Belgium 2-0 England

[KB1862]

Another England game, another disappointment.

Englsnd cannot now qualify in the Nations League. 

From the moment the team sheet was announced, it was inevitable that it wasn't going to have a good ending for England. The only positive was Grealish getting his first competitive start for England and he played excellent. 

First half was not great at all. The free kick that led to Belgiums second should never have been given. Kane was unlucky not to equalise, Lukaku did well defensively. But other than that chance, we looked like doing nothing. 

Second half was much better, we were getting behind and creating chances more but it was with help from Belgium as they sat back pretty much the whole second half and let us attack and even though they weren't bothered about attacking as much, they still effortlessly got behind our defence and created dangerous chances. 

Southgate needs to realise this formation and some of his selections do not work before it's too late. This nations league campaign with these players and formation has been diabolical. 

When Grealish was attacking and looking to drive at the defenders, you could see how annoyed he was having to play it backwards. We allowed Belgium to regroup quickly rather than catch them on the break which we could have done on several occasions. 

Not to mention that Belgium were missing Hazard and Carrasco who would have added to their attacking threat. 

[RetroPie]

13 hours ago, KB1862 said:

Southgate needs to realise this formation and some of his selections do not work before it's too late. This nations league campaign with these players and formation has been diabolical. 

Absolutely, I agree.

I don't think he takes the Nations League as serious as other competitions, which is his agenda but England should be more attacking minded.

[KB1862]

@RetroPie exactly, we can boast about our attacking options but what's the point when we don't use them as effective as we can  

[liampie]

i dont rate belgium, they have good players but are a team england should do much better against but in recent years we have been poor.

[Chris]

I don't watch many internationals these days, they tend to bore the life out of me and, this happened long before Gareth Southgate took charge. I do feel when you play a team as blessed as Belgium you should match them with fire.

If you don't have a squad that is capable of playing attacking football.

It's best to hold the ball in midfield, but England has had an issue with passing back all the way back to when Alan Shearer last played.

The difference is we had a clear plan and, players with a level of freedom to not only creative but stretch players. These days, we pin all our hopes on one or two players, they get marked out of the game and the team is ineffective.

Just like when fans said Wayne Rooney was useless, he stood no chance of doing much when those around him had concrete boots.

[KB1862]

@Chris but the fact is we had no creative players in midfield. Same as the rest of the games we were defensive. England games used to be fun, now it's abysmal. We don't have a problem with passing, we have some of the best passers in our team he just don't use them. But, it's Southgate who's forcing the issue of relying on players. Fans want from players but Southgate doesn't do that.