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

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

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

I had this thought watching the first half last night - take out Kev, Ruben, Eddie, Bernardo, Ake, Haaland, Rodri et al, and sub 'em with English players and Pep wouldn't touch it!

 

[mancboy]

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

we gave nothing away to the attacking behemoths of serbia, denmark and slovenia is hardly something to be inspired by tbf.

 

[mancboy]

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

typical woman always wanting far more than we have to offer ;)

 

[Eccles Blue]

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

Make that 2 English women!! :-)

 

[normskih]

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.

Some are but some do give it a go. You can see it in the players that even they are frustrated with the tactics or lack of them.

 

[Magicpole]

'Nearly as boring as us.'
Who the hell is 'us'? I'm guessing Scotland

Got it in one.

 

[JTFactsPlz]

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!! :-) ;-)

I get the strong impression that if any of them "step out of line" by criticising Southgate or his shitty tactics in any way, or cast any doubt on what they're being asked to do, at least to his face, their reward will be being dropped. And I think the players all know that.

 

[Akira]

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.

With the roles he has Foden/Saka playing, it makes perfect sense to swap them, but Southgate will not experiment with even the bare minimum, forget playing Bellingham as an #8.

Unfortunately, he only sees and picks the player based on where they play at their club. Saka is a right winger so he has to play right, can't play left because Arteta doesn't play him there.

This is not Arsenal, not City, not Bayern, this is England. You can't just copy/paste from the club team and think it will work out fine. Maybe it'd work if your entire national team comes from one team.

He didn't play TAA in midfield because he thinks that will be where TAA will show his strengths the best. It's because he's a replacement for Kalvin Phillips, emphasis REPLACEMENT. Which is why he didn't have any players running behind the defense to take advantage of TAA's long balls.

So what even is the point of Southgate? The squad has no imprint of his personality, other than being boring, and has none of his own interpretation of things as a coach. This is supposed to be HIS England team. An AI robot could've done his job.

 

[normskih]

typical woman always wanting far more than we have to offer ;)

Some do dissapoint;)

 

[mancboy]

Some do dissapoint;)

only some, i was led to believe it was all of us lol