England v Croatia match thread

[Tuna]

 

 

[Aus Fox]

Reminds me of a Garth Crooks team of the week, when a whole lot of players are thrown in with no thought of set up or how they’ll perform together. A few regulars who are in on reputation, not on what they’ve done that week. 

[matty98]

[wardyfox86]

Mings, Walker, Sterling.... so uninspiring. 

 

3atb? 4231??

Edited 13 June 2021 by wardyfox86

[Duquesne Whistle]

Well, we're here.

Time to make an old man slightly less miserable England.

Sterling with a perfect hat trick, left calf, right thigh, back of the head to assuage all the naysayers.

[darko2k7]

As expected apart from trippier at LB. Why two goalkeepers on the bench? Absolute waste of a sub spot 

[kingfox]

Well done Gareth for killing the buzz.

 

Team selections like that, is why we won’t win the Euros.

[Foxes04]

we have 3 or arguably 4 better wingers than Sterling on the bench in Grealish, Rashford, Sancho and possibly even Saka. how the fvck does Sterling get in this team. don’t even get me started on Phillips over Bellingham and Trippier over Shaw...

 

 

Anyways it’s coming home 

[PhillippaT]

Well, they can't do worse than the cricket team, surely?  

Edited 13 June 2021 by PhillippaT

[Patrick]

What a joke of a lineup. This incredible generation of players deserves a much better manager than Gareth Southgate.

[Samilktray]

Why is Sancho not on the bench?

[fazzyfox]

Sky are doing my head in, saying Stirling over Grealish is due to "caution". On form Stirling isn't hurting any opposition, isn't beating his man, his tricks aren't coming off, he's running down blind alleys, I do like Stirling but he's just not on form right now. But he's played 50+ times so knows what it's like? Oh rubber stamp his name on the team sheet then, like when Kane goes lame and we stretcher him onto the pitch rather than play Vardy (in previous tournaments).

 

I predicted he'd go cautious for this one, I see Trippier at LB as a defensive decision rather than the more attacking Chilwell or Shaw. Only other logic, is Croatia's RM left footed?

 

What I saw of Croatia v Belgium as usual they keep the ball very very well particularly in CM so the two DM's makes sense for us, I could be OK with the line up if it weren't for handing out free shirts to favorites in Stirling, what was the point of Grealish busting a gut in the friendlies if the decision was already made. On the bright side If we score first we'll be hard to break down.

 

Just don't like the "Draw is OK" mentality if you want to win the group.

 

And let's take a moment to express our sympathy to Chilwell for missing out....       

 

If this is what Southgate does v Croatia though heaven help us if we play France later on, it'll be 5 defenders, two DM's and a 50 cap passenger up front.

[whoareyaaa]

This knee thing may as well be scrapped if the other teams don't do it then the message is clearly not getting across and instead causing tension.

 

get rid of it

[fazzyfox]

10 minutes ago, darko2k7 said:

As expected apart from trippier at LB. Why two goalkeepers on the bench? Absolute waste of a sub spot 

Weren't you at City vs Shrewsbury that day, it could be needed you know (once, for some team, somewhere, every 40 years or so)

[foxes_rule1978]

Play cautiously and we will lose, our defence isn’t good enough for that style of football. We need to press them and play on the front foot, our strength is in attack. Worryingly southgate has been going cautious against anyone of late 

[RowlattsFox]

Trippier is bizarre. Only reason I can think of is for set pieces. He will probably say something about Shaw/Chilwell joining late. Despite picking others. 

 

He doesn't trust the centre backs so much it's unreal. 

[Corky]

England desperately need more left footed centre-backs if we're having to play Mings.

 

This set-up plus the weather means it will be cagey.

[Guest Electric Yetis]

6 minutes ago, fazzyfox said:

Weren't you at City vs Shrewsbury that day, it could be needed you know (once, for some team, somewhere, every 40 years or so)

Palace away in '99 too 😄

[pSinatra]

That team is so bad, Eric Dier would improve it

[Tielemans63]

23 minutes ago, Tuna said:

 

 

There's a clear typo on that team list. If you look carefully someone has accidentally typed TYRONE MINGS.

 

Mings, an excellent RB at LB and a massively out of form Sterling. Gareth is an expert at dampening those expectations, I'll give him that.

[Koke]

Tyrone Mings doesn't belong at international tournaments. 

[Swarles Barkley]

Southgate idolises Brendan so much he’s started playing right backs at left back.

[Phube]

Who picked that team? Random squad generator!? 

[Guest StevieLynex]

6 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Trippier is bizarre. Only reason I can think of is for set pieces. He will probably say something about Shaw/Chilwell joining late. Despite picking others. 

 

He doesn't trust the centre backs so much it's unreal. 

If Perisic plays down the right, Trippier will be well and truly found out

[foxes_rule1978]

2 minutes ago, Koke said:

Tyrone Mings doesn't belong at international tournaments. 

We are hardly full of options in that area unfortunately… surprised Sterling is in instead of grealish, at least we have options off the bench in attack 

Edited 13 June 2021 by foxes_rule1978