The New Football Thread

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Time to start using a garbage truck as the team bus.

I mean, you can't recycle them. They would have to have been some use in the first place to be recycled.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The two England goals were interesting.

For the first, I don't think the Slovakian defence did anything wrong. The bicycle kick creates space, and the angle from Bellingham was perfect. I don't think any defence would have stopped that.

For the second, the Slovakian defenders on the left side rush out to leave Kane offside, but the two fullbacks have dropped back to the goal line, thus playing all the England attackers onside and leaving Kane unmarked.
The Slovakian right side defenders seemed to have read the script and stay goalside of the England attackers they are marking. The Slovaks didn't seem to have the fullbacks dropping back in normal time, so they must have changed the script at the break, but the left side defenders didn't register it. I think that's a coaching mistake. There's very little goes into a player's brain at intervals, not just in football, and changes should be restricted to one thing only, at most.

The Swiss seem better organised than the Slovaks. The England team will have to create more chances than they did today.

[llondel]

For the second, the Slovakian defenders on the left side rush out to leave Kane offside, but the two fullbacks have dropped back to the goal line, thus playing all the England attackers onside and leaving Kane unmarked.

Tony Adams would have sorted that, if only the Slovaks had someone like him. As immortalised in the Full Monty.

[Woody]

Just heard Southgate on the radio saying that it’s difficult and complicated to get through to the Final, no it’s not just score more goals than the other team and that’s it.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

He is a bear of very little brain, and long words confuse him.

[tango15]

If the team was as proficient as its PR machine(s), we'd have walked this by now. With Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink as one of the assistant coaches, perhaps he'll have an insight into how the Netherlands play, but with three current and one ex-Liverpool player potentially in the Netherlands team, that shouldn't be too difficult.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The average English player has never seemed to me to have enough brains to play, or defeat, Totaalvoetbal.
We already seen the basic problem, with Bellingham and Foden ending up playing in the same spot on the pitch.

England will need to shut down the Dutch midfield with tight marking, then break down the left and cross the ball into the box to win, I reckon.

[1DC]

If little words stopped confusing Southgate and he realised it doesn't matter anyway he may improve as a manager. I think we will win, wether it is because of Southgate I know not..

[llondel]

Given his record of three semi-finals in four tournaments, he's not done too badly. Not always entertaining, but they've done enough. He seems to have conquered the penalty shoot-out hoodoo though; the team may lose out occasionally, but there have been enough successes that it isn't an automatic loss now.

[OFSO]

Who'd have thought it !!

[llondel]

I hoped, but not really expected. Southgate must have made sure they all ate their Weetabix this morning, then the substitutions paid dividends

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Yes, Top Subbing!

The Dutch defender giving Watkins a shove actually created the space for him to turn, and the shot was perfect.

So, England v Spain

Winner gets Gibraltar

[1DC]

Have to credit Southgate with the win, the substitutions made the difference and the best team won.

[Woody]

England supporters going back to a match with the Dutch in1993, makes a change from 2 World Wars and 1 World Cup I suppose.

[Woody]

[tango15]

I see that a French referee has been allocated for the game on Sunday. Quelle dommage!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Letexier

[llondel]

Sounds like he's not afraid to piss off the crowd.

[tango15]

The UK - well England anyway - has gone mad! Supermarkets closing early on Sunday and opening late on Monday. Later opening hours for pubs, talk of a Bank Holiday if we win. (No thanks, can we just have St George's Day as a national holiday every year, please?). Yesterday, I got a text from the company who delivers my milk, to say they're delivering on Sunday morning (instead of Monday) and they're based in Glasgow!

[Woody]

BA and Iberia streaming the game live on their aircraft

The match will be streamed on all connected British Airways and Iberia aircraft, and customers will simply have to connect their personal devices to the BA Wi-Fi network to view the game.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

and they're based in Glasgow!

A Scotsman's two favourite teams

1. Scotland

2. Anyone who beats England, anywhere, at anything.