England V North Macedonia

[1960maaan]

Another dull game in the offing, but a highlight for me is Henderson catching the boot of a NM player who goes down holding his knee. The trainers come on and treat the knee, then he jumps up to carry on. Modern Football eh?

Anyway a very 0-0 , 0-0 currently.

 

[elhombrecito]

Just now, 1960maaan said:

Another dull game in the offing, but a highlight for me is Henderson catching the boot of a NM player who goes down holding his knee. The trainers come on and treat the knee, then he jumps up to carry on. Modern Football eh?

Anyway a very 0-0 , 0-0 currently.

 

To be fair, the replay clearly showed his foot getting caught in the turf and his knee bending at an odd angle. 

[luke_bristol]

North Macedonia defending backs to the wall but they’re no mugs, think this will be a decent test 

[luke_bristol]

Nice close up of a Bristol city flag there as Henderson took a throw 

[1960maaan]

4 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

To be fair, the replay clearly showed his foot getting caught in the turf and his knee bending at an odd angle. 

It's going to be a slow game, I needed something to moan about. 

[1960maaan]

Hopefully might open up a bit now.

Well done Harry Kane.

[Bas's perfect hattrick]

8 minutes ago, luke_bristol said:

North Macedonia defending backs to the wall but they’re no mugs, think this will be a decent test 

Rubbish defending there tho...

[Partridge is a robin]

In other news, Joe Low on the bench in the Wales senior team

[cityexile]

That will do.

[1960maaan]

Saka is quality

[Sleepy1968]

Nice finish there by Saka.

[Ronnie Sinclair]

Morrell sent off for Wales 

[1960maaan]

8 minutes ago, Ronnie Sinclair said:

Morrell sent off for Wales 

I laugh , but I always want him to do well. Can't see it ending well for them now. Already 69% possession for Turkey.

[Davefevs]

Just thank me, I switched over to watch the Ireland game after 28 mins….I see England are 3-0 up!

[Lrrr]

I take back what I said about questioning why Phillips got picked.... if you want someone to just sit on the bench he's your perfect choice

[Numero Uno]

37 minutes ago, luke_bristol said:

North Macedonia defending backs to the wall but they’re no mugs, think this will be a decent test 

Beat Italy and Germany in recent times and we’ve destroyed them once we got ahead.

[1960maaan]

10 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

I take back what I said about questioning why Phillips got picked.... if you want someone to just sit on the bench he's your perfect choice

Great training at Man City 

[cityexile]

That is a belter.

[luke_bristol]

Wow!

[1960maaan]

that's a 

[Sleepy1968]

Just now, cityexile said:

That is a belter.

That boy's on fire.

[Ronnie Sinclair]

Pick 'ee out 

[Slippin cider]

What a goal! ….beautiful 

[BCFCGav]

Might be the best England goal I’ve watched live (well, telly). That pass and that finish in the same move… damn. 

[1960maaan]

First career hat trick 

[cityexile]

3 minutes ago, Sleepy1968 said:

That boy's on fire.

You can say that again.

[Bas's perfect hattrick]

Saka is ridiculous. With him and Bellingham, we've got some genuine world class players 

[cityexile]

Just now, Bas's perfect hattrick said:

Saka is ridiculous. With him and Bellingham, we've got some genuine world class players 

When it gets serious, we will have Mount and Sterling back...

[Jose]

4 minutes ago, Bas's perfect hattrick said:

Saka is ridiculous. With him and Bellingham, we've got some genuine world class players 

Shame we don’t have a manager at the same calibre.

[1960maaan]

Descending into the realms of a Friendly match , 4 Subs for England & 3 for N. Macedonia .

[redkev]

A few early comments before the game kicked off coming back to bite a few people , reminds me when city are playing

[Bas's perfect hattrick]

5 minutes ago, Jose said:

Shame we don’t have a manager at the same calibre.

Harsh that. We are finally competitive at International level. 

[cityexile]

Got to say, been impressed with the energy levels of England tonight. Yes, we are the better side, clearly. Equally, the last match for many of a long season, would have been very easy to just see the game out at a couple up. Could hardly have blamed them.

The 4th, TAA giving Gareth a bit of a headache. Very few players in the world could have made that pass, great finish as it was. Just not sure how much Gareth fancies the role TAA plays against the big guns. 

 

[luke_bristol]

Must admit I was expecting a much lower paced second half with England seeing out the win, so pleasantly surprised. 

[1960maaan]

I'm not a big Grealish fan, but the difference in tempo, threat, aggression , well everything , is massive. Rashford was brilliant and a real threat taking players on, committing defenders. A lot of Grealish's game seems to be making short passes to the FB out wide. Probably a bit more to it than that in reality .

[1960maaan]

This is getting silly. 7-0 !!!

[cityexile]

See pushing and shoving a lot like that in the box not given. Not going to be overridden , but pretty sure you don’t get it if not originally given.

[!james]

Great squad and great manager. 

If we had appointed a new manager and they were producing football like this the press and fans would be running out of superlatives. Instead it's the usual anti Southgate moans

[Super]

So impressed tonight. 7-0 up and still closing down like it was the first minute.

Superb performance.

[Red DNA]

Who would have claimed the match ball had Kane also got a hat trick to equal Saka?

[Super]

1 minute ago, Red DNA said:

Who would have claimed the match ball had Kane also got a hat trick to equal Saka?

Surely Saka. Kane has enough of them!

[sh1t_ref_again]

1 hour ago, 1960maaan said:

Another dull game in the offing, but a highlight for me is Henderson catching the boot of a NM player who goes down holding his knee. The trainers come on and treat the knee, then he jumps up to carry on. Modern Football eh?

Anyway a very 0-0 , 0-0 currently.

 

Bet your glad you gave another dull game a miss

[cityexile]

7 goals tonight, 7 wickets tomorrow and it been a good 24 hours.

Very impressive energy levels by England tonight. Great performance, and in truth not what I was expecting.

[Ronnie Sinclair]

[Super]

Saka is such a class act.

[1960maaan]

2 minutes ago, sh1t_ref_again said:

Bet your glad you gave another dull game a miss

I stuck with it . 

I don't find England qualifying games exciting, the Italy one will be different though.
A game needs a bit of jeopardy , these qualifiers most teams sit in against us and hope to hit on the break. Sign of a good team I guess , but doesn't always make for exciting football.

[Iron Acton Red]

5 minutes ago, Super said:

Saka is such a class act.

His second goal was sublime. He has to be one of the best players in world at moment, he’s only going to get better too. 

 

 

[cityexile]

Trivial point really, but did the ref blow spot on 90 mins? Clearly made no difference, but feels a tad unprofessional in a competitive match?

[Super]

27 minutes ago, cityexile said:

Trivial point really, but did the ref blow spot on 90 mins? Clearly made no difference, but feels a tad unprofessional in a competitive match?

Maybe he had money on 7-0

[Rocking Red Cyril]

7 hours ago, cityexile said:

Trivial point really, but did the ref blow spot on 90 mins? Clearly made no difference, but feels a tad unprofessional in a competitive match?

Why?

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Why?

Because had there been the usual 7 or 8 minutes, N. Macedonia could have got back in the game.

[TonyTonyTony]

I think a midfield of TAA, Rice and Belingham sounds very exciting. Saka is incredible, and we have Foden/Rashford/Grealish depending on the opposition. 

[Betty Swallocks]

11 hours ago, cityexile said:

Trivial point really, but did the ref blow spot on 90 mins? Clearly made no difference, but feels a tad unprofessional in a competitive match?

I get it in a friendly but I don’t think it’s on in competitive game. 
Improbable at this point I know but if goal difference was to come into it when all games have been played, North Macedonia will have got away with not having to have played through 6/7 minutes in a game they are getting hammered and could quite easily have conceded more. 

[BCFCAL]

Good exciting game that with a lot of attacking pace and flair. My only doubt is whether Southgate will play that team when we come up against a heavy hitter, or if he'll panic and revert to a 5 at the back with 2 holding midfielders like we're used to.

[cityexile]

7 hours ago, Rocking Red Cyril said:

Why?

I did say its a bit trivial, but at its most simple in a competitive match you expect the rules to be followed? 

[OldlandReddies]

16 hours ago, cityexile said:

Trivial point really, but did the ref blow spot on 90 mins? Clearly made no difference, but feels a tad unprofessional in a competitive match?

Yep, should have been at least 5 mins. He got it horribly wrong and will be penalised.

[OldlandReddies]

16 hours ago, Red DNA said:

Who would have claimed the match ball had Kane also got a hat trick to equal Saka?

You do know they use more than one ball these days yeah

[RedRock]

Great, positive team football. Some really high quality individual performances too.

Only negative was Wilson, who couldn’t have wished for a better platform on which to show his abilities and he was, basically, shite…and then some.  

[Maltshoveller]

17 hours ago, !james said:

Great squad and great manager. 

If we had appointed a new manager and they were producing football like this the press and fans would be running out of superlatives. Instead it's the usual anti Southgate moans

Great teams and managers win things

GS has done well but no way is he a great 

[Red DNA]

3 hours ago, OldlandReddies said:

You do know they use more than one ball these days yeah

Of course . 

It’s bit of a farce when so many balls are in play during the match that they need to claim ‘the’ match ball.  They just as well get the one which is least marked. 

[MarcusX]

19 hours ago, BCFCAL said:

Good exciting game that with a lot of attacking pace and flair. My only doubt is whether Southgate will play that team when we come up against a heavy hitter, or if he'll panic and revert to a 5 at the back with 2 holding midfielders like we're used to.

We just played a whole World Cup with a back 4, and Italy in qualifying?

we played 3 at the back in a couple of the nations league games, but last time was Germany before the World Cup as far as I can see.

 

[BCFCAL]

26 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

We just played a whole World Cup with a back 4, and Italy in qualifying?

we played 3 at the back in a couple of the nations league games, but last time was Germany before the World Cup as far as I can see.

 

Sorry, maybe not a 5 at the back, but even when we play with 4 it's usually with 2 holding midfielders so that the front 3 don't get enough service, and in that front 3 there's usually a Grealish/Foden who I rate massively, but if you're playing with a lack of a number 10, and Kane dropping deep, I think you need a player that's more direct than them, I.E. Rashford. I just don't like how we don't go direct enough in big games.