England v Ghana

[SuffolkWhite]

Too slow a tempo for most of the game, you'll never breakdown a packed defence with slow tempo. A point will see us through to the next round, but performance is below the expectation.

[Bassey the warrior]

Who else noticed John Paintsil on the Ghana bench? Looks like he was winding up Bellingham at half time.

[SerbianLad]

After England's best performance in terms of entertainment value in many years in the previous round vs Croatia, this was a match where England struggled a lot.

I think the only huge chance you missed was the Kane chance. Ghana should have had a penalty as well.

Good thing for England though is that in the knockout round, you won't play against lowblocks as much, if at all, and I think that will suit England way more than this.

[Coastwalker]

Just watched that tackle near the end again,where was Var?
That was a blatant penalty to Ghana,we got away with one there.

[JimmyConway]

Was a bit of a snooze fest. Reminded me at times of Fulham games under Silva struggling against the low block. Still trying to pass there way to score a goal through eight defenders? Hardly tested the keeper from distance?
Centre back pairing was more balanced can only think Spence was in for the more physical battle with Semenyo but he spent most of the game on the left wing. Lot of criticism about left side of England last night but no different to when Trippier played left back you will never get fluency with a full back having to keep checking back on to stronger foot and with Gordon I just thought he could not deal with the physicality of the Ghana right back.   
Looked more of a game for the likes of Toney with that physical edge last night not sure why you could not of gone two up front with them setting their stall out not to get beat from the start.

[Bassey the warrior]

Was a bit of a snooze fest. Reminded me at times of Fulham games under Silva struggling against the low block. Still trying to pass there way to score a goal through eight defenders? Hardly tested the keeper from distance?
Centre back pairing was more balanced can only think Spence was in for the more physical battle with Semenyo but he spent most of the game on the left wing. Lot of criticism about left side of England last night but no different to when Trippier played left back you will never get fluency with a full back having to keep checking back on to stronger foot and with Gordon I just thought he could not deal with the physicality of the Ghana right back.   
Looked more of a game for the likes of Toney with that physical edge last night not sure why you could not of gone two up front with them setting their stall out not to get beat from the start.

I've said it before but Hall should be in the squad, I don't understand why Tuchel called up Chalobah to replace Livramento. We now have six cb's, but just one left footed full back.

[SG]

Went to bed at half time. Great decision in retrospect
Didn't take long for England to revert back to the norm.

[JimmyConway]

Was a bit of a snooze fest. Reminded me at times of Fulham games under Silva struggling against the low block. Still trying to pass there way to score a goal through eight defenders? Hardly tested the keeper from distance?
Centre back pairing was more balanced can only think Spence was in for the more physical battle with Semenyo but he spent most of the game on the left wing. Lot of criticism about left side of England last night but no different to when Trippier played left back you will never get fluency with a full back having to keep checking back on to stronger foot and with Gordon I just thought he could not deal with the physicality of the Ghana right back.   
Looked more of a game for the likes of Toney with that physical edge last night not sure why you could not of gone two up front with them setting their stall out not to get beat from the start.

I've said it before but Hall should be in the squad, I don't understand why Tuchel called up Chalobah to replace Livramento. We now have six cb's, but just one left footed full back.

In total agreement with you.

[Bassey the warrior]

In spite of Konsa's error, Guehi-Konsa is our best partnership. Stones is too slow and looks off the pace.

[KJS]

I thought that Southgate had come back

[demeant0r]

It's obvious why England can't beat the low block, it's because most of these players play in the Prem and many teams in the Prem can't beat the low block.

[Whitestone]

It's obvious why England can't beat the low block, it's because most of these players play in the Prem and many teams in the Prem can't beat the low block.

You could apply that logic to many of the other top nations then as they all have Premier League Players in their squads.

It would very difficult for most teams to break down a Ghana team that played 4-5-1 and sat in deep. For some reason the narrative after an England performance like yesterday's has to be negative when credit should be given to Ghana who were excellent in defence. Yes, England could and should have done better. We have four points, will probably beat Panama and will top the group. Then the real World Cup starts with the knockout stages which should produce better games from a viewing perspective.

[bog]

In spite of Konsa's error, Guehi-Konsa is our best partnership. Stones is too slow and looks off the pace.

Better with the Rolling Stones. May get some satisfaction then....

[Bassey the warrior]

It's obvious why England can't beat the low block, it's because most of these players play in the Prem and many teams in the Prem can't beat the low block.

You could apply that logic to many of the other top nations then as they all have Premier League Players in their squads.

It would very difficult for most teams to break down a Ghana team that played 4-5-1 and sat in deep. For some reason the narrative after an England performance like yesterday's has to be negative when credit should be given to Ghana who were excellent in defence. Yes, England could and should have done better. We have four points, will probably beat Panama and will top the group. Then the real World Cup starts with the knockout stages which should produce better games from a viewing perspective.

Ghana did defend excellently, there was no space for Kane to drop deep, so he was forced to stay high where his lack of pace showed. He was equally ineffective staying high in the last Euros.

However, England can play better, there wasn't enough movement off the ball and as a result Anderson had his worse showing, holding onto the ball too long and playing fewer progressive passes.

Madueke and Gordon were reluctant to take on players, the best way to deal with deep lying defences is to make use of tricky dribbles, because they will inevitably attract multiple opponents, freeing up space for others. Spence is decent in defence but offers very little in attack, either at rb or lb. He should be a sub brought on to defend a lead.

[RaySmith]

Ghana were very good, obviously solid defensively, but also  came close to  scoring on the break a couple of times - and denied a very good pen decision

England and Tuchel facing criticism, especially on Talksport, after being heroes after  Croatia.
We were going to win the thing, but now we are 'dross' and the manager left crucial players out of the squad!

But a low block with everyone  behind the ball is always hard to score against, as we well know through watching Fulham. I think we are definitely going through, so let's see what happens next.

I doubt we will struggle so much in future games, where teams will come out and play, but other teams might learn from Ghana as a way to play us.

[Nick Bateman]

If you leave out some of our best players like Maguire, Cole Palmer and Trent, one better get results.

It was a German Southgate, playing with fear, safety-first. I wonder what the rest of the world think of England. He also played a leftie on the right, and a rightie on the left so we got no crosses. No Maguire at corners every one of which petered out.

[Eton White]

What did you think of the first game? Was he a German Southgate then?