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Southgate: Episode IV - A New Hope


Rob1981
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Here we go.  Gareth's last roll of the dice, probably.  I would write a long rambling intro about how brilliant he is, but you've all heard it before.  So why bother?  Either he gets the elusive win this time, or we fall short again and people stick the knives in... then his 'failure' is gradually reassessed once we have had a couple of shocking campaigns under Eddie Howe or Steven Gerrard or someone.

First friendly against Bosnia & Herzegovina tonight, even though we are still missing a load of players who have joined up late.

EUROS HISTORY

1960    -
1964    -
1968    Semi Final
1972    -
1976    - 
1980    Group Stage
1984    -
1988    Group Stage
1992    Group Stage
1996    Semi Final
2000    Group Stage
2004    Quarter Final
2008    -
2012    Quarter Final
2016    Round of 16
2020    Runners-Up

ROAD TO GERMANY

               P    GD  Pts
England        8   +18   20
Italy          8    +7   14
---------------------------
Ukraine        8    +3   14
N Macedonia    8   -10    8
Malta          8   -18    0

Italy         1-2   England
England       2-0   Ukraine
Malta         0-4   England
England       7-0   N Macedonia
Ukraine       1-1   England
England       3-1   Italy
England       2-0   Malta
N Macedonia   1-1   England
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Posted (edited)

No previous meetings with Bosnia to look back on ahead of tonight's game.  But here is our last outing at St James's Park, a 2-0 win against Azerbaijan in 2005:

Off to the game tonight, and I was at this game as well.  Although I haven't been to SJP in the intervening 19 years.

Edited by Rob1981
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Big night for Trippier. Captain, home turf, walking out with his son. All :) feelings, but he needs to deliver a performance because it really can’t be understated how bad he’s has been defensively since like November. 

Not convinced by going with Dunk as CB alongside Guehi. Dunk been woeful recently, was even bad in last England appearance too. Get someone like Quansah lacks the experience, but trying him or Brainthwaite (even Konsa at RCB) alongside Guehi feels a bit more proactive. 

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Posted (edited)
27 minutes ago, TM said:

is Gunman going to be playing Darth Vader then? :D

:cool:

Although I do need England to win by as many goals as possible in the first match.

 

Btw, the world would be a better place if everyone was as enthusiastic about doing good as Rob is towards Gareth and NT. :)

Edited by GunmaN1905
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Really like Eze. Can imagine he'd be absolutely horrific to try and defend against if he comes off the bench at 60/70 minutes. Not exactly easy at the best of times.

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Aside from the odd moment from Eze and Palmer, this has really sucked ass. We've been non-existent in central midfield and Watkins just isn't getting any chance to stake a claim. Not having natural width at fullback isn't helping either.

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6 minutes ago, Heartwork said:

Eze could be the secret weapon in this tournament. With all the talk being about Bellingham, Foden, Palmer etc. but along comes Eze just running the show today.

This is probably the first game i've seen him play and certainly seems to have the skill.  

One player who I like every time I see him (which isn't a lot).  Might be in a minority here:lol:.  Is Conor Gallagher.  Just keeps things simple and doesn't give the ball away.  Not the most skillful player, but seems to be a team player.

I do think England could be doing a lot more here though - the game is pretty dire so far.  Shame Anthony Gordon is injured.

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Can't score against a more or less completely new Bosnia team with manager who never coached anyone making his debut.

Waiting for Rob's in detail explanation about how everything is going according to Gareth's masterplan.

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barely any of this team will be playing at the Euros to be fair. It’s also just a really unbalanced team that we’ve had to throw together. Trippier as the advanced full back but on the left makes no sense. I was hoping it’d be Guehi left back and Trips right back. You lose everything Trippier is good at on the left.

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Yeah, playing Trippier at left back completely negates his offensive abilities and Konsa isn't an attacking full back period. they'd be better off swapped around. Or with Trent playing one of the fullback slots and Maddison in midfield frankly, it's not like this Bosnia side is trying to play through us. 

Doesn't help that our midfield is Gallagher and someone that isn't a midfielder, but no width just makes defending easy. 

Also a quick reminder that most of our backups just aren't that great, especially in the middle of the park

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7 minutes ago, mrw072 said:

This is probably the first game i've seen him play and certainly seems to have the skill.  

One player who I like every time I see him (which isn't a lot).  Might be in a minority here:lol:.  Is Conor Gallagher.  Just keeps things simple and doesn't give the ball away.  Not the most skillful player, but seems to be a team player.

I do think England could be doing a lot more here though - the game is pretty dire so far.  Shame Anthony Gordon is injured.

You've definitely not seen Gallagher a lot if you've not seen him have a poor game. He's been fine tonight but he's had some absolute stinkers, and I've not even watched him that much either. 

Absolutely rubbish 45 minutes, completely pointless and tells us nothing. Obviously know why the first 11 isn't being played but just makes the game feel like a waste of time. Eze the only one who seems to be offering anything. Feel for Watkins as there's just nothing for him to work with, one time he got any service he did well to get away from the defender and get a shot away.

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I think England could really do with another option up front.  On this showing Watkins is definitely a back up.  I guess everyone will be a back up to Kane.  But there's no real presence up there.  

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2 minutes ago, Pukey said:

You've definitely not seen Gallagher a lot if you've not seen him have a poor game. He's been fine tonight but he's had some absolute stinkers, and I've not even watched him that much either. 

Absolutely rubbish 45 minutes, completely pointless and tells us nothing. Obviously know why the first 11 isn't being played but just makes the game feel like a waste of time. Eze the only one who seems to be offering anything. Feel for Watkins as there's just nothing for him to work with, one time he got any service he did well to get away from the defender and get a shot away.

That's very true, i've only seen snippets on YouTube mainly:)

Wouldn't be surprised to see quite a few changes at half time.  Then it'll be a comfortable win, or should be.  But not many of these players are doing themselves justice so far.

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Don't expect much from a June pre-euro friendly, but a lot of these 2nd string players aren't doing their chances any favours in that half. 

They're not really excurting themselves. 

Will probably still win 2-0 at the end, once they pull their fingers out. 

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nobody we play left back is going to be ideal or strong defensively so I’ll maintain that we should’ve been trying Trent inverted from there instead of having him take up a midfield slot.

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6 minutes ago, Mr Adam said:

Realistically trippier is our starting left back for the tournament which is a concern 

He's horrific. got to try Trent there

At least we're getting a soft penalty as a reward for actually doing something this half...

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Just now, GunmaN1905 said:

Why is there VAR in a meaningless friendly? :D

I suppose the logic is to keep refs used to the process of it all. But I can't imagine anyone strongly fighting for it, does seem a bit unnecessary. 

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