I agree that he hasn't shown the form he displayed for Madrid but maybe the season caught up with him. He's apparently also carrying a dodgy shoulder as well which may need an operation.
On the manager then. Not sure why he has been insisting on playing injured players. Bellingham, Kane. Both miles off it and have started ever single game. Wasted opportunities for others. Gordan is a mag but is class IMO. He has had a minute all tournament. I think he would have pulled the arse out of their aging right back. But no. Southgate remained loyal to the same players throughout. Failed again and bottled a final with a whimper. Just been looking at his runs in tournaments. Have we ever beaten a top nation? I don't think we have. Maybe Germany, once. We have had the luck of the draw massively and still not managed it. The second we play a top nation we lose.
He looked (and played) exhausted. Said he didn't have another 30 mins in him in the semi. But for all that, he did produce some incredibly decisive moments. And while his play was a fair way below what it had been in the first half of the season, he still put a lot of effort into it, worked hard defensively and did a lot of the running we desperately needed.
Couldn't disagree more. Did you see Spain playing anyone out of position last night? Nope. Englands recent history is littered with the manager playing players out of position just to get them on the pitch when in reality that just makes a team worse. Had zero balance down the left side the whole tournament, even when Shaw eventually played he had a central midfielder infront of him, Gordon may not be everyones cup of tea but if he plays from minute 1 of the tournament I believe England would've had a better chance of winning. System > Individuals.
I guarantee if Kane and or Bellingham had been left out or rested the same people would be criticising him for playing" inferior players". Southgate cannot win with so many folk.
Gordon is absolute pump IMO - for the top level, anyway. A runner with no left foot. The epitome of a prem player. Everyone was fawning over him in that pre-tournament friendly where he ran at the fullback lots, while completely ignoring the fact that when it came to the moment where he had to put a cross or shot in, he completely fluffed it every single time. Totally ineffective and looked a level below everyone. I'm completely unsurprised that he didn't get a moment. I can't imagine he showed much in training. One of Southgate's biggest errors was not taking the vastly superior Grealish over Gordon. Personally I'd have had this season's out-of-form Rashford over him every single time too. And while I agree systems beat individuals, systems aren't rigid player positions. It's team roles and player qualities. We've just come off the back of an U21 win where a winger played as our deep lying midfielder, because his abilities as a player meant he could do the job required. Bellingham is a weird one. Very difficult to characterise what he is as a player because he can do so much - but I know it's not as simple as 'he's a central midfielder'. His running, his goal threat, his work rate. All fit pretty well with what we needed in that position. He didn't do too badly overall last night either. The faults in our team were largely elsewhere (ie up top). One thing I'm certain of, though, is that if there was an answer to our problems in that squad it was most certainly not Antony Gordon - the David Bellion of the squad.
It is bizarre, hes a CM and hes being used as a Left winger yesterday Spain didnt pick big names, they picked the team that gave them the best balance and who complimented each other England have so many talented players but some were out of form or were getting played out of position. Theyd of been better putting someone like Gordon on the wing if playing a 4231, he will be aggressive with the press and will stretch the game for the team
Nah. We seen enough of Kane looking 148 years old in the group games. Literally walking for the most part. Be brave, drop big players. Southgate didn't. We didn't win. The end. Hope he goes. Haven't enjoyed watching our play and don't have it in the big games.
Then he shouldn't be getting every minute then. We have stars on the bench with different attributes. Why did they not get starts ?
Spain did that, true. However, did you hear Fabregas after the tournament talking about their Euro 12 win where he played as striker? His whole thing was it was about identity and roles within the team - not positions. I'd tend to agree. Bellingham did the job okay last night. His press was good, his carrying the ball was decent. His defensive workrate was right. He had a couple of moments that could have had more impact. He didn't live up to his billing going into the tournament as one of our best players of course - and that continued last night - but his overall performance when viewed objectively was enough to retain a starting spot IMO. There is nothing I've seen in Gordon at this level that would suggest he'd have given us more.
They didn't get starts as they are not as good and less likely to impact the game than Bellingham. Agree that Southgate should have pulled the trigger on subs earlier though. My guess is he looked at what he had on the bench when in training and regretted leaving the likes of Grealish at home. I know I would have if I was him.
He's a rentagob. This is the same fella who said we'd fail at this tournament because Pickford is our weakest link. Without watching the video does he say that we'd have won it if Trent had played?
Hes never been given a chance tho, thats the issue - pace hurts team and England didnt have enough of that Spain were always going to dominate possession so therefore England should be sitting up to play on the counter - you need pace in the team to do that That Spain team could dominate the ball, they had a clear style of play so it helped having a false 9 who was also technical - England dont have a set style of play so its harder to then move players to their unnatural positions Bellingham was poor for most of the comp, he looked done in and needed dropped but he wasnt - this impacted the team imo Kane was the biggest issue in it all, if you are starting kane you need runners around him and England didnt have anyone who was natural at doing this start for them England need to start focusing on what is the best system to win these comps, for me its playing at pace and playing through the lines quickly as got some many talented pacey forwards. Once you have a set system (like the spain side you mentioned), you then pick the players that most suit the system The only way England will win these big games against the big teams is by being braver and having a clear identity on how they want to play
So much wrong with this post Gordon is good, Liverpool want him for a reason, the mags value him at a huge fee for a reason, they bought him for a huge fee for a reason while people scoffed. You joke that all he does is run at the full back, someone running at Carvajal just once would've been nice last night. Grealish playing wide left would've been the exact same problem, another player who wants to play in the same areas as Kane, Foden, Jude. Angel Gomes is not a winger. He's a ball playing midfielder with unbelievable technical ability that fits the profile of midfielder that is needed for Carsleys heavy possession football. If you think any of Judes traits as a player are suited to playing wide left without a runner as a striker or anywhere close to him then i'm not sure what to say. Look at how effective he is with Vini stretching the pitch at Real. It's not the 80s, running ability doesn't count for much.
Since Sir Alf Ramsey was relieved of his duties in 1974 The FA Committee responsible for selecting the Manager have Appointed seventeen people. Two of these can be cosidered as being 'Caretaker's'. The most sucessful by far in Major Competitions has been the current incumbant. I admire the optimism of all advocating a change on the basis that The FA Committee responsible for selecting the next Manger will get it right next time.
Definitely agree with the overall diagnosis. The treatment, less so. For me it was as simple as drop Kane and play Watkins. Can you imagine a manager who'd have been brave enough to drop England's record goalscorer and captain in a final, though? Probably only Keano
So much wrong in my post but then says that Grealish wants the ball in the same areas as Kane Foden and Jude?
