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^This^. Top of the group, no goals conceded. Looking solid if not spectacular. Would’ve taken that before the tournament started. If we get to the quarter finals and give someone a game then great. So much angst when if another country was doing what we are doing you’d think they’re doing well and would give anyone a game with loads of attacking options on the bench. Will see who we’re playing next week but think Germany or Portugal would suit either stodgy England (Portugal) or attack spaces behind Germany’s wingbacks with Sterling/Sako.
I mean, compare and contrast to the capello/keegan/mclaren/hodgson years for some perspective on how shit it can really get.
dsalmon
my 2 pence:
England are not a club team. The team do not have the advantage of playing together in a coherent fashion week in week out.
The World and European champions are built on a stable defence, with a fairly fucking sharp point (Mbappe and Him).
Tournament football isn't about "sexeh sexeh wow!" otherwise, Brazil wouldn't have jacked it all in after 82 and become the boring force they became. Oh wait. Stable defence, razor sharp point, other worldly talent (el fenom).
We've had 3 games (W2 D1) where the defence hasn't looked too bothered (mind you, who have we played? Scotland were good, Croatia were old, Czech - I didn't see the whole game) and the middle has looked stodgy. Raheem looked ok, apart from his running style, Henderson was back, we've seen that wonderboy Jack isn't such a risky player to have on, Bukayo looked good as well. Sancho came on against a tired team and hey, who knew, pace and fresh legs hurts tired players.
The set up here is:
You have to have a solid defence, we've played three games, we look ok, we've got room to improve. There's no point being the flat track bully all the way through the league stage only to get smashed up in the knockouts.
tl;dr : it's Kane's fault. If he wasn't carrying Spurs and England ALL the time, he might be a bit fresher and be able to be the sharp point the team focuses on.