The NSNO Everton Forums

If the goal of these two friendlies is to put a big damper on fan's perceptions of England's chances in the World Cup, it's been a success.

Get Garner on.

blueToffee wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2026 7:20 pm I don't know, we're not always going to have our perfect XI available. There is a decent chunk of supposedly 1st choice players in there. Ok Kane without another forward is a miss, but Bellingham under Tuchel apparently isn't even a guaranteed starter over Rogers.

Rice is a big miss as we haven't got a great replacement for what he does exactly. Saka, we should have coverage for.

Rice, Bellingham, kane and Saka are huge players for this team and make it a completely different prospect.

I don’t rate our chances myself but these two games are purely for having a good look at certain players, and experimenting with systems that may need to be used.

Really can’t take anything from them.

TheRam wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2026 7:51 pm Rice, Bellingham, kane and Saka are huge players for this team and make it a completely different prospect.

I don’t rate our chances myself but these two games are purely for having a good look at certain players, and experimenting with systems that may need to be used.

Really can’t take anything from them.

I do take the general point, but we've seen these types of performances with most/all of those guys playing too.

When we're stodgy we're very stodgy. Aside from maybe a couple of games like against Serbia under Tuchel and really noticeably before that under Carsley where we looked far more fluid but more wide open we're very prone to this sort of sideways, sideways, keep the ball and take no risk football.

As an aside, the more I see of Gordon the more I think it's a shame Grealish never got back into the England fold. At least as an option for something different.

Garner on.

weimaranerblues wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2026 6:45 pm Thought all these number 10 can't play together...

Correct

Here come the bomb squad

Blue Samurai carved through their hosts. Neat and clinical. Precision footy.
Dull and uninspired from England until the heavies came on late. Remained so.

There's no shame in losing at home to Japan, top team.

Far too many similar players in that team, all getting in each other's way

Just play a striker, a proper striker

Watkins, Welbeck, Crouch anyone