Bit of a training exercise .
Printable View
Bit of a training exercise .
I actually went to the game itself. It’s been a few years since I been to a ‘big’ ground in England and I was shocked by the lack of atmosphere - and believe me that’s saying something from someone living in NZ.
From the England players there seemed to be a distinctive lack of passion. Off the ball there was minimal movement and anyone watching the game on TV wouldn’t have seen the apathy shown by the players. They looked like they were just going through the motions.
Everything from when you arrived at Wembley Park Tube Station was stage managed and sanitised. However unpredictable Notts are this season, I was sat there wishing I’d just gone a bit further south and watched the Sutton v Notts game, but I’d promised my son we’d go to Wembley. I didn’t know how long we’d have to wait for Notts to get there again.
I’m actually looking forward to the Halifax game 👍.
Roy Keane was one of the pundits on ITV and he said exactly the same thing. He said the attitude of all the England players except Raheem Sterling in the first half was shocking. We picked up in the second half against a very poor Bulgarian side, but a performance like that wouldn't get us far against the big guns in a tournament. We retain possession much better than we used to, which is essential in international football, but you also need aggression and passion to win the ball and drive the game forward. The scoreline was immensely flattering.
The 'old' Wembley was a unique and historic stadium unlike any other in the world, but its location was never right. When the old stadium had outlived its days there was a fantastic opportunity to build a new national stadium somewhere in the middle of the country close to the main transport links, meaning people from all over England could travel to it with relative ease. Instead, we have a big, new but entirely soulless stadium in the same snarled up location. Apart from a rather pointless 'arch', it looks no different to any of the other newer stadia around the world, and it therefore doesn't surprise me that the England players aren't especially inspired when they play in it. For them, it must just feel like playing in any other sizeable ground.
Oh yes, and it cost a fortune.
The game just confirmed what we already know, England can beat these low ranking East European teams without changing gear, but we lack the quality, passion or plan to beat anyone decent when it matters.
The usual collection of hospital passes at the back would have been exploited by a better side. The right back issue is easily solved by bringing back ATA but for me, we have a dodgy keeper who panics. Rice looks good enough in his limited role but Henderson is not international class and we have no-one better to replace him.
That's the issue, the Under 21s already thought they were world beaters until they got knocked out in the group stages of the championships this summer, and both Mount and Sancho don't really look like they could force their way even into this team. Rashford and Sterling are better than Sancho and Mount seems incapable of passing the ball to a teammate.
And then there's the manager, but he's English so that's OK.
OK, Trent Alexander-Arnold is TAA, not ATA. But what kind of name is Trent, it's a river FFS? And he's wasting two proper forenames in his surname.
I took my lad as well, the first time I’d been to any sort of Wembley since the Bradford playoff final. I was hoping to see Notts again, but like you say, it’s not looking like that’s going to happen any time soon.
I think the stadium is fantastic, we were high up, but the view of the pitch was great. It’s fashionable to slag off football authorities, but with decent prices the FA manage to sell out an 80,000+ stadium for fairly meaningless games against the likes of Bulgaria. There is a lot of families, and as a result the atmosphere suffers, but no one can complain at seeing so many kids at an England game.
As for the match, England played as well as they had to, Bulgaria might have made more of a game of it if they hadn’t insisted on needlessly fannying around with it near their own box, a curse of the modern game. We’re in with a chance next year, and you never know, home advantage might tip it in our favour.
After all that, my son said he did prefer Meadow Lane...