Considering how bad he is, you can see the colossal extent of England's underperformance at tournament football. From 1966 to 2016, England won 6 tournament games at the knock-out phase, and under Southgate England have won 7. He has led England to a Euro final and a World Cup semi-final, and a quarter-final in each. That is quite some achievement for such an awful manager. If Klopp or some such manager had the job, they would have won at least 2 of those tournaments.
On Sunday evening, we were once again subjected to the most abjectly awful football. Against a pedestrian Slovakia, England huffed and puffed and completely failed to blow the house down. Walker, Stones, Foden, Rice and Saka, who are star performers for Arteta and Pep, looked a shadow of their normal selves. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, the crown jewels, offered nothing. In the 3 group games Bellingham had passed the ball to Kane a total of two times! There was no cohesion, no ideas, no plan, no flow, nada. At one-nil down with 30 seconds of injuy time remaining, up stood Jude the Obscure to level the score and Kane won it in the first minute of extra-time. So, England are once again in the quarters of a major tournament. Next up is Switzerland, who have looked fantastic so far. If it goes to form, the Swiss will win it easily, but you wouldn't put it past this England team to stumble into the semis.
Later in the evening, the best side in the tournament so far, Spain, won easily against plucky Georgia to set up an absolutely mouth watering tie with hosts Germany, next Friday at 5pm. I would have preferred that match to be the final, but no matter, it could be a classic. Then on Saturday at 5pm hopefully we will see the Swiss put the English out of their misery.
On Sunday evening, we were once again subjected to the most abjectly awful football. Against a pedestrian Slovakia, England huffed and puffed and completely failed to blow the house down. Walker, Stones, Foden, Rice and Saka, who are star performers for Arteta and Pep, looked a shadow of their normal selves. Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, the crown jewels, offered nothing. In the 3 group games Bellingham had passed the ball to Kane a total of two times! There was no cohesion, no ideas, no plan, no flow, nada. At one-nil down with 30 seconds of injuy time remaining, up stood Jude the Obscure to level the score and Kane won it in the first minute of extra-time. So, England are once again in the quarters of a major tournament. Next up is Switzerland, who have looked fantastic so far. If it goes to form, the Swiss will win it easily, but you wouldn't put it past this England team to stumble into the semis.
Later in the evening, the best side in the tournament so far, Spain, won easily against plucky Georgia to set up an absolutely mouth watering tie with hosts Germany, next Friday at 5pm. I would have preferred that match to be the final, but no matter, it could be a classic. Then on Saturday at 5pm hopefully we will see the Swiss put the English out of their misery.
 |
| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
What a save by the Turkish keeper. Best one I've seen in years.
ReplyDeleteUppa Swiss!
It was Gordon Banks vintage!
ReplyDelete