Just for a bit of perspective, arguably the best team in europe/world prior to last night drew with Switzerland (decent side) and the might of Bulgaria at home. My point is that yea England should have managed the game out last night but even the best make errors. Under Southgate i do believe our technical ability has improved 60% in the last few years and he has a squad without the cliques and egos that have proceeded him. We look like a team now and I like what i see...imho.
The thing is, had we got the 2nd when we had that spell of pressure in the final 10 minutes, or had Poland not scored, we'd have been talking about yet another comfortable England win. Poland surprised me with how deep they sat and soaked up pressure. It's the sort of thing we usually see with teams like Andorra or San Marino. But it's effective against England, as we like to break quickly down the flanks and get balls into the box. That's why we had so much joy in the Euro's, nobody really sat back and soaked up pressure against us. Nobody beat us over 90 minutes. Poland are a better side than the sort of teams who usually play that way against us. Rather than it being damage limitation, it was a game plan. It worked! The oppositions plan doesn't often work against this England team, and I reckon that's credit to the squad and the coach. Its not always pretty seeing us play against teams like that, we know how the opposition may have felt playing against us last season. A draw in Poland isn't a bad result, and isn't doesn't, in my opinion, highlight any flaws in the England team. You've to sit through these laboured results in the qualifiers, to get to the blistering performances against Germany, Italy (for the most part) Croatia etc in the tournaments.
On the flip side we were unlucky not to win in extra time. If John Stones was one inch taller he scores the winning goal in the Euro 2020 Final. Plus the way he matched up against Germany and picked them off at the right time with his substitutions was superb. But people forget that and just focus on the draws. We were absolutely coasting last night in that second half. Sublime from Lewandowski.
Poland sat back ? Really? I agree with the commentators tbh in that they pressed us really well In total contrast to the Hungarians who did sit back ,
He’d also rather we didn’t make the Playoffs. What a waste of time last season was - if only someone had told me in advance
On that merit too, what’s the point in even qualifying if we’re not going to win it? I’ve enjoyed watching tournaments where we progress a lot more than being knocked out in the group stages (or not even qualifying).
If we lose in the play-offs this season. I might have a Play-Off defeat party and mark the occasion with an annual celebration.
Yeah last half hour we were tired but no substitutions gave them the emphasis . Trouble with Southgate he can’t see the bleeding obvious .
Well I at least hope you might enjoy the 48 games along the way that got us into such a magnificent position.
My feelings aren't really based on the Poland game Archey. I didn't see the game. To be honest I'd have taken a draw as a very acceptable result before kick off so my criticisms of Southgate aren't based on that. They're a decent side with a world class striker. We should cruise through to qualifying now though.
Final and semi final of the last two tournaments. That's inept management? You should have seen us under Ron Greenwood then.