Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse

[Kingston Yellow 222]

Southgate is staying.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

That is a huge relief as I was worried he'd end up here.

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,361]

Damn... I was hoping they'd poach Deano for his amazing tactical insight and the charisma that the guy oozes that will really cement his fabulous relationship with the crowd at Wembley. 

[kirku 1,334]

England won six knock-out games in major tournaments from 1968 to 2016.

Gareth Southgate won six from 2018 to 2022.

[Canary Jedi 589]

1 minute ago, kirku said:

England won six knock-out games in major tournaments from 1968 to 2016.

Gareth Southgate won six from 2018 to 2022.

Wow that’s an amazing stat. Shows what an impact he has had. 

[Worthy Nigelton 1,062]

He's done amazingly well. How people criticise him I will never know.

[kirku 1,334]

Just now, Canary Jedi said:

Wow that’s an amazing stat. Shows what an impact he has had. 

Really puts it into perspective

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

2 minutes ago, kirku said:

England won six knock-out games in major tournaments from 1968 to 2016.

Gareth Southgate won six from 2018 to 2022.

Who was the top ranked out of them? Sweden?

[kirku 1,334]

1 minute ago, keelansgrandad said:

Who was the top ranked out of them? Sweden?

No.

England knocked out Germany in the Euros last year

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,846]

2 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

He's done amazingly well. How people criticise him I will never know.

Agreed, but the England job is a poisoned chalice, because the expectations are unrealistically high for a country that has only ever reached two major finals.

[Robert N. LiM 4,464]

Funnily enough was about to post this as a joke in another thread. Seems like I need to do it for real.

The good news is that Southgate is staying as England manager so at least we're spared the spectacle of people on here complaining that they don't want the best England coach of the last 50 years coming to our club.

[kirku 1,334]

I find it interesting how the defeat to Croatia in the previous WC is remembered. Many people view it as a wasted opportunity or that England underperformed due to Southgate's "poor" coaching.

Ashley Young was playing LWB (with Danny Rose as the alternative). The midfield had Alli and Lingard in it, and sometimes Eric Dier. Phil Jones was in the squad.

Frankly disgraceful that Southgate couldn't get a better tune out of that lot to dominate a woeful Croatian midfield of Rakitic, Modric and Brozovic..

 

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

9 minutes ago, kirku said:

No.

England knocked out Germany in the Euros last year

Sorry, I was meaning World Cups.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

2 minutes ago, kirku said:

I find it interesting how the defeat to Croatia in the previous WC is remembered. Many people view it as a wasted opportunity or that England underperformed due to Southgate's "poor" coaching.

Ashley Young was playing LWB (with Danny Rose as the alternative). The midfield had Alli and Lingard in it, and sometimes Eric Dier. Phil Jones was in the squad.

Frankly disgraceful that Southgate couldn't get a better tune out of that lot to dominate a woeful Croatian midfield of Rakitic, Modric and Brozovic..

 

He picked the team didn't he?

[TheGunnShow 5,985]

He's done well with a side that's rather unbalanced and lacking top-drawer quality in key positions. It just happens to be a bumper crop of quality attacking midfielders with Bellingham behind them, but has also had a little luck with draws opening up.

I mean, England lost to France who replaced a Ballon d'Or-winning striker in Benzema with their top scorer in internationals in GIroud. They were probably on their fourth centre-half, second or third left-back and had decided to repurpose Griezmann into a more orthodox central midfielder. England do not have that depth across the board with a second striker of, probably, Callum Wilson or Ivan Toney if he hadn't been caught betting.

To criticise Southgate, you kinda have to overrate the players.

Edited December 17, 2022 by TheGunnShow

[Robert N. LiM 4,464]

Just now, TheGunnShow said:

To criticise Southgate, you kinda have to overrate the players.

You'd never catch England fans doing that.

[kirku 1,334]

1 minute ago, keelansgrandad said:

He picked the team didn't he?

I see your point, he should've turned to the bench and picked Fabian Delph or Ruben Loftus-Cheek instead.

Why didn't he hand out a passport to Kovacic? He couldn't get into the Croatia team, might've fancied the move.

[TheGunnShow 5,985]

Just now, Robert N. LiM said:

You'd never catch England fans doing that.

Nah, it's just the national disease.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

11 minutes ago, kirku said:

I see your point, he should've turned to the bench and picked Fabian Delph or Ruben Loftus-Cheek instead.

Why didn't he hand out a passport to Kovacic? He couldn't get into the Croatia team, might've fancied the move.

I don't know whether you know but he selected the squad.

[Midlands Yellow 4,046]

32 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

He's done amazingly well. How people criticise him I will never know.

And yet I’d doubt any teams supporters in the the top half of the Premier League would want him. Very beige and boring, maybe an ideal fit here. 

[kirku 1,334]

3 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

I don't know whether you know but he selected the squad.

Let's take LWB as an example. Ashley Young and Danny Rose were in the squad, who would you have chosen instead?

It's utterly bizarre to insinuate there's a wealth of talent that Southgate overlooked in an England squad containing several players who were woefully short of international quality (ignoring the two above):

Delph, Jones, Welbeck, Cahill, Lingard, Dier, Loftus-Cheek, Butland

[kirku 1,334]

6 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

And yet I’d doubt any teams supporters in the the top half of the Premier League would want him. Very beige and boring, maybe an ideal fit here. 

Some coaches are better suited to international football. Perhaps Southgate is one?

[littleyellowbirdie 2,577]

40 minutes ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

Agreed, but the England job is a poisoned chalice, because the expectations are unrealistically high for a country that has only ever reached two major finals.

A bit like Norwich in some ways. 🙃

[Midlands Yellow 4,046]

4 minutes ago, kirku said:

Some coaches are better suited to international football. Perhaps Southgate is one?

Ok, calm down Gareth. 

[kirku 1,334]

9 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Ok, calm down Gareth. 

Got to be careful when debating with such rapier wit, like this. It's a dangerous game.

[Commonsense 638]

48 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

Sorry, I was meaning World Cups.

What do the Euros not have knock out games, or is it just that the reply doesn’t fit your agenda?

[Branston Pickle 3,679]

1 hour ago, kirku said:

England won six knock-out games in major tournaments from 1968 to 2016.

Gareth Southgate won six from 2018 to 2022.

Must be a different guy who saw us doubled by the mighty Hungary earlier this year.

This World Cup we managed to play the 16, 18, 19 and 20th ranked sides in the world. Is it that outstanding that we managed to beat some of them? 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Branston Pickle

[kirku 1,334]

6 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Must be a different guy who saw us doubled by the mighty Hungary earlier this year. 

A very good point, indeed!

Afterall, a single friendly result is a far more impactful metric with which to judge Southgate than all of England's major tournament results over the last 54 years.

Edited December 17, 2022 by kirku

[Branston Pickle 3,679]

Just now, kirku said:

A very good point, indeed!

Afterall, a single friendly result is a far more impactful metric with which to judge Southgate than all of England's major tournament results over the last 54 years.

Nations League is not a friendly, it’s a full tournament. You do understand that, and that we had the joy of being relegated. Great stuff.

[Branston Pickle 3,679]

You obviously don’t spend any of your hard earned following England, you’d not be laughing if you did. They’ve been crap this year, one decent World Cup game which we didn’t even win doesn’t make up for that.