People view Southgate as negative but personally, I think his approach with England is suited to tournament football. Certainly more so than previous England managers.
Why do you think this of him, he’s had 2 very good chances of winning tournaments when we’ve got all the luck of the draw but he couldn’t handle it and lost. For me he’s just a **** manager
He's set us up to be difficult to beat, which in tournament football is exactly what's required. If you're difficult to beat, you're harder to knock out. He's had England playing that way through the qualifying tournaments, no matter what the quality of the opposition is like, so that the team is used to playing that way together and so changing to a more pragmatic approach for the finals isn't a major change in set up. Arguably, there have been occasions when he should have let them off the leash a bit but the fact that we've gone a long way in successive tournaments, in itself, shows that his approach is working. It will be interesting to see how he copes if/when he gets a high profile club job.
Thats why i think he might struggle at a high profile club. He has made England hard to beat but the football is so boring n slow - especially when you think of the talent that England has in the forward areas. No doubt he seems a top man manager but its totally different at club level when its about buying n selling players plus seeing them every day brings its own challenges - doesnt have those worries at international level Tactically he is found wanting in the big games imo, he struggles to make an impact with his subs and tactical tweaks - these are issues that get found out more at club level when he doesnt have as talented squad compared to opponents (England have a strong squad compared to most of their opponents) The euro final was the big one for me, Italy made tweaks at half time and he took far too long to adapt to it and probably cost England the final (i know it went to pens but that England team/squad should have beaten Italy) He has a pretty poor record against teams in the top 10 of the rankings, this is what has cost him in tournament football If he wins the Euros then i think he gets a big job if he doesnt then im not sure he will get a man utd type job Def intrigued to see how he does if he goes back to club football. Def comes across as a top top bloke
Yeah, the Final against Italy was a disappointment. You have to hope he's learnt from that. If he does go back to club football, I suppose that's when we'll find out if the defensive approach is his natural inclination or if he'll set up differently. Either way, I think he deserves a bit more recognition for what he's done with England.
Dont get me wrong hes done a cracking job, especially those 1st 2 tournaments. I just want to see England go for games at times, they have the talent to really hurt teams in the final 3rd but move it so slow which allows opponents to get plenty men behind the ball Aye the italy final was frustrating, i remember shouting at the TV wanting us to switch to a back 4 and play with 2 wingers high n wide to stretch italy at about 55minutes. He then brought saka on, so thought he was going to do what i was shouting for, instead he played saka as rwb which just made the pitch even more narrow - that played right into italy's hands He eventually switched it to a back 4 and England got more control but it was far too late - he preferred to keep the solid formation than trying to go and win a game As i said be interesting to see how he gets on at club level if he does want to try it again
To some extent I think Mancini might have had the measure of England more that night than we did of Italy. I think it was the case that we dominated possession in pretty much every game in that tournament but it dropped right off in that game. Like you say we were too narrow and Italy managed to get us bogged down in midfield.
https://x.com/jamescopley_/status/1783035989679591444?s=46&t=bFwez-5oi7CdxUG56_1QKg Just bookies odds so will shift all the time but according to this the QPR manager is now the favourite
There's some absolutely daft names on that list. Are people really putting money on Niall Quinn to become our next manager?
I agree. 7/1 for Will Still is good odds. I'm struggling to understand how the QPR manager is suddenly favourite?
If anyone can get more than 50p on Will Still at 7/1 it is an excellent bet. He should be a least half that. Ridiculous pricing. Like I said though it'll be a daft bookie that hardly lays any bets
And what has he won with arguably the best set of footballers around. That is more important than setting us up not to lose which we have done after having easy routes to do so
How many coaches have won any International tournament? How many have won anything with England? How many coaches have got England to the final of an international tournament? Sven had the so called 'Golden Generation' and won nothing while being wedded to the same formation and trying to crowbar players into positions that didn't utilise them to their best. That setting us up not to be beaten is the reason we were in the position to win those tournaments.
Fair enough Norton , but once your in a final change tack and actually try and win the game unlike what he did against the Italians. He just hasn't got a plan B and that's why we'll never win owt under him, nobody remembers who came second.
Yeah, as discussed above, he probably got it wrong in the final against Italy. It might have been better if he'd played Saka instead of Mount, as he'd done against Germany; it might have been better if he'd replaced Rice with someone more attack-minded than Henderson (who was also coming back from an injury). Arguably though, even in that final, keeping things tight put us in with a good chance of winning the thing- Italy didn't beat us, we only lost on the lottery of penalties. I don't think its possible to say we won't win anything with him in charge. Its unlikely but its unlikely no matter who is in charge. He's put us in the best position to win something for a very long time though and you'd expect him to learn from the mistakes he made against Italy.
