England V San Marino

poolseasider

poolseasider

Well-known member
ITV 7.45 KO
Hopefully Southgate drops the 3-4-3 or at least gets rid of one of the defensive mids with having five defenders on the pitch it's way to negative with all the good attacking players we have.
Lets face it against San Marino we could play 2 at the back and still win.
 
poolseasider said:
ITV 7.45 KO
Hopefully Southgate drops the 3-4-3 or at least gets rid of one of the defensive mids with having five defenders on the pitch it's way to negative with all the good attacking players we have.
Lets face it against San Marino we could play 2 at the back and still win.
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3-0
 
Tangerinenick said:
Would go 3-5-2
No Henderson types.
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I've always been a fan of 3-5-2, I was playing it 20 odd years ago for my pub side, it allows you to utilise the excellent wing backs we have at our disposal (Saka, James, Trippier, Chillwell) and then use an holding midfielder (Rice or Henderson when he's fit) which free's up a couple of attacking midfielders ahead of them and we have an array of talent in this area (Grealish, Mount, Madison, Foden) perm any two from four. Kane up top with either Sterling, Rashford, Sancho or Calvert-Lewin and we have a seriously good attacking line up. A big plus for us is the return to form of John Stones, he's finally got his head screwed on and looks the part for Man City in an area where we are weak which is the same as GK, none of the current bunch impress me at all. It is a talented group and exciting to watch,but we will never win a major tournament whilst we are weak at GK and CB, it just won't happen.
 
Raging_Bull said:
I've always been a fan of 3-5-2, I was playing it 20 odd years ago for my pub side, it allows you to utilise the excellent wing backs we have at our disposal (Saka, James, Trippier, Chillwell) and then use an holding midfielder (Rice or Henderson when he's fit) which free's up a couple of attacking midfielders ahead of them and we have an array of talent in this area (Grealish, Mount, Madison, Foden) perm any two from four. Kane up top with either Sterling, Rashford, Sancho or Calvert-Lewin and we have a seriously good attacking line up. A big plus for us is the return to form of John Stones, he's finally got his head screwed on and looks the part for Man City in an area where we are weak which is the same as GK, none of the current bunch impress me at all. It is a talented group and exciting to watch,but we will never win a major tournament whilst we are weak at GK and CB, it just won't happen.
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You say we're week at CB Stones is in cracking form and must be currently one of the best in Europe.
 
Raging_Bull said:
He's playing well and that delights me, but McGuire, Coady, Keane, Mings? Not exactly Baresi and Maldini are they? 😫
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I agree but do centre half's play lile Baresi and Maldini anymore when often it's only one up top even Van Dyk classed as worlds number one is a ball player.

We have Stones and McGuire who are good as most CH partnership in football play in the most competitive league and regular European competitions.
I worry more about our Goalkeepers.

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poolseasider said:
I agree but do centre half's play lile Baresi and Maldini anymore when often it's only one up top even Van Dyk classed as worlds number one is a ball player.

We have Stones and McGuire who are good as most CH partnership in football play in the most competitive league and regular European competitions.
I worry more about our Goalkeepers.

www.fourfourtwo.com

Ranked! The 10 best centre-backs in the world

Find out which stoppers come up trumps in our run-down of the greatest central defenders on the planet
www.fourfourtwo.com www.fourfourtwo.com
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Spot on about the keepers, none of them are top drawer. McGuire should be nowhere near the top ten IMO, I rank him as "alright", I watched a 38 year old Pepe practically single handedly knock Juve out of the CL with a stunning performance in defence last week, if my life depended on a clean sheet he'd be in well ahead of Slabhead and he doesn't make the top ten.
 
Usually watch an England game but these sort of fixtures are pretty pointless to be fair. It’s probs the equivalent of Manchester City playing AFC Fylde.

There’s not really any entertainment in watching it and I doubt the management of either team learn anything.

That said I don’t know what the answer is to avoid such mis-matches, I guess the Nations League is a step in the right direction with teams of similar abilities grouped together.
 
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disappointed that Maddison is injured as I'd liked to have seen him given an opportunity. A shame that he and Grealish are both missing especially with the game against Poland coming up.
 
San Marino really should not be allowed in to the World Cup qualifiers, the population is 30,000, FFS Lytham St Annes is bigger and their last and only win was in 2004 in a friendly against Liechtenstein 1-0, their team is around the standard of Wrens or Mechanics.
 
Raging_Bull said:
I've always been a fan of 3-5-2, I was playing it 20 odd years ago for my pub side, it allows you to utilise the excellent wing backs we have at our disposal (Saka, James, Trippier, Chillwell) and then use an holding midfielder (Rice or Henderson when he's fit) which free's up a couple of attacking midfielders ahead of them and we have an array of talent in this area (Grealish, Mount, Madison, Foden) perm any two from four. Kane up top with either Sterling, Rashford, Sancho or Calvert-Lewin and we have a seriously good attacking line up. A big plus for us is the return to form of John Stones, he's finally got his head screwed on and looks the part for Man City in an area where we are weak which is the same as GK, none of the current bunch impress me at all. It is a talented group and exciting to watch,but we will never win a major tournament whilst we are weak at GK and CB, it just won't happen.
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We simply don't need three defenders and two holding midfielders against San Marino. If we do, then there's something badly wrong.
 
Raging_Bull said:
San Marino really should not be allowed in to the World Cup qualifiers, the population is 30,000, FFS Lytham St Annes is bigger and their last and only win was in 2004 in a friendly against Liechtenstein 1-0, their team is around the standard of Wrens or Mechanics.
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When did Lytham St Anne's play Liechtenstein? Must have missed that one, and they won too.
 
poolseasider said:
You must be Irish then anyone English should be watching their national team.
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I don't really do international football to be honest mate, or the Prem or Europe or anything that's not Blackpool. When you grow up with Eriksson, Capello, McClaren, it's easy to stop giving a fuck.
 
Foden should be starting. An opportunity for a genuinely world class player to gain some experience, against an easy opponent.....and he's on the bench. He'll get to his late twenties and we'll all be wondering why he hasn't developed as hoped. This is why.
 
BFC_53 said:
Foden should be starting. An opportunity for a genuinely world class player to gain some experience, against an easy opponent.....and he's on the bench. He'll get to his late twenties and we'll all be wondering why he hasn't developed as hoped. This is why.
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A couple of points. Foden certainly not world class yet. And look at the starting line up? He's giving enough untried and inexperienced players a start in what should comfortably be the easiest of the three games. Two much more difficult games in the next week where Foden is more likely to be needed.
 
20togo said:
A couple of points. Foden certainly not world class yet. And look at the starting line up? He's giving enough untried and inexperienced players a start in what should comfortably be the easiest of the three games. Two much more difficult games in the next week where Foden is more likely to be needed.
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I think he is, but like you said maybe he could start in the next games. However if he doesn't, then this is a missed opportunity to give him experience. World class or not, i'd sooner be giving experience to players with the most potential, and he has more potential than the inexperienced ones that are starting. Hopefully he's being saved for the upcoming ones and my thoughts are a tad premature!
 
BFC_53 said:
I think he is, but like you said maybe he could start in the next games. However if he doesn't, then this is a missed opportunity to give him experience. World class or not, i'd sooner be giving experience to players with the most potential, and he has more potential than the inexperienced ones that are starting. Hopefully he's being saved for the upcoming ones and my thoughts are a tad premature!
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I think you're putting Foden up on a pedestal way too soon. A particular trait we've done with so many players over the years. Every one of the top countries will have plenty of "Fodens". He's yet to establish himself as an England regular, or even a City regular. He's a great talent but a long way to go before he's considered world class.
 
20togo said:
I think you're putting Foden up on a pedestal way too soon. A particular trait we've done with so many players over the years. Every one of the top countries will have plenty of "Fodens". He's yet to establish himself as an England regular, or even a City regular. He's a great talent but a long way to go before he's considered world class.
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Well I’m betting he will be before too long
 
20togo said:
I think you're putting Foden up on a pedestal way too soon. A particular trait we've done with so many players over the years. Every one of the top countries will have plenty of "Fodens". He's yet to establish himself as an England regular, or even a City regular. He's a great talent but a long way to go before he's considered world class.
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Maybe, I get what you're saying. He hasn't achieved anything yet and isn't starting every game for City. You may be right about him being saved, as Kane isn't starting so looks like Southgate is saving his stronger players which is fine, I never thought about it that way when I saw the lineup.
 
The starting line-up is not even our second best side.

I see they are not full time pros. Just wondering what level San Marino play at. National League? Lower?
 
poolseasider said:
ITV 7.45 KO
Hopefully Southgate drops the 3-4-3 or at least gets rid of one of the defensive mids with having five defenders on the pitch it's way to negative with all the good attacking players we have.
Lets face it against San Marino we could play 2 at the back and still win.
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What a poor line up.
 
Can’t be arsed watching now there’s no chance of them scoring first .. is the Northern Ireland game on anywhere?
 
20togo said:
A couple of points. Foden certainly not world class yet. And look at the starting line up? He's giving enough untried and inexperienced players a start in what should comfortably be the easiest of the three games. Two much more difficult games in the next week where Foden is more likely to be needed.
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I think he's a legend.
 
NewburyOne said:
4 clear chances in the first 12 minutes, all missed without even hitting the target. England are going to win but some of these misses are actually quite embarrassing for players earning in excess of a £100K a week.
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tommytwojags said:
The starting line-up is not even our second best side.
I see they are not full time pros. Just wondering what level San Marino play at. National League? Lower?
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I would have said six good chances in the first 12 minutes. Absolute shit finishing from Sterling. Harry Kane must be bloody furious. He could have broken all England goalscoring records tonight. Level? I would say they are no higher than National League North, maybe lower.
 
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