having read most of the comments on here, my view on the tournament and why we didn't win it appear to differ from most. we got to the final, fact. we had our share of luck and the number of times we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat was unreal.
we've watched southgate's england glide almost effortlessly through qualification for eight years. most of those games were against teams we shoud have been demolishing, and often we did.
in this tournament, we were suddenly without players and without players doing what we know they can do. kane looked knackered. before being taken off in one game, he looked to me like he was hobbling. he clearly needs a break, or a replacement, but he wasn't as he should have been. similar with bellingham. he looked worn out. and there were others in the same boat. england may not have missed maguire defensively, but they definitely missed him for set-pieces. the england team generally looked fatigued. i don't know why. tough season, maybe. even as a regular at city games for more than 20 years, i still needed the 3 months between seasons to empty my head out before gaining new enthusiasm for the coming season.
i can't be bothered to watch club football, other than city's goals on sky sports after a match, so i don't know how players like foden do for their clubs. i do know there are england players who i wouldn't pick for a club side. one of those would be kalvin phillips, mercifully omitted. grealish might well be a great lad, but for all his alleged skills, rarely makes anything happen, as the man city manager has twigged.
in eight years, southgate's system has brought us a higher level of success, but it's not a system i like. i don't like the lone striker notion at all and i don't like england's faffing about at the back system. i didn't like hull city adopting much the same system. in both cases, that system did appear to improve results. all that said, it wasn't the system that messed us up in the euros, but not getting from most of the players what they've previously delivered regularly.
we've watched southgate's england glide almost effortlessly through qualification for eight years. most of those games were against teams we shoud have been demolishing, and often we did.
in this tournament, we were suddenly without players and without players doing what we know they can do. kane looked knackered. before being taken off in one game, he looked to me like he was hobbling. he clearly needs a break, or a replacement, but he wasn't as he should have been. similar with bellingham. he looked worn out. and there were others in the same boat. england may not have missed maguire defensively, but they definitely missed him for set-pieces. the england team generally looked fatigued. i don't know why. tough season, maybe. even as a regular at city games for more than 20 years, i still needed the 3 months between seasons to empty my head out before gaining new enthusiasm for the coming season.
i can't be bothered to watch club football, other than city's goals on sky sports after a match, so i don't know how players like foden do for their clubs. i do know there are england players who i wouldn't pick for a club side. one of those would be kalvin phillips, mercifully omitted. grealish might well be a great lad, but for all his alleged skills, rarely makes anything happen, as the man city manager has twigged.
in eight years, southgate's system has brought us a higher level of success, but it's not a system i like. i don't like the lone striker notion at all and i don't like england's faffing about at the back system. i didn't like hull city adopting much the same system. in both cases, that system did appear to improve results. all that said, it wasn't the system that messed us up in the euros, but not getting from most of the players what they've previously delivered regularly.