26/27 - Other Games

[TheAlehouseBrawlers]

Trafford, Hall, White, puff yer chests out tonight.

Fantastic start to each half, dug in at the end. Big deserved result.

[Saint Pete]

Well deserved win overall, that first hour was as good as I've seen from England, the pressing was superb and Spain could not cope. 

But we did our best to chuck it late on! It was stupid from Anderson. Yes, the CB fucked up, but that can happen when you play out from back, which we had done brilliantly to that point. But Anderson needs to engage brain and realise the situation. 3 goals up, the last thing we want is to lose a player, better to let them score (which they may not have done anyway as still had keeper to beat). 

After that, a lot of the same traits as vs Argentina unfortunately. Sitting back and not pressing ball enough, lack of composure in possession and some iffy subs. Great saves from Trafford though, who I think should be No. 1 now. 

[whelk]

Just now, Saint Pete said:

After that, a lot of the same traits as vs Argentina unfortunately. Sitting back and not pressing ball enough

This is fair enough when down to ten men. Against Argentina was unforgivable.

[Colinjb]

We were brilliant, pressed high, absolutely battered the world champions before typical England self defeating brain fart threatened it's usual outcome.

Those substitutions still baffle me at the end. Why take off Gordon AND Bellingham? The two water carriers? Thankfully we dug it out..... James Trafford dug it out. England's number 1.

With an honourable mention to that Ben White tackle. 

Edited 58 minutes ago by Colinjb

[whelk]

Support also brilliant as always

[Turkish]

11 minutes ago, Colinjb said:

We were brilliant, pressed high, absolutely battered the world champions before typical England self defeating brain fart threatened it's usual outcome.

Those substitutions still baffle me at the end. Why take off Gordon AND Bellingham? The two water carriers? Thankfully we dug it out..... James Trafford dug it out. England's number 1.

With an honourable mention to that Ben White tackle. 

Doubled up on Yamal and Williams, Burn on to block the middle. I’d have personally kept one or the other on as an outlet but seeing as Gordon fucked up for the second goal that probably ended his night, shame as he was excellent otherwise. 
 

the player that really impressed me most was Hall at left back he was class against Yamal and looked liked he was earning his 50th cap not his 9th

[Saint Pete]

34 minutes ago, whelk said:

This is fair enough when down to ten men. Against Argentina was unforgivable.

More understandable given the red card, yes, as you would expect Spain to come into the game more. But I think given how utterly dominant we had been up to that point tonight (much, much more so than vs Argentina), we ought to have been able to manage the game better than we did, rather than relying on the great saves from Trafford. I would hope after enjoying the fantastic performance and result overall, we will still review that, because I think it's still potentially our achilles heel seeing games out vs the best teams. 

[Turkish]

Just now, Saint Pete said:

More understandable given the red card, yes, as you would expect Spain to come into the game more. But I think given how utterly dominant we had been up to that point tonight (much, much more so than vs Argentina), we ought to have been able to manage the game better than we did, rather than relying on the great saves from Trafford. I would hope after enjoying the fantastic performance and result overall, we will still review that, because I think it's still potentially our achilles heel seeing games out vs the best teams. 

The sending off led to a penalty which made it 3-1, they actually only scored once against 10 men and overall I think we managed it pretty well.  we were playing the world champions who hadn’t lost for 2 1/2 years in a stadium where they hadn’t lost for 39 years you’re going to need your goal keeper to do something at some point 😂😂

all this shit about managing the game better and it being our Achilles heel undermines the magnitude of the win. We basically played 1/3 of the game with a man less. It was an exceptional performance and you can argue all you like about what should and shouldn’t have been done but we won so ultimately Tuchel got it right. The only shame is we did go down to 10 men as we were absolutely sensational for 60 minutes and Spains heads had gone, it could quite easily have ended up even better than 3-0 had Quansha and then Anderson not messed up