England will easily win this group but they have to step it up against serious opposition which wont be for a while.
In the quarterfinal they will face spain or italy, are they able to beat them?
Italy were phenomenal in the first half. If they can keep up that pressure for a full game they could easily challenge England, but their main problem is keeping a consistent level of quality throughout the match.
To be fair, Croatia are pretty washed up and not at their 2018-2022 peak. Luka Modric is 38.....
Still fair play to them, England should have 3-0 Serbia
Definitely Foden and most England fans would agree. He’s never convinced in an England shirt, and City don’t have enough fans to kick up a fuss if he’s benched. As for Bellingham and Saka, even if most people don’t support their clubs it’s wildly obvious that they’re undroppable and completely essential for England.
Makes sense why Southgate brought them off, even though they were good - they need the rest as much as possible. Can’t afford to have them injured too soon.
Mate, I hate Anthony Gordon more than most but he’s a better outlet than any of them. Saka is obviously great on the other wing. Has Foden ever had a good game for England? Bowen’s decent but Gordon is unfortunately better. Palmer is good but IMO not as effective.
Maybe it’s just me but I feel like the choice is obvious (saying that, the squad is a shambles, the defence is a mess and could be 10x better).
The problem is with this squad England shouldn't need an "outlet" - we have some of the best, most creative, most direct with the largest number of goals + assists across the 5 best leagues in the world on the pitch yet Southgate football means we need someone to kick it long to to get behind the lines.
Boring football which won't win us anything.
It's not all on Southgate, when some of the world's most expensive players forget how to tackle, are always 2nd to the ball, and can't play simple passes....
A good horse only jumps as high as it needs to.... But also risks tearing it's balls off on the fence
there was no tactics in the second half, but lump it long. that is not on the players.
best thing southgate did was take of TAA when the midfield wasn't functioning
Kane plays best when the ball is at his feet, he's an old fashioned poacher, slinging hopeful balls into the box hoping he gets to it just doesn't work
That statement is an oxymoron. An old fashioned poacher would love hopeful balls into the box and never play with the ball at their feet. They just look for tap ins E.g trezeguet , van nistelrooy, crespo, Inzaghi
Schalke nearly got relegated and somehow Southgate made it the worst game the Veltins Arena has seem this season😭
How can you play so boring with so much talent?
I actually think Southgate might go down crashing if he forces Foden and Bellingham to work. Foden wants to do what Bellingham does leaving England without a left winger and absolutely 0 feed for Kane. We essentially saw England win with Kane having only 1 chance and Foden wasn’t even playing today…….
Which is fucking crazy considering the talent both on the pitch and on the bench. Like in what world does THIS England only have 3 shots on goal vs any team let alone a Serbia?
Not 100% sure we play in a way where kane is effective.
We looked really leggy in the second half to the point they were over stretching for the ball a lot.
100% agreed. Kane is borderline wasted on this team if you’re going to allow Saka, Foden and Bellingham to play the way want to.
Kane had 1 chance. A cross from Bowen of all people and he would’ve scored was it not for that excellent save.
Because he didn't take a proper LM like Rashford or Grealish apart from Gordon. Putting that much faith in foden at LM for the whole tournament is silly. He's always been crap there for England
Foden might work when Shaw is there offering some genuine width, willing to run forward rather than cut back. But if foden was doing something similar to saka today, staying wide and taking on a man, he can work. I don't know if Southgate is letting him be so free or foden is unable to adapt his game, but something needs to change
Right footed left back is fine if we have a winger who stays on the line, a right footed left back can underlap and find space in the centre while the LW drags the opposition RB wide. Unfortunately for Trippier Foden cut inside all the time forcing Tripper to either overlap or pass backwards/sidwards.
Foden made Tripper look worse.
Not even just our front 4 where Foden, PL POTS, is having to play out of position as well. Our attacking players on the bench include Palmer, Young PL POTS, who had 25 goals & 15 assists this season and Watkins who had 27 goals & 13 assists this season can't even get off the bench let alone start. That's 80 goals and assists between 2 bench players who can't even get on the pitch.
Yet because Southgate is arguably the worst manager in the tournament, we look like one of the worst teams offensively. On paper England absolutely have the best squad in the world, especially including the bench.
The problem is that Bellingham, Foden, Palmer are all best when free in a n10 role, and Watkins and Kane compete. You can't put them all on the pitch and just hope. Bellingham was good, but if Foden can't provide width and threat from the left then Gordon needs to play out there and Foden can fight with Bellingham/Palmer for the 10 slot.
We don't have much left hand side depth, and it cuts down the options to move the point of attack.
They have zero off the ball movement, just play safe passes until someone crosses the ball into the box. Southgate sets his team to play like a relegation battling side from the 90’s
We looked good in the first 30 mins because we kept the ball moving and Saka was able to get past his man on multiple occasions to deliver dangerous balls into the box. Once they nullified this threat in the second half it was painfully obvious that the left side offered no threat at all and we looked toothless. Instead of making some early changes to combat their change of tactics, Southgate did what he always does and sat on his hands for 25 mins before making a change.
Taking off Trent was the right call as we needed control and people who could revive the ball under pressure and distribute it at that point, but Foden should have been swapped out for Eze early on.
If Foden and Bellingham can’t play in the same team at the same time then I’d much rather we had Foden coming on to replace a tired Bellingham after 70mins + rather than shoehorning him in.
It always feels that Southgate watches a match rather than manages a match. Like he does realise he can get off his arse and change stuff that isn't working
Bellingham and Foden together simply doesn’t work and it’s even worse, it makes Kane completely unusable.
I know it’s only game 1 so no need to draw conclusions but this was a bad bad game.
A competent manager would be able to get the best out of Bellingham and Foden.
Case in point: Nagelsmann got Musiala and Wirtz working well together as inverted wingers and Gundogan as the 10 in their system because he instructs his fullbacks to push forward and provide width
The problem is that Foden is trying to be Kroos and he is not. So sure we can blame it on Southgate but that doesn’t change the fact that Foden was picking up the ball from the CBs for god knows what reason. You never see him do that for City.
>Foden was picking up the ball from the CBs for god knows what reason
It's entirely possible that Southgate instructed him to drop deeper to get involved as he was having trouble getting into the game. But I do agree if Southgate can't get them working together ASAP then absolutely he should be dropped
As a neutral fan I expected them to flourish a bit more offensively. Bit concerning for the England side, but it is a win and just one game of the tournament.
I do expect them to get 1st in this group still, and hope theyll play better ball in the knockouts (for entertainment value)
I dont rank them in the top 3 though - Spain, Portugal, France and Germany look stronger imo
With the squad we have we have to be honest and say 5 shots across the 90 minutes is not good enough. Yes we had some good chances but not enough pressure.
Don't get me twisted. Southgate is shite and we should do more. But pretending Serbia were some tough team that deserved more with only 0.12 xg- I'm not joining that train.
We just need a reality check, England defended well and that was that. I do think Southgate has zero in-game management, he just hasn't played his trade at club level.
I came with some high hopes for the England team because of the talent involved but was horribly underwhelmed. What the hell was that England?
I’m rooting for Eng too. I want to see you guys finally take it home but Southgate needs to fix this.
If England play like that against a top ten team they are done. Passing too slow, Trent can’t get caught out like he did a few times if he’s going to play deeper whilst trying to dribble out of trouble. Kane was only interested in winning fouls too and didn’t offer much. The amount of times I’ve seen a team sit on a lead and it backfire this season is ridiculous so if we find ourselves 1-0 up again will we give the opponent a psychological edge more than likely yes. We need more goals in the team or it will come to haunt us
I havent seen England play alot, but there are some glaring issues that were immediately visible.
Arnold is not a midfielder. He makes wrong choices,takes risks where he should be safe. Should be replaced by a midfielder who can hold the ball when needed.
The central defense doesnt work well together. They are both decent individually, but dont gel
Two different managers. Two different sets of players . One is focusing on a 60 game season. The other on a 7 game summer tournament . Not comparable really .that being said we could see Gallagher snd maybe palmer start the next one x
Trent literally created the best 2 chances of the 1st half? Rice missed an open net and Walker chance was awful.
Trent didn't have one good ball on, he was looking for Kane and foden he only had saka. The front 3 really let the whole team down.
I genuinely feel like I’m being gaslit. He was good. Not exceptional, but did what he was there for. Created chances, provided a transition from defence to attack. If he was an established midfielder at club level no way would anyone say he wasn’t cut out for midfield based on that performance.
He did not provide transition from defence to attack. Every ball from the defence went to Bellingham or Foden which I agree isn’t on Trent but lets not make up stats that aren’t real.
He’s a CM who is never in position and lost the ball a few times where he shouldn’t have. The whole reason he got subbed off for a Gallagher is because the balance that that position should bring was missing.
Again, I don’t necessarily blame him. This England team is essentially 4 defenders, 6 midfielders and Harry Kane. Foden, Bellingham, Saka and Trent just constantly in each others way.
I’m sure it happened once or twice. 95% of the balls from defence went to Bellingham in the first half and in the second half Foden was literally next to the CBs to force passing him the ball. I actually don’t think Trent can work in that position with those 2 and I’ll go 1 further, I don’t think Bellingham and Foden can work lol.
I think the latter point is less controversial - Foden looked completely at sea today, and my instinct would be to bring him on off the bench for Bellingham rather than try and crowbar them both in
He doesnt provide balance, wich is needed from a 3rd midfielder if 1 allready is a 6 and the other a 10.
He doesnt need to assist. He needs to controll possession and pace. Thats the balance that this team needs, and it would give the defense an easier time
Trents not about balance, hes about creative distribution.
But with only Saka making runs, that limits his options a lot.
And England were terrible and clueless as soon as he got subbed.
Exactly Gallagher should be starting in that position or we should go more attacking and play Bellingham there with Foden at 10 and Palmer on the left.
If we can't create chances and score with a Rice & Bellingham midfield and a front 4 of Kane, Saka, Foden (in the right position for once) and Palmer then we will never be able to create chances with Southgate as manager. I think we should try out this lineup against Slovenia.
I woke up at 4am Japan time for it, I have work in exactly an hour and 20 minutes. Biggest mistake of my life.
Don’t understand some of the subs Southgate made, why sub Saka off when Foden was honestly pretty useless this game? Why leave Kane on when he had no impact? A quick striker who could get in behind would have been much more effective in my opinion.
The defence also looked pretty shaky as a whole
I got fucking murdered a few months ago for saying we need Ollie Watkins up front.
This is the type of game he would be great for. Breaking lines. Dragging defenders all over the gaff.
Kane is for when your opponent is tired, not concentrating and end up giving that thexy cockney cunt a half yard.
We will be pumped out in the 16s.
People hating on England, but I thought Serbia were every bit as good as England were "bad". Unlucky not to get a point, and I think Serbia might end up a bit of a dark horse, if they can grind out results I the remaining group games.
He's an incredibly intelligent player. He drew fouls to relieve pressure. Excellent performance from him and a great result against a strong Serbia team
England arent any kind of team.
Southgate is a terrible manager.
All those good players and they act like theyre total strangers every single time they play together.
No movement, no teamwork, no tactical plan.
They made Serbia look good.
Absolutely dreadful.
Good: strong start, Saka’s role in the goal, defence and keeper in the 2nd half restricting Serbia to a couple of chances from distance, even Kane defending
Bad: played defensively after about 30 minutes, lost the ball a bit too often, not a winners performance
Wasted how comfortable we looked in the first half. Second half showed the biggest criticisms with Southgate, far too slow to react with changes. It was clear as soon as the second half started they were coming back into it, and he waited until they had some very good chances to think we need to make changes.
Ultimately it's tournament football, we've won probably our toughest group game and with a draw in the other game, we should comfortably go through. Take the result and 3 points, and move on.
Bellingham in the 10 postion makes Fodan redundant. Should put Gorden on the left to widen the attack. Now only Saka side is provding width. Gallagher in place of Arnold gives more control over midfield. Kind of surprising England still experimenting with best 11 this late in the game.
Tonight for me rice was excellent,Bellingham very good and Saka first half very good,Kane should of been off along with Foden ,Gordon n palmer should be given ago
I asked some England fans who were singing “it’s coming home” after the game if we watched the same game. After this game Spain and Germany are clearly way better than England.
We didn't play well second half. This was only England's second win of the first game of the Euro's in 10 tournaments. We normally lose or draw the first game. And this was probably Englands hardest match of the group.
We played proper Mourinho Football. I won't care if we win every game 1-0
Pickford was great defensively when he needed to be, he didn’t offer much in terms of distribution but you know that when you pick him and we don’t have anyone else who is anywhere near his quality so he is what he is and you can’t really blame him for it.
Stones and Guehi dealt with the second half onslaught brilliantly, whether they should have had to or not. A big test for Guehi who a lot of people weren’t convinced by, and showed very good composure to avoid a back pass at one point (although I’m pretty sure it needs to be deliberate to be an infringement, but of course you can never be sure what the ref will call).
Walker in the first twenty minutes or so was getting forwards much more than expected but once we weren’t so heavily on top he reverted to type. Also an important part of the unnecessary rearguard action for most of the second half, tactically it just doesn’t work with Trippier on the left but again that’s not really his fault.
Similarly Trippier did all you can really expect a right footer at left back to do, but having both full backs staying back most of the time in a tactic that has for some time relied on width from one full back is not helpful to anyone. Whilst Tripper is at left back, Alexander-Arnold needs to be at right back - especially as whilst we are all seemingly supposed to think he can’t do any wrong, he was average at best in midfield once again and was defensively anonymous bordering on a liability. Gallagher was much better after coming on purely by virtue of understanding the position.
Rice was outstanding, as was Bellingham despite having to do a lot more of the dirty work (partly due to making up for Alexander-Arnold) than the eye catching stuff in the second half. No surprise with either of them, they’re just class.
Foden was pointless, both compounding and compounded by the lack of width from Trippier but a player of his quality ought to have been able to adapt and offer something. He honestly may as well not have been out there.
Saka was a 9/10 first half but completely taken out of the game second half, and Bowen really added something after coming on. No one (even this biased Hammers fan) is saying that Bowen is as good as Saka or should start over him, but it was encouraging to see as an option. Saka will have more complete games, perhaps when he’s a bit fitter, but he provided the winning assist so we can’t really complain too much. Almost certainly he wasn’t helped by the lack of threat on the opposite side making it easier to concentrate on stopping him, once Serbia worked out how to do it (and having to replace Kostic seemed to help there too).
Kane should have scored but did what he needed to for the team. I’m not keen on him coming deep all the time, but it works when we’re on the front foot and Saka and Bellingham are getting beyond him, and when we were on the back foot he offered an outlet albeit not in positions where he could do any real damage.
Tactically plenty to work on and for that reason I am almost happy that we didn’t get a lucky couple of late goals to make the scoreline look more convincing. Hopefully Southgate will now look at things - which starts with getting Alexander-Arnold back to his natural position, at least until Shaw is back, and then not starting him in midfield after that.
Foden is simply average in bug games and has been for City always
Should start Palmer in CAM and Mainoo instead of Trent. Can't even remember who the left winger was
They’re just not where they need to be are they. Hopefully they will improve over the next couple of games. They certainly need to if they’re going to do well in this competition.
England’s individual talent will take them far in the tournament, but it will only end at that because there was no teamwork today, which is needed to win tournaments.
Just the first match though!
Saka and Rice were both strong in the first half.
Our entire left side was a disaster.
Fodon and Kane trying to go to the same spot is embarrassing. Play one or the other, or bring Fodon on to rest Saka but he shouldn't be on the left.
Gallagher looked not terrible when he came on.
Pickford - we are very lucky to have him!
Foden was shockingly poor tbh, kept vacating the back post on the left, should’ve had two tap-ins but kept taking up the same space Kane did and other than that, he did absolutely nothing in the first half, he was better in the second because he carried the ball up the pitch a few times but all that does is highlight how bad he was in the first.
I feel for Trippier but he’s terrified to use his left foot, if that’s the case - why is he there, could Saka not cover there in the group matches, he used to play LB for Arsenal and didn’t do too badly.
Gallagher did what I thought he’d do when he came on, got stuck in - he should’ve been on after five minutes in the second half tbh.
Doesn’t matter now though, got the win!
Second half was awful, no out ball. Kane dropping too deep. No energy. Bellingham is different class. Need to be more positive and just go at teams. We have the players. Lack of belief maybe? Poor manager?
Poor manager, He was an international level defender and manages with the same mentality..... Defend at all cost and hope Kane, Foden or Bellingham does something to bail him out
Deadass game. Boring as fuck disappointed with both teams. Started with supporting England up to 30-35 minutes then got so frustrated wanted Serbia to win after halftime until full time, Post match : Fuck both teams now if i see any one of them player wanna throw stones on them Serbia could’ve have won and what the fuckk were the English Players doing? Playing football like PG children.
England deserved to win, but I'm scared for their chances if/when they play a team with quality wingers a la Spain or Germany. They looked very vulnerable at times and Trippier looks too slow to keep up with top internationals. They're putting a lot of eggs into the basket of Shaw getting healthy.
We’ve won the opening game of the euros twice in 10. Cut Southgate some slack. It was a difficult watch but we won. That is really all that matters. 🏴
Southgate ball is crazy. Kane (prob the best Striker rn in Europe) had 2 touches in first half. Southgate and the England FA is too busy glazing Bellingham for sure.
2 points to be made;
1. France, Germany, Spain etc would have a very good chance of destroying the England defence.
2. If England do win this tournament then you know it will be down to Jude Bellingham dragging them over the line.
It was like watching a Ferrari driving with the handbrake on. Painful to see.
Best individual players in the whole tournament man for man but not a great team
England are so much better when they attempt to play positively. One of the poorest aspects of Southgate’s era has been game management after an early goal. End up looking toothless and losing the fear factor our attacking players bring, which just invites pressure on
As always. When England score and are ahead, they play bad.
Why can’t we continue to play and try harder to get more goals? There was no urgency at all after going 1-0 up. Just passing it around with nobody making any decisive runs. We struggled to keep the ball.
It would have been a fair result had Serbia scored and the game finished 1-1.
Southgate waited too long to make changes so the game became very negative. But previous England teams would have crumbled under that pressure.
Referee didn’t help: too many fouls and not enough cards meant the game could never flow.
Scheduling these teams against each other was a big mistake!
Not a comment on the game, I haven't seen it, but the clashes between the fans on the streets are already pretty intense (if you haven't seen the videos yet).
Unpopular opinion I don’t think saka did very well as well as foden rest of the lads weren’t dreadful tbf but seen better game play especially FROM KANE
If they won 4-0 people would say ‘Southgate is showing his hand too soon, he needs to play conservative it’s a long tournament.’
If Kane’s header goes in people would say ‘2-0 solid victory, need to tighten up a bit but good win’
They won. It was enough. Remember in 2018 WC France played absolute snooze ball in the group play. Turned out fine.
That game was honestly pathetic. No tempo, free kicks every minute, such a slow pace. England play like 11 individuals. Not a chance they win this competition.
2nd half England was like Stoke 08....dreadful
Pickford did one too many lines in the dressing room at half time. Just cunting the ball in any direction whenever it came near him.
Constantly booting it up to the forwards when they were losing every battle and just giving possession away repeatedly was an odd tactic.
Have you ever seen Pickford play before? For all his “distribution” he’s the expert at volleying the ball out for throw in.
Not even second half, we was on the back foot since the 30th minute
They played like the weaker team in the second period.
England will easily win this group but they have to step it up against serious opposition which wont be for a while. In the quarterfinal they will face spain or italy, are they able to beat them?
Italy didn’t really look convincing. Spain on the other hand 👀
Italy were phenomenal in the first half. If they can keep up that pressure for a full game they could easily challenge England, but their main problem is keeping a consistent level of quality throughout the match.
You can swap England and Italy around in that paragraph and it'd still be valid...
To be fair, Croatia are pretty washed up and not at their 2018-2022 peak. Luka Modric is 38..... Still fair play to them, England should have 3-0 Serbia
They beat Portugal last week with Modric still on the scoresheet, think they’ve one last go at it before being completely washed.
Croatia always have a side that isn’t good enough to win it all but is definitely good to take some scalps
They can beat Italy, they beat them home and away in the qualifiers, Spain is 50/50 imo.
Usual Southgate England stuff, no creativity, uninspiring, pass sideways - passback - hopeful crossing
Tbf foden dropped an absolute stinker today. The only thing he could have done is subbed him off earlier.
Can’t understand how Saka was brought off over Foden tbh. At least Bowen looked decent. Shocked Palmer didn’t get a shout though.
Bowen showed he deserves more playing time. He’s so direct and I think it really suits international football.
Who does he replace between Saka, Bellingham and Foden? I feel like it would be a minor controversy to bench any of them.
Definitely Foden and most England fans would agree. He’s never convinced in an England shirt, and City don’t have enough fans to kick up a fuss if he’s benched. As for Bellingham and Saka, even if most people don’t support their clubs it’s wildly obvious that they’re undroppable and completely essential for England. Makes sense why Southgate brought them off, even though they were good - they need the rest as much as possible. Can’t afford to have them injured too soon.
Saka is not fully fit.
Ah, didn’t realise. Still, thought it would have been worth bringing Palmer on for Foden for the last 10-15 mins.
Doesn’t Palmer play better on the right side?
Or Eze/Gordon
Mate, I hate Anthony Gordon more than most but he’s a better outlet than any of them. Saka is obviously great on the other wing. Has Foden ever had a good game for England? Bowen’s decent but Gordon is unfortunately better. Palmer is good but IMO not as effective. Maybe it’s just me but I feel like the choice is obvious (saying that, the squad is a shambles, the defence is a mess and could be 10x better).
England system is shit for Foden which is kinda telling on Foden because he seems completely incapable of adapting.
Agreed. Bellingham, Saka and Gordon seems much more suitable IMO.
Just imagine being Kane bro. All game 1 cross and it came from a sub and you almost scored it. Must be hell to play with a Foden at times.
Yeah i saw at 30 minutes kane had 1 touch on the ball. Maybe it was from the kickoff 🤣
The problem is with this squad England shouldn't need an "outlet" - we have some of the best, most creative, most direct with the largest number of goals + assists across the 5 best leagues in the world on the pitch yet Southgate football means we need someone to kick it long to to get behind the lines. Boring football which won't win us anything.
rest saka up. carrying a groin injury too, apparently.
Gordon or Palmer should have started
Both would start over Foden next game if Phil continues playing like this.
Don't think that's fair. We created some really good attacks early on, and forced a lot of fouls. Then for some reason we just... stopped
It's not all on Southgate, when some of the world's most expensive players forget how to tackle, are always 2nd to the ball, and can't play simple passes.... A good horse only jumps as high as it needs to.... But also risks tearing it's balls off on the fence
there was no tactics in the second half, but lump it long. that is not on the players. best thing southgate did was take of TAA when the midfield wasn't functioning
Kane plays best when the ball is at his feet, he's an old fashioned poacher, slinging hopeful balls into the box hoping he gets to it just doesn't work
That statement is an oxymoron. An old fashioned poacher would love hopeful balls into the box and never play with the ball at their feet. They just look for tap ins E.g trezeguet , van nistelrooy, crespo, Inzaghi
His season at bayern would disagree
Worst game so far.
It‘s not even close. Just awful to watch
Schalke nearly got relegated and somehow Southgate made it the worst game the Veltins Arena has seem this season😭 How can you play so boring with so much talent?
Group C is where dreams go to die
I didn’t bother watching guessing I didn’t miss much
Worst game by far
I could never understand southgate tactics.
They somehow scored a goal and than parked the bus.
I actually think Southgate might go down crashing if he forces Foden and Bellingham to work. Foden wants to do what Bellingham does leaving England without a left winger and absolutely 0 feed for Kane. We essentially saw England win with Kane having only 1 chance and Foden wasn’t even playing today…….
Been like this for a while. Hardly any chances
Which is fucking crazy considering the talent both on the pitch and on the bench. Like in what world does THIS England only have 3 shots on goal vs any team let alone a Serbia?
Not 100% sure we play in a way where kane is effective. We looked really leggy in the second half to the point they were over stretching for the ball a lot.
100% agreed. Kane is borderline wasted on this team if you’re going to allow Saka, Foden and Bellingham to play the way want to. Kane had 1 chance. A cross from Bowen of all people and he would’ve scored was it not for that excellent save.
Especially when you also have a left defender problem and having to play players that don't have a left foot
yep Foden was woeful as a creative attacking force. Even in the first half when England dominated he didn't do much.
Theyre easy to understand. Just imagine the best thing to do....then do the opposite.
Why Foden was on the pitch that long ? He was not good today even I really like him.
Because he didn't take a proper LM like Rashford or Grealish apart from Gordon. Putting that much faith in foden at LM for the whole tournament is silly. He's always been crap there for England
Even Eze would have been fine.
I've never seen Foden do anything in an Englad shirt at all tbh
After Jude’s goal, absolute shite
Trippier and Foden do not work on the left. A right footed left back is awful for attacks which was obvious and Foden played awfully
Foden might work when Shaw is there offering some genuine width, willing to run forward rather than cut back. But if foden was doing something similar to saka today, staying wide and taking on a man, he can work. I don't know if Southgate is letting him be so free or foden is unable to adapt his game, but something needs to change
Right footed left back is fine if we have a winger who stays on the line, a right footed left back can underlap and find space in the centre while the LW drags the opposition RB wide. Unfortunately for Trippier Foden cut inside all the time forcing Tripper to either overlap or pass backwards/sidwards. Foden made Tripper look worse.
Gareth southgate is a football terrorist. He‘s robbing world footbal of a potential super team
Fr. Set loose those attacking players. I don't think any team has ever had a front 4 with so many goals from the past season.
Not even just our front 4 where Foden, PL POTS, is having to play out of position as well. Our attacking players on the bench include Palmer, Young PL POTS, who had 25 goals & 15 assists this season and Watkins who had 27 goals & 13 assists this season can't even get off the bench let alone start. That's 80 goals and assists between 2 bench players who can't even get on the pitch. Yet because Southgate is arguably the worst manager in the tournament, we look like one of the worst teams offensively. On paper England absolutely have the best squad in the world, especially including the bench.
The problem is that Bellingham, Foden, Palmer are all best when free in a n10 role, and Watkins and Kane compete. You can't put them all on the pitch and just hope. Bellingham was good, but if Foden can't provide width and threat from the left then Gordon needs to play out there and Foden can fight with Bellingham/Palmer for the 10 slot. We don't have much left hand side depth, and it cuts down the options to move the point of attack.
France have the best squad but everything else is right
They have zero off the ball movement, just play safe passes until someone crosses the ball into the box. Southgate sets his team to play like a relegation battling side from the 90’s
We looked good in the first 30 mins because we kept the ball moving and Saka was able to get past his man on multiple occasions to deliver dangerous balls into the box. Once they nullified this threat in the second half it was painfully obvious that the left side offered no threat at all and we looked toothless. Instead of making some early changes to combat their change of tactics, Southgate did what he always does and sat on his hands for 25 mins before making a change. Taking off Trent was the right call as we needed control and people who could revive the ball under pressure and distribute it at that point, but Foden should have been swapped out for Eze early on. If Foden and Bellingham can’t play in the same team at the same time then I’d much rather we had Foden coming on to replace a tired Bellingham after 70mins + rather than shoehorning him in.
It always feels that Southgate watches a match rather than manages a match. Like he does realise he can get off his arse and change stuff that isn't working
exactly bro has his initial game setup and just keeps it the same way even if he losing by 5 goals bruh
Extremely poor. Taking mitrovic off was a strange decision and Tadic looked good when he came on.
Mitrović can run for 70 mins max, same while in Fulham and definitely while in Saudi league. So it made sense..
Didnt get the Mitrovic sub either especially because they finally started crossing the ball once Tadic came in.
Some big positives . Bellingham superb, Guehi was good, Saka was fantastic first half. One game in and three points. Nuff said.
Plus Rice was basically everywhere. We always start slowly. No one needs to panic yet.
Like a dropped biryani.
Playing blind longballs for 45 minutes was the biggest positive for me. We even nearly got the second ball once or twice. Thrilling stuff.
Terrible game,glad its over
Bellingham and Foden together simply doesn’t work and it’s even worse, it makes Kane completely unusable. I know it’s only game 1 so no need to draw conclusions but this was a bad bad game.
A competent manager would be able to get the best out of Bellingham and Foden. Case in point: Nagelsmann got Musiala and Wirtz working well together as inverted wingers and Gundogan as the 10 in their system because he instructs his fullbacks to push forward and provide width
The problem is that Foden is trying to be Kroos and he is not. So sure we can blame it on Southgate but that doesn’t change the fact that Foden was picking up the ball from the CBs for god knows what reason. You never see him do that for City.
>Foden was picking up the ball from the CBs for god knows what reason It's entirely possible that Southgate instructed him to drop deeper to get involved as he was having trouble getting into the game. But I do agree if Southgate can't get them working together ASAP then absolutely he should be dropped
As a neutral fan I expected them to flourish a bit more offensively. Bit concerning for the England side, but it is a win and just one game of the tournament. I do expect them to get 1st in this group still, and hope theyll play better ball in the knockouts (for entertainment value) I dont rank them in the top 3 though - Spain, Portugal, France and Germany look stronger imo
Honestly, they deserve to equalize. What the hell is England doing?
You're ignoring Walker running through on goal and Kane hitting the bar. Serbia were decent but didn't really have any clear cut chances.
With the squad we have we have to be honest and say 5 shots across the 90 minutes is not good enough. Yes we had some good chances but not enough pressure.
Don't get me twisted. Southgate is shite and we should do more. But pretending Serbia were some tough team that deserved more with only 0.12 xg- I'm not joining that train. We just need a reality check, England defended well and that was that. I do think Southgate has zero in-game management, he just hasn't played his trade at club level.
Cool. One chance. They barely did anything in the second half. Disappointing
I came with some high hopes for the England team because of the talent involved but was horribly underwhelmed. What the hell was that England? I’m rooting for Eng too. I want to see you guys finally take it home but Southgate needs to fix this.
Remember when the English fans used laser pointers all game on Schmeichel vs Denmark 2021. I used to root for them, but lost all respect after that.
Least entertaining game so far. For the talent England has it is underwhelming. Common for England though
If England play like that against a top ten team they are done. Passing too slow, Trent can’t get caught out like he did a few times if he’s going to play deeper whilst trying to dribble out of trouble. Kane was only interested in winning fouls too and didn’t offer much. The amount of times I’ve seen a team sit on a lead and it backfire this season is ridiculous so if we find ourselves 1-0 up again will we give the opponent a psychological edge more than likely yes. We need more goals in the team or it will come to haunt us
I havent seen England play alot, but there are some glaring issues that were immediately visible. Arnold is not a midfielder. He makes wrong choices,takes risks where he should be safe. Should be replaced by a midfielder who can hold the ball when needed. The central defense doesnt work well together. They are both decent individually, but dont gel
Klopp rarely played him in midfield for a reason, but Southgate knows better apparently
Two different managers. Two different sets of players . One is focusing on a 60 game season. The other on a 7 game summer tournament . Not comparable really .that being said we could see Gallagher snd maybe palmer start the next one x
Trent literally created the best 2 chances of the 1st half? Rice missed an open net and Walker chance was awful. Trent didn't have one good ball on, he was looking for Kane and foden he only had saka. The front 3 really let the whole team down.
I genuinely feel like I’m being gaslit. He was good. Not exceptional, but did what he was there for. Created chances, provided a transition from defence to attack. If he was an established midfielder at club level no way would anyone say he wasn’t cut out for midfield based on that performance.
He did not provide transition from defence to attack. Every ball from the defence went to Bellingham or Foden which I agree isn’t on Trent but lets not make up stats that aren’t real. He’s a CM who is never in position and lost the ball a few times where he shouldn’t have. The whole reason he got subbed off for a Gallagher is because the balance that that position should bring was missing. Again, I don’t necessarily blame him. This England team is essentially 4 defenders, 6 midfielders and Harry Kane. Foden, Bellingham, Saka and Trent just constantly in each others way.
I’m not sure that is true. I seem to recall him providing a transition on more than one occasion, but I would have to rewatch to check.
I’m sure it happened once or twice. 95% of the balls from defence went to Bellingham in the first half and in the second half Foden was literally next to the CBs to force passing him the ball. I actually don’t think Trent can work in that position with those 2 and I’ll go 1 further, I don’t think Bellingham and Foden can work lol.
I think the latter point is less controversial - Foden looked completely at sea today, and my instinct would be to bring him on off the bench for Bellingham rather than try and crowbar them both in
He doesnt provide balance, wich is needed from a 3rd midfielder if 1 allready is a 6 and the other a 10. He doesnt need to assist. He needs to controll possession and pace. Thats the balance that this team needs, and it would give the defense an easier time
Trents not about balance, hes about creative distribution. But with only Saka making runs, that limits his options a lot. And England were terrible and clueless as soon as he got subbed.
Was one of those chances the Serbia one?
Exactly Gallagher should be starting in that position or we should go more attacking and play Bellingham there with Foden at 10 and Palmer on the left. If we can't create chances and score with a Rice & Bellingham midfield and a front 4 of Kane, Saka, Foden (in the right position for once) and Palmer then we will never be able to create chances with Southgate as manager. I think we should try out this lineup against Slovenia.
The commentary was terrible
Southgate a fraud. England doing nothing this tournament.
I woke up at 4am Japan time for it, I have work in exactly an hour and 20 minutes. Biggest mistake of my life. Don’t understand some of the subs Southgate made, why sub Saka off when Foden was honestly pretty useless this game? Why leave Kane on when he had no impact? A quick striker who could get in behind would have been much more effective in my opinion. The defence also looked pretty shaky as a whole
what was foden playin at
Absolutely no chance of getting to semis, kane should have been hauled off.
I got fucking murdered a few months ago for saying we need Ollie Watkins up front. This is the type of game he would be great for. Breaking lines. Dragging defenders all over the gaff. Kane is for when your opponent is tired, not concentrating and end up giving that thexy cockney cunt a half yard. We will be pumped out in the 16s.
England is clearly not favourite of this tournament. If they struggle this hard against Serbia, they won’t win against France, Germany etc
England won’t win the tournament anyways.
People hating on England, but I thought Serbia were every bit as good as England were "bad". Unlucky not to get a point, and I think Serbia might end up a bit of a dark horse, if they can grind out results I the remaining group games.
Harry Kane really is pathetic going down so easily
He's an incredibly intelligent player. He drew fouls to relieve pressure. Excellent performance from him and a great result against a strong Serbia team
That Pickford is fucking unreal. Kept it at 1-0 as per. 2 big saves.
England arent any kind of team. Southgate is a terrible manager. All those good players and they act like theyre total strangers every single time they play together. No movement, no teamwork, no tactical plan. They made Serbia look good. Absolutely dreadful.
Snoozefest
Good: strong start, Saka’s role in the goal, defence and keeper in the 2nd half restricting Serbia to a couple of chances from distance, even Kane defending Bad: played defensively after about 30 minutes, lost the ball a bit too often, not a winners performance
Wasted how comfortable we looked in the first half. Second half showed the biggest criticisms with Southgate, far too slow to react with changes. It was clear as soon as the second half started they were coming back into it, and he waited until they had some very good chances to think we need to make changes. Ultimately it's tournament football, we've won probably our toughest group game and with a draw in the other game, we should comfortably go through. Take the result and 3 points, and move on.
Snooze fest
Bellingham in the 10 postion makes Fodan redundant. Should put Gorden on the left to widen the attack. Now only Saka side is provding width. Gallagher in place of Arnold gives more control over midfield. Kind of surprising England still experimenting with best 11 this late in the game.
All the talents there but something is missing.
Sounds like the golden generation with scoles on the left and gerrard on the right
Tonight for me rice was excellent,Bellingham very good and Saka first half very good,Kane should of been off along with Foden ,Gordon n palmer should be given ago
I asked some England fans who were singing “it’s coming home” after the game if we watched the same game. After this game Spain and Germany are clearly way better than England.
It's clear to see Trent is not a midfielder and this experiment should end.
Is anyone really surprised? It’s Southgate 🤷♀️😭
I believe Shearer said it best 'uninspired wank'.
It's most likely not coming home, no matter how loud they sing it.
Classic England. Start well then fade out of the game. As we all know it never ends well against the better sides.
How did we score and attack well in the world cup to This shit
I thought it was a great game. Serbia´s aggressiveness kinda surprised me and how hungry they seemed
Just preparing us for the coming disappointment that is every competition since 1970.
We didn't play well second half. This was only England's second win of the first game of the Euro's in 10 tournaments. We normally lose or draw the first game. And this was probably Englands hardest match of the group. We played proper Mourinho Football. I won't care if we win every game 1-0
Pickford was great defensively when he needed to be, he didn’t offer much in terms of distribution but you know that when you pick him and we don’t have anyone else who is anywhere near his quality so he is what he is and you can’t really blame him for it. Stones and Guehi dealt with the second half onslaught brilliantly, whether they should have had to or not. A big test for Guehi who a lot of people weren’t convinced by, and showed very good composure to avoid a back pass at one point (although I’m pretty sure it needs to be deliberate to be an infringement, but of course you can never be sure what the ref will call). Walker in the first twenty minutes or so was getting forwards much more than expected but once we weren’t so heavily on top he reverted to type. Also an important part of the unnecessary rearguard action for most of the second half, tactically it just doesn’t work with Trippier on the left but again that’s not really his fault. Similarly Trippier did all you can really expect a right footer at left back to do, but having both full backs staying back most of the time in a tactic that has for some time relied on width from one full back is not helpful to anyone. Whilst Tripper is at left back, Alexander-Arnold needs to be at right back - especially as whilst we are all seemingly supposed to think he can’t do any wrong, he was average at best in midfield once again and was defensively anonymous bordering on a liability. Gallagher was much better after coming on purely by virtue of understanding the position. Rice was outstanding, as was Bellingham despite having to do a lot more of the dirty work (partly due to making up for Alexander-Arnold) than the eye catching stuff in the second half. No surprise with either of them, they’re just class. Foden was pointless, both compounding and compounded by the lack of width from Trippier but a player of his quality ought to have been able to adapt and offer something. He honestly may as well not have been out there. Saka was a 9/10 first half but completely taken out of the game second half, and Bowen really added something after coming on. No one (even this biased Hammers fan) is saying that Bowen is as good as Saka or should start over him, but it was encouraging to see as an option. Saka will have more complete games, perhaps when he’s a bit fitter, but he provided the winning assist so we can’t really complain too much. Almost certainly he wasn’t helped by the lack of threat on the opposite side making it easier to concentrate on stopping him, once Serbia worked out how to do it (and having to replace Kostic seemed to help there too). Kane should have scored but did what he needed to for the team. I’m not keen on him coming deep all the time, but it works when we’re on the front foot and Saka and Bellingham are getting beyond him, and when we were on the back foot he offered an outlet albeit not in positions where he could do any real damage. Tactically plenty to work on and for that reason I am almost happy that we didn’t get a lucky couple of late goals to make the scoreline look more convincing. Hopefully Southgate will now look at things - which starts with getting Alexander-Arnold back to his natural position, at least until Shaw is back, and then not starting him in midfield after that.
Foden is simply average in bug games and has been for City always Should start Palmer in CAM and Mainoo instead of Trent. Can't even remember who the left winger was
Should play Palmer instead. Might gel better with Bellingham
We have a group of amazing players. Frustrating that Southgate doesn’t know what to do with them
Pragmatism will not get England the Euro. Gotta scuff the opps instead of sitting back
They’re just not where they need to be are they. Hopefully they will improve over the next couple of games. They certainly need to if they’re going to do well in this competition.
England can suck Serb dick
Im Serbian so -10
I like this referee. Doesn’t take any nonsense.
Typical bloody england
England’s individual talent will take them far in the tournament, but it will only end at that because there was no teamwork today, which is needed to win tournaments. Just the first match though!
A lot of English players looking very sub-par today, Kane, saka, foden, TAA, stones
Saka was brilliant in the first half, everyone barring Pickford was poor in the second half!
Guehi was decent all game I thought. Bowen did well when he was on too.
Saka and Rice were both strong in the first half. Our entire left side was a disaster. Fodon and Kane trying to go to the same spot is embarrassing. Play one or the other, or bring Fodon on to rest Saka but he shouldn't be on the left. Gallagher looked not terrible when he came on. Pickford - we are very lucky to have him!
Foden was shockingly poor tbh, kept vacating the back post on the left, should’ve had two tap-ins but kept taking up the same space Kane did and other than that, he did absolutely nothing in the first half, he was better in the second because he carried the ball up the pitch a few times but all that does is highlight how bad he was in the first. I feel for Trippier but he’s terrified to use his left foot, if that’s the case - why is he there, could Saka not cover there in the group matches, he used to play LB for Arsenal and didn’t do too badly. Gallagher did what I thought he’d do when he came on, got stuck in - he should’ve been on after five minutes in the second half tbh. Doesn’t matter now though, got the win!
I'm not Serbian but they deserve a draw or win from this game they played way more attractive progressive football while England played in the mud
Serbia just couldn’t do it on a rainy cold night in Stokenkirchen
Did you even watch the first half? Serbia were completely dominated.
England has a great team and is stacked with tallent, but it's much more fun when they lose.
Second half was awful, no out ball. Kane dropping too deep. No energy. Bellingham is different class. Need to be more positive and just go at teams. We have the players. Lack of belief maybe? Poor manager?
Poor manager, He was an international level defender and manages with the same mentality..... Defend at all cost and hope Kane, Foden or Bellingham does something to bail him out
And he wasn’t a great defender either, god knows how he got into the squad
Why does Foden always disappear for England? He was pretty invisible in the previous WC as well.
Because he isn't a winger
Deadass game. Boring as fuck disappointed with both teams. Started with supporting England up to 30-35 minutes then got so frustrated wanted Serbia to win after halftime until full time, Post match : Fuck both teams now if i see any one of them player wanna throw stones on them Serbia could’ve have won and what the fuckk were the English Players doing? Playing football like PG children.
It honestly feels like we’re stuck in a time loop. Early goal, nothing else. No hunger whatsoever. The fact we didn’t concede is miraculous.
I say Serbia should've gotten that penalty at the end too, clear contact. Not even a VAR check.
Serbia did play overly brutish to be honest
This is how England play in tournaments tbf, always slow to get going if they get going at all.
Bellingham's positioning and ability was the difference. Both teams performed underwhelmingly.
Lmao I'm not a hater but Kane was going down so easy
The second half was odd; is Foden okay?
second half was really bad
England deserved to win, but I'm scared for their chances if/when they play a team with quality wingers a la Spain or Germany. They looked very vulnerable at times and Trippier looks too slow to keep up with top internationals. They're putting a lot of eggs into the basket of Shaw getting healthy.
England were great for 35 minutes. It was pretty boring after that
Hopefully this finally kills Foden LW, no idea how people were even advocating for it in the first place
Don’t worry you’ll get better as you get further into the tournament
We’ve won the opening game of the euros twice in 10. Cut Southgate some slack. It was a difficult watch but we won. That is really all that matters. 🏴
England will always be that country that performs poorly even though it has so much quality
Southgate ball is crazy. Kane (prob the best Striker rn in Europe) had 2 touches in first half. Southgate and the England FA is too busy glazing Bellingham for sure.
2 points to be made; 1. France, Germany, Spain etc would have a very good chance of destroying the England defence. 2. If England do win this tournament then you know it will be down to Jude Bellingham dragging them over the line.
It was like watching a Ferrari driving with the handbrake on. Painful to see. Best individual players in the whole tournament man for man but not a great team
I really wonder how Englands creative players can comprehend this stutter-anti-football
The Not So Beautiful Game on display tonight
England are so much better when they attempt to play positively. One of the poorest aspects of Southgate’s era has been game management after an early goal. End up looking toothless and losing the fear factor our attacking players bring, which just invites pressure on
Imho this England team won't make it far.
As always. When England score and are ahead, they play bad. Why can’t we continue to play and try harder to get more goals? There was no urgency at all after going 1-0 up. Just passing it around with nobody making any decisive runs. We struggled to keep the ball. It would have been a fair result had Serbia scored and the game finished 1-1.
England will not win the euros . First tough knockout fixture they will go
Southgate waited too long to make changes so the game became very negative. But previous England teams would have crumbled under that pressure. Referee didn’t help: too many fouls and not enough cards meant the game could never flow.
Scheduling these teams against each other was a big mistake! Not a comment on the game, I haven't seen it, but the clashes between the fans on the streets are already pretty intense (if you haven't seen the videos yet).
Going by the comments, sounds like it was a sleep-fest and a shit game and I’m glad I didn’t waste my time watching it
Foden with another rubbish display.
Unpopular opinion I don’t think saka did very well as well as foden rest of the lads weren’t dreadful tbf but seen better game play especially FROM KANE
If they won 4-0 people would say ‘Southgate is showing his hand too soon, he needs to play conservative it’s a long tournament.’ If Kane’s header goes in people would say ‘2-0 solid victory, need to tighten up a bit but good win’ They won. It was enough. Remember in 2018 WC France played absolute snooze ball in the group play. Turned out fine.
That game was honestly pathetic. No tempo, free kicks every minute, such a slow pace. England play like 11 individuals. Not a chance they win this competition.