The General Football Thread

I thought England would be better than rhis

 

How can you miss that as a free kick as a pro ref. Shocking.

 

I don’t think we have had a proper shape all night

 

I’m done with Southgate now.

This is such a talented crop of England players and he’s sticking with hendo and Maguire and sucking the creativity out of it.

 

He is obsessed with having a double pivot, but today it was just a mess. Henderson offered very little. Saka actually looked done after about 10 minutes but had a couple of moments which flattered to deceive. We need two out and out wingers in this system and we didn’t have that until the last 20 minutes.

 

It’s so obvious to have rashford left, saka right and Foden/Maddison 10. Then Bellingham - Rice pivot.

Why is he persisting with ****ing Henderson?

 

I don’t think this is by any means a disaster, but it is an uninspiring performance in line with an odd team selection.

I still feel Maguire has continued to be ok for England, so I can just about see why he is still in the fold, he doesn’t play a lot but he still gets a game on occasion.

Phillips has played far less than even Maguire and honestly there is little reason for him to be there when there is decent competition for his position.

Henderson is semi-retired and whether or not he says otherwise doesn’t value his professionalism as shown by his move to Saudi, he shouldn’t be near the squad never mind starting.

 

Maguire has played 23 minutes of football this season. Gets straight back into the side.

Henderson plays in a farmers league.

It’s absolutely absurd.

 

It's one of the worst performances I can remember in recent times. As you say, no disaster.

It's the lack of movement the speed of passing but most importantly the lack of impact Southgate has tactically on the game and that's my biggest concern.

 

Let’s not forget the form player of the season wasn’t even selected. And our wing play was useless…

Why was Sterling not there?

 

Maguire is always reliable for England though and has played well in recent times. Henderson was poor today his decision to pass when one on one with their keeper was absurd.

 

Considering neither will likely be in the squad for the next finals. Its a pointless and bizarre exercise.

 

I really can’t decide whether Southgate has done an excellent job as his track record frankly suggests he has done, the most successful England manager since Ramsey.

Or whether most of this form has been propelled by the players in spite of Southgates management.

Or whether Southgate's strengths initially drove the team to decent results, but his tactical deficiencies and overwhelming loyalty to some subpar players is now driving the National Team down.

I feel like he will always get us relatively far, but could another manager get England over the line for silverware?

 

Don’t be so sure.

It is in no way beyond Southgate to select them for the finals.

 

John Stones is injured, so you need at least one experienced centre back. Maguire is reliable.

 

Shocked Holgate wasn’t given a call up

 

I actually don’t mind Maguire. For me it is Henderson that I don’t think we need.

Tonight we got it all wrong in the way we set up though. Saka was struggling and we had nobody on the left at all.

 

In qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, France played Ukraine twice and failed to win on both occasions.

Both games ended 1-1

 

Only now?

I've been happy to move on from him for a long time now.

 

Pedant alert: Cole was a left back.