WilliamPS

Tbh we should be pleased as if they’d nicked it on Thursday nothing would change and it be straight out in the knockout round, now something must be done.

If Gallagher and Gordon came in we’d get a different England. I’m not saying they’d be amazing but Gordon holding the width and getting in behind would open up space for Bellingham and actually create some chances for Kane. Gallagher would improve the midfield massively out of possession (not so much in possession). He can’t possibly start TAA again.

My fear is he’s a bottler as usual and instead of dropping Foden he pushes Bellingham back and Foden goes 10, I don’t think that’ll work. My prediction after Serbia was he’s at least drop TAA and he bottled even that.

Personally I’d like to see a formation change to 433 but I don’t think Southgate has it in him. I also think those that want Wharton will be disappointed for the same reason, Southgate isn’t going to make that call, Mainoo has more chance.
 

Olise is a reminder how hard it is to buy off PL clubs. Players want huge salaries as stars are already on big money, transfer fees, even with release clauses are big.

All the domestic buys since the first window have been where the selling club has financial pressures they need to manager. Gordon and Hall were FPO restrictions, Livramento, Pope and Barnes relegated clubs
 

Makes me sceptical about a MGW, Neto or Mbeumo move (who would be a great signing IMO), unless they have release clauses. I reckon the RW may come from abroad 

36 minutes ago, Smal said:

Bayern will probably offer Palace £20m or something 

Given the claims about a CL release clause they probably have got a price that wasn’t available to NUFC 

The Glazers must be pissing themselves about the deal they did, sold part of the club but are still the real owners, meanwhile Ratcliffe is putting the cash in and will take any flack for performances, they keep making £££.

They are very astute businessmen, even if they have no interest in performances on the pitch.

10 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Bellinghams not a conductor type player.  We lack a midfield passer (that’s actually a midfielder)

England could put out a team that could out pass all but one or two sides in the competition.

A team with a spine of Rice, Stones, Bellingham and Foden, with two fullbacks and a striker who are all good on the ball should be establishing a rhythm and controlling games.

All the pieces of the puzzle are there. Just needs a sensible selection and tactics. Back in 2012,2014,2016,2018 yes you could say England just don’t have the quality, but thats just not true anymore.

Southgate has always been like this, he’s a coward as manager who will not make big calls.

People can debate the players but until the manager is ready to say I’m going to look past the names and play players that suit the system then England will be shite. Arguably the best attacking options in the competition and they are utterly toothless.

Pretty obvious why Chelsea are a draw to players - they win stuff and tend to play in the CL.

I imagine they say to players “ Yes we’ve had a bad season, but we will spend again to get back up- and you’re part of that”

Chelsea are going to be a force next season. Their squad and team will become more settled and they are unlikely to have such bad injury problems again.

I still think it’s worth hanging in there for Olise, but it’s low odds. After June time to move onto other targets

Murphy just spews total gibberish 

Gutter for Austria, didn’t take their chance and then that

Mbappe is a great player but the commentators totally over the top on him

Serbias manager correctly saw England’s only outlet was down the right through Saka, they got aggressive and shut that down. Their LB had a great second half. What is then up to englands manager is to adapt England to provide either a different threat on the right or to fix the left side. I think starting Foden at LW was fair enough, it was worth trying, but it didn’t work. That needs to be looked at for the next game.

TAA is a good player but he isn’t a midfielder, he isn’t good at receiving the ball facing toward his own goal and turning, or finding space between the lines to receive it, or pressing in midfield, which aren’t  requirements for a full back. Gallagher is a better solution when there’s little space in midfield. TAA would be fine in a game against a team sitting deep, or in an open game but not when England are getting pressed high up.

Fixing the two issues and England look like contenders. As it’s Southgate I think he probably fixes none or one, my prediction is Gallagher in vs Denmark and that will move England up a gear. If Gordon gets on the pitch the case for him at LW will be blatant 

18 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

This isn’t a squad for of world class players. There’s multiple positions of weakness. 

Sure but no international team is perfect, and this squad is strong enough to win the tournament if a canny manager uses them well.

What drives everyone crazy is the manager has never used the squads well or adapted mid game. In every single tournament game we’re all screaming at the TV from 60mins. This thread, Inc my posts are maybe a bit of an overreaction but its happened so many times we are all 0-ragy bastards in 10seconds.

I can’t bear Southgate’s game management but that’s been the same for 3 tournaments now. Other coaches know if you make aggressive changes, either tactics or personnel England will not react until at least the 70th minute. Hands opposing managers the initiative early in the second half every game.

I will reserve judgement on the Foden wide left debate until it’s clear how close to fitness Shaw is. If Shaw is a contender to start in a week then maybe the formation will come into its own and Southgate has made the call to play Foden now so the team settles. If he’s miles away then Foden on the left isn’t going to work and he should have changed it at half time.

Kane always gets pelters when England play badly but today (and on every other occasion) it’s cos he’s given nothing to work with. Give Kane chances and he bangs them in. 

Well we all know this is what you get from Southgate, he’s like this every game at every tournament 

Waits for an eternity and goes for safe like for likes 

Kane is performing a role and staying high up- but Foden isn’t having an impact and the Serbian RB is having an easy time, agree with the calls for AG on for Foden

Saka and Bellingham demonstrating sticking great players in their best positions 

That said, overall a decent start from England. First half of first game and winning with some good moves.

Getting Palace to accept a bid is the easy part, the struggle will be convincing the player this is the right next step for him.

Watched the BBC highlights show as was out - why doesn’t the BBC show a formation anymore? They only list the players in shirt number order. Same on their website

Really pisses me off as I can figure out Scotland and Germany formations and positions as I know the  players, but haven’t a hope for some of the other teams.

I can’t help but think it’s as they kept getting it wrong and have given up - but it’s useful!

Clubs often give permission for buyers to speak with players agents and agree terms before agreeing the transfer fee.

I think it helps selling clubs - the buyers know they can get the player so the seller can push for a few extra quid as the buyer is so far down the track, especially true when it’s a player that is going to be sold - and in this case Everton need to sell him

Ps I also don’t think these expansions are fair on the players 

The 16 team euros was great as most of the matches were contests and the knockout rounds were high quality. It was a short but quality competition 

Europe doesn’t have 24 watchable sides so now in the pursuit of £££ the quality of the tournament is diluted. 
 

Once the change is made it’s done though as they will never agree a measure that reduces revenue 

Reality of FFP is Liverpool can spend 40m on an understudy with potential. For NUFC those sums can (for now) only go on players who will be first team within 12 months

FFP working as intended to protect the established clubs

When you look down it the squad doesn’t have great depth. As when I think of England I think of the options up top I’d mentally forgotten that CB, GK, LB and CM are at best inexperienced 

Incredible front 4 with superb backups, good RBs, one top CM. Managed by an overly cautious coach. To win the tournament I think England will need to play to strengths and that’s a way more aggressive style than I’d associate with Southgate…but maybe he can change!

Be absolute lols if the related party stuff gets scrapped, and then the clubs who voted for all the FFP restrictions find they are bound by them but PIF can just inject a load of sponsorship.

Honestly be so funny

56 minutes ago, Cronky said:

We do have a problem with Pope, because his shoulder is vulnerable now, and we can't rely on his fitness. 

 

From what I've seen of Trafford, he's good enough to step in if Pope is out. He has Premiership experience and from what I've seen he looks like a confident, strong-minded lad. Pope has his weaknesses, and Trafford certainly has the potential to take over as number 1. 

 

When is the unknown, but in the position we're in, we have to take one or two considered gambles. We can't yet compete for the established stars.

Is there reason to believe his injury will recur rather than just being bad luck?

There is this discussion about every player. Some people start from what teams deep in the CL have and compare targets to that

Others come from the angle of who starts at the moment and what does a major upgrade look like.As the squad gets better these views will merge

This guy would clearly be a big improvement on Miggy and Murphy, for me that makes him a great signing. RW is the one unimproved area on the pitch, IMO Miggy is at best lower midtable and Murphy is behind that.

In a few years they’ll look at RW again and maybe then you get the next Saka… 

Lots of black and white tinted glasses in this thread.

Chelsea are ahead tyhe moment. They finished higher in the league and are in Europe. They also got to the league cup final and have a much better trophy record.

Whilst chucking around cash looks bad to us, to a player it says we will keep buying players until we have a top team.

To beat Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal or Liverpool to players requires regular European football and regular challenges for trophies - not CL football once.

The good news is there’s lots of players out there who will improve the squad and with good scouting the squad can easily get dramatically better than where it is today