This is only a short report as there is not much to talk about and the game was very tedious.
After thrashing Iran 6-2, we faced USA in the second round of the group stages. This was going to be a tough game for us but after seeing how we played on Monday, I was confident that we would secure the three points easily.
The squad was unchanged and looking back on that performance, I think it needs some adjustments as some players are not shining for me; Harry Kane looked tired after 45 minutes – he ended up playing more of a centre-back role – and Mount seemed to be a bit sloppy at times. There are some superb players in our squad, though, like: Saka; Grealish; Bellingham; Rashford; and Shaw. I thought that both Grealish and Rashford should have started as when they were brought on in the Iran game, they seemed to bring some energy and willingness to the squad. They eventually did get brought on in the second half and they ended up having a bit of an impact – they created many chances and Grealish is a player that can win free kicks as he is always getting targeted.
I was shocked by our performance, and we could have done so much better. I thought that we lacked energy and some of our passing was poor. USA seemed to have worked us out as they were very good at closing us down and not letting us make any sort of attack happen. We just could not penetrate properly, and we got outplayed. Some parts of the game we looked like we were getting somewhere, and Saka looks very dangerous running with the ball, especially when he has Bellingham to help him out. These two make a great duo, and they look very threatening. I think that, without these two, we would struggle as nobody else seems to be attacking and creating chances like they are. All the players appeared to be all over the place, and they did not have a designated position on the field. This is where we made mistakes and whenever a player had the ball, he had no clue to whom to pass it because no one was asking for it and they were not in the correct positions. We were quite weak in defence as well as USA got through us easily and that is a major problem if we want to play teams like: France; Brazil; Germany; or Spain. We were incredibly fortunate to not concede because if we had played those teams then we would get mauled.
I know we are not the only top team who are playing like this but from thrashing Iran to struggling against a minnow side it is inadequate. Very poor from England and I was impressed with the USA punching above their weight; if we want to progress further into this tournament then we certainly need to up our game drastically. The next match, and final of the group stages, is on the 29th – my brother’s birthday – against Wales and hopefully we can get those three points and top the group.
Great honest write up Jack! I think most people we have met feel similar too!