Gareth Southgate

[BlueAnorak]

I am genuinely conflicted about this. He seems like a very likeable guy, he is very comfortable in front of the the cameras and makes all the right noises. However, I think some of his selections in this World Cup have been terrible and his unwillingness to change the lineup and format were almost beyond comprehension. Firstly, Young and Dele Alli had terrible world cups yet played in almost every, if not every game. Secondly, it was clear to everyone that the midfield trio of Henderson, Alli and Lingard simply wasn’t working but he persisted with it. Thirdly, apart from a few penalties, Harry Kane was really poor yet he was untouchable. When underperforming players needed to be changed The Manager seemed unwilling to make the big decisions.

Having said all that I think we did better than most people expected and there were some genuine highlights . Pickford did well, Stones and Maguire were excellent and Trippier had a good tournament.

We may just have the foundations of a decent team for the future.

Pretty much agree.

 

[quiet_riot]

Southgate can only polish a turd so much. .

This.

Although he showed some tactical naivety last night, he has massively overachieved getting that squad to a semi final, with basically no midfield. The midfield was shite throughout the tournament, but there a no good English midfielders who would have sufficiently changed things.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Got it massively wrong tactically last night. Showed his inexperience and lack of being able to react to a situation.

They worked us out. They saw that pushing our wing backs back into a back five freed up an ocean of space for either their full backs in the space where our wing backs were or in midfield when our midfielders were moving wider to occupy their full backs.

There was no reaction to that from Southgate.

Modric (arguably the best midfielder in the world for the last five years) was free to go anywhere he wanted and do anything he wanted.

The formation should have changed to flood the midfield. 4-5-1... take Trippier/Walker off on the right for Delph/Dier, sit Delph/Dier in with Henderson, bring Sterling back as a winger on the right and take Alli off for Rashford to play on the left wing.

His like-for-like substitution of Sterling for Rashford was unimaginative at best, tactically unaware at worst. He just wanted a fresh Rashford to do what Sterling had done for 75 minutes but hadn’t cottoned onto the fact that they were winning tactically and that lead to them winning the match.

Poor, very disappointed in him.

Their two goals came from loads of our players doing the wrong thing or losing concentration but had the tactics been right they may have been avoided.

 

[bellsouth]

This.

Although he showed some tactical naivety last night, he has massively overachieved getting that squad to a semi final, with basically no midfield. The midfield was shite throughout the tournament, but there a no good English midfielders who would have sufficiently changed things.

Spot on.
He has instilled a spirit and energy and belief into the team and us that enabled them to go way beyond both expectation and if we're brutally honest, their individual abilities.
Last night he made two errors in my view, left Young on when we were being destroyed down that side, and second mistake is that his go-to substitution is Rashford for Sterling and to me he should have made the (very) bold step of replacing Kane.
But I think as a national manager he is improving all the time and if the clubs in England can produce some world class midfielders and competition for Kane, in the next 2-3 years, then we can have another ride in Qatar

 

[shemnel]

well done Southgate for creating a unit we could get behind and for reaching the semis, credit is deserved

But your blind faith in Alli was a major part of your undoing. Ridiculous in the end. (And that Rashford sub was dire :D)

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Against the minnows 999 games out of a thousand we will progress, but against the two teams in this tournament who displayed attacking intentions then we get turned over.

 

[dickie davies]

How exactly would we be controlling the midfield with Henderson playing there on his own?

Did you watch City play last season?
Henderson wouldn't be on his own
When the opposition have the ball our shape is a 4/1/4/1 or a 4/5/1
When in possession it becomes a 3/2/2/3

 

[Cobra]

Did you watch City play last season?
Henderson wouldn't be on his own
When the opposition have the ball our shape is a 4/1/4/1 or a 4/5/1
When in possession it becomes a 3/2/2/3

City have De Bruyne, Silva and Fernandinho - England don’t. You can’t control a midfield if the players aren’t good enough to do so.

 

[dickie davies]

City have De Bruyne, Silva and Fernandinho - England don’t. You can’t control a midfield if the players aren’t good enough to do so.

Well we couldn't control the midfield anyway, so as I said in my original post, tactically set up like a downmarket City and get the most out of the better players by playing them in their correct position

 

[Neville Kneville]

well done Southgate for creating a unit we could get behind and for reaching the semis, credit is deserved

But your blind faith in Alli was a major part of your undoing. Ridiculous in the end. (And that Rashford sub was dire :D)

Rashford isn't good enough to be a starter for Utd & apart from a couple of good goals, has been dogshite for England pretty much every time he's played.

But Southgate was put under loads of pressure pre tournament, to pick him & at the same time drop Sterling & that issue has, imo, clouded the thinking in what should have been the real issue: the midfield plus Deli Ali.

But he's done well to get any kind of tune out of a shit banjo imo.