McCormick

I honestly don’t see anything in him that suggests he could push on and become a useful top-half prem player imo . He lacks physicality, speed and the ball-carrying ability etc. to excel in a midfield 2. Those deficiencies aren’t coachable. He’s also pretty poor in a attacking sense, so doesn’t inspire much confidence in a 3 either.

Yup, he’s definitely very underdeveloped tactically but at 21 that’s to be expected, really. Needs to release the ball quicker and bring teammates into the game more to really excel at a top team. For us though, since we usually get the ball back in our own half (seeing as we have no discernible pressing), his ball carrying ability is so important. As we rely on players like Almiron and Murphy who, as soon as they get the ball, just charge up the field and run out of ideas in the final third, his pace and ability to get into the box late will get him a few goals.

Jesus, Everton fans are a miserable bunch, many in their forum tipping themselves for relegation this year

Nah, he’s above average for sure. Very highly rated at one point (now underrated imo) and still 23; he’d be our best cm if he were to join.

Forgot to hit submit an hour ago when I wrote that. Now it looks like I copied Mandoon’s post and gave it the Wikipedia source essay treatment…

Disagree tbh. Not a top 6 player but very tidy and quite underrated in my opinion. Lack of physicality aside, he’s technically pretty good overall. Would be an improvement on what we have, but that’s not really saying much.

Kamara for 12m. He’s supposedly one of the hottest young prospects in Europe ffs.

Completely agree with Mandoon, he’s a sensational footballer who can adeptly play in a number of positions (from a third CM to anywhere behind a striker). He is elite and the kind of player Pep loves. Genuinely can’t think of a better player (in quality or style) that they could have gone for, that would have been significantly cheaper tbh.

Exactly. Not sure what people are talking about; Grealish is definitely a world class talent. 100m may perhaps be a bit steep but you always end up paying 25% more when buying from (loaded) PL teams.

Only if they can prove it. Which, I imagine, would be difficult to do…

The unfortunate thing is that Ashley has turned this club into such a non-entity that no one outside Newcastle will know or even give a shit that this absolute shambles is going on. There needs to be a big reaction from fans to force this debacle into the public eye.

This is an absolute disgrace.

He’s just limited imo. Sitting back and countering can be a valid tactic depending on the personnel at your disposal. But come on; it’s been proven in the last few years that, if you have the players, a well-organized high press is generally the winning formula. Unfortunately, for all his good attributes, Southgate is not at that elite level to execute this kind of game-plan. Which, based on the talent of this squad, means he’s not up to the task.

He deserves praise for galvanizing the team but there’s no way he achieves anything without the insane talent in this current squad. He’s another in a long line of old school, English man-managers, with a tenuous grasp of modern tactics. No discernible play-style beyond sitting back and breaking. The England setup has been bolstered massively from the best (foreign) managers in the world getting involved with premier league teams and coaching our youth properly; which why we have this crop of talent. Unfortunately, there is a real dearth of good tactical English managers. We are still so far behind the coaching levels of countries like Germany and Italy.

Perfect opportunity at 1 nil to bring on Sancho etc. to catch them on the break. Gutless management. Southgate is a nice guy but a bit of a dinosaur tactically; our press today was non existent.

Sancho?

Rashford ffs

Get one of Sancho or Grealish on ffs.

Not sure how reliable but got it from here: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/england-team-leaks-before-euro-24509804

Don’t think we’re playing to our strengths though, would much rather have more players in the final third that can make runs/ run at their backline with pace.

Mount’s great, but I don’t see him being much use on the counter attack (if our tactic is to sit back and break).

Apparently going for a back 5, with Trippier coming back in, with Mount and Sterling behind Kane. Think that’s a bit too negative personally, but can’t argue with wanting to keep it tight early on.

The good thing about the 2/3 behind Kane is that all our options there are insanely talented so it’s fine.

I like Saka but he isn’t at the level of Sancho, Foden or Grealish yet IMO…

Really think playing a back 4 and with Saka in for Sancho is a bad move but I’ve looked pretty silly for doubting Southgate’s selections thus far. Honestly believe the same team vs Germany but with Grealish in from the start (over Saka) gives us the best balance of defensive solidity and threat going forward, but we’ll see. Pretty worried tbh!