New International Football thread

[andy]

Yeah true however 5-0 up do not need one haha particularly a 36 year old Jordan Henderson....

[Durhamfootman]

Bellingham to start on the bench tonight seemingly, which is something I approve of. Morgan, Rice and Anderson are the men in possession and I like the further reinforcement from Tuchel to JB that he won't just walk into the side automatically and while the system may be tweaked on occasion, it won't be to accommodate a particular player. Got to earn the right, play his socks off and be part of a team culture that leaves egos at home. Don't get me wrong, I like JB, I think he's a terrific player, but I have never been a fan of the "who else" mentality that he sometimes brings to the table. I think this will do him the power of good and hopefully make him an even better player for England

[Durhamfootman]

A straightforward 2-0 win for England tonight, although they left it very late to score the second

Serbia were obdurate in the first half, very different to the last game in Serbia. It took England a while to break down the low block, but they did in the end with a good finish from Saka. England weren't at their recent levels for big chunks of the game, although I imagine that I would find it hard to get myself up for a crowd that started throwing paper aeroplanes after 13 minutes. To$$ers!

Second half started to lack a bit of energy, so Tuchel made a quadruple substitution replacing 4 of his front 5 with 25 mins to go. JB came on for Rogers, Eze for Rashford, Foden as a false 9 for Kane and Hendersnoreson for Rice. There was an immediate lift in tempo, particularly from Eze, but they really benefited once word filtered through to Serbia that Albania had scored and they were crashing out of the WC if they didn't score, so the game opened up and Foden in particular was able to benefit from the extra space, setting up Eze's late winner.

It wasn't a bad game, it was decent enough. England created chances, hit the woodwork, Kane missed a sitter, lots of shots, but it did lack a bit of something

Foden did pretty well as a false 9, O'Reilly did well on debut and linked up well with Rashford on the left. James was a bit sluggish, but came to life once JB came on and they linked well together on the right. Rice was very deep tonight almost playing alongside Anderson, so that might have been one reason for the drop in attacking performance. Tuchel was careful to point out before the game that Serbia had a new coach and a number of new players making the game somewhat unpredictable, so perhaps the 2 DM's was Tuchel erring on the side of caution while he worked this new Serbia out. Even though Serbia gave it a go late on and squandered a couple of opportunities to score, England looked comfortable enough.... and so they should. No alarms. 7 games, 7 wins, 20 goals, none conceded

[Durhamfootman]

Ireland have beaten Portugal 2-0 too

Old big head got himself sent off for violent conduct, but were already 2 goals down. Defeat has made life a little more tricky for Portugal, but they are still in the driving seat to finish top of the group. The suspension of the winker may help them finish top because he's a tw@t and he holds his team back these days. I'm guessing that there could be a 3 match ban for the knobhead, so if Portugal do finish top of the group the daft knacker might end up missing games at the WC finals next year. I think that's how it works

Ireland have given themselves a shot at a play off place if they can beat Hungary in the final game

[Durhamfootman]

I watched the England U21's last night, playing Ireland in absolutely appalling conditions in Birmingham, which were so bad that the Birmingham christmas light switch on had to be cancelled. The second half was played in steady rain, but the first half..... blimey.... it was hard to see the play through the torrential downpour. It was a credit to St Andrew's drainage that the match wasn't abandoned because for a while it looked as though a stream was beginning to develop down the middle of the pitch. Players were soaking and covered in mud from head to foot. Had it not been for the green colour of the pitch you could be forgiven for thinking this was old footage from the 70's

Anyway, England won 2-0, but struggled against Ireland who had a number of excellent chances to score. Mubama had a poor penalty effort saved in the first half but got the chance to redeem himself with another in the second which he just about managed to score from. Two really poor penalties. Ireland were always in it, always giving England supporters a bit of a scare until the very end when George lashed one into the roof of the net from the edge of the box to put the game to bed

[Durhamfootman]

Scotland's turn to provide the drama tonight. They were battered by Greece in the first half, conceded the goal and didn't really wake up until 5 mins before the break. Only some good saves by the old warhorse Gordon kept them even remotely in it. Second half they came out all guns blazing, attacking and attacking, pushing Greece right back. They squandered chances, got caught on the break to go 2 down, then a few minutes later, Gordon made a horlicks of a speculative long range shot, trying to parry the ball wide and only succeeding in parrying it into the top corner of his own net. 3-0 down, settle for the play offs, game over..... or was it? Within a madcap few minutes Scotland had pulled 2 back, Belarus had inexplicably taken a 2-1 lead over Denmark and there was now a very real prospect of Scotland not having to beat Denmark for an automatic place in the WC. Just score another.... they tried, gawd luv 'em, they tried. The Greek goalie made a couple of astonishing saves when goals looked certain. 3-2 to Greece. Denmark found a late equaliser. so Scotland still have to win on Tuesday, but at least they have a chance of automatic qualification, which looked light years away at 3-0 down.

A second half thriller. How Greece kept out two late close range shots on goal I have no idea, but Scotland might have rued Gordon's third goal gift to the Greeks, had Denmark not found an equaliser. Still.... sometimes the need to win brings with it a clarity of performance not found with only needing to avoid defeat

Game on, but Scotland will have to be so much better than they were in the first half

[Durhamfootman]

The Greek goalie made a couple of astonishing saves when goals looked certain.

I've only just realised that this is Vlachodimos the Newcastle reserve goalie out on loan to Seville. Shows how little he's played at Newcastle when I don't recognise one of my own players

[Durhamfootman]

Ireland have given themselves a shot at a play off place if they can beat Hungary in the final game

which they do, scoring the winner with effectively the last kick of the game and securing themselves a play off place. Hat trick for Troy Parrott

I'm looking forward to watching it later

[Durhamfootman]

Another win for England and another tough game against a stubborn Albania and a hostile crowd. Albania did pretty well for over an hour really and at times looked the more threatening of the two sides. Tuchel was clearly experimenting tonight, not just with personnel (7 changes from Thursday), but also the system, which didn't really work that well, in truth. Ostensibly England set up the same as they always do, but tonight Stones played in the DM hole alongside Wharton, with Burn, O'Reilly and Quansah acting more as a back three. Whenever the fullbacks went forward, Stones dropped back. I think the idea was to overload the midfield and allow more players to move around the front of the low block looking to exploit any gaps, but the reality was that the England boys sort of got in each other's way a bit and Albania were very disciplined. England did have chances, but the keeper got in the way of everything. After an hour of this, Tuchel brought on Saka and Foden for Eze and Rice and England's pace of attack instantly improved. Saka's corner brought the goal as Anderson and Rashford waited to come on. Rashford then put a cross on a plate for Kane's second of the night and Albania were done. It was a long first hour though. England laboured to break them down and it was starting to look like every match they played under Southgate. Once England reverted to their usual formation with a few more of the personnel who make it work they prospered a bit more and it could have been more than the 2-0 result

It wasn't a challenging group, but unlike other non challenging groups in the past, England came through with no real alarms, 8 wins, 22 goals and none conceded. They are starting to look like a team rather than a collection of individuals and confidence will be sky high for next year. Tuchel will now be hoping that his players survive the rest of the season unscathed. There are plenty of options now for most positions, but an injury to Kane would be catastrophic for England's chances

[Durhamfootman]

On Kane...... back at the Euro's I questioned whether his legs were gone. He seemed to struggle to get into the right positions for crosses and pull backs and England seemed to stop trying, almost as if they assumed there was no point, because Kane probably wouldn't be there. Now he looks as fit and mobile as he ever has been. I reckon his move to Germany has done him the power of good

[bigfluffylemon]

Perhaps not the toughest group, but it's a rare occurrence for any team to come through a qualifying group with a 100% win record (he says, as Norway achieve the same). Credit where due.

[sussexpob]

Perhaps not the toughest group, but it's a rare occurrence for any team to come through a qualifying group with a 100% win record (he says, as Norway achieve the same). Credit where due.

Norway battering Italy. GD of 32!!

[andy]

Can anyone else not stand Jude Bellingham? Petulant arrogant child! Massively overrated and if he carries on would happily have him left at home...yes he has talent...but so do a lot of people who can play in our number 10 role...

[Durhamfootman]

quality player. England would be daft not to have him onboard. I like that Tuchel is quite prepared to keep him in check, though. He'll be great for England next summer

[sussexpob]

Can anyone else not stand Jude Bellingham? Petulant arrogant child! Massively overrated and if he carries on would happily have him left at home...yes he has talent...but so do a lot of people who can play in our number 10 role...

Considering his peers ranked him the 3rd best player in the world last December, I would suggest you are quite alone on the idea that Morgan Rogers is in the same league of quality or that he is overrated. I think he has won Champions League player of the year, La Liga player of the year, Bundasliga player of the year, world young player of the year.... and hes 22.

Maradona was a petulant arrogant child too. Zidane was a hothead who once got sent off in a WC final for headbutting someone. Ronaldinho went to prison recently. Messi was routinely slagged off by Argentinians before winning the WC for not caring about the national team. Bastien Schweinsteiger was notoriously difficult in his youth and was once dropped back to the B team after a string of off-field incidents. Francisco Totti was once given a special award for having the worst attitude of any player in Serie A history by Italy's top sporting paper. Mbappe is routinely slagged off for being self-centred and arrogant.

Almost seems like being a difficult personality and being a World Cup winning 10 is somehow linked, because going back decades you could make a case every side that won it a nutter in the position.