Isn’t mainoo a box to box player? England need someone confident showing for the ball and helping thing tick over and moving the team forward. Also an actual left back and left winger would make a big difference

What England and Bellingham in particular need in central midfield unfortunately isn’t anyone we’ve actually got.

comment by House (U17162)
posted 15 minutes ago
Also Thomas Frank has been BBCs best pundit so far, very insightful
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ive enjoyed cesc but idr which one hes on bbc or itv?

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 4 minutes ago
What England and Bellingham in particular need in central midfield unfortunately isn’t anyone we’ve actually got.
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Pretty much. We’re also missing maligned figures in Maguire, Henderson and Sterling.

comment by InBefore (U20589)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 15 minutes ago
Also Thomas Frank has been BBCs best pundit so far, very insightful
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ive enjoyed cesc but idr which one hes on bbc or itv?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

BBC

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 38 seconds ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 4 minutes ago
What England and Bellingham in particular need in central midfield unfortunately isn’t anyone we’ve actually got.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty much. We’re also missing maligned figures in Maguire, Henderson and Sterling.
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Completely agree.

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 8 seconds ago
comment by InBefore (U20589)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 15 minutes ago
Also Thomas Frank has been BBCs best pundit so far, very insightful
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ive enjoyed cesc but idr which one hes on bbc or itv?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

BBC

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thought so, itv went full overlap didntt they with keane neville and wright?

comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face, proud owner of the 100k comment, fack you Michael Edward’s and your 5m, th (U19119)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face, proud owner of the 100k comment, fack you Michael Edward’s and your 5m, th (U19119)
posted 59 seconds ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 37 seconds ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face, proud owner of the 100k comment, fack you Michael Edward’s and your 5m, th (U19119)
posted 10 seconds ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 9 minutes ago
England needs almost the same line up but the 2 changes being Mainoo and Palmer. That's it
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Your faith in mainoo is ott. Whilst he might offer something, painting him as the missing piece is just daft. He’ would have made little difference.
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I'll agree to disagree!
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Fair enoughI’d like to see him play but I also don’t want the immense england backlash to mess him up. He’s so young
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I do feel the same way, I appreciate throwing him in now leaves him exposed to massive criticism, online abuse if he makes one mistake but I'm always the optimist that a player can deal with it and they have family around them if something goes wrong. From what I've seen of Mainoo he comes across as so level headed, and the way he plays he just wants control in the middle of the pitch and to contribute going forward (hence his goals).

I know a lot of people will disagree but I feel like a combo of Rice (covering the defensive line), Mainoo (trying to maintain control in the middle of the pitch), and Bellingham (contributing toward the forward play from midfield) is such a nice balance.

G.S has tried to experiment so far, but I feel the above experiment would work if the right players are selected around those three
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The England at a tournament situation is an absolute pressure cooker, look at what happened to rashford and Sancho for those missed pens- guys who ran their hearts out. If it wasn’t such a hostile environment to mistakes then mainoo could well do a job, not sure he’s on a level good enough to make much of a difference but I don’t think he’d have done any worse today. I just fear what might happen if he did make a mistake and the sharks (and far worse) come calling on such a young guy.
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Yeah I agree with the abuse you'll get when messing up for England, but the next worst teams to mess up for is Real or United, maybe Brazil. Mainoo is playing for the most laughed at British team currently and he's doing well under that pressure already. If he can perform at the sh!te that is United and the online wummery there, why not England? I think he can deal with it if it's one bad game, so try him next game.

England can't be any worse than they were today with or without him!

comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 38 seconds ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 4 minutes ago
What England and Bellingham in particular need in central midfield unfortunately isn’t anyone we’ve actually got.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty much. We’re also missing maligned figures in Maguire, Henderson and Sterling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Completely agree.

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I saw you make a point about Bellingham’s positioning, that’s an issue I’ve had with him from what I’ve seen for England, but it looks even worse without players like Henderson and Maguire talking to him on the pitch - and others, in fairness.

comment by InBefore (U20589)
posted 38 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face, proud owner of the 100k comment, fack you Michael Edward’s and your 5m, th (U19119)
posted 2 seconds ago
comment by House (U17162)
posted 9 minutes ago
England needs almost the same line up but the 2 changes being Mainoo and Palmer. That's it
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Your faith in mainoo is ott. Whilst he might offer something, painting him as the missing piece is just daft. He’ would have made little difference.
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as pretty much all the subs in 2 games have done 3 including iceland. its not a player issue. sure southgate isnt telling them not to walk about and be outworked outfought but its what hes paid to guard against and make sure isnt allowed lol. 2 games in a row hes been outdone by the oppo manager on pretty much everything, including getting their teams set up and up for it!
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It partly is a player issue.

There’s a knock on effect of playing Trent, Foden and Trippier because they don’t play to each others strengths.

If you have a left back incapable of overlapping you need a wide forward, if you play Trent you need runners, if you play Foden you need possession.

So whilst the manager may not have set us up right tactically, players do also make a difference.

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 38 seconds ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 4 minutes ago
What England and Bellingham in particular need in central midfield unfortunately isn’t anyone we’ve actually got.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pretty much. We’re also missing maligned figures in Maguire, Henderson and Sterling.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Completely agree.

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I saw you make a point about Bellingham’s positioning, that’s an issue I’ve had with him from what I’ve seen for England, but it looks even worse without players like Henderson and Maguire talking to him on the pitch - and others, in fairness.
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It’s been in both games and he’s done the opposite of what was needed at the time. The second half against Serbia he dropped deep and tonight he kept high and was way too far away from the midfield two. Not just that, the positions he was taking when either deep or high were just daft and there were no passing channels at all.

I think to get the most out of him in that ten role too, you need a creative midfielder behind him that can be feeding both him or the wings. At the moment, he’s messing up both the attack and the midfield.

Agree with that, melts. It also doesn’t help that Tripps and Guehi struggle to play through the lines to by pass the midfield. Maguire and Shaw are big misses there.

I think another issue we have tactically is Walker. He’s such a big strength for the team defensively that he just has to play. But it puts a lot more pressure on Saka to deliver from that side, even more so in this lopsided set up, and Saka’s looked knackered for months.

It’s a shame Reece James is such a crock. I think Southgate would have more trust in him than Trent, as he provides a good middle ground between Walkers’ defending and Trent’s attacking qualities.

Yep Maguire and Shaw would make a big difference, both for the midfield and for the balance to the right hand side.

Agree about James too. Had he stayed fit I think he’d be a mainstay by now.

Walker centre back James right back with maguire and shaw

Great on paper

Walker risky centre back but his recovery pace with maguire next to him would have been good

James is a big miss

I seem to recall there being a period where it looked like James was being preferred to Walker.

I really hope his surgery will help him in the future. This could be Walker’s last tournament and it would be good to have James there to takeover.

comment by House (U17162)
posted 1 hour, 50 minutes ago
I don't want to criticise TAA and say he's rubbish or whatever, he's clearly class or he wouldn't be a starter for Liverpool's most successful team in decades. It just feels that G.S experiment with him hasn't worked. That doesn't make TAA a bad player it just means for this selection of players G.S system (whatever that is) isn't working and I want to politely as possible say he's one of the players that shouldn't start the next game
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Yeah, I feel bad for him. He's got the lowest score in the match ratings on the BBC. He's not a midfielder, though he's not going to turn down the chance to play.

comment by Blackpolespur (U9242)
posted 30 minutes ago
Walker centre back James right back with maguire and shaw

Great on paper

Walker risky centre back but his recovery pace with maguire next to him would have been good

James is a big miss


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Nah you don’t break Stones and Maguire partnership.

Gotta say I’ve been impressed with Guehi defensively, especially when it comes to competing in the air as it’s not a strength of his.

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 29 minutes ago
Gotta say I’ve been impressed with Guehi defensively, especially when it comes to competing in the air as it’s not a strength of his.
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Ditto. Think he’s been our best player so far.

Yeah same. All the back four have defended really well, to be fair. As crap as we’ve been we’ve not given up any good chances.

Yep they’ve all done well which is even more impressive given how bad the midfields been.

The first knockout game is going to be the interesting one to see what he goes with. I already know I’ll be irritated!

Hopefully they’ll be able to take some confidence into the knockout stages with their defensive performances.

I’m hoping he’ll look to tweak things now we are basically qualified. Getting Shaw back will be huge.

He’ll definitely tweak it, I just don’t think he’ll make the right choices. He don’t with the subs tonight and I thought the change needed was incredibly obvious.

*didnt.

I personally think Mainoo is one of the best players in the world. He should be starting every game and playing every minute imo. I haven’t seen a player as good at Man Utd in a long time.