England Vs France - Saturday 10th Dec - 19:00

[Parafox]

32 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Gonna be tough. England have has a pretty easy ride so far, so the sauce gets turned up. Capable of winning in for sure, but I’m not sure Gareth has it in him….. 

 

Here to be proven wrong, but it’s going to be a tasty game……

You have a point tbf. I do wonder if GS will have a "rabbit in the headlights" approach to France. 

 

Y'know. When you get promoted at work and you get a very difficult situation that you have to manage and you start to sweat and think, "I don't know what I'm doing". 

[KingsX]

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

Edited 4 December 2022 by KingsX

[whoareyaaa]

2 minutes ago, KingsX said:

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

we beat wales for starters

[Super_horns]

Both teams probably better in attack than defence but will both managers set up to be cagey and maybe look to hit each other on the break?

[Rocket-Ron]

3 minutes ago, KingsX said:

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

Draw against Wales??

[trabuch]

I see France scoring at least once. We'll just have to score one more than them. I don't rate either sides defences that highly.

[HybridFox]

4 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

we beat wales for starters

Glad I'm not the only one scratching my head at that! 

[trabuch]

4 minutes ago, TK95 said:

Glad I'm not the only one scratching my head at that! 

I thought the drink had taken me.

[Mike Oxlong]

16 minutes ago, KingsX said:

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

This makes it sound like your mate’s 64, his girlfriend is 19 and they’re looking to try a threesome ! 

[KingsX]

34 minutes ago, Raj said:

Mbappe wont sleep thinking he has to face Harry!!!

 

To be fair, most kids are too excited to sleep when they know the gifts are coming.

 

[Tielemans63]

8 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Both teams probably better in attack than defence but will both managers set up to be cagey and maybe look to hit each other on the break?

This is a big moment for Southgate imho. This might sound weird but compare England to Italy (the Italy before they failed to qualify!). Italy are the pass masters at making games tense and tight because they have that mentality that they will see it through, and they usually do. England are the antithesis of that. Let's be honest, England aren't good in those super tense scenarios and more often than not, are the unlucky losers. I really hope Southgate doesn't go defensive as imho we'd be creating a scenario we rarely do well in. England have never been good at sitting back and absorbing pressure. I hope we're aggressive and attacking and take the game to France. We may lose but almost certainly lose to France playing defensively anyway - so let's not die wondering.

 

That French team is brilliant but can be rattled. Sitting back would play right into their hands and give them the game they'd probably prefer. England have a great attack and an average defence, imho it is overly negative to negate the the former to compensate for the latter.

[KingsX]

24 minutes ago, Rocket-Ron said:

Draw against Wales??

 

25 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

we beat wales for starters

 

 

  point taken  I still need convincing ...

 

  p.s. graphic corrected

 

Edited 4 December 2022 by KingsX

[weller54]

46 minutes ago, Chiltern Fox said:

I'm at panto.

O no you're not!

[Pliskin]

34 minutes ago, Parafox said:

You have a point tbf. I do wonder if GS will have a "rabbit in the headlights" approach to France. 

 

Y'know. When you get promoted at work and you get a very difficult situation that you have to manage and you start to sweat and think, "I don't know what I'm doing". 

It’s a difficult situation for him. But this is why is was frustrated when he didn’t try something a little different today.. France will pose a huge upgrade on who England have faced recently. But as we all know, France are very unpredictable themselves, but apart from one game they seem to have turned up to this World Cup again. 
 

England definitely have the players to trouble France, I guess it’s a case of so they have the nerve to take the game to them? 

[Nalis]

35 minutes ago, KingsX said:

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

You could say pretty much the same thing for every team left in the tournament in terms of how well they've played and the opposition they've beaten.

Edited 4 December 2022 by Nalis

[Winchesterfox]

I think this is the best England team for 50 years.  France are a great team but we have a chance for sure.  

[cruzFOX]

England should respect their opponent but only so much. They can hurt France as much as France can hurt England. Mutual respect. Today I saw a dodgy French back line that started to wobble when the polish got at them. England too have a weak chink but play smart and they’ll be ok.

someone said rice and hendo winning balls in the middle was important I would go as far as saying that it was key to our attacks. It also made the Senegalese very nervous as they were being dominated. If England beat France it will be a watershed moment for southgate and his brand of football.

be patient and have faith.

[urban fox]

The French won't exactly be over confident for this game either.

when you look at the stats, technically, England are the top performers in the tournament so far in respect of group stage pointso,  goals scored and conceded.

[Bazly]

With a defensive 4 as slow as England's back 4, a simple ball over the top will suffice. Then repeat until you get bored.

[Bazly]

28 minutes ago, Winchesterfox said:

I think this is the best England team for 50 years.  France are a great team but we have a chance for sure.  

Its not a patch on the Euro 96 team.

 

England Euro 96 squad

1. David Seaman (Arsenal)
2. Gary Neville (Manchester United)
3. Stuart Pearce (Nottingham Forest)
4. Paul Ince (Inter Milan)
5. Tony Adams (Arsenal)
6. Gareth Southgate (Aston Villa)
7. David Platt (Arsenal)
8. Paul Gascoigne (Rangers)
9. Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers)
10. Teddy Sheringham (Tottenham Hotspur)
11. Darren Anderton (Tottenham Hotspur)
12. Steve Howey (Newcastle United)
13. Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers)
14. Nick Barmby (Middlesbrough)
15. Jamie Redknapp (Liverpool)
16. Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur)
17. Steve McManaman (Liverpool)
18. Les Ferdinand (Newcastle United)
19. Phil Neville (Manchester United)
20. Steve Stone (Nottingham Forest)
21. Robbie Fowler (Liverpool)
22. Ian Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)

[MattFox]

10 minutes ago, Bazly said:

Its not a patch on the Euro 96 team.

 

England Euro 96 squad

1. David Seaman (Arsenal)
2. Gary Neville (Manchester United)
3. Stuart Pearce (Nottingham Forest)
4. Paul Ince (Inter Milan)
5. Tony Adams (Arsenal)
6. Gareth Southgate (Aston Villa)
7. David Platt (Arsenal)
8. Paul Gascoigne (Rangers)
9. Alan Shearer (Blackburn Rovers)
10. Teddy Sheringham (Tottenham Hotspur)
11. Darren Anderton (Tottenham Hotspur)
12. Steve Howey (Newcastle United)
13. Tim Flowers (Blackburn Rovers)
14. Nick Barmby (Middlesbrough)
15. Jamie Redknapp (Liverpool)
16. Sol Campbell (Tottenham Hotspur)
17. Steve McManaman (Liverpool)
18. Les Ferdinand (Newcastle United)
19. Phil Neville (Manchester United)
20. Steve Stone (Nottingham Forest)
21. Robbie Fowler (Liverpool)
22. Ian Walker (Tottenham Hotspur)

Euro 96 team that struggled against Switzerland and Scotland, and was a dodgy offside call from going out against a bang average Spain team?

Edited 4 December 2022 by MattFox

[Dan LCFC]

Thought from the day the draw was made this is the end of the road, but maybe I'm proven wrong.

[weller54]

40 minutes ago, urban fox said:

The French won't exactly be over confident for this game either.

when you look at the stats, technically, England are the top performers in the tournament so far in respect of group stage pointso,  goals scored and conceded.

Yes, England have played some tough opposition 😂😂😂

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

2 hours ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Lots of talk about Mbappe vs Walker but if you were Deschamps wouldn't you play Mbappe more centrally and try to get him isolated on Maguire?

I'd put him against Shaw, switch wings, much easier. I think he'll go 5 at the back. 

[TJQuik]

1 hour ago, weller54 said:

Yes, England have played some tough opposition 😂😂😂

France had a much easier group than us and Poland are an inferior side to Senegal. They also lost to Switzerland despite looking very good in the Euros up until the last moments of that match. And that was with Kante in the team.