England man played ‘like a fly in a jar’ as Eze made his case v Bosnia
It’s fair to say that Jarrod Bowen did not help his England cause while Eberechi Eze got his arse on the plane.
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Mr Clamour has smashed it
Just to say that I am sure there will be a lot of The Clamour for Eze after a bright first half but Mr Original Clamour Grealish registered a delicious assist for TAA and the reverse key pass that led to the third was why he should be on the plane. I’d take Eze over Bowen though.
Love it.
Darren W
…Maddison and Grealish in the same team – something about that is so good to watch.
Duck
READ: Jack Grealish to Euro 2024 in the name of maturity despite Eberechi Eze brilliance
England and what we learned
First half review:
Gallagher useful option, like an English Amrabat – happy to clatter and niggle, decent passing and eager. Eze is a handful and exciting and I’m interested to see him linking up with Bellingham and Mainoo – the guy makes me feel more comfortable about us not taking Rashford.
Palmer is fun, he can make stuff happen. Konsa looks fine at right back. Watkins is keen, turned a defender nicely, but not a lot else; needs more space than he’ll get usually. Guehi seemed alright, did a couple of Maguire brainfarts but at least has pace and got better. The rest were hapless or hopeless in equal measure. (Disappointed by TAA, I really thought he might be good but he’s constantly out of position and did little and nothing that should secure a place.)
Second half:
Not much difference before subs, except Gallagher looked more and more useful. Bosnia seems to be about Bowen’s level, at a push; lively but almost entirely ineffective.
Post subs:
Grealish tried a few things, mostly didn’t work; at least he’s well rested. Maddison was fine, but again fairly anonymous. Took until the 81st minute before TAA did something good with a tidy long pass, and then scored a goal from not much that really shouldn’t have crept in but he lapped up like it capped a worldie performance rather than one where he was literally walking with the ball. Was generally better as a right back. Kane came in and had a shot from range that was easily saved. Meh. Then scored one in a goal mouth mess. On the positive, at least he put it away, I wouldn’t have fancied Watkins to manage it.
God save us.
Overall thoughts: pretty much only Eze, Gallagher and Palmer should have ensured their squad places after this drab match which, aside from the actions of those three, had the energy of an asthmatic and arthritic mule. Bowen did at least try, bless him, but reminded me of a fly in a jar, bumping hopelessly into the glass over and over.
Badwolf
MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
👉 England player ratings v Bosnia: Eze, Palmer, TAA and Grealish stake claim but Watkins struggles
👉 Jack Grealish to Euro 2024 in the name of maturity despite Eberechi Eze brilliance
👉 Southgate criticises Cole Palmer despite Chelsea star scoring first England goal vs Bosnia
Rankings schmankings
For no particular reason I’ve been reviewing the world FIFA rankings according to which Qatar and Russia are better then the Czechs (yes, that banned Russia disallowed from competing, who have actually gained ranking points since October last year), Germany lower than Mexico, and both the UAE and Saudi are higher ranked than Iceland.
Like many of the FIFA-sanctioned mechanisms, it’s a crock of Sh&t.
Alexander
Spurs season review and shopping list
I have decided to review Spurs’ season with a list of positives and negatives, after what was ultimately a successful first season for Big Ange
Positives:
The new signings have all been excellent. From Micky Van De Ven’s pace and strength to James Maddison’s creativity to Brennan Johnson’s directness, all of our signings proved to be excellent additions to the squad. Timo Werner was a lovely surprise too.
The style of football. I don’t think anybody would deny that we are now the most attractive side to watch in the league, if not Europe. Fast paced, adventurous, brave and risky, but with hidden tactical depths. The speed with which Ange got the players to buy into his system was hugely impressive.
We don’t miss Harry Kane. Many in football predicted disaster upon Kane leaving, but our attack has become much more dynamic in his absence.
Positive vibes. Ange has brought a positivity to the whole club, with the supporters rightly optimistic of challenging for top honours over the coming seasons.
Negatives:
The injury crisis. I made us favourites for the title after the first ten games, and were it not for a ridiculous run of bad luck I believe my prediction would have come true. Not only did almost our entire team being out injured for an extended period of time leave us with an unavoidable run of bad results, it spoiled all the momentum we built up when some of the first team did return. Here’s hoping this was a once in a generation dose of bad luck that will never happen to us again.
I have put together a shopping list that I believe will give our squad an even better chance of winning the title next season. Rather than just look to the Premier League as many do I have cast my net across Europe to identify the talents who I feel would strengthen us:
Lautaro Martinez. A dynamic and mobile striker who is deadly in front of goal, Martinez would slot into Ange’s attack like a glove
Raphael Leao. While the addition of Werner is a positive one and will strengthen the squad, we still require strengthening in the wide attacking areas. Leao is quick, strong and skillful, and is still young enough to improve.
Benjamin Pavard. Able to play right across the back four, he would provide valuable competition at full back as well as centre back.
Pedri. Barcelona remain in financial peril and Spurs are in a great position to capitalise by poaching one of their finest midfield talents. Pedri would be the cherry on top of the Angeball cake, a young midfielder capable of linking the defence and attack with pinpoint passing and intelligence.
The above signings would turn us from possible title winners into probable title winners.
I would like to wish everybody a nice summer and here’s hoping next time I write into the mailbox England will be European Champions.
Barry Fox
The Spurs future is bright
The folly of fine toothed combing through a club’s youth players and earmarking ‘certainties’ has collected another victim; me.
Tottenham have a handful of players who are on the cusp of breaking the barrier into the first team regularly, and they’re a truly exciting group. Micky Moore, currently taking the Euro U17’s by storm, has already made his Spurs debut at 16. Jamie Donley, a little older, has too. Will Lankshear has the stature and movement of a player a good few years older. Dorrington, Hall, Soonsup-Bell, have all come off fantastic seasons. Then there’s Scarlett – a stunted season this time round, but he’s set for a big career, Alfie Devine, Phillips have all played ‘grown ups football’ and will be all the better for it.
Then there is Bergvall to join Udogie, VDV, Sarr and the ageing Porro, Johnson, Veliz (no idea if he’ll succeed to be fair). And then incoming Vuskovic, widely considered the best Croatian player to come out of the country in a generation, making this group of players very exciting.
Will put my hat on both Moore and Donley being significant players next season.
Be curious to know which other supporters are excited by those HG lads coming through.
Dan Mallerman
The pressure is off for Liverpool
Before we get into full Euros mode, just want to look ahead to next season, and as a Liverpool fan I’m looking forward to it. Not because I think we’ll be competing for major honours, but precisely because I think it’s very unlikely we will.
Since approx. 2018 there’s been a level of expectation that we should be competing for the titles, due to the excellent team Klopp built, and obviously cherish every trophy we’ve won in that period. But as this period has also coincided with Pep’s excellent reign of dominance, every PL game felt like a 100% must win – slip up once and you’re done.
Might well be alone in this mentality, but winning games was actually just more of a relief than a joyous experience – still in the running for another week. But you could never escape the inevitable outcome in the back of your mind, you win 20 in a row, City will win 21. Maximum stress & hopeful expectation, but rarely any reward (2020 aside – praise be). And then after competing with City for a period, we’d burn out after the insane intensity required and be useless for a while.
This absolutely not an assessment of Slot’s potential, have faith given their track record that FSG have picked a good guy. But he’ll need time, and any notion that he’ll be able to compete with the Pep behemoth next season is silly.
Over to you Arsenal, genuinely wish you best, but also don’t envy the pressure of needing to win pretty much every game from Aug to May (and then probably still winning eff all even if you get 90+ points). Looking forward to a season where CL qualification is the goal, and every dropped point doesn’t feel terminal in achieving an objective that you’ll never actually achieve. As sports fans we all love the jeopardy, it’s what it all about, but I just don’t think I’m very good at handling it lol. Pressure off.
Simon (Bristol LFC)
Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!
The media keeps reporting Bruno may be off the Bayern or potentially Barca. Anything less than 60 million would seem like bad business as he is one of the world’s best midfielders, but I would agree with Badwolf that it would not be the worst thing if he did go.
I think he is one of the most underrated PL players of all time. Scores goals, is usually in the top 5, 10 creators across Europe each season, runs for days, is rarely injured and never shows less than 100%. Sure he throws his arms up when things aren’t going his way, but for some reason that weighs him down to the media more than his talent rises him up. He will be missed when he is gone.
That said, at 29, and with United needing a rebuild, he could generate some big funds, a natural successor is in place ready to go, and for all his talent, he does make the team structure more out of control with his random running. I have actually felt this way about United since the early 2010’s. United’s best player for years has been the player who plays in the 10 role, and whether Rooney, Mata or now Fernandes, the team has to perform around them, losing stability and flexibility in the process.
Dani Olmo has been linked and could be a welcome replacement, but certainly one that would be a step down output wise, but potentially better structure wise. Regardless, Bruno is and always will be a United legend for carrying this team since 2020. From the Cantona vibes, to the winner at LFC, hat trick vs Leeds, winning the League Cup, and captaining United to the FA Cup Final victory vs City. Stay or go, he will be forever loved by the Old Trafford faithful.
Calvino
MLS in person
Very interesting you all now cover the MLS. I would love to know how that came to pass. I suspect you have a decent following here in the States but it is interesting nonetheless.
I am actually a season ticket holder for DC United, and was at the game Vs Toronto on Saturday. I was telling my girlfriend that it’s not typical for talented European players to come to play in the US before 30. Which brought up questions at the bleach blonde cornrow styled Italian doing damage down the wings.
I honestly knew Bernadeschi was there but did not know why, but I suspected and told her that it was probably his attitude and commitment as he was a big talent when Juve signed him for 40 million Euros a few years ago.
Lo and behold, he followed up his assist with a goal, devastating the DC crowd. United would pull one back near the end but the game’s star player got himself sent off for the petulance I suspected brought him to North America, and that enabled DC to press on and eventually get a penalty to even the score via former Leeds man Klich. A last minute counter attack ended with the ball in the back of the net and absolute pandemonium, but alas, it was offside and we all went home entertained at a 2-2 draw and questions about Italians style. Good fun.
Calvino (Eric LA, and anyone else interested: The podcast about media perception and reality was The Bulwark w/ Derek Thompson)
Stop blackmailing F365
I have read a lot of mails with dismay, foretelling that F365 will not print your mail, meanwhile F365 will print your mail irrespective of your stand.
F365 remains one of the only few remaining neutral media center globally.
F365 will always print your mail whether you support or oppose a writer’s opinion.
So no need for the constant blackmails.
Jay (I dare F365 to not print this), West Africa
