Gareth Southgate's England

[Batman]

He should be happy about Foden’s mentality but instead wanted to put him back in his place. Southgate’s insistence that players only play in the position and role they play at their club is also a weakness. Fabregas and Bale are examples of how players can shine in one position for the country and one for their club. Pogba and McTominey are examples of how players can shine in different roles for their country yet appear lacklustre for their club in others.

We have some of the best attacking you attacking players in the world in Foden, Saka and Bellingham, then add Kane, Madison, Grealish, Sterling and Rashford and you can get a quality rotation in what should be an attacking team. Instead at time yesterday we had 6 players between the ball and Scotland’s midfield.

It’s not just poor quality but it’s also really ****ing boring

Like everything else with Southgate, he's also an enormous hypocrite. He began his England career playing Kyle Walker as a CB in a back three which is certainly not his position at City and wasn't even a position he had played before at club level. That 2018 World Cup was played with Walker out of position but now he's some kind of purist who only plays the player in the exact role they play at club level? Well if that's the case then Kalvin Phillips and Maguire should never get off the bench because that's their club position.

 

[Hunta]

It’s incredible how fluid England are without Maguire, Henderson and Saka in the team.

Ballers NOT bottlers, that’s the way forward Gareth.

 

[A_G]

 

[Gooner Zig]

What’s the issue with this if the player consistently performs for your team, and there isn’t really any viable alternative (depending on what you think of guys like Tomori ect)?

Because there are plenty of viable alternatives, there's 3-4 CBs I would play before Maguire.

 

[Gooner Zig]

It’s incredible how fluid England are without Maguire, Henderson and Saka in the team.

Ballers NOT bottlers, that’s the way forward Gareth.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Because there are plenty of viable alternatives, there's 3-4 CBs I would play before Maguire.

Other than Stones England have no other CBs proven at the top level (depending on what you think of Tomori), so there aren’t many guarantees the person you bring in is as good as Maguire (for England).

Southgate has many flaws but he isn’t the first international manager to have favourites.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Southgate doesn't need to watch Henderson play to pick him anyway

 

[Gooner Zig]

Other than Stones England have no other CBs proven at the top level (depending on what you think of Tomori), so there aren’t many guarantees the person you bring in is as good as Maguire (for England).

Southgate has many flaws but he isn’t the first international manager to have favourites.

Again, this is the fault of Southgate for not integrating other options when it has been clear Maguire has been poor for a long time.

 

[Batman]

I just don't understand how there's no oversight at the FA. A guy who has won nothing can just leave the country's best CB prospect since Ferdinand on the bench for 2 matches in favor of a meme? Nobody there says maybe you ought to see what we have less than a year from a massive tournament? Just as with Southgate being responsible for persisting with Maguire, the FA are responsible for persisting with Southgate. You can't live off of vibes from 5 years ago and glorious failure. England's last 3 tournament exits have been down to him making errors. A nation with any standards should have sacked him several times now.

 

[Gooner Zig]

I just don't understand how there's no oversight at the FA. A guy who has won nothing can just leave the country's best CB prospect since Ferdinand on the bench for 2 matches in favor of a meme? Nobody there says maybe you ought to see what we have less than a year from a massive tournament? Just as with Southgate being responsible for persisting with Maguire, the FA are responsible for persisting with Southgate. You can't live off of vibes from 5 years ago and glorious failure. England's last 3 tournament exits have been down to him making errors. A nation with any standards should have sacked him several times now.

It goes to show how low the standards are at the FA.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

I just don't understand how there's no oversight at the FA. A guy who has won nothing can just leave the country's best CB prospect since Ferdinand on the bench for 2 matches in favor of a meme? Nobody there says maybe you ought to see what we have less than a year from a massive tournament? Just as with Southgate being responsible for persisting with Maguire, the FA are responsible for persisting with Southgate. You can't live off of vibes from 5 years ago and glorious failure. England's last 3 tournament exits have been down to him making errors. A nation with any standards should have sacked him several times now.

As much as we English meme ''It's coming home'' we're actually not used to being genuinely good or realistic trophy challengers.

If we hit the semi's of major tournaments most people including the FA would accept that as England and Southgate doing well.

We just don't have the mentality or the self belief of nations Brazil or Spain where success is demanded. It's how a yes man like Southgate gets to stay in the job forever.

 

[MikelHadADream]

Again, this is the fault of Southgate for not integrating other options when it has been clear Maguire has been poor for a long time.

The point is he’s been fine for England over the years. There was no guarantee a Tomori/Dunk ect coming into the side over the last few years would have made England any better. Why fix something that hasn’t been particularly broken?

Moving forward, with Maguire's age more so than his performance level (for England), some newer guys should be integrated in though, but it looks like he’s doing that with Guehi.

 

[Rasmi]

The point is he’s been fine for England over the years. There was no guarantee a Tomori/Dunk ect coming into the side over the last few years would have made England any better. Why fix something that hasn’t been particularly broken?

Moving forward, with Maguire's age more so than his performance level (for England), some newer guys should be integrated in though, but it looks like he’s doing that with Guehi.

He doesn’t play for his club and you can’t just keep your spot without club football. And he has t been fine for England. The goal that knocked out England was Giroud bearing him on the first post

 

[mpower2540]

Think Souness and Cole are right when they said this is the best England squad ever.

Think best ever is pushing it. Don’t even think it’s the best in my lifetime. Even just comparing it to the so called “golden generation” how many would you take from this team over that one?

Goalkeeper: Meh not much to choose between them
Defence: Don’t think I’d pick any ahead of Ferdinand, Terry and Cole. Reece James or Trent would probably make it.
Midfield: Rice maybe? Again though Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard takes some beating. Think we have better wingers now.
Forwards: Rooney and Kane. Probably edge it to Rooney but close. The other forwards again are pretty underwhelming. (Personally felt Crouch was very effective for England)

Yet that team never made it past a QF. Bizarre how turgid we could look at times.

 

[Kobi]

Yeah, I still think 2003/2004 was better, the only real ‘weakness‘ was the goalkeeper, and he was still better than Pickford.

James

Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Campbell, Cole

Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes, Hargreaves, Joe Cole,

Rooney, Owen

 

[PoleInGoal]

Think best ever is pushing it. Don’t even think it’s the best in my lifetime. Even just comparing it to the so called “golden generation” how many would you take from this team over that one?

Goalkeeper: Meh not much to choose between them
Defence: Don’t think I’d pick any ahead of Ferdinand, Terry and Cole. Reece James or Trent would probably make it.
Midfield: Rice maybe? Again though Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard takes some beating. Think we have better wingers now.
Forwards: Rooney and Kane. Probably edge it to Rooney but close. The other forwards again are pretty underwhelming. (Personally felt Crouch was very effective for England)

Yet that team never made it past a QF. Bizarre how turgid we could look at times.

England had better individual players in mid-2000s but they couldn't play together. Scholes retired super early from the NT and putting Gerrard/Lampard together in a 4-4-2 was a recipe for disaster. The wing options were unspectacular (inconsistent Joe Cole and Beckham who was past his best), and the strikers were unreliable (Owen was a crock and Rooney underachieved at international level). For all these great players, England didn't even qualify for Euro 2008 ffs.

Today's players may not be as good individually but they fit together so much better especially in the modern game. I mean Rice-Bellingham-Foden is an ideally balanced midfield and could be around for the next 8 years. Saka, Grealish, Rashford are all better wing options than what came before, and Kane performs consistently for England. That team really has to win something.

 

[Riou]

Saw someone on Twitter call Southgate a "twitching ferret", best summary of him to he honest.

 

[TornadoTed]

Yeah, I still think 2003/2004 was better, the only real ‘weakness‘ was the goalkeeper, and he was still better than Pickford.

James

Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Campbell, Cole

Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes, Hargreaves, Joe Cole,

Rooney, Owen

That should have been the best team in the World but it never progressed from being a collection of great players into a great team. Very weird when you consider they had a much better manager too.

 

[RunTheTrap]

Think best ever is pushing it. Don’t even think it’s the best in my lifetime. Even just comparing it to the so called “golden generation” how many would you take from this team over that one?

Goalkeeper: Meh not much to choose between them
Defence: Don’t think I’d pick any ahead of Ferdinand, Terry and Cole. Reece James or Trent would probably make it.
Midfield: Rice maybe? Again though Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard takes some beating. Think we have better wingers now.
Forwards: Rooney and Kane. Probably edge it to Rooney but close. The other forwards again are pretty underwhelming. (Personally felt Crouch was very effective for England)

Yet that team never made it past a QF. Bizarre how turgid we could look at times.

This England squad has a balance of profiles over the “Golden Generation”. When Southgate isn't being a prick, we have a balanced midfield of top quality. Trying to fit Gerrard, Lampard and Scholes into one midfield probably did more harm than good for us. Rooney was never a pure 9 and while he had more quality than Kane, Kane is the better CF. When your talismanic players are not able to perform, it's easy to see why England were so turgid.

 

[Blood on the Tracks]

Yeah the ''Golden Generation'' may have had better club players but they weren't a great international side.

Gerrard, Lampard, Scholes etc weren't great England players. Really the only player of that generation that performed up to his club standards regularly for England was Ashley Cole.

The current England crop are a really good international side. So they're clear for me.