17 Jul 2026 12:34:15
Pickford the best keeper in England. ???? Let them down again.
17 Jul 2026 13:44:41
I actually think Pickford is the best English keeper right now, but that's not a very high bar.
Pickford has some good physical attributes, but mentally, he just doesn't have it. He's just as liable to chuck one in as he is to make a great save.
The Argie's equaliser is a prime example. It's an easy save, but he dives and somehow gets nowhere near it. It was a really strange action, almost as if he let it in on purpose.
He's just too erratic and inconsistent to be a keeper you can rely on.
17 Jul 2026 14:29:19
It was very poor positioning for both goals. For the equaliser he was way too far to his left, you could even see him take another step to his left as Fernandez received the ball, which would suggest that he thought he was more centred than he actually was. Shocking spatial awareness, really, as the ball crossed the line in the middle of the net. For the winner, he was in absolute no man's land, looked like a headless chicken, tbh. He was right up on the front post when Messi put the cross in. I think he was a bit frazzled by MacAllister's shot hitting that same post just seconds before.
The shot had him completely beat, and he probably felt the need to cover it. Looked like he was half expecting Messi to hit the backline and drive towards that post or drill it across the face.
At the same time, the defence is not getting enough criticism. How in the name of Fowler are the likes of MacAllister and Martinez winning headers against players like Stones and Dan Burn? The back line should be ashamed of themselves.
17 Jul 2026 14:52:29
When the first Argie goal went in I immediately said to my son, while commentators were getting excited about the strike, that Ali would have saved that.
17 Jul 2026 15:47:18
While questions have to be asked as to how Martinez and Mac Alllister were getting free headers in a box packed with every central defender England had in the squad and while Pickford might have to take some responsibility for the equaliser, you can't ultimately put the blame on them, the real question is why De Paul and the best player of his generation were consistently allowed to get in the half space to deliver dangerous balls into the box.
Camping out in your own half and then surrendering that space to the best striker of the ball in recent history without a way to get out of your own half and stretch the opposition going the other way was suicide. I just don't get what's going on with the game now, where coaches think that putting every defender you have in the squad on the pitch means that you're not going to concede. Spain completely nullified France and choked the life out the game without doing any of this 'put all your players behind the ball and pack the box' nonsense.
17 Jul 2026 18:07:25
Put them strikes in front of Allison, he saves them all day.