England Discussion

croadyman said:
Feel we should take two strikers to the Euros alongside Kane out of

Watkins
Wilson
Toney
Calvert-Lewis

Who would people pick?
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Depends who is fit really. DCL has looked good for us since he's been back and scored 3 in 4 games. All the others have been great too though so it really just depends on form and fitness. All have a facet to their game that is better than the others.
 
adexkola said:
It looks like JWP is having the better season for West Ham so far.
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Can you try comprehending what I said instead of just parroting information mayhap?

I'll repeat - why does it have to be one or the other? There's no club limit. They play different positions, and are both having great seasons. It's like saying Stones and grealish shouldnt both be called up because one is having a better season.
 
Have a feeling we're witnessing the beginning of the undoing of Southgate. Players and pundits will start to get the hump with him picking his favourites. Questions are being asked about his tactics now we have such attacking riches, yet insists on playing 2 holding midfielders.

I think he's taken this group as far as he can, but I'm not really sure I know who I'd want to replace him.
 
‘Fans booing Henderson defies logic says Southgate’. Fact he keeps calling him up defies logic. Twit.
 
Players should not be booed unless they visually look like they cannot be bothered. Managers are fair game. I am also not sure why Henderson keeps getting called up.
 
Changeisgood said:
Players should not be booed unless they visually look like they cannot be bothered. Managers are fair game. I am also not sure why Henderson keeps getting called up.
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Surely booing someone for seemingly having very little morals and turning their back on the LGBTQ community is more understandable than booing someone for their body language on the pitch?
 
One thing you do have to credit Southgate for is the environment he creates. It's hard to quantify the reasons as it could be international football in general but when you contrast it to what's happening with United it's as if the players illuminate themselves when putting on a national shirt. Can't say it's more pressure at club football either as England gets as much negative coverage as domestic football especially observing the treatment of Saka during the euros.
 
Samid said:
The doubters have gone quiet now for some reason.
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No no, he's still a level or two below what's required to win a tournament. He's fortunate to have the talent he does at his disposal in spite of this.
 
Redstain said:
One thing you do have to credit Southgate for is the environment he creates. It's hard to quantify the reasons as it could be international football in general but when you contrast it to what's happening with United it's as if the players illuminate themselves when putting on a national shirt. Can't say it's more pressure at club football either as England gets as much negative coverage as domestic football especially observing the treatment of Saka during the euros.
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This I 100% give him credit for. Hes changed the culture of the national team for the better.
 
Samid said:
The doubters have gone quiet now for some reason.
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But they were proven right.... an ultra talented top 4 and Rice carried Kalvin Phillips to a solid win against a fairly dire Italy side. England would be red hot favourites with a Premiership-or similar level manager, instead they are ultra marginal favourites over France.
 
Will be interesting to see if Southgate is prepared to be brave and bring in Trent to play as one of two holding players, which would make this England team look even more ridiculous (with Saka and Shaw back in as well). I think Pep would probably go even more attacking and play both Bellingham and Mount but there’s no way Southgate goes that aggressive.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
This I 100% give him credit for. Hes changed the culture of the national team for the better.
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I agree because establishing a culture is clearly something very difficult to do. I think Erik is trying this at United and from leaks / reports it's almost as if some are buying into it and some aren't.

I think the most important element nowadays with the modern players mentality is to resonate with them on an individual basis. Southgate comes across as an easy guy probably does have some discipline but he doesn't seem a robust personality so can get others to buy into his ideas. While it's very evident there are better managers tactically it's not a guarantee that every coach can build such an environment where players are are so on side throughout the entire squad.
 
Probably a couple of players short of having the best 11 in international football at the moment. A keeper, a better CB than Maguire and a metronome in midfield and it’d be hard to argue against them.

With what he’s got he should probably win something, anything less is arguably a failure. Just needs a bit of luck.
 
Samid said:
The doubters have gone quiet now for some reason.
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The same doubts are still there. A solid result, at home, against an Italy side in transition doesn't really change much. Especially when he insisted on playing a completely off the pace Phillips, who was crap.
Doracle said:
Will be interesting to see if Southgate is prepared to be brave and bring in Trent to play as one of two holding players, which would make this England team look even more ridiculous (with Saka and Shaw back in as well). I think Pep would probably go even more attacking and play both Bellingham and Mount but there’s no way Southgate goes that aggressive.
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Not a chance. Maybe against your Malta's and the like, but not a chance he does that against anyone half decent.
 
BuzzKillington said:
Probably a couple of players short of having the best 11 in international football at the moment. A keeper, a better CB than Maguire and a metronome in midfield and it’d be hard to argue against them.

With what he’s got he should probably win something, anything less is arguably a failure. Just needs a bit of luck.
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I'm looking at the top 20 Fifa rankings... and I'm not sure there's one nation that, on paper at least, has a better 11? France just have Mbappe wild card to play, Argentina are just a mega unit built around the also mega card of old man Messi.... and there's no one else to even discuss.

Lash said:
Especially when he insisted on playing a completely off the pace Phillips, who was crap.
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What you talking about? Southgate just said he was phenomenal! His defiant defence of these players is admirable.
 
Zen said:
What you talking about? Southgate just said he was phenomenal! His defiant defence of these players is admirable.
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It is admirable. Mean old pep just doesn't understand what he's got in his squad.
 
Zen said:
I'm looking at the top 20 Fifa rankings... and I'm not sure there's one nation that, on paper at least, has a better 11? France just have Mbappe wild card to play, Argentina are just a mega unit built around the also mega card of old man Messi.... and there's no one else to even discuss.



What you talking about? Southgate just said he was phenomenal! His defiant defence of these players is admirable.
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I think there are question marks about the best partner for Stones and then who should be the unequivocal no. 8 in terms of 'weaknesses' in that squad. Lots of decent options but all with some kind of weakness in terms of form or positional play or composure and ability to play quickly around a press against the very best sides. Personally I'd play Bellingham at 8 (alongside Rice, clearly) and have him alternate with Foden at 10, even though Foden also seems to drift out of games for England more than he does in the City system. At CB there are 2-3 I would prefer to Maguire but there's not one candidate who absolutely stands out and, more to the point, Southgate won't drop Maguire short of injury or real scandal for the moment, so it's academic.

He should still be aiming at another Euro Final, with questions at least asked if we fall short of this (failing freak bad luck or meeting France in the Semis instead and going out on penalties/odd goal out of 5 etc).
 
Redstain said:
One thing you do have to credit Southgate for is the environment he creates. It's hard to quantify the reasons as it could be international football in general but when you contrast it to what's happening with United it's as if the players illuminate themselves when putting on a national shirt. Can't say it's more pressure at club football either as England gets as much negative coverage as domestic football especially observing the treatment of Saka during the euros.
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I think it's the Ole effect. He puts the players in a position and from there let's them do what they want and they love it, but he's only doing it because he's not good enough to instruct them properly. The players are talented enough to beat 90% of international teams on their own but its why we always fall apart when we meet anybody equal to that that would require some coaching and tactics on top.

It all fell apart for Ole when players started wanting opposing things.
 
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Last night reinforced the effectiveness of England’s game model where they contain decent sides and then pick them off on the break. That alone will take them far, but ideally they also need to show more patterned build up through the middle and final thirds. That’s Southgate’s weakness compared to the top club managers and something that tends to catch him out against the best opposition where the reliance on individual moments and counter-attacking has its limits.
 
You have to say England looking very strong, certainly strong contenders for the European Championship and the tournaments thereafter, so much quality in the side nowadays. Italy played very well yesterday but were eventually undone by the sheer quality in this England side.
 
Rams said:
You have to say England looking very strong, certainly strong contenders for the European Championship and the tournaments thereafter, so much quality in the side nowadays. Italy played very well yesterday but were eventually undone by the sheer quality in this England side.
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That was one of the worst Italian teams in their history. We’ve got the players already but when it comes to that tight knockout game and we need a manager with tactical nous and to out think the opposition, we will come up short yet again. The only chance is if we have an easy run and somehow avoid the big teams. I’ve got limited confidence in Southgate to show any tactical aptitude.
 
They really can be a very good side when everyone is on it. They probably have the best striker going into the euros, the best attacking depth, a very strong collection of full backs (arguably also the best) and a top international keeper (he's not a world class keeper but very good and is Ochoa-like when it comes to tournaments). They should righly be one of the top favourites but it all comes down to whether Southgate can set them up correctly and if the light midfield options can see them through. Rice and Bellingham are key in it, if they lose one of those then it will all fall apart.
 
croadyman said:
Feel we should take two strikers to the Euros alongside Kane out of

Watkins
Wilson
Toney
Calvert-Lewis

Who would people pick?
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It has to be toney +1 for me, hes the only one on the list where in the event of kane getting injured, he could slot in and do a similar job (albeit of lower quality).

Someone like watkins would require a change to the team set up to utilise his strengths (in-behind threat, etc).
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
Surely booing someone for seemingly having very little morals and turning their back on the LGBTQ community is more understandable than booing someone for their body language on the pitch?
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No, its not. Your average folk go to football to get away from the politics of the real world and just watch a game of football.

The 2 shouldnt need to intercept, period.
 
TheGame said:
That was one of the worst Italian teams in their history. We’ve got the players already but when it comes to that tight knockout game and we need a manager with tactical nous and to out think the opposition, we will come up short yet again. The only chance is if we have an easy run and somehow avoid the big teams. I’ve got limited confidence in Southgate to show any tactical aptitude.
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Italy are a decent side collectively, they work hard and are tactically strong, but they lack the quality that England have. Yesterday was a high quality match and Italy were excellent, but tired later on in each half due to the high intensity football they try to play.
 
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