing midfielder . Henderson turned his back when ever the defenders had the ball or when ever they did pass him the ball he passed it back and Kane kept dropping deep in to midfield to prevent the defenders from going long . For a lot of the match Kane kept dropping deep in midfield to receive the ball which was a crazy as he was your striker . Sterling did too . Ali became isolated on the wing as Kane and Sterling were too deep to link up with . It was crazy stuff and Its a crazy system Southgate has bypassing midfield and getting his defenders to link up with his attackers Kane and Sterling. Could someone please explain the method to Southgates madness if there is any?.
Whatever anyone thinks of this system it has pretty much come about because of the available players. People keep going on about Colombia being unlucky for losing James but when that is mentioned I can only think of the issues we have had with injuries. Every time one of our coaches has attempted to build a team for the past however many years we get numerous injuries to our very small player pool. Just look at the build up to this tournament. Southgate tried to give Harry Winks or Joe Gomez a chance and they pretty much instantly got injured. Lallana missed the tournament because of fitness after injury. Same with Oxlade-Chamberlain who this system would have suited more than some CM's selected in the squad. Arguably our most comparable player to James Rodriguez talent wise is Jack Wilshere and his career has been decimated by injury. Southgate has probably looked at the talent pool available and past tournaments and decided he can't pick certain plays for specific roles because of immobility issues. I've disagreed with the overall plan for being rigid and would have liked certain players to go. He's definitely picked a lopsided squad and that was proven last night when Delph wasn't there. There is no way the amount of forwards we have selected are all required. Does this system work? Not really. Is it brave? I would say it is. Southgate seems to make errors like expecting Delph to play a similar role to Lingard and then the same with RLC/Alli. There isn't really much adaption there to the individuals within the system. So that is how I feel. It's Southgate's first tournament. He's not been perfect but done quite a few positive things.
I watch the RTE punditry too, stops me going crazy. Dunphy doesn't half chat shit at times though, has a borderline Talksport schtick, though much more entertaining.
I don't know how anyone can defend Gareth Southgate's system . Its not just his midfield. his defense has issues too . He has a right footed defender playing as a left back . Everytime Maguire passes the ball he has to do it with his right so he has to drift in and play risky passes through the middle instead of down the wing . He nearly cost England a goal against Panama I think . Walker is a wing back and he is playing as a centre back . Also if Southgate doesnt trust Wilshere fitness which is ridiculous, as he has played ali in every match in this tournament even though he has been hobbling through matches for the most part . Why didn't Southgate bring Shelvey he is a much better passer of the ball than any other player in the squad . If Southgate didn't start him he could of brought him on against Coulubia when England were 1-0 . He could have enabled your team to keep hold of the ball and provide service to kane and sterling up front , you might have even got another goal. Your team beat Columbia inspite of Southgate's tactics last night not because of them.
Unfortunately there will be plenty of people forgetting their pre-tournament expectations and call not beating Sweden an embarrassment... Anyhow I totally agree with this statement.
Amazing how many barely literate fans of other countries we get in here. Especially those who insist on telling us how terrible we are.
Yeah its a shame Gilesy is no longer on the panel . He hits the nail on the head when he talks about the problems with Southgates tactics and team selection on the podcasts him Dunphy and Brady do together . Its in stark contrast to Wright and Dixon who never mention the problems with Walker playing as centre back and Maguire playing as a left back when he can't kick the ball with his left foot . I mean these problems with England's defense are so obvious but there never even mention it . It beggers belief. Unlike Columbia , Sweden will press England's defense and its going to be a serious problems . I think England will have to play long ball , because if they try and play out from the back they will leak goals.
And when's the last time you've felt like an England manager at a major tournament has, "done quite a few positive things?"
For me that was typical Hendo last night. If my memory is correct he didn't make any good passes and was a little bit more no-nonsense. Kinda unrelated, but I thought he'd miss his penalty just because he's been a negative playmaker for so long. I think he is a good leader though. Obviously at Liverpool and is good behind the scenes. I appreciated how much it meant to him when Dier scored he fell to the floor in relief while everyone else ran toward Pickford.
Who is defending it? Just explaining how he possibly ended up deciding on it. The Maguire thing has been raised and discussed before. I also think Walker has been one of our best players. I would have taken a few different players or at least offered an alternative system and made my disagreements known before the tournament. After some of the previous tournaments it has at least been encouraging in some areas.
How has he been good? . The basic job of a midfielder is to provide the link between the defense and attack . Henderson did it to some degree against minnows like Tunisia and Panama . But last night against Columbia he was awful everytime the defenders were trying to pass it out from the back he was pointing at them to pass the ball to somebody else . And when did receive the ball he wasn't able to turn and pass the ball forward he had to keep passing the ball back, so much so, that kane had to drop deep in to midfield to receive the ball, otherwise England would of had to play hoofball last night.
Walker one of your best players . He cost a penalty against Tunisia and his mistake nearly cost you a goal last night . How he is playing for City I will never know . Also have never heard the issues with walker and maguire in defense been discussed by your bbc pundits
Another meme - Couldn't resist jumping on the bandwagon and making one!... pic.twitter.com/VrltrEWEsk— Jack Walton (@jackwalton1) July 4, 2018
I think that says more about the state of international football now than the defensive solidity of the Walker Maguire partnership . I think the only good team left in the competition are Brazil . People are talking about France as winners but they are rubbish .My team gave them hell in the euro's should of beaten them . They got to the final and couldn't beat a shite Portuguese. Portugal proved how crap they were by not been able to beat the worst spanish team ever . A spanish who went out to one of the worst teams in the competition Russia .The same Russia who were utterly destroyed in the last Euro's . . The standard of football has never been as bad , Defenders can't defend and play as attackers . Midfielders can't create and play as destroyers . I swear if my team had qualified and had a decent manager we would win the bloody thing .