I agree. Maybe bar Trent. Think as an overall best 11 England should be much better off.
I think itâs been like that for a few years. There was no dominant team at the any of the main competitions last summer and in January. Brazil were running on this unbeaten streak which fell apart when it faced someone good and probably should have collapsed before that.
France are talked up but seem to be a bit PSG when it comes to the big games. Someone mentioned Croatia as an outsider and itâs not a bad bet.
I donât know if anyone else is saying this point, so will review comments, but here we are, mid June, long after most of the England players have let down for the summer. Liverpool kept going until later than most, but even that was weeks ago now. These players are well past their peak.
The players are professional athletes. It is impossible to be tip-top in perpetuity. The players are tuned to go for the season. It is a certainty that a lesser competition like the Nations League, that few people care about, played by players who are long overdue a break, will yield iffy games.
Iâm not a rah-rah little Englander who will support them at all costs, but Iâm as certain as can be that this was way below what they might otherwise have been able to achieve.
The wider issue is too much football, played under too many governing bodies, who all have their noses in the trough. Significant reform is needed.
The âproductâ (ugh) is being diminished under the current circumstances.
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FIFY.
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Okay letâs not take things out of context. If Leeds had their starting players (including Phillips) fit for majority of the season, they wouldnât be where they are and Bielsa would still be at the helm. Phillips is a good player. A midfield 3 of Rice, Phillips, and Hendo or Bellingham not to be sniffed at.
Gareth canât play Gomez at CB when heâs only played there for us in a handful of cup games all season.
I felt like he could have maybe tried Sessegnon at LB and Harvey Barnes as one of the attackers because he can break through lines on his own and finish plus create.
We are very much lacking at CB so playing 3 at the back is a good way to compensate.
Chilwell is healthy again so I hope he is included in the squad
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Southgate is the embodiment of a job for the boys type of manager. Ticks a lot of the corporate boxes off the field, and his staid style of play (with the quality of players at his disposal) ensures that he can qualify for WC and Euros, allowing the suits to pat their backs.
Not to say he doesnât have âgoodâ points. His rigid structure with two defensive players in front of the safety first defence (against top teams, always with three CB), allows a settled team to grind out results.
Once he has to experiment, put in other players, he comes up short. His style needs all the top players fit and available to grind out that 2-1 win.
So when comes up against Hungary, and decides to go attacking (in his mind), he sets up with Kalvin Phillips holding in front of a back four, with Bellingham and Gallagher either side. But he probably spent his training sessions getting the young lads to hold position as if they were part of a DM pivot.
Southgateâs turgidness requires a solid base with a moment of magic from a Stirling or a Kane.
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This is exactly my question, from afar, of Southgate. His actions arenât matching his words.
Hansi made 5 changes in our side tonight from last match. The backline has been a work in progress or âexperimentâ, if you like, through these matches. The lineup has been fluid.
Hansi has his blueprint and his formation but heâs not so rigid with choosing players. He has shown no problems sitting experience. To that point, Iâm not so sure Goretzka is a starter moving forward.
Jonas Hofmann has been somewhat a positive revelation as a result of getting an extended look.
If Southgate knows what he has in these experienced players (Kane for example) why does he seem so afraid to just let the backups or younger players play, and get an extended look?
EDIT: all of that said, I didnât watch one minute of the England match, so I might not have a proper perception of what heâs doing or not doing.
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I didnât mean that to be a criticism of Phillips as a player. He is a talent. But he is young, and he has been playing for a struggling team (albeit one that stuck to a more dynamic attacking style). At the same time though, there are only a handful of fixtures left for England before the World Cup. It is a very strange time to be giving a young player a first cap, which strongly suggests that Southgate doesnât see that many options out there.
That said, a midfield of Rice, Phillips and Henderson is going to be solid defensively, but not particularly productive. Bellingham slightly alters that, but at the considerable expense of midfield control.
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Heâs 26.
Not as young as I thoughtâŠshould be just coming into his peak.
I guess Southgate wants to see if he is worth taking to Qatar. At that age, contrary to my original thought, he wonât likely be in the frame for 2026
Also, he has 23 caps for England in the last few years, so canât really be considered a newbie
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I liked that film, we do comedy well on and off the pitchđ. The scene with Pele was hilarious.
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Because Southgate.
Also I love how Southgate comes out with the whole âwe went too attackingâ after going 1 down for the collapse 2nd half the absolute buffoon.
Just shows his mentality in how we wants to set up to play the defensive little rat.
I think an in form Philips is pretty much a guaranteed starter, was a big part of the success at the euros. A lot of people missing out Mount in their midfield, canât see Southgate dropping him either. Hendo doesnât get many starts these day, which Iâm not upset about!
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Never a truer word spoken. He makes beige wallpaper look exciting.
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I think this is a key point. Southgate is well aware of it having experienced it as a player, but England just donât produce the type of players to be able to meet a top side like Argentina or Spain head on and beat them by âoutplayingâ them. At our best weâre a side that is going to have to concede possession and control of a game and hurt them in transition when we get the ball or from set pieces. Southgate specifically has 2 issues with this
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The vast majority of real games he gets are against weaker sides where weâre going to need to be more proactive to break down a side who is looking to frustrate us and get a point. This creates a real dilemma for how to go about creating an identity for the side - how do you develop the identity necessary to win the games that will define your tenure if you need to play differently in the majority of your meaningful games?
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If weâre going to accept giving better teams more of the ball then we have to be confident weâre going to be able to stand up to the pressure that puts on us. Unfortunately, we are just historically shit in the positions needed to do that, namely CB and goalie. Southgate can either put his fingers in his ears and pretend that isnât true and then watch that area of the pitch fuck them time and again, or he can try to bolster it by making accommodations elsewhere (extra CB, more ball winners in midfield). He has mostly taken the latter option, but you see what is possible, even against another mediocre side like Hungary, what is possible when you try to ignore that glaring weakness.
People may have concerns over southgate and may have legit preferences to see different more creative players in the team, but none of these fundamental challenges are solved by just appointing a new manager.
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I guess the big question for the FA is when and how does this change?
I think itâs already started to. A good friend of mine I grew up playing with has had roles in technical development with the Welsh FA and Swansea City and says in terms of the things the kids can do and understand when they get to the point he encounters them is night and day compared to 10 years ago. You can even see evidence of it by just going out and watching youth football. But itâs a generational thing, and possibly multigenerational. Because the issue isnt just that talented kids are not being coached properly, its an issue of the entire footballing culture and the prevailing attitude to the game. What that means is you get generations of kids coming up who have had good coaching as kids, only to get to the higher age groups and senior football realize the game at that level hasnât yet changed and what theyâve been trained to do is not valued. Really we need enough generations of these kids to come through and stay in the game so they can replace the dinosaurs.
We have always produced the odd player who can do something a little different, but until we produce enough of them that theyâre competing for spots for england youâre not going to be able to change the personality of the england side.
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I think a huge part of the problem in England is the time scale that the FA insists on targeting. When the FA said in 2013 they were aiming to win Qatar 2022, all they really announced was that they did not really understand the problem.
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