He seems to have lost his mojo, certainly. When he took the job he did a good job freshening the team up, creating a genuinely likeable group of players, and a team that played solid tournament football. I have no problem with that approach. But I don’t understand what he’s trying to do with the team nowadays. He started with the principle of picking the best players for each position and now just seems to have completely lost it. International football is not complicated especially when you have forwards as good as England do. Generally it’s a very good tournament squad that we have. But Southgate has become hampered by the same indecisiveness that previous managers have, I don’t just get what some of the players are doing. He deserves to see out the Word Cup on the basis of his last 2 tournament performances but after that he’ll have some serious questions to answer if the team don’t make a good fist of it.
I have never seen England play a decent game of football under Southgate. We got as far as we did despite him not because of him. Just remember his level, Middlesbrough FFS
How do you make so many talented players look so much less than the sum of their parts? So many creative and attacking players - at least when they play for their clubs. Although I still think England’s weakness is the lack of a Pirlo or Modric in midfield. We never produce midfielders who can control the ball and dictate play in that way.
Watching England play is a very frustrating experience. The trouble is these poor performances are masked by England getting further in the World Cup and Euro's than they have for many years. Overall International standards have not been high for many years. The Belgians and before them the Spanish but consider Brazil, Argentina, Germany have all been way below their usual standard. England had a decent chance in the last 4/5 years because the level from the opposition was below par, but sadly this coincides with the FA once again selecting a manager based on his manners and respect for the establishment rather than his football coaching ability. I have had a lifetime of watching them pick managers on this basis. Football has the wrong people in charge and always has. The FA is almost always middle class people and they oversee what is essentially a working class game. The big football nations that I have already mentioned are not hindered by this class nonsense.
Plenty of teams win things without one. Southgate has plenty of talent to pick from and has lots of time to work on a style of play to best exploit that talent....the returns on that talent and time are currently ****ing dreadful.
Never seen Spurf so anti someone like this. It's like early days of my anti-Winks campaign, I'm impressed! Agree with everything you've said though. Southgate is the most fortunate guy in football at the moment, England haven't done well at the World Cup or Euros because of Southgate, we've done well at both despite him. ****ing awful manager, the football being churned out is dreadful, we've got some fantastic players especially in attacking areas and he's absolute destroying it. The FA will just continue to persist with this yes man though through the World Cup, after that we can only pray they finally see sense and rid us of his misery.
Southgate is definitely gone after the World Cup. The weather alone will hurt England, despite doing well in the last 2 tournaments, I wouldn’t be surprised if they go out in the group stage
Free slogan for the next election: England have never been relegated under a Labour/Lib Dem/Green government (or, if you prefer, England have been relegated when the SNP are in charge)
I was out at a Enough is Enough meeting and by the sound of it and reading the news this morning I never missed much , this is precisely why I never call for our players to get an international call up , I've never yet seen one of our players improved by playing for their national side
Out of interest, who would you choose for England manager and would you bin Southgate before the WC ? Personally I have no idea about a manager suitable but would sack off Southgate as he seems to have run out of ideas
I’d always generally prefer an Englishman at the helm of the England job but Potter’s the only one I’d really advocate for yet can’t see him leaving Chelsea so soon. Howe’s the only other who I don’t think would be terrible, albeit I wouldn’t be 100% convinced about him. If ‘Arry was a bit younger I’d love for him to have been given the chance but he’s been out the game for a while and I don’t think he’d be in contention. So with that in mind, I think any of: Low - great international experience and pedigree Zidane - proven manager of big players and can handle big occasions Poch - not proven enough with big players but does generally know how to play good football It’d be good if some young, former English players could also be involved in the setup, Mason being one. Rooney could’ve been another but has taken the DC Utd job. Have them learn under a more experienced manager with the aim of being a potential successor should things go well.
Alfie I would not want to see Southgate manage one more game, but it's not going to happen. Who would I like to see? It's not an easy question because clearly international mangement is quite different to club management. There is a strong argument to say that he should be English although with the international mix of most top teams it's probably not so important as it once might have been. I'd like to see Harry Redknapp if he was still up for it. Otherwise Potter is an obvious one and it would piss Chelsea off . Bielsa might be a fun choice. I want to see an English team play exciting football, it's still the 70s Dutch and Brazilian teams I remember most. It's not just about winning something, that's a bonus. England used to be feared because of their quick strong football we lost that a while ago. What's Venables doing?
I don't follow a lot of football outside of our club , Potter was the only contender in my mind but I think that train has gone More's the pity It would really boil the chav piss if Eng took Potter , we can only hope
Pochettino? He's not English but is an Anglophile, will know most of the players and how they play and is currently out of work, meaning that he would be cheap. He loves living in London and might well take a job up to the Euro 2024 competition...I'm sure the FA could work on the 3 piece suit thing...
Sean Dyche. 4-4-2 and leg breaking challenges. Sam Allardyce for another 1 match run, then Scott Parker for Spurcat Style Approval. Mike Jackson, who had a decent patch at Burnley. Hee ****ing hee.
Can everyone please spare a thought for the poor bastard that had to create these highlights? The England team should send him their wages.
I think Eddie Howe would be my choice all practicalities considered His teams try to play good football and i think he can deal with the ‘big names’ as he has shown at Toon as they spend their billions.
