[Football] England v Ukraine Sat July 3rd Official match thread

[Weststander]

Fookin’ brilliant!! Fantastic atmosphere, no idea what it sounded like on TV, but it was a great night!

Non stop England singing which got louder and louder.

With the olé‘s near the end as the matadors in white took the Mickey with the ball.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Well, that was brilliant. Ukraine were tired and punching above their weight but we were still, very, very good. The early goal made the "don't concede" mantra more watchable but that was everything we've been striving for as far as I can see. Organised, good possession, excellent set pieces, solid. It gets results.

Denmark will be a much tougher game. They've been brought together by Eriksen's unfortunate medical incident and look the same combination of organised and clinical as us. But we've no need to fear them after that.

I take it all the "England friendlies are really boring and I haven't watched them since 1978" crew are tuning in now?

 

[Weststander]

Beardsley and Lineker. Doubt we'll see a front two too often. Sure we won't see one as good as that.

Glad you remember and feel the same. Beardsley was a genius with the ball, Lineker a truly world class striker for clubs and country feeding on PB’s creativity.

 

[Stat Brother]

I take it all the "England friendlies are really boring and I haven't watched them since 1978" crew are tuning in now?

I'm officially announcing my new status as "we/us", when talking about England.

Sure that can only mean one thing...













...I hope Denmark win the final.

 

[BN41Albion]

Fookin’ brilliant!! Fantastic atmosphere, no idea what it sounded like on TV, but it was a great night!

Sounded great on telly, as did the Ukrainians to be fair until they went 2 down

 

[Danny Wilson Said]

That was like watching the Albion but with goals.

Unfortunately Denmark will be miles better than a tired Ukraine.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I'm 52, and that was the best performance from an England team that I've seen.
Holland 96, Germany 01, Belgium 90 don't quite make it
They can turn things on and off when they want to. They conserved their energy for over half of that game. And that game was a QF.

Holland were a better opposition torn apart ....

 

[Guinness Boy]

Possibly covered elsewhere in the thread (it's late, I've had a beer and I can't stop grinning) but does anyone else think Sancho may not have been right because of his transfer negotiations? And now ok when they've concluded? It seems a weird time to unleash him and yet he was a constant thorn in their side. Or are we just rotating him, Sock Boy and Saka?

 

[Poojah]

yea, but apart from that, what have we done eh?

I know you’re only kidding, but d’ya know what - the other, big, thing we’ve done is conquered the psychological side of tournament football. And that’s not a simple thing, especially given the neuroticism that has historically accompanied wearing the England shirt.

The Germany game was massive in that respect. Not a great German side, 12th in the world, but they were GERMANY, and that seems to up the ante ten-fold.

Now we’ve got Denmark, 10th in the world, and a very different problem applies. They’re better than Germany on paper, but it’s only Denmark. Given what happened earlier in this tournament, not to mention 1992, they’ll feel that there’s an element of destiny about their chances. They’re a difficult prospect to weigh up.

But, with the possible exception of the Scotland game, we’ve weighed every opponent up absolutely perfectly so far. And I expect us to do the same again on Wednesday. In contrast to his managerial career at club level, Southgate appears to know what he’s doing.

 

[Bodian]

I've actually enjoyed the BBC pundit line up tonight.

Loving this, loads of time given, rather than the old fashioned token 10 minutes. The BBC have finally cottoned on to football being preferred to the zzzzzz news.

Ian Wright would’ve made it even better.

They were really quite interesting and insightful - they should have more proper discussions like that. Even Shearer came across as thoughtful and fluent. I normally turn the analysis off, but not tonight. Not staying up for Crouch though.....

 

[Machiavelli]

Possibly covered elsewhere in the thread (it's late, I've had a beer and I can't stop grinning) but does anyone else think Sancho may not have been right because of his transfer negotiations? And now ok when they've concluded? It seems a weird time to unleash him and yet he was a constant thorn in their side. Or are we just rotating him, Sock Boy and Saka?

Saka had a minor injury, and didn't make the 23 today.. He doesn't really seem to like starting Grealish. He had other options to bring on tonight, especially with avoiding second yellows, and giving game time to those that hadn't got any (that was the main focus of his post-match interview)

 

[Weststander]

They were really quite interesting and insightful - they should have more proper discussions like that. Even Shearer came across as thoughtful and fluent. I normally turn the analysis off, but not tonight. Not staying up for Crouch though.....

Do you have BT Sport?

For a quite a while they had a CL studio team of Ferdinand/Gerrard/Lampard. They were amazing, a wealth of experience at the highest level, very honest. They also gave them loads of reflective time post matches.

Not the silly rushed 10 minutes of cliches normally on itv/bbc.

Tonight was really good.

 

[Eeyore]

Best performance on a neutral venue since the 3-0 win over Poland at Mexico 1986?

Denmark 2002. Clinical.

 

[Weststander]

It’s like watching Brighton, but with goals.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

It’s like watching Brighton, but with goals.

I can't cope with that idea

 

[Justice]

It’s like watching Brighton, but with goals.

It’s really not.

 

[Eeyore]

So all along the only thing England lacked was a five seconds of Marxism before the kick off....

 

[essbee1]

So all along the only thing England lacked was a five seconds of Marxism before the kick off....

Yes comrade.

 

[Weststander]

Holland were a better opposition torn apart ....

Did the original post say in a neutral venue?

 

[vagabond]

I know you’re only kidding, but d’ya know what - the other, big, thing we’ve done is conquered the psychological side of tournament football. And that’s not a simple thing, especially given the neuroticism that has historically accompanied wearing the England shirt.

The Germany game was massive in that respect. Not a great German side, 12th in the world, but they were GERMANY, and that seems to up the ante ten-fold.

Now we’ve got Denmark, 10th in the world, and a very different problem applies. They’re better than Germany on paper, but it’s only Denmark. Given what happened earlier in this tournament, not to mention 1992, they’ll feel that there’s an element of destiny about their chances. They’re a difficult prospect to weigh up.

But, with the possible exception of the Scotland game, we’ve weighed every opponent up absolutely perfectly so far. And I expect us to do the same again on Wednesday. In contrast to his managerial career at club level, Southgate appears to know what he’s doing.

I think our squad is the best at this tournament, and the options we have on the bench make us a very tough proposition.

Sterling, Foden, Grealish, Mount, Sancho, Saka, Calvert Lewin, Kane. We can’t even rotate through all our quality attacking players between games. Whatever team we play against Denmark, if we’re having issues breaking them down we have an array of potential match winners to bring on from the bench.