Personally, I have no argument with a caution approach. Very few teams have had success going gung ho, or even by winning by big margins. Even Spain had a few 1-0 results, with at least one on pens. It's more that he has picked one slow player who hardly ever plays now, despite saying once that playing regularly was a must, and another slow player who is even slower than he used to be. Southgate has willfully ignored this issue in the hope that his gang can be brought back together. They can, but they cannot possibly be match fit, and it is chasing dreams and living in the past to think so. This, and his tactical rigor mortis, means I am as optimistic as I am interested, the latter being by far the greater shame.
Andy Payne, been to every world cup ... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...n-rights-record-gay-rights-boycott-tournament
It's clear that they control and manipulate their own inhabitants with these pathetic charades. Not difficult when there's always the threat of excecution, imprisonment, etc. This subdues the public and gives the rulers the false impression that it all works. But it's delusional and insulting that they believe they can easily do the same with us. We go along with, even praise, our players all their little ribbons, laces and kneeling because we hope it's sincere. It's a tenuous link and only lasts because we want it to. But this World Cup will be, literally, the straw that breaks the camel's back for me. The pretence is over, all the posturing and fine words, from Southgate and the players, counts for nothing. The likes of Beckham and Neville, who don't need the money, have totally shown themselves up. Their excuse is as bad as Nick Hancock and his 'I'm only going to Australia to help the poor victims of dyslexia' .... perhaps doing something when you were the Health Minister would've helped eh Matt. After they return from this sham I can't wait to see how they pontificate and lecture us all about discrimination and basic human rights. Yes, go to the World Cup, by all means, but please let's drop this charade that you're people with principles who actually care about anyone else.
Beyond hope the lot of them. Hypocrites and self serving thicko. Neville in particular, who loves nothing better than moralising and lecturing, has exposed himself as a sham of a figure. He is very typical of the company he keeps. Just another footballer who is not used to the word "no", or being questioned, as shown graphically by his queasy and pathetic expression when Hislop eviscerated him on TV. Nowhere near as bright as he clearly considers himself to be, his life has been gilded by him being a very good footballer. Yet he feels entitled and qualified to take the high ground on any matter he sees fit. I'm cancelling SKY next week, and I'll be telling them that it is him more than any other single factor which is the main reason.
Top post marra. They've certainly shown their true colours when the green dollars have been waved about. Glad to read Rod Stewart refused to go out there even when they were offering him $1m to perform https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/sir-rod-stewart-snubs-1million-28479873
Probably the most brutal tackle he's ever taken ... ... you could see him wince, fall to the ground and roll over six times clutching his wounded pride. Hislop totally destroyed him with the nminimum of effort. How will these returning hypocrites dare to lecture and moralise when they're home with their blood money.
England have set off. Messi claims we are one of the three best. I agree with him. We have all the attributes needed in my opinion.
England are officially in the most difficult group at the World Cup - all 3 opponents are ranked in the top 20 in the World. Iran are officially Asia's highest ranked team, ranked higher than both Japan and South Korea. It's a game we should win, but they're not a whipping boy. It's important not to underestimate anyone in our group.
Move on from this 'World Cup'. Dont think we'll win it, dont think I want us to win it, so I hope we fail miserably and move on to a point where I want us to win with a better manager at the helm
Not really in the **** category, but …. "wearing as much rainbow gear as we possibly can........we can do our piece to represent England and progress in the world,” righto Andy.
Fair play to him. At least he is having a go. People watching something else on tv are not making any effort at all.
Dont mind Southgate, just wouldnt mind somebody else to have a crack with the current set of players. I feel he could be holding us back a bit now. He deserves the chance of leading us into this World Cup but I hope we dont do just enough for him to have earned the right lead us into the Euros. Between now and then I feel we would be wasting precious time if Southgate was still in charge with such a huge pool of potential underneath him. Lets be honest, he got the job as a result of his successful caretaker period, which coincided with the squad quality suddenly going up a few notches. If we had actually approached him for the job full time from the beginning there would have been hell on. He hardly had a good CV to begin with, not one good enough to warrant the England job anyway. Not particularly fussed about winning this World Cup to the point that I would rather we didnt. I couldnt stand the hypocritical media fawning over this farce. As far as I'm concerned its not a proper World Cup, so known my luck we are chance to win it.
He's doing less than people not watching tbh. By going he's endorsing the competition, spending money and filling a seat ... ... how much attention, good or bad, will a multicoloured T-shirt get in all honesty. He's going because he wants to, the T-shirt is just a conscience salver imo.
"England captain, Harry Kane, will wear a OneLove armband in Qatar. “We stand for inclusivity, and we’re very, very strong on that,” said Southgate." Yes Gareth, that's very strong