England Vs Switzerland... 1/4 Final 2024

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

England changing formation to a 3-4-2-1 (as it's being advertised) or maybe more likely a 5-2-2-1

(Or maybe a 5-4-1)...

Pickford in Goal

Back 3 of Walker, Stones, Konsa.

Saka Left WingBack, Trippier Right Wingback.

Rice and Mainoo in the Centre Midfield.

Foden and Bellingham as two attacking midfielders / number 10s

Kane upfront.

Kickoff at 5pm Fulham Time.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

15 Mins gone, England look Much better than the last 4 games so far, Kane, Bellingham and Foden pressing well upfront, Mainoo and Saka playing very well... the team looks structured for the first time.

[Grassy Noel]

We seem to be playing for penalties. We all know what Fulham did against Pickford with penalties

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

Southgate Injures Kane 😮

[Eton White]

Those were some impressive penalties! England are through.

[BestOfBrede]

Borefest once again!
Southgate has the p,Ayers available - change it and be positive ffs

[cmg]

Say what you like about the 120 minutes (improvement, but far from totally convincing), you have to be impressed by the style, confidence and execution of those 5 kids on the penalties.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Well done England, superb penalties and Pickford did his job also.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

England's best performance by a mile this tournament but it was still just a 5/10 compared to the average 2/10 so far.

Started well, looked suited to the structure, for the first time looked like a team, they were pressing well, Saka looked dangerous....felt like they were edging a very defensive match.

Then about the 60th minute mark England just seemed to lose their way completely again, Kane was turning up at Centre Back, nothing positive was happening, very odd change in the game...Swiss then deservedly scored.

Then Saka scores with a 'great moment', and England fly for 5 minutes...then back to a very tedious negative game again until the penalties.

Yes, the penalties were excellent, 10/10 for those, but England should be doing better before they come.

Southgate's 3rd Semi Final out of the last 4 tournaments, but in 2018 and 2020 England did have some very good and convincing victories along the way...so far we have not seen that at all.

[Drewry66]

1st half excellent. Press excellent and they couldn't cope with it and if anyone attacked Sakas crosses we could have had a couple. Second and after just stopped doing everything that was working?! Stopped pressing, sat deep (which completely led to their goal), stopped getting it to Saka. Madness and could have paid for it. Brilliant goal from Saka.

Prob the best line up of pen takers we e ever had. All nearly perfect for clubs and ridiculously calm. Loved the huge breath and no rush calmness before each one (looked like that had been worked on). The calmness showed when Saka scored. Remember Pearces (which I loved) just pure tension released. Saka just smiled like 'that is what I do'. Just elite pen takers. That kid suffered horrendous and disgusting abuse after the final he missed in and the bottle and calmness was unbelievable. Fair play. Toney not even looking at the ball as well. Again fair play. So all in all brilliant pens but would have been criminal with the way we completely stepped off after that first half to lose that game. Got to be the easiest run to a final in history so let's hope we can get there and pull it off for the first time in my life.

[filham]

1.We are in the semi final which means we have achieved expectations and Southgate's job should be safe for another 
  spell.

2. Our football remains dull, apart from our goal it is hard to recall a shot on target.

3. In the 120 minutes open play Switzerland created the best chances and were unlucky not to win.

4. That has to be the best ever England penalty shoot out performance.

[hovewhite]

Saka carried the team all game,Kane should have been in the 6 yard box the 1st half as the Saka balls in were crying out for a CF,the one thing is we can win this playing dour football still like Ramsey's teams GS gets results .

[Dr Know]

Saka carried the team all game,Kane should have been in the 6 yard box the 1st half as the Saka balls in were crying out for a CF,the one thing is we can win this playing dour football still like Ramsey's teams GS gets results .

Kane should not even be considered for the next game , he is a liability. Watkins or dare I say it Toney should start up front !

[Dodgin]

Great to reach semifinal. Kane won't get dropped his attacking side seems to be minimal though he did an important defensive clearance late in the game. Toney  I like to see coming on earlier. He has praise for this game and with his late substitutes, is Southgate riding his luck ?

[bog]

Call me old fashioned, or just old, but I always thought the World and Euro tournaments were a celebration of the beautiful game. Out of the 8 quarterfinalists to me only Turkey really had a go....and they lost. So close to extra time with one off the line and a point blank save the Dutch keeper knew nothing about and they were going home.
Their left back and the blonde lad up front both looked top quality. 

Thank you and good night     

[Colton F.C.]

Bayern have got their monies worth and drawn the last drop of sweat from our captain.  There is nothing left.  Mr Southgate give him another go but don't leave the subs waiting too long. The youngbloods are more than ready.,

[Lighthouse]

StuntPeg is often more fun than the game. Here she wants to watch the match but ends up in Switzerland to join Swiss fans watching the game outside.

[Steeeeeeeeeed]

Call me old fashioned, or just old, but I always thought the World and Euro tournaments were a celebration of the beautiful game. Out of the 8 quarterfinalists to me only Turkey really had a go....and they lost. So close to extra time with one off the line and a point blank save the Dutch keeper knew nothing about and they were going home.
Their left back and the blonde lad up front both looked top quality. 

Thank you and good night     

Agreed, they used to feel be more of a "Carnival Of Football", especially when you had teams of very different styles and personalities in the teams, and you really felt that the teams were mostly just really doing their best to bring pride, passion and entertainment to their countries, and to try to become the best in the World (or Europe).

Nowadays it feels more like an afterthought for many players, fair enough they make their huge money with their clubs and the domestic game is clearly the priority now, particularly for the European players.