Yeah I get that too, I find it so difficult with England under Southgate. Personally feel that if we’re to make the final step and win something we need a better tactical and attack minded manager. But on the other hand we have reached a WC Semi and Euro Final under Southgate so he does a lot right too, particularly with team togetherness and man management. To me England are at a crossroads and it’s a bit like Saints decision to sack Adkin’s and appoint Poch. Not the time for that right now though, he’s the manager for this WC at least so fully behind him and the team.
Pretty much agree with all of that. Interesting you mention Poch replacing Adkins too, as he is rumoured to be up for the England job if Southgate leaves after this WC. I would be up for that.
Just off of a 13 hour flight and fully planned on using the game as a motivator to push through jet lag but fell asleep halfway through. Doesn’t sound like I missed much! Sounds like a carbon copy of the England - Scotland game at Euro 2020 and that didn’t turn out too badly in the end. Just need to avoid losing by 4 goals against Wales to go through apparently (I thought FIFA competitions were head to head record over GD, but BBC seems to be suggesting otherwise?).
It’s a shame that in the list of essential targets for our national team Entertainment isn’t present We were a bit lucky to get to HT at 0-0 and a few mins into the 2nd half it was clear our system just wasn’t working, but Southgate thought we were ‘controlling the game’ What??? We needed Foden on, everyone except him knew it. And why not give some other players some time on the pitch I’m sure being outplayed by the US has done wonders for everyone’s confidence though
Hopefully we can switch 4 or 5 players up for the Wales game and still win it. Then we can go into the knockouts with a somewhat rested team. I think the knockouts will see us step it up a gear, like in the Euros.
How much impact does the time of the kick off have on a player’s body clock? A 7pm GMT kick off, is 10pm in Doha which is when evening games in the UK would traditionally have already ended and not be starting. Not making excuses for last night’s lack lustre performance, just wondering how England have structured their days to prepare the body for the later than usual starts the players are used to. The Iran game was a 1pm GMT kick off, a time the players are used to, and was high energy. Yeah I am bored. Edit Giving it a bit more thought, if England have kept their timings to GMT and not adjusted to 3 hours earlier, it shouldn’t make any difference.
Last nights performance was a credit to an exceptionally well drilled group of committed athletes, who were extremely difficult to play against.
I do think people here are blind to the massive development of football in the USA over the last 20-30 years. I used the comparison of the England - Scotland game in the Euros, but I’d argue the USA have a higher quality squad than Scotland. People think of our group as easy but our group has the highest average ranking in the WC between the four teams. That said for all of Southgate’s very good squad and atmosphere building he remains very poor tactically in games, that is the problem that remains. He is both the reason we got so far in the last two tournaments, but also the main reason we bottled the Croatia and Italy games.
I think the USA are a couple of flair players away from being a very good side. Not too fussed about last night's result. Bellingham was quiet because the Yanks kept him quiet. No complaints with the substitutions from me. As for our defence, I keep hearing that Maguire is done at Utd; well he had a blinder last night. The Croatia game was hard to swallow, but on balance I think they were the better team that day. Italy were just way more streetwise, so i suppose Southgate should have seen that coming and reacted. How, though?
I think he is very poor with subs and reactive rather than proactive. His initial set up sometimes works, but he doesn’t react to the shifting of the game, particularly against Italy we had been under consistent pressure for about 20 mins prior to their goal and he didn’t make any attempt to change our shape or make a sub, just let it happen. Also withholding Rashford and Sancho in extra time against Italy with an old (albeit talented) CB partnership who had been on the pitch for over 90 mins. Bringing players cold into a shootout feels like it would be a psychological disadvantage and choosing an 18 year old who has never taken a professional penalty as the crucial 5th penalty taker seemed somewhat illogical as well. That doesn’t detract from what he does well though, has the players really wanting to play for England in the first place.
Nice little earner. According to reports, Saudi Arabia’s footballers will receive rewards for their historic victory over Argentina in their opening match at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. On November 22, Saudi Arabia came from behind to defeat Argentina 2-1, and the Arab country immediately announced a public holiday for the following day to commemorate the victory. Each member of the national team will receive a brand-new Rolls-Royce Phantom from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
