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1 hour ago, Yorkie said:

Shock, as exhausted half-arsed players playing pointless end of season match in front of juveniles deliver performance fitting of the occasion. If this isn't the time to draw conclusions about our  past performances in entirely different circumstances as well as our future World Cup aspirations, when is? #worried

 

Played just as boring at the EC, if you want to judge by entertainment value as a merit and not results. Draws against Italy and Germany wouldn't be bad results on their own so the results are still there.

 

 

Edited by Kaizero

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19 minutes ago, RodneyCisse said:

Was one of the Italy players from Serie B?

Their number 11 plays for FC Zurich, so it's clear Mancini is trying to reinvigorate the team by looking beyond the top 4-5 Serie A clubs which is refreshing to see

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Guest HTT II

We are crying out for a central midfield playmaker, and we don’t have one, someone who can thread balls through, play quick one-twos. We are ultra defensive though and I can see us struggling at the WC for goals. Southgate deserves that tournament, but afterwards I’d be looking to change even if we managed to win it. Potter would be my choice. In his defence, no pun intended, international football is largely boring, look at Italy, they won the Euros and are just as defensive as we are. It’s mainly the lesser nations who play the better football, which can get them shock results or progression, but when they come up against a well organised, tactically sound side in the latter stages of a tournament, that’s where it usually ends for them. On reflection, drawing with Germany and Italy are not bad results. The performances need to improve though.

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As others have said, these games are glorified end-of-season friendlies, so you can't read too much into them. On individual players - 

 

I didn't see all of the game last night, but Abraham seemed to really struggle to get involved. I don't think he's going to quite make the grade at the level we're aiming for.

 

Rice had the best game that I've seen from him in an England shirt last night. That might be because the pressure was off. Rice and Phillips both look better when not played together.

 

Bowen is full of determination and energy, but I think he's already found his level at West Ham.

 

Grealish seems a bit calmer and I think is reading the game better.

 

Southgate is doing okay - let's see how we do in a few months' time. It's not as though anyone else has made a howling success with the England job over the years (Ramsey excepted, in the one tournament when a lot was stacked in our favour)

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33 minutes ago, HTT II said:

I’d go:

 

Pickford

Walker Stones Maguire

Phillips

Saka Rice Smith-Rowe Grealish 

Kane Foden 

 

:lol: I'm all for England being more offensive, but this is suicide. 

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1 hour ago, HTT II said:

I’d go:

 

Pickford

Walker Stones Maguire

Phillips

Saka Rice Smith-Rowe Grealish 

Kane Foden 

Can't see any defensive issues with that Maguire-Grealish left side axis

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Issue with Mount and Kane is they both want to occupy the same spaces. I'd give Kane and Abraham a go up front. Midfield 2 of Rice and Bellingham, Saka left side, Bowen right. 

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14 hours ago, JumpersForGoalposts said:

So. At what stage are we allowed to criticise Southgate's all round cluelessness without getting shouted down for doing so?

I've been trying to get this message across for a long time now, but hardly anyone whats to hear it because we got to a semi and a final. Losing 2 games when really we should have won at least one of them if not both. 

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55 minutes ago, Ste said:

Issue with Mount and Kane is they both want to occupy the same spaces. I'd give Kane and Abraham a go up front. Midfield 2 of Rice and Bellingham, Saka left side, Bowen right. 

Issue there is Mount shouldn't be getting a game.

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13 minutes ago, WillingtonMag said:

Issue there is Mount shouldn't be getting a game.

 

I wouldn't continue to start him. Like I say, I'd try Kane with a striker partner against Hungary as I think he wants to occupy the same spaces as Mount anyway.

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Just now, Ste said:

 

I wouldn't continue to start him. Like I say, I'd try Kane with a striker partner against Hungary as I think he wants to occupy the same spaces as Mount anyway.

I'd just play Grealish there and have Foden and Saka out wide when everyone's fit, who would you play alongside him as a striker ?

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I think purely by the semi-final and final in his two major tournaments, Southgate has earned the right to manage this WC. He’s clearly more than just a nice bloke - I think he does an excellent job for the team spirit and has helped the public love the team again; the values of which can’t be underestimated for major tournaments. It’s also absolutely right to point out teams tend to win tournaments by being defensive. 
 

However, Southgate’s approach just shows his tactical limitations and I find there’s got to be a balance he’s not striking - the big tournament conservative approach to him seems to be sacrificing our strengths (attack) to shore up the weakness (defence), leaving multiple strong attacking players on the bench. And also Mount on the pitch despite continuing to be crap for England. 
 

There definitely just seems to be an English mindset of being a bit cynical of being aggressive, risk-taking, backing out abilities etc. I agree with previous comments that we set up like underdogs despite having arguably the second best squad in a tournament virtually hosted at home for us. This seems to get reflected in some of our fans who think the team were brave heroes for winning a few games they should have won. Those Sports Personality awards were a joke. 

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23 minutes ago, M1tche said:

I've been trying to get this message across for a long time now, but hardly anyone whats to hear it because we got to a semi and a final. Losing 2 games when really we should have won at least one of them if not both. 

This all smells like when we got to fifth in spite of Pardew's terrible decisions and then were awful the next season.

 

The only two differences are:

 

1. Southgate is likable whereas Pardew is an absolute snake.

 

2. We don't care as much about England as we do about our clubs to shout loudly about it.

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4 minutes ago, St. Maximin said:

I think purely by the semi-final and final in his two major tournaments, Southgate has earned the right to manage this WC. He’s clearly more than just a nice bloke - I think he does an excellent job for the team spirit and has helped the public love the team again; the values of which can’t be underestimated for major tournaments. It’s also absolutely right to point out teams tend to win tournaments by being defensive. 
 

However, Southgate’s approach just shows his tactical limitations and I find there’s got to be a balance he’s not striking - the big tournament conservative approach to him seems to be sacrificing our strengths (attack) to shore up the weakness (defence), leaving multiple strong attacking players on the bench. And also Mount on the pitch despite continuing to be crap for England. 
 

There definitely just seems to be an English mindset of being a bit cynical of being aggressive, risk-taking, backing out abilities etc. I agree with previous comments that we set up like underdogs despite having arguably the second best squad in a tournament virtually hosted at home for us. This seems to get reflected in some of our fans who think the team were brave heroes for winning a few games they should have won. Those Sports Personality awards were a joke. 

I think he's shown in them two tournaments exactly why he shouldn't be manager at the world cup tbh. We've seen his limitations and can't see us winning a final against a big team with him in charge.

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3 minutes ago, WillingtonMag said:

I'd just play Grealish there and have Foden and Saka out wide when everyone's fit, who would you play alongside him as a striker ?

 

From the current squad, Abraham. Foden/Saka wide left so we don't have a wide midfielder and a left back both wanting to cut in. Bowen wide right. 

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