England vs Serbia match day thread

Guehi was sound for the future and spoke well after the game. A plus.

 

Morrissey should be on the right wing

 

Agreed he was class, enjoyed his interview too.

 

Great performance imho. Two of our best players miles off it, defence looked solid, clean sheet, best player off the mark & we go again.

Winning it.

 

Absolutely. For all the Serbia possession we looked much more comfortable than Spain did against Croatia.

Of course things could be better. Southgate could take the shackles off so they played more like they do for their clubs. Palmer could get a start when he's near the very top in all leagues for goals and assists last season.

 

Pundits down here (Jay Boothroyd and Michael Bridges) saying Alexander-Arnold shouldn't start the next match after that display and Foden shouldn't be sacrificed out on the wing to play two defensive midfielders.

 

Not sure what to make of that. For 30-35 mins we looked really good then after that we looked bang average and too passive.

The area of the pitch I was most concerned about beforehand (defence) was outstanding. Rice as well in midfield.

Saka was 9 out of 10 first half and 2 out of 10 in the second, probably because we couldn’t string 2 passes together.

Kane was rubbish and Foden’s performance was abysmal. How both weren’t replaced I’ve no idea.

Baring a few lovely long passes I thought Alexander Arnold didn’t exactly pull up many trees in midfield.

But despite all that, I’m happy we’ve got a win. Hopefully we can get better as we go.

 

Football is getting very, very boring.

 

TAA gave the ball away in poor areas, Foden was non existent and that’s definitely not a game for Kane.

Serbia have 3 lumps at the back so you either fight them or use pace to run the channels and turn them round.
Kane can’t really do either, he missed his chance when he headed straight at the keeper.
Last 10 minutes I would of liked to see Watkins stretch the game with his pace.

 

Full marks to Gareth for trying the Trent experiment.

I'm not smart enough to go beyond my own drunken eyeballs but I'd call it a neutral outcome.

I'd go for Wharton in midfield, from what I've seen. But Gareth brought Gallacher on today, so I can probably forget that.

I'd deffo drop Foden cos he's never really looked good for England. I think Palmer might be a bit like Foden too.

If Kane is only getting a few touches then I'd play a forward up with him. We look bare when the ball is near their box.

 

Just needed Conor Grant to denounce his Irish heritage, skip around a few tackles and unleash the beast.

 

Everyone seems to throw this around but all successful international teams seem to be able to control the midfield & have bodies in there.

Spain won everything with Busquets, Alonso & Xavi in midfield with only 3 attacking players on the pitch. France have had 3 central midfielders every time, Croatia have done really well with the same in the last two world cups, Argentina got an extra body in midfield after the Saudi Arabia defeat in the World Cup they ended up winning.

There’s literally no evidence out there that you can play 5 attacking players & win a tournament. Certainly not in my lifetime anyway.

 

Enjoy your evening and try not to get a Wharton your Dyck.

 

Wharton earth are you talking about?

 

Honestly Southgate is absolutely w&&k. His football is awful. He only gets by because we have such good players. A decent manager would have us nailing teams.

 

I thought we should’ve been braver on the ball second half but it’s not easy when you’re playing a team of giants that are very physical and constantly leaving a foot in. 6ft2 average height. There won’t be many, if any, other teams like them in the entire tournament. If they get out of the group, and I think they will, they might surprise a few teams.

 

Yeah I liked how he/Guehi came across in that interview, and I'm looking forward to seeing him and Stones get better together, at the back.
I thought at first that we got a bit lucky with their penalty claims, but it was actually a weak dive despite the contact from Tripps.
Will we have Luke Shaw back soon, because I don't like seeing any players in the wrong position.
And what really can Kane do on his own up front, which makes him keep coming back into his own half, or even out wide, just to get the ball.

 

Jon Richardson getting some hate. I like him apart from the supporting Leeds bit.