If we win the upcoming Euro's then, fair enough, it would prove that Southgate - and his ultra cautious, loyal to his favourites against all reasonable evidence approach - is the right one. Anything less that that though and it'll be a real lost opportunity. We have such an outstanding crop of young, attacking players, with another generation about to come through, who could and perhaps should, win several trophies in the next few years. There's no need for Southgate's caution. Build an attacking team around Bellingham and it could become unbeatable. I felt he should have gone after the France game and I haven't changed my mind on that. The development we could have made in the eighteen months after that under a new manager could have been crucial. We'll never know and I hope he proves me wrong by winning in the summer.
We did attack at the tournament, we attacked France and played them off the park, should have scored a bag full and lost to a proper smash and grab victory against who are currently the best team in the world. Wasn’t really the circumstances for sacking a manager was it? And besides, who would you have brought in? There’s only one English candidate Eddie Howe who would probably rather remain on his Newcastle project.
While I find Southgate’s squad selection baffling at times I concur with with the France match. England played attacking football and went toe to toe with the very best. Another day could of been different and I think will be.Whether Southgate changed it that day or it happened by accident remains to be seen
A quarter final exit in the 2022 World Cup, with the squad we had, was a failure. Struggling to see how it can be viewed as anything else.
An interesting thought. Probably not. Although I do think Bellingham wouldn’t go there, he’s a wise kid who knows well where he came from. But he is still very young and has plenty of time and money to develop into an arrogant, self entitled tosser, so never say never.
He's already a self-entitled tosser, there's a reason most players at his former club were happy to see him go.
Genuinely that sounds like that was part of it. And the fact he would do a lap around the stadium after the other players had gone in the dressing room to get another round of applause. He's good and deserves it but that's going to cause resentment.
Just watched the full England game, not a great watch, but the Aussies looked well-organised and made it a tough for us to break down. We certainly looked like a team of 11 players playing together for the first time. No real stand-outs, I thought Bowen did okay, both Dunk and Colwill did well, and Watkins looked lively enough. Nice to see Irvine and Bowen swapping shirts.
He may have the attitude that there's a clue in his job title, professional footballer. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
Indeed, it'll be interesting to see if Rooney gets booed by away fans now. After all until recently he was earning his living in a country that's effectively ruled by just six Catholic judges, who have rolled back civil rights laws in recent years. Moral maze indeed. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
