How about ‘schooled’?

This is too easy. Night.

Entertaining. You’re dead right. Zero here. Went to see Worthing vs Tonbridge Angels on Tuesday. Loads of entertainment. I must have used up my fun quota for the week.

One shot on target for each team.

Jeez we are hard on England managers! Southgate has done better in the major competitions than anybody since Alf. Having seen so many other failures he gets a fair amount of slack from me. USA are tough opponents and the point still leaves us on top of the group. Even if we lose to Wales chances are we go through?

Also talk of Italian tactical genius at Euro 2020 is fine if we overlook the fact that they won their semi and final on penalties. Neither Spain or England were schooled - the cookie simply crumbled the Azzurri way in the shoot outs. Perhaps in this World Cup the Italians will give us a genuine tactical masterclass...

Southgate has done better because he has better players. But….

Southgate is a defence-first coach. He has no creative vision nor any instinctive understanding of how to attack. He is out of step with modern thinking. He will not - cannot - take England forward.

Everyone knows this.

I don’t. Another chance to admit you were wrong?

Might you accept he is is risk-averse?

And once again, knowing you are wrong, yet again, you attempt to move the goalposts.

Sorry TH but this is going nowhere. I do not know I’m wrong and I’m not - ‘yet again’ - moving the goalposts.

England got “spanked”, and are managed by a donkey who “everyone” knows cannot take England forward.

Evidence that you have been spanked, donkey!

Southgate has done better because he has better players. But….Southgate is a defence-first coach. He has no creative vision nor any instinctive understanding of how to attack. He is out of step with modern thinking. He will not - cannot - take England forward. Everyone knows this.

Sorry TH but this is going nowhere. I do not know I’m wrong and I’m not - ‘yet again’ - moving the goalposts.

Phew! Glad to navigate that banana skin!! Glad pundits weren’t predicting easy 3-1 wins… that would have been embarrassing…

“Why aren’t we pressing?”

May I present one Mr. Harry Kane… this team is flawed like most of the teams here at the WC with lots shoe horning in “best players”.

Also think TG is right. Went out to not lose. Which… meh.

What you are effectively saying is that anything less than a final appearance or trophy win is a failure by Southgate? Given England's history, that is some benchmark because competitively he has already taken England further in tournaments than anybody since Alf. Yes there is a case to say that the style of play under him is at times cautious, but that is overstated. Anyway the pragmatists often win more than the entertainers in international football because these are not beauty competitions. Italy are a case in point - World Cup winners five times yet how many of those victories excited the neutral?

There’s a good argument thatEngland should be playing White at RB and Rashford Left wing.
Then you get club pairings of White/Saka and Shaw/Rashford. You have to try to replicate what your best players do for their clubs.

I saw how Saka was pressing on the inside last night and there was an easy out ball to their left-back because Trippier wasn’t backing up the press high on his side. Kane doesn’t really know how to press effectively and it’s also not helped by the back 4 sitting too deep - probably a symptom of Maguire not wanting loads of space behind him.

Finally there has to be a place for Foden in this team. I’m not sure what Mason Mount brings

Wales is a potential Banana skin, for sure.

Not much chance of that decaf. We've been poor for a few games now; Bale, Allen and Ramsey not 100% fit and getting slow, and too much inexperience in the rest. Second tier players in the main; we've done ever so well to qualify to be fair.

I just pray it's not a battering.

Great penalty save by Wozzer for the Poles and the follow up too

Giroud breaking the national scoring record for France is weird.

He sits above so many class players. He always had his strengths but my god Frances greatest goal scorer. Plain weird

Out of nothing Messi flicked the switch and revived a lacklustre Argentina. The greats can do that.

Really enjoyable game, Lewandowski wraps it up for Poland but the Saudi's have been decent. Really pleased for the Poles, have good friends there and have visited many times. Lovely country and people.