Euro 2016 Day 2 - Alb v Swi, Wal v Slo & Eng v Rus

[Mr Pink]

England left most of their fire power on the bench in order to play Sterling and Lallana, who are decent players but aren't great goalscorers and didn't do much creatively. I would say go with a front 3 of Sturridge, Kane, and Vardy, and then you have players with plenty of pace who can stretch the defense, but who are also goalscorers.

Lallana was fantastic first half, and Sterling still caused problems with his pace even though his end product needs to improve. These two were critical to the balance yesterday.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Lallana was fantastic first half, and Sterling still caused problems with his pace even though his end product needs to improve. These two were critical to the balance yesterday.

Agree, and neither Vardy or Sturridge are wide forwards, can you imagine the stick Woy would get for playing 2 strikers out of position again.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Dier the first English player ever to score direct from a free kick in the Euros!

 

[slartibartfast]

Loved Ray Wilkins comments on Kane taking corners.
Sums it up perfectly for me.
Truly fkin brain dead idea.
Think its another case of manager over analysing to the point where he can't see the wood for the trees and disappears up his own arsehole.


Wilkins did not hold back in his criticism: "It baffles the life out of me, because if you're a midfield player at international level and you can't kick a ball 40 yards, unopposed, and stick it in a 10-yard area at a height where you've got an opportunity to score, you shouldn't really be playing if I'm honest. So stick Harry Kane in the box and let's see if we can score a goal."

 

[nailsy]

Does anyone know how many goals Harry scored from corners last season? Either headed straight in or after knock downs?

 

[buttons]

Frustrating evening and one we should have taken three points from. Sadly it was a very English end to the game.

Kane was frustrating for me, he seemed to drift a little bit too much and ended up getting in the way. Don't know if he was instructed to drift but, for me, he needs to play as a number 9. He shouldn't be on corners either.

Sterling was crap in my view. Sure he carried the ball well but he did nothing with it. Think he'll be ditched for Thursday but unfortunately think it will be for Milner as we try to neutralise Bale.

Other Spurs boys all did ok I think, full backs were good, Alli was busy and Dier looked like a seasoned international football.

Play like that and we'll get at least four points from the next two games. Only change I would make would be Vardy in for Sterling.

 

[mightyspur]

We definitely should have had all 3 points. I thought we played very well overall. I was impressed with how Walker (who was my MoM), Alli and Lallana linked up and we were definitely strongest down the right. Sterling was frustrating, but I suspect a lot of that comes from a lack of match practice and fitness. Not sure he should be starting considering his season at Man City.

I like Rooney in the midfield role, felt he was very affective and was disappointed when he came off. Dier was fantastic as well and chuffed with his goal!

Typical England though. Still onwards and upwards. Hopefully we can get a win against Wales.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Does anyone know how many goals Harry scored from corners last season? Either headed straight in or after knock downs?

I remember him scoring against Arsenal season before last from a corner, and then he showed off his aerial ability with a superb header from Bentaleb's cross.

For me the point is, if you're a defender, where do you want to see the man that has scored 20+ goals in the last 2 seasons? In the box where you have to keep a close eye on him? Or way outside the box where he can't score?

 

[spursfan77]

Sterling was awful. Stupid not taking Townsend. Looking even more ridiculous now, the squad looks so unbalanced.

 

[TorontoYid]

Seriously? We outplayed them for 85 minutes. We pressed, everyone worked hard, I didn't see any egos out there.

We didn't really make enough chances for Kane, but it's pretty much the first time we've played that formation. Hopefully we'll grow into it.

And I don't know why Sterling I'd being called a disgrace by some people. He didn't do anything terrible, he didn't dive, or get sent off, he had a pretty poor second half where he didn't really seem to know how to use the ball, but his pace was still causing problems. Maybe Sturridge could play there next match?

Outplayed them for 85 minutes and yet only one goal plus not winning? That kind of disagrees with that statistic especially since we were not playing a top team such as Germany or Spain.

 

[nailsy]

Outplayed them for 85 minutes and yet only one goal plus not winning? That kind of disagrees with that statistic especially since we were not playing a top team such as Germany or Spain.

They scored in stoppage time so it does fit in. You can also outplay a side and not win. Not sure what Germany or Spain have to do with it really, we were the better of the two sides.

 

[TorontoYid]

The point is that if we want to win trophies, we can't be sitting on a 1 goal lead then throw it away in the last few minutes. We should be beating teams like Russia 2 or 3 nil but we don't seem to do that very often. Compare Englands record in the last couple of tournaments with Spain and Germany and you will notice it doesn't compare. We seem to play harder in the qualifying rounds than the actual tournament itself.
Spain and Germany have everything to do with it since they are the teams we want to be as good as or better if we want to win. They go straight to the top of their group and stay there. we float around 2nd place and have a last gasp effort to scrape through the group stage. Quite a difference. It really doesn't matter that we can hold most of the possession and bounce the ball around the field nicely. What counts is how many times we put it in the net and that seems to be lacking with England in that game somewhat. Plenty of scoring opportunities but where are the goals?

 

[Riandor]

I remember him scoring against Arsenal season before last from a corner, and then he showed off his aerial ability with a superb header from Bentaleb's cross.

For me the point is, if you're a defender, where do you want to see the man that has scored 20+ goals in the last 2 seasons? In the box where you have to keep a close eye on him? Or way outside the box where he can't score?

For us he stands next to the keeper and blocks, giving space for Toby, Jan and Eric to use. He isn't our target for corners either.
Still don't think he should be taking them though.

 

[Shadydan]

The point is that if we want to win trophies, we can't be sitting on a 1 goal lead then throw it away in the last few minutes. We should be beating teams like Russia 2 or 3 nil but we don't seem to do that very often. Compare Englands record in the last couple of tournaments with Spain and Germany and you will notice it doesn't compare. We seem to play harder in the qualifying rounds than the actual tournament itself.
Spain and Germany have everything to do with it since they are the teams we want to be as good as or better if we want to win. They go straight to the top of their group and stay there. we float around 2nd place and have a last gasp effort to scrape through the group stage. Quite a difference. It really doesn't matter that we can hold most of the possession and bounce the ball around the field nicely. What counts is how many times we put it in the net and that seems to be lacking with England in that game somewhat. Plenty of scoring opportunities but where are the goals?

You're comparing England to Spain/Germany but they're not as good as them now so the comparison doesn't really make any sense. The performance was hardly a "joke" as you put it, we looked as cohesive and consistent as we have for a long time and there were plenty of signs of progress as opposed to the usual feeling of asking questions of the team and wondering what the plan is going forward.

Don't get the point about too many ego's either, just seems like it's clichéd nonsense and an aoutdated conclusion that a lot of people seemed to reach after the match just because England couldn't get over the line, it was typically actually that people were ready to stick the knife in as soon as the whistle went and come out with the same old tired things that have been said before, it's as if they didn't watch the match.

 

[TorontoYid]

I have said the same things for a while now, not just this tournament. I suppose we looked great today too scraping a last minute win against Wales. Whatever you say, what is obvious to me is we should not be struggling against any of the teams in our group. Will be interesting to see what happens against Slovakia, a country with 5 million people (just over a third of the population of London)