Whilst the rest of us have been watching through pain and discomfort.
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Dyche said something similar post match last night.
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Wish I believed that a two week reset would sort him out and get him firing.
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Then he shouldn't be in the England squad.
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Totally
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No, I'm hoping for a small mysterious strain on Sunday that requires a couple of weeks' rest. I don't think Dyche is that kind of manager though, I suspect he's more in the Stuart Pearce mold of any time your country calls you, you run through walls to be there.
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Anderson himself will be looking at the world cup too and wanting to keep his place in the team.
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I think he's already done enough in an England shirt to be pretty much a lock for the WC squad.
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Not the team though. He'll want to keep Wharton (among others) out.
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Also needs to look after himself then as no point in playing through the pain barrier now, to break down in the new year and be out for the season/World Cup.
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I've been quick to defend him in the past when the flicks and tricks haven't come off - never wanted to be critical of one of our most creative players trying to create.
However even I'm finding myself getting irritated while watching him frequently turning over possession in the final third. I'm not sure what the answer is because Morgan Gibbs-White playing the percentages is half the asset. But there's no way he's getting a look-in at international level again until he either cuts out the frequent losses of possession, or increases his goal involvements (insert joke here) to compensate.
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Yesterday didn't seem to be flicks and tricks. He just kept passing to a black shirt standing 5 yards away. I started to wonder if the shirts were blending into the crowd (a la Man U grey) so he couldn't actually see the opposition player!
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So international week, and will foden cement his place, at the expense of his kids godfather?
Not this weekend, but the last game shitty played, I saw some analysis that looked at how he had played, and how magnificent he was, and whether he could repeat his form for England.
It was a bit infuriating really, because they had all the answers, but appeared not to notice. In the analysis of his two goals, finding space in the pocket, driving at the centre of the defence, passing the ball onto the net, they looked at the movement of Haaland and how the threat of running in behind had pinned the centre halves and made that pocket space.
Now imagine that your number nine is dead legged and running back towards the number 10. For some no first run, back post second phase action.
Open pocket, closed pocket. It's not fucking rocket science. To get the best out of the attacking resources England has at their disposal, they need the right movement from the player leading the line.
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So I'm hearing pick Kane not Fiden...
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Occurred to me that England’s best attacking resources might include the guy who’s scored 70 odd goals for them and is scoring in the bundesliga at a similar rate to Haaland in the premier league.
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That's one of the ways to go. So you might look to have players wide running past, and a number 10 who makes runs past the 9 (Bellingham) with a number 9 heading the wrong way and not pinning the defence. The alternative is play a nine to stretch and pin the defence, in which case you can play players who come inside and threaten the goal second phase as your width, and a 10 who operates in the pocket. There isn't a right or wrong...but there is an impact on the sort of teams that you will score goals against. There will be rich pickings back post second phase against less powerful/organised teams who struggle to cope with wide runs and a deep midfield run....your better teams will cough up less of those sort of chances, and might struggle more with good movement to open space in front of goal for the more technical rapier like number 10.
Personally I'd sacrifice the 4/5/6th against moldova, for the ability to give a spain more trouble. YMMV.
