He was fit for the Scotland game. Obviously not match fit and with Mings playing well, why risk him? Hopefully he'll get at least 45 mins under his belt in the final game, knowing we've qualified. I think Southgate will play three at the back so he doesn't have to drop Mings.?
Spain looked slightly less useless than us. Portugal could be going out. Thing is Spain are in transition and Portugal are ageing unlike England who are supposed to have a golden generation. The fault line clearly lies with Southgate who is too cautious and negative to play on the front foot, attacking football. This will be another lost generation of talent under him. Very poor squad and team selection, but he's a 'yes' man. He'll still be around for another decade, unless he decides to do a Keegan. And admit he's clueless.
I’ve just watched the highlights when England won 3-2 in Spain a couple of years ago. Spain hadn’t lost in Spain for years. Why oh why is Southgate playing 2 defensive midfielders at home to Scotland. What the hell is going through his mind.
After the win against Croatia, he was only thinking don't lose, hence the negative mindset of the players.
Exactly this It was actually sensible tactics in terms of group qualification Not enjoyable, and maybe not a good habit for later in the tournament, and crap for our emotions playing against England’s biggest county, but sensible for the group.
So much doom and gloom. ****ing hell sound like a bunch of Liverpool fans “I don’t support England anymore” On another note the tournament format is an absolute pile of ****. ****ing stupid. They ought to put it back to 16 teams or if they really have to have all these **** nations like Scotland and Wales in the competition, 4 groups of 6 with only 2 going through to the knockouts would be much, much better way of doing it and only 1 extra game over what we have now.
That's worse than just having a negative mindset, you could be right, but it's a poor coach that sends a team out who are in 2 minds on how to approach the game.
Scenes in the Conference play off final. Hartlepool 1-0 up going into injury time, Torquay keeper goes up for a corner that is cleared, second cross comes in and keeper nods it home. Extra time ahoy!
Is that a reference to the old story about NE locals thinking monkeys were French invaders, or summat like that?
The manager has been getting the blame for over half a Century ! Will they still be getting blamed after 100 years ?
I know everyone looks good on YouTube, but this clip of @Chazz Rheinhold trying to get himself into Southgate’s thinking really is something else…
My thoughts exactly. Why when we get to major tournaments do the shackles go on? Creativity is quashed and dour football ensues. We have such a brilliant array of talent were just using it so badly or not at all. I understand the need for balance but setting up and playing the way we did against the jocks is unforgivable.