England v Slovenia - Tue 25th June, 20:00 | Euro 2024 Group C

[TonyM]

Same thing I said after the last match. Its not just the manager's dire tactics or inspirational team talks. These are accomplished players at their clubs but they can't get together on the field as a spirited, united, hardworking, honest unit.

They don't try hard enough. They are waiting for a gift. They are spoilt and entitled. England have been like this as long as I can remember.

They need to do something about it themselves but they'll wait for the someone else to make a move.

I love MCFC and Manchester but England is up its hole in self importance. Always has been. And it suffercates anything decent. The PL, the media, the refs etc are all full of shit because they see football through the prism of tradition and fantasy.

These players are the same imo. I thought the appointment of Southgate was a step in the right direction but he's not. I'd bet Big Sam was your only man.

 

[Crooked_rain]

They remind me if United, nobody knows what system they are playing, there’s no connect between defence midfield and attack, no one is taking the game by the scruff of the neck and getting the ball and creating Foden us trying but is been hampered. I’d love the players to go on the pitch and say fuck Southgate let’s play how we want the guy is clueless.

Waistcoat is that bad that I honestly think the players could manage themselves better, especially tactically anyway.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

We’ve been poor, I’ve said it all tournament. Last night was an improvement with some positives. Genuinely feel we’d play better against teams looking to attack us, would leave us more space for Foden, Saka etc to attack.

Yer right about teams who come with the notion that they want to finish what they started with - a nil-nil! We see it about two matches out of three at The Etihad and there's probably only three games at the Joie watching the women where attack is the main idea from the opposition.

If England were as good as the RDAHMeedya suggest and Southgate would have us believe then this group stage puts the lie to it. Once upon a time England would have given these group opponents a five goal start and had 'em whipped by half time.

I wonder what Venables or Robson would have done with these players. I suspect we'd have had three wins.

 

[hilts]

France billion pound side should be beating Poland and they haven’t scored a goal from open play this tournament, funny ol game.

And I'm sure they are also getting grief apart from this one Frenchie bloke marteau bleu85:-)

 

[55yr old teenager]

I just think we are set up all wrong. Proper width/wingers and foden middle and we beat them. We didnt really trouble them at all. We are 19th out of 24 teams on shots and 8 still have to play. My biggest problem with southgate is he has 4-2-3-1. That’s it. His changes are just different players in the same roles. No tactcial deviation what so ever. Like I’ve said, I’d wager he’s delighted.

Maybe it's just me but I feel we have gone backwards since Euro final. It was like watching paint dry the last few games. We were absolutely abysmal.

 

[Akira]

I'm not an England fan. IMO, it's not about "must beat this/that team" or "England must play free-flowing football", it's about looking convincing. It's the same reason we mocked the Rags' entire last season.

Germany, Spain, even Portugal have looked convincing, maybe not every game, but there are performances that inspire enough. England have looked hardly that over 3 games. On another day, Serbia might've nicked a draw.

England have a squad comparable to the biggest nations in this tournament, yet they are wasted under Southgate. Most coaches would be clamoring to have a squad of this level, but Southgate seems to think Kalvin Phillips is a big loss. Have Southgate be Madrid's coach and he'd say he can't win titles because he doesn't have a striker. Give Spain's group to England and they'd struggle to get out alive.

This team shouldn't be scrapping out draws and resort to counting points on the table, the standards should be way better than that. I suspect some of the England players hold themselves a higher standard than that, thus the frustration on the pitch, unfortunately, the head coach doesn't.

 

[Crooked_rain]

He has shown himself to be even worse than i thought. Playing Trent there was still a negative decision for me as it showed Foden wouldn’t play as a 10. Mind you it was obvious that would happen when he didn’t take Grealish as Gordon wasn’t going to start.

The thing is Arnold though and don’t get me wrong i didn’t want a fullback in midfield. Even when playing him there though he did him no favours.Arnold has a great long pass and cross. He’s not a great footballer or short passer though. So was never going to be capable of knitting things together in the middle. If he was going to play there he needed pace up top to hit his long balls like he does for Liverpool. The genius had him there with nobody down the left and Kane upfront.

I’m not trying to defend that scouser. It’s just another example of his awful tactics.

Its a fair point though

Whilst I do think Arnold's long passing isn't as good as they make out, most go straight to the opposition, it is really still the best part of his game. The only reason to have him on the pitch is if you feel you can utilise it. To do that you need pace to get on the end of them, the dippers have the likes of Salah, Diaz, Nunez, Jota etc, they can all shift and look to make runs into channels.

England have Kane, a very good player indeed but I could smoke him in a foot race. Bellingham isn't that quick and just strolls around anyway. Saka and Foden want it in to feet.

playing Arnold with all that in mind was a ridiculous decision. anyone with an ounce of footballing knowledge could see it, just not Gareth. Even Rooney said before the tournament kicked off that he wouldn't have trent anywhere near a midfield.

 

[KS55]

Looking at our bench sometimes and all the glum, uninterested, un-invested faces. Doesn't seem like a happy camp.

They don’t believe in the way they are asked to play, any more than we do.

 

[Ithryn Luin]

We were better last night. Gallagher was as wank as everyone expected. He hooked Phil who was having a decent game and left Bellingham on who was having a stinker.

 

[JTFactsPlz]

I saw something yesterday that went through the England coaching setup and effectively their background and history that lead them to be part of the England setup.

Gareth Southgate (Manager) - Managed Middlesborough, relegated and sacked. Never won anything as a player.
Steve Holland (Ass manager) - Managed Crewe for a year and Stoke reserves. Never played a professional game as a player.
Paul Nevin (Ass Manager) - Played 30 games for Yeovil and has had a few ass. manager roles in new Zealand and Qatar and recently west ham.
Martyn Margetson (GK Coach) - Mixed playing career and few roles as coach with Wales and other teams.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank (Technical Coach) - Good playing career, failed manager at QPR, Burton and Northampton.

Bottom line, that setup is rank. It shows on the pitch and it all stops with Southgate and FA.

Its like going for a job as the CEO of Microsoft and your CV shows you once fixed Daves phone in the pub by switching it on and off and getting the job.

Holy shit. Pitiful.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Use your eyes mate the quality of football England play is far below most teams

This is the reality. Southgate continues with his rigid defensive formations and plays the same way in virtually every match irrespective of the opposition. Modern football is fast, flexible, and mobile with players swapping positions throughout 90 minutes. All the best teams play like this at club and international level. Like virtually all England managers Southgate is a dinosaur. The irony last night is that Slovenia (who are shite) played a rigid dinosaur English-style 442 formation. Any half decent side would have put six past Slovenia who were the worst side in a very poor group.

 

[KS55]

View attachment 123407

Can she play left back?

 

[Resurrection Joe...]

Top of the group, one goal scored. Easiest group in the comp. Favourites for the tourney? Nearly as boring as us. And that is appalling considering your squad. At least we have no real talent, and we still are fucked off. Imagine the shit/fan scenario if you go out, when you meet a real team in the next knockout game?

Already ordered the popcorn.

Surely. the real winners here are Bellingthing and Trent...not only have they got a little bromance going, they have developed a cute little goal scoring celebration, which is just adorable.
I for one, applaud them.

 

[JTFactsPlz]

It’s all about ensuring England get to each tournament so they can keep the sponsors on board. The country getting stupid with the ‘it’s coming home’ bollocks is a money maker for them. They’ve chucked loads of money at managers who they thought could do the job in Erikson and Capello and get burnt which hit their bottom line of cash.

They get rid of Southgate who else does the job? There aren’t many outstanding English managers out there and the ones who could do it why would they want to be away from the day to day challenge of coaching and building a team? Southgate is an acceptable solution for them, I don’t see him staying in after the Euros. It looks like the players have lost trust in him and his tactics which is resulting in some painful games to watch.

Doesn't Wastecoat get paid £5m per year though? Surely a manager with a better CV than getting Middlesbrough relegated could be employed for that? And that person doesn't have to be English.

Agreed it looks like the players have finally had enough of Gareth though. Can't believe it took them so long.

 

[youngbob]

Having slept on it, I think the system Southgate wants to play is fine. For all that England aren't creating that much - which deserves to be criticised - they're giving almost nothing away to the opposition. I saw a stat yesterday that said England are among the teams who've given up the least XG in terms of chances conceded, and Slovenia really did create zilch last night. So, as a unit, England have a good structure and know how to control games.

But the problem Southgate has is that the front four are just a bunch of square pegs in round holes. It's stifling everything. Foden's playing out on the left where he's too far away from the action, Bellingham is playing as a #10 which is causing him all sorts of bother because that role is the antithesis of his best attributes, and Kane is barely the striker because of how close Bellingham is getting to him. Saka just looks tired and could do with a rest.

Going forward, I think the same back four with Rice in front of them is fine. But it might be time to give Bellingham and Saka a break. They both look tired and Bellingham can't bring his best with Kane there - and I'd rather have Kane. Bring in a couple of the lads who came off the bench and looked bright last night. Palmer, Gordon, and Mainoo. Get a bit of energy and creativity out there. The defence and midfield is solid, the attack just looks uninspired and unbalanced.

Pickford
Walker, Stones, Guehi, Shaw
Mainoo, Rice
Palmer, Foden, Gordon
Kane

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

We’ve been poor, I’ve said it all tournament. Last night was an improvement with some positives. Genuinely feel we’d play better against better teams looking to attack us, would leave us more space for Foden, Saka etc to attack.

England's midfield will be overwhelmed by a fast attacking team and destroyed. The new media narrative being pushed last night by the clueless pundits was England "do better against the better teams." It's truly desperate.

 

[bluemoon32]

With everyone slagging and blaming Southgate ( i can understand why), i do wonder if there's a little bit of some of these English players being made to look better at club level because of the brilliant technical foreign players they are surrounded by.
There are very few English world class players but you wouldn't think that if you just listened to the media or social media

 

[Eccles Blue]

Can’t any of the players speak up for themselves and the team though?
They are grown men mostly earning a fortune because they are allegedly the best English players. (We know they’re not because he took stupid players, injured players etc., but that’s a separate discussion.)
Therefore why don’t they say, either to Wasted or to the other ‘coaches’ out there; look this isn’t working, this is ridiculous let’s play the way we know is successful. Let’s use plan B.
Grow some flipping balls lads! Grow some flaming balls!
Sorry, just my random thoughts. Carry on with what you’re doing, just ignore me!! :-) ;-)

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

No, but people need to take in context that at international level it’s different to PL, we’ll never have a manager that can make us play like Man City. It won’t happen. Most international games are tight and unentertaining - it’s always been like that.

Yer never saw the Dutch team of Cryuff 'n Neeskens. They didn't win the WC but, by fuck, they played some football that for entertainment was off the scale.

 

[normskih]

Seems like most posters on the England games are Scots…!!

No, an English woman who wants England to win but with style.