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England vs The Lower Leagues

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 8:07 am
by recordmeister
So, the last two England games have seen two team basically put 11 men behind the ball. It's been painful to watch and the impatience of the England players has been astonishing, despite the late goal against Wales.

I've got to say that it really highlights the difference between the top tier footballers who, I felt, really struggled with the idea of having to break teams down who play this way (cf. Ronaldo), whereas, if you've witnessed the style of football we've seen over the past decade at the Kassam, playing against teams who park the bus on a regular basis really is a different skill altogether.

Those last two England games really reminded me of the last decade of watching Oxford at home (save for this season) and I found it very painful indeed to watch. Lots of possession, nothing to show for it.

Re: England vs The Lower Leagues

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:59 pm
by SmileyMan
I described the Slovakia game on facebook as "the most one-sided nil-nil draw in history"

Of course, this stupid system where the third best team goes through didn't help - Slovakia only needed a point and played like it

Re: England vs The Lower Leagues

Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 6:33 pm
by Kairdiff Exile
SmileyMan wrote:I described the Slovakia game on facebook as "the most one-sided nil-nil draw in history"

Of course, this stupid system where the third best team goes through didn't help - Slovakia only needed a point and played like it
Er - maybe look at it differently. If Slovakia had scored last night, you England fans might've been glad of the third-place qualifying route...

It's a lovely view here from the top of the group. :lol:

Re: England vs The Lower Leagues

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 1:33 pm
by Kernow Yellow
SmileyMan wrote:Of course, this stupid system where the third best team goes through didn't help - Slovakia only needed a point and played like it
And Norn Iron yesterday played for a 1-0 defeat (well, once they'd conceded), got it and qualified. Looks like they might get Wales next, which would at least mean one British team in the quarters.

As for England, I think all three performances have been fairly good but by no means great. What amazes me is how bad the commentators are. Listening to the Wales match on the radio you'd have thought that Sturridge and Vardy turned an awful first half into a scintillating second. But when I got round to watching it over the weekend there was no discernible difference in performance at all. For his first half hour on the pitch Sturridge was as ineffectual as Sterling had been before the break - it was only when Wales started defending really deep and stopped pressing the ball with ten minutes to go that we looked dangerous, and the goals were both slightly fortuitous. Against Slovenia Clive Tyldesley roared 'relentless pressure this' as England passed it sideways for five minutes about 40 yards from goal, never threatening to get anywhere near the box.