'Everyone'? I hope you're not including me in that statement... Read my post,I'm baffled at his final squad selection,it's bizarre!!! Who's replaced Grealish and Rashford like for like?
Everyone as a figure of speech. I can’t remember many - if any - defending the constant inclusion of the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling. It’s been a long running criticism of every England manager I can remember that they will always leave out in form players at smaller clubs in favour of big names at big clubs. I don’t watch much premier league but I do believe both Grealish and Rashford have had poor seasons and so would be those very big names that always get moaned about. Along with Henderson they deserve to be left out in favour of players in better form like Bowen and Eze in my opinion.
please tell me you were joking - Rashford is one of the laziest players I've ever seen - just doesn't give a **** about the team unless it might involve him scoring a goal but as soon as he loses it he just ambles about, no press, no chasing back, basically useless - and as for Grealish, jumping back and forth in front of the full back and then passing back isn't what is required, the only thing Grealish puts on the line is probably his nose the way he carries on sometimes
from a pure football point of view, i dont want england to win the euros, i want spain or germany to but from a country point of view england winning the euros will probably be very good for the economy, and a feel good factor around the place much needed but i just dont see it with southgate, now its possible, thats one of the beauties of football but people rave about southgate, becasue england finally got to a semi final and a final but if you actually anaylse them for the actual games themselves, its a repeating problem england are far too cautious, he has persisted with the 2 base midfielders for 6 odd years now he just swapped philips/henderson for trent or gallagher it was commonly said, england couldnt play like spain becasue the quality of player wasnt there, that may have been true 10 years ago, but the game has evolved tiki taka is not the dominant play in football now and especially in international football, fast wingers are where success is italy in the last euros, had form of his life insigne and pre injury chiesa it is the system that is the problem, and southgate has literally said he will stick to it croatia, italy were two knockout games where england took the lead early on , and never overload the opposition until eventually losing i think its fine if southgate was managing albania, or scotland but england actually have a team on par or better than spains, yet the differences are stark
Many English fans and most of the media in the UK have an overly inflated opinion of how good the England side is. Pre-tournament in England the England team were clear favourites and the tournament was theirs to lose. Here in Sweden they were talking up France as the clear favourites. With the likes of Spain and Germany (home advantage) coming next. England were spoken of as dark horses along with the likes of Portugal. They think we have some good forwards but a shaky defence.
The ability to control and keep the ball in tight spaces - City were better at it than these ‘athletes’ - technique first fitness second should be the mantra
Kane has scored 59 goals for England under Southgate. He’s 30 years old and has had his best scoring season to date playing in a new league. If he didnt play to the standard that he can do yesterday, then it’s clearly not all his fault. Look at the other performances, Bellingham, rice, stones etc etc- they all played well below standard. if there’s one player in our team that you should build the team around, it’s Kane. He’s consistent, a great leader and an incredible finisher. He very rarely lets England down. But he does have strengths and weaknesses, Southgate just needs to recognise them (which bye the way he has done in spades over the years) and mould the team around him. All our other attacking players have a combination of strengths that can be adapted to play to kanes strengths. But last night wasn’t about the formation or team selection, it was about a lack of energy, poor passing and movement, and probably the wrong mindset, maybe letting the pressure get to themselves. That’s Southgate’s biggest challenge now, getting back that team spirit he had in previous tournaments.
No,I wasn't joking I was adding an opinion... I don't agree with your take either but you're fully entitled to it.
You are Gareth Southgate and I claim my five pounds. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
"Mould the team around him". Could that be the root of the cause of lack of trophies? Correct, he broke all sort of records last season. And Bayern won nothing. If the captain is ambling around, no urgency to his play, why expect others to pick up the slack?
This is the problem the old build a team around somebody it's nonesense . Have a system and put the players into that system like Guardiola does . He. Can go large staithes of the season without De Bruyne and The big guy up front and still stay at the top of the league because the system works . Southgate doesn't have a system and doesn't know how to make it work
whats interesting though is greece, spain both lost their first game in their big tournament wins portugal drew all 3 group games argentina lost to saudi arabia the point is the group stages dont matter its the knockout games, just dont lose england have as much chance as any team
also though, its a shame what happened to philips he was the first to run up to saka after his penalty gave italy the win i think that takes insane courage when youre gutted yourself
That's true, but it's England's performance levels that are worrying, and the fact it got worse from game one to game two. We were miles better than this in other recent tournaments even if we did have some disappointing draws. Southgate has basically admitted that he's struggled to find a way to get the team to press properly and everything is falling down from there. It needs a big reaction against Slovenia but at this point I'm not particularly expecting to see it.
