maybe same problem as Scotland; some really good players who are surrounded at club level by better foreigners……
Alan Shearer got it right for once when he said England are a ‘moments’ team, some quality and/or opportune moments but not a cohesive, winning team.
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Well what a day today has been.
Perhaps I might wake up Groundhog Day style with the morning news of England winning.
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Right, next manager then?
Please not Harry Potter.
We need a proven, serial winner.
Who knows England and the English game.
Who plays talent before names.
Who can give us two years, enough to win The World Cup.
And then do what he likes after.
The Turkish economy is a basket case. We can get him for two shish and a bottle of Tizer I reckon.
As predicted by some of us the Spanish midfield where just too good for Southgate’s defensive diarrhoea ball as again the whole country hailed another teenager as our saviour after just a hand full of internationals.
Greatest England manager my arse.
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Jurgen Klopp.
Another night of Ken Dodd singing Tears for Souvenirs for England.
Sad ending, but Spain played better.
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As I said here before the competition, we had probably the best players, but far from the best team.
Individual talents put together cannot be assumed to make a competitive whole.
The next manager needs to look at cohesion and a more European style of attacking play that is consistent throughout the 90. England wont survive on piecemeal shows of brilliance.
Well played Spain, totally deserve to be European Champions.
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That would have been an excellent post if only you’d not decided to guess my age. I was very much alive in the 1960s and whilst my recall is not what it was I’m well aware how much the times have indeed changed. What you have to bear in mind though is the absolute mountain of material on football, England and 1966 both contemporaneously and subsequently plus the stuff written on world football that was always available in your local library if you wanted it.
Yes, those were indeed different times but there was different and “different”.
England in 1966 for example were one of only 8 nations left who hadn’t banned smoking at training. Most British clubs hadn’t banned it either but at international level things had moved on massively since the 1950s and England was being run like an elite military boys club. My uncle was mates and neighbours with Ted Croker and it was like that well into the early 1990s. In the mid 60s England were already a decade behind other nations on fitness, training, administration and multiple other fronts. In that context, winning a home World Cup was remarkable and fortuitous but did untold damage because of course they all thought it confirmed they were right and the rest of the world wrong.
Thought Stones had his best game of the tournament. Shaw was a clear upgrade on Trippier but he got caught the once and it was enough. The persistence with Kane was bewildering. I like Watkins but his lack of impact couldn’t be a surprise really. The game was begging for Toney and Wharton.
Injured strikers aside Englands problems really began and ended in midfield. Mainoo was a passenger for the first time; Bellingham contributed next to nothing whilst Rice has shown that he’s an excellent EPL player but lacks the speed of thought for international football. The effort was there but it was mostly utilised chasing to cover his own errors. I’d expect Wharton to step up for the Nations League. Saka has been repeatedly exposed as some trick pony. He hasn’t the legs to get past people one on one and get quality crosses in and when Spain doubled up to prevent him coming inside he had nothing to offer and a very long 90 minutes to offer it in. He received some wonderful cross field balls but didn’t beat a player all night.
Sadly, bit for some poor finishing and Pickford it could have been more.
All that said, some perspective is required. England lost by 1 brilliant late goal to the most entertaining team in the world right now. It’s hardly a disaster.
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Have some dignity Gareth and go.
In my humble opinion two winnable consecutive Euro finals lost due only to technical ineptitude, cowardice in team selection and mistiming substitutions.
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In the last 10 days GS has gone from zero to National Treasure and now back to zero.
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No surprise we lost to the first really good side we faced. Qualifying for the sudden death stages of major tournaments has become easier as the competitions have expanded.
I always think the England manager has 2 jobs, one to win games and two, to enthuse the nation. Southgate is no better than ok at the first and hopeless at the second. He appears to do well because the players like him rather than because the side is well coached.
Worryingly he seems unable to change his approach during games until we go behind. Result, we carried Kane for an hour, Mainoo for almost the full game and Saka for the full game.
I hope Southgate chooses to leave with dignity now of his own accord - it seems the blazers want him to stay on. They see Southgate as a blazer. I have no confidence that the blazers will find a suitable replacement, a replacement who may not win trophies but will at least put a team on the pitch that look like they’ve played together before and plays football which excites. Only exciting football will bring the flags out again. I saw little real enthusiasm for Southgate’s England where I live or as I travelled around. Telling I thought.
So no shame for England and Southgate but no cigar either. A decent bloke, well liked, did his best. For the rest of us the season awaits, a much more appetising prospect.
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With kind respect of all contributing to this thread,here are my very two cents.Three years ago England lost the final on penalty kicks and met a team that was really poor before and,most of all,after that European football championship.Maldini,Baresi,Baggio,Totti,Zola,Del Piero had no worthy successors.
England also has to be luckier.
Gareth should have gone after the 2022 debacle. Nothing in this Euro cup comp has changed my mind.
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Not much to disagree with in your post.
I think that England over achieved, reaching the Euro final flatters to deceive, it would seem that continental teams are progressing quicker than we are.
A question has to be asked whether we play too much football, a lot of players looked tired, a season that started in August and still going 11 months later is a big ask at any level.
Gareth has done well, taking into account the mess that he inherited we haven’t done too badly in recent tournaments but is Gareth stuck in a rut and refusing to acknowledge when a player isn’t on the pace or when a style isn’t working and that a change is needed?
If Gareth decides to step down, who would be the new incumbent be, and would they have to be English?
A. It’s the England national team, so please get an English national.
B. One big criticism of this England team was how conservatively it played. Your suggestion is unlikely to fix that.
Please no!!!
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