England won against Serbia but the initial reaction was incredibly negative, with Harry Kane in particular being blamed.
Send your England opinions to theeditor@football365.com.
Oh wow.
Southgate will put Salma Hayek in a trench coat.
A complete commoner.
Luke U.
Is it time to drop Harry Kane?
How did Harry Kane stay on the pitch for the entire game?
They touched the ball twice in the first half, lost it more than professional footballers should in the second half, failed to score with the only chance they had – a rather static and sluggish performance considering England’s creativity.
Will Gareth be brave enough to ruthlessly replace Sir Harry Kane with Palmer, or will the tabloid furor be too great for keeping Lampard/Gerrard in the England squad rather than Scholes?
Eoin (not convinced about Foden’s role) Ireland
More info on Serbia vs England from F365:
👉 England players’ assessment of Serbia match: Bellingham in control, Kane quiet, Saka showing signs of improvement
👉 Jude Bellingham’s England beat Serbia: 16 conclusion to an unnecessarily tense opening match
Manchester unites in England’s despair
I’m a City fan. Here’s a summary of what I’ve seen so far.
Were England highly rated before the tournament? Yes.
The only pre-match disruption involving England fans? Check.
Are British fans the only ones who booed and whistled the opposing national anthem? Correct.
Will Harry Kane be nearly invisible in an England shirt again? Yes, he will.
Another disappointing performance from England against a so-called ‘weak’ opposition? Check.
Did Southgate fail to make timely tactical changes and instead rely on individual flair to achieve results? Check.
Ah yes, the situation is completely normal.
Mark (I wish I could enjoy it like Jock) MCFC
…Pre-match thoughts:
Excitement and hopes were dashed as Southgate opted to play 6 defenders and no one deep in midfield to push the ball forward… unless we count on TAA or let Rice shuttle. Let’s hope they both play better than they did in the warm-up! At least the CB combination is right. Yay.
Ah, yes.
And from the get-go, TAA calls for the ball, passes to the full-back, runs past Bellingham while the attacker goes deep to get the ball. Fuck you from the side. But okay, Stones starts by passing the ball to the opposing striker with a header. I want more from him.
Halftime thoughts:
In the end, the plan was for Bellingham to do it all. He deflected Saka’s right-footed (?!) cross into the air. Kudos to Bellingham for basically doing everything so well. Without him we’d be in trouble. Is he the Rooney comeback?
Saka is doing well enough, dominating the opposition but the result is disappointing due to a lack of a goalscorer… I think it’s the third time. Rice is very methodical and keeps things moving forward. Guehi is calm and good.
Apart from that, Serbia (33rd, 29 places below us) look to have too much room to maneuver.
But yeah… Trent got the ball a bunch of times and almost conceded a goal. A guy with that kind of touch is not cut out to be a midfielder. But he stretched out to block a pass and had a terrible touch to win a free kick and squander it, so there were some positives. We’re still waiting to see how he passes.
Foden barely involved, wasted on the left wing despite his “free role” as expected. Apparently Kane is on the pitch. I saw a player receiving and giving a foul. Is it him? Surprising we don’t see the record-breaking striker. Hopefully the second half will be better.
Second half thoughts:
Well, we survived, despite being dominated in a manner reminiscent of the Italian final, and typically Southgate took it to the next level by dropping Trento and bringing on more defensive options, a remarkable feat that, for better or worse, did even less.
The buzzer replaced our second-best attacking threat and quickly crossed with his right foot from the right wing, taking the best chance of the entire game. Who knew it would work? Too bad it was a one-off. In the end, he was the seventh defender, as planned.
Kane would not stay up front, instead he kept coming deep (deeper than the entire midfield in fact) to get involved, leaving no one to pass forward to, no one to push the defence back and no space to play with. Foden was no good but was regularly double/triple marked, with Kane and Bellingham filling the spaces.
Final thoughts:
Yes, it was a horrible game, a sloppy win with no real dominance or threat whatsoever apart from Bellingham and coming close to scoring a couple of times against a team 29th below them, but a win nonetheless.
However, it is not even close to being as impressive as Germany (16th) vs Scotland (39th) or Spain vs Croatia (8th vs 10th).
Badwolf (I think our chances are better now)
Booed by the Daily Mail
Let us all give a huge boo to the Daily Mail for, after England’s Euro 2024 opening win over Serbia, deciding to focus on which players were bad, instead of focusing on how great Jude Bellingham was.
To be honest, I don’t think the British media would like us to win.
Dan, London
