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I don’t agree with this idea that it’s a particularly talented English group and Southgate it wasting it. His constant selection of Mount over Foden is bizarre, but I think it’s a poor squad in comparison to previous generations.
There’s some top talent: Bellingham, Foden, Kane. But every generation has one or two. Compare it to the supposed ‘golden generation’ and it’s laughable in comparison. None of the three keepers are close to back up keepers like Martyn and Flowers, never mind Seaman. Full backs are meh. Hardly Cole and Neville. Maguire and Stones are bang average when we used to choose from Terry, Rio, Campbell and Carragher. I’m not convinced Declan Rice is anything more than functional and seems to be part of a lot of midfields that get comfortably overrun. Not a single midfielder is anywhere near the level of Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard or Beckham. Never mind all four of them together. Forwards: Kane is a top class striker, but there’s no raw talent like a young Owen or Rooney. That was a true waste of a team. The thing this England side has in their favour seems to be a better spirit and a less club divided dressing room. They’re actually a likeable bunch. There seems to be far less pressure and scapegoating from fans and media too. We used to love our whipping boys and pinning blame, but the reaction to Saka missing his penalty in the Euros was very different to what you got in the 90s and 00s. Another key factor is the quality of opposition. It’s not good. There’s no great international sides right now from what I can see. There’s nothing of the quality of that Spain generation. Nothing as resolute as mid-90s Germany. Where are the levels of Davids, Kluivert and Bergkamp in the Dutch side? England got knocked out in 2002 by a team containing Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Rivaldo - good Lord! Now it’s £#%&!ing Richarlison. They’ll top the group and they’ll be tough to beat in the knockouts. They’ve become a solid tournament team, in a weak generation of international teams. |
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Yes. It’s strong in relation to others squads . Hence me saying they’ll finish top and be hard to beat |
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There’s clearly talent being wasted. You’re pointing out some great players they had in the past which is fair enough, but those squads also contained Peter Crouch. Stewart Downing. Jermaine Jenas. Darius Vassell. Emile Heskey. Stephen Warnock. Paul Robinson.
There’s quality players all over this squad, particularly in an attacking sense, so to constantly produce such dour tedious football means something is clearly being wasted imo. |
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The meat of the side is from the domestic/European City / Liverpool teams of past few years, with Shaw/Bellingham/Saka/Kane/Rice sprinkled on top. There is a lot of attacking quality in that side at forward/winger/full back, with enough functionality in midfield and at centre half to look far, far better than they have. Man for man on a positional basis, only the French really have better players. |
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Also as you say there was a lot of fan and media pressure on players (after they'd been built up to be something amazing), and it was clear a lot of players didn't enjoy playing for England. Then there was the inability to keep the ball against good teams - and despite the improvement in Premier League coaching in the past 20 years, that continues through to today. |
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I've watched Saka loads this season and he shines in an Arsenal team which play high energy, aggressive pressing football. Stick him up front in a side that labours the ball about the place and he looks rubbish. |
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Seaman Neville Rio Terry Cole Lampard Gerrard Scholes Beckham Owen Rooney Not a single member of the current squad gets near that imo. Maybe Kane. I think there’s SOME attacking quality, but not a lot. It’s fairly functional. Saka, Sterling, Rashford have their flaws. The flair players aren’t even that flairy. Grealish is dull. Maddison untested at the highest level. Foden is the one who is bafflingly missing out. Other than that, I don’t think they’re missing much of a trick. They’re about as good as I’d expect them to be. Southgate is unquestionably a negative drip though. His in-game management is terrible |
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Southgate has a good squad. I don’t think it’s second best in the tournament - the central defence and keepers in particular are average, they have one left back, the midfield has little depth and there’s no reliable goal scorer outside of Kane. But it’s good enough to be beating the USA ffs. Clown manager who says nice things that the media likes. |
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