Post-Match Thread and Ratings Serbia v England 20hrs ko - 16th June 2024

[RHB]

Fathers Day and a competitive England game on the same day. We haven't had an opportunity for a pre match thread for ages, so might as well start with this game. I reckon the thread can morph into the official match thread on Sunday as well, it saves somebody launching another one.

Can England start off with a win? Thoughts and views here.

 

[southendkid]

Really hard to tell where we are as a team due to Southgate giving the bench players a chance to make their case in the friendlies. I suspect this will be a frustrating watch but I think we'll sneak a win.

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

our defence is ****, but only Kane and Saka have more than 4 England goals in this squad. we're good on paper, but the game isn't played on paper. and we haven't proven much on grass. I'm going for **** game, tight win.

 

[stewart]

Lose and England will need a miracle to get out of the group stage.

 

[RHB]

Every time England go into a competitive competition that matters, the levels of despondency and cynicism rockets skywards from a large majority of Zoners. Maybe it's just a reflection of the rubbish situation we find ourselves in with Southend, I don't really know. What I do know is that Southgate has a knack of getting a performance out of the team when it matters, as proven by their recent performances at the last Euros and the World Cup.

Me? I'm going to be optimistic, and will reserve judgement until we have a few games under our belts. My only big concern for the moment is who I want to lose the most, the Germs or the Sweaties.

 

[londonblue]

Fathers Day and a competitive England game on the same day. We haven't had an opportunity for a pre match thread for ages, so might as well start with this game. I reckon the thread can morph into the official match thread on Sunday as well, it saves somebody launching another one.

Can England start off with a win? Thoughts and views here.

Can't watch it. We're at a wedding, and what's worse is, the wedding is in Glasgow.

The ceremony is at 3.30, with the reception straight after, all the way through to midnight.

 

[RHB]

Can't watch it. We're at a wedding, and what's worse is, the wedding is in Glasgow.

The ceremony is at 3.30, with the reception straight after, all the way through to midnight.

Wow! Did you run over someone's cat? At least you won't have the sweaties trying to nip out and watch their game.

 

[Smiffy]

The Serbs will be no walkover. Like us they have plenty of dangerous attacking talent (Mitrović & Vlahović to name a couple) but aren't great at the back.

I would imagine the Serbs will sit in a low block for most of the game and look for a quick counter and set pieces to make their mark. As we saw with the Iceland game (and plenty of others) we struggle to break down teams that set up this way...

So I am expecting a relatively tight, dull affair, with a few nervy moments. But with us coming out on top eventually 2-0 or 2-1, something like that.

I have tickets to the R16 game in Gelsenkirchen, but I need England to win the group, or it will be tickets for Denmark v Georgia or something similar. So I will be praying for a good start.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

I reckon Mitro will get one.No idea of the score but hoping for an Englanf win.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

I predict a typical, laboured 1-0 opening win. Serbia are a decent team with a lot of experience but we should have enough to see them off. This is the most likely line-up from what I've read:

Pickford; Walker, Stones, Guehi, Trippier; Alexander-Arnold, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Foden

Certainly wouldn't be against that team, although apparently Saka has a knock so may be a chance for Palmer to start. Don't want to take any risks with injuries in the first game.

 

[ozzie]

Biggest worry is if Serbia take the lead i think will struggle.
If they take the lead,maybe a draw at best...but if we score first think we will win,just

 

[Dave Smiths Love Child]

Think England will win
Never worry re friendlies, GS knows his team and used the two games as to see who could make squad and be a replacement in crisis
Defence is a slight worry especially if Stones goes off early , but do feel our midfield and forward line is enough to get us a winning start
Be happy with scrappy 1-0 main thing three points on the board at this stage , unlike the T20 team pressure is now on them after two games in Windies/ USA cricket
No one wins the cup after one game but can get rid of any nerves
Come on three lions

 

[RHB]

Match day, loads of England fans already in Germany, press reports of Serbian gangs looking for a bit of action against England fans, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Bearded Shrimper]

as always with England I think it comes down to how well we pass the ball. if we feel the pressure and start misplacing easy passes and knocking it long all the time we're ****ed. if we can keep composure and bass the ball around we'll do alright. who has that bottle on the ball in the middle? Overall, probably a nervy 1-0, but if we have that composure we could smash these 2 bob mugs

 

[* ORM *]

Stop with the defensive hold ball nonsense, that’s not what we are good at. We actually have some serious quality up front and in midfield. Exploit that.

3am KO for me. If it wasn’t a group game I’d get up. Alarm goes off at 5 and I’m usually up before it so may catch closing stages.

I think the squad has a good chance to do well if GS has learned from previous tournaments.

 

[Dave Smiths Love Child]

Match day, loads of England fans already in Germany, press reports of Serbian gangs looking for a bit of action against England fans, what could possibly go wrong?

The English fans ignore them ( If only)

 

[stewart]

Stop with the defensive hold ball nonsense, that’s not what we are good at. We actually have some serious quality up front and in midfield. Exploit that.

3am KO for me. If it wasn’t a group game I’d get up. Alarm goes off at 5 and I’m usually up before it so may catch closing stages.

I think the squad has a good chance to do well if GS has learned from previous tournaments.

Will surprise me if he has different tactics, think it will be the same old. Only one past Englanrd manager i can remember really surprising me and the rest of the world with a change in tactics and formation was Sir Alf Ramsay back in 66, and what a major change that was , changed the face off football forever.

 

[RHB]

It's interesting that he is probably the most successful England manager since Sir Alf, yet he still pulls criticism big time from some, but that is everyone's prerogative I guess. I'll still wait until I see how we progress before writing us off.

 

[southendkid]

Stop with the defensive hold ball nonsense, that’s not what we are good at. We actually have some serious quality up front and in midfield. Exploit that.

3am KO for me. If it wasn’t a group game I’d get up. Alarm goes off at 5 and I’m usually up before it so may catch closing stages.

I think the squad has a good chance to do well if GS has learned from previous tournaments.

We might get away with it today but we'll get destroyed if we play attacking with the defence we have against a good side. Our attacking players have the luxury of knowing they have solid defences covering for them if they bomb forwards at their clubs, do that with the England defence and we'll get countered easily.

It happened when we lost 4-0 to Hungary in the Nations League, we actually tried to play attacking football for once (we had 73% possession) but all it meant was that Hungary happily sat deep and hit us on the counter time and time again against a defence that clearly didn't know what to do without the midfield to back them up.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Just having some food and drink in Oberhausen then onto the match.