UEFA Nations League 2020/21

[The Lusophone]

42 minutes ago, Colly said:

Walkers played this spot for City though and Dier has been playing CB regularly for Spurs, it's only really Trippier out of position. You could mebbe argue it's a bit defensive, but the holding midfielders are there to let TAA go forward.

Well it apparently worked - somehow, so Southgate looks like a decent enough choice that England don't have to look elsewhere. This team could perform so much better though.

[Colly]

I'd like it to be more positive, but I don't think you can really argue with the result or the second half performance. Grealish might end up this generations Matt Le Tissier...

[Bobfoc]

I was only able to catch the first twenty minutes of the England match. I thought Belgium would end up winning by two or three goals, so I was very surprised to read about a 2-1 victory for England. On paper, it's a great result, although you'd still expect Belgium to win the return fixture.

[DFF]

The downside to the result is Southgate is gonna feel like the system is good enough. Grealish absolutely should be in that team. I have no idea why we nice Rice alongside Henderson. Should just keep the latter and have Grealish play in the 10 role behind the striker. 

There was a moment in the 1st half where Rice got the ball about 35 ish yards out with a little space in front of him. Instead of attacking the space / looking for a forward thinking ball, he slowed things down and passed 5-10 yards sideways/backwards, leading to the move totally petering out. Grealish would have attacked the space (and any defenders that approached). 

[Cymbols]

Jonniesta! Seriously deserved his first goal for Wales, and not a bad way to do it.

 

[Lineker]

Quote

Mason Greenwood is the surprise omission from the England squad that Gareth Southgate has named to face the Republic of Ireland in a friendly and Belgium and Iceland in the Nations League.

With Danny Ings unavailable because of a knee injury, Southgate was expected to recall Greenwood, whom he was forced to send home from the September fixture in Iceland. Greenwood and another England debutant, Phil Foden, had broken Covid-19 regulations by inviting two women into the team hotel.

Southgate excluded them from the October get-together. But while Foden is now back, having started the season well for Manchester City, Greenwood remains out. The Manchester United striker has scored two goals in eight appearances for his club.

Southgate has still not been able to find room in an enlarged 29-man squad for Ross Barkley or James Maddison and he has not called up Harvey Barnes, having done so the last time. Kalvin Phillips misses out because of a shoulder injury.

England’s manager reiterated his support for Jordan Pickford in light of the Everton goalkeeper being dropped for his club’s 2-1 defeat at Newcastle last Sunday, making the point Pickford had never let his country down. Southgate’s other goalkeepers are Nick Pope and Dean Henderson but he said: “There is nobody that is challenging seriously to put him [Pickford] out of that position.”

Southgate, discussing Greenwood and Foden, said: “They don’t come as a pair, they are individual players with their own strengths and individual talents. We are looking at the balance of the squad positionally firstly.

“Phil has had a lot of football with his club most recently and Mason has had less game time with United. I have had a good chat with Ole [Gunnar Solskjær, Manchester United’s manager] about his development and I feel it is better for him to stay at the club, to develop over the next few months.

“But they are both available, there was no carryover from September, that is done. Both are available for selection and are going to be very good players.”

Chelsea’s Reece James has retained his place despite being sent off against Denmark for dissent and having to serve a suspension that rules him out of both of the Nations League ties. Southgate indicated he would select him against Ireland.

“Reece’s game is at a very high level,” he said. “We were very impressed with the way he trained every day, with the way he took his opportunity as a sub and then with his performance against Denmark – I thought he was arguably our best player.”

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Dean Henderson (Manchester United), Nick Pope (Burnley)
Defenders: Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolves), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Reece James (Chelsea) Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid)
Midfielders: Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Declan Rice (West Ham), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Harry Winks (Tottenham)
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Tammy Abraham (Chelsea), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

 

[Baddar]

Portugal-France should be a decent watch tonight.

[Benjamin]

Switzerland-Spain was the actual fun game IMO but I was switching back and forth between all four matches. Sommer with two penalty saves! 

[DFF]

With San Marino's draw, they recorded the first time they have ever gained more than 1 point in any calendar year and more than 1 point in any singular qualifying campaign. 

[Baddar]

Meanwhile, Sergio Ramos had been on a 25 penalty scoring run, but missed two in a row last night.

[Cymbols]

Can we never play Ireland again please? So so boring to watch.

[Lineker]

Quote

Belgium: Courtois; Alderweireld, Denayer, Vertonghen; Meunier, Tielemans, Witsel, T Hazard; De Bruyne, Mertens; Lukaku.
Substitutes: Mignolet, Casteels, Mechele, Lukebakio, Foket, Vanaken, Verschaeren, Praet, Benteke, Delcroix, Chadli, Batshuayi.

England: Pickford; Walker, Dier, Mings; Trippier, Rice, Henderson, Chilwell; Mount, Grealish; Kane.
Substitutes: Pope, Henderson, Keane, Sancho, Winks, Maitland-Niles, Calvert-Lewin, Foden, Saka, Abraham, Bellingham.

 

[Adam]

I am really not sure what Southgate is trying to achieve with this 5-2-2-1 ultra conservative, low pressure style.

[The Lusophone]

This is going well.

[DavidMarrio]

1 hour ago, Adam said:

I am really not sure what Southgate is trying to achieve with this 5-2-2-1 ultra conservative, low pressure style.

To help those with insomnia

[Lineker]

We don't qualify.

 

Meh.

[Gazz]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

I am really not sure what Southgate is trying to achieve with this 5-2-2-1 ultra conservative, low pressure style.

It's because England have zero talented attacking players, not a single decent player who can play as a 10 or an 8, no wingers or inside forwards and we haven't produced a decent wing back in decades, especially on the right side. There's also not a single successful team in the Premier League that plays 433 or 4231.

It's a national tragedy.

/s

[DFF]

17 hours ago, Gazz said:

It's because England have zero talented attacking players, not a single decent player who can play as a 10 or an 8, no wingers or inside forwards and we haven't produced a decent wing back in decades, especially on the right side. There's also not a single successful team in the Premier League that plays 433 or 4231.

It's a national tragedy.

/s

I almost replied without properly reading this, haha. 

Personally, I'd like to see us go for a very attacking minded formation - Kane and DCL up top with Grealish as the creative directly behind them. Stirling and Sancho as very attacking wingers/additional forwards. Have a holding style midfielder camped in front of the back four, capable and creating a back 3 when the fullbacks push up. 

[Lineker]

Quote

England: Pickford, Trippier, Walker, Maguire, Dier, Saka, Rice, Mount, Grealish, Kane, Foden.
Subs: Keane, Sancho, Mings, Pope, Winks, Chilwell, Maitland-Niles, Calvert-Lewin, Abraham, D Henderson, Bellingham.

Iceland: Kristinsson, Hermannsson, Arnason, Ingason, Skulason, Bjarnason, Palsson, Saevarsson, Gudmundsson, Sigurjonsson, Bodvarsson.
Subs: Halldorsson, Runarsson, Eyjolfsson, Sampsted, Johannesson, Þorsteinsson, Baldursson, Gudjohnsen, Sigurdsson.

Can you say dead rubber o'clock?

[Lineker]

4-0 win.

Quote

Here’s a stat that bodes well for the future: this is the first time since February 1883 that England have had three scorers aged 21 or under in the same game. One of those lads, two-goal Phil Foden, speaks to Sky: “I enjoyed that a lot. Obviously to score my first goal for England means a lot to me. I couldn’t stop smiling after it. it’s an unbelievable feeling, and I’m just going to try and enjoy it as much as I can tonight! When you score your confidence is high, and I took my goal well from outside the box, which is something I have to improve on. I’m just proud to be a part of this. [The recent behavioural brouhaha in Iceland] was one of the hardest moments of my life, and that’s when you need the trust of your manager. Gareth had a lot of respect for me and I’m just happy to repay him with goals and play well.”