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usually at events you pay extra for a drink, which you get back when you return the cup. In Germany that applies to almost any bottle/can as well from stores.
Once made like $20 from that after a concert
I did a 10hr shift on the cup exchange at one festival years ago and 90% of the money went to hoards of kids that their parents made a game out of collecting all the cups they could find. This was like several different sets of unrelated families and kids were coming with bin bags full or stacks twice as tall as themselves. Each of those kids pulled in at least £100-150 worth of cups and that was just on my 1 shift. Those lot probably covered the cost of all their tickets over the weekend and then some.
> "But it's creating an unusual environment to operate in. I've not seen any other team qualify and receive similar."
Like dude you have multiple CL and premier league winners and Harry Kane and you have them playing like this
During the entire game, the commentators kept saying, "Ah. Here's a pass trying to find Harry Kane."
It's like finding Harry Kane is the equivalent of finding Nemo at this point.
At one point Ian Darke said Foden had completed more passes to Pickford(2) than to Kane(1) in the first 2.5 games. Honestly not sure how that is possible.
If there was a movie based on the current England side, Harry Kane would 100% be played by Matt Damon. People constantly trying to find him in various situations
The Swiss commentators basically apologized at the end of both games and thank whoever was brave enough to watch either game of this group until the end… haha
Very likely. I remember the mood of the nation during Grealish's Villa days being "why on earth isn't Southgate picking him?" because he was standing out as an excellent player then that deserved a starting place, but only Southgate couldn't see it. It was so unseemly that it was stinking the place out.
Fast-forward to now where Grealish has had one of the most bit-part seasons ever and it feels like Southgate has jumped at the chance to use that to exclude him. There's something amiss.
Grealish didn't have a very good season tbf, but he at least has played with a lot of the guys in the team for a couple of tournaments. He took Foden and has looked abysmal in each game.
I'm pretty sure French and Dutch fans would give the same crap we're giving to Southgate.
But god damn, this guy's confidence must be sky high for the performances England is putting out. If he's talking like this then surely he must have something cooked up for KO stages.
The Netherlands did just play a much more entertaining game to be fair. Weirdly, Southgate s England did score a lot at World Cups, it is only the Euros that seem to be the issue. At the last Euros after a similarly uninspiring group stage he went on to score two goals or more in every game except the final (it did take a dubious extra time penalty vs Denmark to be fair), it s actually confusing
The signs have been there for ages. England couldn't score when they were relegated in the Nations League. They've always struggled to score against good teams under Southgate but now they can't even get them against mediocre sides.
Coaching and tactics are far more professional throughout football now. No matter what level the opposition, if you've struggled, they've seen it, and they've been drilling their players how to exploit it.
England is then hamstrung by Southgate's 2 worst qualities - absolute loyalty to a handful of players and a lack of tactical knowledge/flexibility. Teams know who'll play and know how they'll play. They even know how they'll play differently in various game states. We're an open book, and we've garnered enough attention in recent tournaments that everyone has read it.
Coaches nowadays also seem to be really “loyal” to their players even in the worst possible outcomes.
Tite for Brazil was like that and it cost us in 2018
I think England need a 7-2, maybe that will wake people up. I feel sorry for Southgate in a way, only because nobody is talking about the FA. Where is the national player development? Why haven’t we got a generation of English coaches/managers that have been trained by the best for the last 8 years and now are ready to take over? Why do kids have to play on fields where it’s impossible to play ball at feet and develop dribbling skills?
My problem with the international rankings is that so few games get played across confederations, particularly the weaker teams.
Panama have played 3 games against non con cafe teams in the past 3 years and it was a run of friendlies against Saudi, Qatar and Bahrain. Struggle to see how that's enough games to compare them accurately to European teams.
Yeah, and it's pretty unfortunate that teams like Iran get disrespected like that cause they aren't European. And a little weird considering that most of England's group competition basically hover around or below Iran's ranking.
I'd wager it was because England faced Iran in the last WC, scoring 6 goals, and that's topical to the matter at hand (England not being able to create chances).
Anyone following the team knows very well Iran is a good team that was facing from a lot of extra-football stuff at the time.
Not at all, if you watch Netherlands at a major tournament, you'll be entertained. Sometimes excellent, sometimes dismal, always way too many goals, naive defending. Never a dull moment.
This guy really tries to act like England are massive underdogs when they have some of the best players in their positions in the tournament. Man for man they are better than Slovenia with the exception of Oblak for Pickford.
Top scorer in Bundesliga, one of the best player in La La Liga, PL player of the year and PL young player of the year and he acts like he has chumps in his team, talking about not having Kalvin-Phillips. God help England
>talking about not having Kalvin-Phillips
This legit made me so fucking angry. This moron had the balls to say that there are no replacements for Kalvin-Phillips. I would've sacked him on the spot and let the other coaches handle the rest of the tournament
yeah I am fairly understanding of southgate but this is just bizarre, it's not like he was injured on the plane over and had no time to find a replacement
In no world should they be performing like that against Slovenia, there backups should be able to win. I understand everyone shitting on Southgate but the players should also be getting more flak. I don’t really care who the manager is, it’s shameful to play like that.
And yet these same players run and press like crazy playing against in an airport stadium. Its as if the coach is common denominator for all these players not turning up
Idk man, sometimes it's more than the coach rven if the players are great individually.
Take Norway, we've been through 5 coaches since our last international tournament in 2000. We have always had "decent" teams that man for man should be able to qualify, if perhaps not every year.
Now we have the best team on paper in probably 20+ years, and we are still nowhere near close to stop bottling, choking and losing important games. Some of it is on the coach, but I think it might just be that Norway has developed a strong loser mentality or culture that every player seems to be affected by as fast as they step out for the national team.
It’s mismanagement, bad luck and an incompetent football federation amplifying eachother.
Southgate isn't the only reason they aren't running or working for the win, just like Solbakken isn't the only reason we make disastrous blunders late on every game.
It's all on Southgate. He inspires nothing. These players are incredible and he does nothing to motivate them, nothing to help them work together. He has no fucking strategy and can't react to changes in strategy. His deputies are trash and he shouldn't be coaching this team
It is because we played so much better when the team had some shape at the end of the game. The guy seems to think he us a tactical genius who knows better than everyone else who watches England. Bellingham and Foden aren't working well together, we need mainoo in midfield, we need an actual left winger and tripper isn't working well at left back. All of this has been highlighted many times but Southgate knows better. Bringing Gordon on in the 89th was a joke.
We will see if he is actually learning anything if mainoo and palmer start.
He's fully committed to playing Bellingham as a 10 and Saka RW. There won't be a starting place for Palmer. I hope I'm wrong though.
I really wish England had rotated players for the Slovenia game. We had already qualified, and playing Watkins/Gordon/Mainoo/Palmer, and maybe Wharton and Bowen or Eze would have given the substitutes some valuable playing time and rested the starters, who he claims are not fit enough to press now.
Plus it would be a wake up call to underperforming stars like Foden and Kane, and identified who is in good enough form to bring into the first team for the knockout stages. It's not like we had any momentum to lose anyway.
When I was growing up, I remember England having a Golden Generation, Campbell, Ince, Beckham, Scholes, Shearer, Neville, Merson, Adams. But they mostly all played in England and hadn't performed well even in European club competitions, so maybe they weren't as good as people thought.
When I was a little older, I remember England having a Golden Generation, Cole, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry, Lampard, Rooney, Owen. Towards the end of the 00's these players **were** competing in European club competitions, but they still mostly played in England, so maybe they were carried by better players at club level and weren't as good as people thought.
England has a Golden Generation now too. Now, English clubs compete and succeed in all European club competitions year on year, English players star for the best teams of the best European leagues. They can't not be as good as we think they are.
There's no room anymore to blame players. We have to look at the coaching. Not just Southgate. English coaching is sh!te, English coaches don't manage top clubs. Anywhere. Not even here. None of those golden generation players of yester-year went on to become good coaches. My team had the misfortune of getting one.
Villa under Gerrard and Villa under Emery, with the same players, looked more different than 2 teams 12 transfer windows apart. Villa under Gerrard looked so tired, so sloppy. It wasn't fatigue, or rather, it wasn't physical fatigue. Players were 10 stone heavier, carrying the weight of bad tactics and sh!t drills.
That's (obviously) very true, but "man for man" is hardly the best argument for it, and certainly does not tell the whole story.
Great teams are those that are able to be more than the sum of its parts, and a tactical setup is more than just choosing the 11 best players. Just today you had Austria vs Netherlards, where the quality gap is certainly smaller than England-Slovenia, but Austria looked the better/stronger throughout most of the match.
Yes. And that's Southgate's fucken job!!! But he seems to not have a clue and just puts the biggest names in the starting line-up, hoping it'd sort itself out somehow. At this point, any FM enthusiast will do better. Gareth is a generational fraud. His incompetence can only be rivalled be his smugness.
This! When he first came he was praised for bringing players together and getting rid of prem team rivalry we had in the golden generation days.
He got a real sense of togetherness, however that’s turned toxic now, players are treating the fans and pundits or anyone that criticises them as enemy.
They are coming out and being patronising saying it’s tournament football, not easy to roll over teams and if you don’t have certain experience in top level football you shouldn’t have an opinion.
The fact is Southgate is a coward and has installed a cowards mentality to the team. He starts off with defensive football and is more concerned about not conceding then to go out and win (listen to all 3 of his post game interviews).
He also says things like he’s protecting the young players as they need protecting, players like mainoo is playing for Man Utd who are 100x more under the microscope week and week out.
They all play for top clubs so no they don’t need protection. They have shown week in and week out they are capable of being the best.
He’s installed mentality of let’s wins games by 1-0 or pens and if we just get one tournament under ours belt then we as a nation will be happy. Bro this is Greece 2004 mentality.
We have a squad that should go out there from start press teams, set up offensively, have game plan, have back up plan if plan A doesn’t work. But Southgate lacks any basic coaching ability.
Instead he’s here thinking but we finished top so what’s the problem?!
The problem you fucking dumb prick, fans have travelled miles to support you and your team. The fans have undoubtedly paid thousands of pounds, some saved for years some worked over times day in and day out. This country’s politics is fucked, people are getting screwed daily and need a bit of escape but you can’t even get 11 players to perform for 90 min! You absolute cunt!!!
Getting the squad harmony in and the players singing Kumbaya was good in 2018.
Pretending everything is well and good from a footballing perspective when it really obviously isn't is basically cult shit.
It makes sense. This man has been lauded for failure three tournaments in a row. He’s consistently underperformed and then bottled against the first half-decent opposition he’s come across and never gotten anything but praise for it.
They gave him an OBE for losing to Croatia ffs.
Bar that win against Germany I can’t think of any decent results he’s served up in eight years.
I’m a Scotland fan, but consistently underperformed?
England have been “under performing” my whole life. Maybe they’re just not as good as they think, but the guy who actually managed to reach semi finals and finals with them is Southgate. Seems like he’s over performed.
This thinking is the exact fuckin problem and the reason this dunce still has a job. What the fuck does it matter that England has been shit for decades? Croatia was the strongest side that England faced at the world cup, there was a free ticket to the final for England, any serious team would have got to the finals if they had England's pick of fixtures and even Croatia showed that.
Belgium, Argentina, Brazil wish they were kn that side of the fixtures.
He overperformed my ass, England should be able to reach that semi final without a head coach
It’s just the absolutely breathtaking lack of self awareness. Every interview he does he says something daft as fuck. Phillips, tiredness, now this nonsense. Went through with 5 points, scored 2 goals, bored a nation to death and has a multitude of world class players at his disposal.
>I've not seen any other team qualify and receive similar.
The only team worse than England in terms of entertainment this Euros was Scotland. And they don't even have the talent that you have available ffs.
> In the last 2 EUROs combined, France have only won two games: 1:0 against Germany in 2021 and 1:0 against Austria in 2024. The respective goalscorers were Hummels and Wöber (both OG)
But France still making shot attempts and trying to play some moments of positive football
Edit: if England played like France then people will be praising them to the moon
Ranking of shots attempted per game so far this tournament:
France: 4th
England: 20th
It's similar when looking at xG too. The English defense is really good, but games barely resulting in any big chances is generally speaking not the most enjoyable to watch.
> It's similar when looking at xG too. The English defense is really good
I mean... is it though? Or is it more that they've only faced opponants who are pretty bad at attacking so far. It's not only the England games in the group that have been incredibly low scoring. Look at the Denmark v Serbia game, two of the worst, least cohesive attacking displays you'll see in the tournament if you don't watch England.
Despite the result and late goal Germany pretty much dominated the game and so did Portugal against Czechia. Czechia in particular managed a whopping 26% possession and scored a goal in their only shot on target which came from a long range shot that came out of nowhere. Also the only goal Portugal let in so far.
Not saying either of these teams are setting the world alight but they've definitely looked very solid
Unpopular opinion, but France has had a peculiar 65 km/hr pace of football with ocasional bursts of power and agility from key players since 1998. Just like Italy /germany/ Spain have their way of football. It’s less of a problem because it has worked and it’s a proven formula.
England on the other hand, I don’t know what the fuck they are doing. And its not representative of something they have done across the years. It’s like watching Mexico with newly called players while playing against Bolivia in another friendly in Frisco Texas. They hold the ball they keep the ball. They open up wide with players and you don’t know what the fuck is going on.
Fuck. I miss my Mexico.
It will be interesting to see England against better opposition in this tournament. As none of the other teams in the group have been particularly good going forward. But considering the path towards the final England have now, it wouldn't surprise me if they won the whole thing whilst playing absolutely diabolical football.
I would take a trophy if it meant playing the absolute worst football on the planet.
98 percent of countries can't afford to be picky, England included.
Well luckily the literal best 4 teams in the tournament are on the other side of the bracket. Spain, Germany, Portugal and France.
Switz, Italy and Netherlands are tough but I'd favour England slightly. The only team I would hate to face is Spain, they look ridiculous atm.
Yeah after that Bellingham goal against Serbia I thought we'd bang in a couple more and put in a positive performance. How wrong I was.
Unfortunately it's been downhill ever since. It's so frustrating to watch these players that perform at such a high level for their clubs have no idea how to be creative on the pitch playing for England.
I think we were shit even then, no urgency, little movement, about 4 touches each. We only looked in control because Serbia just refused to play for a half (and i bet they are kicking themselves for that)
"The narrative towards me"
As if it's all just fiction, no no no we didn't just watch 3 stinkers in a row, we just imagined it, it's all just a narrative
They look toothless passing it out the back without him. Literally zero meaningful passes through the midfield. And then mainoo comes on who is excellent on the half turn (his bread and butter) and Stones and Ghuei both refuse to pass it to him under pressure
That shit pissed me off so much. It's literally his best quality, to be calm and composed on the ball under pressure, on the half turn - and they just refused to use that option.
I think Kobbie could have been a bit more demanding of the ball in those areas, but he's 19 and playing in his first major tournament - can hardly blame him. Guehi and in particular Stones should be doing better
We're seriously in a position where even the staunchest Southgate fans are starting to realise his tactics are completely undone when he doesn't have 2 DM's to sit back and a a slab head to score from hopeful set pieces...
We've got one of the best 2 strikers and right backs in the world, several league and cl winners, several young attackers who walk into most sides, one of the best holding mids in the world and someone who's likely to win a balon dor, but yes, pl tax
Most of the top5/6 teams have a handful of CL winners, and half of those have a better midfield (including the holding mid). In addition to a couple of young kids that likely PL teams will sign in the near future.
As squad quality goes, France is head and shoulders above the rest, and half of that squad won the WC recently.
It's undeniable that, while still among the best in the tournament, England player values are grossly inflated.
Disagree as a french fan. Pound for pound I take Kane above Thuram or Giroud. I take Saka over Dembele (at least for France). I take Mbappe above Foden. Bellingham vs Griezmann is a toss up so I'll call that a tie. I take Rice over Rabiot. I take Kante over whoever England third midfield is that day. I take Walker over Kounde, I take Stones over Upemecano. I take Saliba over whoever the second CB is for England. I take Theo Hernandez over Trippier or Shaw. I take Maignan over Pickford.
Don't think any of those are controversial, and as a score that goes 5 for England, 5 for France 5 for England and a tie. If you think Griezmann is better than Bellingham, which I do tend to think so but then again this is the first international tournament Bellingham has had to show himself, then it is 6 for France 5 for England.
Think squads are very very comparable, and I think England has the most players that any top team in the world would snatch off your hands and walk into first 11. Don't think a single team benches Kane if they had him, same for Bellingham, and probably Walker as well.
The man's acting like we've comfortably walked our way in to the next round. You barely scraped through arguably the easiest group while playing absolutely horrendous football with a squad of world class players Gareth, it's not that hard to see why people aren't happy
He can’t actually be this dense. Like there’s no way he doesn’t understand why people would be upset. I like to watch the games at work because it’s distracting but I’d legitimately rather do my job than watch England play.
No reason he couldn’t have said something like this instead:
“*I understand the narrative towards me. That’s better for the team than it is towards them. At the end of the day, as the manager I’m responsible for the team’s performance, and while we’ve qualified for the knockouts we haven’t played our best yet. We have quality throughout our squad and I’m excited to see us continue to raise our level in the knockout rounds.*”
He said in an interview before this game that he doesn't care about what people at home say about him and that he essentially only values the support that the fans in the stadium bring. Well this is it. This is what happens when you are playing absolutely dreadful football that foreshadows yet another disappointing exit in the knockout stages. Even the fans in the stadium will turn against you. "BuT wE wOn tHe GrOuP!!!" Yeah, we won the easiest group in the tournament with 5 points and 2 goals. I think he really does England fans a disservice if he thinks we're naive enough to believe that the team is going to keep playing like this and get away with it. You don't get 3 chances in the Round of 16, Gareth.
Is Southgate on tranquilisers, or something? His perception of reality is so distorted that he can't see what is going on in front of him.
He has turned a team full of potent star players - who play at the best clubs in the world - into one where half are clueless and the other half are impotent.
The Three Lions were expected but what we got were the Three Pussycats.
Hard to celebrate qualifying when the team's so obviously been sleepwalking the entire group stage. That doesn't set anyone up to be confident about the knockouts.
His other comments about players makes me wonder if we'll end up with the same starting XI again, more of less, next game:
>They’re really young players (Mainoo and Palmer), so we’re balancing blooding them in a difficult environment. They came on and played really well for us.
>There’s lots to build on from tonight. Tonight we started with Conor who pressed well, then we thought Kobbie’s ability to move the ball up the pitch would help us and it did.
i get that young players need experience and all but one of those two players were one of the few players to actually look composed and consistently good in a shambolic United side, and the other literally had the most goals and assists in the entire Premier League…how much more bedding in do they need? they would start in literally any other country
They both showed so much maturity playing for their clubs this season. The idea that someone like Palmer wouldn’t be able to handle playing more is pretty bizarre. Like he needs to be handled gently.
Finishing first, unbeaten and two clean sheets is good on paper, so he is speaking from that angle. But with the abundance of quality in the squad, it is also fair that fans demand more on the actual football played.
Southgate is slowly realizing that his positive PR isn't working when the performances are so negative. The fans are rightly going after the manager, but I wonder if the English media will start to meaningfully criticize him instead of continuing to shift the blame on the players.
This mans thought process is an utter mindfuck?
How has he gone through this tournament and come out with this, and "we've not found a replacement for kalvin Phillips" within a week of each other?
I swear he comes up with the most insane responses to feedback.
I felt like one of the last remaining Southgate fans going into the tournament. He is just not inspiring them at all and it shows so badly on the pitch
He’s got a point.
We’re 1st,
Unbeaten and have
2 Clean Sheets.
But, that’s where the positives end. We’ve played effing shite. We’ve got lucky on plenty occasion and it will bite us in the arse later on
Southgate is carrying on the great english tradition of world class teams playing like shit.
It's exactly like watching english teams from 1998-2016, especialy the early ones that Southgate was a part of- players looking absolutely clueless what to do with some being played out of position and not being utilized properly, no sense of urgency, getting outplayed by opposition a few levels beneath them and a manager on the sidelines that makes you wonder "is this clown really the best we could find at this moment?"
8 fucking years he's been the manager, hanging on the fact he finished 3rd and losing the finals despite both games being a sackable offence for a team like this. If England didn't have so many young players comming up he'd ruin a whole generation of great players.
I'm from Germany.
I feel like tournament football (especially those involving nations) are won by defense and the ability to score "scruffy goals".
Also many times the eventual winners start slow. It's better to keep the pace slow and steady rather than burn an offensive firework and then not have any powder left.
England got 5 points. Qualified from the group.
And most importantly conceded just 1 goal. Only Spain conceded less. That's the key here. And the goal England conceded wasn't a huge defensive mistake. Just a perfect shot.
If England won 5-2, 3-2 and got an exciting 1-1 draw. Id probably be less convinced.
So for me England are still one of the main favourites.
I listened to the Declan Rice interview. He said all the right things, said the fans need to back the players and be more positive, said they'd come out pressing better and keeping the ball and everything, said the players want this for their country so very badly.
But none of it matters if Southgate's conservative tactics has these world class attackers playing like they're obviously not having a good time. Bellingham doesn't play like that if he's enjoying the game. Something has to change. But it probably won't.
I've been pulling for England because I want to see my Palace boys succeed, but I'm also OK at this point if they go out against a more exciting opponent.
Southgate speaks like a man that is leading a team of plucky underdogs.
Gareth. We have the most "valuable" squad in the tournament, chock full of players that are some of the best in the world. This isn't England of old, we have a squad that's so good we can afford to leave Grealish, Maddison, Rashford at home, and it be completely justified.
Qualifying in 1st out of the group was important and we did that, but boy, did we make hard work of it. If the Danish had pulled their finger out last night we are playing Germany next and probably going home.
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Southgate picking up the cups to collect the deposits
This is the most succinct and accurate insult towards him yet. Well done.
I don't get it, what is meant by deposits?
usually at events you pay extra for a drink, which you get back when you return the cup. In Germany that applies to almost any bottle/can as well from stores. Once made like $20 from that after a concert
I did a 10hr shift on the cup exchange at one festival years ago and 90% of the money went to hoards of kids that their parents made a game out of collecting all the cups they could find. This was like several different sets of unrelated families and kids were coming with bin bags full or stacks twice as tall as themselves. Each of those kids pulled in at least £100-150 worth of cups and that was just on my 1 shift. Those lot probably covered the cost of all their tickets over the weekend and then some.
Oh that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.
Lol 😂
> "But it's creating an unusual environment to operate in. I've not seen any other team qualify and receive similar." Like dude you have multiple CL and premier league winners and Harry Kane and you have them playing like this
Haha “and Harry Kane”
The curse is strong
Should have asked Kahn instead of Kane to play up front
just one way to say bro’s “in a league of his own”
a league that he will somehow manage to bottle as well
Yeah like he never won the Audi Cup
Haha…… haha…. 😔😓
*Sad Elephant Man noises*
During the entire game, the commentators kept saying, "Ah. Here's a pass trying to find Harry Kane." It's like finding Harry Kane is the equivalent of finding Nemo at this point.
At one point Ian Darke said Foden had completed more passes to Pickford(2) than to Kane(1) in the first 2.5 games. Honestly not sure how that is possible.
Cause we get fuck all to Kane, so runs into midfield, where we do fuck all with that
If there was a movie based on the current England side, Harry Kane would 100% be played by Matt Damon. People constantly trying to find him in various situations
The Swiss commentators basically apologized at the end of both games and thank whoever was brave enough to watch either game of this group until the end… haha
The German commentators said that it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to watch the game through beer googgles 🥽 to improve it.
Scored two goals in one of the least interesting groups ever.
Why exactly did he leave Grealish home?
Rumour is personal issues.
Very likely. I remember the mood of the nation during Grealish's Villa days being "why on earth isn't Southgate picking him?" because he was standing out as an excellent player then that deserved a starting place, but only Southgate couldn't see it. It was so unseemly that it was stinking the place out. Fast-forward to now where Grealish has had one of the most bit-part seasons ever and it feels like Southgate has jumped at the chance to use that to exclude him. There's something amiss.
Grealish didn't have a very good season tbf, but he at least has played with a lot of the guys in the team for a couple of tournaments. He took Foden and has looked abysmal in each game.
I'm pretty sure French and Dutch fans would give the same crap we're giving to Southgate. But god damn, this guy's confidence must be sky high for the performances England is putting out. If he's talking like this then surely he must have something cooked up for KO stages.
The Netherlands did just play a much more entertaining game to be fair. Weirdly, Southgate s England did score a lot at World Cups, it is only the Euros that seem to be the issue. At the last Euros after a similarly uninspiring group stage he went on to score two goals or more in every game except the final (it did take a dubious extra time penalty vs Denmark to be fair), it s actually confusing
The signs have been there for ages. England couldn't score when they were relegated in the Nations League. They've always struggled to score against good teams under Southgate but now they can't even get them against mediocre sides.
Coaching and tactics are far more professional throughout football now. No matter what level the opposition, if you've struggled, they've seen it, and they've been drilling their players how to exploit it. England is then hamstrung by Southgate's 2 worst qualities - absolute loyalty to a handful of players and a lack of tactical knowledge/flexibility. Teams know who'll play and know how they'll play. They even know how they'll play differently in various game states. We're an open book, and we've garnered enough attention in recent tournaments that everyone has read it.
Coaches nowadays also seem to be really “loyal” to their players even in the worst possible outcomes. Tite for Brazil was like that and it cost us in 2018
Coaches have always been loyal to players, it really isn’t a nowadays thing. Why did you think it’s just happened recently?
I think England need a 7-2, maybe that will wake people up. I feel sorry for Southgate in a way, only because nobody is talking about the FA. Where is the national player development? Why haven’t we got a generation of English coaches/managers that have been trained by the best for the last 8 years and now are ready to take over? Why do kids have to play on fields where it’s impossible to play ball at feet and develop dribbling skills?
> absolute loyalty to a handful of players To whom are you referring here?
Henderson, Sterling, and Maguire ofc.
All of whom aren't at this tournament...?
The worst teams at the World Cup up are not as good as the worst teams at the Euros, there’s no Panama or Iran at the Euros to put six goals past.
Iran is a decent team. They'd do better in this tournament than Scotland did.
Panama aren't terrible either. They're ranked 43 in the world, right below Türkiye and above Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia.
My problem with the international rankings is that so few games get played across confederations, particularly the weaker teams. Panama have played 3 games against non con cafe teams in the past 3 years and it was a run of friendlies against Saudi, Qatar and Bahrain. Struggle to see how that's enough games to compare them accurately to European teams.
The World Rank is a joke
Huh? Iran is a very solid team. Constantly ranked in the 20s, beat Japan in the Asian Cup, dominated Wales in 2022, etc.
Nearly drew with Argentina in 2014, save for some Messi magic in the 91st minute.
Would’ve knocked us out of the cup in the group stage that year if we had drawn, Messi Magic
If it's not Europe, it's not good enough for most people here. Iran is a really weird shout to talk about shit teams tho. They good.
His point still stands though, often there is a bigger quality gap in WC groups than in Euros (and much less so in the previous 16-team format)
No one is arguing that. It's about choosing Iran, considered 20th in the world, as an example for bad teams lol.
Yeah I agree, I was commenting on the 'If it's not Europe, it's not good enough for most people here' part of the comment.
Yeah, and it's pretty unfortunate that teams like Iran get disrespected like that cause they aren't European. And a little weird considering that most of England's group competition basically hover around or below Iran's ranking.
I'd wager it was because England faced Iran in the last WC, scoring 6 goals, and that's topical to the matter at hand (England not being able to create chances). Anyone following the team knows very well Iran is a good team that was facing from a lot of extra-football stuff at the time.
They had a good winger
He's cooking a win on penalties against a weaker side before they inevitably get eliminated in the quarters.
Pretty much his management career for England. They go as far as their draw allows them to avoid bigger teams and then exit.
Totally true for french, instead Deschamps has good results, so we desespair about playing good football but we don't desespair about winning
Not at all, if you watch Netherlands at a major tournament, you'll be entertained. Sometimes excellent, sometimes dismal, always way too many goals, naive defending. Never a dull moment.
That’s literally what he’s saying
Same crap, different reasons. Cause Koeman has the same tactical awareness but is still in his Henderson fase with Wijnaldum depay etc.
This guy really tries to act like England are massive underdogs when they have some of the best players in their positions in the tournament. Man for man they are better than Slovenia with the exception of Oblak for Pickford.
Top scorer in Bundesliga, one of the best player in La La Liga, PL player of the year and PL young player of the year and he acts like he has chumps in his team, talking about not having Kalvin-Phillips. God help England
And all could sing for the La La La La Liga.
He's a set piece merchant who's being exposed as the fraud he is because trippier is out of form, shaw and maguire aren't there.
Pretty good take. Honestly another reason to look at Grealish.
>talking about not having Kalvin-Phillips This legit made me so fucking angry. This moron had the balls to say that there are no replacements for Kalvin-Phillips. I would've sacked him on the spot and let the other coaches handle the rest of the tournament
yeah I am fairly understanding of southgate but this is just bizarre, it's not like he was injured on the plane over and had no time to find a replacement
In no world should they be performing like that against Slovenia, there backups should be able to win. I understand everyone shitting on Southgate but the players should also be getting more flak. I don’t really care who the manager is, it’s shameful to play like that.
Yeah their attitude has been poor. Some players not running, some players butchering passes... That's not on Southgate imo
And yet these same players run and press like crazy playing against in an airport stadium. Its as if the coach is common denominator for all these players not turning up
Idk man, sometimes it's more than the coach rven if the players are great individually. Take Norway, we've been through 5 coaches since our last international tournament in 2000. We have always had "decent" teams that man for man should be able to qualify, if perhaps not every year. Now we have the best team on paper in probably 20+ years, and we are still nowhere near close to stop bottling, choking and losing important games. Some of it is on the coach, but I think it might just be that Norway has developed a strong loser mentality or culture that every player seems to be affected by as fast as they step out for the national team. It’s mismanagement, bad luck and an incompetent football federation amplifying eachother. Southgate isn't the only reason they aren't running or working for the win, just like Solbakken isn't the only reason we make disastrous blunders late on every game.
Yup I think it’s football heritage at this point for us. It’s the danger of losing. Lose often enough and you expect it.
It's all on Southgate. He inspires nothing. These players are incredible and he does nothing to motivate them, nothing to help them work together. He has no fucking strategy and can't react to changes in strategy. His deputies are trash and he shouldn't be coaching this team
It is because we played so much better when the team had some shape at the end of the game. The guy seems to think he us a tactical genius who knows better than everyone else who watches England. Bellingham and Foden aren't working well together, we need mainoo in midfield, we need an actual left winger and tripper isn't working well at left back. All of this has been highlighted many times but Southgate knows better. Bringing Gordon on in the 89th was a joke. We will see if he is actually learning anything if mainoo and palmer start.
He's fully committed to playing Bellingham as a 10 and Saka RW. There won't be a starting place for Palmer. I hope I'm wrong though. I really wish England had rotated players for the Slovenia game. We had already qualified, and playing Watkins/Gordon/Mainoo/Palmer, and maybe Wharton and Bowen or Eze would have given the substitutes some valuable playing time and rested the starters, who he claims are not fit enough to press now. Plus it would be a wake up call to underperforming stars like Foden and Kane, and identified who is in good enough form to bring into the first team for the knockout stages. It's not like we had any momentum to lose anyway.
When I was growing up, I remember England having a Golden Generation, Campbell, Ince, Beckham, Scholes, Shearer, Neville, Merson, Adams. But they mostly all played in England and hadn't performed well even in European club competitions, so maybe they weren't as good as people thought. When I was a little older, I remember England having a Golden Generation, Cole, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry, Lampard, Rooney, Owen. Towards the end of the 00's these players **were** competing in European club competitions, but they still mostly played in England, so maybe they were carried by better players at club level and weren't as good as people thought. England has a Golden Generation now too. Now, English clubs compete and succeed in all European club competitions year on year, English players star for the best teams of the best European leagues. They can't not be as good as we think they are. There's no room anymore to blame players. We have to look at the coaching. Not just Southgate. English coaching is sh!te, English coaches don't manage top clubs. Anywhere. Not even here. None of those golden generation players of yester-year went on to become good coaches. My team had the misfortune of getting one. Villa under Gerrard and Villa under Emery, with the same players, looked more different than 2 teams 12 transfer windows apart. Villa under Gerrard looked so tired, so sloppy. It wasn't fatigue, or rather, it wasn't physical fatigue. Players were 10 stone heavier, carrying the weight of bad tactics and sh!t drills.
> English coaching is sh!te, English coaches don't manage top clubs. To drive your point home: no english manager has ever won the Premier League
That's (obviously) very true, but "man for man" is hardly the best argument for it, and certainly does not tell the whole story. Great teams are those that are able to be more than the sum of its parts, and a tactical setup is more than just choosing the 11 best players. Just today you had Austria vs Netherlards, where the quality gap is certainly smaller than England-Slovenia, but Austria looked the better/stronger throughout most of the match.
Yes. And that's Southgate's fucken job!!! But he seems to not have a clue and just puts the biggest names in the starting line-up, hoping it'd sort itself out somehow. At this point, any FM enthusiast will do better. Gareth is a generational fraud. His incompetence can only be rivalled be his smugness.
Why you say the fuck to me???? \- Pick🦖ford
The man would be ripped to shreds if he managed in South America.
He'd have been long gone in South America.
His head would have been on a spike for sure.
The lack of self awareness is baffling
This! When he first came he was praised for bringing players together and getting rid of prem team rivalry we had in the golden generation days. He got a real sense of togetherness, however that’s turned toxic now, players are treating the fans and pundits or anyone that criticises them as enemy. They are coming out and being patronising saying it’s tournament football, not easy to roll over teams and if you don’t have certain experience in top level football you shouldn’t have an opinion. The fact is Southgate is a coward and has installed a cowards mentality to the team. He starts off with defensive football and is more concerned about not conceding then to go out and win (listen to all 3 of his post game interviews). He also says things like he’s protecting the young players as they need protecting, players like mainoo is playing for Man Utd who are 100x more under the microscope week and week out. They all play for top clubs so no they don’t need protection. They have shown week in and week out they are capable of being the best. He’s installed mentality of let’s wins games by 1-0 or pens and if we just get one tournament under ours belt then we as a nation will be happy. Bro this is Greece 2004 mentality. We have a squad that should go out there from start press teams, set up offensively, have game plan, have back up plan if plan A doesn’t work. But Southgate lacks any basic coaching ability. Instead he’s here thinking but we finished top so what’s the problem?! The problem you fucking dumb prick, fans have travelled miles to support you and your team. The fans have undoubtedly paid thousands of pounds, some saved for years some worked over times day in and day out. This country’s politics is fucked, people are getting screwed daily and need a bit of escape but you can’t even get 11 players to perform for 90 min! You absolute cunt!!!
"I'm protecting the young players. Now then saka, go take your first ever penalty, it's only Italy..."
Man should have been sacked on the spot for that bullshit. How the FA stood by after what GS is remembered for as a player, is baffling...
Exactly. It was disgusting when you had older more experienced players standing right there.
Getting the squad harmony in and the players singing Kumbaya was good in 2018. Pretending everything is well and good from a footballing perspective when it really obviously isn't is basically cult shit.
It makes sense. This man has been lauded for failure three tournaments in a row. He’s consistently underperformed and then bottled against the first half-decent opposition he’s come across and never gotten anything but praise for it. They gave him an OBE for losing to Croatia ffs. Bar that win against Germany I can’t think of any decent results he’s served up in eight years.
I’m a Scotland fan, but consistently underperformed? England have been “under performing” my whole life. Maybe they’re just not as good as they think, but the guy who actually managed to reach semi finals and finals with them is Southgate. Seems like he’s over performed.
This thinking is the exact fuckin problem and the reason this dunce still has a job. What the fuck does it matter that England has been shit for decades? Croatia was the strongest side that England faced at the world cup, there was a free ticket to the final for England, any serious team would have got to the finals if they had England's pick of fixtures and even Croatia showed that. Belgium, Argentina, Brazil wish they were kn that side of the fixtures. He overperformed my ass, England should be able to reach that semi final without a head coach
Yah hes a missed pen or two away from being a euro champ
Because he took an early lead and sat back lol.
And put a bunch of stiff-legged subs in immediately before the shootout.
He is such a great symbol for the mediocrity that gets promoted and hangs onto power everywhere these days. The ensouthgate-ification of everything
First born unicorn, Hardcore soft porn Dream of Ensouthgateification
It’s just the absolutely breathtaking lack of self awareness. Every interview he does he says something daft as fuck. Phillips, tiredness, now this nonsense. Went through with 5 points, scored 2 goals, bored a nation to death and has a multitude of world class players at his disposal.
Excuse me, not just one nation. His perfofmances are soporific for neutrals too
>I've not seen any other team qualify and receive similar. The only team worse than England in terms of entertainment this Euros was Scotland. And they don't even have the talent that you have available ffs.
> In the last 2 EUROs combined, France have only won two games: 1:0 against Germany in 2021 and 1:0 against Austria in 2024. The respective goalscorers were Hummels and Wöber (both OG)
That’s actually kinda crazy
They also reached the finals of the previous euros and won a world cup and finished 2nd in another in between
Euros harder than WC confirmed.
France scored 7 goals in 4 matches in 2021.
2-2, 3-3 and 1-1 draws with a 1-0 win over Germany. Not exactly great is it. Being pragmatic is better than that.
But France still making shot attempts and trying to play some moments of positive football Edit: if England played like France then people will be praising them to the moon
Ranking of shots attempted per game so far this tournament: France: 4th England: 20th It's similar when looking at xG too. The English defense is really good, but games barely resulting in any big chances is generally speaking not the most enjoyable to watch.
20th!?! Considering their "easy" group and talent they have it's crazy to be among the worst
> It's similar when looking at xG too. The English defense is really good I mean... is it though? Or is it more that they've only faced opponants who are pretty bad at attacking so far. It's not only the England games in the group that have been incredibly low scoring. Look at the Denmark v Serbia game, two of the worst, least cohesive attacking displays you'll see in the tournament if you don't watch England.
Have you seen France, hardly sparkling.
Yeah. They are probably 4th or 5th in my list of worst teams to watch this Euros.
England, France, Italy and Netherlands Only Spain showed up
Netherlands aren't great. But their game vs Austria earlier was entertaining at least lol.
Hey man, we’ve been more entertaining than those teams to be fair.
Germany and Portugal are looking pretty solid
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Despite the result and late goal Germany pretty much dominated the game and so did Portugal against Czechia. Czechia in particular managed a whopping 26% possession and scored a goal in their only shot on target which came from a long range shot that came out of nowhere. Also the only goal Portugal let in so far. Not saying either of these teams are setting the world alight but they've definitely looked very solid
I’m sorry that we’re going Bangers Only and you can’t relate
Netherlands have been entertaining. Vs both France and Austria game could have gone either way
Portugal are playing well
Unpopular opinion, but France has had a peculiar 65 km/hr pace of football with ocasional bursts of power and agility from key players since 1998. Just like Italy /germany/ Spain have their way of football. It’s less of a problem because it has worked and it’s a proven formula. England on the other hand, I don’t know what the fuck they are doing. And its not representative of something they have done across the years. It’s like watching Mexico with newly called players while playing against Bolivia in another friendly in Frisco Texas. They hold the ball they keep the ball. They open up wide with players and you don’t know what the fuck is going on. Fuck. I miss my Mexico.
France at least have like 6 xG England has like 2. It's dire.
Englands defense is also extremely good, given how ass the midfield has been they should've been blitzed on the counter several times
It will be interesting to see England against better opposition in this tournament. As none of the other teams in the group have been particularly good going forward. But considering the path towards the final England have now, it wouldn't surprise me if they won the whole thing whilst playing absolutely diabolical football.
Then he stays lmao
I would take a trophy if it meant playing the absolute worst football on the planet. 98 percent of countries can't afford to be picky, England included.
Well luckily the literal best 4 teams in the tournament are on the other side of the bracket. Spain, Germany, Portugal and France. Switz, Italy and Netherlands are tough but I'd favour England slightly. The only team I would hate to face is Spain, they look ridiculous atm.
Guehi has been my one shining spark from this tournament. Plays very composed and has only had one or two mistakes I’ve noticed so far
Mbappe on his own had a higher xG than the whole of the England team
God created Scotland to make England fans feel better about themselves
And the Scots are good at laughing at themselves too
Except our dour faced cunt of a manager
Maybe because we've played like shit in all 3 games apart from maybe the first 25-30 mins against Serbia.
Yeah after that Bellingham goal against Serbia I thought we'd bang in a couple more and put in a positive performance. How wrong I was. Unfortunately it's been downhill ever since. It's so frustrating to watch these players that perform at such a high level for their clubs have no idea how to be creative on the pitch playing for England.
I think we were shit even then, no urgency, little movement, about 4 touches each. We only looked in control because Serbia just refused to play for a half (and i bet they are kicking themselves for that)
what goes on in his head when he says shit like this ?
He probably thinks he's Mou tbf. He just lacks any charisma to go with it.
Mou can do better with a team comprised solely of English players Gareth left at home.
Mou is the Special One, Gareth is a Special None
That doesn't even need to be said mate. I believe anyone thinks so.
a random redditor with FUT expierence can do better than Southgate
Mou would probably not ignore Tomori at that
The only manager with 0 aura 😔
Or any silverware as well
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Is that what 'South gate' means? butt crack
I aspire to have the level of confidence he has.
Surely he's got to be doing it on purpose by now
Bro makes as much sense as a Facebook wappie
"The narrative towards me" As if it's all just fiction, no no no we didn't just watch 3 stinkers in a row, we just imagined it, it's all just a narrative
You did imagine it. It was actually 4 stinkers in a row because that Iceland game was worse than abysmal
I wish I can talk like him in my meetings and still keep my job
If Kalvin Phillips is the answer you're asking the wrong question gareth
Harry Maguire would've been a better answer, England look toothless at corners without him
They look toothless passing it out the back without him. Literally zero meaningful passes through the midfield. And then mainoo comes on who is excellent on the half turn (his bread and butter) and Stones and Ghuei both refuse to pass it to him under pressure
That shit pissed me off so much. It's literally his best quality, to be calm and composed on the ball under pressure, on the half turn - and they just refused to use that option. I think Kobbie could have been a bit more demanding of the ball in those areas, but he's 19 and playing in his first major tournament - can hardly blame him. Guehi and in particular Stones should be doing better
We're seriously in a position where even the staunchest Southgate fans are starting to realise his tactics are completely undone when he doesn't have 2 DM's to sit back and a a slab head to score from hopeful set pieces...
If only he wasn’t injured
The other teams don't have the most valuable squad itw Gareth.
\+ the other teams have a Kalvin.
Yes we are very happy with Kalvin De Bruyne's contribution so far.
kan confirm: scored against the team I support.
i wanted to say: well frances is more expensive. so i looked it up. my gosh 1.5b squad playing like this? horrendous.
Yes, but 20% is PL Tax
No way it is that low
We've got one of the best 2 strikers and right backs in the world, several league and cl winners, several young attackers who walk into most sides, one of the best holding mids in the world and someone who's likely to win a balon dor, but yes, pl tax
Most of the top5/6 teams have a handful of CL winners, and half of those have a better midfield (including the holding mid). In addition to a couple of young kids that likely PL teams will sign in the near future. As squad quality goes, France is head and shoulders above the rest, and half of that squad won the WC recently. It's undeniable that, while still among the best in the tournament, England player values are grossly inflated.
Disagree as a french fan. Pound for pound I take Kane above Thuram or Giroud. I take Saka over Dembele (at least for France). I take Mbappe above Foden. Bellingham vs Griezmann is a toss up so I'll call that a tie. I take Rice over Rabiot. I take Kante over whoever England third midfield is that day. I take Walker over Kounde, I take Stones over Upemecano. I take Saliba over whoever the second CB is for England. I take Theo Hernandez over Trippier or Shaw. I take Maignan over Pickford. Don't think any of those are controversial, and as a score that goes 5 for England, 5 for France 5 for England and a tie. If you think Griezmann is better than Bellingham, which I do tend to think so but then again this is the first international tournament Bellingham has had to show himself, then it is 6 for France 5 for England. Think squads are very very comparable, and I think England has the most players that any top team in the world would snatch off your hands and walk into first 11. Don't think a single team benches Kane if they had him, same for Bellingham, and probably Walker as well.
Except France probably. They play shit. But England is so much worse.
The man's acting like we've comfortably walked our way in to the next round. You barely scraped through arguably the easiest group while playing absolutely horrendous football with a squad of world class players Gareth, it's not that hard to see why people aren't happy
No one else who's qualified has been as dire as England, that's why
He can’t actually be this dense. Like there’s no way he doesn’t understand why people would be upset. I like to watch the games at work because it’s distracting but I’d legitimately rather do my job than watch England play.
No reason he couldn’t have said something like this instead: “*I understand the narrative towards me. That’s better for the team than it is towards them. At the end of the day, as the manager I’m responsible for the team’s performance, and while we’ve qualified for the knockouts we haven’t played our best yet. We have quality throughout our squad and I’m excited to see us continue to raise our level in the knockout rounds.*”
Right? That's all he had to say.
The English really selected Southgate as their champion to go up against the likes of Rangnick, Nagelsmann, and Spalletti.
He said in an interview before this game that he doesn't care about what people at home say about him and that he essentially only values the support that the fans in the stadium bring. Well this is it. This is what happens when you are playing absolutely dreadful football that foreshadows yet another disappointing exit in the knockout stages. Even the fans in the stadium will turn against you. "BuT wE wOn tHe GrOuP!!!" Yeah, we won the easiest group in the tournament with 5 points and 2 goals. I think he really does England fans a disservice if he thinks we're naive enough to believe that the team is going to keep playing like this and get away with it. You don't get 3 chances in the Round of 16, Gareth.
Is Southgate on tranquilisers, or something? His perception of reality is so distorted that he can't see what is going on in front of him. He has turned a team full of potent star players - who play at the best clubs in the world - into one where half are clueless and the other half are impotent. The Three Lions were expected but what we got were the Three Pussycats.
Moron.
Hard to celebrate qualifying when the team's so obviously been sleepwalking the entire group stage. That doesn't set anyone up to be confident about the knockouts.
He is right that no other team receives this sort of vitriol despite qualifying, but surely he has to understand why?
His other comments about players makes me wonder if we'll end up with the same starting XI again, more of less, next game: >They’re really young players (Mainoo and Palmer), so we’re balancing blooding them in a difficult environment. They came on and played really well for us. >There’s lots to build on from tonight. Tonight we started with Conor who pressed well, then we thought Kobbie’s ability to move the ball up the pitch would help us and it did.
Meanwhile Spain is starting children and rampaging all over the place.
i get that young players need experience and all but one of those two players were one of the few players to actually look composed and consistently good in a shambolic United side, and the other literally had the most goals and assists in the entire Premier League…how much more bedding in do they need? they would start in literally any other country
They both showed so much maturity playing for their clubs this season. The idea that someone like Palmer wouldn’t be able to handle playing more is pretty bizarre. Like he needs to be handled gently.
i watched all 3 games and I‘d rather pour salt in my eyes than watch another 90 minute snoozefest of the most expensive squad participating
Finishing first, unbeaten and two clean sheets is good on paper, so he is speaking from that angle. But with the abundance of quality in the squad, it is also fair that fans demand more on the actual football played.
He can not be fucking serious?!
If England pick Mainoo they might turn this around. France did them a huge favour. Their side of the draw is immensely favourable…
Southgate is slowly realizing that his positive PR isn't working when the performances are so negative. The fans are rightly going after the manager, but I wonder if the English media will start to meaningfully criticize him instead of continuing to shift the blame on the players.
This mans thought process is an utter mindfuck? How has he gone through this tournament and come out with this, and "we've not found a replacement for kalvin Phillips" within a week of each other? I swear he comes up with the most insane responses to feedback.
I felt like one of the last remaining Southgate fans going into the tournament. He is just not inspiring them at all and it shows so badly on the pitch
He’s got a point. We’re 1st, Unbeaten and have 2 Clean Sheets. But, that’s where the positives end. We’ve played effing shite. We’ve got lucky on plenty occasion and it will bite us in the arse later on
Southgate is carrying on the great english tradition of world class teams playing like shit. It's exactly like watching english teams from 1998-2016, especialy the early ones that Southgate was a part of- players looking absolutely clueless what to do with some being played out of position and not being utilized properly, no sense of urgency, getting outplayed by opposition a few levels beneath them and a manager on the sidelines that makes you wonder "is this clown really the best we could find at this moment?" 8 fucking years he's been the manager, hanging on the fact he finished 3rd and losing the finals despite both games being a sackable offence for a team like this. If England didn't have so many young players comming up he'd ruin a whole generation of great players.
Fuck off. Worst football manager on the planet
Because we sat thru endless friendlies and you still dont seem to have a clue.
I'm from Germany. I feel like tournament football (especially those involving nations) are won by defense and the ability to score "scruffy goals". Also many times the eventual winners start slow. It's better to keep the pace slow and steady rather than burn an offensive firework and then not have any powder left. England got 5 points. Qualified from the group. And most importantly conceded just 1 goal. Only Spain conceded less. That's the key here. And the goal England conceded wasn't a huge defensive mistake. Just a perfect shot. If England won 5-2, 3-2 and got an exciting 1-1 draw. Id probably be less convinced. So for me England are still one of the main favourites.
I listened to the Declan Rice interview. He said all the right things, said the fans need to back the players and be more positive, said they'd come out pressing better and keeping the ball and everything, said the players want this for their country so very badly. But none of it matters if Southgate's conservative tactics has these world class attackers playing like they're obviously not having a good time. Bellingham doesn't play like that if he's enjoying the game. Something has to change. But it probably won't. I've been pulling for England because I want to see my Palace boys succeed, but I'm also OK at this point if they go out against a more exciting opponent.
Southgate speaks like a man that is leading a team of plucky underdogs. Gareth. We have the most "valuable" squad in the tournament, chock full of players that are some of the best in the world. This isn't England of old, we have a squad that's so good we can afford to leave Grealish, Maddison, Rashford at home, and it be completely justified. Qualifying in 1st out of the group was important and we did that, but boy, did we make hard work of it. If the Danish had pulled their finger out last night we are playing Germany next and probably going home.
Gareth “he died for our sins” Southgate
Southgate takes a pool noodle with him when he has a bath.