by Clyde1998 »
13 Sep 2023 15:57
From a Scotland point of view, that's one of the worst performances I've seen from Scotland under Steve Clarke. The players didn't look up for the game at all, which made it far too easy for England to control the game. In most games, there's a level of intensity to close teams down, make runs into space, urgency on the ball, keeping the ball moving - and there was never little of that (especially in the first half).
The result in a friendly is by-the-by, especially when playing what I think is Europe's second best team at the moment behind France (even if I'd've loved to win); it's the performance that matters. I don't think England got out of second gear last night - that's the most disappointing thing. If we played like we did against Spain, Denmark and Ukraine (Nations League) at home since the Euros, it would've been a much more difficult game for England.
Unfortunately, our performance was akin to what we had in the Euros (against Czech Rep and Croatia) and Ukraine in the World Cup play-offs: limited drive and giving too much respect to the opposition. Against a side of England's quality, you can't play that like. We've gone missing in the big games. You've got to make the opposition work for it at the very least - regardless of the gulf in quality between the sides.
The first goal saw Bellingham have far too much time on the ball just outside the area, which gave him time to pick his pass to Rashford. Walker was in far too much space and didn't start to be closed down until he started winding up for a shot/cross and Foden did well to direct the ball into the goal.
The second goal came from an exceptional ball in from Foden, but Robertson should be clearing the ball. He effectively just passed it to Bellingham on the penalty spot, who had an easy job slotting home. It's the sort of error you cannot make against top sides - you shouldn't be passing the ball in towards the penalty spot anyway in that situation.
In the spell in the second half, when we did start to play with some intensity, we got a fortunate own goal. Maguire was unlucky, as the ball in wasn't too dangerous and would've either been picked up by the keeper or cleared by Dunk. The ball was going nowhere near Dykes in the middle.
The third goal: Bellingham had too much time (no-one wanted to put a tackle in) and space to play in Kane, who ended up having too much time to pick his spot to score. Our midfield basically didn't turn up; nor did Robertson or Adams.
For us, we have to learn from this. The next two games are trips to Spain and France; both serious tests and will make it clear whether last night's performance was a just blip or a problem that needs solving.
On the plus side, I think Gunn (in goal), Porteous and Christie (after coming on) had decent games - Gunn particularly. We looked a little better with Dykes up top, even if he didn't have a serious scoring opportunity.
Thinking about England, they looked significantly better than Spain did at Hampden. Our performance against them made our win look easy, but they do seem to have improved since then. I can't imagine we'll have it so easy next month. I reckon England are probably second favourites to win the Euros next year - perhaps on a par with Portugal; France being favourites. The biggest weakness I see with England is the centre-back positions - which is probably not news to anyone.
) would walk into the Scottish , Welsh or Northern Ireland teams but currently none of the players from any of those countries would get into England's side, not even Andy Robertson who is showing signs of deterioration in ability.
