England v Brazil | Friendly | Match Thread

[lazerblue]

so how can Southgate please everyone?

by leaving england and joining the rags?

 

[BlueHammer85]

He can fucking go and manage the rags
That would be exceptionally pleasing

All for that and all for him failing

 

[blue by birth]

All for that and all for him failing

Well that's a given..the guys fucking useless.
He has all the credentials to fail at the rags..hope scruffy Jim gets his man

 

[mattcity5]

Sterling.....

Are you ill ??

Yeah, maybe!

I just remember the way he played in the 4-4 at Stamford Bridge. Really clever movement and Walker struggled against him. He's a good footballer, just not a good finisher.

Would much prefer him in there though with players who play a similar way than some of the others who are involved fairly regularly.

 

[ROCKET80]

I don't think Southgate is contradicting himself. He picked Phillips and Maguire based on their previous performances for England. Phillips has 31 caps and Maguire over 60. That's a bit different from calling up Rico who is still raw and isn't playing for his club. He's in the U21s so they still rate him highly enough to reward him with a place in that squad, when most of the U21 squad are playing regularly for club teams too.

I think there should be far less criticism of Southgate for these friendlies. We are think they're pointless and at a stupid time. Portugal released Dias and Bernardo after their first game. Plenty are pulling out injured, when they'd most certainly be in the team if they were competitive. He's having a look at some wider options and those guaranteed to make the plane aren't busting a gut in any of these games when there are bigger things to come.

For me Mainoo is in the squad because he's been decent for the rags (not saying much) but also because Henderson is past his best and Phillips is done. He needs someone to provide the balance next to Rice. Gallagher was fucking awful so hopefully he's out of the equation. He needs to try Mainoo and Rice in the next game to see how that combination works, and he might have the balance to go into the Euro's.

To be successful, England have to get the best out of their key players. Loading the side with attacking players will not be successful because of our defensive issues. So you have to be pragmatic.

I shall disagree agreeably with you about Southgate and his many contradictions.

I wouldn't want to criticise any manager for defeats in friendlies or even performances, but how they use the games and squad selection is fair game. This isn't just Southgate, many England managers past have failed to use them as an opportunity to look at other players and use different shapes, and tactics in games.

IMO, Lewis deserved a call-up, due to his previous successful involvement, and for the manager and coaching staff to have another look at a very versatile player, instead of Henderson, he already knows what he offers, and that is very little, especially after his mini-retirement in Saudi and now looking out of his depth playing in a technical side like Ajax.

I would have liked to see him use the game against Brazil to have Bellingham and Foden line up together in the middle. Some might argue that injuries forced him to play Foden wide, but I don't buy it, Southgate just isn't brave enough.

I love him to adopt City style tactics we saw last season, with Stones moving into the middle alongside Rice, but I very much fear that one of Gallagher, Henderson, or Alexander-Arnold will be playing alongside Rice at the Euro's and we'll once again lose against the first decent side we come up against and waste Foden's talent.

 

[ROCKET80]

absolutely everyone has a different idea on who to start.
I would have tried Bowen over Gordon or Rashford and maybe tried out Palmer in the middle.

so how can Southgate please everyone?

He can't and will never be able to, but he could at least appear to have a plan/philosophy for how we set up and play, and be able to explain it.

In the beginning, he was wedded to 3 at the back and wing-backs, and to be fair to him he was limited with what he could do with the squad at the time, but his lack of tactical intellect was obvious from the very start, there was hope that would develop but we've seen no evidence of that.

England's issue in recent years was our philosophy (mostly) was to play like a Premier League team, and we'd end up getting schooled by the big nations whose players would be more tactically astute and better at keeping hold of the ball.

That is no longer the case, England is now a team that dominates possession against the bigger nations, but Southgate still shoehorns players in midfield whose style does not fit possession football (Henderson, Gallagher, TAA). These players lining up alongside Rice is England's biggest weakness, contrary to popular belief, our back 4 are no weaker than our peers.

What the Brazil game highlighted is that if Kane is out we're screwed. The drop-off from him to Watkins and Toney is huge, they are being set up to fail if Southgate continues with his current tactics and team selection. Perhaps the Brazil game was a wake-up call to him, but I hold out little hope as he hasn't shown anything to me that suggests he's capable of adapting.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

absolutely everyone has a different idea on who to start.
I would have tried Bowen over Gordon or Rashford and maybe tried out Palmer in the middle.

so how can Southgate please everyone?

He can please everyone except you by fucking off

 

[BlueHammer85]

He can please everyone except you by fucking off

original.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Which is more than waistcoat’s tactics. How long has he been in post and can anyone see any signs of improving his ‘style’ of play? It’s the same dross he has served up from day one.