England game

[irish_pie]

As a neutral watching it I will say it was a tough watch but Serbia ain't no mugs, big powerful team who kept Fodens involvement to a premium... I think Southgate should of addressed that issue and used more of his bench but hey a wins a win for you guys and after watching the other game you shouldn't have much problems winning that group

[MapperleyMagpie]

England played like they would if Ian Birchnall was the Manager. One or two solid performances but generally dull and insipid. We didn't give them much to go at but we had 3 attempts on target and there was one great save from their keeper. Well it looked like a great save but he would have been disappointed if it went in as he was in the right spot. Alexander Arnold is not international standard, Foden once again very poor at international level yet Southgate keeps faith with him and drops Grealish from the squad who at least draws fouls, Kane anonymous. Rice, Saka and Bellingham come away with some credit. A win is a win.

Watched with my lads and we all said the same it was like watching a boring Burchnall game. Saying that, Germany aside, it's all been pretty mundane and not much of a showcase for Europe's supposed finest!

[durhampie]

England weren't great nor lucky. A deserved win overall. Don't know what Foden's problem is but his undoubted skill needs to be seen. I expect a similar performance and result on Thursday.

He is being played out of position to accommodate Bellingham, as was Arnold.. Southgate is a crap manager who as no idea what his best team is. That game was crying out for someone like Grealish to generate some spark into the game....Oh, he was left out of the squad.

[upthemaggies]

Watched with my lads and we all said the same it was like watching a boring Burchnall game. Saying that, Germany aside, it's all been pretty mundane and not much of a showcase for Europe's supposed finest!

Plenty of goals and some of them decent, but it's all been very predictable so far and 3rd place going through just kills any sense of drama unless you've got some proper underdogs potentially qualifying, which the Euros generally lack. Host nations can be a lot of fun, but not when they are one of the countries you always expect to qualify wherever it's being played.

[PedroTheFisherman66]

The answer is easy...we have a 5h1t manager.we have achieved nothing under his guidance such a promising and talented squad

[Notts78]

He is being played out of position to accommodate Bellingham, as was Arnold.. Southgate is a crap manager who as no idea what his best team is. That game was crying out for someone like Grealish to generate some spark into the game....Oh, he was left out of the squad.

To accommodate Bellingham?
People need to forget about Grealish… he was crap for Man City this season. What should have changed, bringing Eze on for Foden. I’d have taken Kane off as well.
At the end of the day we didn’t need to generate a spark, having our 5th consecutive group stage clean sheet saw to that.

[i961pie]

He is being played out of position to accommodate Bellingham, as was Arnold.. Southgate is a crap manager who as no idea what his best team is. That game was crying out for someone like Grealish to generate some spark into the game....Oh, he was left out of the squad.

So the most successful England manager since Ramsey is crap. Is there anybody you do like?

[i961pie]

He is being played out of position to accommodate Bellingham, as was Arnold.. Southgate is a crap manager who as no idea what his best team is. That game was crying out for someone like Grealish to generate some spark into the game....Oh, he was left out of the squad.

Accommodate Bellingham????. He must be the first name on the team sheet or is he crap?

[LeftPeg_Pie]

I thought England were pretty excellent for the first 30 minutes; Bellingham looked every inch the best player in the world in that time period.

It was disappointing, not overly surprisingly but also not overly worryingly, to see England take their foot off the gas. Serbia had a good go after half time but England had them at arms length (one shot that was going over anyway).

I think a lot of people just assume Serbia should be put away; similar to the way football fans tend to think about their own team most of the time due to an extensive knowledge of their own side and a (more often than not) distinct lack of knowledge about the opposition. That will be our hardest group game.

Lots of positives to take; Marc Guehi was excellent, Saka was brilliant in the first half and England defended resolutely.

Definitely some food for thought with TAA vs bringing Bellingham slightly deeper and freeing Foden up being a key talking point.

Take the points. Sing Three Lions and onto Thursday.

[Notts78]

Better to English than Belgian tonight.. 3 points for us and zero for them. One of those sides I bet some thought would be one that ‘tears us to pieces’.
The thing with this England side is that no one has torn them apart in tournaments. It won’t happen in this one either. We might lose but it won’t be a game that you look back on and go they absolutely tore us apart.