Football

Jonathan Liew:

Yet these were not the only grounds for the disorienting disposition of this encounter. Every time the men in white took possession of the sphere in the proximity of the left wing, they were consistently forced to funnel it, in turn, to the centre of the pitch, rendering most of their offensive efforts tortured, even disjointed. The side in red could simply defend their territory in the middle with impunity, secure in the knowledge their opponents were powerless to hurt them on their right verge.

That’s a pretty terrible paragraph, right? But that’s what happens when you wilfully restrict your options. You have Kieran Trippier, a right-footed left-back who doesn’t even bother trying to disguise the fact – no feint, no shimmy, no darting eyes – that he’s going to turn back inside. You have Phil Foden, a left-footed player with very little interest in playing on the left wing, who always wants to come short into the central areas. England are essentially a team playing on 70% of the pitch, which is like trying to write an entire paragraph – like I did above – without using the letter A.

He's a clever fucker isn't he?

Pretty sure Eze is our only left-footed forward, although Gordon can play off the left pretty well.

Tactics Tim time:
Drop TAA, move Bellingham to 8, Foden to 10 and bring Eze in on the left. Basically guaranteed to lift the pot under my genius guidance. Also run about a bit.

Foden = Scholes.

11 career yellow cards though.

Something to work on....

This is sounding very England....

Van bommel

Drop TAA, move Bellingham to 8, Foden to 10 and bring Eze in on the left. Basically guaranteed to lift the pot under my genius guidance. Also run about a bit.

I like this. I'd use TAA and Ollie Watkins as an impact pair of subs when everyone else is tired to stretch everything out.

We don't have a problem with defending. The problem is not being able to pass the ball, make runs behind, moving around to give the player on the ball an option and ball retention.

I've been saying it for a while.

You could be our very own 'Tactics Tim' at this rate...

Good shout. N3il, you’re now aboard the lufguss managerial conglomerate.

Who's Roy Evans and who's Gerard Houllier?

the dreamteam.

Fundamentally I prefer the Allardyce/Lee axis as a model, however this is a fresh new thing.

Anyone else want in? NB, we don’t do problems, only solutions

We wouldn't be in this pickle if we'd stuck with Big Sam. 100% win rate speaks for itself.

Its all Kalvin Phillips fault

16 chances Denmark got.

^sung to the tune of ring of fire.

Currywurst stains down his shirt. A few pints of Liebfraumilch with his post-match dinner.

Jumpers for goalposts my arse.

Don't you need a geneological consultant, to fill one of the many roles fulfilled by Jackie Charlton for the Irish FA?

The managerial conglomerate identifies, as in this case, a gaping hole at left back.
The geneologist simply informs a suitable non-English player that he does have a qualifying grandparent. See Tony Cascarino for more details.

I'd say a lot of that was to not being able to keep the ball and losing it in bad positions, for example with the goal we conceded and we didn't defend any better when TAA went off.

I hope Gareth is watching how Ukraine use their substitutes.

All this media speculation has rather ruined ....
tonight's episode of Who's the Masked Striker.