Nations League Internationals. | Page 2 | Vital Football

Nations League Internationals.

Bowen was the main culprit of wasted chances. Kane was in position countless times and didn't get a pass or a decent one.
Kane set up Bowen early....squandered.
Bowen had volley on goal....missed.
Kane thru ball, our player was taken out and couldn't get to it.
Bowen cut back, Kane in position, Bowen poor ball.
Saka went for goal on tight angle had no chance, Kane just behind him in the box.
Kane in position on goal, ball crossed in, off target.
Pen, not a pen.
Bowen volley straight at keeper.
Bowen cross into box, 3 of our players in position....missed them all.

Kane gave service but got little back.
 
Nick Real Deal said:
Bowen was the main culprit of wasted chances. Kane was in position countless times and didn't get a pass or a decent one.
Kane set up Bowen early....squandered.
Bowen had volley on goal....missed.
Kane thru ball, our player was taken out and couldn't get to it.
Bowen cut back, Kane in position, Bowen poor ball.
Saka went for goal on tight angle had no chance, Kane just behind him in the box.
Kane in position on goal, ball crossed in, off target.
Pen, not a pen.
Bowen volley straight at keeper.
Bowen cross into box, 3 of our players in position....missed them all.

Kane gave service but got little back.
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Where I have some sympathy for Lazy Kane is the mess behind him. You have naturally left wingbacks in Henry and Sess not in the squad but Gareth plays Justin at LWB. He then goes back to Maguire who has failed in that LCB position year after year for club and country.

So you have a right footed LCB alongside a right footed RWB. How does Gareth balance that? He puts teacher's pet Mason Mount in front of them, another right footer.

So if you're the number 9 and you have 3 players down the left on their wrong foot, you just know there will be missed passes and awkward moments.

This is very basic stuff for an international manager who has the deepest pool of players this country has ever produced. It is the deepest pool of players in the world right now and just needs organising. The man is an idiot.
 
Nick Real Deal said:
This was a game Southgate should have put out his strongest team and got 3 points. Germany was always going to be difficult. Now we could be 6 points down.
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Every cloud. If Southgate has a disaster in this Nations League and then crashes and burns in the Qatar heat then we might see someone better take control. Couldn't be a better time with so many of us against the World Cup even taking place.

By 2023, there is a chance that someone better than Southgate might have a chance to mould this generation of footballers. It's not that difficult. You just have to ride off the great work that the domestic managers do with these players tactically.
 
meee93 said:
Not a nations league game but Ben Davies was outstanding for Wales playing LCB ina 5 in beating Ukraine to qualify for the world cup.
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As has been demonstrated on numerous occasions this season a terrific display of defensive reading of the game, being in the right place at the right time, and making numerous critical blocks and interceptions. Defensive master class by a quality defender.
 
SmithAndJones said:
As has been demonstrated on numerous occasions this season a terrific display of defensive reading of the game, being in the right place at the right time, and making numerous critical blocks and interceptions. Defensive master class by a quality defender.
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Conte wouldn't appear to agree with that summary given that we're apparently looking to spend a significant wedge of our transfer kitty on Bastoni or A.N. Other.

Do you think we should keep Davies as first choice and invest the money in another area of the squad?
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Conte wouldn't appear to agree with that summary given that we're apparently looking to spend a significant wedge of our transfer kitty on Bastoni or A.N. Other.

Do you think we should keep Davies as first choice and invest the money in another area of the squad?
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No , we have to invest in a quality LCB .
As good as Davies was , it was all hands to the pumps .
We need to look forward and improve what we have . There are clearly better out there . Davies will be a fantastic squad player at CB and LB .
I didn’t see the England game enough to comment on it , but some at the BBQ we were at said it was a stupid team to put out .
How is Maguire still playing .? Bowen should have been a sub , nor played from the start , although I’m only assuming he played from the start .
I did watch about twenty minutes of the first half and Justin looked lost . Like he had just washed his feet and couldn’t do a thing with them .
I totally agree with Nick , this was a game for our strongest side .
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Conte wouldn't appear to agree with that summary given that we're apparently looking to spend a significant wedge of our transfer kitty on Bastoni or A.N. Other.

Do you think we should keep Davies as first choice and invest the money in another area of the squad?
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I think that Conte may well agree with my summary, but is very conscious of the fact that Davies is his only LCB option currently. Bastoni is clearly a significantly younger player of high potential, who it makes sense we should sign, albeit it worrying that his agent seems keener than he is. He would however then need to, like Bentancur and Kulu before him, demonstrate that he improves us. Davies would however be very unfortunate to lose his place in the starting eleven, given his form over the last six months.
 
SmithAndJones said:
I think that Conte may well agree with my summary, but is very conscious of the fact that Davies is his only LCB option currently. Bastoni is clearly a significantly younger player of high potential, who it makes sense we should sign, albeit it worrying that his agent seems keener than he is. He would however then need to, like Bentancur and Kulu before him, demonstrate that he improves us. Davies would however be very unfortunate to lose his place in the starting eleven, given his form over the last six months.
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Bastoni - should he come - will cost significantly more than Kulu or Bentancur and may well be our most expensive signing this summer. For that sort of money you'd have to assume he would go straight into the first team and, in Conte's view, a significant upgrade on Davies.

I do subscribe to the thinking though that you make your greatest improvement by strengthening your weakest areas. So on that basis, if Davies is that good, perhaps we should buy a backup to cover him and invest the money elsewhere? Top quality forwards don't come cheap and we desperately need competition/cover for Kane and Son.
 
Good pro, but not buying all of this Davies stuff. Have a closer look at where he is in all of the big moments, not just some of them because he is involved. There was a reason Hennessey was MotM.

It has been Davies first season playing at centre half and he is clearly in an adjustment period, just like it was with Dier. Once again, Ben found his feet planted in key moments. He also ended up out of position and too far ahead of Rodon a number of times. I wasn't in the least bit impressed with Rodon either.

Conte knows all this though. He isn't fooled by players that can look good on a MOTD highlights reel. He wants to have the best players over 90 mins. Hence why we're in for Bastoni.
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Bastoni - should he come - will cost significantly more than Kulu or Bentancur and may well be our most expensive signing this summer. For that sort of money you'd have to assume he would go straight into the first team and, in Conte's view, a significant upgrade on Davies.

I do subscribe to the thinking though that you make your greatest improvement by strengthening your weakest areas. So on that basis, if Davies is that good, perhaps we should buy a backup to cover him and invest the money elsewhere? Top quality forwards don't come cheap and we desperately need competition/cover for Kane and Son.
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Based on our ratings on this site Davies comes bottom of the log every year, whereby I seem to be an exception in rating him as highly as I do. I like players who are good pros who can be relied on to put in a shift week in, week out and maintain a decent attitude whether they are in or out of the side. I have no problem though with us signing Bastoni, just let him then prove that he improves us, and he's got a harder act to follow than many believe. High priced signings don't always achieve that.
As for the competition/cover for Kane and Son it is the same old story of players of the required quality being prepared to spend a lot of time on the bench. I really cant see a fifty thousand plus striker being prepared to join Spurs currently.
 
I have nothing but admiration for Ben, he was asked to fulfil the LCB role and gave it everything he had.
But despite that it is clear that he's not on the level of Romero, that is the level we need if we are to breach the gap to the top two.
Make no mistake, Conte wants to challenging for the title next season.
 
SmithAndJones said:
Based on our ratings on this site Davies comes bottom of the log every year, whereby I seem to be an exception in rating him as highly as I do. I like players who are good pros who can be relied on to put in a shift week in, week out and maintain a decent attitude whether they are in or out of the side. I have no problem though with us signing Bastoni, just let him then prove that he improves us, and he's got a harder act to follow than many believe. High priced signings don't always achieve that.
As for the competition/cover for Kane and Son it is the same old story of players of the required quality being prepared to spend a lot of time on the bench. I really cant see a fifty thousand plus striker being prepared to join Spurs currently.
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Re. the forward conundrum, I guess it depends on what the proposition to a new striker is. If it's on the basis that it will be to provide cover for Kane and Son then, no, he probably won't come (unless he's a fifty thousand pound forward, in which case he'll probably be delighted at the opportunity!). If, however, it's to provide competition for Kane and Son, and selection is based on merit not on reputation and seniority, and in the knowledge that there will be a lot of football to be played next season, then I think that's an attractive proposition. Jota and Diaz (both £45m plus) joined Liverpool in the knowledge that they had Salah, Mane and Firmino ahead of them.

Son and Kane had largely injury-free seasons last season. Son generally does. But Son will be 30 and Kane 29 (** edited re. muttley pointing out Kane's correct age on another thread) come August. Can we really risk going into yet another season without a third goal-scoring striker should either of those be injured for any length of time?
 
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Gary Onedaysoon said:
Re. the forward conundrum, I guess it depends on what the proposition to a new striker is. If it's on the basis that it will be to provide cover for Kane and Son then, no, he probably won't come (unless he's a fifty thousand pound forward, in which case he'll probably be delighted at the opportunity!). If, however, it's to provide competition for Kane and Son, and selection is based on merit not on reputation and seniority, and in the knowledge that there will be a lot of football to be played next season, then I think that's an attractive proposition. Jota and Diaz (both £45m plus) joined Liverpool in the knowledge that they had Salah, Mane and Firmino ahead of them.

Son and Kane had largely injury-free seasons last season. Son generally does. But both will be 30 come August. Can we really risk going into yet another season without a third goal-scoring striker should either of those be injured for any length of time?
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Good points, I will just add that those players also went their in the knowledge they would win trophies. As of this moment we don't have that attraction.
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Re. the forward conundrum, I guess it depends on what the proposition to a new striker is. If it's on the basis that it will be to provide cover for Kane and Son then, no, he probably won't come (unless he's a fifty thousand pound forward, in which case he'll probably be delighted at the opportunity!). If, however, it's to provide competition for Kane and Son, and selection is based on merit not on reputation and seniority, and in the knowledge that there will be a lot of football to be played next season, then I think that's an attractive proposition. Jota and Diaz (both £45m plus) joined Liverpool in the knowledge that they had Salah, Mane and Firmino ahead of them.

Son and Kane had largely injury-free seasons last season. Son generally does. But both will be 30 come August. Can we really risk going into yet another season without a third goal-scoring striker should either of those be injured for any length of time?
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I think we all know the answer to that question. The only alternative answer involves Scarlett, Parrott, Etete or Williams. I don't see Kane being pulled off after 70 mins for the kids yet, let alone sitting one out and letting them start to recharge his batteries.

We surely have to spend big on an alternative number 9 this summer.
 
Gary Onedaysoon said:
Conte wouldn't appear to agree with that summary given that we're apparently looking to spend a significant wedge of our transfer kitty on Bastoni or A.N. Other.

Do you think we should keep Davies as first choice and invest the money in another area of the squad?
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We already have someone in the squad who could rotate with Dier and Davies but for some reason he isn't being afforded an opportunity, Conte seems to prefer playing an already suspect player out of position. I just don't get it.
 
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