They were both brilliant mate - in every 'team of the tournament' I've seen ... ... but I don't think I ever advocated leaving either at home - some poetic licence there, Ponky... but fair play, deserving of some 'likes' What I certainly did do was look for some balance in my proposed optimised team line up ... something that events proved we were sadly lacking ... God I hate it when I'm always right!
They were probably two of our better players. Gareth is gone now, but I'm going to promote you to chief bubblegum flavour ice cream maker.
Nobody really shone, but those two were creating the most chances. cba to look up the stats, but I would imagine both are up there for pass completion, chances created etc
Guehi did a good job coming in Stones was bang average. Agree on Palmer, but these 'lists' just show how subjective it all was. Saka wasn't brilliant through the tournament, but nobody was. What he did do though was create chances, and scored a crucial goal. Overall, we were well below par for the talent on show though.
What do you watch Ponks? ... out of interest ... We'd have been 3 down in the final without some of Stone's perfectly timed tackles - and he barely put a foot wrong during the tournament ... the partnership of him and Guehi was a major positive in an otherwise underwhelming set of performances ...
Overall he did well for us. Went from being absolutely nowhere under Capello, McLaren and Hodgeson to a team competing at the sharpe end regularly. Two finals in last two Euro's is a great effort and not something we've done before. However, I do feel a manager from the level above him is needed to get us over the line. We were well below par this tournament - it just felt to me Southgate had lost it a bit and we absolutely grinded our way through against our opponents instead of playing to our attacking strengths. Formations and player selections were not good enough. A change was needed and he's done the right thing. Got me interested in England again though! Win against Columbia on Pens, Sweden 2-0 and Holland recently were a highlight for me.
And even that list feels quite generous. I’d probably say Pickford and Palmer are the only two that can genuinely leave the Euros knowing they played great. Palmer may have actually given old beak nose a fairytale ending if he started him. The rest of the England squad were either “meh” or dismal, a lot falling under the latter.
He was steady, and that partnership with Guehi was good. I would have liked to have seen more from Stones on the ball moving into midfield, but I accept that's got more to do with how Southgate set them up.
She makes Southgate look adventurous and if anything has taken England backwards so it's a no for me .
