England tonight

[sinkov]

Pretty much spot on is that summation mon ami.

Thank you mon ami, how's the weather, not too hot I hope ? Nice and pleasantly cool here, with a bit of light drizzle, can't beat it.

[sinkov]

Rod Liddle in the Speccy sums it up perfectly.

"Afterwards, Gary’s team of expert pundits crawled into their Hey Jude comfort blankets. Isn’t he great! Maybe the greatest! Well, sure. He’s a very good player. And England did win. But nothing could disguise the fact that for 65 minutes they displayed all the flaws that affected previous performances against Iceland, Belgium, Brazil, Australia, North Macedonia… a suffocating languor, a witlessness, a confused midfield and a dodgy defence. And Southgate was unable to press the correct buttons to alter that. Okay, he made the right substitutions (as usual, a little too late). But the chief problem – in midfield – has not been sorted. Did you know Phil Foden was playing? He was. One of the top three or four performers in the Premier League last season was close to invisible, playing so far back he operated occasionally as a makeshift left back.

There was a lack of guile and pace in attack: too often England simply knocked it around the edge of the Serbian penalty area, clueless as to how they might actually get inside it. These are all very familiar faults, so quite why we are the tournament favourites is a mystery to me. Not bringing Grealish was a mistake. Starting with Gallagher or Bowen might sharpen us up front. Play like this against those smug pastry-munching Scandies and we’ll be in for what will be called a ‘shock’ defeat. Except it won’t be much of a shock to me."

[Supersub6]

Rod Liddle does indeed sum it up perfectly and this is borne out by the crazy statistics from our match when compared to the other games.
Germany have had the most possession in any game with 72.8% and they managed 20 shots with 10 on target. Scotland managed just 1 shot off target.
Italy had 68.3% possession and 17 shots with 5 on target. ALbania still managed 8 shots with 1 on target.
Denamrk had 67.8% possession and 16 shots with 4 on target. Slovenia managed 11 shots with 2 on target.
Netherlands had 65.8% possession and 21 shots with 4 on target. Poland managed 12 shots with 7 on target.
Croatia had 53.3% possession and 16 shots with 5 on target. Spain had 11 shots with 5 on target.
England had 53.2% possession and 5 shots with 3 on target, Serbia managed 6 shots with 1 on target -----thrilling stuff this.
Switzerland had 50.3% possession and 15 shots with 7 on target. Hungary managed 6 shots with 2 on target.

The 7 games so far have seen 165 shots (average of 23.6 per game) with 65 on target (average 9.28 per game).
Only Spain and England have not conceded a goal.

[outwoodclaret]

Trippier a right back playing at left back. TAA a right back playing in midfield. What instructions did Gareth give to Foden? There were some excellent performances but these only papered over the cracks in our midfield and defence. We can still do well in this tournament but not imo with players stuck out of position. We did win and did not concede a goal but worryingly once Serbia realised they didn’t need to stay in their shells we were in trouble and Gareth does not seem able to stop the rot when a game starts to go away from us.

[alfinyalcabo]

The best stat of this match was I didn't watch it. 🙂

[ballcock]

The best stat of this match was I didn't watch it. 🙂

I came 2nd. Only watched the 1st half

[sinkov]

The best stat of this match was I didn't watch it. ��

You missed a treat Alfie, City, Real Madrid, Bayern, Liverpool and Arsenal are amongst the elite clubs of European football, 8 out of our 10 outfield players play for one of those five elite European clubs, but for long periods in the second half, against a team of journeymen Serbian footballers, try as they might, they couldn't even get the ball out of their own half.

It had to be seen to be believed, their ineptitude was staggering, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

[Supersub6]

The trend continues with Ukraine having 71.3% possession and 13 shots with 2 on target in losing 0-3 to Romania who managed 9 shots with 5 on target.
This was continued by Belgium who had 60.5% possession and 16 shots with 5 on target in losng 0-1 to Slovakia who managed 10 shots with 4 on target. Mind you the VAR decision of handball against Belgium was a total joke with neither intent or a deliberate action being made.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Thank you mon ami, how's the weather, not too hot I hope ? Nice and pleasantly cool here, with a bit of light drizzle, can't beat it.

It is running at about 30 degrees but what a fabulous place to spend a week. I rather like it here. Thanks for asking.

[sinkov]

It is running at about 30 degrees but what a fabulous place to spend a week. I rather like it here. Thanks for asking.

Have you been to the station yet mon ami, Estacio del Nord, I love that place.