Same 11 against France I reckon. Get Walker to look after Mbappe and have Henderson and Rice cover any holes that might leave. Also we've got to look after Giroud as well and not underestimate him but I'm less worried about him in a foot race against maguire but he needs to stay switched on. 

I like that midfield 3 a lot. Bellingham does what I wanted from Mount I.e. can sit deeper and help defend but then turns into an extra attacker when we're going forward. Hendersons energy and leadership is vital. 

Our choice of attacking options is unreal!  

Can England beat France - absolutely we can. Will we - that's to be seen but no one should be writing us off. 

4 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Henderson; a title winning and Champs League winning captain is thought of as a complete plodder. It's completely lost on most that he can play.

He's criminally under rated as a player. I think he's great, he does a lot of the dirty ugly work that no one else wants to do that and is an experienced leader on the pitch. He does a lot of shouting and organising which I don't really see from Harry Kane but which I think is so vital for our younger players. Work rate is off the charts as well. 

I've thought this season he's not been at it and maybe age is catching up to his high energy game but when he's in the mood he was last night he has to start

Slowish start but I think some are exaggerating how bad we were in the first 30mins. We played with some intensity and a lot in their half before going pedestrian walking football. Few lapses in concentration could have been punished but you can't go a whole tournament with out concealing chances. France looked as vulnerable against Poland before they scored so let's compare apples with apples, none of the big guns have put in flawless performances consistently 

3 minutes ago, Silas said:

Get in.

Henderson busting his hump all over the pitch.

I wonder if he's been told he's only playing 60 mins regardless. Looks like he's emptying the tank to me. 

It's how he plays most games for Liverpool. I think he's underrated by a lot of people

Don't mind that team. Think Henderson is a solid addition to shore up midfield 

Messi tried a dribble and got tackled and the commentators acted like it was the second coming of christ. I do that every time I play football

Obviously Messi is class but I hate that every match he plays in becomes an absolute jizz fest before, during and after the game. Dime pundits are cringeworthy

From that picture posted it looks in. Some of the shots on TV it looked a little further over though but it only needs the smallest fractions to be in

Looked out to me too. Must have either been a fraction of a mm not over the line or they couldn't get a definitive angle to overrule

Kane is a class player but overplayed. He gets absolutely rinsed week in week out for Tottenham and then always get more minutes than needed for England. Today is the only time I thought he was subbed at the right time. 

We looked much better when we lost the ball and we suddenly pressed with intensity, played a few quick passes and ran at them. Having tons of the ball against a team set up to not conceade just wasn't good to watch and we created very little.

With the players we've got we could really hurt teams on the break which will hopefully help us against better teams. I'm just praying we don't score early in an important game as that's when it all goes wrong for us. 

Threads gone quiet since we scored 

If its a back 5, for the love of God play TAA 

39 minutes ago, Mike E said:

A tie against 'Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham would suit me.

Have you watched 'we are Wrexham' (i think thats what its called) on Disney+. Its made me keep an eye out for their results 

James Milner

Ryan Nelsen

11 minutes ago, 47er said:

2nd goal probably fractionally off-side

Didn't watch it but did VAR  not spot it? 

I get the frustration at not letting the handbrake off with our attacking talent but there's no guarantee that trying to out score opponents would work. Liverpool won Jack with that approach until VVD and Allison came in. We don't have that calibre of player to choose from in the squad imo.

Maybe after this tournament it's worth a try though

11 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

stupid fifa rule no1000,don`t put your flag up when it`s offside,carry on for 3 minutes till the ball is in the net,only then put the flag up

Especially in this world cup with all the technology. The linesmen are essentually pointless, the tech can do it all with precision and instantaneously. It should / could  be an alert to the ref like goal line technology

33 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

don't think that Southgate has lost lots of goodwill in that I don't think he had much to begin with, I think the majority of England supporters (impossible to quantify I admit) don't rate Southgate and would prefer someone else in charge.

And I don't get why. He's not a sexy name but he's our most successful manager in tournament football since we won it. He's got a squad of England players who want to play for England and actually look interested in it which was a big complaint for years. We don't have a good crop of defenders to chose from yet had one of the best defences at the last euros.  

That said there comes a time in football where things come to an end and it's time for a change. We'll see what he does at this tournament then reassess. 

This Belgium squad should have won something. They'll be remembered in a similar way as our 2002-2006 squad

28 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Absolutely no idea what that Morocco goal was disallowed for.

Prime example of if the ref had a mic and explained his decision, we would at least get an explanation….

Saiss(?) was interfering 

Realistically a draw for England tonight should see us through? Albeit not mathematically

3 hours ago, bluebruce said:

an avalanche of bumming

It was worth catching up on this thread just for this sentence 

5 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Maybe and quite similar to your style of posting which generally targets other posters.

Notice that?

I mean it was you who responded to my post (that wasn't even directed at anyone) and signed off with an arrogant "Not really difficult to grasp is it.". Don't get shirty cos I had a dig back. 

5 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

It's to do with pre match perception and then moves on to what actually occured.

Not really difficult to grasp is it.

Sounds more like making it up as you go along to be honest