The reality too is that in a knockout tournament played over 4 weeks, you can sneak your way through. England didn’t play as well as Spain or Germany and quite a few others who went out at an earlier stage. The defensive discipline and quality in other areas got us through, but when were England ever convincing? Spain, however, looked like winners throughout.
Whoever is managing England after this tournament has a lot of talent to choose from. They may have to make some tough choices about team selection, though. Trying to squish everyone into a system that doesn't suit them isn't ideal. How do you get Saka, Bellingham, Palmer and Foden into something workable? Perhaps the biggest challenge will be to leave some of them out of the starting lineup? Experimenting with the left-back slot and picking some natural options there will be key, too. Trippier should be applauded for his efforts, but it was clear throughout that it was a problem. Shaw was never fit and he still did alright, but his fitness is a massive issue.
I do find it more than a little disrespectful that in the space of about ten minutes Alan Shearer went from lauding Gareth Southgate to openly speculating about his successor Yes, as I said a while back, the conversation about Southgate's future should have started after the meek surrender to France at the last World Cup, but at least let him to pick up his medal and walk off the bloody pitch before starting
So this should be Southgates last hurrah, but who do we really think will take over? Potter? Lampard (lol) has been suggested On another note I wonder if the nature of Harrys injury will now be released he is clearly unfit.
I don't subscribe to the win at all costs variety of football. I have put up with Mourinho and Conte at Spurs and Southgate of England and I've had enough. I want to see attacking positive football otherwise they can stick International football. I'll watch something more entertaining like rain drops running down my windows.
Exactly He didn't pick Maddison because he didn't have the form that some of the other players had. But that reasoning led to an England squad with too many scorers and not enough passers, and far too many right sided players and not enough left sided players. Southgate needed to pick among other things the two best LMs, the two best LBs and the two or three best passers and instead he picked all his attackers by how good they were at scoring. He assembled the biggest names rather than the best team.
I’ve got no qualms with win at all costs football because at the end of it you win the trophy and get a level of jubilation that is unrivalled in anything else football offers. But we just don’t ****ing win
Good question, I don’t know tbh. Potter doesn’t particularly excite me and definitely not Lampard who’s shown he’s tactically awful.
this is why I wasn’t critical of Southgate as long as England were winning games. If he had won tonight then there would have been no talk of style or boring football.
Why the obsession with a native? As I said before a ball had been kicked this summer, put Ancelloti in charge of this group of England players and we'd probably be enjoying a bank holiday tomorrow. If we're looking for someone who understands the PL and English football, I'd sooner see Klopp in charge than any English manager tbh. And if we want that plus a proven track record in tournament football, I'd sooner see Emery in charge than any English manager.
Perhaps I'm in a minority of one, but I struggle to understand why people would prefer Potter or Howe over Klopp or Emery just to tick the patriotic box.
I'm the same , but honestly, where did Lampard come from , I wouldn't trust him with my grandson's under 11s I think it was Spurf who suggested Howe which could work, but other than those already mentioned I'm not sure Klopps name has been banned about with Poch
Why does having a foreign manager show a lack of integrity? For me, all it shows is that English managers aren't very good, which is true. The last Englishman to win the top division was Howard Wilkinson in 1992. To suggest that Steve Bruce should be selected over Pep Guardiola in order to preserve 'integrity' is somewhat of a stretch.
What has Eddie Howe done to suggest he is even remotely qualified to manage a group of players this good at a level this high?
And the other aspect is that top club managers don’t want to manage a national team. It’s a part time job; semi retirement. I don’t think Guardiola, Klopp, Ancelotti and the like will be responding to the ad. It’s a job for a coach who can instruct tactically, organise and motivate a group of players without the ability to buy replacements in the transfer market. You have to play the hand you’re dealt. The added difficulty with England is that you inherit a certain type of player, who might do well in the cut and thrust of the PL, but will need to adapt to succeed at international level. It’s very hard to recruit someone of the calibre required, who doesn’t want the greater rewards club football offers. I’m stumped as to who England could recruit to do the job.
Would he leave the barcodes though? He does tick boxes although he’s not won anything as a manager which worries me.
