leffe186

That might be true, and IIRC there were people on here saying he can’t not play Foden or whoever (Bellingham, TAA, Kane etc). The thing is, I don’t give the slightest shit and neither should he. Work out what you think the most effective team is going to be and play that. He’s been the manager for eight years. If that’s a genuine issue at this point then all this talk about changing the culture etc - the thing that I actually still back him for - is a failure too.

I think you’re right about the changes in expectation but that word covers a multitude of sins. There were always silly people who thought “we’ve got all these great players ergo we should be great” while ignoring the obvious deficiencies at the back and in the Director’s chair. But I’m with you in that I had expectations fuelled partly by Gordon’s good performances in the run up. It seemed like we had the skeleton of a really interesting team with lots of potential and some useful substitutes. I’m 51, been watching and playing football for ever, pretty clever, and I think I’ve got a reasonable grasp of the game. I just feel like I’m being gaslit by Southgate. It’s all just so fucking stupid. There’s a way to set up that builds around Kane, but we’ve not done that. Or that builds around Foden, but we’ve not done that. Or that builds around Bellingham, but we’ve not done that either. It just all seems completely pointless until we do the obvious and play Gordon. Then we can have the discussion about who the middle three are, or if we fuck Kane off and have somebody who runs around up front, or if we tweak the FBs. I fear that TAA has already had his mind fried by trying to play CM. Of course everyone is missing the obvious reason we’ve been shit. He didn’t pick a Spurs player.

I really think people are over-analyzing things. This hasn’t been shit because of expectations or players not trying or caring. It’s been shit because of a glaring fundamental tactical error by Southgate that he apparently just refuses to see. Where it gets more complex is when we seem to sit back after scoring a goal, but we can’t even judge that properly until we’re playing a proper XI with a proper LM/LW. I don’t see any point in more extensive analysis or criticism until he fixes that. It changes so much.

Well that would have been stunning. Are you fucking watching Southgate?

Gordon scoring now would be mint

Loved that touch from Palmer.

Trent masterclass

Yup. Although still not the obvious move we’ve been talking about for fucking weeks now.

Southgate taking all the piss now.

He clearly feels he needs to rest Saka when he can. It’s one of the few things I can’t fault him on. Much rather have a fresher Saka in the knockout.

Was working late but as soon as I heard the team I didn’t rush. What’s the point? We said what needed to be said before the first game even started. Nothing has changed. Watched the last few mins of the first half then walked the dog. Presume it’s all been as you would expect?

Yeah the rumour is 300K or some such.

Takes a while to get houses for the parents sorted if there’s a chain

fuck just made myself a sandwich what happened?

It really didn’t look all that bad at first. Presume the guy got caught on the way? It look like he might have fallen on his back - wonder if it did that awful thing when you fall on your back and then your head bangs against the ground. Fuck.

Still seem a bit whiny and petulant tbh.

De Bruyne special.

Yeah really enjoying watching them so far. Adventurous and exciting.

I was just making Vaj aware that you’d already made that change in policy.

You have been hoovering up kids from smaller clubs’ academies.

The thing is Yorkie, they’re professional footballers and bloody good ones. I really think they’re capable of adapting and thinking for themselves in a more orthodox structure. If you have Gordon left in front of Trippier and Saka right in front of Walker then I have confidence in those four players doing good jobs in those positions. The unknown is how the midfield adapts and whether we’re better with Kane dropping and players running past him or Toney/Watkins harassing defenders. The big issue right now is he’s setting them up to fail.

Not seen the second half yet but it’s faintly ironic that the defence has been comfortably the best part of our team so far.

This was the compromise between me and my builder. We play like shite so the flaws are exposed but we get enough to get through (probably) so we can try some interesting stuff against Slovenia. Maybe?

I’ll watch the second half when I get back - how has Watkins done up front?

Am on the bus so haven’t been watching since about the 55th minute. I don’t hate Southgate, think he’s overall been a successful manager. The problem is that he’s persisted in these last two games with two clear and obvious personnel and tactical errors that affect the whole of our play (exacerbated against Serbia because it played into their hands at the back). This is top level international football. Coaches are going to adapt and make changes that exploit clear and obvious errors, even if their own personnel is relatively limited.