[drewks]

Josh,  take your glasses off..... Columbia were 100% out to niggle, to frustrate, to intimidate. Totally negative, totally professional. The sad thing is it nearly worked - in my opinion the ref bottled it and allowed their bully boy tactics to continue. At least 1 red and more yellow cards should've been given.
Thank fek justice prevailed. We won and our young team will learn a huge amount from this.

I think we have a great chance of winning the whole thing from here!

[Beefy 1965]

I agree drewks forgive Josh Garry probably has had his Irish hands on him today,
Seriously though the ball was hardly in play every decision was contested by surrounding the referee, That barros committed 6 fouls in the 2nd half alone having been shown a paltry yellow for a head Butt , Four minuets from the ref giving the penalty to kane taking it, almost three minutes celebrating a equaliser, god knows how much time was actually lost for everything else, and I have just seen two Colombians raking the penalty spot why they argued with the ref for around 30 seconds what a disgrace,
It would have been a travesty of Justice if they had gone through and when you see this Prick below sending a good luck message to a country that has nothing to do with the Falklands, sorry I mean Argentina it makes you want to puke ......

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Awful match and two awful teams on show but England finally break their penalty voodoo. They do need to seriously improve against Sweden.

There are some matches which, if you insist on watching them as a neutral rather than being emotionally invested, you end up not seeing the forest for the trees. As a lifelong England fan, last night's match was the biggest rollercoaster I've been on since at least the Greece game at Old Trafford in '01, and at an actual World Cup, probably Argentina in '98. If you'd paid a scriptwriter to cook up a story for that match they could hardly have done better than the cagey first half and dirty tricks of Colombia, the eventual penalty and deserved lead, the nailbiting attempt to see out the 1-0 win culminating in the body-blow of a stoppage time equaliser and fear of a Colombian winner in extra-time, only for Southgate to earn his penalty redemption in the final act (in a shootout where England went behind, no less).

England being England, we'll probably go and blow it against Sweden now, but this was an old-school blinder of a game which laid some big ghosts from the 1990s (and beyond) to rest.

[silverbaggie]

The niggling and foul play that went on was clearly premeditated and part of their game plan against England. Just how many yellow cards did the Columbians collect?

Even one of their assistant coaches deliberately shouldered Stirling as the players came off at half time

All designed to provoke retaliation from our players and get them booked or sent off.

Not a game to enjoy but a real rollercoaster of a ride.

For football I feel

[talkSAFT]

Very pleased with Stones/Maguire - was surprised when Cahill wasn't 1st choice.
I'd play Danny Rose instead of Ashley Young, and just hope that Lingard and Sterling find their form for the Sweden game. Here's hoping Walker and Kane can shrug off the injuries.

[hibeejim21]

Columbia played like a stoned version of my 8 year olds school team.

England weren't much better.

[WBA-Josh]

There are some matches which, if you insist on watching them as a neutral rather than being emotionally invested, you end up not seeing the forest for the trees.  As a lifelong England fan, last night's match was the biggest rollercoaster I've been on since at least the Greece game at Old Trafford in '01, and at an actual World Cup, probably Argentina in '98.  If you'd paid a scriptwriter to cook up a story for that match they could hardly have done better than the cagey first half and dirty tricks of Colombia, the eventual penalty and deserved lead, the nailbiting attempt to see out the 1-0 win culminating in the body-blow of a stoppage time equaliser and fear of a Colombian winner in extra-time, only for Southgate to earn his penalty redemption in the final act (in a shootout where England went behind, no less).

England being England, we'll probably go and blow it against Sweden now, but this was an old-school blinder of a game which laid some big ghosts from the 1990s (and beyond) to rest.

Good post Ska'd and I agree that as a neutral I don't see the forest beyond the trees. I've never really been an England fan so I prefer to just stay neutral, I find it helps me see both sides and it was the same last night. To me both sides were lacking in quality. Colombia were too slow in possession and their antics were disgusting but unfortunately that is what happens in South America. As for England, I thought they started well and should have gone a goal up early on before Colombia settled into the match, which they did. In the second half, when England scored, they should have continued their game and try to get a second goal. I felt the approach that Southgate took was the wrong one. Bringing on Dier was a good substitution but it was done too early.

I think the biggest appointment I had with England was they didn't look to exploit Colombia's defensive weakness enough. I watched all three of Colombia's group matches and the biggest weakness was the right side of the defence. Right back Arias is a natural attacking right back and he likes to press high up the pitch like he does with his club side PSV. Next to him has been Mina who likes to go on a walkabout from his position. That leaves Davinson Sanchez on his own. I think in the first half England should have to looked to exploit it more than they did. Arias was pressing Young and Mina was following Sterling. When Sterling was dropping into deep space, Lingard should have really been looking at running into the space beyond him more than he did. That would have dragged Sanchez across and then Kane would have had space close to goal. In the second half Barrios dropped in between Mina and Sanchez to create a 3 so the chance went up until Barrios went back into midfield when Lerma was substituted. By then England had already dropped into deep shape and struggled to exploit the space with Vardy when he came on.

---

I think with the Sweden match, England are going to be facing a completely different sort of side. Colombia are very technical and like to pass the ball, Sweden are a bit more direct. They like to play quicker through the pitch and are happy to bypass the midfield and look towards Toivonen and Berg who can knock it down for the more technical Forsberg and Claesson to then play. Claesson and Forsberg play quite narrow almost a number 10’s so I think Henderson and Loftus-Cheek as a central 2 should deal with them and restrict the space for them to play in. Sweden remind me of WBA under Pulis during our good spell in the 16/17 season where we were direct to Rondon who would knock it down for Phillips, Chadli and Morrison to then play from there. I think England will need to play Cahill in Walker's position to cope with the physicality of Berg and Toivonen. 2 big strikers against 2 big centre backs in Cahill and Maguire with Stones as the spare man who can step up into midfield when required should work. England will also have to patient in possession because unlike Colombia, Sweden play in 2 rigid banks of 4. Sterling/Rashford, Kane, Lingard and Alli will have to try to drag the defence out of position to create space for runners.

Beyond Sweden it's Croatia or Russia. Russia could park the bus again unless Cheryshev is put back on the left wing and they go back to 4231 whilst Croatia are a more all round version of Colombia, technically sound on the ball and a strong defence. They don't have any glaring weaknesses so they'll be a tough opponent if it comes to that.

[Baggiebob(BBB)]

For me I was just pleased we got thru that match, nail-biting as it was.  We weren't expected too much from this young team, and we should continue to think so.

When Henderson took his penalty, I shouted at the TV 'NOT TO YOUR RIGHT, SWITCH TO LEFT" as his body pre-told the goallie what he was going to do.  Anyway all was good in the end.  Just.

WELL DONE ENGLAND 

[talkSAFT]

I think Albion should give Josh a job in recruitment and analysing opponents.

[Beefy 1965]

Southgate has just drafted Stan Collymore into the squad, he has great experience of knocking Swedes out.