Inept management by Southgate.

IMO.... GS check list:

Great ambassador for English football.... check.

Great at team selection i.e. forming a group of players who gel as a team, bring younger players on and who play for each other.---no Prima donnas...check.

Great Motivator players put in a shift, support one another and have great spirit (something managers 'make or break' ) GS 'makes'....check.

Tactics...... this is a 'Curates egg'. He obviously gets most of it right otherwise we would not have made the final of the Euros and have won 5 on the bounce in WC qualifying and scoring goals. Some might claim it is solely because we have such good players and it is down to them 'in spite' of GS rather than because, but, whilst some teams - club and international - have a talisman they have to turn to e.g. Ronaldo, Messi , which is often the main reason they are relatively successful, England have any number of players that put 100% effort into the specific tasks they are given and look organised (very much like the latest incarnation of Italy). They are a real 'team' in what is, after all, a team game. The downside is he is overcautious, and on numerous occasions, noticeably the Euro Final and last night, he lacks the killer instinct and the courage of his convictions and instead of going for the throat when he has the opposition on the run he goes all defensive. He also seems to be 'unwavering in following his plan even when the opposition has changed tack, witnessed by the Euro final defeat when in the 2nd half , Mancini's Italy came out having changed things around and GS seemed to have no answer other than try to defend against a rampant Italy which was clearly not the answer. Yes we only lost on penalties, but IMO we were lucky not to concede more than one in the 2nd half and lose in normal time.
Overall, I still think he is an excellent fit for the England Manager role but he needs to be more positive and pro-active during the game and change things around when it is obvious that that is what is needed. Last night ....no substitutions over 90 minutes? Really??

 

Whilst we did is that not a player issue too? I’ve heard managers speak in the past about players sitting back & not following instructions when they’re feeling the pressure & not wanting to take risks.

You mention Ismael wouldn’t have done that but didn’t we feel the pressure in the play offs? It almost felt like we neglected our game that had made us so successful because we were scared of conceding a 2nd & the tie been over.

That’s why managers & pundits often talk about how winning the first trophy is the most important one because it gives them the confidence then & stops a lot of that fear effecting them.

Spain are the best example in 2008, 10 & 12. Played with no fear at all, two thirds of the team from Barcelona who’d won a champions league & seemed to play without pressure.

 

That wasn't my point. In my view if you aren't going to win the competition you might as well lose in the group stage as the final. I've nothing against Southgate I just take exception to him being lauded as a saviour when he's won the same amount of competitions as his predecessors. How far they get in tournaments is irrelevant to me if you aren't going to win them.

 

Ireland didn't win any tournaments but I think we can agree that Jack Charlton was a good manager for getting the m as far as he did in the world cup?

 

I get your point but we did exactly the same in the World Cup semi final. The defensive team selections in the first place then the attempt to defend a lead in two huge matches suggest to me it's the manager and not the players.

 

I think successful managers even get suckered by fear of losing. How Mourinho sets his teams up now is a far cry from how he set up Porto and Chelsea back in the day.

 

You could argue that Southgate is the best manager since Alf Ramsey and statistically he is. You could also argue that makes him the biggest failure since Alf Ramsey too. He's been in charge for two of our four biggest moments since then.

 

I do think he tried to stem the flow a bit in the Euros final with a more positive move with Henderson coming on for Rice but I would’ve got some fresher legs on further up the field & maybe I’m been influenced by Val but hit it in the channels like we did successfully earlier in the tournament against Croatia & get Sancho or Foden or whoever you’ve brought on chasing it.

Agree about the World Cup but I’d also say we were nowhere near as good a squad 3 years earlier.

With Foden, Mount, Grealish, Saka, Trent, James, Chilwell, Greenwood, Bellingham & the reemergence of Stones & Shaw we should be challenging for the next decade

 

We should. There's a core of players who have won world and european cups at youth level. There is no need or excuse for being fearful of the opposition.
I like Southgate as a person and hope he proves me wrong about his capabilities. We'll see.

 

I think they should have "trainers orders" in penalty shoot outs. "Whatever you do hit it. If you miss make sure you've had your money's worth". Or words to that effect.

 

I think some people think if you question Southgate you are calling for his head

 

The minute I see any penalty taker start to hesitate, stutter or slow his run up I fear the worst.

 

Agreed. He just needs to be braver at the right times.

 

I think if Rashford scores his penalty Sancho and Saka score theirs too.

 

I watched pretty much every game of that tournament and Italy were consistently the best team.

 

I called them the winners when they beat Turkey. That said, I don't think England played their natural game in the final after twenty minutes and never recovered once they lost momentum. Other than the penalties it was a carbon copy of the Croatia game.

 

Statistically Capello is the most successful England Manager ever, if you use a win ratio as your statistic.

 

It's a shame we didn't have young hungry Capello.

 

It's the same with the Reds SOME fans seem to know it all even more/ better then our managers !

 

I don't doubt they're a good team. But they weren't looking too clever when we were one nil up, carving them open and had them on the ropes.
Anyway, going round in circles. I just hope that next time we're in that situation we have the confidence to dominate.