I’ve already said I’d rather he played Foden in there but if Pep’s unwilling to play him there either (even when De Bruyne’s injured) it’s hard to moan at Southgate for not playing him there. They must see something in him that suggests he isn’t cut out for that role. Henderson has always bombed forwards for Liverpool, he did tonight when we scored. He did in the World Cup. It’s become a bit of a repeated myth that he’s a negative player. I’ve no idea how you’d find it out but I imagine on any kind of heat map his average position would be significantly higher up the pitch than a Conor Gallagher & he’d try to play more forward passes than Gallagher & Rice. Grealish, Foden & Maddison are all number 10’s / wide players so aren’t really fair comparisons. If you play an out & out number 10 then Bellingham will inevitably have to play a bit deeper.
His negativity lost us a world cup semi final and a European championship final. Simple as that in my book.
Bit of an unfair comparison. He's managed waaaaaay more games, especially against teams with actual working class people playing for the opposition. All the talent you've mentioned, especially going forward, and we still set up as though we're the underdogs. Big difference between giving someone 10 minutes when already 3 up against Malta or San Marino etc and blooding in youngsters. Not to mention all those players you've mentioned and yet he's still picked players who've barely played, or not played at all. Ward-prowse should 100% be there instead of Henderson/Phillips as he's had an excellent start to the season. Last year when Saka was firing on all cylinders for Arsenal at RW, Southgate played him LWB. A position he hadn't played for years and was ineffective. Crazy considering how good Saka was/is in the RW position. Bellingham absolutely ripping up La Liga, 3 MOTM's, player of the month and he plays him in a different position. It wouldn't bother me as much if we played decent, attractive, fluid football. But picking favourites and players with 0 minutes over players on form, mixed with boring football & 0 trophies is a crap combination... You keep mentioning Pep but Pep has insane amounts of achievements to back him up, and players get dropped all the time in that City side including the best midfielder in the world in De Bruyne, other than Haaland & Rodri (when everyone is fit) Just my opinion though. Like I said the player picking doesn't bother me much. It's the static, boring system/formation paired with poor substitutions & especially poor tactics.
I actually agree on that, too. That Croatia game could have been so different. 'All' we had to do with get someone constantly picking up Modric and not let him spray balls around. Easier said than done, but at least give it a go.
Maybe so but that moment in the 2nd half when he was played in and attempted the pass rather than opted to shoot sums Henderson up for me
I agree why does he keep picking McGuire and Henderson Christ we are going to qualify let’s good some younger players ready for next summer.
I agree with quite a lot of what you say & to be fair it’s not the point I’ve been arguing. I’m unhappy with how he sets the team up at times & think he makes the wrong subs but I think he’s pretty fair with his call ups. You mention Ward-Prowse, he’s had a decent first 4 games but he had a poor season last time out. He’s an average premier league midfielder who can take a quality set piece. If he played for England he might not even get to take a set piece as we’ve got several who take them for their clubs. Which international sides play fluid attacking football? In my lifetime I think there’s only Brazil - 90’s to early 2000’s & Spain 2007-12. International football is generally crap to watch. Teams only play together about 10 times a season & it’s hard to build any cohesion. Club sides can rotate more as they train together every day & know each others games inside out.
Because up until the last 3 weeks he’s not played any decent football in over a year. He’s only had one good half against West Ham in a game they lost & a good performance against Luton. He’s hardly setting the world alight.
We didn’t have a good side in 2018. We just didn’t. Go & look at the team & squad & compare them to Euro 2020/21 & World Cup 2022. We’re loads better now.
We should have won the Euros. Early goal then went defensive. Italy were garbage, there for the taking. I know, let's win this, fetch Mason Mount on. FFS. Looked like we were defending a 1-1 draw tonight. Too defensive, never did anything as a club manager, just a yes man.
To be fair mate, that hasn't stopped Southgate in regards to Phillips, Maguire and previously Mount etc.
He had just won a load of trophies with Lazio, including the league title at the time when Serie A was still one of the best leagues in the world. Both him and Fabio offered the biggest management contracts in world football.
Sterling lost us the Croatia game. He didn't square the ball to Kane v Sweden in the Quarter Final. Had he done that Kane would have returned the favour v Croatia in the Semi. Chicken and Egg but I think that's why Kane had a second bite instead of squaring it when we were 1-0 up v Croatia. That moment haunts me like the Hristov header, Barnard penalty and Odejayi miss. No complaints about losing to Italy. Scored early and just weren't good enough.
