WORLD CUP .......

[AngelBlue]

As another example .... You have trained all your life to be an olympian swimmer. You get there , then they tell you you're not swimming, but you have to compete in judo .

[AngelBlue]

Just wondering what the others thought of the England performance ??

[AngelBlue]

Wow...Ukraine 2 Slovakia 1.
Puts all of group E on 3 points , all except Belgium who are on zero points , although they have a game in hand tomorrow.

[Joe Mc]

England are missing all the drive and sharpness that Gareth first instilled in them when he first arrived on the job about 7 years ago ? He was a man who didn't like change within his own formations and was loyal to players even if they were not getting first team football with their respective clubs. He was able to bring stability and team spirit to England in this way but I am guessing that things have changed and the formula is no longer working for a couple of reasons. I also sensed some kind of disunity amongst the English players, maybe there are little schisms happening ?? you never know. Anyway maybe England will prove me wrong. It was all a bit Vanilla AB ? I would have much preferred your Indian buffet lol. Was a bad performance sad to say.

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[AngelBlue]

Hi Joe.....
Yes, I agree.
I said at the start of tournament that my only concern was that the new squad could "gel well". It may well be proving that it's just not working.

Since Southgate took over he created the most successful England team since 1966.
But maybe the radical changes are a step too far.

I fear we have now gone into regression rather than progression on this occasion.

Plus my other worry is that I seem a little more outspoken than our Roy !!! Which in itself is very alarming !!!!!!!!

Oh, and you are welcome to nibble in my Indian buffet any time LOL....

[AngelBlue]

.... I wish they'd stop setting off those smoke bombs. I can't see what I'm looking at .....

[AngelBlue]

I know it might sound "petty" , but I'm not a fan of the puma design kits.
They look ok from the front, but I'm not liking the back . A weird semi circle on back of shirt and same on back of each leg of shorts .

[Sir Neil]

Originally Posted by AngelBlue

Just wondering what the others thought of the England performance ??

In my opinion, England’s performance wasn’t actually that bad. It wasn’t an amazing, I grant that, but it’s a point against a decent team. Teams aren’t just going to roll over and die because we have a great squad of players. No less that Czech Republic and Austria did for France and Portugal.

The positives were that Kane is now off the mark, Saka looked very good once again, Luke Shaw is coming back to give us balance on the left, and that we kept on the front foot for longer. On Sunday, we slackened off in the second half. Last night, it was for about 10 minutes in first half. We created chances in the second.

But read the papers or comment sections of social media today, and you’d think that the sky had just fallen in. We live in an over-reactive world where every berk has an opinion, and everything is deemed a crisis. It isn’t. We still have 4 points and sit top of the group. The 1990 World Cup and 2021 Euros started off slowly for England, with a draw in the middle game. But then England came alive in the knock-out phase. There is plenty to play for yet.

[AngelBlue]

Neil... I don't read the papers .
I'm still scarred from when I had my newsagents and all the printing was halted to wait for the late sports results, hence my papers were always late, the paper boys and girls had to go to school and we had to deliver all of them ourselves . Nightmare!!
But that by the by , just had a flash of ptsd there for a moment!

But with regard of the team we will just have to see what happens in the next game .
Of course we all hope that any issues can be ironed out , but only time will tell.

We always knew I think that there would be "teething troubles" with bringing in so many new members into the squad and dropping others.

My mantra has always been that Southgate knows what he's doing .
And let's keep on believing that.

But realistically , out of all the people I talk to on the planet you Neil are the only one I know that has said "it wasn't that bad" LOL....
And I promise I'm NOT saying that in a negative tone.
As I said before, onwards and upwards hopefully !

[AngelBlue]

So just getting ready for Netherlands v France ...
Ooohhhhh but I wish Ruud Gullit was still in the Netherlands team.....