Here we go.... | Page 3 | Vital Football

Here we go....

No, to me, I was watching an England side that was over concerned about defence. Whilst I accept that that is a 'club' requirement, the players need to remember their roles that could win their game. I.E Attack the weak opposition.

England winning 2-1 against a team such as Tunisia is, in my view, equivalent to Germany losing their first match.
 
I actually can't believe the grief some are giving England tonight.

We started off very very well. We scored an early goal and could have a bunch more. yes we need to convert those in future but sometimes that just happens. it's certainly no time to start panicing and dropping players that have done the job for their clubs so far this season. Lets not make rash decisions of calling for people to be dropped on the basis of a few missed chances.

We conceded an incredibly unlucky goal. it could have gone either way, but unfortunately it went against us. But then we still attacked them and had more chances in the first half. At last we played attacking football and looked like scoring. people have claimed this is all they want any they still moan.

Then in the 2nd half, again we controlled the game. We had a few chances, but then we struggled a bit to break them down. we had a spell of about 20 minutes where the ref called every little thing against us and broke the game down. That said, i don't know what people expect. very few teams ever are better than the other for a full 90 minutes. there are lulls - but apparently that's not good enough for England fans.

We also had two very good penalty shouts that went against us. Absolutely absurd how they were called considering the decision that went against us in the first half. Especially absurd considering the chance for VAR to correct the clear errors too. two clear errors for the ref IMO.

So in my view, we've had multiple good chances, we've had an unlucky penalty against us, and we've had 2 penalty calls incorrectly turned down. People from other countries on this thread have claimed it's not just English rose tinted goggles here either. Other countries agree these decisions all went against us. We then actually do score in the late minutes to get the result people want and people are still moaning. Could we really ask for much more from England today?

Sorry but for me today was a very positive result and a very positive performance. No i don't think we're up there with the best. But then it's well worth saying also that 'the best' haven't all been very impressive themselves either. Many of the supposed best have been pretty poor.

I am at least looking forward to the Panama game. Lets hope we can break them down also as clearly they will come to frustrate us. If we play the same against them as we did tonight we will win easily. You can't be that unlucky with ref decisions and finishing twice, surely?
 
It was always going to be difficult to break down a ten man defence.
Well done England , and like others have suggested , a few tweaks
 
Hardy31 said:
No, to me, I was watching an England side that was over concerned about defence. Whilst I accept that that is a 'club' requirement, the players need to remember their roles that could win their game. I.E Attack the weak opposition.

England winning 2-1 against a team such as Tunisia is, in my view, equivalent to Germany losing their first match.
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What? Apart from the three points you mean? I know who I'd rather be following after the first match. Germany have to face Sweden yet so their passage through is less than easy.
This was an opposition that are the highest ranking African nation and are experts at parking the bus, they're no mugs and have experience to burn. I think the young Lions deserve a bit more than that.
 
Agree Nobby. On the evidence so far if we are burying England, then you can put a line through Germany, the Argies, France, Brazil and a few others.

And England’s 2-1 win was worse than Germany’s 0-1 loss? Really? Give me strength.
 
Gills 58 said:
Yes, we reverted to type and froze in the second half. So much for the new approach. Not having a go at Southgate, his job is almost impossible. We only have one bloke who seems capable of scoring. Shocking air shot (Lingard?) exemplified this. Terrible 2nd half - groundhog day as I said.
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Tunisia adjusted their formation and tactics second half. Give the some credit.
 
alphabet_king said:
I actually can't believe the grief some are giving England tonight.

We started off very very well. We scored an early goal and could have a bunch more. yes we need to convert those in future but sometimes that just happens. it's certainly no time to start panicing and dropping players that have done the job for their clubs so far this season. Lets not make rash decisions of calling for people to be dropped on the basis of a few missed chances.

We conceded an incredibly unlucky goal. it could have gone either way, but unfortunately it went against us. But then we still attacked them and had more chances in the first half. At last we played attacking football and looked like scoring. people have claimed this is all they want any they still moan.

Then in the 2nd half, again we controlled the game. We had a few chances, but then we struggled a bit to break them down. we had a spell of about 20 minutes where the ref called every little thing against us and broke the game down. That said, i don't know what people expect. very few teams ever are better than the other for a full 90 minutes. there are lulls - but apparently that's not good enough for England fans.

We also had two very good penalty shouts that went against us. Absolutely absurd how they were called considering the decision that went against us in the first half. Especially absurd considering the chance for VAR to correct the clear errors too. two clear errors for the ref IMO.

So in my view, we've had multiple good chances, we've had an unlucky penalty against us, and we've had 2 penalty calls incorrectly turned down. People from other countries on this thread have claimed it's not just English rose tinted goggles here either. Other countries agree these decisions all went against us. We then actually do score in the late minutes to get the result people want and people are still moaning. Could we really ask for much more from England today?

Sorry but for me today was a very positive result and a very positive performance. No i don't think we're up there with the best. But then it's well worth saying also that 'the best' haven't all been very impressive themselves either. Many of the supposed best have been pretty poor.

I am at least looking forward to the Panama game. Lets hope we can break them down also as clearly they will come to frustrate us. If we play the same against them as we did tonight we will win easily. You can't be that unlucky with ref decisions and finishing twice, surely?
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That's odd AK I must have been watching the same match as you.
 
Archiepoptart said:
That's odd AK I must have been watching the same match as you.
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Me too. Great summary AK, level headed and complimentary without getting carried away.
I would add that this young group are nowhere near being their best or anywhere near the finished article so to have the most promising start to a world cup for years is already quite a feat in itself.
We're in a great position to progress from the group stages now, something we've not done convincingly for some time and, with a good draw and similar performance, should make the quarter finals.
 
FFS we have played one game and won and during that game played some of the best football at the tournament and had a better result than some of the favorites and you still have more moans than satisfaction

FFS get a grip children or its off with your heads
 
Hardy31 said:
No, to me, I was watching an England side that was over concerned about defence. Whilst I accept that that is a 'club' requirement, the players need to remember their roles that could win their game. I.E Attack the weak opposition.

England winning 2-1 against a team such as Tunisia is, in my view, equivalent to Germany losing their first match.
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Astonishing comment.
 
Well, we'll see as the competition goes on. But I still think we need to make more of our chances especially when we have to play against decent opposition.
You lot seem to be easily contented Gillingham FC supporters!
 
Hardy31 said:
England winning 2-1 against a team such as Tunisia is, in my view, equivalent to Germany losing their first match.
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A fortnight ago Tunisia almost held out to a nil-nil draw against an almost full strength Spain but conceded finally in the last 5 minutes. Tunisia are no mugs,
 
There were plenty of positives from last night and still things to work on (our finishing and over playing in t the wrong areas) but overall I thought we played well, especially first half and with better finishing could have been out of sight by h/t.

Second half Tunisia sat in and make it difficult for us to break them down and to try and take a point, and almost did. We struggled to get down the sides of them until Loftus Cheek and Rashford came on.

Given some of our 'performances' in recent tournaments, this was a decent start, both in performance and result.

Not sure Young works as a LWB as he always comes inside on his right foot and narrows down the pitch and Sterling was disappointing even in the first half when we played well, given his club form, but hopefully they'll improve as the tournament goes on.

Overall a good start, and even with VAR they still can't stop grappling and holding at corners. Maybe it was a German operating VAR last night:Fingers:
 
Agree Bromley. I wasn't impressed with Maguire. Think we need a more solid defender to compliment the ball playing ones.
 
Crikey you lot don't fuck about do you! I was too busy celebrating last night to post up a comment, and I come on now to see there are already nearly 4 pages worth already! Don't you have any beers in your fridges?? Haha

I'm with AK and the more considered posts. Always makes me smile some of the negative comments when it comes to England performances. I can understand where they come from, but they just demonstrate a complete lack of consideration to all the important elements, especially in these typically high pressure tense opening matches. By that I mean:

- We have one of the youngest and more inexperienced teams in the competition
- The pressure of needing to win the opening game against weaker opposition
- Certain key players are still carrying the burden of the defeat against Iceland in the Euros on their shoulders, which creates additional pressure to that
- Tunisia being the highest ranked African team (for good reason) and one of the more defensively organised teams out of the 'smaller' nations in the competition
- The fact they put 10 men behind the ball in the second half in the hope of grinding out a point (which doesn't matter how good you are, is never a straight forward task)
- They fact Tunisia matched up our formation in the 2nd half, and used aggressive defensive some what cynical tactics throughout (especially on Kane, Ali, and Sterling)
- The heat. Not an excuse, but a very important factor. It was hotter in Volgograd than any other location so far in this tournament according to the commentators, which after our first half high press work rate, is inevitably going to cause tiredness in the latter stages of the game and make it harder to pass/move/press at the tempo we did in the first half
- The biased officiating regarding the penalty decisions, which would have been on the players minds second half

Yes we missed some guilt edged chances, yes we looked a bit laboured for a period in the second half, yes we looked a little nervous in defence with certain players made some dodgy mistakes that could have cost us, yes certain players (especially Sterling) made the wrong decisions at times going forward and arguably could have done better, yes GS could and maybe should have made his subs a bit earlier etc etc, but all in all, given the above and how difficult the first game at the World Cup more than often is, I think we played very well and massively deserved the win. On another day, with better finishing and a VAR panel that didn't include Stevie Wonders Russian cousin, we would have been 3 or 4 nil up in the first half, and the game would have been a foregone conclusion.

Far more positives than negatives for me, and how some people can't see those and still have a moan just shows a lack of understanding of football I think.

3 biggest positives for me:

- How we went at Tunisia from the off; playing on the front foot, with a high intensity tactical press/clever running off the ball/looking to get in behind at every opportunity etc.
- How good we were at set pieces. Great to see and here from GS how important they realise set pieces will be for us at this tournament and how hard they have worked on them. The delivery from corners and free kicks was first class from Tripper especially, and it's no wonder we scored from two of them. I can't remember for a long long time us being that effective all game from set plays.
- Harry Kane getting off the mark and only having two real chances, and scoring both. Watching massive players like Saurez, Muller, Messi etc, miss guilt edge opportunities, then seeing our main man tuck away that header (which wasn't as easy as Saurez opportunity in the 1st half against Egypt) will do his confidence no end of good, and will be massive for us going into the bigger matches if we do progress to the latter rounds.

All in all, a very positive performance, a massive 3 points in the bag, and given the lack of bottle and quality shown by some of the biggest countries in their opening games (of which only Spain have been a class apart going forward imo) I think we have every chance of progressing to the latter stages. Anything can happen, and most of the bigger nations will no doubt improve as the tournament unfolds, but we have as good a chance as we have had in a long time to do well I think.
 
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