Holmes_and_Watson

The Spain v England friendly had really open spells, where both sides had excellent passing moves. England used to be good at this, but other sides have adjusted, not least in stopping Walsh getting time on the ball. Spain are just better at that part, and have plenty of players as capable as Walsh, making it harder to shut that down. I expect England to pretty much set up the way they always do. A bit more pressure, getting more bodies in the box, as well as accuracy in deliveries could put any opponent on the back foot. I agree it would be nice to not leave it so late this time. 🙂 Just thinking that defensively, Sweden's opener was from a defensive error, while they also had chances to clear Italy's chance, and they didn't create much more. So, fine margins would allow England a bit more room in the game, and not have to keep breaking teams down for an equaliser.

Sure Agyemang could have come on earlier, as could Kelly. Yes, the midfield is not at it's best. However, Wiegman has put out a very balanced side. She does use a load of different options during the game. All the players know how to adjust. Despite any natural disappointment in not starting, the squad know the approach, and not one of the subs fails to have an impact. Agyemang is so far a great impact player, but Russo offers much more. Toone was quiet. For me, she along with Carter were the Euro 22 players, I thought would not start by now. But Toone links up well when it's Russo and Mead on. She was first to that late pen, apart from the taker. Carter came on late. Italy offered a different challenge, and Carter is trusted to fill in anywhere across the back, and helps cover for Bronze being forward. Kelly is excellent, as is Mead. But Hemp is rightfully the starter on one flank. Having two wider players messes with that balance, although both can and do cut in. James is versatile and a match winner, and is just ahead of Mead. You can see changes each game, based on things they work on. For an international side, with limited time together, there's a really strong club togetherness from the squad.

Resentment

European football always seems too quickly upon Rangers and Celtic. If they've already adapted to his style significantly, then it's been a quick turnaround. If they get through any preliminary rounds, then Martin's style will be an asset for Rangers. A limited budget side, controlling games against good opponents. It's in the league, he's going to have to be able to turn possession into goals. And against far more defensive sides than he faced with us. The gap in quality even between Rangers and the other Scottish sides will help. But there may be plenty of frustration along the way.

She's always been a really good player. Wiegman like the balance of James/ Mead.on one side, complimented by Bronze overlaps with Hemp/Kelly on the other. And Hemp can work that whole left flank. Terrific sub to bring on.

Another tireless performance from England. We've seen enough missed penalties, so Kelly's kick wasn't a certainty. Credit to her for getting the rebound first. And to Toone, who would have put it in, had Kelly not got there. It was a foul for the pen, and Mead made sure the ref was aware of it, by falling. Agyemang offered that photo ysical threat again, that unerves defences. The versatility of the others to adjust to changing situations is a credit. Hemp dropped back, with Bronze overlapping Kelly on the other side, as Mead moved in centrally to support with Toone. Getting the ball through defences centrally remains a problem. Defences are looking to close off Walsh. England normally then switch to Hemp or Mead. Tonight, the delivery in from Hemp and others, wasn't their usual standard, leaving Russo wasted. And Mead is now on the bench for James. James is the better all round player, but Mead, Russo and Toone link up really well together. In the past England have created very good passing moves. Their opponents have adapted. Wiegman switches to other tactics, and it would be nice if that could be solved too. Italy didn't create much, other than their goal. After that, they were looking for counters. England could have been caught out a couple of times. Morgan is a bit more mobile than Carter, which has more importance as the until moves to support a forward playing Bronze. However, Italy didn't offer the same threat level that Sweden did. So, you can see games where Carter could get the nod again. Thrilled for yet another final appearance. Have to say, I'm rather hoping it's against Germany.

Agyemang comes on late, so doesn't get many minutes. Perhaps it's getting up to speed, but a few first touches aren't great. But she doesn't miss a beat, and when it's under her power you get finishes like that. Walsh off. Hemp tired, but with the threat wide from both her and Kelly, hopefully a winner is on the way.

A little surprised James went off, unless injured. But Mead a normal sub, just I thought it would have been for Toone. England still slow to get the ball into the box. When they do, there aren't numbers. Russo asked to take on 2 or 3 defenders all the time. Need to push. Girelli has now gone off, so Italy without their best attacker now.

Uncle

It seemed like he'd go on forever. A rock legend.

England were the better side after the game's opening minutes. But, despite lots of attacking options, Russo looked isolated in the middle. The deliveries were mostly from Hemp into a lone attacker. James was a little deeper, and wider and did have a decent effort saved. Bronze got in an overlap, but England didn't get bodies in the box to capitalise on it. Toone has been pretty much nullified by Italy. They shut her support out almost completely. This gave Walsh a bit of early space, but that became less as the half went on. The result of England not putting pressure on the Italian defence was that the pace of the game slowed. That suited Italy, who started to pass forward well. Their goal came from a combination of good skill, down their right. But England had chances to clear it, as the ball came across, bounced off Bronze, before being controlled well, and blasted home. England responded immediately, but briefly. The end of the half saw more Italy possession in England's third. The second half may well see Italy naturally drop back. England will have to commit more players into the box, which they should have been doing anyway. But Italy have a very experienced front line. You can see them positioning to take advantage, with balls behind the defence. Girelli, as usual, is leading their line really well.

It's those caring touches that will be why SOG said the hostages were safer with Hamas.

SOG being singled out for his extreme comparisons, even by AI. Now revised to...

And BBD to complete The Spine of Victory 🙂

Good points Gio. It's a mixed bag for me. We get a versatile, at least or at most depending on your mileage, Championship player. He's not currently first choice, so should we have been more ruthless? There was a while where we were desperate to get in a centre half. Since then, we've had a succession of more talented, and far less useful players, than Jack. For example Salisu, ABK, DCC etc. SR might have found talent. But we ended up with a fractured, relegated dressing room of want aways when we first went down. I think the club have looked at that and wanted someone, who can play a part but is a club oriented attitude setter, in the dressing room. As you say Gio, you know exactly what you're getting with Jack. We've had Walcott back, and Adam is still there to sell tourist maps of Liverpool. Jack will be an influence in the dressing room. Jack being a leader isn't a vast compliment in a squad that should have been staging a multiny at being sent out to get beat every week. Successive seasons of making our players system drones, continues to bite. Had we a squad of very motivated players, perhaps this wouldn't be necessary. But we clearly don't. We've no idea how many players SR will look to shift this summer, or those that want away. For me, Jack's behind Bedders and THB. We'll need to see how he competes against Quarshie and Edwards and then Wood, Taylor and Sanda. Jack can fill in elsewhere too, although there's plenty of faces there as well. But we'll have to wait until the end of the window, to see where he sits in the pecking order. The more inexperienced the players we have left, the more influence he will have. It seems a bit odd to have this one sewn up, while we have so many. But I get the feeling the club will be moving through some players in this, and windows to come. SR seem determined to continue with paying as low an individual wage as possible. I'm sure the contract suits both. We're still looking at up and coming players or players with something to prove. SR look to pay around top Championship wages for PL talented players. The goal being to make a profit, rather than build determinedly towards something like Europe. Recruitment hasn't been good enough to see how they would invest repeated profits. They set themselves up for a fall, by failing to reinforce key positions. Jack is a decent Championship player, there to teach the others in the dressing room, while getting some minutes. As you say Gio, there's nothing stopping him wanting a move on the future or going out on loan. Although, this deal seems to suit both parties. Is it the move of a club driven to succeed at a higher level? No, it's not. But then SR want to succeed through player trading. And that shapes their expectations and planning.

The big Plymouth/ Southampton question involving Jack is, would he associate the Mayflower with Plymouth or, like you, thinks it should be on the Southampton badge. 🙂

I wouldn't insult our cat, by lowering him to the level of humans. 🙂

Stake

Willow

Yup. A team like that. In a lower division. I don't want to get carried away. But they might get more than the 12 points most of them amassed last season. 🙂

That. And also SOG never being able to separate the Israeli government from Jewish people in his attacks, believing in a hierarchy of racism where he said it's only anti semitism when you mention the holocaust, saying that the hostages were safer with Hamas than with the IDF and trying to score points when civilians were killed on a safe route. We also have a thread where his views went right past the extremes of Palestinian supporters in this country, past Palestinian activists and past Palestinian politicians who apologised for saying things SOG agreed with. That's just off the top of my head, and they aren't things I'm trying to remember. A "poor me" or a post completely ignoring points people have been saying to him for years, should have the context of his history here.

As a nation, they feel they've underachieved for 15 years, and pen shootouts haven't gone their way Euros 2013:Lost pen shootout to Denmark World Cup 2015: Lost pen shootout to Germany World Cup 2023: Lost pen shootout to Australia That last one is the key one here. That was under the current manager, and they had drilled for penalties in training. It took 20 pens for Australia to win 7-6. Note that going in to this tournament, Bonadei has emphasised his refusal to do the same things to get the same results. That applied not only to dropping some experience, but to his approach to penalties. "We worked a lot on (penalties) before the 2023 World Cup in a specific way, and this time, I preferred not to overload them with this too much, because we don't know how it happens," Bonadei told reporters. "Last night, we saw players who were really under pressure. And, yes, you can actually put them under pressure during the training, but it's not the same as during the game. When it's the game, when they are tired, when there's a pressure of the audience, maybe it can be completely different. "The players do it in an individual way with their own pace at the end of every session, sometimes they try two, three, four, or five penalties, but it's very difficult to recreate the context of the game." It might not replicate game pressure, but repeatedly putting pens right in the bottom or top corner, does make you better at doing it when you need to.

There weren't many corners. But Renard never needed many to cause chaos. Malard was as close to a target as their thinking got, and she didn't disrupt their defence. It was odd to hear that because they felt they over practiced penalties before, they didn't insist on practicing this time. It was left to individual choice after training.

It would still be antisemitic.

Coat