England Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion

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I certainly don't agree with that. If you are arguably the best player for the best team in the country/potentially Europe (which Foden has been this season), then you are obviously a top player.

Rashford is a very different type of player. Very good at his best, but simply doesn't have the consistency. More individualistic perhaps, which seems to be the trait that you are looking for.
He's not better than Rodri and has only had one season (the most recent) better than KdB. Haaland is a more impactful player than him as well.
 
Foden certainly plays on the left sometimes, but I'd still give him a go in the middle before dropping him.

Hes definitely close to being dropped though
Agree that he's worthy of being dropped right now and I wouldn't have a problem with it. None if the attacking players have been great though.
 
Agreed. If you're putting money on a player to change a game for you out of those three, foden would be the last choice.

Those two can carry a team on their backs or at least have significant impact, even if the circumstances and environment aren't perfect. We've never seen that with Foden.
 
Rodri, Foden and Haaland. De Bruyne at his best was obviously a better player than Foden. I think 'was' is the operative word.
Fair enough, I understand your take here. I disagree, in that I think KdB at full fitness for a season is harder to replace adequately than Foden, but I get why you disagree.
 
The argument we've not played anyone of note is both true and irrelevant. History is littered with champions who win World Cups, Euros and Champions Leagues without paying anyone until the very latter stages.

2016 Portgual faced Croatia, Wales and Poland on their way to final. So this idea because England might reach the final without playing Spain, Manchester City, Barcelona and Brazil's 1970 team, it will be a caveated path to final, is nonsense
 
If one of the four had to miss the entire season due to injury, and you were a City fan, who would you choose? Haaland, De Bruyne, Rodri, or Foden?

Kdb we've done it without him a couple of times and himself and Phil have swapped importance over the last 12 months.
 
Kdb we've done it without him a couple of times and himself and Phil have swapped importance over the last 12 months.
Also Bernardo Silva was massive in 2018/19 when KdB was out injured, no?
 
We dodged a bullet not buying Kane.
Agreed.
Maybe some of the German posters here can explain how this version of Kane scored 30+ goals last season. Guy can barely move.
He’ll start the semi final for sure just hope Southgate has the stones to hook him after 60 minutes (but he won’t)
 
Agreed.
Maybe some of the German posters here can explain how this version of Kane scored 30+ goals last season. Guy can barely move.
He’ll start the semi final for sure just hope Southgate has the stones to hook him after 60 minutes (but he won’t)
What any competent manager would do is drop Harry Kane, and bring him on after 60 mins if Watkins or Toney are crap instead of the reverse. That would actually send a message to Harry Kane and he might also get a bit more space in the game to finish a chance. He's bloody useless when there is energy in the match.
 
I think with Kane its just he's suffering from not having runners off him. To be fair to Kane the only attacker that's looked anywhere near the level they were at their clubs is Saka and its only been this game, there were calls to drop him for Palmer earlier in the tournament as well. So I think it's more a tactical problem than a Kane/Foden/Bellingham/Saka problem.
Doesn't explain why he's doing his best Rashford impersonation. Never seen a player stroll around and do feck all for a whole game (tournament?). Why can't Safegate see things need changing up front?
 
It's genuinely hilarious still how much people underrate Pickford.

I think there’s a fair argument to be made that he’s England’s best goal keeper of the last 30 years or so, including Seaman.
 
Also Bernardo Silva was massive in 2018/19 when KdB was out injured, no?

100%, that was peak Bernardo in a City shirt. A lot of people at teh start of the next season argued our best midfield didn't include KDB as Bernardo and Gundogan did so well together (they were wrong).
In general with City we can win the league without KDB, Foden or Haaland but we can't win a game without Rodri. I think Foden over the last 12 months has become our most important player outside of Rodri.
 
Doesn't explain why he's doing his best Rashford impersonation. Never seen a player stroll around and do feck all for a whole game (tournament?). Why can't Safegate see things need changing up front?
When has Kane ever been a good runner and presser ?
 
I think with Kane its just he's suffering from not having runners off him.

There were a few examples of him not reaching the box for easy crosses. He looks like he's completely gassed to me. This whole tournament has been about Southgate being bullied into better selections. Foden and Kane both need benching. Foden has shown he can only do it for Pep.
 
There were a few examples of him not reaching the box for easy crosses. He looks like he's completely gassed to me. This whole tournament has been about Southgate being bullied into better selections. Foden and Kane both need benching. Foden has shown he can only do it for Pep.
Exactly this. Yesterday in particular he was always one or two steps behind the pace and/or didn't anticipate quick enough when they tried to get him the ball.
 
The thing that I don't get, is how deep he drops. Switzerland had every player past the centre circle numerous times, all playing football, knocking it about. Kane was way inside them defending.

Just go and stand on the halfway line, or at least have a tactic where Kane comes deep and defends but a fast player is on the halfway line. At least that way Kane is an extra player capable of a finding him if it breaks. Having nobody there is stupid. No team is going to push that high and leave a fast player behind them onside in his own half.
 
From The Athletic. Sums up why it's hard to be excited about being in a semi.
The underlying numbers suggest that, for the second game running, England gave up better chances than they created. The cautious, rather tedious, approach in the group stage has given way to England actually being outplayed by — on paper — inferior sides, and essentially relying on opponents not finishing their chances.
 
Kane has been a fantastic player but this version needs to be on the bench, he has offered virtually nothing. Whats annoying is he has become the new Henderson, in the team for ‘leadership’ and ‘experience’,* a classic Southgate aspiration. It’s not that he’s wrong to want unity etc., it obviously helps, although is it worth playing with effectively ten men for? If it works…. I guess… maybe. If it doesn’t, then hopefully he would understand why most of us want him gone.
*See also out of position tripper.
 
The way Safegate plays will cost England, or hold them back massively.

It's fine doing that against the big boys but not against Slovakia and Slovenia (and the rest).

These are games where you play to your strength and give the players confidence whilst also sharpening your attacking plays.

If England try this shit against a good team and then find themselves 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go, it will be much harder to come back from that.

But he has taken them far thanks to individual brilliance so there's still hope it works two more times.
 
Gareth Southgreat with the master plan.

Build a team optimise for 0-0 draws and spend all training efforts on penalties.

what a guy
 
Gareth Southgreat with the master plan.

Build a team optimise for 0-0 draws and spend all training efforts on penalties.

what a guy

If England win the tournament no-one will care and he will become Sir Gareth Southgate.
 
If England win the tournament no-one will care and he will become Sir Gareth Southgate.

Obviously. I mean even the ‘good’ tournaments we remember fondly were pretty iffy at times. We only actually won 2 games at Euro 96, and only scored 2 goals in the Group Stage at both Italia 90 and Euro 2020.

There does feel like something extra shit about this one though. The complete lack of actual chances or even shots on target is usually bad. Still, as you say, in 15 years time we’ll only remember the Slovakia game for the overhead kick.
 
I find it poetic that he was actually good through the previous 3 tournaments and you decided that he was actually crap and the reason you didn't win - which is still delusional bullshit, btw - , and now you're gonna win these euros, in which he's actually been crap and should have been the reason you went out...

International football is basically a dice game. You roll 'em and hope you're lucky. And also defence and set pieces
Before I get into this again, I'll just say that I somewhat disagree with @Pickle85 's reply to you here:

He absolutely wasn't good through the last three tournaments though.

I always say that Southgate did well until the Euro 2020/1 final. The 2018 World Cup was a breath of fresh air, and the lead up to the Euros final against Italy was the same. The problem was he cost us the final the same way he cost us against Croatia, which we were lenient with him on because we thought he'd learn, but he didn't. He's been horrible ever since.

Back to @giorno 's post. I find it funny that you label my criticisms of Southgate as "delusional bullshit" even though it's clear that not only do his mistakes cost us, he never learns from any of them. He repeats the same mistakes EVERY tournament. We're seeing the exact same things here that we're evident in EVERY tournament. Parking the bus after going ahead, which gives the opposition the incentive to attack non-stop until we usually crumble. Cost us against Croatia, cost us against Italy, almost cost us against Slovakia and almost against Switzerland in extra time. Except that time we weren't even ahead unlike the others. Then there's the refusal to deviate away from his favourites and reward the backups who are outperforming them. We saw that with Rashford and now Palmer.

Pointing these things out isn't "delusional". They're actually happening, and have been for years. You just refuse to accept that they're problems. You're only noticing there's a problem now because you didn't realise how much Maguire (on set pieces) and Sterling (in general play) bailed him out. Aside from missing two of our best performers in recent years, there's nothing different.

No offence but the only "delusional bullshit" I see is you thinking Southgate won't play Shaw because his Ouija board tells him not to or something :lol: Shaw is in the favourite category. If fit, he will play. The only way he doesn't start is if he's not fit enough to play, at the very least, a full 90. I find it surprising that you'll be critical of Southgate over this, but didn't bat an eyelid when he brought Sterling on over Rashford against France despite the fact that Sterling had just had to fly back home to deal with a family emergency, so he was in no way prepared to play in such a game. Never mind the fact that Rashford was outperforming him the whole tournament on top of that.
 
Ive been pretty about Englands chances for years now but weirdly I think they might just do it this time. They are bound to put in a good performance soon and it wouldnt surprise me if they put in a good performance at just the right time.
 
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