England V Costa Rica

[RSB]

Tonight ITV from 7:30 pm

I watched these play against Ireland the other day, we may be a little embarrassed! Just a guess though.

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[RSB]

Oh dear, I see we have Jones on. ?

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[The Duke]

1 watched with half an eye, and we seemed OK.

Matched finished and I then seen the news that lfc have got Fekir for “just” 48m. So a good night for English football.

Medical tomorrow.

 

[Bob Williams]

Jones was quite good Lee, played very well, as did every player except Rashford, who scored a fantastic goal then became totally impressed with himself. Tried to beat 3 or 4 players continually, lost the ball almost every time, instead of passing to another red shirt in a better position. Best England player for me was Fabian Delph, who has become a great play-maker: wins the ball, beats one 0r two players, makes an accurate pass to one of his own team mates. If he wanted to keep the ball, no Costa Rican seemed to get it from him. That looks like his best position, hope Southgate didn’t miss that. I thought we missed Kyle Walker somewhere alongside Delph, helping break up attacks. Sorry, Steve, but I would prefer him there to Dier or Henderson.

It was good team display and the best move was a typical English direct play: out of defence, good pass to Dele Alli and a perfect low cross to Danny Welbeck, who went to Alli straight away, both having a laugh. In fact the whole squad are getting closer, they are all obviously comfortable together, all looking good mates. It’s a good sign and they dealt with one of the surprise teams from the last Finals very competently, working for each other. Are they becoming a squad that makes up a TEAM? They should play in red when possible. IMHO.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

You lot are spending some cash, Steve. Hope it comes off for you. ??

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

We just had 69m turned down for Alisson to, we will settle in 75 is my guess, And Dembelles name had started to pop up too.

I don’t know where the money is coming from atm. I’ve never known us to spend big. It’s been an expensive year for the owners.

 

Li see Amazon has just amonced its picked up a PL broadcast package. It’s just a small one, but an interesting one. As they will simultaneously be streaming all the games played on 2 of the following options 2 midweek games nights or 2 bank holidays. They have to pick days across the season

Se we will have some type of multi games match. A strange deal, but I bet this is ad much the PL dipping it’s toe in the online distribution, as much as a test for Amazon too.

Oh and Amazon are just lumping the games in the thr prime cooking pot. So no extea fee.

Although I see Google or FB eventually broadcasting every game live, and archiving them. Selling us either full PL passes, team passes, day passes, euro passes ect… Lots of entry points, and the targeted marketing will be a massive deal as both Google and FB can sell millions of small micro custom  adds, where as traditional tv can only sell about 25adds a game.

Id happily pay Google or FB if I must, to get all PL games for 50£ a month or even 30-35£ just for my club. Plus the euro packages if needed that year

I think that’s the future. Maybe not even selling the set up to say Google, but getting Google to be the distributor and gate house, but the PL selling direct, and pay Google a service charge. It would have to be cheaper to rent out Google space or amazon space than build and maintain a world wide infostruture.

 

[RSB]

Jones did not have a bad night but believe me he has plenty of cock-up’s ready and waiting 🙂 It was not like a friendly, there was so much atmosphere and up-beat I was fixed on the screen. I enjoyed watching Rashford, ok some times he show’s of and cocks up sometimes but I think he his our best bet, better than sterling. I am not a big fan Vardy or Jones though. Cahill the verdict is still out on.

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[Bob Williams]

For me it’s this back 3: Cahill, Stones and Jones. Phil Jones is the old-fashioned English centre back, honest and mostly dependable. Point is that those 3 are the stock answer: there will be times when Southgate picks a different formation for different opposition and others will play across the back. That is how he has developed the squad: he knows now that all the squad know each other’s heads and can all work together as a team, whoever plays. Southgate is a bit different to most managers we have had: gives players a certain amount of freedom, but can be ruthless when necessary and allows the media to talk to his players: on his terms. Look how he removed Rooney, who was bitterly disappointed but was told there was no way back. Look at this fact: 8 of the 11 who played in the first Qualifying game, are not going to Russia. That is a sign of a guy who knows exactly what he wants and how to go about trying to achieve it.

And I still think Fabian Delph is our best play maker, ball winner and accurate passer. Think about him playing to Sterling just in front of him and running through the centre. Rashford is slightly behind Sterling, who for me is our most talented, fastest forward player, breaking from deeper. Dele Alli on the right, Lingard on the left. I watched most of the game again later and have to admit that Henderson deserved his chance. Straightforward, ball winning, mostly good passing, did nothing wrong. He doesn’t catch the eye because what he does is in the engine room. I put him before Dier, who appears to be going backwards. What was interesting, is that they did very well without Harry Kane. Food for thought – nobody is bigger than the team.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

My wife is a Manc supporter, but while she adores Sterling she is more sanguine about him in the England squad. Her point is that Sterling is not great at actually looking out for his team mates, with City that doesn’t matter as he can pass without looking, knowing that there will be a player waiting to pick up the ball. He may need more time playing with his squad to generate that passing confidence, but maybe Kane or Vardy can fill that gap with him.

I’m personally not a fan of Jones – too cumbersome and too much of a clogger for my liking. He could give away unnecessary penalties.

[The Duke]

The city style of play, as well as Liverpool is all about hitting spaces, and trusting that your team mate has done his job properly  by filling the space.

So there is alot to your wife’s point. At city he just had to know where he is, and where he needs to put the ball. For England, given they have minimal training time, they can’t play tins way, and may highlight any flaws. Flaws is a bed choice tbh.

For the reasons above, Germany in 2000 iirc, got all their teams to agree to a standardised way of playing, that way the national team can play the same system, and anyone brought in (the best in each position), already have the set up memorised. It’s why they are so good.

As our clubs are all privately owned  (unlike Germany 50+1 rule) our FA can’t get our clubs to play a single style.

[Bob Williams]

The younger players are bypassing that Steve, most having been brought through the England Youth setup from schoolboys, Under 17, etc. A lot were coached by Darren Southgate and staff at Youth level and look what they all did: Junior World cups and Euro winners. So he knows the younger guys and they already know him, inside out, and his system. There is a lot of very good young talent coming through all the time now from the better club academies, passing through the England Youth setup. They know each other’s game before they make senior club sides. A few are loaned out, some are snapped up by other clubs, but that previous knowledge has been tracked by the England setup. I think it’s more important that they do know each other’s play: it must make for a more ‘together’ team, which really showed against Costa Rica and should carry on: “the more we are together.” As the song goes. We are slowly approaching something like the German method, by another route. The PL TV money is so important to the finances of clubs, that it has turned out that way. Maybe the future is brighter than we think, time will tell.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

Yes Bob, that is the whole point of the St georges footy place England opened up. Untill soulthgate go one had actully used it in the way it was designed for.

And I reckon it’s just an accident, given it should really be sams team atm.

I’m liking that the good turn out on Leeds, had opened up the conversation of getting Eng on the road again.

One possible issue I’ve not seen made is, that I reckon for the sale of Wembley to go though the FA will sign up for a number of England games per year, for probably 5 or ten years.

But I’d love for them to tour again. Bring London FC to the people, and us northerners may see it as England again.

Excited for the World Cup now. Having footy withdrawals. (still waiting on Fekir! It’s been a long day of checking Google news.)

[Ed P]

Re the Wembley sale: I am dead against it. It was built with the help of Government assistance and the FA does not need the money.  All too often I’ve seen offshore chancers buyers saddle up teams with debt and asset strip —- a very bad move imo.

[The Duke]

I’d usually be with you ed. But I just don’t care for Wembley.

[Bob Williams]

No offence to the Londoners here, but every football supporter in the North, Midlands and I suspect the West and Southwest, regards Wembley as “That London”. Everything to the rest of the country, is done for London. It is almost like a state itself, soaking up resources and money just to keep the place going and those who live and work there, traveling around it. Take the current Crossrail building programme: standing at £14.5 Billion and rising atm by an estimated £1Billion. Up here in Lincolnshire, and East Yorkshire, we don’t have an efficient transport structure, to handle the massively increasing traffic to and from the Humber ports. The Humber traffic from and to the Western ports like Liverpool is constantly delayed and obstructed by poor infrastructure. The answer to this will be another huge expense: HS2, which was originally estimated at £32.7 Billion and has risen to a new projected estimate of £56 Billion. It will link London to Sheffield, Leeds Birmingham and Manchester. This totally isolates the Eastern side of England and does nothing for us whatsoever.

We have very few dual carriageways and the worst road surfaces in the country. It’s a Third World up here. And we are the region that grows most of the country’s food.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Ed P]

Don’t get me wrong, I am in favour of England playing at UK venues other than London. I’m just dead against selling out assets to foreigners. Worse still – sell out at a price lower than it cost ten years ago! Property prices in London have more than doubled in that period – Shahid Khan must take the FA as a bunch of simpletons.

[Bob Williams]

Most of the FA are a bunch of simpletons Ed, many are also freeloaders who queue up to go away Business Class on jaunts with England teams, often when player’s families are in Economy, if they are not barred from going . Some rarely go to games at other times, their interest in the game is positional, hierarchical and  free from any financial contribution from themselves.

The Wembley Sale is an indication of the financial and business acumen possessed by the organisation. The national stadium should be somewhere in the Midlands, where the real fans from the North and Midlands can get easier access. Contrast the atmosphere at England’s games in London, with Leeds the other evening.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

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