I think we sat back and invited it on mate. Last comment from me - I love what Southgate has done with the squad harmony. But he's a million miles off an elite manager. His tactical decisions in-game & substitutions are incredibly poor. We've played the top 10 ranked countries 24 times. We've won 4 of them. It's poor.
No but that’s going back to the depth issue. There’s loads of competition in the wide forward roles so if you’re out of form you don’t play. If you’re a central midfielder or centre back out of form / not playing you likely keep your spot.
Cricket tried playing the best 11 in mid nineties and it was an absolute disaster. Players were dropped after a couple of bad knocks and didn't know whether they were 5 hitting, showering or shaving. Hick, Ramprakash, John Crawley and Nick Knight spring to mind. That's why they brought in central contract's. Back to football. Henderson and Maguire have never let England down. It's tactics not personnel. I'd hope Southgate stands down before next World Cup.
Southgate is a busted flush. We’re going nowhere with a talented generation. Someone has to grasp the nettle and get rid. A world class coach would have a field day with the talent we’ve got coming through. Needs doing now….
Henderson is in a poor league and Maguire and Phillips hardly play at club level. Yet they are seen as better to have around than in form players like Sterling and JWP and Bowen.
Southgate is far from a tactical genius, but that's not what being an international manager is about really. Capello was a tactical genius with a similar depth of talent available to him and how did that work out? At international level it's as much about man management and trying to find something that whilst isn't perfect, is the best you can do with a group of players who hate each other for most of the season and have limited experience of playing together. It's mental that we had about 15 years of various coaches with all sorts of great pedigrees who had a top 4 in the world squad available to them and never got close to winning anything and now people are calling for the head of a bloke who lost a final on penalties and had our best World Cup result in 30 years.
He lost a Euro final on home soil against an aging Italian side there for the taking when we’d taken an early lead. His negativity cost us, no doubt about it. Why is he still picking Henderson? No one can defend that for me with the young talent we have. Unforgivable.
Not sure about that to be honest but whatever they were bang average. He’s too cautious by far with the talent he’s got to pick from.
I have generally defended Southgate up until now for the reasons you mention. His man-management is clearly exceptional, and his caution sometimes understandable. But the fact is that Italy were very beatable in 2021. And now, the talent he has at his disposal is insane. Anything less than winning the next Euros will rightly be considered a failure. Not losing last night was imperative, and actually a draw away to the second placed side in the group is never bad. If we'd arrived at 1-1 through an open, entertaining performance that didn't quite come off, I don't think anyone would be complaining. But yesterday was the equivalent of Manchester City being drawn away to a Championship side in the FA Cup, and setting out to get a replay.
Yes. They were in incredible form. Won all 3 group games at a canter. Beat Belgium then Spain albeit Spain looked the best team in the tournament & were unlucky not to win. They also weren’t ageing. Barring the back 2 of Chiellini & Bonucci it was a pretty young side. Italy making a balls up of World Cup qualifying makes the final look worse than it was but at the time they were a very good side & played far better football throughout the tournament than we did. I thought Southgate got his subs wrong that night but I don’t think losing to them on pens was this massive underachievement that many seem to.
Jordan Henderson. "You have to respect Saudi culture and religion" I wouldn't pick him on that statement alone.
The massive underachievement Django was that we went a goal up early, had them on the ropes for the first 20 minutes and then, just like against Croatia, went into to full on defensive mode until they inevitably equalised. It was completely craven and the second time he'd done it. There's absolutely no evidence that he's learned his lesson and won't do it again.
I’d argue capello had a good strong first eleven but the depth beyond that wasn’t the same. Southgate lost a game on penalties that if he didn’t **** his pants england should have won comfortably, after shitting his pants in the semi v Croatia two years before. One nil up and stop playing. Scared to death. Last night was got to 1-1 and stop playing, scared to death. Nothing has changed. He is passive, negative, in everything in the setup. His team reflects the over-cautiousness, the fear. They’re not frightened at their clubs. England don’t need a world class orator, someone who will be cohesive and excellent behind the scenes, to be the head coach. He is excellent in off the field aspects. I think Southgate should be given a promotion to be honest, a job for life at the fa. Represent England around the world and oversee the overall England operation from kids to seniors. To be there to assist in the cohesion of the squads and so on, to be a mentor maybe. But give the head coach job to someone who will remove the shackles and give them the confidence to go out and play. I don’t even need to suggest a name, I can honestly think of dozens who I’d sooner be in the role. I said it in a previous post - I wouldn’t want the england head coach to be at our club in that role. We’re in division three. And say Southgate left England tomorrow, which clubs in world football would want him? World Cup semi, euros final, all that. Which elite club takes him? I don’t think he’d even get a job in a top league, never mind a top club in a top league. I certainly don’t see him in the premier league. I really don’t. He’s perfect for an ‘upstairs’ back office administration role, a director of football role at a club or director of ops at the fa maybe.
Learned what lesson? That his midfield couldn’t keep the ball as well as the opposition? That’s what happened in both games. He’s got Bellingham now & has tried Trent in there so he obviously realises we need better quality on the ball. Both games start at a fast pace, both sides full of adrenaline. England have early success as they have a lot of pace & then like most games the tempo is dictated by who can keep the ball better when the game inevitably slows down. We had Rice, Phillips & Mount in there. 3 players who are best known by what they can do off the ball than on it. They had Jorginho, Barella & Verratti who are best known for what they can do on the ball. Where he got it wrong for me was his subs. Rashford & Sancho should’ve come on a lot earlier. We had to start hitting them on the counter attack because we were never going to keep the ball better than Italy. I would’ve even taken Kane off as the pace of Rashford down the middle would’ve been much more of a threat to Bonucci & Chiellini at their ages than keeping Kane on. I don’t think anyone can say he messed 2018 up. We had a poor side with poor options off the bench. We only got to the semis because we had a very fortunate draw. Tactically I don’t think he did much wrong. We didn’t have the options off the bench that we had in 2021 & we had the chances to win it. I can’t hold Southgate responsible for Kane not squaring it to Sterling or for Modric & Rakitic been miles better than Lingard & Alli.
