Final | Spain vs England

I'm guessing this is the general consensus in here anyway, but setting England up to play without the ball and still playing Kane, Foden and Bellingham was terrible tactically. I think it's either cowardice or extreme naivety from Southgate. We can all talk about individual performances but ultimately this comes down to poor tactics from a manager on borrowed time. One good 45 minutes in the whole tournament and weaker xG than Croatia who played three games.

Maybe Watkins with Gordon and Saka either side in a front three would've been the way to go. Potentially TAA at RWB to play longer passes, with Shaw on the other side and the same midfield and back three? Might've had some joy there if we had players who would run in behind. Carvajal wouldn't have had a fun game playing against someone more direct like Gordon is.
 
Its pretty clear that Harry Kane was not fully fit, as neither was Luke Shaw; so why did Southgate include them? To be fair Kane could have started on the bench and come on later, but, just as happened with Bryan Robson, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, an England manager hasnt got the guts to leave certain injured players out.
Southgate is, at best, a mediocre manager but he ticks all the FA boxes as hes "nice" doesnt take people to court, fills in his tax returns promptly and doesnt make statements likely to cause offence......and hes a good loser, but then hes had plenty of practice.
 
redmanx said:
Its pretty clear that Harry Kane was not fully fit, as neither was Luke Shaw; so why did Southgate include them? To be fair Kane could have started on the bench and come on later, but, just as happened with Bryan Robson, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, an England manager hasnt got the guts to leave certain injured players out.
Southgate is, at best, a mediocre manager but he ticks all the FA boxes as hes "nice" doesnt take people to court, fills in his tax returns promptly and doesnt make statements likely to cause offence......and hes a good loser, but then hes had plenty of practice.
Click to expand...

The squad selection was completely void of logic, as were the subsequent team selections once the tournament started.
 
redmanx said:
Its pretty clear that Harry Kane was not fully fit, as neither was Luke Shaw; so why did Southgate include them? To be fair Kane could have started on the bench and come on later, but, just as happened with Bryan Robson, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, an England manager hasnt got the guts to leave certain injured players out.
Southgate is, at best, a mediocre manager but he ticks all the FA boxes as hes "nice" doesnt take people to court, fills in his tax returns promptly and doesnt make statements likely to cause offence......and hes a good loser, but then hes had plenty of practice.
Click to expand...

That last paragraph sums him up perfectly
 
Kyle walker was horrible for England in the final. Williams left open for the first goal and a free cross was allowed for the second goal.
 
I think this fourfourtwo video is a really good analysis of the key moments and the goals. Lots that makes sense there. My reflections after it were:

- Harry wasn't injured, just in a system which didn't suit him. He shouldn't have been starting, at least not after the group stages
- I was screaming for Trippier to come in at RB from about 65 minutes because Walker looked knackered, and maybe was right
- Something weird is going on for Pickford to have been persisting with punting long balls forward even when players on the pitch were screaming at him for balls to feet - maybe some dissention in camp. Maybe Southgate didn't think he could drop him. I don't believe for a second he can have been following instructions.
- Spain were actually really good, but we weren't bad.
 
We don't have a culture of recycling the ball in midfield. So it's not a question of producing a Rodri, we can produce a teenager who might turn out like him, but English football, adult football, will wring that out of him. In youth football, Loftus Cheek looked like Ballack, then he went to Palace and hared after loose balls all the time. That's English football.
John Barnes said similarly, here when Rice has looked good, people then start demanding he do more, roam around the pitch more. Spainiards never talked like that about Busquets, expecting him to become some all action box to box hero. All roads point to Gerrard and Bryan Robson here in England.
I'm not sure Carrick was a casualty of Gerrard/Lampard, if anything it was Owen Hargreaves and later, more significantly, Gareth Barry, who was preferred in that deep midfield position. By that time, England played 433.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.