I’d rather razor blade my eyelids and stick my face in rock salt than watch that ****e. Not watched a full England game for years. Mind you I was born a mackem and am a turncoat so desertion is natural to me.
Looking forward to the whole thing. Yep I am sure the England games will be depressing but there are always some great games to watch and some excellent Prediction Leagues to take part in. https://www.not606.com/threads/the-world-cup-prediction-league.361900/ Also with Rafa having this massive transfer pot available will give us a chance to spot some talent available. Do we have any players apart from Mitrovic there?
I think he has suggested in the past he is not a fan of buying after a big tournament. He will likely already have his targets and with Mike backing him to the fullest extent of the clubs capability, we are likely to see a good summer. Looking forward to the World Cup despite Sixfullbacksgate trying his best to spoil it.
As a former defender myself I say you can never have too many full backs. Seems to be coming a habit to put your old wingers there now anyway (Young, Valencia etc) so it will soon be a lost art.
England's failing has always been the same, as was said above - players get picked because of who they play for and not what they offer. Sterling is used to playing a certain way and making runs which are found by players like Silva, De Bruyne and Sane. Let's take each one of those three - when Silva's looking for runners, he has the likes of Isco or Vazquez. De Bruyne has Lukaku, Mertens, Hazard. Same for Sane, if he even starts. Now Sterlings looking behind him at Henderson or Dier. Alli's also trying to score, not assist. Rashford's a runner, Kane a target man. Who's providing any kind of killer pass or assist to these players? We will see Iceland all over again - deep defending, staying goalside of the pacey players, with nobody on the ball having a clue what to do with it. Then we'll get England panic, as they get less and less interested in having the ball the longer games go on. We then look at the bench to see Welbeck, Vardy or Loftus-Cheek. There's no vision for how England should play. My personal opinion is **** your low-rent mimicking of better coaches tactics - it shows a lack of intelligence from Boregate. I'd just go 4-4-2 , be aggressive and go direct, then pick the best players for that. Every English player has 4-4-2 drilled into them, just go with it. Kane + Vardy + wingers = goals.
I have had a chance to consider things over night, and mull over my castigating Southgate over his selection. I thought I'd post a heartfelt apology. **** him he's a ****ing idiot. 6 ****ing full backs and not one bit of creativity. Southgate out.
Not quite following this. Vardy, Rashford, Sterling, Loftus Cheek, Walker are all pretty fast. The only quick, tricky players amongst your suggested inclusions are Lallana and Wilshere, who are both crocks at the moment.
I don't think you've understood what I mean to be fair. We have plenty of pace and trickery in the squad. We have no one capable of exploiting it. If we run through the options and look at who is playing alongside them to get the best out of them at club level: Sterling, Walker - Sterling has a lot of freedom under Man C system. He is not pinned to one area. He will get assists but he is never the instigator of the play. That is left to players who can pick a pass in De Bruyne and Silva. Walker again relies on the same players to release him forward. Kane, Alli - Alli again has pretty much complete freedom at Spurs. The quality to get him into position is left to Eriksen. Kane obviously relies heavily on Eriksen and Son. Vardy - Great running in behind. Relies heavily on Mahrez. Rashford, Lingard - Rely heavily on Herrera or Mata pulling the strings. You can have all the quick and tricky players in the world. If they are not creators then they are not creators. None of those selected are. So you are looking back into midfield to see who will be charged with getting these undoubted useful talents into the right area. Likely to be Henderson and Dier. Don't do that job for their clubs and are not capable of carrying it out. Delph is there, a box to box player in midfield but mainly a left back these days. Loftus Cheek - another box to box player, lacks any kind of creativity or any serious ability to pick a pass. Quite simply put we've shot ourselves in the foot massively. We had maybe 4 players who could fill the role for all they are no Mahrez, Silva, De Bruyne or Eriksen. Shelvey from deeper. Wilshere. Barkley. Lallana. One is on the reserve list, one is persona non grata, one is considered injury prone, one has seen his career nosedive. Building squads is about balance and having the right make up. We've once again just randomly picked players with no thought of how to get the best out of what we have. Another generation of players will get slated and termed as bottlers when we turn up delivering turgid displays. Its frustrating as it is so obvious to see. I don't mind if Shelvey doesn't go. Drop two full backs and take any two from the 4. How many of the 6 full backs do you expect to see game time? I reckon a maximum of 3. Probably just Walker and Rose.
Ah, understood. No argument that a lack of creativity is the weakest aspect of the squad. Your suggested additions, however, are a bit underwhelming (which obviously isn't your fault). I'm pleased we didn't pick Wilshere or Barkley just because the once looked like they would be good players. Shelvey you can argue for or against. He can pass. That's it. Lallana has barely played and so is currently in as a maybe. Also, I suspect your "6 full back" is your latest variant on "net spend is irrelevant": an amusing semi-accurate factoid that you can use to wind people up. Walker is probably going to be one of the back three. Delph is a midfielder. The specialist full backs are Rose, Trippier, Alexander Arnold. Maybe add Ashley Young to that. So basically a starter and a cover for each of the two wing back positions, with a couple of other players that can fill in if necessary.
I understand Walker will play centre back. I get that - its wrong though isn't it. He isn't a centre back though is he? I mean he has played the odd game for Man C there when desperate. He has played there twice for England ever. He looked great at wing back against Brazil and Germany. He's been stellar for England and Man C at full back/wing back. We are going to waste possibly the highest performing England player of the last 5 years by playing him as a centre back. I think that is very odd. Delph and Young have played nearly all their club games as full backs/wing backs this season. I'm not trying to wind anyone up by suggesting it, its just a fact. Delph has played a few in midfield in a carbon copy of what Henderson does for Liverpool. So if we are taking Delph as a midfielder, we've lost the plot. That would mean Gareth think his creativity to release our attacking talent will come from Henderson, Dier, Delph, Loftus Cheek. You have to laugh. I mean I don't think Wilshere has progressed as he should but those four couldn't muster his passing ability between them. Given 100 years. Shelvey likewise. Lallana has been injured but he is now fit (not match ready but we do have time to achieve that - remember none of these guys are playing games between now and the tournament bar friendlies). He has also been one of Englands best performers. I feel for Southgate losing Oxlade Chamberlain but he hasn't done a very good job of coming up with a replacement. I don't think England have great options in that ball player role. Nobody is world class. I just don't think the solution is to pick more full backs. I think you pick the best you have available and hope they turn it on.
At international level you need someone that can play that killer ball. With that squad you just don't see it. That England side will struggle against the first decent side they play. Luckily, we are in a group with Tunisia who are ****. Panama though are capable of springing a surprise. The CONCACAF sides have come on leaps and bounds over the last 10 years.
Shelvey doesn’t fit ol big noses style of play, he said. So at least he’s honest and admits our style of play doesn’t involve playing forward passes. Clever bloke, setting the nations expectations nice and early.
I admire his honesty. He doesn't like creativity of any kind so has made sure there isn't any in there.
