Group G Discussion

First topic message reminder :

England
Belgium
Tunisia
Panama

I'm sure this ref has been paid.

Riggs wrote:I'm sure this ref has been paid.

England fans.

England not as urgent in 2nd half.....very slow to close down the ball.

What worries me is that unlike Belgium we dont have a De Bruyne to make those creative passes when teams sit in....Tunisia will be difficult to break down here in 2nd half as they sit deeper and deeper.

Ali has added nothing and should be getting dragged off and id be inclined to bring on a 2nd striker instead rather than like for like. If he brings on Delph then might as well have taken Hodgson as manager!

Sterling is just dire. No more, please

Sterling, Alli and Lingard have been awful. Especially in the second half.

Agree need to change, Ali's not looking fit. Sterling having a poor game. Bring on Rashford and Loftus-Cheek.

Tunisia look scared of pace, and anybody running at them.

Creating absolutely nothing 2nd hand so far.

Alli can’t be fit. Sterling more life in him at least than Alli and Kane. Lingers has also tuned out. Young playing poorly.

Trippier been good.

Sterling off for Rashford

Not unexpectedly Tunisia a bit more settled this half and England aren't slicing their defence apart so easily.
Going to test the - sometimes questionable - creativity of the team. Still they have so much ball something surely has to give if they only keep pressing ?

Rashford on . Good.

Yet we are almost 70 minutes in and still all playing...stubborn from Southgate as doesnt want to admit he got thr Sterling call wrong.  

Play becoming predictable and one paced...for all the talk of youth etc its looking like same old England side at the moment

Dont get the calls for RLC....why? More men packing midfield...stick Vardy on and give them another striker to worry about.

Calls for RLC both cos we’re not creating anything, and also that Vardy isn’t automatically good against deep defences. Plus more strikers is the tactical move of no plan

My god this is embarassing...! I know Brazil, Argentina etc have had poor results but played better opponents than ours. I wouldnt even say Tunisia have sat massively deep hence my call for Vardy...also RLC isnt as creative as some are hinting he is

Final ball hasnt been good enough this half and if anything unlike Belgium who turned it up 2nd half...Tunisia have found it easier this half.
Y
Lethargic...uninspiring...and once again the big names havent turned up. Same old England for all the talk of a change in culture and thinking.

Ermm...why did we commit 5 men to the wall lol!

Tunisia like to play a little bit dirty don't they.

]My god this is embarassing...! I know Brazil, Argentina etc have had poor results but played better opponents than ours. I wouldnt even say Tunisia have sat massively deep hence my call for Vardy...also RLC isnt as creative as some are hinting he is

Final ball hasnt been good enough this half and if anything unlike Belgium who turned it up 2nd half...Tunisia have found it easier this half.

Lethargic...uninspiring...and once again the big names havent turned up. Same old England for all the talk of a change in culture and thinking.

Ermm...why did we commit 5 men to the wall lol!

None of the front players are playing well, the lack of creativity was always going to be a problem Against packed defences.
Cheek on for Ali, hardly surprising given Ali looked injured since the 1st half.

Tunisia are garbage, offering absolutely nothing.
It's almost like an attack versus defence training session.

Tunisia have been horrible. Got a sniff and then niggled the rest of the way.

Well Panama will fancy their chances of a draw and even the relatively average Belgium performance will be enough to beat us.

The biggest concern is that neither the messages from the sidelines nor the changes (which were made far too late) have done nothing to change the laboured pace of the game or put any oomph into Englands play.

Sterling should be nowhere near the starting XI next time out and id argue we might as well play the 3-5-2 with wingers not wing backs against Panama!

RLC ice veins but no idea why Rashford didn't smash that

The other half of Walker at CB, recovery speed no orthodox CB could dream of

Seen a lot of halves like this as a Chelsea fan this season - where 5 defenders and 3 CBs are just not necessary against performances like this. And you are left relying on a moment of genius from one player.

RLC has looked good since coming on too! And that is a well deserved win. Tunisia have offered nothing going forward.

Papering over the cracks, but at least we’ve got the points

Thank god for Kane ey! Talk about paper over the cracks...

...did he just run it into his own corner

HAVE WE GOT AWAY WITH SOMETHING

(we deserve to win)

KANE

About fecking time!

About 20 chances and Kane has had 2 of them.

Kane get in.

Deserved win dire performance. But the results what this is all about.

Probably the right result, upon reflection.

Same old England though, eh?

No Tunisia booking, ref was weird

It's a win, about time.

Threatened to be one of those frustrating England struggles against inferior opposition. But in the end pure endeavour did when England fizzled out in the 2nd half.

England will need to be better beyond the Panama game, but something to build on.

Thats what having a world class striker does for us!

I hope Southgate addresses issues and speaks of them in interview. We have been diabolical 2nd half whichever way you spin it and thats a concern.

Would hope that Southgate has seen enough to know that Sterling should not be starting. Personally would like to see Deli and Rashford starting just behind Kane. With Henderson & RLC as CM's.

RLC was brilliant. Who’d have thought it?!

The system is what it is, but Alli was allowed to play about 20 minutes too long on Southgate watch. Should've really been 3 or 4 at the half but Tunisia sharpened up defensively and we toiled. Not sure how much thats split.

Well they left that late , eh ?

Yeah you can moan about the flaws that are still there (lack of scorers apart from the skipper , defensive carelessness at times , inability to overcome packed defenses , reliance on set pieces ) but hey I'm happy to see they didn't lose heart after that surprising equalizer and nor did they let their frustration at that second half stalemate stop them from working ...for the deserved winner.

Got the points ; showed a lot in the first half : skipper will have his confidence up. Got to go on from here but I'm calling that a good start

Another positive is that the group will be very aware of Tunisia defensive ways aka pulling players down to the ground.

The 3-5-2 system is not convincing. Hardly any players looked comfortable in their position. There was a struggle at each transitional phase to have any fluidity or get the ball forward. From defense to midfield. From midfield to attack. Mostly lateral passing. At times their seemed to be nobody in midfield. Just a bank of forwards and a bank of defenders. Maybe it will work better in terms of containing the better teams, but the set up seems disjointed and lacking in any cohesion. Balls not being played in the right places, players getting in each others way and not getting into the right areas.

For all that, Tunisia were useless really and didnt deserve anything out of the game. Hard to believe they merit a place at a World Cup. The first 10 or 15 mins they looked nervous and we should have been out of sight and on our way to a comfortable night. Second half they settled in defense more and were better if still not really offering any kind of attack. I think we have been really fortunate with this group in comparison to some of the other groups out there.

alfie wrote:Well they left that late , eh ?

Yeah you can moan about the flaws that are still there (lack of scorers apart from the skipper , defensive carelessness at times , inability to overcome packed defenses , reliance on set pieces ) but hey I'm happy to see they didn't lose heart after that surprising equalizer and nor did they let their frustration at that second half stalemate stop them from working ...for the deserved winner.

Got the points ; showed a lot in the first half : skipper will have his confidence up. Got to go on from here but I'm calling that a good start  

Agree with this, as ever you’re spot on Alfie!

1st half was very good, another day they score one of those simple chances and go 2-0 up and it’s game over. Even then it takes some ridiculously awful officiating to even get Tunisia back in the game. 2nd half was poor, I think Alli was clearly carrying a knock and should have come off earlier but they kept going and got the deserved winner, which ultimately in tournament football is all that matters! Would personally like to see Rose start over Young next game, and maybe Rashford too - but otherwise can’t complain too much

Can't see how he can leave Rashford out after today, he changed the game when he came on.

Also beat Panama and we’re into the last 16 - which is an instant improvement on recent tournaments!

First half could easily have been 3-0, and the whole complexion of the game would have been different.

Second half showed our problems with breaking down packed defences, especially with Alli at half speed - only when Rashford and RL-C came on and gave us some running options did we get back on the front foot.

I don't really agree with Catchweight a couple of comments up - I think the system is fine as long as there is good movement between the front 4, with Kane dropping to midfield and one of Lingard or Alli going past. The problems tonight came from Young on the left and Henderson* still preferring to play the ball back to the defenders rather than half turning and trying to up the tempo. The phase of play where Tunisia got their (dubious) penalty all started with Henderson giving the ball back to Maguire in the left corner rather than taking a touch and looking more positively.

*Henderson did have some good moments too, which is why I get so frustrated when he gets into a negative mindset.

Amazing what having Kane in the box for corners instead of taking them can do.

RLC
RLC
RLC
RLC

RLC skinned a tired, league two standard left back twice. Once he ran it out of play. Must have low standards.

I don't quite get the complete sense of negativity to be honest. First time we've won the opening game since 2006 I think? England certainly are far from alone in making hard work of inferior opposition in this tournament. Saw at the Euros 2 years ago, the smaller sides are still well organised and highly motivated, it's hard work.

First half was excellent, really should have been 2 or 3 up after 10 minutes and the rest of the game is largely irrelevant. Tunisia bought a pen to get back in the game. Second half was bad, not going to break down teams easily without a creative force in midfield and the tempo was lacking, but we knew that going in.

England aren't going to win the world cup, but they're in an excellent position to at worst match their best output for a decade. Lets start from there.

There's both positives and negatives to be taken from last nights game.

+ A win in the opening game - for England that's a step up from usual and with other major nations already faltering it puts us in good stead
+ The intensity of the play in the first 20+ minutes and the chances created
+ Kept going until the end - didn't lose heart or heads drop, a last minute winner can really boost morale etc
+ Kane with 2 goals, a striker in form at a World Cup can be a massive bonus
+ Remaining professional in adversity of being roughed up and shocking officiating
+ The subs, both Rashford and RLC added fresh penetration to a side flat on ideas

- Defensive communication, prior to the Tunisia goal there were a few occasions of really sloppy balls at the back, against better teams these could have been capitalized upon
- The opposition itself, we struggled to break down a team that were League 1 standard at best
- The lack of intensity and forward play in the 2nd half, far too many times when not under pressure the ball went backwards
- The chances missed, against better sides we may well not get many chances, we have to make the most of the ones got
- Keeping Alli on for 20 minutes longer than he should, he clearly had a niggle, leaving him on the pitch could have worsened the injury

I thought England did pretty well all things considered. Could have won more convincingly, but as has been pointed out, previous teams the head would have dropped and that finishes 1-1 (at best).

Also, I personally don't think Tunisia are as bad as is made out. Obviously the squad isn't drawn for the top leagues in world football. But some weight has to be given to their world ranking. Not the end all and be all, but they are the highest ranked African team currently (think that's what one of the commentators said anyway).

All in all they have put one foot in the knockout phase already. Get the expected win against Panama and they can go into the Belgium game and play with a lot of the pressure lifted having already outdone their previous effort.

think this world cup has shown there are very little push overs in the competition (maybe bar Saudi Arabia). and the main thing about last night was the result. Tunisia got a bit of a gift to get back into the game and that was literally the only thing they did in an attacking sense.

certainly we have room for improvement, but the likes of sterling alli and lingard hopefully wont play that poorly in every game. although it is a worry how many chances we spurn. can get away with it against the panamas and Tunisias of the world but come knock outs that could cost us dearly. personally said before last night that in this formation would prefer rashford over sterling. we need more than just one goal threat

Thought England started really well, just needed to take one more of those chances to shut the game down and it's a very different story today. Once Tunisia got the goal they settled down and looked pretty organised. Kane played well, but Trippier was the best player on the field for me. Played with really good intensity all game and put a lot of dangerous balls in.

Here we have an article about how the England v Tunisia match out-viewed the royal wedding.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44533213

I can honestly say that I'm not surprised in the least and fully expect this type of thing from the English nation. Football matters more and is far superior to royal weddings.