Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England

[foxes_rule1978]

At euro 96’ we didn’t play well until the Dutch game the 3rd match in the group.. just need to improve and for me we can only get better from here 

[StanSP]

We don't need to go mental over-analaysing every single little thing from tonight. 

Plenty of positives to take forward, and it's only the first game of the tournament. Main thing is 3 points and get the win first up, and then grow into the tournament, and not peak too soon. 

[Unabomber]

Cesc seems good though and Micah is just there for his laugh which I can understand. 

[filbertway]

Typical performance under Southgate. Won by virtue of having better players. Made a much poorer team look better than they are.

[Tielemans63]

Cesc is miles better than either of Ferdinand or Richards, even in his second (or even third) language.

[Nalis]

22 minutes ago, FoxyPV said:

Didi Hamann is an excellent analyst and is dressing down Southgate on RTE.

 

I dont agree. I think he gets the odd discussion point spot on but his whole 'thing' is being controversial for the sake of it, to me he's basically the German Eamon Dunphy.

[Ely fox]

5 minutes ago, Unabomber said:

Why is Rio a pundit he’s an absolute idiot 

And he sounds like Kermit the frog 🐸 

[AKCJ]

Foden on the left just does not work. Other than that, no real complaints. We'll grow into the tournament.

 

Important win against a team that'll finish 2nd behind us.

[Guest Col city fan]

I saw it as a typical England performance under Southgate.

Lots of endeavour.. (not once have I thought these lads don’t won’t to do well), with some quality. 
Bellingham with the killer goal, underpinning his talent at such a young age.

BUT.. as always, as soon as the opposition start putting us under pressure, we back-off, drop deeper and i have no doubt that a better team would have equalised tonight.

Yes, we won and kept a clean sheet (I thought Guehi was superb), but it’s just this lack of belief that we can control games for lengthy periods that typifies England under Southgate.

I have no doubt that if we finally win a tournament this time it’ll be DESPITE Southgate, not because of him.

I just can’t see England having the confidence to beat one of the top teams.

Hope I’m wrong, genuinely.

[foxfanazer]

1 minute ago, filbertway said:

Typical performance under Southgate. Won by virtue of having better players. Made a much poorer team look better than they are.

And it'll catch up with us like it always does. People can say a wins a win and we'll improve but deep down we know it'll be the same old story of failure. 

 

Am I a miserable git? Yes.

 

Will I be proven right? Almost certainly 

 

 

[cityfanlee23]

13 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

To be fair, not many teams end up playing more than 1 of the other big sides in a major tournament. Look at Argentina in the last World Cup a group of: Poland, Mexico and Saudi Arabia (who they lost to) then Australia, Netherlands and Croatia to make the final against France. 
If you are one of the top 8 teams in the world, then you generally get a pretty comfortable group, followed by a group runner up in the last 16. It’s the same for everyone. It’s not until you get to the last 8 you might start meeting the big sides.

The more they expand these tournaments, the easier the group stage opposition will be.

Yeah you make a fair point I haven’t really looked at past runs of other nations, I guess it’s just the typical tournament feeling we get where it feels like we go into a tournament thinking we can win, then falter at the first challenge. 
 

I think over the next few tournaments the hype will increase because we have got some real generational talents coming through now and we need to find a way to really utilise them. 
 

 

[trugerkem]

Same old same old … let’s hope it has a better outcome 

[trugerkem]

Thought Fabregas talked a lot of sense 

[foxfanazer]

Just now, cityfanlee23 said:

Yeah you make a fair point I haven’t really looked at past runs of other nations, I guess it’s just the typical tournament feeling we get where it feels like we go into a tournament thinking we can win, then falter at the first challenge. 
 

I think over the next few tournaments the hype will increase because we have got some real generational talents coming through now and we need to find a way to really utilise them. 
 

 

The FA need to go down the proven winner avenue and really give these players the best chance of maximising there talents. He doesn't have to be English or a yes man

[foxes_rule1978]

 

1 minute ago, trugerkem said:

Thought Fabregas talked a lot of sense 

Yeah he is great on the panel love listening to him 

[Tielemans63]

It's a win. I'm just frustrated that there was an opportunity to stretch the game when they started committing men forward. I incorrectly thought that maybe Southgate had done this as a bit of a ploy to then bring on the likes of Gordon and Palmer to exploit the space and play on the break. Was disappointed that we sat back and just dug it out, but maybe that will stand us in good stead when we do have to dig it out later in the tournament? How's that for positive spin?

 

Edited 16 June by Tielemans63

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

And it'll catch up with us like it always does. People can say a wins a win and we'll improve but deep down we know it'll be the same old story of failure. 

 

Am I a miserable git? Yes.

 

Will I be proven right? Almost certainly 

 

 

I think that's OK tbh.

 

England football fans have illogical self-deprecation practically built-in, and the tournament history certainly helps reinforce that.

 

 

1 minute ago, foxfanazer said:

The FA need to go down the proven winner avenue and really give these players the best chance of maximising there talents. He doesn't have to be English or a yes man

I wonder who the first name out of the hat in that regard who would actually take the job would be?

[foxfanazer]

Just now, leicsmac said:

I think that's OK tbh.

 

England football fans have illogical self-deprecation practically built-in, and the tournament history certainly helps reinforce that.

 

 

I wonder who the first name out of the hat in that regard who would actually take the job would be?

Hardly illogical then

[foxes_rule1978]

If you want to get into international management England are a great choice, talent throughout and a chance to make history with one of the biggest underachievers. I don’t think there would be a lack of suitors if Southgate falls flat again. 

[One Arm Babba]

13 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Foden on the left just does not work. Other than that, no real complaints. We'll grow into the tournament.

 

Important win against a team that'll finish 2nd behind us.

I think fabregas comments on Foden were spot on. Step up and show how good you are, don’t sulk around the pitch. Another performance like that and I can see Palmer taking his place and not looking back. Foden is a great player in a great man city team. He needs to prove he can do it for England. It’s on him and nobody else. 

[Lambert09]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but Trent not being able to tackle is even worse in cm than it is at fb. At least he could show people outside before. Looks so easy to play against 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

Hardly illogical then

Expectation of similar behaviours when variables have changed in ways that can't really be analysed (as is the case with this England team against past England teams and a lot of other situations) is, sadly illogical. It's the Monte Carlo Fallacy (I think).

 

The truth is, we have no way of really knowing how England will do in this tournament (and when they fetch up against "better" opposition) and I think it's best to qualify those remarks tbh.

[AKCJ]

4 minutes ago, One Arm Babba said:

I think fabregas comments on Foden were spot on. Step up and show how good you are, don’t sulk around the pitch. Another performance like that and I can see Palmer taking his place and not looking back. Foden is a great player in a great man city team. He needs to prove he can do it for England. It’s on him and nobody else. 

For me it's nothing to do with attitude, it's him not being a winger. Especially not on the left. We're not utilising his strengths by playing him there.

[lcfcsnow]

Just now, AKCJ said:

For me it's nothing to do with attitude, it's him not being a winger. Especially not on the left. We're not utilising his strengths by playing him there.

It's a problem as Southgate will always have Saka on the right, but Foden and Palmer both best suited to the right drifting inside.

[trugerkem]

He is shoehorning Foden into the team …. 2nd half was crying out for Gordon to replace him but Southgate instead of going for a 2nd goal played safe …. again