England Thread - 2022/23

[super_city_si]

So walker started did he? Despite missing the last 3 games for us and something like 4 other right backs in the squad. Thanks Gareth.

Playing Maguire is also a huge kick in the teeth for other players, basically confirming that certain players will always get a chance under Southgate regardless of their ability, form or attitude. He'll go to the world cup even if he doesn't play another minute of club football before then.

Just another example of why southgate is a shit manager. Hes picking players way out of form and doesnt know why it isnt working same as it did a year ago. Hes a fucking melon.

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Oh. I'm sorry that it seems to have been an issue for you. And no, I'm not being sarky. Honestly. I'll try not to do it again.

Random riposte, but ok, I guess…

 

[super_city_si]

Not really. The euros was totally there to win and he bottled it. World cup we had a very lucky run and lost to the first decent team

Its despite southgate, not because

Shoukd have been fired after the euros. Italy were shit scared after we scored an early goal on the break.
southgate then abandoned the counter and sat everyone in front of our area And gifted the italians the ball. EXACTLY the same as against croatia in the WC semi.
his MO is to shit his pants

 

[jimharri]

Random riposte, but ok, I guess…

I was actually surprised that anyone took that much notice of what I post. I'd assumed that, re my posts, most on here would give them the visual equivalent of "in one ear, out the other".

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

I was actually surprised that anyone took that much notice of what I post. I'd assumed that, re my posts, most on here would give them the visual equivalent of "in one ear, out the other".

Ok mate.

 

[Stopfordia]

He should be demanding money to sign Haaland from Denmark for a start. Secondly, the FA directive to include players from certain teams should be resisted. Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Maguire and Shaw - there are far better players in all of their positions, and three of them don't even play for their clubs anymore, because they are useless.

You do know that Maguire became an England regular when he was at Leicester, right? He didn't just get called up when he joined Manchester United, so I call bullshit on this FA directive thing. I mean, if you believe in that, why wasn't Sancho called back into the squad? Why has Wan Bissaka been nowhere near an England squad, other than once (when he ended up dropping out through injury)? Liverpool have Joe Gomez, who's got a few England caps, available - why isn't he in the squad ahead of, say, Connor Coady?

Alexander-Arnold has made the squad, but he rarely plays; Henderson (I assume you mean Jordan and not Dean) only got in the squad this time round because Phillips got injured and didn't even play against Italy. The only case you can make for Shaw is the lack of left back options, otherwise he might well not make the squad.

Having said all that, while Maguire's played better for England than he has for his club (not the highest of bars to clear, admittedly), he probably shouldn't be playing. Henderson probably shouldn't be there either because England need better midfield options. They do have far too many right-back options so I don't think Alexander-Arnold is particularly necessary.

Out of interest, who are all the left backs that are better than Shaw? I suppose Chilwell is one, but other than that, all the good left backs aren't English, so unless you only want to take one left back, then you're kind of stuck - hence Shaw being in the squad. I mean, he tried Trippier there at the Euros, but that seemed to upset everyone here since Pep is apparently the only manager allowed to play players out of their usual positions...

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

I'm not going to popular for this, but so far I think Southgate has done well.

We got to the World Cup semi finals and the Euros finals. Ok, we didn't win them but there's only Ramsey who can better that record. It's better than Robson, Eriksen, Capello etc. Does that mean I think Southgate is great and would I like him at City? No. I think that, on the whole, he's done a good job with what he has available. Of course, as soon as you lose a few games, the press dive on the "sack him" line but he's shown in 2 tournaments to be a very competent manager - far better than some people are saying.

Southgate has changed the way England play. He's shamelessly copied how City play under Pep and that is entirely the correct decision to make as a coach. That system of playing let's every single player know what skills he needs to show in order to be selected. It will also mean that when he goes, we have a system that we continue to play.

I've said for a while now that once Pep leaves City, he will want to manage a national team and I think that national team will be England. He has worked with Walker, Stones, Grealish, Foden, Sterling and Phillips. He would love players like Kane, James, Chilwell and Alexander-Arnold too as those players could easily play for us. I think Southgate is setting England up for that. Basically, the FA will copy City in that the team has a style of playing and in turn we will pick managers who know that system.

Back to Southgate. Maguire gets a lot of stick, but he plays well with Stones and is good on the ball. He stupidly decided to join a team which offered him a lot of money but he's a good player in poor form in a poor team. However, it's not easy to find many players who are comfortable on the ball in central defence and are English. I don't see any obvious improvements over Maguire/Stones so I'd rather we went into the WC with a pair we know works. And yes, it does work as getting to the Euros final and WC semi final showed. Defensively we were decent.

To be blunt, our biggest problem is that we simply don't have many world class players, especially in crucial areas. I'd probably only say Kane was a definite and after that I'd say Stones and Alexander-Arnold would be very close to it. I'd say these three would probably walk into most other countries teams. We have a lot of good players, don't get me wrong, but the problem is that teams like Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, France etc generally have world class players in the key area - midfield.

We just don't have world class players in midfield. Rice, Mount, Phillips, Grealish, Foden, Bellingham are all decent but don't change games. I think Foden has the most potential obviously, but he can't run a game for City like Bernardo, Rodri, KdB or Gundogan can, can he? It's not a criticism, it will come in time but not in time for the WC. Take Kane out of our attack and, simply put, we're in trouble. We don't have any strikers that come close to other countries.

I honestly think we'll do our usual in the WC, probably a quarter/semi final. I do think in a few years when we've got some more years under the belts of Foden, James, Bellingham etc we will have a better chance. Let's be honest, I could easily see France, Belgium and Brazil winning it as favourites. After that I wouldn't be at all surprised if Portugal, Argentina, Spain or us to win it either. We're probably in the top 6 favourites, but nowhere near the top 3 in my opinion.

I just think it's easy to jump on the "sack him" bandwagon, but it's highly unlikely we'll have anyone better to come in and replace him. As others have said, Potter would've been ideal but he's a good manager and good managers are never out of work. Howe might've done well, but when I've seen Newcastle play I'm not sure they play much of a possession style. We could get a foreign manager in like Pochettino, but there's no guarantee is there?

Southgate has the experience of taking us to a semi-final and then a final. I think he deserves the time to show us whether he can take us any further. Of course, if we disappoint in the WC then we should re-appraise his position but I certainly think he's done a better job than many of his - far better paid and respected - predecessors.

 

[Bluesince1979]

Shoukd have been fired after the euros. Italy were shit scared after we scored an early goal on the break.
southgate then abandoned the break ans sat everyone in front of our area And gifted the italians the ball. EXACTLY the same as against croatia in the WC semi.
his MO is to shit his pants

This. Hes inept

 

[mat]

Slagging him off but looking at France possibly imploding and the Germans playing like Dortmund rather than Bayern.

He may well fluke it again.

 

[super_city_si]

Southgate has changed the way England play. He's shamelessly copied how City play under Pep and that is entirely the correct decision to make as a coach. That system of playing let's every single player know what skills he needs to show in order to be selected. It will also mean that when he goes, we have a system that we continue to play.

What? He must be even worse than i thought then cos England havent scored from open play in 8 hrs and ive never seen Pep play 7 defenders sat back on the edge of the box.

the only thing remotely close to Pep is that he tries to play it out from defence but he has no fucking clue how to coach a pattern of play so we end up pissing around for 10 passes then pickford lumps it forward to Kane.