Netherlands vs England - Wednesday, 10th July @ 20:00

[DJ Barry Hammond]

The Dutch managed by Koeman… “Do I not like that.”

Edited 7 July by DJ Barry Hammond

[RowlattsFox]

Maybe its the beer but i actually think this is the first time our forward players will have space to shine and we will see our best performance. 

Then got done by the French in the final. 

[kingfox]

Have admired the Dutch national team ever since I was a kid, I bloody hate it when we play them.

 

But I’d happily see us make Van Dijk cry on Wednesday. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

3 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Maybe its the beer but i actually think this is the first time our forward players will have space to shine and we will see our best performance. 

Then got done by the French in the final. 

Alternatively - if we play the shape we did today, the Dutch could muller us down the flanks.

 

Short turnaround too - will Kane be anywhere near fit enough to start (given he didn’t look so today).

[KFS]

Van Dijk is a smug ****. Hope we make him cry 

[Mike Oxlong]

For club football my guiding principle has always been that you support where you’re from but as I’ve got older my feelings of support for England have waned and I want the best/most entertaining  footballing sides to win the big international tournaments 

Edited 6 July by Mike Oxlong

[Bert]

14 minutes ago, Mike Oxlong said:

For club football my guiding principle has always been that you support where you’re from but as I’ve got older my feelings of support for England have waned and I want the best/most entertaining  footballing sides to win the big international tournaments 

Well surely if you’re from England you should support where you’re from

[Mike Oxlong]

2 minutes ago, Bert said:

Well surely if you’re from England you should support where you’re from

Yeah, I’m aware of the contradiction. That’s why I posted it 

 

I think over the years I’ve become disillusioned with one drab England team after another. I used to go and watch their games at Wembley when I was in my 20s but now don’t have any strong feeling for them. I was born here but my heritage isn’t English so I also have a legitimate interest in other national teams but I’m not sure if that’s contributed to the change as I’ve got older 

[Sly]

10 hours ago, KFS said:

Van Dijk is a smug ****. Hope we make him cry 

I hope Pickford smashes him again! 

[Sly]

Are we now worrying that a team that is spearheaded by Weghurst is going to smash us? 
 

Netherlands are okay, however they don’t have the individual talent that Spain, France or England have. 
 

This will be another ground out game, however I think we’ll get more space in this. Bizarrely if Kane is injured, that might actually play into our hands. A semi fit Shaw offers more balance than Trippier as well. 

[Lionator]

5 minutes ago, Sly said:

Are we now worrying that a team that is spearheaded by Weghurst is going to smash us? 
 

Netherlands are okay, however they don’t have the individual talent that Spain, France or England have. 
 

This will be another ground out game, however I think we’ll get more space in this. Bizarrely if Kane is injured, that might actually play into our hands. A semi fit Shaw offers more balance than Trippier as well. 

He may be crap and may be a laughing stock but at international level he makes them a much better team. They’ve improved every game which he’s played in, he gives the wide players more space. He makes their team a better sum of its parts. If we struggled a bit against Embolo, we will also need to step up v Weghorst. 

[marcymarc666]

This is likely to be another borefest. Same line up, same formation.

Southgate has to be the safest manager in the history of football. Ive heard he's cancelled his holiday to Margate because it's too close to Gaza.

[Mike1983]

15 minutes ago, marcymarc666 said:

This is likely to be another borefest. Same line up, same formation.

Southgate has to be the safest manager in the history of football. Ive heard he's cancelled his holiday to Margate because it's too close to Gaza.

Our £1.3 billion squad faced Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Switzerland, resulting in one win and four draws in regular playing time.

Another semi-final thanks to Southgate’s tactical acumen.

We’re never getting rid of him are we…

[Super_horns]

I think he will go after the Euros .

 

Can see a Croatia 2018 type game here .

[Muzzy_no7]

Kaveh as insufferable as ever on SSN

[Lionator]

37 minutes ago, Mike1983 said:

Our £1.3 billion squad faced Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Switzerland, resulting in one win and four draws in regular playing time.

Another semi-final thanks to Southgate’s tactical acumen.

We’re never getting rid of him are we…

Sven must lie awake every night wondering how he didn’t get a run like this in a single tournament 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Sven must lie awake every night wondering how he didn’t get a run like this in a single tournament 

WC2006 wasn't a bad run tbf.

 

Also (again) we lionise Robson for a 1-0 win against Egypt, a 1-1 draw against Ireland and two extra time wins against Belgium and Cameroon.

[Lionator]

Just now, leicsmac said:

WC2006 wasn't a bad run tbf.

 

Also (again) we lionise Robson for a 1-0 win against Egypt, a 1-1 draw against Ireland and two extra time wins against Belgium and Cameroon.

His QF runs were Brazil (GOAT) and Portugal x2 when they were a top 3 team.

 

Southgate has had Sweden, Ukraine, France (lost) and Switzerland in QF’s

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Lionator said:

His QF runs were Brazil (GOAT) and Portugal x2 when they were a top 3 team.

 

Southgate has had Sweden, Ukraine, France (lost) and Switzerland in QF’s

I think we should have taken Portugal both times we played them with the quality we had on offer tbh (and without a bent ref we certainly would have in 2004).

 

People can make the points about luck as much as they like, the counterpoints remain as strong in return, but it's interesting to hear the discussion.

[Vacamion]

 

If only it could just finally click and we could give them a right doing, in style, like we did in 1996.

 

However, based on what has occurred so far - , Southgate starts Trippier and instructs him to continue with that stopping and cutting in on his other foot thing, it's tactical gold dust, Southgate also starts an injured Kane and leaves him on for 112 minutes, Foden buzzes about but is largely ineffective, Bellingham strolls about imperiously, shouting at people and pointing, but not doing much football, we have zero shots on target until the 88th minute, it's 0-0 after 120 mins, we have a microscopic xG, and then we go and spawn it on penalties.

 

 

 

 

 

[marcymarc666]

1 hour ago, Mike1983 said:

Our £1.3 billion squad faced Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Switzerland, resulting in one win and four draws in regular playing time.

Another semi-final thanks to Southgate’s tactical acumen.

We’re never getting rid of him are we…

Imagine getting to the final on pens and the FA decide to give him another four years, you'd rather have Trump as manager !

[Guest Col city fan]

This will have to be a very different game, simply because the Dutch will not allow us to play slow, keep-ball.

They’ll be at us from the first minute and if we concede early, we’ll have to come forward and try to create.

I’m hoping this brings us out of our defensive mind-set, and we see a good game.

The Dutch have been further here than they have in recent years, so they ain’t gonna give in easy.

[Mike1983]

57 minutes ago, Lionator said:

His QF runs were Brazil (GOAT) and Portugal x2 when they were a top 3 team.

 

Southgate has had Sweden, Ukraine, France (lost) and Switzerland in QF’s

Add to that the fact that our run in the last Euros couldn't have been more tailored for us to win. Every game was played at Wembley, there were barely any opposition fans, and we got a soft penalty in the semis after a Sterling dive.

 

I doubt Southgate would even manage to qualify for the Euros with a squad like Switzerland's, let alone the majority of the opposition we've now faced.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Mike1983 said:

Add to that the fact that our run in the last Euros couldn't have been more tailored for us to win. Every game was played at Wembley, there were barely any opposition fans, and we got a soft penalty in the semis after a Sterling dive.

 

I doubt Southgate would even manage to qualify for the Euros with a squad like Switzerland's, let alone the majority of the opposition we've now faced.

And there was me thinking things like the Earth being an oblate spheroid and when a coin is flipped, it lands heads, tails or edge were facts.

 

Sorry for being obtuse here, but this is just a fair working hypothesis and people are doing far too much stating that as fact and not qualifying their remarks because they have their own dislike of Southgate. As per yesterday, the difference is important - it's the difference between "I think this" and "I think this and you should do because it's a fact", which isn't really on.

 

(For what it's worth, I think we can do much better in terms of management than him, but some of the criticism here and elsewhere lacks even the faintest piece of factual rationality, so balance is needed.)

[Vacamion]

 

A meaningful game against a quality opponent.

 

It's on ITV.

 

We are donald ducked.