England Vs Norway - Sat 11th 10pm

claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
in Men's Internationals
I thought I would start an individual thread for this match as this World Cup just got interesting. A brilliant performance against Mexico leaves us with a difficult match against Erling Haaland. Whilst it may be a bit much to cast them as a one man team I do feel if you asked neutrals who will win it may be around 50-50, possibly 60-40 for England, Were Haaland not playing I suspect that would got to 90% or more.

I would be tempted to resurrect the tactic from olden days of man to man marking, just sacrifice a defender to shadow him wherever he goes and try and limit him as a target. Kane is doing well and having a great tournament, but Haaland is different level. The good news is most of our players know him well and Stones will defend against him every week in training. I think we can make our overall class tell if Mexico hasn't taken too much out of us, but if we lose I feel sure it will be to goals from Haaland.

I was impressed with both Stones and Burn for us when they came on and feel they may have a part to play again, I am hoping we are really finding our stride now and if Pickford, Rice, Bellingham and Kane are on the form of Mexico we will be a huge challenge for Norway, even with their superstar striker.

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Comments

  • CrustyCrusty
    The Norway conundrum for me is,
    Were they very good at blunting Brazil's stars,
    Or,
    Were Brazil's stars mostly ordinary?
  • KuchinghammerKuchinghammer
    Crusty said:

    The Norway conundrum for me is,
    Were they very good at blunting Brazil's stars,
    Or,
    Were Brazil's stars mostly ordinary?

    No Paqueta, no win 😉
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Crusty said:

    The Norway conundrum for me is,
    Were they very good at blunting Brazil's stars,
    Or,
    Were Brazil's stars mostly ordinary?

    Personally I think that was an ordinary Brazil team.

    I fancy us to beat Norway. Mexico away was a real test that we came through pretty well.
    Haaland is a threat but no greater than Kane and we have Bellingham who is probably up there as player of the tournament so far.
  • Giant_HammerGiant_Hammer
    I’m old enough to remember that Sir Alf Ramsey did exactly that in 1966. He put Nobby Stiles on Portugal’s then star player Eusebio to man mark him and dear old Nobby effectively nullified Eusebio the whole match.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    edited July 7
    Apologies IronHerb but Infantino has already decided that is going to be Messi.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    I recall the jokes when Trump first got elected, about people longing for G.W. Bush because of his comparative intelligence and integrity, I am already longing to have Sepp Blatter back for his honesty and sense of fair play.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    Giant_Hammer said:

    I’m old enough to remember that Sir Alf Ramsey did exactly that in 1966. He put Nobby Stiles on Portugal’s then star player Eusebio to man mark him and dear old Nobby effectively nullified Eusebio the whole match.

    It's a horrible way to approach football but very effective, any player on the ball looks for who is available and a guy being man marked is always less available. Now it's not a guarantee and Maradona used to make man markers regularly look silly but it may be a reasonable tactic for this match.
  • thornburyironthornburyiron
    Can’t see it working to be honest. Haaland is a weird kind of player who seems fairly uninterested for the most part but I’m sure it’s a ruse as he knows defenders will always have lapses in concentration and he will pounce.
    Whoever man marks him if that’s how we approach it will get pulled all over the place. Gabriel tried to stick with him but couldn’t do it for the whole game.
  • BubblesNeverDiesBubblesNeverDies
    Probably the only player(s) who could do the job would be Rice and perhaps Bellingham on account of Haaland's physicality and speed, but that would be a waste of their talents.
  • buffybegoodbuffybegood
    BubblesNeverDies said:

    Probably the only player(s) who could do the job would be Rice and perhaps Bellingham on account of Haaland's physicality and speed, but that would be a waste of their talents.

    Indeed, but I'd fancy our other 10 versus Norway's other 10 if Rice neutralises Haaland.
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    IronHerb said:

    Personally I think that was an ordinary Brazil team.

    Brazil finished 5th in qualification, W6 D4 L6. They got thumped 4-1 by Argentina, drew home and away with Venezuela then lost their last game away at Bolivia. They were fortunate to win against Japan in the round of 32.
    claretandbluesky said:

    I recall the jokes when Trump first got elected, about people longing for G.W. Bush because of his comparative intelligence and integrity, I am already longing to have Sepp Blatter back for his honesty and sense of fair play.

    Even Sepp Blater thinks it was dodgy!!!

  • KuchinghammerKuchinghammer
    thornburyiron said:

    Can’t see it working to be honest. Haaland is a weird kind of player who seems fairly uninterested for the most part but I’m sure it’s a ruse as he knows defenders will always have lapses in concentration and he will pounce.
    Whoever man marks him if that’s how we approach it will get pulled all over the place. Gabriel tried to stick with him but couldn’t do it for the whole game.

    He has cloned the football brain of Jimmy Greaves. The swine.
  • DJ HammerDJ Hammer
    Why do we need a new thread for this match, can’t it be included in the World Cup thread?
  • DJ HammerDJ Hammer
    I suppose we’ve come to expect “anything goes” at this World Cup.
  • alderzalderz
    DJ Hammer said:

    Why do we need a new thread for this match, can’t it be included in the World Cup thread?

    Good idea. This coming season let’s just have one “EFL Championship” thread and cover it all in one place.
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    alderz said:

    DJ Hammer said:

    Why do we need a new thread for this match, can’t it be included in the World Cup thread?

    Good idea. This coming season let’s just have one “EFL Championship” thread and cover it all in one place.
    Perhaps a little too sarcastic IMO....
  • DJ HammerDJ Hammer
    alderz said:

    DJ Hammer said:

    Why do we need a new thread for this match, can’t it be included in the World Cup thread?

    Good idea. This coming season let’s just have one “EFL Championship” thread and cover it all in one place.
    At least my comment makes sense.

  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    Do we think Pickford might have tried a bit harder there?
  • chicagohammerchicagohammer
    For the record, I cannot understand why our penalty was overturned
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    Another gutsy performance...

    Re the penalty, yeh, not sure it was a clear error, or did Spence initiate the foul, anyhow, well done, without playing great, in that gruelling heat I suppose it was very tough going, but we won....And great that there we no yellow cards for our players...

    Come on England...
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    I don’t see how this is any different than when a player goes to kick the ball but the opposing player puts his foot in the way and gets kicked.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    Vardy used to earn penalties by doing exactly what Spence did not saying it’s right though.
  • LukerzLukerz
    I didn’t realise that when you are dribbling with the ball & in control, you have to put your feet in very specific positions on the grass

    It’s getting stupid
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Vardy got a second yellow for doing just that against us a few years back. It's a bit 50/50.
  • FortuneseekerFortuneseeker
    @IronHerb, I still think we got more penalties for doing that than yellow cards. =)
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    If the defender had done that, no foul. I reckon it would be seen as shielding the ball.

    Poor decision
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited July 12
    Spence goes on a great run, it’s not for him to do everything possible to avoid contact. It seems now we become obsessed by asking players in possession to do everything possible to avoid all obstacles like they are 100m hurdlers. He’s into the box, can put his legs where he likes. He decided to shield the ball by placing his leg where he did, his right as he’s in possession, the defender then clumsily tangles himself up with his leg. It’s a penalty. That’s very different from leaving a leg in to ensure you get tripped or initiating contact. Very unlucky.
  • jay_in_cptjay_in_cpt
    edited July 12
    I visit another site full of refs/ ex refs etc etc and the majority of the posters all agree, correct decision, NO PENALTY.
    But hey, in the end it didn't matter.
    I was surprised that VAR got involved, but perhaps the correct decision was made.
    For the most, the French ref, Turpin, handled the game very well IMO.
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    Think he’s gone out of his way to make Bobb trip him up. Bobb’s not even trying to kick or tackle, you can’t ask someone to just stop running in case someone steps in front of you, completely out of his normal stride. I think most of us would be fuming if that was given against us as foul.
  • CrustyCrusty
    edited July 12
    Going all the way back to game 1,
    A South African defender was sent off for doing the thing by running into the back of a Mexican forward who had cut across him.

    Just saying.
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