Vladimir: Lets go forward
Estragon: Yes, lets.
<they do not go forward>
Southgate: Some are born mad. Some remain so.
Gary Neville: Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes. It's awful.
Tricky: There's a man all over you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet.
I am delighted to be periodically functional.
<oooooooooooooh!>
An England victory. Not to be sniffed at.
I'm rather enjoying looking up Godot quotes and aligning them to the Euros. Finally Jamesob has had a good idea.
Harry Kane: I don't know why we are here, but we are blessed in that we are quite sure it has nothing to do with us.
Also Harry Kane: Habit is a great deadener (of legs).
England fans: We wait. We are bored. No, don't protest, we are bored to death, there's no denying it.
Southgate: The essential doesn't change.
England's midfield: That's the idea, lets contradict each other.
The subs bench: It's not every day that we are needed.
OK. That's me done. I've have my fun and that's all that matters.
Switzerland could well be Endgame for England. And crap / Krapp.
I'm now kicking myself (but not that hard) for not considering Samuel Beckett's Klopp's Last Tape. Obviously I need to provide new material to move on from Gammon and Mince and like Chris Wood I keep missing artistic open goals from a yard out.
Don't kick yourself too hard. It's world class to not get a nod to the right finish. And there's those glass ankles to consider.....
I decided to copy and paste my #waitingforeuro nonsense on X. I have no wish to go viral, but I'm rather pleased that my sister liked and retweeted every post.
Dark humour aside, what is the takeaway of people here?
Should england keep the same shape, and method? Do they just need to find someone to play the left, with a left foot? Move to a three, and get an extra body in midfield? How to address the current problem of three tens? What plan should they be looking for in terms of attacking plans?
It's a bit frustrating to be seeing what we broadly knew that we would be seeing...and not appear to have planned the squad to compensate for likely problems (Shaw was never likely to be match fit after the season he had, and I wouldn't have taken him...never mind not take an alternative). Southgate isn't going to radically change the shape....so how would you move the deck chairs around, and are we on the Titanic whatever we do?
I would gracefully withdraw so we don't have to go through the annoyance and boredom of the defeat on Saturday.
I'll write more later, but my broad view is new shape required, and a change of players.
I wish we could try and get Shaw back in to give us a left foot, but it seems crazy to give him a "pre season" in the QF of a tournament. Lack of a fit left back is pretty inexcusable IMHO. We'd be playing better if Toffolo was there FFS.
Upfront, I think Toney has given him something to think about. He was decent, much as I don't want to say it. I'd like us to have a real fuck it approach and go two up front.
Saka at LWB wasn't terrible but I'm not sure it's something I'd want to start with.
Maybe something like this:
Pickford
Trippier Walker Stones Guehi Saka
Rice Bellingham Palmer
Kane Toney
In terms of style of play ... I'll leave that to the experts. It's not something I could really say I understand that well. What I would say, is with these two upfront and the runners from behind, some cultured long balls would not be of the agenda.
Perhaps best to not start a suspended player?
For me the problem with Trippier isn't just that he has the wrong foot. It's that he is in, and has been for some time, garbage form. Highly unlikely that we will start with a two up...especially if it unbalances the midfield. For me the big problem with that (apart from the other big problem of not enough of your best players in) is that we've gone from not much kick, to even less kick, with starting positions deeper ( - this is going to draw teams on, and with not many options to quickly counter).
It does highlight the problem the manager has, especially if he doesn't want to change much (he doesn't)...selection tinkering doesn't provide an obvious solution to a method (hold a structure, look for the sea to spontaneously part, or rely on set pieces) that has been broadly exposed.
Guehi is suspended for the next game.
I did not appreciate Guehi was suspended. Dammit.
"Guehi got booked because he was sold a short pass by Trippier, it wasn't a nasty challenge, he was just trying to win the ball back."
A quote from my radiogram just now. Trippier's current form is a limiter to England playing well.