Pretty much agree with this. For the entire tournament we have lacked balance and structure in the team, to the extent that I could never work out how we were setting up. It might have been Lawrie McMenemy who once said something like “every team needs master bricklayers and hod carriers” to get the right balance. We didn’t press teams so it was easy for opponents to play out from the back and through us. When we tried to play out from the back we were so badly set up that passing options weren’t there, a bit like Saints when RM first started. Southgate has done well but we need a manager who can get our current “golden generation” playing to their full potential before the years fly by and another opportunity is missed. I sometimes wonder if Alan Ball could have got our best players playing out of their skin, in the same way as he did MLT.
Whilst I agree with e above that Southgate's record isn't the best, he has been in charge of England for 101 Games. So how many in the top ten has he played compared to the others? Stats are stats and can be used for anything. However, it does go without saying that Southgate hasn't performed as well against the top teams.
Has any England manager performed well against top sides in tournaments? Particularly in the KO rounds? The Germany and Netherlands wins are probably the best we've had in the last half century.
1996 was far better against the Netherlands than 2024. 1990 and 1996 we lost but to far better German sides.
Perhaps but beating a top side in the groups isn't as rare for us so I value a KO victory higher. For example I rate the Denmark semi win higher than the 1-0 v Argentina in 2002.
Germany has 46% Germans in the Bundesliga. England has 33% English in the Premier League. In Spain they have maintained at least 60%. The Premier League is not good for the national side. You can tell as we are a bunch of stars but we lack the right players in the right positions.
Understand the passion, but I don't think we had them on the ropes at any point. We definitely sat back and let them score though, the exact same way we did against Croatia in 2018 and Italy in the last final. Its very odd and must be deliberate, but why would you persist with a tactic that has a 100% failure rate in big games.
It’s an issue. But I think the biggest issue is a coherent philosophy. Spain are all coached in the same way. Their international side has come up together through the age groups playing the same way. They play high possession, high pressing football that’s a joy to watch. Because of this it allows players to slot in easily to the system and the team continues functioning. Southgates philosophy is… play some players in a formation and hope they score
By far in a way the best England manager I have ever seen and has given me some of my best moments as a football fan, definitely best England memories. It is the right time though, such a shame it didn't have the perfect ending.
Yep, thank you Gareth for making us care about the national team again. A very dignified and honourable bloke and has chosen to leave at the right moment, feels like a natural time to freshen things up in the coaching staff, let's see what they do next Since 2018: World Cup semi-final Euros final World Cup quarter-final Euros final I suspect we will be waiting a long time to see a manager deliver consistent final four appearances, that's three in a six year period
