International Football thread

[yuppie]

GS is doing a good job with England. Has a lot to change, but he has got results and England are going to another world cup. He is also bringing through lots of new young players.

Credit where its due.

Imagine how Italy supporters feel at present, on the brink. Though should be to strong at home for Sweden. Who for the first half this evening were the better team. A draw was probably a fair result on play, but Sweden go to the San Siro a goal up. What an upset this could be.

[Durhamfootman]

petered out a bit in the second half, but there were a lot of positives, I think. 0-0 was probably a fair result, but for an hour, until the usual endless change arounds, it was pretty good fare.

[sussexpob]

GS is doing a good job with England

We havent won a game against a competitive friendly side. Drawn against Spains B team (ironically, 60 minutes in when the good players came off the bench they scored twice to equalise and we didnt see the ball), lost to Germany and France, and drew with Germany at home. Its ok, but not much to write home about.

In competitive qualifiers, hes beaten Scotland at home. Then drew a game vs Slovenia where they should have won. Scrapped two victories against Lithuania, only beat Slovakia when they had a player sent off after going 1-0 down I think, scrapped a home win vs Slovenia 1-0, and played two of the most soul destroying games against Malta, a glorified pub team, who we struggled to break down at home for nearly 70 minutes!!!!

If you cant win games vs our group opposition with some flair, its going very bad.

He qualified out of the worst group with a string of poor performances, Id say hes so far been poor

[Durhamfootman]

He has a bit more freedom to experiment though, now that the qualifiers are out of the way and a place in the finals is assured. I hope he'll use the time to develop a young team freed from the abject major tournament terror that has accompanied England teams for years and years. If he can put together a young side and mould them into a team, then somehow manage to convince them that the WC finals isn't the be all and end all so there is nothing to be afraid of, then who knows what may happen?

We do know, of course........ they'll be emasculated under the weight of expectation and choke pitifully, then GS's tactical frailties will be exposed and we'll start the cycle of timid football, uninspiring selections, boring qualification and utter failure all over again... and again... and again, but at least the next several months will allow us to dream of what might one day become reality........ in somebody else's lifetime. Newcastle might even win a trophy again....in somebody else's lifetime... and not even the 4th place trophy, but a real one.

somebody slap me

[andy]

Actually thought it was a pretty good game last night...going forward we looked much better...Loftus-Cheek put in a very good performance...not much to write home about for Abraham....what has Rashford gotta do to get a start!!! Never convinced by Stones he is dreadful! Gutted for Jones he had to come off

[Durhamfootman]

I thought the 3 at the back did well, until Jones came off. Defensively Jones wasn't much of a miss, but the lad Gomez struggled to use the ball offensively as well as Stones and Maguire. Nerves perhaps, but he was the one playing passes behind him all the time in true Cahill/PalmerSmalling fashion.

Loftus Cheek had a very good game. Abraham was a bit naive at times, but was still better than Rooney has been for several years. Livermore squandered a fair bit of good possession.. not so impressed with him. On the whole they played with good attacking intent and did well controlling the ball and passing under pressure. As usual, when presented with the chance to lash the ball in from close range, for the win, they couldn't keep the ball down. That's been a problem for 20 years, though, and they need to fix it. Can't keep on having to rely solely on Harry Kane.

I thought Trippier looked good in open play (as did Rose), but his delivery at corners was a bit lacking

Keeper was excellent. I'd have Pickford over Hart all day long, after that performance

[yuppie]

Never sure what England supporters expect. They are coming from a very poor Euro championship. Qualified for the worlds and did not loose a game. Its going to take a long time to change the style of football England has played. The youngsters put up a good performance last night against the world champions and many England supporters are not happy. What would make England supporters happy? Or maybe the English are just meant to whinge the whole time?

The future of English football at present looks very good with the juniour teams doing some amazing things. Over the next 10 years the senior National team might well be doing some great things. Perhaps its time for the English to start supporting the team as opposed to complaining.

[yuppie]

Watching the Denmark Ireland game this evening. Christian Eriksen certainly looks a class above anyone else in this game.

[sussexpob]

Bit of a silly post, Yuppie. I'd like to gauge the Aussie response on these boards had your cricket team just scrapped a 1-0 victory at home to Zimbabwe with a one wicket win, in a game where your only batsman who made scores were all dropped before they made anything. Not sure it would be all "a wins a win", pretty sure you would have a good solid moan about how terrible your boys were.

Slovenias top player is a winger who played about 5 matches in 3 years for Milan a few years back, and is now over 30, lost all his pace and cant hit a barn door playing for Verona. Their top defender also plays for Verona and is 36. Their main goal threat couldnt get into a 2nd level German team, where he only played 11 substitute apperances in 2-3 years without scoring. When we played this creme de la creme of footballing powerhouses, Joe Hart made a string of saves in a game Slovenia absolutely dominated in, with Hart winning man of the match. We scrapped a 1-0 win at home in a game nothing happened in.

Lithuania's best player scored 5 goals in 4 years in Scottish football, his most notable achievement in a 20 year career and currently plays for Trakai in Lithuania, who are that good they got a hiding in the Europa League qualification rounds from the 3rd placed team in Macendona, KF Shnasdadadsadfkn or whatever.

The only player to score more than 2 goals in internationals to play for Malta recently, Misfud, is a 36 year old who's only notable achievement was to play two years at Coventry a decade ago when they were in League One. As a striker he didnt score in his last season there. He is by a long way Malta's best player.

Scotland have 3 players playing in the Premier league, all the rest play in lower level leagues. Out of this three, Robertson has played 2 games this year. Matt Philips has not started a game this year for West Brom, neither has Ryan Fraser (who was loaned to the Championship last year and not played this).....

Slovakia have a proper player in Hamsik. All the other players they have are well passed their best playing in a string of less glamourous leagues. Their defence is all way past best and over 30, their main striker plays in a romanian mid table to relegation candidate team.

These arent teams you should be struggling against. These are teams way below the status of our D team. Malta are a Vanarama Conference team at best, if not lower. Lithuania arent much better. Scotland is largely a Championship quality team. Sloavkia are Championship/League One standard. Slovenia are League One/Two standard.

So yes, England supporters should expect to do FAR better against these. We should be thrashing them to pieces.

[sussexpob]

As for the Germany game.

Only the keeper, Kimmich and Hummels played in Germanys last competitive game out of those who started. Hummels wasnt fully fit and was only playing on club orders to get match fit. Kimmich played full back out of position, hes a central midfielder, to cover injuries. Neuer is clearly the keeper and would play fit. So only really Hummels is a first teamer out of those who started the game, and he wasnt fit.

We beat Germany away 3-2 before that crap Euro performance. So beating established nations B teams doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things. We then couldnt string a pass together against a country with a smaller population than Rutland and got knocked out.

As a fan, all I ask is we at least play positively and pick interesting players. Jake Livermore.... really?

[yuppie]

Why do england supporters expect their teams to be so competitive? One good showing at a major championship in the last 35 years would suggest that as a national team, England are not that good. Perhaps its time to accept that qualfing for major tournaments is as good as it gets for England?

England are going to the world cup, they went through qualifying not loosing. But England supports want and expect more? Why? what have they done to suggest that they are anything more than a team that has agood tournament every 40 years. When was the last time England supporters were really happy with how their team played?

[budgetmeansbudget]

Yuppie, most England supporters don't think like that anymore. There's only so many under performances and not living up to expectations that an England fan can take.

If they're like me England fans will expect an exit in the group stages of the world cup and anything else is a bonus.

Even if we do make the last 16 it will still take alot to get my hopes of success to rise at all.

I absolutely despise these international breaks, especially when it's bloody friendlies, have to endure two weeks without club football.

[Durhamfootman]

when did England last win a knockout match in a major tournament? Feels like a long time ago

[yuppie]

when did England last win a knockout match in a major tournament? Feels like a long time ago

2006? Ecudor possibly?

I appreciate many England fans do not now expect England to do well. But there are also plenty who expect them to thrash most teams. And i just do not see why those people think that is the case. England record since 1996 is not good. They are just an average international team, so why do some supporters have such high expectations?

Qualafing for a world cup is as good as it gets for England, anything more has to be bonus.

[Gingerfinch]

I don't expect us to thrash anyone in a tournament, but I do expect players like Kane, Alli, and Sterling to play a lot better than they have done in the past. It's also been the style of our Football that has most fans getting on Southgate's back. Friday was better but will it stay like that in Russia?