Sorry Southgate just being English isn’t enough, finding the right coach shouldn’t be about nationality it should be about merit.
So I might still be in with a shout, then?
I think the hardest long suffering English supporter would even tolerate a Frenchman as a coach if they got results.
Threads like this do become increasingly hysterical in lots of senses when you’re outside of it all. Southgate is the most successful England manager since 1966 and arguably the most successful full stop.
Far from “Scrapping for dull 0-0 results” whilst at Middlesbrough, he captained them through one of the most successful periods in their history and was their first captain to lift an actual trophy in more than a century. He also led them to their highest ever finish in the EPL. If we’re going to slag someone off can we at least base it on something factually accurate?
Some “facts” worth noting once again:
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history does not care how poor the performance in the group stages or even how many wins you get/ Qualification is all.
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last nights game was effectively a dead rubber. England had qualified before the game and so the task was to get through 90 minutes without picking up injuries or suspensions and to give game time to players who may have a role further down the line. Fans and pundits love the “easier side of the draw nonsense” but most managers and certainly most players couldn’t care less. You want to play and beat the best and if you can put them out relatively early then your task gets easier not harder. In every respect last night was mission accomplished and it is utterly hypocritical nonsense to on the one hand acknowledge that there are few easy games in football nowadays but then claim that England should overcome teams like this with ease. It’s cloud cuckoo land stuff.
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Southgate has had to choose between players out of form and those who were very much in form before picking up injuries. Where neither applies he has players who have played 50+ games this season before the tournament started. Pacing is everything.
Well, I’ve been on a desert island for the past week & a half. No contact with the outside world what so ever.
Very keen for someone to update me how England are doing.
I am aware that all the other teams in the competition are rubbish compared with our team, jam packed full of world beaters, & we will be obviously be bringing the winners trophy back home next month.
What I want to know is how many goals we have scored in thrashing our 3 group opponents? As forecast by the media, Bellingham has obviously made Messi look as if he has never seen a football so, how much better is he?
I know I shouldn’t, but I am already feeling sorry for our opponents in the final.
I know many of you will wince but, supporting Norwich for so long, I thought I was used to a constantly underperforming team, often looking totally lost, regardless of who the opposition are. However, England are rapidly proving to be the real masters of underachievement.
Think I may go back my desert island…
Really? How was the Bread & Butter pudding?
Spelling was never a strong point…
I must say I admire your defence of Southgate but I’m afraid he is due all of the criticism aimed in his direction, he takes the money and when the team does not perform and surely no one would argue that any of the more recent England performances have been acceptable on any level he should take the criticism.
He was at best a mediocre defender and his spell at Borough was not exactly at the top of the Prem.
He has had 8 years in charge and I don’t think anybody would say his style of play is either progressive or dynamic and he has gone into this tournament appearing not to know what his first choice 11 are or how he is going to utilise the talent available or what manner he wants them to play in if that’s not a recipe for disaster I don’t know what is and to be honest the performances speak for themselves
I hope the FA have the b##ls to sack him as soon as he returns and appoint Graham Potter who must be the best English option available at the moment and might at least be able to pick a cohesive team who actually play with a bit of attacking flair.
‘s alright, scoring goals isn’t England’s forte either.
Too many Plums leading to their recent Crumble perhaps, fingers crossed they don’t Bombe and that we don’t see too many more Fools. Or heaven forbid a Swiss Roll in the knockout stage.
Still, as long as Gareth can Cobbler team together that shows some Ice, we can hopefully avoid another fine Mess.
Woh you said all that with just 3 full stops.
But I do agree, no one can say that the English are playing the beautiful game. They seem lost.
Who would have thought that one, tiny, tiny spelling error would produce this.
Well done!
Graham Potter would get my vote, although in the interim I’d sack Southgate now and get Alan Shearer to fill in from his pundits position on the BBC he couldn’t do any worse!!
I did well to avoid the easier reference to having Spotted Dicks I feel…
Oh yes he could.
Sorry I was on a bit of a rant.
Plenty of d@@ks in England shirts at the moment.
Hardly overrun with competition is he.
Both I would say, but if we go with your reasoning then let’s apply the same to the rest of the team, not just the coaching staff. Do you think Harry Kane would suit orange?
Not so sure about Potter (though would be very happy to be wrong). Most of us were thinking last night that this was just like watching Brighton fail to beat bottom 6 teams under Potter a few years ago! So not sure he’d have made a difference.
Do agree though, if only appointing an English manager, then Potter would be one of the favourites (along with Eddie Howe).
For now though, I think Southgate has improved the dynamic of the team compared to a few years ago (and almost all “away” Euros tournaments), and so will reserve judgement until after the competition has finished (or whenever we go out ).
Looks like Holland next? I think that’s winnable. But then Italy and then Austria. So even the “easy” half of the knockouts will be tough.
I’m not defending him at all. I am saying that if there are going to be personal attacks then people should at least show enough respect and rationality to confine themselves to the factual.
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your “at best a mediocre defender” was good enough to play for his country on multiple occasions. That’s a pretty poor definition of mediocre. What does that say about the current lot.
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his spell at Boro was the most successful in their history. One would not expect them to top the EPL given the money available. Despite that they finished in 7th which is the highest finish in their history.
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can you name other England managers who have reached semis and finals? Clue. More than a century and you can count them on one hand. Is the manager the problem? Do they all simply and repeatedly fail to exploit the apparently incredible talent available to them or might it just be something else.
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I doubt anyone will remember Greece as being dynamic or progressive. Ditto Italy. Nevertheless they won it. Performances do not win anything. Finding a way when it matters is all that matters.
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the basis for Potter as an option is tenuous at best. He’s hardly demonstrated the best of his talents with Chelsea where the pattern seemed remarkably close to Southgate and England i.e. struggling to wedge multiple talents into a winning 11 and struggled to also handle major talents.
I wonder how the debate about Potter or indeed any future manager will look if England make at least the semi or indeed the final.