England were good.
Did I just say that Engerland were good?
In last night’s 0-0 draw at Wembley, we outplayed a German team who had much more international experience.
We actually passed & moved coherently, created early chances, and keeper Jordan Pickford made some terrific saves.
Ruben Loftus–Cheek won Man of the Match on his debut.
I’ve seen RLC play at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea but never seen him turn it on like he did last night. He gave us shape, rhythm, possibilities, provided angles.And he competed 96% of his passes.
Wow!! In the almost 18 years of this 21st century, England have been mainly notable for making the sport we invented look hard to play.
RLC just got the ball, dribbled and linked, slowed it down and speeded it up, made it all look so easy.
This morning I watched the interviews on the ITV Highlights show.
Captain Eric Dier talked so sensibly that I wondered whether he’ll be a manager.
Elton Welsby: “Some players look natural as soon as they play international football. Is Ruben Loftus-Cheek one of those?”
Gareth Southgate: “Well, he did everything I know he can do. I think it took him ten minutes to realise, I’m OK here, I can play. I think he just needs that confidence because he’s capable of anything.”
“Anything? That good?”
“Well, he’s been a top performer in our junior teams for a long time, like some of the others, as they showed tonight that they can step up.”
Starting teams:
England: Pickford; Trippier, Jones, Stones, Maguire, Rose; Livermore, Loftus-Cheek, Dier; Vardy, Abraham.
Germany: Ter Stegen; Ginter, Hummels, Rüdiger; Kimmich, Gündogan, Özil, Halstenberg; Draxler, Werner, Sané.
QUESTION: Why did Loftus-Cheek play better for England than for Chelsea?
MY ANSWER: Because England don’t have any players as accomplished as Hazard and Azpil and David Luiz or Willian. And they don’t have anybody who has won all the trophies that Cesc Fabregas has won. He wasn’t shrunk by those around him.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I almost didn’t watch the match.
Most of my friends don’t watch England anymore and I wasn’t in the mood to watch this friendly because Kane & Alli were missing. And I wasn’t up for it because I was tired after cycling & swimming at the gym, and coming home on a bus in the dark for the first time since last winter.
Five minutes before kick-off, I changed my mind.
Last night I woke up because my knee was hurting, so I got up and put some Voltarol on it and took a paracetamol and made a mug of Cadburys Drinking Chocolate and watched Sky Sports News at 3.10 a.m. and saw Lewis Hamilton being interviewed after finishing Friday practice in pole position.
I love Lewis because he’s always cool and from Stevenage, where I grew up. He made me laugh when he said, “I enjoyed driving the car today. It’s such a great track and the car is even better. It still moves around quite a lot with the overheating of the car.”
Then he smiled and said, “It’s fast.”
Mercedes-Hamilton fast must be a buzz.
But I wouldn’t know because I don’t drive and have only zoomed around London and Herts in Miran’s Porsche. Once we went down to Kent to see our pal Chris and that was fun, although I didn’t know we were doing 135 till the following day.
The Porsche dashboard is designed so that the passenger can’t see the speedometer.
The Brazilian Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 3pm on Sky.
ALSO ON ANR :
http://arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/wp/rocking-night-at-89-premiere-and-lovely-to-meet-george-again/