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

[Brightwell Bros.]

 

[stonerblue]

I've managed to miss the decent games, and have suffered a lot of dull affairs so far.

The first games were generally quite good. Teams trying to win. The results of those then dictated what came next and things were generally a bit more cagey, with plenty looking to give themselves a chance of a third place in the final game.

The majority of the final games have been even more cagey and generally negative because of the desire to finish in a third place spot. As a result the competition has been quite sterile.

I'm worried the knockouts will continue that theme and it will be the QFs where we see a bit more action. Tournament football is becoming more like the playoff final where teams don't want to lose more than they want to win.

Yep, this last round of group games is very cagey. Like most 'must win' games an early goal is needed to open it up.
Looking forward to watching Kev and Doku later.

 

[BlueHammer85]

not my words this //


We all need to BELIEVE. Believe that the lads are just warming up, finding their feet and believe that they have more gears to go through. It’s this belief that make us England fans, and its this belief that makes us the best fans in the world.

We are never underdogs. We are never beaten. We always believe.

What we must appreciate about Southgate and this generation of England players, is they are being conditioned not to lose. Not losing matches is what International, tournament football is about. And it was in 2014, as then England U21s Manager, that he spear-headed this new philosophy for English Football.

Too many times we headed into tournaments with a gung-ho approach, trying to out score teams and rely purely on our aggressive, high tempo English style. And it does not work in the modern, tournament game -well it certainly hadn’t worked for England in previous tournaments, and successive failed Managers like Sven and Fabio Capello, could not adopt a style that was successful.

The England DNA, created by Southgate over 10 years ago, has seen us winners of the U21s Championship in 2023, for the first time since 1984, winners of the U19s European Championships in 2017 and 2022; winners of the FIFA U17s World Cup in 2017; and of course Gareth has led the National Team to the World Cup Semi-Final in 2018, Quarter-Finals in 2022, and Runners-Up in the Euros in 2021.

Every fan sees things differently, and would pick a different starting XI to the next person. But whatever can be said, we still have a great squad, and a great chance of going one step further this summer…lifting the Euros

 

[Nellies left peg]

Yep, this last round of group games is very cagey. Like most 'must win' games an early goal is needed to open it up.
Looking forward to watching Kev and Doku later.

It should not be cagey. We had already qualified so a bit of a free hit really and waistcoat still fucked it up with his selection and tactics

 

[Nellies left peg]

not my words this //


We all need to BELIEVE. Believe that the lads are just warming up, finding their feet and believe that they have more gears to go through. It’s this belief that make us England fans, and its this belief that makes us the best fans in the world.

We are never underdogs. We are never beaten. We always believe.

What we must appreciate about Southgate and this generation of England players, is they are being conditioned not to lose. Not losing matches is what International, tournament football is about. And it was in 2014, as then England U21s Manager, that he spear-headed this new philosophy for English Football.

Too many times we headed into tournaments with a gung-ho approach, trying to out score teams and rely purely on our aggressive, high tempo English style. And it does not work in the modern, tournament game -well it certainly hadn’t worked for England in previous tournaments, and successive failed Managers like Sven and Fabio Capello, could not adopt a style that was successful.

The England DNA, created by Southgate over 10 years ago, has seen us winners of the U21s Championship in 2023, for the first time since 1984, winners of the U19s European Championships in 2017 and 2022; winners of the FIFA U17s World Cup in 2017; and of course Gareth has led the National Team to the World Cup Semi-Final in 2018, Quarter-Finals in 2022, and Runners-Up in the Euros in 2021.

Every fan sees things differently, and would pick a different starting XI to the next person. But whatever can be said, we still have a great squad, and a great chance of going one step further this summer…lifting the Euros

The dna in this squad? Something is not right within this squad, outwardly a togetherness but internally I think there’s unrest between groups of players and to look so lethargic and uninterested is dreadful

 

[supercity88]

Exactly, what’s the actual plan during games? To me it seems like we keep it tight and hope for a bit of magic, a set piece or a mistake. It makes sense given Southgate’s background and record but it’s turgid

That's exactly what it is, and to be fair it's often the strategy for international teams. The issue with it, is that when the magic doesn't appear - which is all too often with this current method of picking the wrong players for the system - we're into penalties and we all know what happens then.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

The dna in this squad? Something is not right within this squad, outwardly a togetherness but internally I think there’s unrest between groups of players and to look so lethargic and uninterested is dreadful

There definitely do appear to be some factions. A lot of egos in that squad and Gareth doesn’t seem up to handling them. As much as his tactics are awful several players are badly underperforming and look half arsed. They need to look at theirselves too

 

[supercity88]

not my words this //


We all need to BELIEVE. Believe that the lads are just warming up, finding their feet and believe that they have more gears to go through. It’s this belief that make us England fans, and its this belief that makes us the best fans in the world.

We are never underdogs. We are never beaten. We always believe.

What we must appreciate about Southgate and this generation of England players, is they are being conditioned not to lose. Not losing matches is what International, tournament football is about. And it was in 2014, as then England U21s Manager, that he spear-headed this new philosophy for English Football.

Too many times we headed into tournaments with a gung-ho approach, trying to out score teams and rely purely on our aggressive, high tempo English style. And it does not work in the modern, tournament game -well it certainly hadn’t worked for England in previous tournaments, and successive failed Managers like Sven and Fabio Capello, could not adopt a style that was successful.

The England DNA, created by Southgate over 10 years ago, has seen us winners of the U21s Championship in 2023, for the first time since 1984, winners of the U19s European Championships in 2017 and 2022; winners of the FIFA U17s World Cup in 2017; and of course Gareth has led the National Team to the World Cup Semi-Final in 2018, Quarter-Finals in 2022, and Runners-Up in the Euros in 2021.

Every fan sees things differently, and would pick a different starting XI to the next person. But whatever can be said, we still have a great squad, and a great chance of going one step further this summer…lifting the Euros

Firstly, I'm not sure how much credit Southgate should take for the England DNA. That was Dan Ashworth's baby iirc.

There's complete logic and evidence supporting the idea of being hard to beat and Southgate has delivered the best times for England fans since 1966 so deserves some credit.

He nailed a system, picked on form to establish the best players for that system and stuck with them.

The issue we have now, and why I haven't got my usual rose-tinted specs on (or any excitement at all for England actually) is that his system has lost critical personnel. Defensively a concern, but Maguire was a set piece weapon for England so in a system that relies on a few moments we're significantly weaker in that area which means we lose what was a major part of previous success. Phillips/Henderson being out of form means we've lost that midfield engine, organising, harassing, getting on the front foot or dropping in and driving the tempo off the ball. Kane dropping deep and feeding runners in behind was a major part of our attacking play, and we mixed our pressing to utilise it. But there's no natural pace or running from the left in this current lineup.

So...change the system or change the players is where we are. Southgate's not going to change the system - that's clear and that's his right. He doesn't see Bellingham as a replacement for Phillips and Henderson and whilst I disagree, that's his call. So his next decision is Bellingham OR Foden. One has to go. Their replacement has to be someone like Gordon who will run in behind and Kane can play in on the counter.

 

[SamBlue]

Gareth's version of 'catenaccio', how to pick the team and set up tactics to prevent yourself and your opponents of ever scoring a goal.
0.38 xG conceded per 90 (1st)
0.04 xG per shot conceded (1st)
0.81 xG created per 90 (19th)
1.6 Deep Completions (passes completed within 20m of goal) per 90 (23rd)
45.6 Pressures in the opposing half per 90 (23rd)

not my words this //


We all need to BELIEVE. Believe that the lads are just warming up, finding their feet and believe that they have more gears to go through. It’s this belief that make us England fans, and its this belief that makes us the best fans in the world.

We are never underdogs. We are never beaten. We always believe.

What we must appreciate about Southgate and this generation of England players, is they are being conditioned not to lose. Not losing matches is what International, tournament football is about. And it was in 2014, as then England U21s Manager, that he spear-headed this new philosophy for English Football.

Too many times we headed into tournaments with a gung-ho approach, trying to out score teams and rely purely on our aggressive, high tempo English style. And it does not work in the modern, tournament game -well it certainly hadn’t worked for England in previous tournaments, and successive failed Managers like Sven and Fabio Capello, could not adopt a style that was successful.

The England DNA, created by Southgate over 10 years ago, has seen us winners of the U21s Championship in 2023, for the first time since 1984, winners of the U19s European Championships in 2017 and 2022; winners of the FIFA U17s World Cup in 2017; and of course Gareth has led the National Team to the World Cup Semi-Final in 2018, Quarter-Finals in 2022, and Runners-Up in the Euros in 2021.

Every fan sees things differently, and would pick a different starting XI to the next person. But whatever can be said, we still have a great squad, and a great chance of going one step further this summer…lifting the Euros

Who the feck is this, Stuart Pearce!?!

 

[Donmcfc]

My xY - (expected yawns per 90 mins) is much higher watching England under Southgate than most other teams.

The point is, from the layman (non)observer's perspective, is that the stats give you more of a picture if you haven't watched the game.

It's also a more useful tool to highlight individual/team specific analysis ie Darwin Nunez gets lots of easy chances and regularly misses them ...etc.