I'm talking about England and Chelsea fans.
Conor Gallagher | Atlético Player
- Thread starter VorZakone
- Start date
He is crap though isn’t he?
Obviously he's not crap. He'd get into every single premier league matchday squad apart from maybe Man City.
Mainoo is levels above Gallagher.
England need to keep possession in midfield, not just add another guy who runs all day.
Southgate really is the gift that keeps on giving.
If i was a England fan, I'd be doing my absolute nut in with was Southgate is doing AGAIN.
England need to keep possession in midfield, not just add another guy who runs all day.
Southgate really is the gift that keeps on giving.
If i was a England fan, I'd be doing my absolute nut in with was Southgate is doing AGAIN.
You better hope he’s pulled before he makes the kind of error with his running out of position that has the masses turn on him.
It’s not his fault he’s in this predicament, but he’s on an absolute hiding to nothing there.
The thick cnuts who abuse players have already made their mind up.
Again, I think you’re being too overdramatic about this. Do I think there are better players suited to the role he routinely asks Gallagher to fulfil? Yes. Do I think it will be some unmitigated disaster if Gallagher starts? No, and that’s where I think people in this thread are being a bit over the top, and forgive me for thinking it has a little something to do with Mainoo being sat on the bench.
But it will happen. He’s the kind of player who will go towards man and ball rather than sit. And he’ll be reckless with it too.
You didn’t refute it because it is fundamentally what he does, and in this kind of competition it will prove costly. Surely you can see that?
The clamour is for Mainoo or Wharton; I don’t think there’s a distinction between the two, even on here.
I dont think I have ever seen Gallagher mindlessly abandon his post/duties to go chasing the ball like a headless chicken like you put it, even when he played this role at Chelsea in Enzo’s absence, he was ok. It’s not the role he’s best suited for but I don’t think playing him next to Rice will be a disaster, certainly not compared to when it was Trent. What I do agree with is that Southgate has players better suited to this role and should use them, but I’ll defend Gallagher from what I feel is very unfair flak.
I have a feeling this new thread dedicated to Gallagher, when another one already exists, would not have popped up if he wasn’t standing in Mainoo’s way. Thats just my feeling.
I don’t think club loyalty comes into it. Wharton or Mainoo, and at least the correct kind of player is there. If it failed then, it’s more ‘at least the best option was tried’, with Gallagher, every mistake and time he’s caught out of position will be seen as inevitable and obvious because he shouldn’t have been that deep in the first place.
For what it’s worth, the consternation is about him playing or starting deep; if England were set up to have a runner in midfield, he’d actually be the first name on the team sheet for a high octane, high pressing midfield unit.
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I feel for him a bit because he's not what England needs to fix the current issues. He has his uses but I don't really see many that we're currently desperate for.
I feel for him because he’s spent the last week watching Kalvin Phillips compilations
This is doubly bad news for me.
Firstly because I’m not even a particular fan of what Gallagher offers as a high pressing 8. I agree with the consensus that he is a bit of a headless chicken.
But secondly, it means that the player in the squad who is best at that role is again going to be playing in a position that he doesn’t have the passing ability to play. Rice is a great defensive shield as a 6, but a god awful progressive passer… and you lose his biggest assets from him being so deep. Those being elite pressing and ball carrying.
But our unbelievably negative manager only cares about one deliverable from a 6, which is being the defensive shield of the back four.
Prepare for another game of unbelievably ponderous build up from the back.
Firstly because I’m not even a particular fan of what Gallagher offers as a high pressing 8. I agree with the consensus that he is a bit of a headless chicken.
But secondly, it means that the player in the squad who is best at that role is again going to be playing in a position that he doesn’t have the passing ability to play. Rice is a great defensive shield as a 6, but a god awful progressive passer… and you lose his biggest assets from him being so deep. Those being elite pressing and ball carrying.
But our unbelievably negative manager only cares about one deliverable from a 6, which is being the defensive shield of the back four.
Prepare for another game of unbelievably ponderous build up from the back.
It’s just the feeling I have.
I don’t think there’s a single scenario that the masses would be happy to see Gallagher start, mostly because it seems like people just don’t rate him, which is fair enough, but I think the specific criticism in here feels over the top and unfair and often based on inaccurate ideas about what his game is like.
Yep. Gallagher has been really great for Chelsea since January next to Caicedo, who was the more progressive passer of the two. He’s been good all season tbh. A proper Poch type of midfielder.
But… I don’t think he should be ahead of Wharton, or Mainoo next to a Rice. Both Wharton and Mainoo’s use of the ball is superior to Gallagher in a progressive element. Southgate is making the wrong choice here.
But… I don’t think he should be ahead of Wharton, or Mainoo next to a Rice. Both Wharton and Mainoo’s use of the ball is superior to Gallagher in a progressive element. Southgate is making the wrong choice here.
A question for someone who watches him regularly then…
What are the strengths you think he would bring?
And based on the needs of the England team following those first two games, is he the best (or even close to the best) option to deliver what’s missing?
I think I answered a similar question on the first page.
And I no I’d prefer Mainoo or Wharton myself in the role Southgate had Trent playing in. I’ve agreed with those who are calling for that. I’m just here disagreeing with some of the more over the top takes about Gallagher.
For me, I think that is where most of the frustration lies though.
If Southgate went as you describe with Wharton or Mainoo, but Rice got injured… and the whole Jude at 8 thing failed to deliver, I don’t think anyone would complain about Gallagher coming into that 8 role to provide some pressing and legs.
It’s just because him coming in now doesn’t seem to address the main problems we have.
This team is never going to be very good at progressing the ball because this depends on coordinated movements and automatisms that Southgate doesn't appear to coach and because beating the press is really really really hard unless you're using every last yard of width on the pitch and Southgate has set the team up in a way that lets the opponent largely ignore the left quarter since he's got a LB that won't take the ball on his left foot down the line and a left winger that plays in the middle.
England can play Wharton or Mainoo but its not going to help much because they'll still get on the ball and look up to see a hugely congested pitch and a bunch of teammates that aren't moving.
Given all that, I think playing Gallagher is a defensible call because its going to be a disjointed game with a lot of second balls and tackling in midfield and he'll do better in that regard than either Mainoo or Wharton.
England can play Wharton or Mainoo but its not going to help much because they'll still get on the ball and look up to see a hugely congested pitch and a bunch of teammates that aren't moving.
Given all that, I think playing Gallagher is a defensible call because its going to be a disjointed game with a lot of second balls and tackling in midfield and he'll do better in that regard than either Mainoo or Wharton.
Good post and I largely agree defensively. But in attack Mainoo is one of the best I’ve seen at retaining the ball in a chaotic midfield. He’s done it all year at Utd! Of course the actual right decision would be to drop foden and get some width/pace wide left. That would fundamentally improve the balance of the team. Let foden impact things coming from the bench and rotating with Bellingham.
Liverpool fans were saying the same about TAA before the disaster sessions were there for all to see - that it was about club allegiance, rather than him being an awful fit for the role. I think things are being called as they are with England and even the likes of Foden, Kane and Bellingham are being called out as bad fits in respect of one another (encroaching on the same area of the pitch).
Gallagher is just not the player for a deep role, especially so when there are players who have performed well in them waiting for their turn.
That's completely fair and I absolutely agree that Mainoo would bring some real qualities to that kind of game with his skills at retaining the ball and getting out of tight spaces.
I just think (and my sense is that you agree) that sometimes these conversations seem to imply that England just needs the right midfielder to unlock this smooth possession based football and that's just not realistic with Southgate as manager. They're going to play a scrappy, disjointed, frustrating game and be less than the sum of their parts no matter who he puts into midfield and they're always going to struggle once they meet a side with similar talent but a much better setup and tactical instruction.
Bollocks.
Will probably be regularly getting into the Fulham squad next season.
Which club wouldn't he make a matchday squad for?
Who’s abusing players? Saying someone is a bit crap and shouldn’t be a starting for a top international side isn’t abuse.
Arsenal.
You're right that saying someone is *a bit crap" isn't abuse.
This is.
Also someone got a warning in the England thread for hoping he'd get injured.
These are extremes for Redcafe though because it's well moderated. I'm more talking about the wider social media bell ends who will be abusing players directly, rather than shit talking on a forum.
If you think he doesn't make their matchday squad then fair enough. I absolutely think he does.
Today at work a colleague was complaining about flies getting into the house and I said that flies are the worst thing in the world after Connor Gallagher
Nah, I think everyone here would happily see Wharton start too tomorrow.
Not sure what’s worse, the fact that Southgate has decided Connor Gallagher is the answer to the midfield issues or that that’s the only change he’s making. Probably the latter
It's not about Mainoo himself. It's about the type of player Mainoo is. No one had a problem with Wharton potentially starting because he's a midfielder of similar ilk. A technical one who seems to excel under pressure.
It doesn't really matter what club they play for. We always crave these technical players. Especially in midfield. The last couple of tournaments it was about Grealish. Before this "golden generation", it was Wilshere. I think it's lazy to just say we don't want to see Gallagher start because he's ahead of a Manchester United player in the pecking order.
I have a theory that anyone whose best position is as an industrious (rather than innovative) 10 is hated by default.
Well yeah, it’s sort of a “mid table” type position in that an “industrious” 10 is just someone that isn’t a good enough passer or reads the game well enough to play as a true CM but has good box instincts so they can ghost as a late arrival into the box for some goals.
Arteta could certainly get more out of him than any other manager has.
Spot on. It’s not about Mainoo. It’s about playing an actual technical central midfielder that can pass and play through the middle.
This silly cnut is right up Southgate's street. This will be his solution to us playing shite. I'd rather he play Trent than this shithouse.
Did he laugh his ass off and gave you a high-five or stared at his screen pretending he didn't hear you ?Today at work a colleague was complaining about flies getting into the house and I said that flies are the worst thing in the world after Connor Gallagher