England started with a 3-5-2 formation and dominated the first half scoring 2 goals but missing several other good chances. Cahill scored our first goal with a cracking header and Harry Kane got the 2nd with probably his only chance of the first half. Most of our other chances fell to Raheem Sterling who despite scoring for fun at Man City was wasteful in front of goal against Nigeria. I reckon he is saving his goals for the World Cup. In the 2nd half things seemed to turn right around. Nigeria who had started with a 4-4-2 formation in the first half now switched to a 3-5-2 set up to match England and they managed to get a goal back only 2 minutes into the 2nd half. This was what was needed because its good to see how our defence could handle a bit of pressure. IMO Stones and Cahill both look good going forward but neither are great defenders and we looked all over the place at times in that 2nd half. It's possible that when we come up against a more clinical team I could see Southgate playing Henderson in place of an Ali or a Lindgard.
Overall it will have brushed off a few cob webs and I'm confident we can get results against Panama and Tunisia. We will need to improve defensively if we are to get a result against Belgium or progress into the WC knockout rounds.
I got the impression that a few of the players were not at match-fitness level, such as Cahill, and that highlights one of the major problems with the PL - England players are more likely to be sitting on the bench than the foreign players they will encounter on international duty. Until the FA grows two spherical objects below waist level and restricts the number of foreign players, our national side will suffer...
Until the FA grows two spherical objects below waist level and restricts the number of foreign players, our national side will suffer...
That should have come in 10-15 years ago but the Premier League as it is makes too much money for the FA do they won't change.
They have some rule about x amount of home grown in the 25 man squad but it needs to be about starting 11's. All clubs do currently is buy English players to sit on the bench.
