England Internationals - Andorra and Serbia

[Dr Marco]

LA MANITA !

[foxy boxing]

High five 

[Dan]

This has been barely believably easy. It's like we're playing Malta.

[Guest Bilo]

Just absurdly easy tonight. England have been class from start to finish, but how diabolical are Serbia?

[JonnyZeroFox]

Just now, StanSP said:

How did the ref not see that in real time? 

Surprising, he was no where near the ball  

[Parafox]

I dislike rashford and he's shown me why. That penalty will reinforce his belief that he's better than he actually is.

Edited 9 September 2025 by Parafox

[Nalis]

The stutter penalty needs to fvck off out of football

[JonnyZeroFox]

The fan almost stopped the game

[Guest Bilo]

The first time I've enjoyed watching England in a qualifier in a very long time. 

[JonnyZeroFox]

That is more what I expected from Tuchel, excellent all over the pitch tonight… even the little bits of defending we did, we managed it well no shenanigans like we have seen before.  

[Super_horns]

An excellent nights work from England .

Strong , disciplined and composed .

[Dr Marco]

Well done EN-GER-LAND! Let's go paint a roundabout!

[Dan]

Tuchel's sides have a very high ceiling. Was often the way with Chelsea where he'd set up with something fairly bizarre on paper and they would just tear you apart over and over again. Can remember one time where Chilwell was basically playing as a striker he was that far forward.

[Brainy]

Probably means Serbia have always been shit according to the doom mongers

[Guest Bilo]

10 minutes ago, Dan said:

Tuchel's sides have a very high ceiling. Was often the way with Chelsea where he'd set up with something fairly bizarre on paper and they would just tear you apart over and over again. Can remember one time where Chilwell was basically playing as a striker he was that far forward.

I mean, one swallow doesn't make a summer (it can make for the good end of a date), but tonight is exactly what I expected when he took over. Ruthless football, tactically astute, disciplined, professional and no prisoners taken. 

 

You've said it already, but we made a decent side with players like Milenkovic, Vlahovic and Mitrovic look like Malta in their own back yard. I'd be interested to see how we raise our game against the crucial top 8 in the rankings, but that was encouraging stuff.

[Dan]

1 minute ago, Bilo said:

I mean, one swallow doesn't make a summer (it can make for the good end of a date), but tonight is exactly what I expected when he took over. Ruthless football, tactically astute, disciplined, professional and no prisoners taken. 

 

You've said it already, but we made a decent side with players like Milenkovic, Vlahovic and Mitrovic look like Malta in their own back yard. I'd be interested to see how we raise our game against the crucial top 8 in the rankings, but that was encouraging stuff.

Somebody on here a few pages ago said something along the lines of how we're building to look pretty unconvincing against the crap sides but ruthless against the better. Obviously Serbia are nowhere near a top side but we took them apart with total ease tonight.

 

That being said Serbia didn't set up at all like a decent side. 5-4-1 at home reminiscent of a minnow. Serbia were pathetic tonight.

[Guest Bilo]

3 minutes ago, Dan said:

Somebody on here a few pages ago said something along the lines of how we're building to look pretty unconvincing against the crap sides but ruthless against the better. Obviously Serbia are nowhere near a top side but we took them apart with total ease tonight.

 

That being said Serbia didn't set up at all like a decent side. 5-4-1 at home reminiscent of a minnow. Serbia were pathetic tonight.

It's a bit of a weird one because they're a good side on paper and playing them in the Marakana should have been a difficult game. There's no getting away from the fact that they were dire, but equally no getting away from the fact we kicked it up a gear and showed what we're capable of. 

 

You do get the sense that this team on full tilt is only going to be challenged by the very best in the game like Spain, France and Argentina, and it's been a while since we've said that.

[Dan]

10 minutes ago, Bilo said:

It's a bit of a weird one because they're a good side on paper and playing them in the Marakana should have been a difficult game. There's no getting away from the fact that they were dire, but equally no getting away from the fact we kicked it up a gear and showed what we're capable of. 

 

You do get the sense that this team on full tilt is only going to be challenged by the very best in the game like Spain, France and Argentina, and it's been a while since we've said that.

It's why I supported the Tuchel appointment (and crucially have not fallen into Southgate revisionism - as if he didn't serve up some rubbish himself). He's flawed but he's got this way of getting a team to go on a run when you need it most. Always remember how he took over a Chelsea side in a bit of a mess and had them as the best side in Europe for a few months in time to win the Champions League. There's method in his madness.

 

Before tonight we have been crap and I do think there's a chance we stumble against someone crap in the World Cup but that was a huge green flag for me tonight.

Edited 9 September 2025 by Dan

[Guest Bilo]

1 minute ago, Dan said:

It's why I supported the Tuchel appointment (and crucially have not fallen into Southgate revisionism - as if he didn't serve up some rubbish himself). He's flawed but he's got this way of getting a team to go on a run when you need it most. Always remember how he took over a Chelsea side in a bit of a mess and had them as the best side in Europe for a few months in time to win the Champions League. There's method in his madness.

 

Before tonight we have been crap and I do think there's a chance we stumble against someone crap in the World Cup but that was a huge green flag for me tonight.

Excellent tournament manager, obsessive winning mentality and the balls to make big calls when needed. He's not worried about being popular so long as the end result is what he wants, and I suspect all of the criticism after horrific results and displays against Senegal and Andorra won't have bothered him a bit.

[Bert]

45 minutes ago, Dan said:

Somebody on here a few pages ago said something along the lines of how we're building to look pretty unconvincing against the crap sides but ruthless against the better. Obviously Serbia are nowhere near a top side but we took them apart with total ease tonight.

 

That being said Serbia didn't set up at all like a decent side. 5-4-1 at home reminiscent of a minnow. Serbia were pathetic tonight.

Let’s also not forget that we only just managed to scrape past Serbia with a 1-0 win just over a year ago at the Euro’s. 

[Bert]

29 minutes ago, Bilo said:

Excellent tournament manager, obsessive winning mentality and the balls to make big calls when needed. He's not worried about being popular so long as the end result is what he wants, and I suspect all of the criticism after horrific results and displays against Senegal and Andorra won't have bothered him a bit.

That friendly against Senegal was ridiculous in the sense of it was a pointless game after a long old season with a lot of them also having to go to the CWC. They were all well on the beach. 

Edited 9 September 2025 by Bert

[Leicesterpool]

More of that to come... yes please!

[CosbehFox]

Buzzkill but that was some of the worst opposition I've seen us play in a long time. 

 

They committed to a 5-4-1 formation at home with a hostile crowd and ended up being given the runaround. They didn't even do the low block well. They kept partly pressing and then we could get behind. The tactical ill-discipline was huge - Andorra were better organised. 

[Weller Wing]

Very good performance from England 👏👏

My best mates in Croatia with his wife and tried to watch last night's game.

 

He messaged me to say that it wasn't possible to watch it in any bars or restaurants,  because the Croats refuse to show or watch Serbia