No mention of Macedonia vs England tonight

1-1

Southgate is shit. Needs sacking.

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

1-1

Southgate is shit. Needs sacking.

He's leaving after this tournament isn't he?

far be it from me to defend the waistcoat - but England have absolutely phoned these two fixtures in. And rightly so, they've already qualified and the players all look £#%&!ing knackered.

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

Southgate is shit. Needs sacking.

Unbeaten in the group. 1 defeat in the last 15 matches. Useless.

Originally Posted by Mr_Ed

1-1

Southgate is shit. Needs sacking.

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

Unbeaten in the group. 1 defeat in the last 15 matches. Useless.

Didn’t watch one minute of this game or the last. Bliss.

Originally Posted by NedKelly

Didn’t watch one minute of this game or the last. Bliss.

Connoisseurs of piss poor refereeing performances would have been in for a real treat.

Watched about 20 minutes of the second half ....

Dion Dublin' kept calling players by their first name, "jack" "Phil" it was turning my stomach.....

Flicked over to watch zelensky's boys get robbed like they did to our gas prices...

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

Unbeaten in the group. 1 defeat in the last 15 matches. Useless.

That squad could get to the world cup or euro QFs with Kane as player manager. Where they need a bit of managing is against the better outfits, where they’ve faltered pretty much every time under the human handbrake.

Originally Posted by suedeshoes

Unbeaten in the group. 1 defeat in the last 15 matches. Useless.

We'd probably have a similar record if we also played at League 2 level.

Though knowing us...

Originally Posted by Stickman

That squad could get to the world cup or euro QFs with Kane as player manager. Where they need a bit of managing is against the better outfits, where they’ve faltered pretty much every time under the human handbrake.

Nobody thought the team was any good at all when he took over. Now we're expected to make finals.

I don't like him and the style of football is awful to watch, but he has done a great job. He broke down the silos and got them playing as a team. Most England managers have failed to do that.

His skills don't really transfer to club football but he has been a good international manager.

Southgate's an embarrassment of a manager.
Best 11 in world football. By some margin. He won't win a pot in a thousand years.

Originally Posted by Lok

Nobody thought the team was any good at all when he took over. Now we're expected to make finals.

I don't like him and the style of football is awful to watch, but he has done a great job. He broke down the silos and got them playing as a team. Most England managers have failed to do that.

His skills don't really transfer to club football but he has been a good international manager.

Thats international football - you can select a top squad from what you have or you cant.

In the tournaments I feel hes done the minimum. The best side he's ever beaten in one is Germany, at Wembley.

Originally Posted by Lok

Nobody thought the team was any good at all when he took over. Now we're expected to make finals.

Are you aware of how international football works yeah?

This was his first England side.

Joe Hart

Kyle Walker
John Stones
Gary Cahill
Ryan Bertrand

Jordan Henderson
Dele Alli
Wayne Rooney

Theo Walcott
Daniel Sturridge
Jesse Lingard

He’s been incredibly blessed with the players who have come through. He legitimately has some of the best players in the world available to him now, so of course the expectations are high.

He’s taken a group of incredible talent and made a side that’s quite boring to watch. They’re undoubtedly pretty efficient at beating poor/average sides - they don’t seem to have any problems during qualification or the early stages of tournaments, which hasn’t always been the case. But surely that’s the bare minimum given the players he’s got available, grinding out results against inferior teams.

Hard to think of many top sides he’s beaten when it really counts, which is what actually matters if you’re going to win a tournament.

Originally Posted by Ethers

Are you aware of how international football works yeah?

This was his first England side.

Joe Hart

Kyle Walker
John Stones
Gary Cahill
Ryan Bertrand

Jordan Henderson
Dele Alli
Wayne Rooney

Theo Walcott
Daniel Sturridge
Jesse Lingard

He’s been incredibly blessed with the players who have come through. He legitimately has some of the best players in the world available to him now, so of course the expectations are high.

He’s taken a group of incredible talent and made a side that’s quite boring to watch. They’re undoubtedly pretty efficient at beating poor/average sides - they don’t seem to have any problems during qualification or the early stages of tournaments, which hasn’t always been the case. But surely that’s the bare minimum given the players he’s got available, grinding out results against inferior teams.

Hard to think of many top sides he’s beaten when it really counts, which is what actually matters if you’re going to win a tournament.

Not an England fan, obviously, but agree with all of this. I'll watch most games that are on TV but England are just so £#%&!ing dull. They've got absolutely no balls or tactical nous when it comes to beating a competent team when it matters.

Southgate makes it worse for himself by sticking with his favourites - Kalvin Phillips plays 4 minutes between England meet ups, yet is a nailed on starter. Jordan Henderson is still a starter when he's been terrible for years. The lack of flair with the talent he can choose from can only come from the coach who puts them together. Tedious.

In my lifetime there has been at least 3 England teams with better talent. None got close to winning anything. Southgate has been closer to winning something than any manager since Ramsey.

The football is boring as £#%&! but the results are impressive. The level of talent has improved, especially with the emergence or Bellingham, but that doesn't guarantee results. Capello had Rooney, gerrard, Lampard, Rio and Terry and couldn't get them playing.

Originally Posted by Lok

In my lifetime there has been at least 3 England teams with better talent. None got close to winning anything. Southgate has been closer to winning something than any manager since Ramsey.

The football is boring as £#%&! but the results are impressive. The level of talent has improved, especially with the emergence or Bellingham, but that doesn't guarantee results. Capello had Rooney, gerrard, Lampard, Rio and Terry and couldn't get them playing.

Why do his good results only come in qualifying and friendlies?

I was thinking Rashford just couldn't be arsed, but maybe he has actually forgotten how to play football. This "cameo" sums up his United season so far.

https://twitter.com/JM10ii/status/1726729556449488935?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1726729556449488935%7Ctwgr%5Ed547d440a7b73e9c5d306d4ab64f01d5af6bd88d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sportbible.com%2Ffootball%2Fengland%2Fmarcus-rashford-england-north-macedonia-man-utd-273837-20231121

Originally Posted by Lok

In my lifetime there has been at least 3 England teams with better talent. None got close to winning anything. Southgate has been closer to winning something than any manager since Ramsey.

The football is boring as £#%&! but the results are impressive. The level of talent has improved, especially with the emergence or Bellingham, but that doesn't guarantee results. Capello had Rooney, gerrard, Lampard, Rio and Terry and couldn't get them playing.

Would argue England’s run in Euro 2020 was down to playing weaker teams. They played arguably the worst German side I’ve seen in my lifetime, then Ukraine and Denmark. They then came up against a very workmanlike Italian side (who I’m still convinced were doped up to the eyeballs), and imo they lost that game due to Southgate’s poor management - taking off Rice and leaving Kalvin Phillips on when they were arguably on top in the second half killed England’s momentum altogether and iirc Italy started piling the pressure back on. Then the awful penalty calls - giving Saka the 5th penalty

Last year’s World Cup was classic England. Did well against the weaker sides and the moment they came up against a top team in France, they buckled under the pressure.

2018 World Cup a similar story. Beat Colombia on pens (woohoo!), beat Sweden, got beat by Croatia.

We are appallingly negative and tactically naive against better sides.

If we're going to play this way we may as well have a manager who is good at it.

Mourinho.

Originally Posted by Lok

In my lifetime there has been at least 3 England teams with better talent. None got close to winning anything. Southgate has been closer to winning something than any manager since Ramsey.

The football is boring as £#%&! but the results are impressive. The level of talent has improved, especially with the emergence or Bellingham, but that doesn't guarantee results. Capello had Rooney, gerrard, Lampard, Rio and Terry and couldn't get them playing.

Which England teams?