Jude Bellingham debate is ‘utter madness’ as England teammate ‘immense’ | OneFootball

There’s love for Elliot Anderson and Jude Bellingham but some people are already moaning about Harry Kane.

Set-Piece FC to win World Cup?

Now do you all understand why Arsenal fans make such a big deal out of getting a corner? TT, AFC

That’s an England team to get behind

Finally, for the first time in as long as I can remember, an England team that’s a pleasure to watch.

Not setting our stall out to NOT lose and stumble through on ‘vibes’ but rather going out there to win the game. We’ve got a young, super talented, exciting bunch of players and it was a total pleasure to watch them dismantle a very tidy team in Croatia. In the second half, we completely ripped them apart.

Tuchel has got them playing, particularly in the second half- dare I say it?…Heavy metal football!

That 4th goal summed it all up perfectly. Lightning quick, all guns blazing counter-attacking football at its best. It was honestly a pure pleasure to see. We might not win the whole thing and we’re going to concede a few goals but if we play the way we played in the second half throughout this tournament then maybe, just maybe it might be coming home.

A Couple of quick additional notes if I may. Firstly Elliot Anderson – the guy was immense last night. Incredible display. Secondly Jude Bellingham – the guy is a superstar at possibly the biggest club in the world – how was and is there even a debate about him starting for England??Utter madness.

Well done England for such a great, exciting performance. Something for the country to get behind,

Is it coming home?

Cheers, Dan Green (Englishman in exile in South Africa)

…Bellingham dives a lot, was on the floor for their 1st goal. He also works his socks off.

Kane drops too deep, do we need him on our 18 yard box defending?

Croatia are average.

You’ve just got to get the first game ticked off for the nerves no matter how, we’ll take it, it wasn’t vintage and the goals were avoidable.

Djed Spence.

Pickford, how many touches does he have in a game. My favourite bit of commentary from I think Lee Dixon (ITV?) Pickford can control the tempo in the second half hahahaha brilliant. He’s not ctr mid Lee.

I’m not getting my hopes up.

Charles Boyle from Brooklyn 99 reffed it well I thought. Gibbo (MUFC down under)

…At the 2022 and 2026 World Cups Marcus Rashford has scored 4 goals in 156 minutes on the pitch. Some players are inspired by this stage. The poise, quality and class with which he engineered and scored his goal v Croatia was there for all to see. Ben Teacher

Please stop with the stutter

Have we not seen enough evidence now – Rashford at Euro 2020, Eze the other week, Kane last night – to consign stuttered run ups to the dustbin of history? Why do players do it? Just smack it top bins and the keeper will be very lucky to save it, and, if he does, nobody will blame you.

I also felt a bit sorry for the Croatia keeper last night with the retake. If the stuttered run up gives an attacker a theoretical advantage, is there an argument for redressing the balance with a subtle law change? As in: in general, the keeper cannot come off of his line until the ball is kicked, but, in the event that an attacker chooses a non-linear run up, he may do so at the point they stutter or stall.

Finally, as good as England were second half, is Kane starting to believe his own “quarterback” hype a bit too much? It did my head in the number of times he came ridiculously deep last night, all the way back effectively as a sweeper a couple of times. You’re a number nine. Just stay up top and hold the ball up unless you drop in immediately behind the wide players. You’re not Casemiro. Matt, Sheffield

Get in, Noni

Isn’t one of the best things that Noni Madueke has won a Premier League medal and is staying for England?

After the abuse of those turnips with that petition prior to his move to Arsenal, I’m made up for the guy. Stu, Southampton

On the decline of Ronaldo

Watching the Ronaldo/Portugal drama play out once again in full view of the world is absolutely fascinating to me. It’s painfully (or hilariously depending on your perspective) obvious that he no longer belongs at this level, especially with this very talented Portugal squad.

In Messi v Ronaldo debates, people always point to the latter’s determination, self-belief, and drive to be the best as his standout quality in comparison to Messi’s natural ability. It’s a poetic irony that the same determination that helped create his legacy is the very thing that’s now actively harming it, as self-belief turns to self-delusion.

Ultimately, it’s cowardice from Martinez and the Portuguese FA who are hanging an impressive squad out to dry. It was time to stand up to Ronaldo and tell him that he wasn’t going, not even as a bench option. Perhaps the players themselves might also be culpable, it surely it must be a constant topic amongst of conversation amongst the squad in quiet moments together without CR7. Do Fernandes and Silva, for example, not have the standing to lead some sort of coup here? Maybe they really think Ronaldo is vital?

In fairness, Martinez might point to the fact that Portugal, while stacked with quality in most areas, are actually quite light in real quality in the centre forward department. It would be interesting to see how things would have worked out if they had a proper candidate in that position, like a Portuese version of Haaland (Haalandes if you will). Goncalo Ramos would be a better option currently than Ronaldo but clearly doesn’t have the cache to have anyone demanding he starts.

And what of the man himself? Ronaldo is like The Simpsons – a decade of brilliance, perhaps the best ever but then one day you realise that they’ve had as many bad/mediocre seasons as they’ve had good ones.

It’s understandable why people love to see Ronaldo fail but it’s to the point where he’s almost underrated in the sense that people forget how good he truly was at United and Madrid. Did he take a lot of penalties? Sure, but he was an absolute killer on the pitch, a properly frightening talent.

In hindsight, he should have never gone to Juventus. Joining them at a time when they were already dominant in a Serie A was becoming less relevant in a European context has diminished his legacy. He should have gone straight back to United for a few seasons, and retired after the 2022 World Cup. His relevance and legacy cemented.

Messi was always going to surpass him in the end, there was nothing Ronaldo could do, and dragging out his career to try and prove otherwise has made him a laughing stock. It’s no shame to have spent a decade at the peak of your career as a genuine rival to the best to ever do it. Instead, Ronaldo continues to soldier on trying to salvage a hopeless situation, making things worse as he goes.

Anyway, I drew Portugal in my work’s sweepstakes, so I’ll appreciate it if Portugal want to get all this sorted asap.