Belgium vs England

[Belgiumburnley]

Madge is joining the party

[conyoviejo]

Why a FK? The England player clearly got the ball and De Bruyne kicked the England player. If there was a free kick it should have gone to England. No doubt AC and DPiS will be along shortly to defend the ref.

Exactly,never a free kick in a month of Sundays,he played the ball.Very bad decision from the ref.

[MACCA]

We seem to be going into this similarly to when we beat them 2-1.
Dier and Walker in a defensive 3. Henderson and Rice in central midfield.

The main difference is Trippier instead of TAA on the right, and Chilwell on the left.
Front 3 is Grealish and Kane instead of DCL and Rashford.

Belgium should have been out of sight in the first 30 mins at Wembley, we got a very fortunate penalty then a fluke goal.

Luck based results like that dont repeat very often

[conyoviejo]

Don't think even Ashy can defend the ref on that one.

[huw.Y.WattfromWare]

As Dier passes it to a marked man, AGAIN, and we lose the ball.
What is GS obsession with playing people out of position?
Walker, a FB, and Dier, a failed CM, both in our back 3 alongside Mings, who is at best the 5th best CB in the country. Behind Maguire, Keane, Coady and Tarks.
Mount and Grealish are playing as attackers, which has never been their club position.
Pickford is masquerading as a goalkeeper.
The guy hasn’t got a clue.

[boatshed bill]

Why not, he’s falling for it when dubruyne (sp) hits the deck screaming...

Well, because it's cheating. And just because one of the best players in Europe does it it doesn't make it right.

[FactualFrank]

Not yet a fan of Saka from what I've seen of him.

[Wellsy1882]

England are shite
The players he picks arent the best players
Not 1 world beater

[bobinho]

Best players are irrelevant really.... he needs to pick the form players and play them in the positions they are used to playing in for their clubs.

He’s guilty of picking his favourites and just finding a space for them.

Kinda reminds me of someone else...

[Buxtonclaret]

As Dier passes it to a marked man, AGAIN, and we lose the ball.
What is GS obsession with playing people out of position?
Walker, a FB, and Dier, a failed CM, both in our back 3 alongside Mings, who is at best the 5th best CB in the country. Behind Maguire, Keane, Coady and Tarks.
Mount and Grealish are playing as attackers, which has never been their club position.
Pickford is masquerading as a goalkeeper.
The guy hasn’t got a clue.

Best post on the thread.

[bobinho]

Well, because it's cheating. And just because one of the best players in Europe does it it doesn't make it right.

Well, you are having the best of the argument so far Bill... gotta agree with that.

[Wokingclaret]

Is it a Lego stadium

[dpinsussex]

But he's good with his feet!

**** with his hands tho.

I thought that was the most important bit of being a gk otherwise you would be an outfield player

[FactualFrank]

To be fair we've passed it around well but we need that bite upfront.

Rice off, mount into mid, Sancho on.

[Dyched]

Best players are irrelevant really.... he needs to pick the form players and play them in the positions they are used to playing in for their clubs.

He’s guilty of picking his favourites and just finding a space for them.

Kinda reminds me of someone else...

What would be the difference?

[boatshed bill]

**** with his hands tho.

I thought that was the most important bit of being a gk otherwise you would be an outfield player

Not in GS's world

[Carport]

Best post on the thread.

Except Coady is having to isolate and Maguire suspended

[Devils_Advocate]

Missing 3 or 4 key players against the best team in the world was always going to be difficult and had Kane's header gone in could have been a completely different game

That said both Dier and Trippier look big weak links and Southgate needs to cut the loyalty to them and make some changes for the next match

[Zlatan]

The problem with England and it’s perpetuated by Southgate is that whilst you try to play like other nations who have better players (3 at the back malarkey) and you don’t have the players with the skill set to do what that needs you’ll always come unstuck.

What needs to happen is the England manager (whoever it is) needs to pick the best players on form and try to shape the team to fit the most “best” players on form into the team as best they can. These players are meant to be the best of the best, they don’t need to be managed at National level, they should already know how to play the game, they need to be helped to work as a team with the other best players.

[boatshed bill]

Anyone listening on 5Live?
Chris Waddle, possibly the least literate summariser ever!

[Zlatan]

As Dier passes it to a marked man, AGAIN, and we lose the ball.
What is GS obsession with playing people out of position?
Walker, a FB, and Dier, a failed CM, both in our back 3 alongside Mings, who is at best the 5th best CB in the country. Behind Maguire, Keane, Coady and Tarks.
Mount and Grealish are playing as attackers, which has never been their club position.
Pickford is masquerading as a goalkeeper.
The guy hasn’t got a clue.

^^^^
This

[FactualFrank]

Missing 3 or 4 key players against the best team in the world was always going to be difficult and had Kane's header gone in could have been a completely different game

That said both Dier and Trippier look big weak links and Southgate needs to cut the loyalty to them and make some changes for the next match

Think Trippier has done fine that half. Dier the obvious one.

[Belgiumburnley]

Missing 3 or 4 key players against the best team in the world was always going to be difficult and had Kane's header gone in could have been a completely different game

True but Belgium also miss Eden Hazard.

[tiger76]

Well that 45 minutes showed how far England are from competing with the very best, GS is rapidly being found out at this level.

Good job I'm A Celeb starts tonight because he needs the press to be distracted.

Pickford all fingers and thumbs again, how did this lad ever earn the tag of a top keeper he's pants.

That said Nick Pope must have a rueful smile on the bench, and Dean Henderson.

Dier & Walker should be put out to pasture, they were past their sell by date a couple of seasons ago, and yet clueless Gareth continues to pick them on reputation.

[Dyched]

As Dier passes it to a marked man, AGAIN, and we lose the ball.
What is GS obsession with playing people out of position?
Walker, a FB, and Dier, a failed CM, both in our back 3 alongside Mings, who is at best the 5th best CB in the country. Behind Maguire, Keane, Coady and Tarks.
Mount and Grealish are playing as attackers, which has never been their club position.
Pickford is masquerading as a goalkeeper.
The guy hasn’t got a clue.

Diers been playing CH for a while now. I’m sure Southgate agrees more with Mourinho than what fans think.

People want players in form to play and when they do they mourn their out of position. Do people really think an international manager is going to swap and change his system every international break to cater for the players that were in form in the months leading up to it?

[Rileybobs]

Winks on for Henderson. Genius.

[Cirrus_Minor]

Harry Winks????

[SalisburyClaret]

He’s sometimes get in the Spurs side

[Devils_Advocate]

Think Trippier has done fine that half. Dier the obvious one.

James is miles better as a RWB and when not suspended should definitely be backup for TAA. Had we had more defenders available Walker would have been better at RWB but Trippier seems like one of Southgates favourites along with Dier and Rice and that needs to change going forward

[Zlatan]

Who’ee W@nks... oh dear...

[dpinsussex]

Sloppy playing out from the back... says it all

[bfcjg]

Every time the commentator says Deir I have to agree.

[dpinsussex]

England need to learn to play a ball in behind. Belgium back line is so high its ridiculous.

[bobinho]

Madge is joining the party

With Thierry Henry making a guest appearance smooching in from the right...

[FactualFrank]

Now Saka gives the ball away.

[RalphCoatesComb]

Not a chance rcc...

He’s here for the duration I’m afraid.

Shame.

My granny could have saved at least one of those

[Rileybobs]

Kyle Walker is dreadful.

[SalisburyClaret]

A Portaloo would be more useful in midfield than Declan Rice

[Rileybobs]

Kyle Walker is dreadful.

Since I said this 6 minutes ago he’s conceded possession each of the three times he’s had the ball.

[FactualFrank]

Since I said this 6 minutes ago he’s conceded possession each of the three times he’s had the ball.

Stop saying it then.

[tim_noone]

Stop saying it then.

[boatshed bill]

Waddle quote "He's good to look at on the eye"

[bf2k]

Why is one of the worlds best strikers constantly coming out to the flank to get the ball???

Bye bye Southgate.

[scouseclaret]

Kyle Walker is dogshit

[KRBFC]

Missing 3 or 4 key players against the best team in the world was always going to be difficult and had Kane's header gone in could have been a completely different game

That said both Dier and Trippier look big weak links and Southgate needs to cut the loyalty to them and make some changes for the next match

I agree with that, Trippier Dier Rice/Henderson the weak links, the system is usually boring but I think we’ve actually played quite well. Grealish is an outstanding player

[boatshed bill]

Why is one of the worlds best strikers constantly coming out to the flank to get the ball???

Bye bye Southgate.

I very much doubt it.

[bf2k]

...but I think we’ve actually played quite well.

Eh? Belgium went 2-0 up and said “go on then. Try your best”. We’ve never looked like scoring.

[bf2k]

I very much doubt it.

We can but hope.

[Dyched]

Why is one of the worlds best strikers constantly coming out to the flank to get the ball???

Bye bye Southgate.

You obviously don’t watch Kane often then.

[Rileybobs]

Getting some credit for a decent second half performance. But this is a team 2-0 up happy to sit back knowing that they won’t concede. I really don’t think there’s many positives to be taken from this. Southgate is unfortunate with the lack of quality he has to choose from but he’s also massively to blame for his squad selections, negative tactics and starting lineups.