[Football] England v Greece match thread

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hart's shirt

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
11,074
Kitbag in Dubai
Well, I was at Wembley and it's fair to say that it wasn't great. Greece were the better team, looked far more dangerous and fully deserved the win.

Clearly the Foden / Palmer / Gordon trio didn't work - at halftime I was hoping that we'd immediately revert after the break to a defined striker. A bit of an extravagance playing a false 9 when you've got 2 perfectly good ones in Watkins and Solanke left on the bench.

As ever, you can have too much of a good thing. Wanting England to play attacking entertaining football as I unapologetically do doesn't mean it has to be naively gung-ho. That invariably leads to a loss of shape and subsequently control as was painfully evident. Even with that attacking team on paper, England still only had 2 shots on target. That's definitely not what I expected and paid to see.

But as bad as the showing was, there's still time for England to resolve matters.

A good win against Finland at the weekend with one in the return fixture against the Greeks in Athens in 34 days time could put England top of the group before Ireland at Wembley on 17th November.

Even if they fail to end up topping the group, things still aren't lost. A 2nd place finish would mean a 2 leg playoff in March 2025 against one of the four 3rd place Group A (Tier 1) sides. Currently those sides are Poland, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Win that and England are back in the top tier. Far less preferable than automatic qualification, but it's another route regardless.

I'll judge Carsley at the end of the 6 NL fixtures next month, not just after one that we've lost despite winning the two previous.

2 shots of good with 1 of bad so far then.

Sometimes we win, sometimes we learn.
 
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Napper

Well-known member
Jul 9, 2003
24,452
Sussex
Carsley isn’t the man

Players took it lightly , no one wanted to be there , just going through the motions and this was carsleys opportunity to ensure the players played this game like a cup final . That’s his job

Also , we seem to arrive at every tournament not knowing our best set up or side.

Last night whilst good to have a look won’t help massively .

We all know the 8 starters . Just f*** about with the rest but play the core that you will need to win big games . Have a settled team and system . The constant tinkering has never helped us . We got to a euro final playing shit . This is a team that is only a couple of tweaks being special . What he did last night undid all the best bits of England and he’s a fool for that .

Carsley has seamlessly slotted in to the regime. I want to see players somehow Inspired by playing greece at home . We don’t need massive experiments .

Carsley hasn’t inspired , carsley can’t inspire , carsley isn’t the man
 
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Randy McNob

> > > > > > Cardiff > > > > >
Jun 13, 2020
4,724
Carsley not picking a recognised striker, leaving Watkins and Solanke on bench to try and shoehorn in the stars, was a terrible decision.

He has reaped what he sowed.

will the FA now look at an experienced manager?

I doubt it. But he looked like an amateur out of this depth tonight.
Maybe the predictable tactics and shoehorning big name players was a tribute to Sven?
 




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,682
The Fatherland
Didn’t even realize they were playing etc etc.
 


keaton

Big heart, hot blood and balls. Big balls
Nov 18, 2004
9,972
Something has gone wrong with your selection and tactics if your first match changing substitute is someone who's had one good game for Chelsea
 


Hamilton

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
12,953
Brighton
Will be int


Interesting comments, sounds like they’ve already got their man, and what I’ve heard from a well placed source I think @Han Solo is going to be a happy man.

Will be interesting to see what happens.

I’d heard from another source that he was definitely not taking it.

God help England chat rooms if he does take it. What will Swansman (aka @Han Solo ) turn up as on there? @Swenglish maybe?

Suggested names here.
 




Green Cross Code Man

Wunt be druv
Mar 30, 2006
20,731
Eastbourne
I don't understand, what are England trying to qualify for here? Isn't this a bunch of friendlies renamed to try to make them more palatable?
 




Van Cleef

Well-known member
Jun 17, 2023
842
Well played Greece. You deserved it.
I was unsettled to say the least when we started Gordon, surely one of the ugliest players in the Premier League, with perma-mouth-open Palmer, who runs him close.
We were asking for it IMO.
 




Han Solo

Well-known member
May 25, 2024
2,454


Interesting comments, sounds like they’ve already got their man, and what I’ve heard from a well placed source I think @Han Solo is going to be a happy man.

So is it me or Roy getting it?

Carsley isn’t the man

Players took it lightly , no one wanted to be there , just going through the motions and this was carsleys opportunity to ensure the players played this game like a cup final . That’s his job

Also , we seem to arrive at every tournament not knowing our best set up or side.

Last night whilst good to have a look won’t help massively .

We all know the 8 starters . Just f*** about with the rest but play the core that you will need to win big games . Have a settled team and system . The constant tinkering has never helped us . We got to a euro final playing shit . This is a team that is only a couple of tweaks being special . What he did last night undid all the best bits of England and he’s a fool for that .

Carsley has seamlessly slotted in to the regime. I want to see players somehow Inspired by playing greece at home . We don’t need massive experiments .

Carsley hasn’t inspired , carsley can’t inspire , carsley isn’t the man
There's no manager in the world that can make people play a Nations League group stage game like a cup final so if thats your expectation... you'll never be pleased. In every nation there's a hundred nation border lickers who get excited by Nations League. Everyone else save their enthusiasm for something more useful.

That said, England has played ban in 5 out of 6 halfs under Carsley so he's doomed in terms of getting the job. Probably not a bad man and probably not a bad manager, but he's supposed to shepherd a bunch of lazy twats into pretending that they care, and he's not been able to do that.

Will be int

Will be interesting to see what happens.

I’d heard from another source that he was definitely not taking it.

God help England chat rooms if he does take it. What will Swansman (aka @Han Solo ) turn up as on there? @Swenglish maybe?

Suggested names here.
God Save the Chatroom won't be much more successful than God Save The Queen.

"Grahampotterman" would be the user name obviously.
 


DJ NOBO

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2004
6,815
Wiltshire
Trying new stuff out and it failing….that’s fine. It’s good.

The problem last night was the lack of application by the players. That’s not good. And that’s largely down to the manager.
 




Driver8

On the road...
NSC Patron
Jul 31, 2005
16,210
North Wales
Even if they fail to end up topping the group, things still aren't lost. A 2nd place finish would mean a 2 leg playoff in March 2025 against one of the four 3rd place Group A (Tier 1) sides. Currently those sides are Poland, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Win that and England are back in the top tier. Far less preferable than automatic qualification, but it's another route regardless.
Why does it matter what tier we are in?
 






Dibdab

Well-known member
Sep 28, 2021
1,074
I've never heard Carlsey speak before as don't pay much attention to England but caught his post match presser on BBC this morning. He doesnt seem to have the presence you'd expect from an England manager at all. Mumbling and stumbling through his words. You can see he doesnt have the experience for the level. Potter must be rising up the odds for next man.
 


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