England vs Iceland Matchday Thread

One of the worst games of football I've ever seen. So boring.

No balance or width on the left hand side so everything became too narrow and congested. Really miss having a left footer to keep the width and stretch things.

Poor defensively and could have easily conceded another 1 or 2 goals.

None of the subs made an impact when they came on.

Really poor decision making and execution in the final 3rd.

Hopefully just one of them games and we learn from it.
 
That was a tough watch.

In fairness we went into the last world cup on the back of a 0-4 defeat to Hungary and a 0-1 defeat to Italy, so I'm trying not to get too downhearted. I think it probably was a case of players not wanting to get injured, whereas Iceland played the game as though it was a cup final.

I do still feel a bit concerned regarding the balance of the team though. Have a feeling Southgate will go with Trippier and Foden down the left side vs Serbia, and if Foden ends up being asked to stay out wide to give us some width like Gordon tonight then there's even less chance of him being able to replicate his club form for England.
 
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I would expect to see a much improved England once the tournament gets going, however I would like to see us approach tournaments differently and scrap this idea of “warm up” games. They are utterly pointless and usually leave you with more questions than answers. You rarely see the starting 11 over these games and surely 9 days before your first game it’s really too late to tinker that much anyway, you’d hope. Get into a decent camp early doors, get the 21s involved around the place if you want practice games etc…monitor and nurse any carrying knocks and shut yourself off from the outside noise. I just don’t see what benefits these games have.
 
24 hours ago -almost everyone happy. Brilliant squad. Picked to score goals. Iceland gave us the picture perfect view of what awaits in the Group stage. So who rated?
Well Gordon can beat a man but can't cross his legs. Palmer needs half a dozen touches to set up a shot. Kane misses a sitter. Foden anonymous. 1 shot on target.
Midfield outfought. Mainoo a rare positive.
 
A game that was mainly about getting the players up to speed and connecting with each other.

It wasn't great, but if Kane puts that big chance away, Palmer scores that 1v1, then people would be talking a different game. Iceland still had some decent chances too.

Fine margins.

However, we were missing:

Our #1 GK
Our best LB (injured),
Our best RW
Jude Bellingham

Once Pickford, Saka & Jude come into the team, we will look a different animal.

The one problem I have is on the left.

Trippier just doesn't work. He's a shadow of his former self and he's coming off the back of a terrible season, by his standards. He's also not a LB and doesn't hold the width.

So if we go with Trippier at LB and Foden LW, then that left handside is going to have zero width, which in turn, won't allow Jude any space in the centre.

The balance feels all wrong with Trippier at LB.

We either need Foden to sacrifice his own game and play wide....even though he's arguably the best #10 in the world (I don't for one minute think Southgate will play Foden as a #10 though)

Or we drop Trippier and play Gomez...very unlikely given Gomez has rarely played there for England.

Or he plays Gordon LW....but then where does Foden go? And there's no way we should be dropping Foden.
 
A game that was mainly about getting the players up to speed and connecting with each other.

It wasn't great, but if Kane puts that big chance away, Palmer scores that 1v1, then people would be talking a different game. Iceland still had some decent chances too.

Fine margins.

However, we were missing:

Our #1 GK
Our best LB (injured),
Our best RW
Jude Bellingham

Once Pickford, Saka & Jude come into the team, we will look a different animal.

The one problem I have is on the left.

Trippier just doesn't work. He's a shadow of his former self and he's coming off the back of a terrible season, by his standards. He's also not a LB and doesn't hold the width.

So if we go with Trippier at LB and Foden LW, then that left handside is going to have zero width, which in turn, won't allow Jude any space in the centre.

The balance feels all wrong with Trippier at LB.

We either need Foden to sacrifice his own game and play wide....even though he's arguably the best #10 in the world (I don't for one minute think Southgate will play Foden as a #10 though)

Or we drop Trippier and play Gomez...very unlikely given Gomez has rarely played there for England.

Or he plays Gordon LW....but then where does Foden go? And there's no way we should be dropping Foden.
I'm honestly starting to wonder whether it would be worth starting Saka LB, just to give us some width down the left side until Shaw is fit enough to play.

He started off his career as a LB and he's left footed.

 
First half, completely outplayed them, missed sitters and let in a daft goal

Second half we missed more chances and they missed one.
.
Better team on the night but couldn't score.
 
Got to say Trippier at left back is driving me crazy. It just doesn’t look or feel right.

I said it before the 33 man announcement but I was hugely surprised we never took Rico Lewis.

Yes he’s right footed but he’s so comfortable on the ball and he would have been able to step into midfield from left back and I personally believe this would have allowed both Bellingham and Foden to have have central positions and then genuine width on the Wings with Saka and Gordon/Eze.

Lewis would have looked much better than Trippier.

One Southgate got massively wrong for me.

I also believe Alexander Arnold as a left back should have been tried in these 2 games at some point in the games as he could offer what I was wanting from Lewis. Anything is better than Trippier
 
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