I actively avoid football forums because I subscribe to the idea that they should be shut down for at least 24 hours after a game has ceased to allow some kind of calm rational perspective to emerge. Sadly we now live in a world where that principle should perhaps apply to football discussions elsewhere.
The idea that thereâs a lack of enthusiasm for the current team is laughable. The numbers in Germany belie that as does the media coverage. That the outcome wasnât as hoped for doesnât take away from that.
The grass is always greener. Still, there are experts here who feel the only England manager to achieve consistent knockout success since 1970 should go because he lost 2 finals narrowly and it wasnât as exciting as you hoped.
This despite the fact that anyone who watches football week in week out knows that it generally isnât exciting and despite the fact that rational voices will note the huge progress of the past 8 years and that, for example, had Liverpool sacked Jurgen Klopp after losing his first 2 cup finals; Aberdeen sacked Fergie after losing his first cup final and Juve sacked Trappatoni after losing his first 2 cup finals, which 0s what all of them did. Miserable failures the lot of them. The experts would have ended their careeets before they began. Rinus Michels changed the face of football but, after losing a World Cup Final, the Dutch sacked him off; the international team spent 12 years in the wilderness and won the only trophy in their history when they reappointed the guy that their media had branded âthe loserâ.
One trophy in more than a century has given England fans a sense of entitlement which, to anyone outside of it, beggars belief really. â58 years of hurtâ. Try not qualifying at all for a similar length. The fact that not one poster has said âDo you know what? At the end of a 50+ game season; carrying multiple exhausted or injured players to even make the final was astonishingâ is really not a good look if weâre being honest.
Then we have the banging on about Southgateâs failure to be proactive. Thought weâd put that to bed earlier. The UEFA stats. from this tournament in isolation show that the managers who made the first substitution lost the most games. Now obviously for some that only occurs because they progressed so far but still. The reality is that all subs are a gamble and no-one, but no-one, can predict how it works out.
People see Palmer come on and score and all they can think of is not âWow, that workedâ but âthe manager is an idiot. I know much better than him. Imagine what weâd have done if heâd come on 30 minutes earlier or even started the gameâ. This is, to put it politely, magical thinking of the highest order. He could have started the game and been injured in the first 2 minutes. He could have been sent off. He could have seen the opposition suss him out and utterly sideline him as they did with Saka, Bellingham and Mainoo for example. The sub worked because the Spanish hadnât time to understand and get to grips with where Palmer would operate and because he hit it well and it took a friendly deflection. A mix of timing and luck then. Actually the best possible outcome a manager could have but no. The man is an apparently an idiot.
Losing finals hurts. Theyâve lost one on pens. and one to a brilliant late goal having scored one of their own. Itâs not a national tragedy and it absolutely doesnât make the manager the defensive, intransigent fool that many here would insist upon. He lost 2 games. Big games but 2. Not 20. 2. He lost by fine margins. Thatâs the very definition of football. Itâs not grounds for dismissal. Yeah he may well go now but if he does it wonât be because he canât progress things further. He has professionalised a lot of unprofessional stuff and dealt with more idiocy from the media and fans in 8 years than most face in a lifetime. Heâs not there because heâs pals with the FA. Heâs there because heâs shown you can raise standards; achieve more than you have in 50 years and not go insane. To face up to idiots throwing beer at you because of a football game and to walk towards them. Frankly you donât deserve him as a manager.
