Gareth Southgate makes one man want to vomit, while pretty much everybody is united in wanting the England manager out.
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Trippier needs to give it a swing some time
I cannot for the life of me see how Shaw is going to be fit for any of the Euros. It has been known for a while that Shaw would struggle to be fit. The fact that Trippier has been used there as an option for god knows how long means it has been the go-to option.
Trippier is a professional footballer, why has he not been practising using his left foot? I myself was a right-footed left midfielder back, way back, in my very, very average playing days. No idea why my manager used me there but he drilled me to use my left foot, and I kept trying, and eventually I was able to put a passable cross in off my left foot, on the run. To be honest, these were to no-one in particular, but we had a quality striker who invariably turned my hopeful ‘close your eyes and swing your left at it’ into visionary crosses that made me look like some sort of Giggsy/Beckham love child.
It’s basic, it’s a bit boring, but why hasn’t Trippier learnt to use is left foot, even as a Hail Mary option. My bet is that he could 100% use it better than I ever could have dreamed of, but Southgate’s defensive mind set is such that he would rather turn and recycle the ball than take a chance.
Just sling the ball in and see what happens.*
I think most of us are on the same page, drop TAA, use Rice as a sole shielding player to mop things up and play Foden and Bellingham just ahead of him. That is a proper midfield. Stick with Kane, Saka and Gordon/Eze/wish we’d take Rashford or Grealish after all.
On that, three defensive midfielders and three strikers seems like a mistake after all huh? Toney over a pure pace winger with a proven finish for England or a dribble wizard who can pick a lock? Where’s the sub for the wide players now? The squad shows Southgate was pinning everything on the TAA experiment working.
Gallagher should get nowhere near the pitch. Ever again. He’s basically Geoff Thomas. Mainoo or Wharton to come on when Rice gets knackered.
Going full I don’t have a clue what I’m on about bullshit mode but hell, you could even push Stones into CDM (when Rice is cooked) and use Konsa and Guehi. We all know he’s going to keep playing Trippier, so just let Eze and Foden get on with it on the left and sit Trippier as a left back that doesn’t move beyond the half way line, looking to switch diagonals to Saka/whoever instead of rolling the ball back across the park at a pedestrian pace.
Nothing would make me happier than if Chris Bridgeman is right. That would be the con of the century!
Tom
Flop (maybe a flip)
*just when it’s on
…Having watched the Belgium game, we can certainly learn a lot, the speed of the attacks and the possession in midfield, it’s what I said before, the midfield playmaker Kevin de Bruyne impact on Belgium attacks was immeasurable, and Romelu Lukaku chances in the game was purely on his runs into the box and the excellent service from midfield.
This was the same from the Portuguese team free flowing, fast moment on the attack (from their own box into the penalty area in four passes). I watched England’s last game, which was slow, stagnant and predictable. How can the so-called WORLD BEATERS, Make ten passes from the back up to the half way line then all the way back to our goal keeper.
Surely football is so simple, if you are attacking your opposition in their box, there is no way they can score again you. Use speed and accuracy to get the ball in the box for the forwards to score. It’s such obvious the more you shoot and cross the ball in the box the more likely to score, you can score when we keep passing backwards.
Come on England show us how attacking free flowing fast football should be played. Make us proud, and blow away all the opposition in the matches to come.
Well that’s my view.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to state my position, I am severely disabled pensioner and have enjoyed some of the games so far, but sadly not England’s. But on the upside, it can only get better, in the words of the song, the only way is up.
Robert Clark
Calm is the catchword
Just caught the very sedate Pickford in an interview. Normally he’s a charming snarky comedian. It looks like he’s now Emergency Captain doing the PR mantras instead of the clearly rattled Kane. Obviously Jordan has been coached to repeatedly say “calm”.
He was asked about the possible inclusion of Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon. Pickford calmly answered not to panic and for us all to remain as calm and carry on, as he is now keeping calm and carrying on. Calm Palmer and Anesthesia Gordon for the third group match?
Dan McG, LFC
Southgate makes me want to vomit
When it comes to England, I just see red and get really angry. When Southgate opens his mouth, he makes me want to vomit.
In the seven or so years he’s been in charge, he’s achieved absolutely zero. What he has done though, is create a nation of people who hate the man !! All he is is an FA yes man, he wears the blazer well and talks the talk.
In reality, I think he’s one of the worst managers we’ve ever had. Tactically, he’s brain dead and is totally clueless as to how to manage and get the best out of a fantastically talented bunch of players. He’s guilty of serious favouritism, clique picking and blatantly overlooking players way better, in better form and actually playing for their clubs, than the players he’s picked.
Looking at the way he’s played so far and players selected, it’s clear to me and millions of other brits, the man is clueless as to selections, not necessarily the best players, but the best ones to pick who’ll work as a team, and tactics to employ. We’ve looked dreary and drab, lost for ideas, and second best in both group games so far.
Kane has been appalling and should be dropped, TAA way out of his depth and clueless, Saka decent for a while then disappears, and generally throughout the team, no cohesion and no ideas.
For me in the last group game I’d go the same back four, Foden as a 10 and doing what he does best at City, Jude and Rice across centre midfield with Rice a bit more defensive, and up front Palmer RW, Watkins CF and Gordon starts on the left. Nothing to lose now, because the damage is done yet again by Southgate. Let them loose, go for it and put on a show.
Sadly, failure yet again is quickly approaching and there’s only one man to blame, SOUTHGATE !!!!! And yet, the FA want to extend his contract to the 26 world cup 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣talk about clueless !!! He has to be sacked or step down immediately after we go out, and a proper tactical experienced international manager put in place, or quite simply put, we’re doomed.
We live in hope.
Phil Renwick
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How is Southgate still in charge?
I honestly can’t believe Southgate still being the England manager.
He has got so many things wrong over the years. We have some of the best players in the world that I think have made it possible to keep his job over the years. I also believe the best players will never get a chance especially when played out of position.
The truth of the matter is the players have saved him over the years with him not him being a tactical manager just look back at his penalty kicking choices. I find that alone disgusting and frustrating. People pay thousands of pounds following this scared nervous unreliable team.
Definitely time to get rid of the manager and the backroom staff not fit for purpose. In fact let’s the country decide who should be running the FA. As always if you’re not in the clique you get nowhere and I also know no matter how far England get in this tournament he will not be England manager after.
Jon Ellis
…I personally find it hard to understand why it’s taken so long for the fans and pundits all this time to suddenly realise what Southgate and his immediate staff have done to our national team. Maybe another case of ‘if your face fits’ in many cases but it must take a special sort of ego trip to think selecting injured, lack of match minutes players and then play them in a different position from their club football and to add the supposed catalyst of trying to get them to play a style of football that is completely alien to them and totally out of touch with the rest of world football.
Lower-ranked teams play fast, free flowing football, if they had the quality of players that Southgate has at his disposal Romania, Slovakia, Serbia to name but a few. When England play now the world waits not knowing what to expect, most times it’s embarrassing disappointment.
Ray Fallowfield
…Southgate is a disgrace and should have been sacked a long time ago.
Only a very poor manager blames the players that he picked. Sack him now. Get rid of Kane and other tired players. Move others around. Trent is the best of the lot. More talent in his little finger than the rest of them out together. I’m 80 and have been watching football for a very long time. The England women play better together as a team than this tired lot do.
Kay
…England manager is full of experiments. The sooner he is sacked the better for England football.
John Chisala
…Everyone saying Arnold must be dropped, but you play him in his real position and he makes the team every time. Southgate saying the experiment not working playing him in midfield (no —t Sherlock) WHY ARE YOU EXPERIMENTING AT THE EUROPEAN FINALS ALL SHOULD BE DONE IN FRIENDLIES AND BUILD UP GAMES?
I think he has lost dressing room + don’t think players want to play for their country 100 percent, FA should go cap in hand to Mr Klopp, ask to sort Southgate s mess out. But they will not as Mr Klopp not a yes man.
I just hope Southgate finds his balls and puts players on bench and play the younger lads with fire in their belly, as I have not seen much fire at all!!!!!
Martin Harmsworth
No one person to blame
It’s no good blaming individuals, the simple fact is these England players only look good when amongst better quality players in the premier league, when together as an England team their limitations are exposed and there isn’t much any manager can do about those simple facts.
Geoffrey Brown
Letter from a man who is realising that he got old
I have heard a number of pundits during the Euros comment on the tournament being a good one.
Am I alone in not really enjoying watching it so far?
I have been looking forward to the Euros all year but when I actually sit down to watch the games, I find myself not being entertained like I used to be.
I am 35 and remember back to when I was 15 and knew every single player and would watch every single game and loved it.
This feeling is not isolated to the Euros. I don’t watch anywhere like the same amount of football as I used to, although I still tend to watch one game a week. But I don’t enjoy it like I used to.
However, I still love to read F365 and the Mailbox every day as well as listening to various football podcasts.
I therefore seem to enjoy the discussion and analysis of football more than watching the actual football.
Does anyone else feel like this, or is it just me?
Is watching football like Christmas, and it just isn’t the same when you grow up?
James from Enfield
That f***ing Mexico kit
I know y’all are all wound up in the Euros – except for the soporific England matches, natch. It has been a fantastic tournament so far, with mostly consistent refereeing, a number of own goals that speak volumes about pressing and the modern game, and a few particularly excellent matches.
But here in the Americas, our cup runneth over. The earliest Euro 24 group matches (which will cease at the final group matches) are on FuboTV, a useful subscription service that no longer makes sense for me. But the later matches have been the accompaniment to my home-office afternoons and the fare waiting on Google TV for when I got home from trips.
And as of this weekend, the Copa America is offering two extra evening matches a day involving teams deeply worth watching. Ecuador-Venezuela was a particular treat today, though I expect what you lot will mostly see is Mikhail Antonio not bothering to get his ass onside before scoring Jamaica’s potential match-winner against Mexico. I watched him loiter near the six as though the match couldn’t go on without him, and I wanted to scream. I knew his excellent header would be disallowed before he even scored it.
But more importantly, have you even seen Mexico’s shirts for his tournament, bruh? Like, have you seen how volcanically hot they are? Well let me tell you: it’s enough to make a guy want to insert a fire emoji. I don’t know which I love more, the feather-scaled home or the pale away. I only know how much it chaps my ass that Mexico regularly puts out kits that I can never, ever wear no matter how much I want to.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (If anybody was wondering, yes: Alexei Lalas continues to be a gigantic jackass on television.)
Villa are being held down
I am reading a lot of negative stories about the financial engineering orchestrated by Villa and involving Everton and Chelsea.
As a Villa fan we have reached the Champions League and are being forced to sell a Rolls Royce of a player in Dougie Luiz for below value to comply with FFP (PSR now). These rules left us there for the taking.
Some may say we should have been ahead of this. Would they prefer we sell in January and come 6th in the league?
Now imagine United being forced to sell Ferndanez, City Rodri, Arsenal Rice or into the past, United with Keane, Chelsea with Lampard etc. It wouldn’t happen.
We are now in a situation where the challenger clubs are being penalised and status quo being left at it.
We have no debt, our revenue is increasing. We are being penalised.
I agree with rules, but rules which are competitive and fair to all. Current rules blatantly aren’t the case and I am sad that the One of our Own Chant which is sung around the grounds is going to become less common due to the rules in place.
Paul
Source : Football365.com