Four Nation Tournament in the USA March 2016

Bardsley, Bronze, Houghton, Flaherty, Greenwood, Williams, J Scott, Nobbs, Stokes, Duggan, Taylor

vs

Solo; O'Hara, Sonnett, Sauerbrunn, Kling; Brian, Horan, Heath, Lloyd, Pugh; Morgan

The BBC have the line up as a 442: Williams down the right, Stokes down the left.

It can't possibly play like that you'd have thought.

We're pressing really hard from the off. And that 442 does indeed look to be the shape for now.

This is a nice start but it'll be hard to keep up this intensity for 90 minutes.

And if Fara has been deployed down the right to help double up on Pugh it's not going to work; she isn't anywhere near fast enough to get back and do that.

Blatant Sauerbrunn handball missed. Should have had a pen.

0-0 HT

The US don't really have a response to our pressing other than trying to get the ball to Pugh. But she does look like their best bet by a mile. I thought they started to grow into things as the half finished. Another 10 minutes and they might have found a goal.

As for us... our defence is letting too many of their longballs bounce. And for or all our hard work closing down and winning possession we aren't doing much to convert that into scoring chances.

Blatant Sauerbrunn handball missed. Should have had a pen.

It looked just outside the box but I'd have to see it again.

And if Fara has been deployed down the right to help double up on Pugh it's not going to work; she isn't anywhere near fast enough to get back and do that.

Pugh left her for dead there at the beginning. Williams' age is showing and Nobbs, Bronze and Houghton are going to tire covering for her.

The second half will be interesting. We are falling farther and farther into our own half.

We seem to be slowing down the pressing now which is letting the US get forward a little better. It's leaving us more room to exploit on the counter but we aren't making the most of it.

Greenwood off for Christiansen. Stokes to LB.

Guest wrote:Greenwood off for Christiansen. Stokes to LB.

Stokes vs Dunn for the last 25 minutes then. But we're not switching Fara to the other side now Pugh has gone off.

1-0 Dunn. She turned Houghton like she wasn't even there.

Carney for Williams and Kirby for Taylor. Carney on the left, Christiansen switched to the right.

And it looks like the USA are shutting up shop now. Their subs have given them a back five.

Aluko on Duggan right at the end but it's too late to do anything.

1-0 FT

We made life difficult for them but it's all for nothing at the end of the day if we can't at least score the same amount we still concede despite our defensive efforts. We only looked an attacking threat ourselves once they had decided to stop playing and just see the game out and even then we weren't particularly dangerous.

We pressed well at the beginning and than defended well in the end half (the goal was pretty spectacular) but like Sampson was yelling we just couldn't keep pressing them the second half although we were still pretty disruptive when they came into our third. I don't know if that was from the lack of fitness or the healthy fear of the American attack. Nobbs shot at the end was pointless (especially against Solo) but I guess like Williams before her it was to help our SOG stats. The couple chances we had went a begging and that just can't happen with a better team. The team worked their socks off and even a noticeably slower Williams had that brilliant back heel lob that Duggan than squandered. That was a physical game, wonder how it will effect the rest of the tournament and how did Bronze not get a yellow for some of her challenges.

Now to focus on Germany and get ourselves back into it.

1-0 Dunn. She turned Houghton like she wasn't even there.

How beautiful was that goal? I thought Klingenberg's set up that goal well by distracting Williams and Scott and then the through ball to Dunn. Houghton didn't have a chance. What an impact sub she was? This is what we are missing from our side. I like Christiansen a lot but she was too hot-headed and gave up too many fouls and the American defence kept Kirby quiet when she was on. He should have subbed in Davison but he might be saving her for Germany or France. Thought Scott, Greenwood and Bronze had excellent games.

I would add Nobbs to the list of good performers. She was great in the middle breaking up whatever possession the US did manage to have. I was surprised to see that on so many occasions she was the deepest of our CMs and not Fara. I don't enjoy seeing her shackled like that. But despite obviously having instruction to sit she did still play quite a few very good balls forward. Maybe things would have been different if she was able to do that from a more advanced starting position. We aren't just missing a goalscorer we're missing the link to one as well.

We played well enough to win if not for the paltry attack. Imagine a Team GB vs. USWNT game in Rio with Kim Little and Beth Mead in the lineup...

She was great in the middle breaking up whatever possession the US did manage to have. I was surprised to see that on so many occasions she was the deepest of our CMs and not Fara.

I'm going to rewatch it tonight since it was so late last night but what struck me was it the formation was a very flat 4-4-2. Nobbs even as the CM had to stay deep because that was the team formation, I think she took Fara's role because as evidenced last night Fara isn't even remotely playing like she did in the World Cup and needed Bronze behind her as back up. If she was central in the pitch the Americans would've gone straight through giving our CB's way too much work. Scott and Nobbs were excellent at their roles but way too shackled to get themselves involved in attack.

Guest wrote:We pressed well at the beginning and than defended well in the end half (the goal was pretty spectacular) but like Sampson was yelling we just couldn't keep pressing them the second half although we were still pretty disruptive when they came into our third. I don't know if that was from the lack of fitness or the healthy fear of the American attack. Nobbs shot at the end was pointless (especially against Solo) but I guess like Williams before her it was to help our SOG stats. The couple chances we had went a begging and that just can't happen with a better team.

We started dropping deeper once the US managed to pull off a few moves through Pugh. Maybe we saw Bronze get burned and panicked a bit because if she isn't quick enough then nobody is. Combine that with the fact we won't have been at peak fitness and the amount of energy which would have been spent on that pressing game and it's not surprising the intensity wasn't there from start to finish. But it all meant it was even more vital that we took any chances which did fall out way and we never came close to doing that.

I re-watched the game and we did press really good throughout and made the Americans make mistakes that we then could not convert on the counter. Duggan and Taylor were not a good striker partnership, they both had a lone striker mentality and it cost us a good chance to score. I do believe we should have gotten a penalty for the handball but I also don't think it likely we would have converted against Solo. Williams' new role in the team is interesting (although her performance as DM against Germany might be why Sampson changed her position) and while Nobbs did well as the DM (she made several vital tackles) her creativity was missed in the final third and the Americans started to play around her. IIRC Powell had Williams in a more advanced role in the last Euros and it didn't go well. Williams can play advanced roles at club level but she lacks the bitting edge and pace at the international level. I will give Sampson credit for giving the dead ball duties to other players to give them the valuable experience but corners and fk's were not up to Williams' standard.

Is it progress? To date since last February we have played a pressing game against the USA twice, Germany twice, and France once. Only once have we scored a goal and won (one a penalty giving because of a naive foul from a young German defender). It's interesting that tactics that were maligned and mocked against France in Canada are now heralded as brave and progressive. LBR it's all been pretty negative football. We are not playing any sort of attacking football and our build up play is almost non-existent. We stayed in the game against the Americans on Thursday by making a lot of rash fouls and than played for every foul we could. I was half expecting for Aulko to flop there at the end to try to win a penalty. If we want to continue to be a top 5 side (and with Japan self-imploding in the Olympic qualifiers I wouldn't be surprised if England move to 4th in the FIFA rankings) we have to start to playing more attractive football. In Canada, Australia played a very aggressive, attacking game against USA in which they gave a good account of themselves and nearly won. It was incredibly fun to watch, that is the kind of football I would like to see England play.

The Americans deserved the win, especially since we made a mess of any of our chances. I'm interested in our response in the Germany game.

We play France next, who lost their opening game also, so we go into match #2 knowing that if we lose we're a candidate to finish last in this tournament. Will that spur us on to be a little more adventurous or cause us to bunker down even more so? I really can't call it. What I do think however is that regardless of our approach I don't expect us to score. I've seen far too much in recent months to suggest we just don't have it in us no matter what we try. That's become my default mindset now. And hate that that's the case.

Looks like a brutal schedule. (local times)


March 3, 2016 United States vs. England 7:45 p.m. Raymond James Stadium; Tampa Bay, Fla.

March 6, 2016 France vs. England 3 p.m. Nissan Stadium; Nashville, Tenn.

March 9, 2016 Germany vs. England 5 p.m. FAU Stadium; Boca Raton, Fla.

New schedule. When did they change it?

Raymond James Stadium; Tampa Bay, Fla.
March 3, 2016 United States vs. England 7:30 p.m.

Nissan Stadium; Nashville, Tenn.
March 6, 2016 Germany vs. England 5:30 p.m.

FAU Stadium; Boca Raton, Fla.
March 9, 2016 France vs. England 5 p.m.

Guest wrote:Duggan and Taylor were not a good striker partnership, they both had a lone striker mentality and it cost us a good chance to score.

I’ve been through basically all of the line ups and subs since Sampson took over and the only other occasions I can find where Duggan and Taylor have been on the pitch together, apart from the other night, is the Japan match at the WC where they played 60mins before Taylor went off and 10 minutes at the end of the away Germany friendly. We didn’t score in open play of any of those games. They have been subbed for each other a fair few times but seldom used as a partnership. And I think it showed on Thurs night/Fri morn.

Which I think is just further evidence of a problem we’ve highlighted numerous times already. And that is that Sampson just doesn’t seem to have a clue who we should be using up top. He is still tinkering, trying every combination he can think of, and the complete absence of continuity is getting us nowhere fast.

Guest wrote:Is it progress? To date since last February we have played a pressing game against the USA twice, Germany twice, and France once. Only once have we scored a goal and won (one a penalty giving because of a naive foul from a young German defender). It's interesting that tactics that were maligned and mocked against France in Canada are now heralded as brave and progressive. LBR it's all been pretty negative football. We are not playing any sort of attacking football and our build up play is almost non-existent.

The only progress I see - if you can call it progress - is that our negative football has changed from total stand off and just let the opposition do whatever they want to pressing so they at least don't have it completely their own way. But regardless of whether we backs to the wall it and let them play around us or whether we do try to get in their faces and at least make them play their passes faster around us, the outcome is the same - we still concede and we still don't look capable of scoring enough to counteract that.

On the occasions when we do manage to win possession we only ever seem to muster one decent pass to start an attack and then it all fizzles out. We don't look dangerous unless the opposition has pushed up far enough to have left acres of space for us in behind, and even then all we seem to do is run towards it with no thought as to what we do once we're in it. That's a sign of a lack of understanding between players. You can't be on each others wavelengths unless you're given sufficient time to develop your partnerships. Not even those forwards who play for the same club teams look like they know each others games because the midfield feeding them isn't consistent either.

And none of this can be fixed during this particular tournament because the schedule is too tough to line up with the same personnel three times in a row. But that is what he absolutely has to start doing now. Enough with this chopping and changing. Even his substitutions are just swap this for that and see what happens.