“Hot town, summer in the city, Back of my neck gettin’ dirty and gritty, Been down, isn’t it a pity? Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city, All around, people lookin’ half dead, Walkin’ on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.” Boulevard de la Croisette? No chance, Brighton seafront, of course.
And, oh what fun we had on the Decision Marketing Team Day Out. Thankfully, unlike those on the Côte d’Azur this week, there are no smug pictures of us all pretending to look like we’re toiling away in the scorching heat. Luckily for most of those in attendance at the Cannes Lions, AI had done all the hard work for them… One day, just one day, AI might replace all of adland – well, we can but dream.
As for our old friend “Tommy Tickle”, maybe needs a bit of AI advice, too. He really should be ruing the day he failed to heed my counsel on the best way to beat Ghana. In fact, I still can’t believe he doesn’t read this column; maybe someone in the England camp could pass it on…
As I’ve already said, I’m no expert but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that, to beat Panama, England must abandon the sideways passing and sterile dominance that plagued their stale 0-0 draw with Ghana. Tuchel’s boys must press with intensity, move the ball forward quicker, and use overlapping fullbacks to break a rigid low block.
Against Ghana, England suffered from a chronic lack of attacking intent. The Three Lions were guilty of over-playing in the middle of the park, allowing the African side to sit deep and put 11 men behind the ball.
Even I recognised that players like Declan Rice dropped too deep to collect the ball, resulting in a congested midfield that allowed Ghana to heavily outnumber England where it mattered most, meanwhile, the wide men failed to stretch the pitch, cutting infield too often rather than taking defenders on and delivering crosses into the box.
To compound matters, England’s forward line lacked the pace and “zigzag” runs needed to disrupt the opposition’s backline and bait defenders out of position.
Panama will no doubt have been studying the game closely and are expected to defend deep in a compact shape, much like Ghana did.
To secure the three points, England must move the leather early and get the ball into the final third much quicker instead of overcomplicating possession. Passing forward with vertical intent will force the opposition to turn and face their own goal.
In addition, the fullbacks must get to the byline. This will force the Panamanian defenders to commit, leaving gaps elsewhere at the New Jersey Stadium.
If Panama want to “park the bus”, England must get bodies forward and commit an extra midfielder to the penalty area to capitalise on knock-downs and crosses and rely on natural width to pull the defence apart.
If all else fails, whack the ball up to Kane; surely he won’t miss another sitter…
Foxy has ditched X but is still on Instagram, just don’t get too excited as she’s never there
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