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2 hours ago
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Key events
I was really disappointed with Reece James. He’s a superb player capable of so much better going forward and England really needed that from him – overlaps, underlaps and crosses. But he delivered almost nothing.
Email! “‘I don’t care about Messi’ was such an insulting and insensitive remark from such a talented player,” says Krishnamoorthy V of Ronaldo. “This is what ego does to your personality. Ghana sending CR7 and co home will be so satisfying.”
I think that imperviousness has made Ronaldo what he is. Of course, he’s not really impervious at all, but thinks he is, and that’s all that matters.
Jacob makes a fair point here, that Palmer and Foden didn’t do enough to force their way into the squad. But both are special talents who’ve shown quality miles beyond that which we’ve seen from Madueke and Gordon, who are not, and neither of whom were all that good last season either.
Again, though, I come back to the big-space/small-space thing, and the lack of balance in the squad. And, judging by the substitutions, it’s not something management see as an issue – the changes were like for like, rather than seeking to alter or vary the method of attack.
The good news for England is that, as they progress, teams will, most likely, look to attack them, leaving space for their speed and physicality to exploit. But the squad lack guile and magic, completely unnecessarily, and it’s not clear Tuchel really groks that.
Anderson, Rice and Bellingham are all fantastic players, but none have the deftness around the box to play quick combinations, or the eye to thread through little passes. It was obvious at half-time that, given what was available, the wise move was to hook one of the first two for Kobbie Mainoo, who is brilliant at finding space in traffic.
Or, in other words, a balanced midfield is not three power-players; at least one touch-player is required, and Mainoo is the only one England have. Perhaps you might say Eberechi Eze is that too, and he came on far too late to influence the game or for it to look like the coaching staff are on top of the problem.
I agree with Barney here: this was a small-space game, in which England used big-space players.
Partly this is because of the squad Thomas Tuchel picked. If I was facing England and you offered me Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, I know which of those three I’d back myself against. Madueke is a decent player, but no more than that; he isn’t special, and the other two are.
Palmer, in particular, has the ability to change the pace of a game and do surprising things others can’t, exactly what you need against an organised low block. But that wast the only glaring issue: Lewis Hall would’ve given England natural width on the left and also excellent passing out of defence, but he’s not even in the squad; and, though Trent Alexander-Arnold is no one’s idea of a proper defender, if you’re using him it’s because you need a goal, and leaving his delivery and craft at home makes absolutely no sense.
I wonder if these errors reflect a manager unfamiliar with tournament football; Tuchel has decided to play a particular way, and picked a collection of profiles he thinks can do that. But that’s left him without the means to change things properly; if things go wrong, he can swap players, but what if, as yesterday, the issue is the system and its principles?
And was Jordan Pickford fortunate not to get a red card when he hared out of box to collide with Abdul Fatawu?
I feel not. Had Fatawu got a touch on the ball, Pickford was toast, but because neither player did, I don’t think we can say there was a foul. Both went for it, both missed, so it makes most sense is to call it a collision.
How do we feel about the penalty that wasn’t?
I don’t really see how you can’t give it. Fatawu was in and Konsa launches into him, getting nowhere near the ball with no chance of getting at the ball – which makes it a red card too.
You can relieve the game with the great Rob Smyth’s MBM.
As far as goalless draws go, I thought it an engaging one. But plenty of things for Thomas Tuchel to ponder, which we’ll dig into into which we’ll dig presently.
Summary
Here’s David Hytner’s match report.
And so to England. There are some absolutely gorgeous shots here.
Headloss dept:
I’m definitely not above hunting for this footage.
This “I’m back” situation, though; it’ll take more than bagging a brace against Uzbekistan for that to be so.
Roberto Martínez has options, too. He could play a wide player up front – Pedro Neto has done it for Chelsea – or Goncalo Ramos, who’s a striker.
But it’s not just Ronaldo preventing this team from working as it should – Bernardo Silva was left out and, if they’re to fulfil their potential – they’ve got the players to win the thing – he must surely play a key role. I’d get him into a midfield three with Vitinha and João Neves, then have Bruno Fernandes and Neto with free roles behind – if we must – Ronaldo.
I think we’re meant to receive this as a point proved.
Surely no one rhose surname isn’t Dos Santos Aveiro really thinks that, though? Ronaldo can still finish – he’ll never lose that – but it’s very hard to even come up with rationale, never mind believe rationale, that says the best version of this Portugal team contains him.
Preamble
We go again! We’ll begin by reflecting on the latest action – Portugal getting their competition going by thrashing Uzbekistan, England and Ghana near-enough securing passage to the knockouts, Croatia just about seeing off Panama, now eliminated, and Colombia forcing their way past DR Congo.
Then, when we’ve done that, we’ll build up to today’s action, featuring the final round of matches in Group B – Switzerland v Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina v Qatar; Group C – Morocco v Haiti and Scotland v Brazil… and Group A – South Africa v South Korea and Czechia v México.
I reckon some people might have some thoughts about all of that lot, so we’ll share those of our writers, but do send in yours too.
Let’s do it.
