England v Slovenia

Who's watching tonight? I'll be watching, hoping for a comfortable victory and some goals to celebrate - forgot what that feels like

I'm sanding tonight. 

I'm watching Scotland.

Looks like Slovakia are desperate!

I'm watching it, and its bloody dire

karlypants wrote:Looks like Slovakia are desperate!

Slovenia even!

Well it's still 0-0. 

Glad I spent the evening sanding instead now.

Good winning goal, but hardly deserved.

What a stinker bloody awful

That reminded me why I rarely bother watching football these days. Absolute rubbish.

Glad i watched the Ambulance programme on BBC2 instead, much more interesting

It was utter shite, not much different than watching Bolton (ok, without the opposition bagging a few goals).

Southgate is managing in exactly the same way as Roy Hodgson. Ultra cautious. The opposition came to defend but Southgate still felt he needed two defensive midfielders.

Our only asset is pace. We're never going to win a competition but we might shock a few along the way if we actually run at teams.

Natasha Whittam wrote:
Southgate is managing in exactly the same way as Roy Hodgson. Ultra cautious. The opposition came to defend but Southgate still felt he needed two defensive midfielders.

Perhaps because of the defensive set up we were desperately short of a creative player at 10 to pick some killer passes and mix things up in front of goal. Sterling just can't do that job when Alli is out - he hasn't the skill, touch or vision.
In Alli's absence I'd have played Sturridge up with Kane, not because he's a natural 10 but because he does such random shit it would have given the attack the different dimension they obviously needed. Maybe even Wilshere could have been given another shot?
With pace and decent finishing we will always be a danger but I'm more worried about the defence who will get murdered by the better teams, especially when the FBs are playing so high up the pitch, usually both at the same time.
We are not very solid at the back which is why I think progressing from the group stage would be a success for this young team.

Does anybody over the age of 30 seriously still get even remotely excited by watching England?

The story's been the same all through my lifetime (Italia 90 apart):

Cruise through qualification with a squad which is heralded as "The Best In Years!", arrive at tournament finals in a blaze of patriotic hyperbole, scab a draw against someone who, theoretically at least, we should hammer comfortably, stumble along for a bit and then go out tamely, having lost 0-1 to someone like Iceland or (on the now rare occasions where we get out of the group stages) The Germans / Italians / Spanish on pens.

It's shite....

we just don't have the depth of players now do we? People will point out that all the younger age bracket teams have been successful this year but the reality is that 90% of them will never play at the top level in this country or abroad. They will drift down the leagues and in some cases leave professional football, all because the Premiership will always favour foreign players even at youth level

The likes of United and City scour the world for players and local kids don't get a look in (apart from the odd exception like Rashford).

I still support England and get about as much joy as I do following BWFC. However until the Premier League caps the number of foreign players we're unlikely to get anywhere. Hardly any of the current team get regular first team footie which is why there is the emerging trend of our brightest youth prospects seeking clubs abroad.