Thug

It’s a difficult one, because he has real qualities with his passing too. I just don’t like the way England set up at all. There’s just not enough support behind Kane to keep him pushed up front. There’s not enough pressure in the final third to keep him involved enough to keep him in & around the area. With the balance of the team being too focused around the defensive part of the pitch, he’s just too far away from the action.

I think the difference is that Ollie comes deep to do defensive work, but then returns to where he is supposed to be. Kane seems to drop there purely to get involved. Which is fine because that’s how he plays for Spurs, and his goals/assists tally speaks for itself. I may be wrong?

I’d say you’re 50% right.

Exactly this. If Southgate was Italy manager, he wouldn’t have played Chiesa.

Yh, I meant he didn’t need to go right for the corner.

This is your original quote that I quoted: “Yes you can, its called leadership. Leadership by the manager and leadership from the senior players.” It’s all getting very confusing, and maybe I haven’t read all your posts, but at times you’re saying the players had a duty to take responsibility away from the young players, and in other posts you’re saying it’s up to the manager. Aplogies if your posts are being taken out of context, maybe you can clarify what it is that you’re actually saying? I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with you every other post.

It was a poor penalty. Keeper had already dived the wrong way, could’ve just tapped it home.

Exactly in these Euros Jack: 151 minutes, Saka 220 minutes. Jack has a total of 640 England minutes to Saka’s 612 Hardly a seasoned international.

Saka will take no heat at all. Not even in the slightest. Every single player that didn't take a penalty will take more heat than Saka, and Southgate will take the most heat of all. And that is exactly how it should be. I hold no ill feeling at all to any of the three that missed a penalty. Balls of steel to take one, and all should be commended for stepping up. For me the game was not lost on penalties. The game was lost when it was decided that we would play with 8 defenders and try to bore our way to the title. As much as it pains me to say it - Football won today. There should never be a reward for the way that we tried to win this tournament - although I would gladly have taken it.

The kind of leadership that Keppa showed when he refused to come off for Chelsea? Saying he was better than the keeper that the manager wanted to bring on? Because that’s called being petty and arrogant. It’s not called leadership. Penalty takers had been decided before hand. This would have been discussed and planned. For Jack to suddenly say at the last minute ‘no, I’ll take this.. not Saka’ would be arrogance beyond belief.

Sorry, can’t agree with this at all. Who would say ‘sorry boss, but Saka shouldn’t be taking penalty number 5?’ That undermines the player. All you can expect of each player is to say ‘I’m willing to take one.’ And not hide. You can’t start saying someone else should or shouldn’t take one. What was he supposed to do? Walk up to Saka, take the ball out of his hands and say go back to the half way line little kid? This is the same ‘little kid’ who was being picked ahead of him ffs! If these players haven’t got the balls to handle pressure, they should be playing. It was poor decision making from Southgate. ANYONE disagreeing with Southgates penalty order would either have come across as arrogant, or dented the confidence of the player that they said shouldn’t take the penalty. That should be pretty obvious to ANYONE.

Because they don’t know how to use the ball effectively.

To be fair to @smg I wouldn’t necessarily say the players had a shocker, the tactical set up was wrong Far too defensive, as many of us having been saying throughout the tournament. We go at them, and I truly believe we win that game. Sterling was ineffective throughout the game, but he just refuses to substitute him. Just invited pressure and hoped his 8 defenders could keep them out.

I’m 99% sure Southgate told Jack he would by directly after Pickford in the list.

He was standing looking confused as to why a 19yr old was picked to take the penalty before him

Of course I want England to win, whether Jack plays or not. Of course I will have huge respect for Southgate if he pulls off what many before him couldn’t manage. Even more respect than I have already accumulated for him for even reaching the final. Jack and Tyrone are in touching distance of winning a medal whilst they’re playing for Villa, which hopefully would be enough to let them believe that they don’t need to move to win something. I’m absolutely buzzing off the feel good factor surrounding England right now. However, if someone comes to the Jack Grealish thread on VillaTalk and vents their frustration about him not being picked because the England manager (in their opinion) is setting up the team far too defensively - I don’t think it’s right to start calling them part of a ‘cult’ that wants to ‘rim’ Grealish, and be accused of being stupid. The argument has drifted and drifted with people getting increasingly offensive and defensive and of course no one is willing to back down. But essentially this is the argument under all the layers of filler: “If Southgate wasn’t so defensive, Jack would probably have had a starring role, and we would still be in the final having been more entertaining to watch.” Or you may believe that without the defensive tactics we may not be in the final at all. Essentially that is IT. There’s no need to be horrible to one another over any of it - No one wants to ‘rim’ Jack, and I certainly hope that no one wants to ‘rim’ Southgate.

Maurinho on talksport this morning hit the nail on the head. Said that Southgate taking Jack off was nothing but tactical. However he absolutely didn’t need to make this defensive change, denmark were shattered, and England in total control. Bringing on a defender was not necessary, having Jack on the pitch would have been easier to manage possession than inviting more pressure. Regardless, it’s clear that Southgate trusts Jack ahead of Foden, Rashford, Sancho - which is brilliant if you think about it.

It’s meant as a hint.

I don't think that he has. I think taking off a player who has recently come on, and going from being in total control of a game to just running it into the corner with 15 minutes remaining is pretty desperate stuff that should never happen. Stuff like that can completely backfire, and could be what costs us the tournament in the end. Can Imagine we go 1-0 up and with 30 minutes left he takes off all the attacking players and runs the ball into the corner. Italy equalise and you've got nowhere left to go.

And to be fair, proceeded to run the ball into the corner for 15 minutes! I've never seen anything like it.

Lol. He is more of a liability after being on the pitch for half the amount of time than the others? And he should be humiliated?

Yh, I know that, obviously.

into the corner with 10 minutes left... and if we concede? Utter boollox bullshit way of playing.

careful... some in here will accuse you of all sorts for holding a view like that...

the corner is the better option with 10 minutes left to play.... says it all really.