European Championships England v Malta/Macedonia

[ZeroTheHero]

Is anyone else watching this? In the absence of a match tomorrow I thought I'd have a look.

It's nigh on half time and England are only one up - and that was an own goal by Malta. 80,000 people have turned up but blimey it's poor stuff.

 

[Mojofilter]

Dull tripe. Rashford is so hot and cold isn't he? Just seems to absent half the time

 

[EastStandKieran]

It's soooooo boring omg there is no attacking threat by either team it's like a pre season game

 

[JOHN BOY]

Is anyone else watching this? In the absence of a match tomorrow I thought I'd have a look.

It's nigh on half time and England are only one up - and that was an own goal by Malta. 80,000 people have turned up but blimey it's poor stuff.

It's a disgraceful performance.

 

[Leysboy]

Typical Southgate match. Negative to fook.

I can’t wait until he goes. In fact I’d sack him on that first half display.

 

[holdsteady]

Is anyone else watching this? In the absence of a match tomorrow I thought I'd have a look.

It's nigh on half time and England are only one up - and that was an own goal by Malta. 80,000 people have turned up but blimey it's poor stuff.

I turned on after the goal and it’s been poor but we have already qualified so pretty much the ultimate dead rubber.

 

[Banbury2018]

Is anyone else watching this? In the absence of a match tomorrow I thought I'd have a look.

It's nigh on half time and England are only one up - and that was an own goal by Malta. 80,000 people have turned up but blimey it's poor stuff.

Yes it’s pretty crap isn’t it. How can the officials get the Kane incident so wrong and VAR not even look. I listened to yet another hour about VAR on Whyte and Jordan this morning and guess what they will be discussing again on Monday. Simon Jordan is a brilliant listen by the way.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Typical Southgate match. Negative to fook.

I can’t wait until he goes. In fact I’d sack him on that first half display.

You’d sack one of the most successful England managers ever because we’re only one up in a meaningless game? Right

 

[Basham Wonderland]

We're going to blow out chance at silverware if we keep him

 

[OX14]

Hard trying to stay awake watching that first half.

 

[Leysboy]

You’d sack one of the most successful England managers ever because we’re only one up in a meaningless game? Right

It depends what you mean by successful?

I’d say he’s been a failure, you’re only successful when you win something. The massive amount of depth of players he has to choose from. If he’s that good why are players being picked that can’t even start for the club sides ie Phillips. Where is Ward Prowse…. Why Maguire. Why not Ben White or Dan Burn who deserve their chance.

It’s all backwards and sideways against a nobody team with all due respect.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

I turned on after the goal and it’s been poor but we have already qualified so pretty much the ultimate dead rubber.

True, we have qualified. But you'd hope professional footballers who are representing their country in front of 80,000 paying supporters would be able to put on a better show than this. In tone, it reminds me a little of our game against Maidenhead - the 'superior' side thinking they only have to turn up to win and then unable to get out of first gear when they realise it isn't as straightforward as they thought. Foden (and now Saka) look like the only two with a bit of fire in their bellies.

 

[Yellow Rose]

This is rubbish

 

[Leysboy]

You can see what the Negative has said at half time.

“Well done lads” more of the same.

 

[Osei Yaw]

Here comes Jodi Jones.

 

[EastStandKieran]

JJ has come on for Malta now

 

[EastStandKieran]

we had a shot we had a shot we had a shot

 

[Leysboy]

We’ve scored 1 goal against a team that has finished bottom of the group stages 14 times in a row.

That’s how bad this performance has been. Absolutely dreadful. They’re instructed to play this way, and it’s embarrassing.

 

[ZeroTheHero]

There are a hell of a lot of empty seats now, and it's pretty quiet at Wembley. I suppose everyone has gone home to watch some paint dry.

 

[Isle of Wight Yellow]

Please tell me TAA, Henderson and Gallagher wasn’t the midfield three?! That’s so defensive at home to Malta! I thought England had turned to a 4-2-3-1 much like Oxford play, with Bellingham behind the striker? In his absence surely Foden or Palmer should have played there.

Southgate’s obsession with Henderson is bordering on the psychotic

 

[holdsteady]

Please tell me TAA, Henderson and Gallagher wasn’t the midfield three?! That’s so defensive at home to Malta! I thought England had turned to a 4-2-3-1 much like Oxford play, with Bellingham behind the striker? In his absence surely Foden or Palmer should have played there.

Southgate’s obsession with Henderson is bordering on the psychotic

It is weird, the World Cup and then Henderson moving to Saudi Arabia was the perfect time to move on from a player whose best days are behind him and who is fairly limited anyway. He gets stick for picking Maguire but given the lack of options I get why, picking Henderson, especially for this game is just bizarre.

 

[werthersoriginal]

I just watched the first half, reminded me of our game against Maidenhead? But we did the business against Italy.

 

[yellowbow]

That really was one of the worst games of football I’ve ever seen.

The FA should give a refund to every poor unfortunate soul who bought a ticket and turned up for that.

 

[Thomas/Brock/Jones]

That really was one of the worst games of football I’ve ever seen.

The FA should give a refund to every poor unfortunate soul who bought a ticket and turned up for that.

Just back from it, certainly wasn't any better being there although nice to see Bobby Charlton bring respected so well .

 

[Oxford57]

Watched children in need, wanted a bit of entertainment, rather than 90 minutes of dross

 

[unification]

Yet England had qualified with two games to spare, having beaten Italy twice en route.

What did you expect? They only have to play these last two matches because the authorities demand it. They could have allowed them to be walkovers. France drew with Luxembourg at home in their qualifying campaign ahead of winning the World Cup in 2018. Think anyone gave a toss after that? Likewise, Portugal have eased through qualifying but they won’t be lifting the trophy in Germany next summer.

No one will give a monkeys when the Euros begin. In qualifying done is better than perfect.

 

[Foley]

The best part of thr game I saw was a teriffic goal by Declan Rice that was disallowed for offside

As an aside, how did Kane get booked and not have a penalty with VAR there?

 

[Swaby39]

Yet England had qualified with two games to spare, having beaten Italy twice en route.

What did you expect?

The handbrake to come off, for a start, since we play with it permanently on and could do with exploring an extra gear for when we need it (say, losing in a World Cup semi final with 20 mins to go). I’d also have liked to see a bit more rotation than what we got as we learned absolutely nothing from yesterday’s game.

I personally despise Southgate’s management of the squad - though, I’d never go as far as to say he’s failed as that’s far from true.

It annoys me that Kane gets every available minute through Southgate’s fear of dropping him in case we get rumbled. But it blocks the likes of Wilson, Watkins, Toney who may not be on Kane’s level but well-worthy of a good number of England caps. There was no need for Kane to play yesterday, besides boosting his goal tally which should not even be in Southgate’s mind. We know everything there is to know about Kane, Pickford, Maguire, Henderson, Rashford, Tippier etc. Pointless run-out.

His unbearable obsession with a particular clutch of players is what hacks off the majority of England fans as he is not extracting the maximum out of a quite ridiculous generation of players. It’s untapped depth, untapped options to change games. Once plan A (built around Harry Kane) starts to crumble, he hasn’t tried or tested anything else and that’s why he can’t and probably won’t win a tournament.

 

[Marked Ox]

The best part of thr game I saw was a teriffic goal by Declan Rice that was disallowed for offside

As an aside, how did Kane get booked and not have a penalty with VAR there?

The VAR Official was indisposed in the toilet.

 

[yellowbow]

Yet England had qualified with two games to spare, having beaten Italy twice en route.

What did you expect? They only have to play these last two matches because the authorities demand it. They could have allowed them to be walkovers. France drew with Luxembourg at home in their qualifying campaign ahead of winning the World Cup in 2018. Think anyone gave a toss after that? Likewise, Portugal have eased through qualifying but they won’t be lifting the trophy in Germany next summer.

No one will give a monkeys when the Euros begin. In qualifying done is better than perfect.

Wasn’t it mentioned last night that they are still not guaranteed a top seed place? I’m not 100% sure because it was between snoozes…

To be honest I don’t get as excited about any England games like I used to - even tournaments. I’m not sure if it’s anything to do with the ‘possession for possession’s sake’ style of play we’ve adopted or just grumpy old age and being turned off by the overpaid prima donnas that represent us and cynicism for all things ‘elite football’