England vs Ghana Preview: It's time to foot some balls | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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4:40Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. It's another preview. It's another England preview. England are playing Ghana at 9pm tonight. British summertime. And I'm feeling pretty good about myself and all things England. I've got Luke Moore with me. Hello, everyone. Hello, hello, hello. What camera am I on? Doesn't matter. How are you doing, everyone? The one with the red dot on it. Yeah, that one. Hi, guys. How's it going? There we are. Pleased to be here. Excited for the game tonight. It's very exciting. It's very exciting indeed. England versus Ghana. A huge game for both sides. Both sides going into this game with three points.

5:14A huge game for you because Ghana are, of course, your African team. Yes. So split loyalties, I would have thought.

5:20Luke Moore: England are my European team. For now. England are my British team. And you're horizontal and I'm vertical when it comes to that. You've got the hoops, I've got the stripes. Yeah, mine are more England colours. You've got more Argentinian for some reason. We'll leave that there. Yeah, is it really Argentinian? They don't really wear dark blue today in the stripes. Okay, we'll let you off through a technicality. Luke Moore. Yes. England versus Ghana. Let's focus our minds and attention on that. England, I think a lot of the footballing public in this country were pretty happy with that victory after Croatia.

5:53Luke Moore: Yeah, and they should have been, so they should be. At the second half performance in particular, I think caught the imagination and the hearts and minds of the English public. Since then, a lot of chat about Thomas Tuchel's half-time team talk. A lot of chat about that. That's his job. Yeah. That's his job. Exactly. As Roy King would say. But also, a little bit of injury chat. Bakayo Saka and Declan Rice for different reasons. But Bakayo Saka has apparently been managing an issue with his Achilles. Yeah. He has now been training with the full squad. He's in full training. Thomas Tuchel said last week he may not risk Saka until the final group match against Panama.

6:30Luke Moore: My question to you and to you as well, the wider public watching this on YouTube is, should Thomas Tuchel start with the same team that he started against Croatia? Or should he make some changes? And if he should, let us know in the comments which changes you think he should make. But before that, Luke Moore. Yeah, I won't be reading the comments. I don't care. No, I will be. I'm joking. So I think he will probably play a very similar team. I think there are perhaps one or two questions to be answered around certain personnel. and they would probably be, and also it depends how Tuka wants to approach it, right?

7:08Because the question marks you could, well, the questions you could have about certain personnel would be the following in my view. Is it going to be Stones or Gay? Yep. Is it going to be Gordon or Rashford? Is it going to be Saka or Madueke? And is Rice fit? Okay, that would be the four main questions. Now, my take on those issues would be that, as you know, because I talked about it after the game last week, would be that it's the opening game of the World Cup. People get a bit nervous. People need to shake off the cobwebs, get into the feel of it, all that good stuff. I understand Stones got sat on his arse for the first Croatia goal, and he's not played a lot of football.

7:45So maybe Tuka will look at that. Or maybe he'll go, do you know what? I mean, I like Stones and Konzrinette. I also like Gaye and Konzrinette. It doesn't really matter. So, you know, take your pick. Gordon had a quiet game. Rashford came on and made an impact. but again I don't think that's that necessarily means that you have to throw the baby out with the bath water on that you can have Gordon as a starter, Rashford as a finisher Tuchel has been taking if the Athletic are to be believed, Tuchel has been taking influence from the rugby feel of how you have starters and finishers in games

8:14Luke Moore: Eddie Jones in particular, right there we go Saka, I don't know how fit he is it's great that he's back in full training is he fully match fit, thought Madiweka was broadly fine and then Rice has played a million games so the natural season yeah the natural thing to do would probably be I think keep it as close to the Croatian line-up as you can hopefully win that if you win against Ghana you win the group because of the head-to-head and Ghana have got three points and Croatia haven't so ultimately if England win against Ghana they win the group and then the third group game you can give players a rest and you can get other players who haven't featured yet or featured as much into the tournament against Panama which is a game that England will be expected to win anyway So to me, those are the big talking points.

9:00I'm a bit worried about Rice. I'm a bit worried that he's got this kind of neural pain in his back and hamstrings. That doesn't sound good to me. It sounds like an overload issue. So maybe he needs to sit a game or two out so he's ready for the knockouts.

9:17Luke Moore: I think he probably needs to sit a month or two out if he's going to try. Not an option at this point. I'm sorry, Declan, that is simply not an option for club or country, it would appear. yeah he's he's such a crucial player whichever side he's played for in his career he's such a crucial player agree so the idea of him being able to get some rest maybe against Panama I think is one if indeed England can win tonight Thomas Tuchel should take but let's worry about that at the start we've got a poll for the live viewers interestingly should Tuchel start Konza or Gay Konza or Gay or Stones or Gay obviously the producers think that Stones is going to start I mean Stones is what they should have done is Stones were gay and they've done it wrong have you done it wrong guys?

9:58nod if you've done it wrong

9:58Luke Moore: no I think they're shaking their heads he's not done it wrong they're shaking their heads I actually agree with that because gay and Stones have started the last tournament together so Stones to quote Rory Jennings Stones is the governor what have I told you about quoting Rory Jennings? remind me you know what I've told you I get on very well with them I know you do anyway but could I also just chuck something out into the mix yeah so if England win their group they play on the 1st of July at 5pm so that is essentially a week tomorrow right is that in Atlanta I don't know the air conditioned stadium I believe it is oh speaking of weather I've got some news for you here we go it's going to be 22 degrees and rainy in Foxborough tonight yeah hey lovely stuff it's going to be quite hot tomorrow but today it's not going to be hot lovely old job it's going to be about 15 degrees hotter here than it is there beautiful anyway the point being that England will play on the 1st of July which essentially if Rice plays tonight and rests Panama he gets a whole week off which is good but I did think to myself after today's ramble when we were taking the piss out of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal if they carry on stinking the place out Portugal I think we might have to play them in the round of 32 as it stands right now we're playing them we're playing them do you know what that's what I think France and Spain I want them to win their groups and obviously I want England to win the group because if they did that they could only play one of those teams England in the final that is a huge assumption let's just get the Garner game out of the way and see where we go because if we get a massive embarrassment tonight then we're going to go oh okay but anyway enough of the nonsense let's go to some of your comments Oscar time to foot some balls in 10 hours let's go enough of the nonsense let's go to some of your comments love that Oscar yeah no it's time to foot some balls yeah it's always time I couldn't agree more Thomas has said we should have minimal change for this match get the three points in the bag and then rotate against Pano but I don't know if that is Thomas Tuchel himself but that is a man called Thomas I broadly agree with that.

11:52Luke Moore: But I think he talks on behalf of all Thomases there. Yeah, well, you speak on behalf of all Marksons, don't you? I do. Which is why Rashford will be starting on the left tonight. Well, finishers and starters and all that sort of... But do you not agree with that? I do, yeah. I think it would be... It would be too knee-jerky. Yeah. And I think the idea of the brotherhood and all that kind of stuff that Tuchel has got there. He's got three centre-halves who can start games, really, who he's looking at, barring injury and so on, and it is Konza, Gay and Stones. I think if you were to take one of the...

12:23Luke Moore: I mean, if... Stones has been there on a number of tournaments. People will say he's not played enough football. Well, if you're playing against Ghana and Panama, two games which England are expected to win, then this is a great chance for him to get up to match speed ahead of the knockout. Some people say, maybe that's not possible and so on. I think... I would have probably gone for Gay and Stones, actually. It might be a touch unfair on Konza. I know Jim is a big fan of Esri Konza. So I think whatever they go for, England need to be better at the back. I don't think there's any two ways about that.

12:54Luke Moore: Yeah, they do. But I mean, listen, the manner in which they conceded the goals against Croatia was relatively poor. And they let Croatia back in twice. But I do think, I know I'm labouring this point, but no one seems to be really listening. Or maybe people just don't agree, which is fine. It's the first game. It's a World Cup. There's a lot of expectation. It's a new environment. It's a new situation. you know these things happen you want to test you want to be pegged back and tested I said this to you earlier when it came to France playing Norway next they'll be delighted to play Norway next get them a bit more battle hardened get them seeing what they're made of there's no there's no real benefit in just knocking teams over and then knocking teams over three four times in a row say you have three easy group games and you get a decent draw in the knocker and the round of 32 and you play someone else shit yeah like what good is that when you go up against a good team eventually TG has said I agree with that.

13:46Luke Moore: TG has said, Jordan Henderson should start. I disagree with that. Okay. Thomas Dalton says, do you replace Rice with Mainu or does Tuchel prefer James, Rhys James in the midfield? And Spence comes in on the right. That seemed to be the change he made mid-match with Mainu not coming on. The change he made... I think that's an interesting... The change he made against Croatia was that he brought, he moved James into midfield for the last, what was it, 20 minutes or so. It would make him the last 15 minutes maybe. So yeah, he could do that. He's got options, hasn't he? What would you like to see?

14:15You like Maynou, so you talk about Maynou.

14:17Luke Moore: I do like Maynou. I think... So this is where, if England do go deep in this tournament, and I will come back to it because this is not the question you're asking. If England do go deep in this tournament and Rice seems to be sort of struggling a little bit, then I think the choice of, say, taking Jordan Henderson rather than a younger midfielder, I think that's where that will start to become scrutinised. Right now, I think England are fine. I think if Maynard came in for Rice, that wouldn't worry me. That to me seems the most sort of like for like change. I know Declan Rice is one of the best central midfielders in the world right now.

14:56Luke Moore: So in terms of England, England don't have a player like him. I mean, maybe if you freed up Elliot Anderson, but Elliot Anderson is quite clearly there to do a more defence-minded job. And I think we're all quite happy with that. so I think that if Rice starts the game we could see that again I think if Rhys James comes into the centre of midfield especially if England are a goal up or leading or they're in a reasonably comfortable position maybe even actually a draw but England are kind of on top I think we might be able to see that again Rice himself said if it is that last 20 minutes that you really begin to feel it in the body Rice himself said I should definitely play of course he did yeah so the last 20 minutes the ideal situation then is that if Tuchel feels like he has to keep it as similar as he did against Croatia, then England are a few goals to the good against Ghana and he can give Rice a bit of time off and then he can rest him for the Panama game.

15:47That's ultimately the A1 position, isn't it?

15:49Luke Moore: You would think so. You would absolutely think so. The only other position, and again, please let us know your thoughts on this, everybody. People are commenting. Who would you like to see? What do you think of Kobi Mayne in there, potentially? One of the other questions, of course, you've already sort of touched upon it a bit, Gordon or Rashford. Again, I think it would be a bit too knee-jerky to start Rashford because Gordon actually worked very hard on that left side. Everything seemed to go down England's right. I don't know whether that was England's tactic or Croatia kind of shepherded them and said, you know, we'd rather Manuweke was on the ball than maybe Anthony Gordon, which you could maybe understand that a bit.

16:26But there's different challenges for different opposition, right? There is, yes. You talk about the Anderson-Rice-Mainu kind of discussion. Anderson's capable of playing in the more expressive way particularly against poorer opposition so it wouldn't be the end of the world if he did feel like he had to play someone else alongside Anderson and let Anderson do a little bit more progression I wouldn't care too much about that I wouldn't mind that I also don't mind James in midfield I think he's good there but I think the thing with James is he is so good when he's fully fit that you kind of start to think to yourself well if you play him there we miss him at right back kind of thing because I think it's a drop-off after James at right back.

17:05Luke Moore: Yeah, I see what you mean. I do see what you mean. I think, yeah, Hansworth says, whether we go slow or fast, we've got to get to the line. True. We've got to get over the line. Johnny Barnes once said. Yeah, we don't get to the line, we'll get over it this time round. Just in case some people are joining the stream now or didn't see at the start, Ben Wildman are, sorry, Ben Wildman has said, are England going to struggle with the heat? Well, Luke, for those who missed the start. It's going to be between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius. and rainy today in Foxborough. So don't worry about it. And it's the Gillette Stadium, although I don't know how to call it that at the moment because of the World Cup.

17:40Oh, okay. Because the FIFA sponsorship issues, but it is known as the Gillette Stadium. Will they turn up clean shaven? You'd hope so. Keep it on brand. Some of them not. Keep it on brand.

17:47Luke Moore: Right, so the poll. Is the poll still live, by the way? No, it's done. There's two polls. There's two polls. All right, blimey. Do you want me to read them? Should Tuchel start Konza or Gayi? 66 % said Gayi, 34 % said Konza. And this is the more interesting one for me. Here we go. Here we go. What's England's best centre-back partnership? And the winner of that particular question is Gay and Konza with 48 % of the vote. Gay and Stones on 39 % and Konza and Stones on 13%. So the centre-back partnership that started against Croatia is the least popular among the viewers of this stream. Interesting.

18:22So there we go. There we are.

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20:55Luke Moore: Talking about you know who's hitting the start you know potential subs and so on AJ Gray says get a couple of goals in the first half then Rice and Kane off for a rest Maynard and Watkins on question marks Yeah I mean that's the ideal situation I mean it's just a variation of what we just said really just adding Watkins in there I think across those three group games you want as many people to have many players to have experienced the tournament as possible. And that's a luxury that you're afforded if you win both your group games, if you start the first two group games based on how this group is shaken out.

21:28So that would be ideal because everyone wants to get a flavour of it and you want players who've had long seasons to be rested. Yeah, you do.

21:37Luke Moore: Are you a bit concerned about the report saying that Garnet and Witch Doctor has vowed to put a curse on Harry Kane? Yeah, I saw this yesterday. Yeah, so this is the same guy who said he'd been working on Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the 2014 I enjoyed that yeah and Ronaldo of course did get an injury when you know in that tournament his knee injury of course yeah he said before the match he said I will I will work on Harry Kane not for a long term injury just that he doesn't do the business really against my country of Ghana yeah but if you are worried about that which I suspect you're not then there is good news because some people might be watching that going oh crap what are we going to do fear not everybody fear not Uri Geller has come to our rescue he's offered to counter the curse by sending vibrations Brian Wilson channeling Brian Wilson good vibrations before the match I will send he said I love the colourful clothes you wear and the way the sunlight plays around your hair he may well have said that as well but he said I will activate all my powers all my energy Harry Kane's giving me exaltations all my know-how to stop his negative vibrations from hitting Harry Kane it could also rub off on other footballers yeah what do you think of that?

22:50I think that Uri Geller is finding it very hard to find work that's what I think and it has been for some time

22:55Luke Moore: do you know he's 79 now? yeah to be fair doesn't surprise me does he look good? I mean I haven't seen him for years let me have a look last time we saw him was when Michael Jackson died yeah probably right and then someone went actually you haven't been friends with Jaco for about 15 years no to be fair he does look alright I mean he's if you've got all that good energy he's in absolute danger but he looks alright he does look alright he does look alright Garnet forward Abdul Fatahou has said that Jamie Vardy has given him his advice to do his thing against England so are you pleased that Jamie Vardy has been cavorting with the enemy well I don't know what Tony said it in because if he's phoning up Jamie Vardy going go on to him I just do your thing stop calling me then if it's that but if he's called him and gone tonight I want you to do your thing Yeah, I'm not happy with Hardy.

23:46Luke Moore: Yeah, I'm disappointed with that myself. I'd be very disappointed as well. But we shall have to worry. So Ghana are your African team, as I've already said. Do you think they've got the tools to hurt us? Well, the obvious player is Antoine Semenyo, of course. Yeah. But I mean, Ghana... Iñaki Williams as well? Yes. Are you worried about 34-year-old Jordan Ayew?

24:13Luke Moore: not particularly if i'm brutally honest i mean arrogant arrogant englishman that's the thing isn't it if you talk about france in a way france will be fine against iraq it's totally fine if you say i think england should be okay against garland arrogant englishman what am i to say but the thing is different for me because i do know you to genuinely be an arrogant englishman is that right so i've got the insight i'm allowed to say it do you think that's to do with my englishness though partly okay yeah it's partly i think partly you were born like it okay but Partly it's the deal of your Englishness, yeah.

24:41How would you write your English? No, answer me this. Answer me this.

24:44Luke Moore: What's wrong with enjoying a World War win?

24:50Luke Moore: Nothing. Right. I don't mind. I've got no shame on it. You're not going to embarrass me, mate. You'd rather lost with you. All I will say is, I walked past the officer and I did hear the words coming out of your mouth, the Somme and Gallipoli earlier. That was in a very different context. You did say that. And Gallipoli was not a victory, let me tell you. No, no, exactly. It wasn't. Anyway, let's move off from incredibly serious things. Well, will other live streams be talking about Gallipoli? I don't know. Ahead of the England games tonight. I don't know why they would be. Why are the producers shaking their heads?

25:18Luke Moore: Because Australia and New Zealand aren't involved tonight. No, they're not. They're not. So have a bit of respect. God bless the Anzacs. Have a bit of respect. Absolutely. Yeah, where were we? Yeah, no, I hope and think England will win. I think, was that an answer to your question? No, I just wondered if you thought Ghana had got anyone to hurt us. They weren't great against Panama. You can default to the... They won late on, yeah, yeah. It was the opening game. But already people have been saying the toughest game in the group for England was the Croatia game. And I would broadly agree with that.

25:49When I saw the draw, I was relatively happy with the group we got, but I wasn't happy with the schedule. Because I think, you know, Croatia peg England back twice in the opening game. If that got sticky in the second half, and the players are meant to credit that it didn't, because on the Southgate, you never know. that makes everything harder. Because you think, okay, we've not got off to a win. It stays 2-2, for example. The way that England applied themselves throughout the second half was sensational, right? You have to say that. And the changes he made, even when England were winning, was great.

26:20It was really positive. And that makes it a lot easier. So I think the way the group's panned out has been fine because they've managed the Croatia game so well. So I was pretty happy with the group that we got. So yeah.

26:34Luke Moore: No, I completely agree. Were you happy that, according to Adam, Gosport was the hottest place in the country right now? I just saw that. Yeah. Luke dressed as a deck chair today. Coincidence? Probably. It is a coincidence. I wasn't in Gosport last night, although I have spent many a hot, sticky night there over the years. Hooray! I have. And you dress like a deck chair, so somebody will unknowingly sit on you. One of the... Wow, fingers crossed. One of the years not that long ago, Leon Solent, where I actually spent a lot of my upbringing, it had the most sunshine in the UK that year. So it is well known for being quite hot down there.

27:12Luke Moore: A little microclimate, maybe. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. And the sun's fierce down there. That's the way you get sun burnt fast down there. That's why you grew up drinking Lilt as opposed to other soft drinks that most people drink. Which is now called Fanta Fruit Twist, isn't it? Oh, is they taking it over? Lilt's gone. Yeah, but it's forever in our hearts. Yeah, don't be sad, it's gone. Be happy, happy. Be happy, happy. Yeah, yeah. Toby has said, red cards being handed out like confetti so far this tournament. Are England going to get one at any point? And if so, who is your money on to receive it?

27:43Yeah. I mean, it's always a concern. The obvious answer is Jude Bellingham. it's always a concern. The game really wound up. Some kind of dog's though. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah, yeah. It's always a concern. It genuinely is always a concern.

27:52Luke Moore: What about the state of refereeing at this tournament? I think it was an England preview, but the referees have been letting the games flow a lot more than I've I would say, in maybe previous World Cups, to the point of there have been a couple of months where it's like, that was a foul. It was a bit soft and he's played for it. That's a foul though. And you've just gone, nah, not having that. Yeah, there was a couple yesterday. And the red card count is pretty high. There was a couple in the France who write them yesterday. Is that what you're thinking of? Yeah, exactly, yeah. I mean, I don't really know because it's hard to say at this early stage.

28:23I think, you know, refereeing, what tends to happen is they get directives specific to the World Cup because they have referees from all over the world and different leagues and different competitions of refereeing different ways. So it does take a little while to shake out. I was going to ask you, though, when we talked about the personnel earlier, is there any mileage at all? Because it feels like a long time ago now, but the chat before the tournament started, a lot of it was around Rodgers versus Bellingham. Do you think that question's been answered now?

28:52Luke Moore: I think it has, and I think it always was going to be answered in this way. I think the reason why the debate was there is because of how Tuchel's managed the situation. And one journalist who we both know said to me a number of months ago, and I quote, Bellingham is a problem in the England camp, or is an issue rather. Who said that? I'm not telling you who said that. Tell me, was it David Ornstein? It wasn't David Ornstein. Tell me who it was. I'm not telling you who it was. Do you do the initials? No. If I guess it, will you tell me? No. Rory Jennings. No. I said journalist. Okay. I like Rory.

29:28Luke Moore: He's not a journalist though. No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't call himself a journalist. He might. broadcaster yeah like you and I yeah but anyway he said Bellingham is an issue in the was it the geezer from CNN I'm not telling you okay and but it wasn't just give me the initials no I'm not giving you the initials slagging Bellingham off and and and and we've spoken about this on the show before was it Morgan Rogers and he's it was Piers Morgan Rogers and and we talked about the the the influence his father has had on the situation, all that kind of stuff. And clearly Tuchel thought Bellingham needs to be taken down a peg or two.

30:08Luke Moore: And I wonder if there was some kind of handover between Southgate and Tuchel. Perhaps there was, perhaps there wasn't. But in the previous Euros, Bellingham, without Jordan Henderson being there, because that is one of his jobs in the camp, is to make sure that everybody is behaving themselves in a certain way and standards are kept and maybe even played 10 minutes here and there. but Bellingham's vibe if you like was rubbing some people up the wrong way and maybe getting a bit big for his boots and I think you come into the studio sometimes and go who else who else exactly yeah and that's why David Cartlidge was brought in and a sort of Jordan Henderson we need a guy from Sunderland to do it the angriest bloke in Sunderland history to calm you down Brassel would be the great Brassel would be the Henderson Brassel would Brassel winds me up shutting but if someone in the Ramble universe was going to calm anyone down it'd be either it's my top three he's going to calm you down yeah if you're the big I am which you are what is going on here Andy Brassel the big I am Dotton coming from you Dotton could calm anybody down yeah Dotton Dotton could have gone onto the Somme and gone aye yeah enough yeah and that would have been it Rory producer Rory producer Rory very calm I think you could calm me down that's the three because you being just out arrogant you No, no, no.

31:28Luke Moore: Also, you're a very underrated, an incredibly underrated hard man. Yeah, to the point where no one's ever mentioned it. That's how underrated it is. It's never, ever been said. It's the first time it's ever been said how underrated it is, yeah. Yeah, I agree. Criminally underrated. And I think I would be scared, so maybe. But anyway, if I may, where were we? I can't remember now. Oh, Bellingham and Rodgers. So I think Tuchel thought... It seems to me the Bellingham... Bellingham's a better thing. yeah but it seems to be the Bellingham thing if it ever was a thing yeah it feels like it's gone now because of how he's managed it and I think the way he managed it he's saying look I'm putting Morgan Rogers ahead of you now and look at the job he's done for me that's what you've got to get to and that's what I want you to do no messing around now me old son yeah and Rogers has done that and also the profile of the number 10 Rogers and Bellingham they've got industry they've got a lot about them very different players to say Foden and Palmer who have not been fancied of course and we've not missed them have we Fodham and Palmer we're only one game in we've not thought of them but it's not you know you talked about starters and finishers and all that sort of stuff he wants to double up in every position other than with Declan Rice and Harry Kane because how can you double up with those two so those two must stay fit and but Tony's Tony's like a replica of Kane just not as good possibly but I reckon I reckon it's more likely that if Kane was to go off you'd bring on Watkins and actually then you would change the style of what you're doing you know you would just kind of revert to a little bit more of a traditional kind of set up but speaking of that set up in midfield TG-IK2XW has said do you think our midfield trio of Anderson, Rice and Bellingham is the best in the competition?

33:03Yeah the Portugal midfield's good but you know it's funny because that would be a great battle if England play Portugal because it would be Vitinha, Jean Neves and Bruno Fernandes it's so funny I am sort of or as us native Portuguese speakers call him Bruno Fernandes

33:16Luke Moore: yeah okay yeah very well done it's funny how like when you say that I really am quite a coward when it comes to the knockout stages because I just want England to somehow get Uzbekistan, do all the rest of it and not actually play. I'd love a DR Congo and Uzbekistan and maybe push the boat out of the Colombia in the quarters. Yeah, when you say that, I go, DR Congo got, you know, they've got a couple of good players. I don't want Mexico and Mexico City. Do you want Mexico and Mexico City? I want teams that have already been eliminated in the knockouts. Let me give you this. Mexico and the Azteca in 40 degrees.

33:49Luke Moore: Do you know what worries me more about that is the 40 degrees. Yeah, I know it is. I think we're better than me. You're obsessed with the weather. Aren't we all? Yeah. Basically, yeah. But you articulate it a lot more than I do, I'd say. Well, because I'm not a coward about that. You're obsessed with the Premier League table and the weather. Yeah. But you're obsessed with the tables now at the World Cup. I am, yeah. Don't worry about it. I love that BBC website page. How the tables have turned, Luke. They have. They're quite literally. But what about that, though? I don't know what the question is.

34:14What's the question? Answer the question. Ask me the question simply.

34:17Luke Moore: Do you think our midfield trio of Anderson - I've already answered it. Bellingham is the best you mentioned Portugal I said yes along with Portugal okay alright interesting Spain's good as well you have to say that you really do have to say that because it is Steve I'm currently at Ride looking over to Portsmouth Ride being on the Isle of Wight absolutely yeah ticket to Ride beautiful day for another World Cup win it is can't disagree with any of that yeah absolutely agree Ride is a lovely spot you would yeah you would be looking directly over to Portsmouth from Ride you would yeah you kind of you're angling the way the island of the Isle of Watt is you're angling slightly towards because you could also very easily see the nicer part of Gosport as well.

34:58Oh is there a nicer part of that? Kind of. Alverstoke yeah. They don't really consider themselves to be a part of it.

35:02Luke Moore: They hide it well don't they? Well Steve why don't you get on the fast cat over to Portsmouth and Luke will come down and meet you. That's not going to happen. Not today. Too busy. Now talking of the midfield set up. Got to be at Walthamstow in a few hours. We do. Charlie said how about Morgan Rogers starts with Bellingham starting a Bellingham went back in there when Rice went off. And Bellingham, we think of him... I thought James were in there. And then Bellingham came off and then they did. We think of Bellingham obviously being a number 10 or further up the field that sort of first six months or even full season at Real Madrid.

35:38Luke Moore: I forget how long it was when he was almost like a force nine. But he has played deeper in midfields before and obviously he's a very, very handy player wherever he goes. That could be an option, that. It is an option. We've got flexibility. We've talked about Beggen playing deeper quite a lot over the last few years, I would say. The great thing about England's personnel is they have got options and different ways of different players, you know, interpreting those roles differently. Ultimately tonight, though, if I'm going to do a kind of a slight, you know, wrap up, I would say that they need to start quick.

36:13They need to, what we'd like to see from this need to start fast. they need to essentially wrap up the defensive errors because ultimately I think really you give them a pass for the first game because they go and put the afterburns on and win the game fairly easily but we've got other options so I think at some point Tuchel can say to the players the same way he's almost said to Bellingham you know you're not where I want you to be same way he said to Tony you're not where I want you to be so you're not being selective blah blah blah they've fought their way back in he can now do that within the context of a World Cup if players don't perform then there's other options.

36:47So I think England need to start fast. They need to overwhelm Ghana. Do what they do best. They need to eradicate the defensive errors which is quite an obvious thing to say but it is important. And I'd like to see a repeat of what he did against Croatia. So when you've got your foot on the throat you keep it there. Go for it there. You don't retreat in like Southgate's done in the past. All of them have done. Like Koeman did the Netherlands in the opening game. Look what happened with Koeman in the second game. The Netherlands played against Sweden. They blew them to pieces because they had better players and he backed them to do it.

37:16And I think I'd like seeing them do that as well. So that to me would be ideal. And then I'd like to see him manage the squad, by which I mean it's been a long season. A lot of these players are overloaded. Can we withdraw them if we've got the luxury of doing so, both for the last half hour tonight and in a Panama game? If you can get all those things done, I think it's a successful week.

37:33Luke Moore: Yeah, no, I completely agree. And I would be foolish to try and add to that. Two more comments and then we're out. Cozy Cow. Is he in cows? Another place in the Isle of Wight. He might, but that's spelt differently to the animal cow though. It is. So you bear that in mind, yeah. I always do. He says, Ting is better than Lilt. Yeah, Ting's great. I don't know Ting. South London, it's a big South London thing. It's Jamaican originally, I think. Oh, okay, I'm with you now. I'm with you now. Just not dissimilar to Lilt, but to me it feels a bit more authentic. Always used to come in a glass bottle as well.

38:00Luke Moore: Oh, that's lovely. Don't know if it still does, probably not. I know Bigger... Bigger juice comes in a big plastic bottle now. And that tastes like a factory. It's a sugar factory. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it does. It tastes like a global hyper-colour T-shirt. Yeah, it does. Yeah, indeed. Yeah. And we'll finish with this from Coffee Goblin, who says, Bring on a tough run. It means when we win, there will be no excuse. Great stuff. Love it. That's a lovely way to finish. Yeah. If you do win, you wouldn't have any excuses, though, would you? No, exactly. You'd be like, that's a lovely one. But there is something, there's a bit of truth in that.

38:31You know, you want to be battle hardens, I keep saying. You do.

38:33Luke Moore: Right then. Here we go. Here it comes. It's time to get the flags out, everybody. Here we go. Thanks for joining us. If you come in a 40-foot brewery, I'll see you later. I will be wearing this flag. Enjoy that flag because he's going to put it up his lamppost after the tournament. This flag belongs up a lamppost. I'm just borrowing for the duration of the tournament. We'll see you there. If you're on the fence then stick a flag up. Then get fucked. There is still time to get a ticket for 40 Foot Brewers and I will give you a handshake or a hug if you want. We'd love to see you there. We'll definitely have a chat.

39:02Luke Moore: Just click the link in the description. I promise you it will be a great night and I promise you England goals. Come on the boys. Love has got the world in motion.

39:20Luke Moore: The Football Ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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