Thank you England - I was missing Newcastle United and your recreation was beaufiful
England played out a frustrating 0-0 draw with Ghana at the World Cup on Tuesday night.
Nobody loves their cot more than me, and there aren't many nights I'm not in it before 10pm, but last night I made the exception to stay up and watch The Three Lions in World Cup action.
After the 4-2 win over Croatia, I was expecting an up-tempo, attacking England. A far cry from the sideways and backwards days of Gareth Southgate.
I still don't know how I managed to stay awake through the entire game, but I did clear a good few levels on a game on my phone, so at least there was that.
"It's like watching Newcastle"
I was texting my dad throughout the game, who is currently on holiday in T'Egypt, which is two hours ahead of us. He managed to stay up to watch the game after having been on the neck oil all day - Imagine staying up til 1am to watch THAT!
At some point during the game, I picked up my phone to text him "it's like watching Newcastle", but before I could even open my messages app, one pinged through from him saying the exact same thing.
I thought I was missing club football. Internationals just don't do it for me the same way watching Newcastle does, but seeing England dominate possession and create absolutely NOTHING, well, it took me back to the dizzy heights of last season, so thank you, England.
Patience is a virtue ... that I don't have
I can't decide if Ghana were resilient, or England were just bereft of ideas, but how can we go from putting four goals past Croatia to having just three shots on target against Ghana?
Alan Shearer and Micah Richards were on co-commentary and studio duty, respectively, for the BBC, and both kept talking about patience, a slow patient build-up - but at what point do we throw patience out the window and just take the game to them?
I should have known what we were in for when the pre-kick-off stat that England never win their second group game was uttered.
Panama next for England. We expect to see some changes to the lineup for this one as Thomas Southgate? ... Gareth Tuchel? is likely to rest a few players knowing that qualification is likely a given anyway. Hopefully the changes bring new ideas and a fresh impetus.
