You are reading a single comment by @Pasty_Spumante and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
Kane was better, but pulling out wide meant there was no-one in the box for long periods - plenty of space but no-one to attack it.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Henderson start the final - he helps move the ball forward. Would obviously also like to see Jack start as I think he would be a better option against Italy than Saka/Sancho, but that's not going to happen.
For balance I will do the negatives I saw.
Pickford was badly positioned for the goal, and had an erratic spell in the first half. He gave the ball directly to their wide forwards twice in quick succession, and we lost confidence to play through the press and resorted to kicking long. Unfortunately his long kicking was poor as well, and the height of the Danes meant we kept losing the ball in the air. That was our poorest period in the game.
In attack, we tried to cross the call in the air too often in the first half, which was easy for their centrebacks. The players took a bit too long to realise that our best way of playing was keeping the ball on the ground and using speed to turn their centrebacks in the channels. People call Kane thick, but he was the first to make the tactical adjustment, dropping into the 10 role and playing through balls.
In midfield, we didn't make our numerical advantage count enough in the first half. I think Mount should have dropped deeper to help play through the press. We seemed to do better in the second half. There is also a compromise playing both Rice and Philips, as neither will run beyond the opposition defence. Henderson did that when he came on, which helped going forward.
It was a good performance overall, but if we don't play better against Italy we will lose.