People saying Henderson should come in for Phillips really don’t understand how this team works. We haven’t conceded yet and a large part of that is because of the midfield. Phillips has been one of the players of the tournament for us so far and he along with Rice have a great understanding of what they need to do. Their positional play is brilliant. I’d leave it as it is atm. I was one of the fans criticising Southgate for the team selection but I’m not complaining one more time. The only thing I’m blaming him for is my hangover. It’s coming home.
Spot on. I've had my reservations about Southgate's selections but it's working and I'm trusting his judgment now. It's not always about just picking the best 11 players and going for it.
It's not England's fault (unless they were involved in the "seeding process"). They can only beat what's in front of them. And I often hear about "they are having the easier way". Yes, on this half you don't have Italy, France, Belgium but again, not England's fault. They qualified as first in their group. Look at the stupid German team: They thought they could have the "easier path" to the final, too, by not winning against Hungary (as it was obvious that France vs Portugal would be a draw) They could've won the match easily with a normal cross from Leroy Sane in stoppage time to striker Kevin Volland. But then we would've been 1st in the group and in the "harder path" with the likes of Italy, Spain. So he misplaced this cross dramatically and we had the "easier path" with England and company. (yes, I know, he didn't do it deliberately but hey.... ) I asked the same a few days ago but got no answer yet
Surely Luke Shaw put in the best ever footballing performance by a player who insisted upon playing by rugby rules? Unrivalled talent.
Sober at last. Great result last night, and more importantly a great performance. It's good to see a change in how we played with so much attacking flair combined with security in midfield and defence. I said it last night, Ukraine were shit. But a large part of the reason for that was how good we were. In short, I think it's safe to say had we played more games like we did against Germany and especially Ukraine, Southgate would have far less questions attached to his tenure. Let's hope to see more of the same on Wednesday. I see no reason we can't beat Denmark if we play with the same exuberance and flair that was shown last night. Bring it on.
Impressed with Sancho, you can see he's a few years on in terms of development over the more raw Saka. But the pacy wingers will face a very different test if we do go up against Italy, there's no way a tactician like Mancini will let his full-backs get exposed the way Ukraine did. Maybe a return for Foden? Southgate is a very lucky manager to have this arsenal of attacking options.
If Germany had comfortably beat Croatia and Czechia and drew with Scotland. Then beat England 2-0 and thrashed Ukraine in the quarters 4-0. And become the first side in Euros history not to concede in their first 5 games of a tournament. Everyone would be saying they look ruthless and incredibly efficient and that there's an inevitability about them. Everyone would be purring about them. Absolutely no one would be saying "they haven’t been properly tested yet".
Don't agree with this. We've played 5 games. We've played well in one, superb in another, mind numbingly shit in one, and did no more than required in the other two. Let's not get carried away, last night was a great performance and a deserved thrashing over the opposition, and we were decent against Germany (all that was needed though to be fair, they were shocking). But we were far from impressive in the group stages despite finishing top.
Yeah we're seeing the start of another golden generation anyway, this is probably the youngest squad we've ever had at a tournament, and it's packed full of 'wonder kids'. The future looks bright... We'll have the stability of Southgate in charge for a long time which is rare at international level... and the likes of Bellingham, Sancho, Saka, Mount, Foden etc playing for us for many years who will have lots of experience of how to win tournament games. This is already a golden TEAM though. We had better stars with Gerrard, Beckham, Scholes, Lampard, A.Cole and loads of other top quality defenders etc... but no balance, no depth and shocking team spirit with all the club rivalries. In contrast you can tell how together this England side is by how pleased they all were for Hendo when he scored. Stones and Sterling were beaming despite playing for a big rival, everyone huddled together after that goal. None of that petty rivalry shit going on anymore.
Close enough.. All round good performance from England. Nice that we made it as comfortable as expected, the early goal in the second half really killed it off. Even if it did come from a very soft free kick. Like last night, I think if we treat the Denmark game with the right attitude then there should only be one winner. We have a better team than they do and if we turn up we should win. There's a lot of pressure which might play a factor but there's a lot of experienced players in that squad so I think we'll be okay. We've had a fairly fortunate run but back to back semi finals shouldn't be understated really. The golden generation failed to reach one with arguably far more talent at its disposal and some of the best defenders in the world too. In comparison there's question marks over every single defensive player in this current team and we've yet to even concede (although we've been fortunate at times).
Whilst you’re correct you are talking about a team that I’ve seen win 3 World Cups and 3 European Championships and finish runner up countless times. They’ve been tested numerous times and not found wanting. Whilst I think this is the best and most talented England squad I’ve seen, it hasn’t been tested yet and won’t be until we get to the final.
