These Euros have been a lot of fun…
https://x.com/FreddyQuinne/status/1805688964524949753?t=RpEbka3sb3u70VUxR2kZGg&s=19
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I get that the manager is the biggest problem. But still, wouldn’t you expect at least a few moments of individual brilliance even in a bad setup? Didn’t see much of that so far.
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Only saw the second half. and for me the standout England player in the second half was absolutely nobody.
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I watched Denmark V Serbia thinking yeah it’s going be a bit better.
Nah.
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England were crap, but topped the group. An uninspiring effort so far, and sleep walk their way to the last 16.
Now that it is do or die, I fully expect the action to commence.
Will England be good enough to win it all? Doubtful, and certainly not on what a we’ve seen so far. But surely they have to find something better than this?
Let’s see. If they do, it will start to get interesting.
Time to get radical:
Pickford
Trent Guehi Stones Gomez
Rice Mainoo
Saka Palmer Foden
Watkins
It will never happen, but I’d shake it up a bit.
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The funny thing is that I genuinely don’t know whether you’re addressing me or some England fan, which makes this the only highlight of this football night - and it’s a great one, I properly laughed. 
I think that living in a developed, organised country and supporting such a national team has unreasonably raised your expectation of football - you can’t produce a moment of individual brilliance if the life and joy have been sucked out of you. This is what Stojković did to this bunch of players.
For the past two years, he’s been playing a left footed, right wing playmaker in right wingback role. He’s played a left winger at left wingback during that period. Again Slovenia, he had inverted his wingbacks, a tactical idea previously unseen in world football. He deployed a defensive midfielder behind the main striker tonight. He called up a no-mark right back instead of two of the country’s most promising young right backs. He hasn’t called up a second left back, even though one he could call up is getting decent minutes at Salzburg. He’s playing two classic no. 9s together in a formation that has three-man defence in the year 2024. He ended the game with three classic no. 9s because he thinks that having more offensive players means his team would score more goals. He’s relying on players who are either too old or playing in Saudi Arabia. He called up younger players on the back of their good seasons, only to not let them play any meaningful minutes. He’s mate with everyone in the national football association, though, so he’ll stay on. Sorry for ranting…
You sound like my best man. Both of you are right, unfortunately.
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I was talking about the England/Southgate debate tbh. Answer was interesting anyway.
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Rice trying to whip the supporters up by waving his arms but they have not stopped shouting and loudly supporting them the problem is the players not doing their jobs Palmer came on and nothing has happened Mainoo made zilch difference they might have to get another sub the manager
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We’ ve been there, we had some devastating times and played really crap over some time to a point where everyone lost interest and stopped watching etc.
You guys are at least still in the competition, it’s not all hopeless. It will be getting better at some point.
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Come on…think through the logic here. What did he have to demonstrate to get said elite side to want him?
This team is genuinely peppered with properly excellent players, but like pretty much every side, apart from possibly France, it has to make up numbers with less than elite players. The France call out though is instructive because like I said, they are probably the only team who can put out an XI of nothing but top CL level performers. Yet they are still struggling to click. That is the other side of the coin that suggests success in international football is not a simple question of whether the players are good enough. It is far more about taking an imperfectly assembled group and finding a way to piece them together that allows your good players to shine and your weak players to be protected.
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What did Rodrygo or Vinicius demonstrate? Or Camavinga? Potential. Or, more specifically, the potential to become an important cog in a well-oiled machine, under an outstanding head coach.
They only became “world class” once at Madrid.
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Kane and Bellingham dropped? You’re right, that’ll never happen. But both of them should be subbed off after an hour if they put in performances as lacklustre as this one.
I’d start with this:
Pickford
Trent Guehi Stones Walker
Rice Mainoo
Saka Bellingham Gordon
Kane
If Saka continues to disappoint as well, then I’d like to see Bowen given some game time.
Vini and Camavinga both took time to get up to speed and answer questions about their quality. Vini several years and Camavinga debatable still hasnt done that yet after 2. Rodrygo is likely being forced out because he hasnt lived up to potential.
Jude arrived, Real realized he was as good as they thought he was an immediately made him a key cog in a double winning side. Any argument that we have been conned into thinking Jude is a top player because Real allows him to look good is the sort of argument that can be automatically dismissed as absurd.
We have ended up with a team where 5 of its best players all want to ball in the same deep areas because their natural games do not remotely compliment each other. That requires a manager to either drop some of them for lesser players who will compliment those who are left (e.g. someone who will stay high and wide on the left, especially when your LB is Trippier) or, have a savvy manager who devises a game plan to get them gelling. We have a manager who has neither option available to him because of some combination of lack of imagination, nous, game plan, and balls.
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I don’t think it will get better though! That’s the problem, every time. Southgate and his team have zero nous it seems. They’re incapable of changing things up and get found out before they even start playing. It’s so, so boring
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Cricket is there in the meantime.
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