Dear England by Gareth Southgate

[A Load of Squit 6,260]

Brilliant stuff from the England manager.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer

 

[mannings bandy legs 439]

Rousing stuff. Fair play to him.Lets hope the team can back it up. Have my doubts.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

Dear England

I wrote you but still ain't calling

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

Southgate certainly is eloquent, has his heart in the right place and to be fair, has shown a degree of risk-taking in being willing to play young players if he thinks they're good enough. But he's hamstrung by a lack of quality defenders and arguably a lack of depth in defensive midfield.

Not taking Wan-Bissaka is a shocker though. His brand of more no-nonsense defence will be needed against better sides. That England team will look very good on occasion, but be carved apart by a team like the French.

[Wings of a Sparrow 1,708]

If he wrote that, I’ll use my underpants for making soup.

[horsefly 5,301]

Just another attempt by the England football team to turn the country into a communist dictatorship. It will be the duty of every patriotic English man and woman to boo loudly as the players take the knee, then turn off their tv sets, walk to the end of their drive, and sing Rule Britannia for the next 90 minutes (plus extra time).

[Mullet 293]

1 hour ago, A Load of Squit said:

Brilliant stuff from the England manager.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/dear-england-gareth-southgate-euros-soccer

 

I understand the sentiment, we are a proud nation of football lovers, I just hope we can get a winning mentality from the national side that I haven't seen in my life time. Over the years we have lacked belief that we are good enough and bottle the big occasions. Of all the so called big teams in world football we are the biggest underachievers. Will that change any time soon who knows. There is something missing from our national team even when we had good teams in the past we always seem to balls it up. The next few weeks will be a good ride though

[canarydan23 4,762]

2 hours ago, TheGunnShow said:

Southgate certainly is eloquent, has his heart in the right place and to be fair, has shown a degree of risk-taking in being willing to play young players if he thinks they're good enough. But he's hamstrung by a lack of quality defenders and arguably a lack of depth in defensive midfield.

Not taking Wan-Bissaka is a shocker though. His brand of more no-nonsense defence will be needed against better sides. That England team will look very good on occasion, but be carved apart by a team like the French.

I don't buy this. He has the ability to play a back four that consists of 4 Champions League finalists (James, Stones, Chilwell). No other manager at Euro 2020 can do that. He's left out defenders who would easily get into between 18-22 of the other squads.

He has an embarrassment of riches but cannot get them playing. If he was as good a coach as he was media operator we'd be in the final. We should be the second best squad there. We won't be.

That said, he's bang on with this and it'll trigger some of the loons on here.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

16 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

I don't buy this. He has the ability to play a back four that consists of 4 Champions League finalists (James, Stones, Chilwell). No other manager at Euro 2020 can do that. He's left out defenders who would easily get into between 18-22 of the other squads.

He has an embarrassment of riches but cannot get them playing. If he was as good a coach as he was media operator we'd be in the final. We should be the second best squad there. We won't be.

That said, he's bang on with this and it'll trigger some of the loons on here.

England have absolutely no shortage of class at right-back but defensively Wan-Bissaka is the best of the lot. At centre-half though, Champions League final matches here or there, you'll find they're often junior partners. Stones has played very well this season and looked like he's fulfilling his potential now, but there's no doubt in my mind that Ruben Dias is the bona-fide world class centre-half in there. As for Chelsea, Rüdiger is their top-drawer act at centre-half, at least now Tuchel is getting settled. You've mentioned James and Chilwell, but they're both full-backs.

Basically, there's not much going at centre-half. Maguire is rather overrated for me whilst Mings and Coady are really fringe players at international level. After that, you're looking at international rookies in Ben White and indeed our former man in Ben Godfrey. The fact that Southgate selected a pile of right-backs should make it clear, really - the defence is very unbalanced and frankly, goalkeeper is not a great position either. Pickford has a ricket in him and the other two are international rookies. Pity that Pope was injured really, I rate him somewhat higher than Pickford, but Henderson could be the long-term holder if he keeps developing.

There's enough attacking firepower to put fear in practically every team. I'll accept some of your call at full-back, but at centre-half, I maintain there is not remotely enough quality.

[canarydan23 4,762]

10 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

England have absolutely no shortage of class at right-back but defensively Wan-Bissaka is the best of the lot. At centre-half though, Champions League final matches here or there, you'll find they're often junior partners. Stones has played very well this season and looked like he's fulfilling his potential now, but there's no doubt in my mind that Ruben Dias is the bona-fide world class centre-half in there. As for Chelsea, Rüdiger is their top-drawer act at centre-half, at least now Tuchel is getting settled. You've mentioned James and Chilwell, but they're both full-backs.

Basically, there's not much going at centre-half. Maguire is rather overrated for me whilst Mings and Coady are really fringe players at international level. After that, you're looking at international rookies in Ben White and indeed our former man in Ben Godfrey. The fact that Southgate selected a pile of right-backs should make it clear, really - the defence is very unbalanced and frankly, goalkeeper is not a great position either. Pickford has a ricket in him and the other two are international rookies. Pity that Pope was injured really, I rate him somewhat higher than Pickford, but Henderson could be the long-term holder if he keeps developing.

There's enough attacking firepower to put fear in practically every team. I'll accept some of your call at full-back, but at centre-half, I maintain there is not remotely enough quality.

It's all relative. Our centre halves would walk into the starting lineup of every team in our group and most others. Belgium have a home guard of centre halves and would kill for a Harry Maguire. Spain have picked Garcia, who can't get past Stones at his club. Jose Fonte, (remember him?) is in the running to start for Portugal.

France I will grant you, streets ahead defensively, but no one else can really make that claim. Maguire, Stones and even Mings would probably get into almost every squad bar France at the Euros.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

3 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

It's all relative. Our centre halves would walk into the starting lineup of every team in our group and most others. Belgium have a home guard of centre halves and would kill for a Harry Maguire. Spain have picked Garcia, who can't get past Stones at his club. Jose Fonte, (remember him?) is in the running to start for Portugal.

France I will grant you, streets ahead defensively, but no one else can really make that claim. Maguire, Stones and even Mings would probably get into almost every squad bar France at the Euros.

England's group isn't exactly great. Croatia will be the biggest problem but their best players are also creaking heavily! Scotland's only tricky as it's a derby match and that Czech side is decent by their recent standards but still a makeweight at this level. A France side that's vaguely on top would tear this England team apart.

I'd fancy Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal to beat that England side in a one-off as well.

[canarydan23 4,762]

9 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

England's group isn't exactly great. Croatia will be the biggest problem but their best players are also creaking heavily! Scotland's only tricky as it's a derby match and that Czech side is decent by their recent standards but still a makeweight at this level. A France side that's vaguely on top would tear this England team apart.

I'd fancy Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal to beat that England side in a one-off as well.

Yes, I agree with the last paragraph on the pitch. But on paper England should be favourites against all of those teams. We're not, because our enviable talent is badly managed, in my humble opinion.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

Just now, canarydan23 said:

Yes, I agree with the last paragraph on the pitch. But on paper England should be favourites against all of those teams. We're not, because our enviable talent is badly managed, in my humble opinion.

Maybe, I think that proclivity to overrate English players here has kicked in again.

[canarydan23 4,762]

4 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Maybe, I think that proclivity to overrate English players here has kicked in again.

That's certainly not something that generally afflicts me!

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

8 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Yes, I agree with the last paragraph on the pitch. But on paper England should be favourites against all of those teams. We're not, because our enviable talent is badly managed, in my humble opinion.

I think France are the best squad. They have progressed well since the 60s and 70s when they were woeful and second best to Rugby.

I don't see England beating them.

But Southgate must attack as that is his best option. That is thestrength of our squad.

As to Southgate's St Pirans day speech, it is likely to be lost on that bleddy trumpet player.