England v Andorra / Hungary

What I don't understand is when you are playing sides that are competent and set up defensively like Hungary did is why you have two centre halves. For me we didn't need Mings and Rice could have slipped into the centre half position defending set pieces and we could have had an extra midfielder. 

What we had with the set up was too many white shirts in our own half when building attacks. I often counted five and six with the keeper with eleven red shirts defending against five. Then you have Mings to Stones, stones to Walker, Walker to Mings and with every pass the Hungary defenders are setting against the threats. So when a forward ball is made it is not incisive as the options aren't there. Also you have midfielders passing up on the riskier incisive ball and playing backwards to the safety of the white shirts. More offensive white shirts and it can be about getting the ball forward and invariably even 50:50 balls come back to you.

Grealish seemed to be posing them genuine problems with his movement and touch and Mount, who I like, was the obvious sub. But I would have taken Mings off for Saka. Not a big deal, England will still qualify but we need to have a system for playing the better teams and a different one for playing against decent defensively minded sides. 

One learning point from tonight for your average soccer fan is attacking line ups don’t automatically mean attacking performances. 

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

MuttleyCAFC said:

The problem I have with Southgate is I really like the bloke. He has built a great team spirit and has been our most successful manager in recent times. But he does have a wealth of talent at his disposal. I would prefer it if he got some help. Some senior people who can help him with some tactical blind spots.

I'd be very surprised if you don't get the call soon mate. 

SouthWest_Addicks said:

cafctom said:

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

Too many plastic supporters completely ruining the experience. 

Couldn’t agree more. Can’t forget the paper planes. 

It’s as if they are at a football match for the first time, but seemingly have little interest in the actual football.

CAFCTrev said:

cafctom said:

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

Too many plastic supporters completely ruining the experience. 

How many paper airplanes this time?

It was the only thing people seemed interested in for the whole second half. 

cafctom said:

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

Too many plastic supporters completely ruining the experience. 

Somehow I've managed to go my whole life not seeing an England game live, until today. One of the mates I went with warned me the atmosphere would be dead, but it still came as a shock to see quite how dead it was!

I imagine the game not being a must win has a massive part to play. 

I would say a positive about the crowd is that I saw a fair few kids there, and it was by far the most gender diverse football crowd I've ever been in. I guess the allure of Wembley makes it easier for lads to persuade their girlfriends to come along!

Plastics definitely impact England crowds but I don't think the size of Wembley helps. The playoff semi final at the Valley vs the final at Wembley proves that even a good crowd is somewhat diminished in a massive stadium. 

What was the attendance at Wembley last night? 

AFKABartram said:

One learning point from tonight for your average soccer fan is attacking line ups don’t automatically mean attacking performances. 

Please don't refer to it as soccer again lol 

Only player who looked like he could change the outcome of the game, Southgate took off, absolute wanker.

cafctom said:

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

Too many plastic supporters completely ruining the experience. 

What are they doing that makes it obvious they’re plastic fans?

Cordoban Addick said:

Was any reason given for the taking off of Grealish? I think we lost any attacking impetus when he left.

Still not convinced by Mount, Sterling still makes wrong choices at critical moments and when Kane is anonymous he really is anonymous. 

this .. Sterling and Grealish will pass as a very last resort (i.e. they are greedy and not as wonderful as they and a lot of other people seem to think), Mount is better playing deeper than he does for England and against GOOD opposition, that is not Andorra, an out of form/lying too deep Kane means zero or close to zero goals .. England are missing Maguire who has the gumption to bring the ball out from the back as well as being the best central defender England has .. i m o the team is better set up with three at the back, Walker playing alongside Maguire and A N Other with Chilwell and Trippier as wing backs, nothing against Shaw, Chilwell is just better

a word about the trouble at the game. Any trouble making Hungary fans living in the UK and either arrested or caught on camera should be deported and not allowed back into the UK .. and I don't care if the offender has a family living here or is an HGV driver (lol) or whatever else .. come here and cause trouble ? .. out you go and don't come back

Last time I was at an England game at Wembley I was sat near a bunch of northerners on a trip to London, and a bunch of Americans there to enjoy a real "soccer" game. Didnt feel like many people near me were that invested in the result. Like others have said, it was like football for a fiver x100. Didnt have as many convos around me about how much money they'd bet on the Spurs/Arsenal/Chelsea result like I do at a FFAF game though!

cafctom said:

Just on the way home from Wembley. Very poor game.

Being at Wembley for these matches is also a reminder of why I’d struggle to support a side like Chelsea, Arsenal etc.

Too many plastic supporters completely ruining the experience. 

I used to go to quite a few England home games, but stopped as I was getting pissed off with the day trippers - of course anybody is entitled to go - but stick them all in one section (if possible) and maybe make the family section larger (next to the away fans if possible!) nothing worse that having some kid with no interest in the game, running up and down, screaming “I’m hungry mummy” “I need a wee” (2 mins after the last one) “it’s too noisy” 20 mins later the parent calms them down by giving them an iPad to watch peppa pig…but the kid is still kicking their seat of the person in front of them. It’s not the kids fault, he / she would have been happy sitting at home…