Italy v England/England v Ukraine

[PaulC]

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

But he won't...

He won't integrate the u21s until after the summer tournament but based on everything he's done previously are you expecting 2 or 3 of them to get a chance?

Even Bellingham only broke through because Phillips was injured 

I don't get it. He has given more u21 players an opportunity than any other previous manager. Bellingham would have always broke through but he is still a teenager. For me that isn't an issue with Southgate. The issue is whether he's capable of winning the competition. 

 

[Zatman]

12 minutes ago, Brentfordnylons said:

Think you are right Southgate must be privy to the charges and if it was serious like match fixing he would have been miles away from the England camp.I wouldn’t be surprised if he got an 8 match ban in April he would be sold to the likes of Chelsea for 60 mill +

which would be nice 

he was playing Maguire when he was wanted in Greece. Guy is a clown

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

The widespread belief seems to be he might be out for a few months but back in plenty of time for the next tournament.

so he can sit on the bench for the whole tournament while Kane is worked to death

[Nicho]

Went to the game with some free tickets. I want to find it hard to criticise 2 wins but…

Game was done at half time and the opportunity to experiment was there.

Whether that be dropping Kane into the 10 and bringing Toney on or putting Maddison in there.

Ramsdale for Pickford would have been nice. 

But nope same old same old, breeze through these and don’t know whether we can play another formation if we ever need to.

Oh and it’s so boring. Jude is the standout quality even with players like Saka producing the winning moments today.

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

Bringing on the likes of Grealish at 86 minutes is the height of pointlessness. Like he has to justify dropping him by bringing him on. An uncapped player you wouldn’t mind. It’s just so pointless. 

I’d like to hope we have a few addins in the transfer and we are getting a bit more money for Jacks appearance

[Spoony]

54 minutes ago, Nicho said:

Went to the game with some free tickets. I want to find it hard to criticise 2 wins but…

Game was done at half time and the opportunity to experiment was there.

Whether that be dropping Kane into the 10 and bringing Toney on or putting Maddison in there.

Ramsdale for Pickford would have been nice. 

But nope same old same old, breeze through these and don’t know whether we can play another formation if we ever need to.

Oh and it’s so boring. Jude is the standout quality even with players like Saka producing the winning moments today.

It’s the boring bit for me. Ultimately football is about entertainment. There are so many other things I’d rather do than watch Southgateball

[rodders0223]

12 hours ago, Nicho said:

Went to the game with some free tickets. I want to find it hard to criticise 2 wins but…

Game was done at half time and the opportunity to experiment was there.

Whether that be dropping Kane into the 10 and bringing Toney on or putting Maddison in there.

Ramsdale for Pickford would have been nice. 

But nope same old same old, breeze through these and don’t know whether we can play another formation if we ever need to.

Oh and it’s so boring. Jude is the standout quality even with players like Saka producing the winning moments today.

It was a qualifier. Yes we will qualify easily but you don't just make changes at half time for sake of it or early second half. Though Ukraine were absolute pap.

I just annoyed by every England game where we take the lead and we do it a lot of surrendering or stopping playing. It's why we are so shite to watch and why when we come up against good times they go through the gears when they eventually peg us back whilst we lose all momentum.

I couldn't care less about Southgates win % and tournament record. International qualifying has never been easier. Scoring records are being broken now every qualifier. Ronaldo has about 3004 international goals

It's easy now.

Southgate is crap and why everyone pretends every qualifier that he will change his ways and those who criticise him are harsh i don't know.

 

We'll do nuttin'

[MakemineVanilla]

I think the problem with England is that the standard in the Premier League is so high these days that the national team just looks a bit ordinary.

England don't pass the ball as well as Man City, Arsenal, or even Liverpool on a good day, so they are always going to disappoint.

Certainly Harry Maguire is not the most cultured of centre-backs and is always going to frustrate, but I can't think of anyone who is much better.

England look blessed with a good selection of midfield players but there's not a 'great' one amongst them, when it comes to creativity, and Maddison was good enough to add to that number, on his debut.

Saka rightfully took the plaudits for his goal and assist but he didn't do much against Italy.

If Jack could get over his yips when finishing, he could be the finished article.

I am not a big fan of Southgate but I can see why he shuts up shop after the break, because the team has to learn how to defend against the lesser teams, so they are better against the top teams. I know it seems negative and can be frustrating but England's besetting problem has been to stroll through games against the lesser opposition, and then struggle against their equals and betters.

I was just happy to see England win but had the usual mixed feelings about the second-half performance.

 

 

 

[duke313]

13 hours ago, Spoony said:

It’s the boring bit for me. Ultimately football is about entertainment. There are so many other things I’d rather do than watch Southgateball

Reminds me of a quote from the great Johan Cryuff; "Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring."

[jim]

Job done. 2 wins against tricky opposition is all you can ask for.

[bobzy]

1 hour ago, MakemineVanilla said:

England look blessed with a good selection of midfield players but there's not a 'great' one amongst them, when it comes to creativity, and Maddison was good enough to add to that number, on his debut.

I actually think England are incredibly blessed with creative midfield/forward players.  Maddison seemed to play in the attacking 3, where there's also Foden, Grealish and Saka.  Ignoring any other decent wide creative players (such as Bowen, IMO) that's an incredibly strong quartet to have in World football terms.  Behind that, England have arguably the best young central midfielder in the World in Bellingham, and ahead of them they have Kane as one of the World's best strikers.

There's an argument that England aren't the best defensively, and so Southgate over-compensates on this, but the player pool is naturally an attacking one.

[MrBlack]

5 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

 

Certainly Harry Maguire is not the most cultured of centre-backs and is always going to frustrate, but I can't think of anyone who is much better.

 

 

 

Did you give it any thought whatsoever?

The two Brighton centre backs who have been lauded for playing keep ball this season and have propelled Brighton to the European spots.

Mings who has played all season, recently been nominated for player of the month and has shown he is more than capable of playing Emery ball.

Tomori who has had a decent season at Milan that have made the champions league quarter finals.

Then Maguire, who has barely played for United and demonstrated his limitations every time he does get a rare opportunity to play. I'd argue they're all much better than him.

There are 4 players there that should all be ahead of him in the pecking order right now to partner Stones.

[foreveryoung]

5 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I think the problem with England is that the standard in the Premier League is so high these days that the national team just looks a bit ordinary.

England don't pass the ball as well as Man City, Arsenal, or even Liverpool on a good day, so they are always going to disappoint.

Certainly Harry Maguire is not the most cultured of centre-backs and is always going to frustrate, but I can't think of anyone who is much better.

England look blessed with a good selection of midfield players but there's not a 'great' one amongst them, when it comes to creativity, and Maddison was good enough to add to that number, on his debut.

Saka rightfully took the plaudits for his goal and assist but he didn't do much against Italy.

If Jack could get over his yips when finishing, he could be the finished article.

I am not a big fan of Southgate but I can see why he shuts up shop after the break, because the team has to learn how to defend against the lesser teams, so they are better against the top teams. I know it seems negative and can be frustrating but England's besetting problem has been to stroll through games against the lesser opposition, and then struggle against their equals and betters.

I was just happy to see England win but had the usual mixed feelings about the second-half performance.

 

 

 

It's all about bottle chap, an Southgate hasn't got any, he sticks to what he knows, trying the odd new player to keep the media happy. You already know as good as, what team he is taking to the world cup, an how we will play. The team is based on attacking players, so why not play fully to our strengths, instead of going into our shell after a couple of goals and getting everyone even Kane to drop back and defend, it's awful tactics, especially when we have, apparently, one of the best strikers in world football in the squad.

Kane, Grealish, Foden, Saka, Bellingham, to name a few, no doubt we should be pissing the qualifiers.