England v Scotland

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

England need the Sheridactyl

[Jimmy HaveHave]

I found it odd that Kane was taken off when it needed the likes of Foden, Sancho & Grealish were needed to create chances for him

[Bennett]

I wonder how much Kane is training - that's two games he's not been involved too much in and been taken off.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

If he's tired or down to fitness then surely Southgate should drop him or Tuesdays game to give him time to recover for the knockout stages 

[Nomoreheroes]

What?

We haven’t beaten a top side in the knockouts of a major tournament in my viewing lifetime (WC ‘90 being my first memory of England)

If you look back a little longer the pattern is that we often raise our game against the better teams - usually as a one off.  That's why we struggle to win competitions. The top teams are more consistent and can do it in successive games. Or, they can soak up pressure for 89 mins and produce one piece of magic per game to win the game. (France seemed to be doing that against Germany for the 20 mins I saw)

I watched a bit of Scotland's first game and thought they looked toothless. If England had scored one yesterday then I think they might have won convincingly. However, I thought we looked slow and ponderous. I thought that Kane played OK and I was surprised he was taken off - He had more impact than Rashford when he came on. But, I though that was an odd substitution as I don't see Rashford as someone who leads the line. I expected Sterling to go off. I also thought Grealish for Foden was odd too. Foden looked like the only player on the pitch with a bit of energy. Grealish was over hyped and Scotland nullified him by stopping him before he could get into areas that could hurt them.

Maybe primary objective for both teams was not to lose. But neither were good enough to nick it. First knockout round will likely be the end for all of the home nationals. But I think only 2 out of 3 will get there. If any do win their first knockout game then odds on they wont win the second.

[LucienSanchez]

Southgate has a decent bunch of players, but is not a decent manager. I can’t see any justification for two DMCs against Scotland. I also can’t understand taking Foden off (our only bright spark) and leaving Sterling on. Our style is a bit turgid and risk averse. Show some intent for Christ’s sake.

Edit: Kane has been poor. We’re also not using him correctly. If we’re not going to get him the service he needs, he may as well stay on the bench. And he is never captain material… even at Spurs

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Spot on

[Nemo]

Our style is designed to play knockout games against better teams, hence the DMs and the pace on the counter. That doesn't mean we'll win those games, but it does mean we're thinking about how to win those games.

Yes, you could play differently against a team that's going to sit in with five at the back and frustrate. Maybe we even should - but we don't have to, having already got three points against Croatia and maybe Southgate's choice was playing more in our "best" structure was more important than trying to put away Scotland.

I don't for one second think he's so tactically blind that he can't see that the extra defensive player was wasted in this game - keeping them both has to be a choice with an eye on later in the tournament.

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Her assessment is right on it

[michael]

Edit: Kane has been poor. We’re also not using him correctly. If we’re not going to get him the service he needs, he may as well stay on the bench. And he is never captain material… even at Spurs

Kane isn’t captain at Spurs, Hugo Loris is (maybe that is your point!?). Anyway the captaincy is pretty meaningless in football, call heads or tails and do some media, that’s about it.

From the game, we got one of the results that we needed to progress. Scotland didn’t get the result they needed.

[Panda Paws]

Some mega over-reactions for both teams. It's mad. It was an average performance in the group stage against a poor team. Forget it, move on.

[mexico red]

Some mega over-reactions for both teams. It's mad. It was an average performance in the group stage against a poor team. Forget it, move on.

100% this

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

On the plus side, my onion bhajis were delicious!

[Posh Red]

What’s the chances that England concede a late goal against the Czechs to knock out Scotland again, like in 96.

I guess it’s harder now that 3rd place teams can qualify

[Jimmy HaveHave]

Some mega over-reactions for both teams. It's mad. It was an average performance in the group stage against a poor team. Forget it, move on.

I also think England are a poor team based around potential